My Old One Room School

[Ray S S]

Here is a photo of one of the one-room schools I went to. I was in the 4th grade here and there was only 3 of us in the
4th. It had KG through fourth. My younger sister is in the center of the front row. That is me right behind her.
The kid standing up next to the teacher was killed on his bike 3 years after this pic was taken.

This school was located on Highway US2 just west of Gulliver In the upper penninsula of Michigan. The last time i was by there was in the early 70's and it was still there.

The next pic is the cover of the folder it came in.

Ray

 

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[seger98]

Cool picture Ray, I take it that's old highway 2?

 

[Ray S S]

seger98, Yup Old highway 2, it heads west from the straits across the penninsula to wisconsin by Ironwood.

The village of Gulliver is about 75 or 80 miles west of the straits.

Ray

 

[seger98]

seger98, Yup Old highway 2, it heads west from the straits across the penninsula to wisconsin by Ironwood.

The village of Gulliver is about 75 or 80 miles west of the straits.

Ray

OK, way over there, was thinking I might have looked it up this summer & do some detedting, but that kinda out of the way, I do alot up around Bruce Crossing!

Chris

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

karenray08,
very nice photo; memories.
Thanks for posting.

Kids look happy

have a good un.......
SHERMANVILLE

 

[River Rat]

Just wish school days were still like this. Thanks for sharing this memorable photo with us, Ray.

RR

 

[done dug it all up]

Neat Stuff.

 

[fossis]

Nice old pictures, my school was similar, but had a big 'cast iron stove' for burning coal, & the seats were older,they had the holes for ink bottles.
The basement had coal stored in it, & we had a big 'oak barrel' for drinking water on the front steps.
I started school in (1949).

Fossis.................

 

[Ray S S]

Hello, Sherman, Yup it was a happy bunch. Everyone got along pretty well. Of course i think they were all related
anyway. LOL Except for my sister and me. We had no reletives in the upper at all. Thanks for your good words.

Hi there RR, It was a good school to attend. And we had a real good teacher. She rarely ever had a problem with
a kid because we all liked her. She had a way about her that made learning easy. Thinking back, I know that she
was one of those teachers that was in it for the love of teaching kids. Thanks.

Don, I wasn't familiar with the name Bruce Crossing either. I always keep an atlass and a Michigan map handy. I
often refer to them. Bruce Crossing is way over under the western side of the Keweenaw Penninsula where 28 crosses
US45 that goes south from Ontanagin.

Done dug it all up, Thanks.

Fossis, This one had what was called an oil Space Heater up in the front of the room. Going into the school from outside,
we passed through a cloak room where we kept our coats and boots. And there was a hand pump with a bucket and a dipper for drinking water. The open archway into the main room was next to the stove. I think that was why the stove was in front instead of the back like most of them.It kept the pump from freezing in the sub zero weather.
These desks were brought in the year before and old ones discarded. The ones they got rid of had those ink wells that you mentioned. I remember we liked these desks cause the top raised up on hinges and had a good storage compartment for books and papers and pencils. Stuff would not fall out. Thanks for your nice reply.

Ray

 

[muleskinner]

Cool picture. Man you must have seensome times the rest of us can only imagine. And that comes from another Michigander. Thanks for sharing.
By the way, what did you kids do for fun back then?

 

[fossis]

Cool picture. Man you must have seensome times the rest of us can only imagine. And that comes from another Michigander. Thanks for sharing.
By the way, what did you kids do for fun back then?

Our school had 'dirt' basketball courts, it was popular even when my Mom went there in the 20's, they had uniforms & all.
We played marbles, girls jumped rope, played 'jacks',we had 'hideouts' in the woods nearby.
we made 'Tomwalkers', (stilts) , got wood from a nearby sawmill, played baseball, spun tops on the concrete steps.
Some brought their bicycles, we never got bored. :P
We used the dirt courts to play 'tackle football' on the weekends.

Fossis................

 

[bbqbull]

Ray, thanks for the photos.
Ive been by that school several times when we were deer hunting at Milikokia Lake, headed west to get parts to fix the radio in Manistique.

 

[Ray S S]

Muleskinner, Until I went to 8th grade none of the schools had any kind of equipment except swings with slidesand monkey bars. For the 8th grade they bussed us into Manistique to the high school which also had the 8th grade. There was a gym
there but 8th graders couldn't use it. That was my first year of getting hot lunch at school. At the time this pic was
taken we lived at the end of a dead-end road about a mile off the highway and in the woods. One of my chores was to keep
the woodbox full for the cookstove. One of those that had a water resiviour on one side and a long warming shelf across the top. Most of my time was spent in the woods with my dog, learning to trail animals, making bows and arrows, sling shots, carving toy guns, and climbing trees. There was a beaver dam there and I'd sneak up close on my belly and watch
the beavers. Also learned how to kill my first porky and snare rabbits, which were both food for the table. That was one of the few places we lived in that had electricity and in evenings we listened to stories like The Lone Ranger, Roy
Rogers, Straight Arrow, Tom Mix, and the Shadow.

When I was 13 years old i started working for the school teacher in Gulliver weeding her flower and vehetable garden.
For about 4 hours a day and 3or 4 days a week. Saved my money and bought a used bike. We had no car so I really was proud of that bike. After I got the bike I could ride into Gulliver and play with the kids there. Done a lot of swimming
and ice skating in winter. When I was 14 I sterted working for our church We had a one room church with metal folding
chairs. It was my job to make sure the floor was swept, the chairs were lined up straight with a hymnbook on every
other chair. I'd ride to the church on my bike before each meeting and get it ready for each service. Besides the
Sunday morning service there was a Midweek prayer service on wednesdays. In colder weather I'd turn up the heat on
the oil space heater so it would be warm for the services. I made a dollar and a quarter a week for doing that.
i was the only one of any of by friends that had a job outside of home and that made me feel pretty good.

Like Fossis, we made stilts too. Then one day I started to see how high I could make them. On the ones that we had,
the blocks were about a foot off the ground. The first high pair had the blocks about 3 feet up. Then I kept raising the
heights until the blocks were about 6 feet above the ground, To get on them, I had to be on a ladder. Then to get
off, I'd just shove outward and drop to the ground. I have a photograph of me on a pair about that high that I made
after we moved down here.


Thanks alot for your interest.

bbqbull, Yup, this school is on the south side of Highway 2 with a building across the road that looks just about like it.
The minister of our church lived there. Two of his daughters are in this pic.
Thanks for looking.


Ray

 

[Monty]

Thanks for the pic. I remember school in my elementary years much like yours. I thought I was an old fart, but you are 4 years older than me! So, Hiya Pops! Monty

 

[Ray S S]

Monty, Hi ya son, long time no see. How ya be?

 

[Monty]

Doing fine. Thinking about getting active in the lodge again now that I have more free time. Monty.

 

[Lowbatts]

Great story, great pic, great life! That's treasure!

 

[Ray S S]

Hello, Monty, that is good to hear, that you are doing fine. And if you are referring to getting active in a Masonic
Lodge again, That would be terrific. Then I'd not only call you son, LOL, I could call you Brother.


Lowbatts, Thank you very much for the complement.

Both of you have a great day.


Ray

 

[Monty]

You can still call me brother once one always one unless you get kicked out, and I haven't, just in arears a few years. I had a spell of really bad health and had to drop out of most everything except staying alive for a few years, but I'm doing well now. Monty

 

[Ray S S]

Brother Monty,

I'm glad you were referring to the Masonic Lodge and not some other lodge like KoC or some other non-related to
masons. I have to leave now, but will send you a PM later.

Ray