| 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.
Knowledge of District #7 in the Town of Pewaukee dates to September 1867 when area residents elected district officers and voted to raise $170 for a school. The school was a frame structure located in Section 10. In April 1874, residents approved the construction of the subject school by a vote of 31 to 13. During late 1800s and early 1900s, attendance averaged between twenty-five and thirty-five students between the ages of four and fourteen. Students were divided into three levels with those under nine in the lower form, those aged nine to twelve in the middle form and those above thirteen in the upper form. Typical instruction included reading, language, spelling, penmanship, arithmetic, geography, physiology and U.S. history. Teachers rotated frequently with Amy Honayager (1924-1928) serving one of the longer tenures.
The district allocated funds in 1886 to construct a coal shed and, by 1893, the school possessed maps, a blackboard and desks. A "tower bell" was installed in 1904. In 1918, District #7 residents voted to adopt the name "Unionville School." By this time, music, drawing, algebra and bookkeeping had been added to the curriculum. District, county or state officials inspected the building every year where they made an account of items at the school and their condition. According to the 1916 report, the school possessed a coal shed and two privies, 110 library books and twenty-four students. The teacher made $50 per month and the school was found to be "in a satisfactory condition in most respects." The results of the reports changed little throughout the 1920s except for an increase in the number of library books and teacher salary. Comments were brief, if any, and the most interesting one dates to 1930 when it was cited that "playground equipment would add a great deal toward pupils' interest." A concrete-block addition appears to have been added to the rear of the school in the 1940s or 1950s. Enrollment remained in the low-to-mid thirties until at least 1957. In 1962, Unionville District #7 was closed and its thirteen students were shifted to the Village of Pewaukee School District. The building was sold to the Salem Church of Christ. Since that time, the building has housed a number of businesses and the large building attached to the rear facade was built in 1984. It lost its belltower sometime after 1980.
Resurveyed in 2011 as part of Capitol Drive Reconstruction Architecture/History Survey, WisDOT2025-15-00, Prepared by Heritage Research (2011). DOE prepared by Heritage Research (2011).
Rising from a quarried stone foundation, this one-story, front-gabled, brick, former one-room school features a pair of
doors on its main (north) facade. The roof is underscored by a plain board cornice. Served by a facade-length, concrete
stoop, each doorway is defined by a raised segmental-arched window hood. The modern doors are topped with an
original, three-light recessed transom. Positioned near the center of the facade is a stone inset that is within a raised brick
surround and inscribed with "DIST NO. 7, 1874". An oculus window set within a raised soldier-brick surround is located
at the top of the gabled peak. Each of the sidewalls includes three large, regularly placed segmentally arched window
openings. The windows are six-over-six, double-hung sashes protected by four-pane wooden storm windows. A circa-
1950s, one-story, flat-roof addition connects the rear (south) gabled endwall to a large, modern, two-story, brick building
topped with a Mansard roof.
District #7/Unionville School was built in 1874 was one of eight rural schools in the former Town of Pewaukee. It served
as a school until 1962. It recently housed an insurance agent and the building is currently for sale.
Records for much of the school's history are maintained at the Waukesha County Historical Society. Further work is needed to
thoroughly review this material in order to fully develop the history of this school and understand its educational role in
the Town of Pewaukee. Architecturally, this vintage 1874, one-room school displays good integrity and its two front
doors suggests that it is of the type originally designed for boys and girls to have separate entrances. It is attached to a
much larger modern building by a circa-1950s addition to the school. Additional research is needed to place this school in
context to similar structures that may remain in the historic Town of Pewaukee. |
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