The Town of Porter once had nine rural one-room schools in
operation, full of kids. Now there are none.
These nine 19th -century schoolhouses were
scattered around the township on land usually donated by the farmer-owner—four
in the north, two in the center, three in the south— all serving the growing
population of this northwestern Rock County township for over a hundred years.
The nine schools included: Cooksville, Eagle, Forest
Academy, Lineau, Miller, Stebbinsville, Stevens, White Star, and Wilder schools. Of these, seven remain standing:
Stebbinsville School burned down in 1942 and White Star School was demolished.
Several began life as
log buildings in the 1840s-50s, later replaced by wooden frame structures or
brick buildings. A few old photographs exist, but historical records of the
schools, for the most part, seem to have disappeared.
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| Forest Academy Schoolhouse today |
A few anecdotes survive. The Forest Academy School began
life as the Ball Tavern School built c.1865 near the cemetery on Tolles Road
and was moved to Wilder Road in 1879 and renamed Forest Academy because of the surrounding
trees. This early structure was destroyed by fire in 1932, when the present
school was built; electricity arrived in 1941.
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| Eagle Schoolhouse today |
The present Eagle School was built in 1868 and got its name from the hand-carved eagle over the doorway.
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| Wilder Schoolhouse, now Porter Town Hall |
The Wilder School began life as a log structure; the present brick school was purchased by the Town of Porter to serve as its Town Hall in 1962.
The Cooksville School began early life as a log structure in
the 1840s, replaced by a brick building on the Public Square about 1850. But
because of structural problems and its small size, it was replaced in 1886 by
the present wooden frame building, with two entry doors, one for boys and one
for girls.
Salaries for school teachers at most schools began at $2.00
per week for a school term of five months and increased in the 1860s to about
$30 a month with board for the “one who wields the ruler.” In the 1860s and 1870s wages varied from
about $30 a month for the four-month summer term to about $50 a month for the four-month
winter term. Teachers came and went,
moved on, got married—or maybe found better-paying jobs. In Cooksville, records
indicate a different teacher was hired for almost every term from the 1850s to
the 1890s.
The population of Porter Township had grown to 1165 by 1855.
(It is presently about 925.) School enrollments varied from about 30 to 60 or
more students. Cooksville’s school had 65 pupils in 1870, 68 in 1871, and 46 in
1882. A photograph of the old brick Cooksville Schoolhouse ca.1880 shows about
55 pupils posed in front; a ca.1890 photo has 34 students all dressed up and
all wearing hats posed in front of the new1886 Cooksville Schoolhouse; a 1901 photograph
has 28 students; and a ca.1924 photo shows 32 in attendance at Cooksville. A 1905 photograph of the Wilder School depicts
28 students with their teacher. By the 1950s, records indicate school
enrollments varied from 19 to 28 students in each of the eight existing
schools.
One student, Gordon Stearns, who attended Lineau School
beginning in 1947, and became a teacher himself, wrote: “I’m still amazed at how
they (teachers) could plan for 8 grades of reading, arithmetic, social studies,
grammar, penmanship, art, music, history, etc., each day while making room for
a Xmas program, a Mother’s Day program, a Turkey Day program, a yard “clean-up”
day in the fall, and the ongoing quest to win a trophy for “play day” each
spring against the other Porter schools…oh, and prepare, each month, for a
mother’s club meeting.”
But in 1961, the one-room rural schools ceased their
existence. The school districts were consolidated into fewer, larger districts
that contained higher-level high schools. The Town of Porter students went to grade
schools in Stoughton, Edgerton and Evansville, ending the 120-year history of Porter’s
rural one-room schools.
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| Cooksville Schoolhouse with Wisconsin Historical Marker |
Most of the old schools were converted to residences at the
time. But the Cooksville School became the Cooksville Community Center in 1962,
preserved and owned by community members and used for social and entertainment
purposes, and the Wilder School became the Porter Town Hall on Wilder Road.
The history of Cooksville’s school has been well-documented,
and the schoolhouse has always served an important community function, including
its first role in children’s education. But
it also housed church services before a church was built in the village, with
Thomas Morgan bringing his little melodeon across the street from his house for
the musical portions of Sunday services. The school also was the scene of many social
functions and the venue for many types of entertainments, theatricals, debates
and other public gatherings in the village in the 19th and 20th
and on into the 21st centuries
Mostly, the old Cooksville School served as a schoolhouse,
of course. One very special event at the school— fondly remembered— was “Play
Day.”
(To be continued:
“Play Day at the Cooksville School”)
[Thanks to Gordon
Stearns for sharing his school-days memory.]
