Glimpse of the Past: Time phased out country schools
Jan. 1—The Free Press
MANKATO — The death of the country school and wave of school consolidations began in the early-to-middle part of the last century, but its pace jumped considerably in the 1950s and 1960s.
In the late 1960s, Rosetta Hislop was a teacher at a tiny white school building on a hill 6 miles outside of Amboy. Willow Creek, as it was called, had an enrollment of six students. Music classes consisted of time spent around the piano, and physical education consisted of games played in the yard.
Hislop and her classroom were anomalies.
For years, tiny schools were built at a machine-gun pace. By the 1950s, bigger was better.
Six Blue Earth County schools faced a consolidation mandate in the late 1960s: Eagle Lake, Judson, Madison Lake, Sugar Grove, Vernon Center and Willow Creek. These districts didn't have high schools, so they were forced to merge with a high school district. Willow Creek and Sugar Grove were the last remaining country schools.
Bigger schools meant more course offerings, a broader tax base and more state funding. In some cases, it meant improved quality. A Rapidan home economics teacher in 1969, for example, also taught algebra and science in her school. Bigger schools had teachers who specialized in their areas of instruction.
Larger districts were banding together as well. Mankato and North Mankato schools consolidated in 1957. With the increase of neighboring students coming to Mankato, it was clear the new Mankato High School wouldn't be large enough.
School officials began to study the issue in 1963, but a citizen advisory group wasn't formed until 1970. The district put together an $11.5 million bond issue that included a $9 million new high school on the hill and other facility projects. The measure passed in 1970 in a record voter turnout.
Mankato East High School opened in 1973 and the community was excited. Open house organizers figured they served cookies to more than 6,000 people touring the school.
Older buildings, however, were seeing their last days. St. Peter School officials began pointing out the age of Central Elementary, a building that had sentimental value to many residents. (It had been a high school as well.)
Parents and former graduates had temporary success in keeping the turn-of-the-century building open. Ultimately, it was closed as a school and rented out for community uses until the 1998 tornado left it in ruins.
(Information used for this column originally was printed in The Free Press book "Chronicles of a Century.")
