Memories of rural school by Nadine (Olson) Strenge

I was born in 1936 and in the above photo I was in first grade. My teachers were: 

1st grade teacher was Miss Oriet Lee, and she was perhaps the one taking the picture.

 

2nd Grade: Miss Oriet Lee became Mrs Oriet (Lee) Johnson. 

 

3rd grade: Mrs. Marie Palan (Felix)

 

4th grade Mrs. Sylvia Stadheim (Orvin)

 

5th grade: Mrs. Alene Grunwald (Ray)

 

6th and 7th grade: Miss Bonnie Amley

 

8th grade: I started school in Ellendale and rode the bus. 

 

Once rural students completed 8 grades, there was a special ceremony at Owatonna, the Steele County Seat, where we received our diplomas. After completing 8 grades, reaching the age of 16 and with a parent's consent, the student could choose to be finished with their formal education. Myself, my older brother and sisters went on to “Higher education” in Ellendale and rode the bus. A couple of the bus drivers I remember were Garet Cain and Eldo Utpadel (my classmate, Elroy's father). Some of the students on the bus routes were rowdy, but ours were not. 

 

In 1952-52 school district #70 closed, the students were consolidated to a central school, and the building was sold to Hugh Kenny and used as a family residence. After his death it was sold and continued as a private dwelling until it was destroyed by a tornado in 2010 and replaced with a traditional house.

 

Next door to the school was the creamery where the farmers would bring the cream from their dairy herds, and where we would get water for drinking and washing our hands. This duty was done daily by the older school boys. The creamery building also had an upstairs auditorium where once a year, Thanksgiving or Christmas, the students would put on entertainment for the district members. It would be a “Full house” and the younger students would "say a piece” from memory and perhaps sing a simple song. The older students would perform a skit, also from memory. There are two skits that I remember we performed, “Bertha brings home the bacon” and “who salted the soup.” The stage had a curtain that could be rolled up and down between performances. Backstage there were two huge, round, cement “things.” Now I think they were water tanks.

 

The creamery would hold its annual meeting there, and on these occasions, the students would sing a song. One year we sang the “Minnesota Rouser,” but substituted “Berlin Creamery” for Minnesota. After that there would be food-perhaps a potluck. The buttermaker would make his special coffee for the events in a cream or milk can by using steam heat. 

Of course, the school had a playground. On the north side there were swings and teeter-totters for the smaller students, but no slides because as one of the fathers said, “The children would wear out the seat of their pants on them.” On the south side was the ball diamond for the older students. Once in a while a ball would break a window in the schoolhouse, but we never heard any complaints about it. We pretty much made our own rules such as: “a tie went in favor of the runner,” or “half a strike counts as a whole strike.” At the end of the school year, we would go 1 11/2 miles west of the “Ruth” School District and play a ballgame against them. The home team usually won. The “Ruth” district was named because it was the last name of the farmer who owned the land. Being of Norwegian heritage, local people pronounced it the “Root” School. The next year the game would be held at Berlin School. Both buildings are now gone. But the memories of a more simple time are still there - or are they just remembered as the times being more simple? I am sure our parents had their struggles as well as we do.

 

Thank you, Nadine, for sharing your memories.