Property Record
3881 TIMBER LN
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Cleveland School |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 4796 |
| Location (Address): | 3881 TIMBER LN |
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| County: | Dane |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Cross Plains |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | 7 |
| Range: | 7 |
| Direction: | E |
| Section: | 24 |
| Quarter Section: | SE |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: | NE |
| Year Built: | 1871 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1977 |
| Historic Use: | one to six room school |
| Architectural Style: | Other Vernacular |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Stone - Unspecified |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. At the time the school was built, Timber Lane was called Cleveland Road. Operated as a school from 1871 to 1942 and again from 1948 until 1955. It has since been converted into a residence. Old school records for the Cleveland School, named for the Cleveland family from which the school property was obtained, only date from 1867, though an earlier log cabin building is known to have been constructed in the same area and used as a school. The present building was erected in 1870-1871 for about $875.26. Much of the labor cost covered hauling the stone employed for the exterior of the building (The nails for the project cost $3.50 for 50 lbs., the masonry work cost $35.00 and the lumber ran $305.50.). Two entry doors, both on the same side of the school, led to a small vestibule area where students stored their coats and belongings. From there they climbed a set of stairs to a wood-floored room with a blackboard covering the interior wall and multiple windows that provided light on the exterior walls. The school originally had no indoor plumbing or electricity and was heated with a wood stove. A small woodshed, used for storing the wood consumed at school, stood nearby, and eventually separate outhouses for girls and boys were constructed. Initially, children took turns carrying a milk can of water from a neighboring farm, but much later a local resident was paid $1.00 per week to deliver a fresh can of water every morning for consumption by the students. The Cleveland School, which served students residing in both the Towns of Middleton and Cross Plains, closed in 1942 and remained closed until the fall of 1948. That year residents voted to reopen the school and it operated again until February 1957 when, by a vote of 19-2, it was closed and the school property sold for $900, only a few dollars more than the cost of constructing the school in 1870-71. At the time only eleven students from four families attended the Cleveland School. The school's original boulder exterior is still evident along one interior wall of the present living room addition. The old school has been converted into the kitchen of the current residence. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Town of Cross Plains Architecture and History Inventory. October 2009. Prepared by Mary Jane Hamilton. Vera Riley, Cathy Fjelstad, and Ken Esser. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |