School: Reed School Visit Teaches History (Memories - 2015)
Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail:
dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Abel, Smith, Hanson, Miller
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 5/27/2015
Reed School Visit Teaches History (Memories - 13 May 2015)
Reed School Visit Teaches History
By Todd Schmidt
Another great story……..
Many fourth-grade students from around the area have taken special field trips
this spring to the Reed School near Neillsville to experience what it was like
to attend a one-room rural school in the 1930s.
Neillsville fourth grade students work on a lesson during their May 13 visit to
the Reed School. Students are encouraged to dress, eat, play and do schoolwork
like students from the 1939 one-room school era. (Photo by Todd Schmidt/Clark
County Press)
Don Abel, a retiring fourth-grade teacher from Neillsville Elementary School,
has had the pleasure of taking many students to the Reed School during his long
career.
“My favorite part of going to Reed School is seeing the effort the students put
into enjoying this experience,” Abel said. “They are encouraged to dress like
students from 1939, they pack lunches with the same kind of foods eaten in 1939
(no modern day snacks) and they really throw themselves into the lessons taught
as if it were 1939.”
Looking back into history, Clark County’s first farms were located along
Pleasant Ridge. The area continues to display a pleasant view along USH 10 east
of Neillsville.
The first Pleasant Ridge School was a log building built a few middles down the
road. A new school building was built in later years, and in 1878, the school
building was moved to its present location on land donated by Thomas and
Lucretia Reed. The name of the school was changed to “Reed School” in honor of
Reed’s land donation.
In February 1915, the wooden school building burned. A decision was made by
school district residents to build a brick building with a cement basement. The
new Reed School was finished and occupied by November 1915.
The Reed School operated from 1915 through 1951. The school closed when the
student census dipped below 10. School district residents petitioned to re-open
the school in 1954, but the request was denied by officials in Madison.
At one time, there were over 6,200 one-room schools operating in Wisconsin.
School consolidation following WWII all but eliminated these country schools
from the educational landscape in the state.
Benefactor Gordon Smith, through the Gordon V. and Helen C. Smith Foundation,
decided to preserve the Reed School for future generations to enjoy.
Gordon Smith, formerly of Gary, IN, attended Reed School for six weeks in the
spring of 1939 while staying with his grandparents. It was a notable transition
from his urban school to one situated in the rolling farmlands of central
Wisconsin.
At Reed School, Smith said he found an enriching environment; one of hard work,
setting high standards and reaching out to others. Those experiences remained
with Gordon Smith for a lifetime, motivating him to restore the Reed School and
provide an endowment that will support the operation, interpretive program and
maintenance of the historic site in perpetuity.
Reed School was dedicated as a Wisconsin Historic Site June 10, 2007.
“We appreciate the generosity of Gordon Smith, and we do our best to honor his
reasoning for endowing Reed School,” Abel said. “We teach a unit in our history
classes focused on the year 1939, and our students gain a real understanding of
life in the past. They learn about clothing styles, the values of Wisconsinites
of 1939, the price of school supplies then and now, and just life in general in
the 1930s.
Alan Hanson, director of the historic site, hosted Neillsville Elementary
School’s May 13 visit to Reed School.
The students raised the flag (48 stars for 48 states in 1939) and received their
study assignments for the day, which included reading, writing, penmanship,
geography and art.
Hanson explained that one-room schoolteachers had to specialize in all subjects
and teach students from grades 1 to 8. It was a cultural experience, as older
children mentored the younger ones all day, from travel to school, through the
school day (including recess and lunch) and back home again. Quite often two or
three children from the same family attended the one-room school at the same
time.
Two exits from the main classroom area were used to keep order, one for boys and
the other for girls. They also had separate outhouses. The teacher used a large
hand bell to get the students’ attention.
An exercise unit called the Giant Stride enhanced outdoor recess. Neillsville
students took turns trying out the equipment.
Part of the schedule at Reed School includes recess and exercise time. These
Neillsville students take a turn on the Giant Stride, the most popular outdoor
activity. (Photo by Todd Schmidt/Clark County Press)
In the 1930s, an art lesson was coordinated by an instructor via radio on the
“Wisconsin School of the Air,’ reaching over 50,000 students in Wisconsin and
surrounding states.
That experience was recreated during the Reed School visit, as the ‘radio
instructor” encouraged the children to use their imagination and draw giant and
colorful “golliwogs.”
At the end of the day, a commencement ceremony was held to simulate the
eighth-graders moving on. The students had to pass a proficiency exam to receive
a diploma.
Hanson read excerpts from the actual 1939 commencement address delivered by the
published of The Clark County Press.
“We have experienced hard time,” the publisher said. “You are here to be made
men and women who take an interest. You have to work hard to get things. Those
of you who plan to go on to high school have to work for it and you have to work
together. This is a land of opportunity. Tomorrow you will be the leaders of a
rejuvenated America.” The students toured the basement, which is set up as an
exhibit of one-room schools. The exhibit opened June 5, 2014. Gordon Smith
addressed the group via a taped video message.
The display in the basement of the Reed School shows several classes at the
height of enrollment in the one-room school, which was closed in 1951. (Photo by
Todd Schmidt/Clark County Press)
Several students share thoughts about their time at Reed School.
“The part I liked about Reed School was when we got to read and play outside
with everyone,” Willow, 10, said. “We got to act like the students all day. I
love it when my teacher (Mrs. Miller) came along and dressed up too. I thought
the basement was amazing. It was filled with wonderful facts and other things
like artifacts some students used.”
Many of the students said they were impressed with the Giant Stride. Kala, 10,
said she learned students had to use fountain pens for fancy writing.
Raina, 10, enjoyed pretending she was in 1939. “We learned a lot of things, but
the most interesting was kids listened to the radio and a person told them what
to draw,” Raina said.
Hanson said the Reed School is open for school programs the entire month of May
and for a short time in the fall. He said there is a travel stipend available
for school’s to apply for.
Tours geared toward tourists are offered Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4
p.m. from the first weekend of May until the last weekend of October.
For more information and tours, call 608-253-3523 or email:
reedschool@wisconsinhistory.org.
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