Remembering......

Local One-room schools

 

Hoard Township, Clark County, Wisconsin

 

From Kris Leonhardt's Owen-Withee Enterprise series,

"School Days:  Remembering local one room schools"

 

 

"Annie Over" yells a sixth grade boy as he stands by a group of students on the east side of the school and lofts the ball over the one-room building. When the ball reaches the west side of the school another group of students is waiting to catch the ball.

 

The student who catches the ball then runs around to hurl the ball at a player from the opposing team. Once hit, the player is out and the game begins again.

 

"Annie Over", sometimes called "Anti-Over or Andy Over", is one of the most memorable games that children learned to play while attended rural one-room schools.

 

"We also played softball, Red Rover, Pom Pom Pull Away, King of the Mountain, Duck, Duck Goose, and others," recalls Diann Shefchik.

 

"We played marbles," recalls Donald Rogalski. "We used to use ball bearings as steelies and sometimes they would crack the good marbles."

 

"We played Pom Pom Pull Away, Andy Over, Simple Simon and Prisoners Goal," recalls Helen Vater Blaha.

 

"Pom Pom Pull Away", another favorite, resulted in one student being chosen as "It". Two lines are formed on either side of the student. The student that is named as "It" then picks any student yelling "Jane Doe, Pom Pom Pull Away". Jane Doe must then run across the line without getting tagged by the one who is "It".

 

Students of one room schools lacked play equipment, but never lacked in imagination.

 

"You never ran out of fun at recess even though we didn't have much for equipment," says Vater Blaha.

 

Rural schools seldom had more than a set of swings, a merry-go-round and sometimes a slide for outside equipment.

 

The swing set and merry-go-round of the Hoard Township's Park School may still be seen today.

 

Current owner, Sara Blume, has preserved the equipment on her property where the Park School once stood.

 

"My grandparents, Alfred and Enid Blume, bought the school in 1961 and turned it into their home," says Blume. "It was a one classroom school. They remodeled it to add three small bedrooms on the back end of the house. They lived there until 1978 when they put a mobile home just south of the school."

 

In 2002, Blume bought the property and spent the next few years removing the dilapidated school building, cleaning the yard and constructing a new home while managing to protect the playground equipment that held so many memories.

 

The Park School once stood in Section 11 of the Hoard Township on the east side of what is now Robin Avenue.

 

1929-30 Clark County School records indicate four other rural schools in the Hoard Township. The Midway School once stood in Section 26 of the township on the northeast corner of what is now Willow Road and Pelsdorf Avenue. The school building still stands today as a private residence.

 

Midway School Today (2007)

 

The Elmhurst School was located in the northeast corner of Section 8 on what is now Hickory Road.

 

The Curtiss Graded School, which is now used as a community hall, still stands in Curtiss on what is now County Road E.

Curtis Graded School Today (2007)

 

In 1915, the Hoard Center School appeared when a group of Finnish settlers borrowed money from the Owen State Bank and a man by the name of Gotthold Martin. The school was erected in Section 20 of the township on what is now Center Road.

 

Hoard Center School Today (2007)

 

Classes began at the Hoard Center School in January of 1916. Many students walked down muddy logging trails in the spring and fall to reach the school. The Hoard School was sometimes referred to as "The Finn School" as most of the students were of Finnish descent.

 

Due to low enrollment, the school closed in 1942, but reopened in 1950. The school then ran until 1960 when voters decided to join the Owen-Withee School District. The building still stands today as a private residence.

 

Story and photos by Kris Leonhardt

O-W Enterprise 2007

 

 

 

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