website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
The
“Old School”
1879
The 1879 brick “old
school” building, specifically designed for and dedicated to schooling, was
built on the southwest corner Third and Cady of the “Church Block.”
This then new structure
was a four classroom school and would serve the parish until the summer of 1952
when it was razed to make way for the existing school building.
When the parish built the
splendid school in 1879, it was a majestic masterpiece of architecture devoted
to the education of the youth of the parish.
The fact that so much money and
care was lavished on this building for the secular and religious education of
its youth was proof that the parish understood the value of the parish school
for its religious life at the time and for the future.
The 1879 building had only four
large classrooms, two on each of the two stories of the school.
When this building was
demolished in 1952, it was found that the floor between the first and second
stories actually consisted of four separate floors and between two of the
floors there was a heavy layer of plaster to help dampen sound from moving from
one floor to the other.
Classes ranging from the German
catechism to embroidery were taught by the sisters.
Yet some things never
change. Then, even as now, a lad would
be asked as to what his favorite class was and he’d be sure to answer
“recess.”
Near the school entrance, along the hall leading from the
school to the convent, the sisters would sell sweets for a penny each to the
students at recess.
By 1883, four years after the
school opened, the enrollment was about 200 children. In 1894 an eighth grade was added, one boy
and three girls composing the class.
A residence for the sisters was
added to the north side of the school building a few years after 1883, during
the pastorate of Father Kampschroer.
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Watertown Republican, 03 07 1877
Last Wednesday
night three or four tramps took possession of the school house of the German Catholic
Sisterhood in the 2nd ward and proceeded to make their situation as comfortable
as possible by building a red hot fire in the stove and piling wood around it
to prepare it for future use.
The smell of smoke
about the premises bore evidence of danger, and some parties connected with the
school looked in upon the scene to find the wood surrounding the stove on fire,
and all the tramps sank away in the arms of Morpheus.
Marshall Cunningham
was sent for to come to the rescue and the tramps were taken to the lock-up.
The next day Justice Baird attended to their case and sentenced the batch to
the County Jail.
[ This school
building was built only 8 years earlier, in 1879 ]
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A 1905 eighth grade class report card was typically composed of the following
criteria on which a student was evaluated:
Church Attend-ance, School Attendance,
Catechism, Church Bible History, English Reading, German Reading, U.S. History,
Physiology, Geography, Grammar, Arith-metic, Civil
Government, Composition, Penman-ship, Spelling, Drawing, Bookkeeping, Home
Tasks, and Deportment.
________________________________
The
times were such that many were not able to participate in the middle-class
benefits of society, and numerous “bums” or “tramps” would frequently stop by
the parish and would be fed by the sisters at a picnic table located near their
grape-laden arbor between the sister’s house and the old hall.
1890 School, 11 years after its construction
One
of two 1890 class pictures showing portions of student body.
The
SSND teacher on the right is most likely a “sister candidate.”
