Oconto
County WIGenWeb Project
Collected
and posted by Oconto
County WIGenWeb Project
Collected
and posted by RITA
This
site is exclusively for the free access of individual researchers.
*
No profit may be made by any person, business or organization through
publication,
reproduction, presentation or links
to
this site.
HISTORIC
OCONTO COUNTY SCHOOLS
Sunny Slope School
6902 County Road K
Photo Source OCGS
Town
of Oconto Falls
Oconto
County, Wisconsin

Sunny Slope School
built 1918
replacing the original built in 1894
Old School Bell Goes To Peru
1963 News Article
Information
researched and contributed
by:
Jill
Gondek
Oconto
Falls - The bell on the Sunny Slope School, which has been sold by the
Oconto Falls Integrated District, is going on a long trip before it
arrives at its new home.
The
Board which met this past week had authorized that it be given to
Lambert Anderson for his Ticuna Land Mission School near Peru, South
America. Lambert, who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Anderson attended
this school as a lad and was called to his studies from play many a
time by its ringing.
At
the mission school which Lambert organized there are about one hundred
children eagerly learning to read and write, with adult classes in the
evenings. Lambert and his wife Doris went among the Ticunas to put
their language into form, and they have done an outstanding piece of
work with those primitive people.
His people will love the story of the old school bell and to have it in their school to call their children to classes.
After
surveys, the board of education has been given authorization to sell
Sunny Slope School as there are too few children to attend for a
teacher to be placed at this point.
If
just one Ticuna boy or girl gets the impetus to make of life what
Lambert Anderson had achieved, the old bell will become a wonderful
symbol.
This
is the 28th in a series of
articles sponsored by the Oconto County Teacher's Association to
promote better public relations in the schools of our county.
contributed
by:
Larry
Grady
(transcribed
from the 1954 news article below)
Peterson
Home Served as
School
At Sunny Slope First Five Years
Only Two Trees Remain on
Grounds for Which Elm Lawn School
Was Named in
1921
THE SUNNY SLOPE SCHOOL
The location of the original Sunny
Slope school, District No. 5, town
of Oconto Falls, was in the house of Peter Peterson across the road
from, the school's present location in the year of 1893. In 1894 a
school house was built which served until the present one was
constructed. At a special meeting on April 19, 1913, a vote was taken
to build a new school. Not until 1918 was the new school completed at a
cost of $2,944.42 plus $390.32 for fixtures.
In the first school the benches were homemade and served for many years
when double seats were bought which were in use as long as the first
building stood. When the school was rebuilt in 1918 single, adjustable
desks were bought which are in use at the present time. The first stove
was a large box stove, later replaced by a jacket stove.
In 1952, an oil burning space heater was installed. Electric lights
have replaced the wall kerosene lamps found in the first school. Our
present equipment includes a piano and a radio. In 1952, playground
equipment was purchased including a "merry-go-round, teeter-totter,
gymnasium set and bats and balls. A well was dug, but it never has been
a source of water supply. Water has been carried from the August Benson
farm across the road ever since the school has been built.
Examining the records available we found that the first school terms
were taught for seven months. In 1910, there were eight months of
school to be taught in three terms as follows: School opened September
6 and closed December 23. It reopened January 2 and closed February 24.
The last third of the term began April 3 and school closed on May 27.
In 1914, the schoolboard voted for nine months of school. In 1919 the
free textbook system was voted upon and adopted.
Some of the officers to serve on the first school boards were John
Daily, Bill Plain, Charles Oleson, Peter Peterson, Thomas Benson, Peter
Anderson, Ansheln Dahlquist and
Gustave Johnson. The first teacher was Annie Mc Dougal. The
wages were from twenty-five to thirty-five dollars a month. Among the
early teachers were Alberta and Minnie Boone, Arthur Schall, Agnes Mc
Donnel, Belle Porterfield, Elsie Pagel and Cora Welch.
The present school board members are John Fabry, Jr., Arnold Anderson
and Leonard Johnson. The present teacher is Mrs. Frances Brunner.
 |
BACK
TO THE OCONTO COUNTY SCHOOLS HOME PAGE
BACK
TO THE OCONTO
COUNTY HOME PAGE