Photo Enlargement

District #31, Cottage Grove School, 1890s.

Students have just over a month before school is back in session. This week's photo looks at the Washington County one-room school system and specifically District #31, the Cottage Grove School from the 1890s.

Many Washington County schools were loosely organized and the district school system was started in the 1850s. A re-organization in 1864 set up the county school system that existed for about 90 years. As buses became available in the early 1900s, school districts began to consolidate. The consolidation of rural schools continued until the county system was discontinued in the 1950s.

District #31, originally built in 1852, is now a residence located at 7480 Lamar Avenue in Cottage Grove.

Stillwater popcorn vendor, George Goutsos, ca. 1940s.

Popcorn has been a part of our culture for decades and continues to be one of the favorite snacks of Americans for most any event. Even in Stillwater, the popcorn wagon sat on the street corner popping corn and selling bags of the snack to passersby as early as the 1890s.

By the mid-1940s, popcorn wagons became motorized and George Goutsos, a Greek immigrant, became the town popcorn vendor. Goutsos would drive his popcorn truck around to most of the community events and there are people around today that still remember him parked at the high school football games selling popcorn to eager high school students.