School Still Has Class
Restored Historic Spring Green School Brings Back Memories
By Jim Massey
Editorjimmassey@mhtc.net
as printed the week of July 6, 2016 in "The Country Today" newspaper
volume 40, Number 25
"The Newspaper That Cares About Rural Life"
www.thecountrytoday.com
If you go
What: Open houses at Harrisburg School, Spring Green
When: First and third Sundays of July, August and September, 1 to 4 pm.
Where: Harrisburg School, E7646 County Road B, Spring Green
Information: Carol Anderson, 608-546-5194 or carolanderson087@gmail.com
What: Open houses at Harrisburg School, Spring Green
When: First and third Sundays of July, August and September, 1 to 4 pm.
Where: Harrisburg School, E7646 County Road B, Spring Green
Information: Carol Anderson, 608-546-5194 or carolanderson087@gmail.com
Three women who attended the historic Harrisburg School
in Sauk County as well as Troy Historical Society President
Carol Anderson, recently met in the school to reminisce
about their grade school years. From left were Dorothy
Gasner, Oregon; Carol Anderson, Spring Green; Elaine
Wilhelm, Spring Green; and Carole Becker, Madison.
SPRING GREEN -- The memories flowed freely when three former students oh Harrisburg School gathered last week to reminisce about their years spent in the historic one-room schoolhouse.
Dorothy Gasner, 85, of Oregon, vividly recalled her schoolmates listening intently to the radio on Dec 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked, as President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
Carol Becker, 77, of Madison, remembered learning from school mates, whether they were in first or eighth grade. "If you missed anything, you hear it again and it was a good way to let it sink in," she said.
Elaine Wilhelm, 92, of Spring Green, recalled riding her pony to school and tying it up outside the building, "until some of the other kids started to bother it." After that, afraid that the pony would kick a schoolmate, she made arrangements to tie up the pony at a neighboring farm during the school day.
(photo by Jim Massey)
The three women are among the hundreds of Spring Green-area residents who attended Harrisburg School from the time it was established in 1850 until it closed in 1955. The school that still stands was built in 1892 and was restored to its original glory between 2001-200. It was place on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
Carol Anderson, who attended a neighboring one-room school but is president of the historical society that oversees the Harrisburg School, said area residents take pride in keeping history alive with the building that still looks much like it did during the first half of the 20th century.
The Sauk County township of Troy at one time had nine one-room schools, and the Harrisburg School is the only one that is intake and on the site where it was used. Artifacts and records of many of the other eight township schools are on display in Harrisburg School's basement. It's a community and people who were associated with the school who keep us going," Anderson said. Her husband, Hoh, attended Harrisburg School. School enthusiasts hold fundraisers, such as a brat stand, silent auctions and a "Light Up the School" program during the holidays, to raise money for building upkeep.
The first Harrisburg School was built in 1850 at a cost of $90. A second school was built in 1856, about a mile east of the first building, and in 1892, a larger 36-by-28-foot school building with a basement was built on the same location. The cost of the 1892 building was $885.
I call this school a palace compared to where I went to school because this one has a basement and two entryways--one for the boys and one for the girls," Anderson said.
The building was used to store farm implements and grain until local residents got the idea to bring it back to life in 2001. The school was lifted so a solid foundation could be placed underneath, and Morris Moseman, a local benefactor who has since died, donated about $150,000 for the renovation. Many local residents volunteered time and money to restore the building.
(photo by Jim Massey)
Now that the inside of the school looks virtually identical to what it looked like during the 63 years it was open, the preservation group that oversees the building holds open houses every first and third Sunday from June through September. Elementary school and senior citizen groups also tour the school at various times during the year.
Carol Anderson, who attended a neighboring one-room school but is president of the historical society that oversees the Harrisburg School, said area residents take pride in keeping history alive with the building that still looks much like it did during the first half of the 20th century.
The Sauk County township of Troy at one time had nine one-room schools, and the Harrisburg School is the only one that is intake and on the site where it was used. Artifacts and records of many of the other eight township schools are on display in Harrisburg School's basement. It's a community and people who were associated with the school who keep us going," Anderson said. Her husband, Hoh, attended Harrisburg School. School enthusiasts hold fundraisers, such as a brat stand, silent auctions and a "Light Up the School" program during the holidays, to raise money for building upkeep.
The first Harrisburg School was built in 1850 at a cost of $90. A second school was built in 1856, about a mile east of the first building, and in 1892, a larger 36-by-28-foot school building with a basement was built on the same location. The cost of the 1892 building was $885.
I call this school a palace compared to where I went to school because this one has a basement and two entryways--one for the boys and one for the girls," Anderson said.
The building was used to store farm implements and grain until local residents got the idea to bring it back to life in 2001. The school was lifted so a solid foundation could be placed underneath, and Morris Moseman, a local benefactor who has since died, donated about $150,000 for the renovation. Many local residents volunteered time and money to restore the building.
(photo by Jim Massey)
Now that the inside of the school looks virtually identical to what it looked like during the 63 years it was open, the preservation group that oversees the building holds open houses every first and third Sunday from June through September. Elementary school and senior citizen groups also tour the school at various times during the year.
submitted photo
As many as 33 boys and girls, ages 6 through 14 in eight grades, attended the school at one time. Becker recalled attending a two-week kindergarten session in August when her school career began, but there is no recorded history of other kindergarten classes being held.
Wilhelm and her husband, Eldred, who have been married for 70 years, attended the school in the 1930s. "I remember that there was never any bullying---the older ones helped the younger ones," Elaine said. "Everybody got along."
Gasner, however, remembered getting picked on by her future husband, Allan, who sat behind her in the classroom. "I was in seventh grade and he was in eighth grade, and he would tease me something terrible," she said. "One day I turned around and snapped at him, 'You think you're so smart you're going to be president someday.' He said to me, 'Yeah, and you'll be the president's wife.' "I was so mad at him. I told my mom about it and she said, 'You better look out, because sometimes hate is akin to love.' "
Becker remembered one time when some boys at the school made a crown out of burdocks and put it on her head. "They pressed my hair into (the burdocks) and it was the worst mess you ever saw," she said. "One of my friends kept picking (the burdock pieces)out through the rest of the school day, but she never got it all. My mom had to get the rest of it."
The piano that sits in the front of the classroom was donated to the school by the Wilhelm's. It belonged to Elaine's mother. "My mother lived about a half-mile (from the school), and I remember her telling us that when she and her sister took lessons, they drove a pony and buggy to Black Earth and stayed there with an aunt for a week while they took lessons," Elaine said. "I took lessons on it and my sister took lessons on it."
Wilhelm and her husband, Eldred, who have been married for 70 years, attended the school in the 1930s. "I remember that there was never any bullying---the older ones helped the younger ones," Elaine said. "Everybody got along."
Gasner, however, remembered getting picked on by her future husband, Allan, who sat behind her in the classroom. "I was in seventh grade and he was in eighth grade, and he would tease me something terrible," she said. "One day I turned around and snapped at him, 'You think you're so smart you're going to be president someday.' He said to me, 'Yeah, and you'll be the president's wife.' "I was so mad at him. I told my mom about it and she said, 'You better look out, because sometimes hate is akin to love.' "
Becker remembered one time when some boys at the school made a crown out of burdocks and put it on her head. "They pressed my hair into (the burdocks) and it was the worst mess you ever saw," she said. "One of my friends kept picking (the burdock pieces)out through the rest of the school day, but she never got it all. My mom had to get the rest of it."
The piano that sits in the front of the classroom was donated to the school by the Wilhelm's. It belonged to Elaine's mother. "My mother lived about a half-mile (from the school), and I remember her telling us that when she and her sister took lessons, they drove a pony and buggy to Black Earth and stayed there with an aunt for a week while they took lessons," Elaine said. "I took lessons on it and my sister took lessons on it."
Special classes such as music and art were often taught via radio programs in one-room schools, Gasner recalled. She remembered "Let's Draw," "Ranger Mac" and "Journeys in Musicland," among others.
When it came time for recess, some of the favorite playground games were Anti-I-Over, Pom Pom Pull Away and Red Rover, Becker remembered.
Everyone took turn with the school duties, which were written on the blackboard, Becker said. "There would be cleaning the blackboard, sweeping the floor, bringing in water and cleaning the clinkers out of the furnace," she said. "Kids were so responsible in those days. they had things they were expected to do and they did them. Everyone pitched in to clean the building at the end of the school year and to make the grounds look spiffy, she said.
Harrisburg School's first teacher made $20 for teaching three months, according to the school records, and the school's last teacher, Lena Federman, made $247.20 per month in 1955. No teacher taught more than 10 years, according to the school records, and many taught three years or less. The vast majority of the teachers were women, and most started when they were very young and taught until they got married, Anderson said.
All the women had fond recollections of the Christmas programs, school picnics nd all-county eighth-grade graduation ceremonies, when the entire community would come together. "The teacher would have he kids all primed up to do a little program and afterward there would be a community meeting," Becker said. "People got along so well. Everybody respected each other."
Anderson said although she didn't attend Harrisburg School, she had many of the same experiences at the one-room school she attended near Leland, Edgewood School. "I wouldn't have the same enthusiasm for doing this if I hadn't attended a one-room school," she said of her work with the Troy Historical Society.
When it came time for recess, some of the favorite playground games were Anti-I-Over, Pom Pom Pull Away and Red Rover, Becker remembered.
Everyone took turn with the school duties, which were written on the blackboard, Becker said. "There would be cleaning the blackboard, sweeping the floor, bringing in water and cleaning the clinkers out of the furnace," she said. "Kids were so responsible in those days. they had things they were expected to do and they did them. Everyone pitched in to clean the building at the end of the school year and to make the grounds look spiffy, she said.
Harrisburg School's first teacher made $20 for teaching three months, according to the school records, and the school's last teacher, Lena Federman, made $247.20 per month in 1955. No teacher taught more than 10 years, according to the school records, and many taught three years or less. The vast majority of the teachers were women, and most started when they were very young and taught until they got married, Anderson said.
All the women had fond recollections of the Christmas programs, school picnics nd all-county eighth-grade graduation ceremonies, when the entire community would come together. "The teacher would have he kids all primed up to do a little program and afterward there would be a community meeting," Becker said. "People got along so well. Everybody respected each other."
Anderson said although she didn't attend Harrisburg School, she had many of the same experiences at the one-room school she attended near Leland, Edgewood School. "I wouldn't have the same enthusiasm for doing this if I hadn't attended a one-room school," she said of her work with the Troy Historical Society.