NEWSLETTER
of the North Manchester Historical Society, Inc.
Volume XXIV    Number 4     November 2007

North Ward Elementary School: The “Training School”

by Jo Ann Schall

From its beginning in 1889, Manchester College has prepared teachers for the nation’s public schools.  Its first efforts centered on preparing eighth grade graduates for teaching in rural and small town schools, with 12-week summer courses in Manchester’s Normal School. The summer Normal School was quite popular, drawing as many as 534 students to campus by summer, 1927.

And from its beginning, the College and the North Manchester schools worked together to ensure that prospective teachers had observations and hands-on experiences with school children. In 1908, that collaboration suddenly intensified.  The Indiana State Teacher Training Board informed the College that it would have to have its own elementary school on campus to retain state approval for its teacher preparation program.  According to the January 9, 1908 North Manchester Journal, Professor Crouch from the College met with the local school board at City Hall with a proposal.  If part of grades one through four could be transferred from the Central Ward building, along with two teachers, the College would provide suitable rooms and adequate equipment for them on the College grounds.  The College would form a model Training School, demonstrating excellent teaching for the students and community and meeting State requirements for the College’s teacher education program.

Fortunately for the College, the school board was struggling with overcrowded schools and the proposal appeared to be a good solution to its problem.  On January 16, 1908, The North Manchester Journal reported that the school board and College had entered into a contract.  The College would provide two appropriate elementary school classrooms and supplies for them, the school corporation would provide two teachers, parents could decide whether to send their children to this new school, and enrollment would be restricted to 15 children in each of grades 1-4, with the new school under the supervision of the town’s superintendent of schools.  The contract was to be good for three years, with a possible extension of two more years.

After the contract was signed, the College moved ahead with all due speed.  Two classrooms were fitted out in College Hall (Bumgerdner Hall), at the east end of the present Administration Building.  Many Normal School students were on Manchester’s campus by the mid-term opening of classes on April 13, with others joining them at the beginning of the 12 week Normal Summer School session on May 26.  They soon had access to students in the new Training School, which opened on June 10, 1908. 

The new school was to be open for 48 weeks each year.  It’s unclear how long that rigorous schedule survived, but an advertisement in the May 15, 1913 North Manchester Journal recruited Summer Normal School students with the promise of work with children in the Training School.  There didn’t seem to be any recruitment for these children, so they may have been continuing their 48 weeks of study.   Parents were pleased to have their children out of the basement of the Central Ward Building and taught by teachers who were graduates of the State Normal School at Terre Haute.  Teachers seeking licenses were pleased to observe in the campus school, then discuss their observations the following day with their professor.  And the College was so pleased to have this unique model school on campus that it featured the school in advertisements for the College.  The state was also pleased; it granted accreditation of all teacher education programs at the College on April 9, 1909.

The new campus school housed two grades in each classroom all through its career.  This gave new teachers a realistic view of classroom management in a pattern that was found in many Hoosier schools at that time.  Manchester College also had a country training school, with grades one through six in a single classroom, from at least 1909 to 1913. Very little information can be found about this school, although the August 25, 1910 Journal listed Miss Muchmore, the teacher at the Country Training School, as one of Chester Township’s teachers for the coming year.  The May 15, 1913 ad mentioned previously said Esther Shively had taught the Country Training School for the preceding three years.  The location of that school is unknown.

New endeavors often require adjustments.  In the second year of its existence, the Training School offered a class for grade 6-7 students at the Central Ward Building, located where the present town library stands, in addition to its on-campus Training School.  This arrangement appeared to last for just the one school year.  In the September 8, 1910 North Manchester Journal, new boundaries were drawn for North Manchester’s schools, and students north of a particular line were now required to attend the North Ward School, the new name for the College Training School.  By Fall 1911, and perhaps a year earlier, there were three elementary classrooms on the College campus, housing grades 1-6.  The grade 1-6 pattern continued until the school closed.

Manchester College: The First Seventy-Five Years included a 1912 letter from Charles Greathouse, following a visit from state inspectors from the Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction.   They were impressed with what they saw at Manchester College, writing that “Adequate courses of study are being carried out in the educational department, complete records of students are on file, training schools both town and country under good supervision are being maintained, and the letter and spirit of the law are being complied with.” 

The town of North Manchester still had crowded schools, in spite of the relief the North Ward School provided.  In the fall of 1912, the Central School Building housed grades 1-4 and 7-12.  Grade 1-6 students were also taught at the West Ward and North Ward schools, according to the September 5, 1912 Journal.  In the fall of 1915, Central had just grades 1–2 and 7–12, with the other two elementary schools continuing to serve grades 1-6.  (Journal, August 12, 1915)

It’s unclear as to when or how the 48-week Training School schedule was carried out.  There was a June 3, 1915 North Manchester News notice of a summer school for children at the College, with classes for grades 1, 2, 5, and 6 meeting for three weeks and grades 3, 4, 7, and 8 meeting for the following three weeks.  The ad seems to be recruiting new students for the summer school.  During the following summers, summer school was held most, if not all, years.  It took place in varying configurations – sometimes for just grades 1-3, other times for all students through the 8^th grade, sometimes for as little as two weeks, other times for as many as six weeks.  But one thing didn’t vary; growing numbers of Normal School students used the summer school heavily for the observation and practice teaching required by the College and State.  Smaller numbers of pre-service teachers who studied during the College year used North Ward classrooms in a similar way.

Events at North Ward were so unremarkable that the chatty local papers rarely mentioned the school.  The February 20, 1916 North Manchester News reported that North Ward (only) was closed for two weeks because of the number of cases of scarlet fever in the north end of town.  The children were quarantined, along with their mothers, while the three school rooms were fumigated. The October 7, 1918 North Manchester News indicated that all schools in town were closed for four weeks because of the flu epidemic that swept across the state; three College students died, but apparently all younger students survived.  And a November 15, 1919 journal entry in the College’s yearbook, Aurora, said there had been a “wholesale whipping in the Training School,” with no cause mentioned.  Perhaps the new teachers were learning discipline techniques?

North Ward was clearly integrated into the public schools in town.  Its teachers used the State curriculum and the State-approved textbooks, just as the other schools did.  Teachers hired by the North Manchester Schools circulated between all of the schools to teach music and art.  Local newspapers listed its teachers each fall, along with the list of teachers in the other public schools.  1923 News Journal articles tell of field days between the three elementary schools, North Ward, West Ward, and Central.  However, enrollment between the three schools differed.  In 1922 North Ward had 83 elementary students, West Ward had 147, and Central had 29 (only first and second grades met at Central that year, along with grades 7-12). 

One notable event did occur at North Ward.  During 1920, workers attached the two original Manchester College buildings, the 1889 College or Bumgerdner Hall and the 1896 Bible Building, to form a large administration and classroom building.  The September 2, 1920 North Manchester News said the Training School and the College Academy (a high school sponsored by the College) would be moved out of this building and into the 1915 Science Hall.  This move likely occurred in the fall of 1920, although the first printed confirmation of the move came in a 1921-22 College Bulletin.  Its description of College buildings added the information that the chemistry department met in the basement of the Science Hall, “Training Rooms” were on the second floor, and the Academy was on the third and fourth floors.  People who studied in this building in the early grades remember a playground at the north side of the building, complete with a slide and swings and “a forest” on beyond.  They also indicated that the southeast classroom of the Science Building housed the first and second grade, the third and fourth grades met in the southwest classroom, and the fifth and sixth grades had classes in the northwest classroom.  The northeast classroom was remembered as the music room.  Each room was appropriately furnished with school desks, with small chairs for recitation between those desks and the front chalk boards.  One former student remembers tables instead of desks in the first and second grade classroom.

North Manchester was growing and there was construction all around town in the mid-1920’s.  In February of 1926, a new 12-grade Central School was completed after the old one had basically been condemned by the State.  The January 31, 1927 News Journal pointed out that the College was growing, too, and it needed all the rooms on campus for its expanding enrollment and programs.  The January 19, 1928 News Journal was even more to the point: “…while the College has no disposition to force the school from its buildings, yet it is generally understood that it would be agreeable to have them removed, and at the same time there are a great many patrons who feel that their children could be better served in a building separate and away from the College grounds.  Under the new arrangement the College would continue to pay a part of the teaching expense, using the (new) school for training teachers much as in the past.”

In 1929 a new elementary school was built for North Manchester’s children.  Thomas Marshall, said to be named by the North Ward students, opened in September 1929 and took in all former North Ward and Central School elementary students.  Manchester College Bulletins had listed the North Ward teachers as members of the Education Department faculty for years; now they listed many of the teachers in North Manchester.  According to the May 28, 1931 News Journal, Manchester College paid $5000 a year to the North Manchester schools and to some individual teachers, for their work with the College pre-service teachers, a practice also reported in the May 2, 1932 North Manchester News..  The College students still used the town schools heavily for both observation and practice teaching, although after a few years the long lists of teachers in the Manchester College Bulletin stopped.  Most likely, College financial support for the Manchester schools stopped at about the same time.

 Manchester College still needed practice experiences for the summer Normal School students, and so the College continued funding and administering summer schools for local children, even after the North Ward School was closed in 1929. These summer schools were generally five weeks long.  The May 20, 1937 News Journal indicated that the 1937 summer school at Thomas Marshall was for grades 1 – 8 and was administered and supervised by three local teachers employed by the College, although it was actually taught by 20 practice teachers studying at the College. 

The last College-sponsored summer school took place at Thomas Marshall during the summer of 1939, with 138 children enrolled and 16 Normal School student teachers handling their morning-only classes.  Twenty-six four and five year-olds attended a Bible School at Thomas Marshall at the same time, taught by the town’s Ministerial Association.  At this point, the State ended teacher licensing through Normal Schools and people who aspired to be teachers had to enroll as regular college students for at least two years.  Manchester College’s need for summer school classes for practice teaching ended, resulting in the closing of these schools.

On October 6, 2007, a reunion was held in the 1915 Science Hall, formerly the North Ward School and now the College’s Communication Building, to be razed in 2008.  Six people who had studied at North Ward as children attended the reunion.  They were delighted to see each other, reminisced about old school mates and teachers, and expressed their appreciation for their elementary school years on Manchester’s Campus in the Training School / North Ward School.  While records are incomplete at best, North Ward served children and new teachers for 21 years.   Summer schools continued the training school tradition for another 10 years.  Perhaps this article and the more extensive notes which underlie it will help those days to be remembered.

Jo Ann Schall, November 7, 2007

Sources Used:

Aurora 1913 -1932

A Century of Faith, Learning, and Service.  Timothy K. Jones.  Manchester College, 1989.

Manchester College Bulletin (College Catalog), 1895 – 1931

Manchester College: the First Seventy-five Years.  Ira Frantz, Ed.  Brethren Press, Elgin, Ill. 1964

Memories of Manchester.  Otho Winger. Elgin Press, Elgin, Ill. 1940

North Manchester Journal 1880 – 1916

North Manchester News 1913 – 1920

North Manchester News Journal 1920 – 1940

Oak Leaves 1913 - 1926

Tales of the Old Days.  W. E. Billings.  News Journal, North Manchester, IN, 1926.

Interview: Mary Kathryn Fish Uhrig, October 30, 2007

Interview: Ruth Weaver Tully, October 26, 2007

Appendix:

Teachers at the North Ward School / Manchester College Training School: (Incomplete List)

1908-09:  Dora Bell Damion, grades 1-2, Minnie Marshall, grades 3-4

            Alice Woody, grades 1-2, Bessie Sims, grades 3-4 (both at Central Ward Building?)

1909-10:  Elizabeth Frank, grades 1-2, Minnie Marshall, Grades 3-4, Ethel Perkins, grades 6-7 at

            Central Ward Building, Esther Shively, Country Training School

1910-11:  Joy Muchmore, Country Training School

1911-12:  Joy Muchmore, grades 1-2. Martha Hoover, grades 3-4, Blanche Rinehart, principal and grades 5-6      

1912-13:  Nellie McCord, grades 1-2, Martha Hoover, grades 3-4, Blanche Rinehart, principal and

            grades 5-6, Esther Shively, Country Training School

1913-14:  Esther Shively, grades 1-2, Martha Hoover, grades 3-4, Blanche Rinehart, principal and grades 5-6.

1914-15:  Rose Rinehart grades 1-2, Esther Shively principal and grades 3-4, Amza Dunagan, grades 5-6

1915-16:  Rose Rinehart grades 1-2, Esther Shively principal and grades 3-4, Erma Brown, grades 5-6                                          

1916-17:  Rose Rinehart, grades 1-2 (?), Esther Shively principal and grades 3-4, Erma Brown,  grades 5-6

1917-18:  Agnes Kessler, grades 1-2, Hazel David, principal and grades 3-4, Grace Murray, grades 5-6      

1918-19:  Wilma Bollinger,

1919-20:  Wilma Bolinger, grades 1-2, Anna Boyd, grades 3-4, Brilliana Dinier principal and grades 5-6

1920-21:  Wilma Bolinger, grades 1-2, Anna Boyd, grades 3-4, Lillian Dinius, principal and Grades 5-6

1921-22:  Anna Boyd, grades 1-2, Agnes Kessler, grades 3-4, Grace DeLay, principal and grades 5-6

1922-23:  Ruth Forney, grades 1-2, Agnes Kessler, grades 3-4, Grace DeLay or Anna Boyd (?)

1923-24:  Edith Dresher, grades 1-2, Agnes Kessler, grades 3-4, E.H. Winegarner, principal and grades 5-6

1924-25:  Edith Dresher, grades 1-2, Agnes Kessler, grades 3-4, E.H. Winegarner, principal and grades 5-6

1925-26:  Edith Dresher, grades 1-2, Olive Bagwell, grades 3-4, Kenneth Burr, principal and grades 5-6

1926-27:  Edith Dresher, grades 1-2, Olive Bagwell, grades 3-4, Kenneth Burr, principal and grades 5-6

1927-28:  Edith Dresher, grades 1-2, Olive Bagwell, grades 3-4, Kenneth Burr, principal and  grades 5-6

1928-29:  Edith Dresher, grades 1-2, Olive Bagwell, grades 3-4, Kenneth Burr, principal and grades 5-6

Summer School Teachers, As Listed by Local Newspapers:

1915:  Rose Rinehart, grades 1-2, 5-6 and Esther Shively, grades 3-4, 7-8

1917:  Agnes Kessler, grades 1-3

!918:

1919:

1921:  Mrs. Pointer and Miss Tyner, grades 1-3

1922:  Agnes Kessler and Helen Tyner, grades 1-6

1926:  Grades 1-7

1927:  Grades 1-7

1928:   Edith Dresher, grades 1-2 and Olive Bagwell grades 3-4 at North Ward

            Miss Davis, grades 1-2, Agnes Kessler, grades 3-4, Kenneth Burr, grades 5-6,

            Burke Miller, grades 7-8, and Warner Ogden and Leigh Freed, high school, all at Central

1929:  Miss Bagwell and Miss Johnson, grades 1-4 at Thomas Marshall

            Burke Miller and Kenneth Miller, grades 1-8 at Central

1930:  Kenneth Burr, Norma Blue, Olive Bagwell, grades 1-9

1931:  Kenneth Burr, Ruth Bane, and Edith Dresher, grades 1-9

1932:  Ruth Brane grades 1-3, Kenneth Burr grades 4-6, Louise Dingle grades 7-9, and Mildred

            Meyer and Mignon Anderson for pre-school.

1933:  Kenneth Burr and Edith Dresher, grades 1-8

1934:  Kenneth Burr and Edith Dresher, grades preschool-8

1935:  Kenneth Burr and Ruth Brane, grades preschool-7

1936: Kenneth Burr and Edith Dresher, grades 1-7

1936:  Kenneth Burr and Edith Dresher, grades 1-7

1937:  Kenneth Burr, Minnie Smith, Ruth Brane, grades 1-8

1938:  Ruth Brane and Edith Dresher, grades 1-6   Preschool Bible School

1939:  Minnie Smith and Ruth Brane, grades 1-6   Preschool Bible School

 Brooks & Jefferson continued

114 West Man St. - The current address for this building is 112 West Main Street, on the west side of the alley. Levi S. Renicker was the builder and the original owner and, we believe, was a farm implement dealer. Later, Hines Farm Equipment, owned by Asa C. Hines, was here. This was an International Harvester truck and McCormick farm equipment store and we found ads as early as 1936. On September 8, 1938 Mr. Hines sold his stock and rented this building to Alvin Bolinger. No address was given. Alvin opened Bolinger Farm Equipment Monday, September 12, 1938. Bolinger moved to East Main St. as advertised that he was there in 1940.

Asa C. Hines and George Musser advertised "The Skate" - a roller skating rink - in an ad dated October 31, 1940. Arthur Henckel moved Hopkins-West Furniture Company to the "Old Syracuse" building, which was located in the west end of North Manchester on March 2, 1943. He kept the Hopkins-West Furniture Company, which still appears across the top of the old building. Then on June 2, 1943 Henckel bought this building from Mr. Hines and moved his manufacturing here. We have no further record of Henckel.
 

The News Journal moved to this location in July 1944 and remained here the rest of the century. We learned that they have moved to 118 North Walnut Street at the turn of the century.
 

116 West Main St. - This location, now 114 West Main Street, was the home of the Lutheran minister Homer Ogle and his family until 1949 - when a new parsonage was built where the Young Hotel had been located before it burned. Dr. Eugene Cook's office occupied this residence in the 1950s.
 

202 West Main St. - This was a private residence. An ad dated March 14, 1940 advertised Fultz Hat & Dress Shop. In the late 1940s, Hackett Brothers Inc. machine tools business, owned by Harry Hackett and Tom Hackett, was at this location.
 

204 West Main St. - The Andrew Carnegie Public Library was built and opened at this location in April of 1912. This was the location of the public library for many years made possible by its namesake, Andrew Carnegie. Marie Creager was the librarian during our period of study. Her faithful assistant for many years was Catherine Delk. At this writing, offices occupy the building, but the integrity of the outside structure has been maintained.

Corner of Main and Maple Streets - We are told that Reed Bright had a used car lot at this location in the 1930s.

308 West Main St. - Harold F. Goff had a grand opening for his Cities Service Station on Saturday December 9, 1950. We think this is probably one and the same location as the last location at the corner of Main and Maple Streets, but we are not sure.

408 West Main St. -Switzer's Filling Station advertised here on June 29, 1933 that they were changing to Texaco.

502 West Main St. - Finnell Oil Station advertised in June of 1932 at this address.

504 West Main St. - church of the Nazarene build a new church at this location. Dedication of the new church was on Sunday December, 1942. Originally, the church reportedly used the old frame Lutheran Church building that had been moved here, but we have not been able to confirm this.

602 West Main St. - The newspaper often called buildings by their owner's names rather than give an address. They called this building "The Mrs. Ella Krisher Building." As early as 1930, we find North Manchester Hatchery, owned by D.A. Baumgartner, at this address in an ad in the high school annual. According to an article in the News Journal dated April 11, 1932, Mr. Baumgartner was killed in a fire at the store and his son, Herbert H. Baumgartner, took over. We think the son moved the hatchery a couple of doors down to 606 West Main Street after the fire, even though ads in the Manchester College Aurora continued to show 602 West Main Street but wrong addresses persisting for years we found not unusual.

Taylor and Johnson had a grocery store at this address after North Manchester Hatchery moved. One of the authors is reasonably certain that this Harold Johnson is the same person that later on worked for many years as a butcher at the Lautzenhiser Grocery. Then a May 30, 1935 ad announced a new food market here owned by Charles A. Hutchinson, with Harold Johnson as meat cutter. Hutchinson moved a few doors down to 608 West Main Street in 1941 and we think this address may have been vacant for several years.

In ads on November 14, 1946 and January 8, 1948 Frank Bonewitz listed Bonewitz Service Store at this address, so we assume he sold the store on Wayne Street in late 1947 or early 1948. An article in the News Journal reported that Frank sold this store on Saturday August 12, 1950 to Kenneth Sheffler. It also said that Sheffler would probably close the store.

604 West Main St. - Sheller Restaurant, owned by Ernie L. Sheller, was here before the start of our study in 1930. It carried the name Sheller Restaurant in ads as late as 1943. We found nothing for this address in 1944 through early 1947 and believe it was vacant then. Sam Amberg ran an ad for the restaurant on June 26, 1947 and owned it until 1950. For a period of time, Sam owned this restaurant as well as the one at 901 West Main Street. He managed one restaurant and his wife managed the other. On July 3, 1950 Thelma and Lloyd Smerlser, husband and wife, advertised their restaurant as Butch's Cafe, formerly Sam's. They operated this restaurant into the 1950s.

The Vandalia station was indicated just west of 604 West Main Street, so we will place it here, but it should be noted that it would have to have been beyond 606-8-10 and set back from Main Street and next to the east edge of the tracks. We found it interesting, the Sheller Restaurant, at 604 West Main Street, have a ticket they handed out to their customers titled "Pee Ticket." It said "Good for one stop when presented to the driver." The ticket had several options to check, including one for Sheller's Restaurant. The station was set back at least 100 feet from Main Street in what was called Vandalia Park, which was on the east side of the tracks that crossed Main Street at the northeast corner of Washington and Main Streets. The park would have been west of Buffalo Street and occupied a portion of the block to the west of the businesses, between Buffalo and Washington Streets, in the shape of a triangle formed by the railroad tracks.

606 West Main St. - We believe Dr. John Martin had a veterinary office, specializing in farm animals, here in 1932. Donald Sheak advertised at this address on March 16, 1936, as Sheak Accessory co. H.H. Baumgartner moved North Manchester Hatchery here from 602 West Main Street around 1937. An October 28, 1937 ad used the name Armour Creameries, Quality Egg Producers, and listed Mr. Baumgartner as supervisor.

A News Journal article dated July 14, 1938 reported that Mr. Baumgartner sold his interest in North Manchester hatchery. The egg-shipping portion was sold to Fred E. McClure, which he continued at his own store. Baumgartner's former partner, Noah Stukey, continued the hatchery business at this address as Manchester Hatchery & Supply, Inc., with Earl Hinkle manager. In an ad dated March 3, 1949, the name changed again to Manchester Hatchery and listed owners Earl Hinkle and Earl Brandt. Ads dated November 21, 1949 and January 5, 1950 are for Herman Harrison Martin Hatchery & Feeds. Beyond our time frame, a person by the name of Stucker operated a shoe store here.