Highlights Archives
Reed School Becomes 10th Historic Site
In the 1940s, the one-room school was still very much a prevalent fixture that characterized Wisconsin's rural landscape, but that would soon change. The 1940s and '50s saw a steady decline in one-room schools as farms grew larger, the number of farm families declined, and schools began to consolidate. But thanks to the generosity and foresight of a former one-room school student, the era of the one-room school will be preserved for current and future generations of elementary school students at Reed School near Neillsville. Gordon Smith of Potomac, Maryland, attended Reed School for just one month in the spring of 1939, but the positive experience he had in that one month stayed with him throughout his life and led to his decision to purchase, restore and donate the former one-room school to the Wisconsin Historical Society as its 10th historic site. He and his wife Helen also funded an endowment to operate and maintain the site.
"Reed School offers the Wisconsin Historical Society an extraordinary opportunity to tell the stories of one-room country schoolhouses that constituted a major part of the Midwest's educational system," said Society Director Ellsworth Brown. "We are truly grateful for Gordon and Helen Smith's magnificent contribution to the people of Wisconsin."
Reed School was built in 1915 in the town of Grant in Clark County and served as a one-room country school through the 1951 school year. The masonry building, with its wood-framed bell tower, replaced a wooden structure that burned in 1914. The school is typical of the more than 6,000 one-room schools that dotted the landscape of rural Wisconsin in the 1930s. The school provided a first- through eighth-grade education in a single classroom with only one teacher. The site brings to life the public school education of rural students in the 1930s and 40s. While the school could represent any time period between its construction in 1915 and its closure in 1951, historic sites planners have decided the school's inaugural year will be interpreted as 1939 — the same year Gordon Smith briefly attended the school. In subsequent years, the interpretive focus may progress into the 1940s, allowing for interpreting rural life during and after the World War II years.
Reed School will be open for pre-scheduled school tours beginning May 14 and will be open free of charge to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends from June 16 through September 30. For more information see Reed School's visitor information page or contact the staff of H.H. Bennett Studio, who will oversee day-to-day managment of the site.
:: Posted February 26, 2007
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