Schools

Wilberg School, located in the Southwest corner of the Northwest of Section 12, Thordensjold Township 1900. Back Row: Ovida Hagen Selvig, Henry Hagen, Mathilda Johnson Miller. Melvin Johnson, Augusta Evenson, Emma Baarstad Person, Clara Evenson, Henry Wilberg. Second Row: Oscar Ferguson, Ada Hagen, Melvin Ferguson, Louise Baarstad Wolski, Unknown, Ida Wilberg, Nora Hagen, Bertha Johnson, Martha Wilberg. Third Row (Front): Thorval Selvig, Nettie Johnson, Alfred Hagen, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, Joseph Johnson.

The first school district to organize and build a school building was that of Daily. The petition was submitted and the first meeting of School District # 1 was held April 1, 1879. The petition listed the community as "Yucatan, Dakota Territory."

The second school district organization meeting (that of Valley City) was held June 2, 1879.

The pupils of School District # 1 (Daily) were taught in the attic of the James Daily log house until a school building was erected the following Spring of 1880.

In rapid succession school districts were organized. By May of 1881, there were twelve school districts organized and by May of 1882, there were forty-one school districts organized. Five years later, the eighty-third district was organized. The ninety-ninth school district was organized February 16, 1914.

Over the years there has been a constant re-organization of districts and as conditions have changed, requiring larger and better schools, the one-room rural school has disappeared from the scene. Needless to say, one could not include the history of each school district in a volume of this size. However, a few representative brief histories and/or pictures will be included as follows:

ALTA Organized in 1880, the school was located in Section 19, Alta Township. Alta # 2 was located in Section 29 and in Section 18. Closed in 1963.
ALDERMAN # 78 Organized in 1884, it was originally a native stone building, sometimes called the Longfellow or Eggert School. Closed
BENNETT # 15 Organized May 27, 1881 and located in Section 23, Dazey Township. Closed prior to 1954.
BOWERS # 96 Organized May 6, 1907 and named for John Bowers. Closed in 1957.
BOOTH # 21 Organized October 8, 1881 and named after Albert Booth. Most of the students were his children. Edna Township, Section 29, closed 1954.
FRANKLIN Organized March 5, 1895. Also called Sweetwater, but officially Hemen # 91. Located in Section 11, Heman Township. Closed 1954.
GETCHELL # 6 Organized in 1879 and located in Section 15. Getchell-Whitcher later formed of all schools in Township in 1957. Now closed.
GRAY # 28 Organized January 28, 1882 and located in Section 28, Potter Township. Named for Oliver Gray. Closed in 1958.
GREEN # 40 Organized March 22, 1882 by A. H. Gray and G. B. Green. Absorbed by Gray-Green School # 74.
HOBART # 9 Organized March 1, 1880, one of three schools in Hobart Township.
LEAL # 56 Created in 1895 in Section 20, Edna. Closed in 1963.
RIEDMAN # 96 Officially known as the Coleman School, it was named for Fred C. Riedman. Built in 1910, it was closed and the building sold in 1963.
SCANDIA # 60 Organized April 12, 1883, it was expanded to four schools and then consolidated in 1954 in the Green Consolidated School.

 

 Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 294