| Historian
Steve Rossio is the new president of the Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association. He
was elected, in August, by the MORSA Executive Committee.
Steve replaces Larry
Schlack who was president for five years and whose term on the Executive
Committee ended last May at the Annual Conference.
Steve Rossio lives in
Parchment, Michigan, with his wife Michele. He works at the Portage District
Library where his title is Local Historian. In that capacity he oversees the
library's Heritage Room, a resource devoted to Portage history.
Part of his job is supervising the acquisition of historical artifacts
and presenting programs to civic and school groups.
Steve is a graduate of Western Michigan University where he majored in
history. His specialty is the American Civil War.
Steve says, "I see a lot of value in MORSA and I look forward to
serving as president."
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'Training School (for
one-room schoolhouse teachers), Mt. Pleasant - 1919' -,
Now Central Michigan University site of the 2001 MORSA
Conference. Conference
Details.
Photo courtesy of Yvonne Hafner.
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Pine
River School
by
Velma Hawes
I think
I was probably four years old when I first went to Pine River
School, and that was to say a 'piece' at the Christmas
program. I wasn't old enough to attend school but my three
older cousins were, and for some reason I was asked to say my church 'piece' at school. I remember what a big
scary place it was with blackboards on three walls and a big black furnace
taking up a lot of space in the back. All the girls put their coats in the
'girls' cloakroom' although at that time I'm sure I had no idea what a
'cloak' was. The boys had a similar room on the other side of the front
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The school had eight grades and a 'chart class' of which I was a member
in 1936. I guess it was called that because we were being taught to sight
read words presented on a chart.
For the teacher to be able to meet with all classes, she had to delegate
some jobs to the older children so we really helped each other. I remember
each reading class was called to the front to sit on little chairs and read
to the teacher. Some classes, like the one my cousin was in, had only two,
so each one had to read a lot to finish a story.
My first teacher was Miss Willie and as a small child I thought she was
very tall. She was kind and I don't remember there were any discipline
problems although she had some big students.
I liked penmanship and spent many otherwise idle hours practicing to
write like the teacher did on the board. All the classes that had to do with
reading and writing I enjoyed, but Arithmetic was my enemy.
I went to Pine River School in St. Clair County, Michigan from 1936 to
the spring of 1942. And of course, during that time our country was plunged
into the Second World War. Our little school felt the affects of it. One of
the boys who was older when I entered school went into the service and was
killed. We went to the memorial service, I think as a group.
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Our teacher, at that time, was Mrs. Harmon. She taught us
to sing patriotic songs and also taught us to knit. Boys and girls alike
knit during recess and noon hours. We made squares and Mrs. Harmon sewed
them together to make afghans, which were sent to army hospitals.
Another thing we did to help the 'war effort' was go collect old metal.
We were given an unexpected half-day vacation and went all over the
countryside to farms and any place where old machinery could be-collected.
We enlisted the help of one of the big brothers who had a farm truck. He
came and picked up the 'treasures' we found and took them to be recycled
into something useful to the military. We also collected milk-weed silk to
be used in making life jackets
I have a memory which wouldn't mean anything to anyone but me. My dad was
the chief air-raid warden of our area. That meant he received the phone call
on our 14-16 member party line which told him a black-out would be at a
certain time. He then alerted the wardens under him. My dad was also
responsible for ringing the school bell long and loud to warn the people to
turn out their lights or cover their windows. One night when the phone call
came he went to the school and couldn't get in. No one had thought about a
key. He came home and got me and we went back to the school. He opened a
window and boosted me through to ring the bell. It's funny, I was afraid of
the dark as a
child and it seems as though I would remember being afraid, but all I
remember was the drop to the floor from inside the window. I also remember one of the wardens coming back to tell he had
gone to a house and told them to turn off their lights.
However, when he found a doctor there delivering a set of twins he
agreed the lights should stay on.
Outside play at school was great.
In summer we played hop-scotch by making the outline in the dirt and
used a rock or stone for a marker. Someone
was always available to turn the rope for jump rope. Tag was a favorite game
and at the back of the school was the woodshed. No one was ever taken there
for punishment that I know of, but it had a low roof.
We played many games of Enie-I-Over.
I am quite sure that isn't how the game is spelled, but that's the
way we said it.
The
school was on level ground, but in back the land dropped down to Pine River.
This gave us some great hills for sliding on snow.
No one there could afford any costly equipment, so we slid down on
cardboard and sheets of tin. When
we came in after recess, we would be very wet.
Mittens and snow pants were pealed off and if our long brown
stockings were wet, we were allowed to sit on little chairs behind the big
old furnace. There were a few spots behind the furnace where the teacher
couldn't see us. I'm sure we took advantage of that and did our share of
whispering, which was one of the major sins of those days.
Punishment for that crime was to write a page or two of "I will
not whisper in school." I really doubt the punishment did any good.
It didn't for me, anyway, because I liked to write, so I would do a
page full in my best writing and didn't mind it a bit.
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On
the half-mile walk to and from school, we had to cross Pine River Bridge.
It was made of cement and the sides were thick with a wide ledge running up
and over on each side of the bridge. The ledges on the sides were
probably eighteen inches wide. My cousin, who is a year younger than
I, could
get up on the ledge and walk across to the other side of the river.
It still gives me shudders to think of him walking on that ledge far
above the river below. It made my hands sweat to even write about it.
I'm sure his parents never knew he did that, and I'm sure I never
told.
Our
school did not have running water so the pump out in front was the source of
our drinks. When I first went
to school I think we had a pail and dipper.
Later water was piped in and the drinking fountain was a favorite
spot after outside play.
I
believe I was in the fifth grade when the little township schools
consolidated. After that we had
busses to ride to Pine River.
I
always felt the school library failed to meet my hungry appetite for books,
books and more books, but I’m glad I went to a one-room country school. |
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2001
Conference Set for CMU Campus
Central
Michigan University, in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, is the site for the
MORSA 2001 Conference. The date will again be the second
Friday of the month, May 11, 2001.
CMU's
restored schoolhouse, the 1901 Bohannon School, now called the
Gerald Poor School Museum, will be available for tours during the
conference and will also be the focus of a breakout session.
CMU
is particularly appropriate for the conference. Mt. Pleasant
was the location of one of the four early "Normal Schools"
in Michigan. Many teachers received their preparation for
one-room school teaching at the CMU Normal School.
Sessions
for the 2001 conference will include a history of CMU's Normal
School as well as tips on finding and preserving authentic artifacts
for restored schoolhouses. Singing, eating, laughing, and
reminiscing will once again be an important part of the day.
Look
for further details and registration guidelines in the Spring 2001
issue of The Slate.
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MORSA
Website Updated
The
Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association website is in the process of being updated to include more recent
articles, new board members and new officers for the 2000-2001
session.
The
MORSA website was originally designed and currently maintained by
Calypso Holdings, Incorporated with offices in Chicago, Illinois.
The
site makes MORSA much more ‘visible’ to one-room schoolhouse
enthusiasts, wherever they may live.
Visit
our website, if you haven’t already. Forward your comments
and suggestions to help with future updates.
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USA
Today Spotlights
Historic School Buildings
The
national newspaper USA Today carried a story headlined "Don't
Abandon Historic Schools" in its September 7, 2000, issue.
This same article can also be found (starting on pg. 3) in
this issue for your review.
The
article by Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic
Preservation, focuses on city school buildings built in the years
1900 to 1930. Moe
urges communities to maintain these buildings and continue to use
them.
"America's
historic schools are being abandoned and demolished at an alarming
rate," Moe claims.
He suggests that new uses be found for the buildings to keep
them alive and fully functional educational facilities and important
anchors to surrounding communities.
MORSA
commends the National Trust for speaking out on this topic.
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Conference
Topics Discussed
Board members, at their recent
Mt. Pleasant meeting, discussed topics for the Spring 2001
conference. The
membership seems to enjoy certain sessions year after year (e.g.
Memories & Reminiscences, Restoration Funding - Planning). The board also wishes, however, to explore new topics of
interest. New topics
likely to be presented at the next conference are:
- Country Normal Schools
- Conservation
of Artifacts
- Finishing
Touches (finer points of renovation projects)
Some
conference attendees offered suggestions after last year’s
conference. If you
have additional ideas, now is the time to let us know.
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Mt.
Pleasant Accommodations – Say ‘WOW’
Mount Pleasant is a popular destination for vacationers, visitors to
the Central Michigan University and those bound for the Soaring
Eagle Resort.
Restaurants and room accommodations will be listed in
the Conference 2001 issue of The Slate.
However, those who like to plan and make arrangements
early can contact the Mt. Pleasant Area Convention and Visitor’s
Bureau and request a ‘WOW information packet.
Call toll free 1-800-772-4433.
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Statewide
Survey Continues
The statewide survey, sponsored
by MORSA, continues as additional listings filter in. At
present, 568 Survey II forms have been received.
An
updated copy of the survey is provided in this Slate. The form
now asks for the township the school exists in. Suzanne Daniel
compiles the data and says this will help locate the schools.
Sue will assemble
a list that can be used by those wishing to visit the schools
currently functioning as museums. The list will highlight
their current uses as follows:
-
Schools displaying historic local or county exhibits.
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Schools exhibited & furnished as a period
one-room school
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Schools used in a ‘Day in a one-room school’
program
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Schools functioning as libraries.
Please
forward surveys for schools in your area. Contact Sue Daniel
c/o Greenmeade, Livonia, MI if you are inquiring whether a school has already been listed or
if you have other questions. Schoolhouse
Survey II
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Don’t
Abandon Historic Schools
by
Richard Moe
Over
the years, thousands of sound handsome houses, grand railroad
stations, fantastic movie palaces, monumental courthouses and city
halls have been smashed to rubble and hauled off to the land fill in
the name of ‘progress’. Now there’s a new addition to
this tragic roster: historic neighborhood schools.
In
Corning, New York, three schools, all important neighborhood
centerpieces, probably will be abandoned when a new facility is
built five miles out of town near a proposed Wal-mart. In
Santa Fe, New Mexico, four schools designed by noted local architect
John Gaw Meen, face likely abandonment and demolition in the wake of
their designation as ‘amenity challenged’.
In
seven counties surrounding Detroit, communities closed 120 existing
schools between 1980 and 1990, while building 212 new schools in the
suburbs. And in Billings, Montana, the historic Broadwater
School, a beloved landmark since 1909, is threatened by deferred
maintenance and a state administration policy that caps funding for
schools in urban areas.
It’s
the same old story in dozens of other U.S. communities:
Because of inadequate maintenance budgets, sprawl-promoting
state-education policies, inflexible enforcement of building safety
codes, development pressures and new mega schools, America’s
historic schools are being abandoned and demolished at an alarming
rate.
Too
often, the chief threat is funding policies that favor new
construction over rehabilitation. In Corning, for example,
construction of a new school is driven by the fact that New York’s
education department doesn’t fund routine repairs, renovation and
maintenance, but does support projects that meet guidelines – such
as minimum acreage and classroom size – that are out of most older
school’s reach.
But
the policies that encourage bigger consolidated facilities ignore
such studies as the one last year in Georgia that found the gap in
academic achievement between poor and affluent schools was less
pronounced in smaller facilities than in mega schools.
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More
is lost than the buildings. These schools are not only
architectural landmarks, but also community anchors. For
generations of Americans, the very definition of ‘neighborhood’
was founded on the time-honored triumvirate of home, church and
school – all standing in walkable proximity as bulwarks of
security, stability and continuity. New subdivisions need
schools, of course, and no one is arguing that they shouldn’t be
built. But older neighborhoods need them, too, particularly if
they’re to have any hope of attracting and retaining the
middle-class residents whose presence is a key to sustaining
livability.
With
sensible renovation and adequate maintenance, older schools can
provide first-class modern classrooms. It makes no sense to
sacrifice sound historic school buildings – and the sense of
community they foster – for huge, impersonal new schools that are
too remote to have any meaningful connection to the community where
the students live.
Instead
of tossing historic schools aside like yesterday’s newspaper, we
should try to keep them alive as functional, top-of-the-line parts
of our educational system.
State
education departments should revise their funding formulas to make
it easier to maintain and upgrade existing schools. Local
officials should adopt school-siting policies that support
communities’ overall plans for growth, development and
revitalization instead of promoting ‘school sprawl.’ And
we all should be aware of the importance of promoting close physical
ties between schools and communities instead of condemning students
to asphalt-moated isolation on the outskirts of town.
Education
ought to be about good stewardship, not wastefulness – and about
renewing and strengthening communities, not ripping their hearts
out.
Richard
Moe is president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Article reprinted from USA Today,
September 7, 2000 issue, pg. 19A.
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Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association
2000/2001
Board of Directors
Steve
Rossio, President
Irving Frost, Treasurer
Suzanne Daniel, Secretary
Richard Cripe, member
Warren J. Lawrence, member
Rochelle Balkam, member
Yvonne Hafner, member
Jo Johnson, member
Linda Chapman, member
Archived
Issues:
Volume V Number II
Volume VII Number I
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The
Slate
newsletter
Frederick
T. Cordts, The Slate
Editor
Hannah Geddes Wright, The
Slate Associate
Editor
Membership:
Membership dues for 1999-2000:
$10 Senior (age 62+) or Student,
$15 Individual, $25 Organization, $100 Life.
All members receive The Slate newsletter twice a year.
Mailing
address:
Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association
c/o: Greenmead
20501 Newburgh Road; Livonia, Michigan 48152-1098
Attention:
Suzanne Daniel, Secretary Schoolhouse
Survey II |
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