This building, built as a high school but used for grade school by the time I knew it, was built in 1917 and, it turns out, this is the building that was burned out when a disgruntled student set fire to it in May 1972. I really needed to get that straight in my head.
I went to fourth and fifth grades here; Mrs. Schoenick's room was in the upper left, and Mrs Roenz's room was in the lower right, although this may be a false memory again, because I seem to remember windows in her room, and there aren't any, according to the photo.
I watched the school burn on the morning of May 24th, after a friend of mine, who lived on the hill overlooking it, phoned to tell me it was on fire. Just about the whole town was there. Must've annoyed the hell out of the firefighters. And along with all the rest of the kids in town, I picked through the building's smoldering remains in the weeks following the fire.
Page maintained by Dave Okonski :: last update 7 March 2004