Lakeland School building

Lakeland School building and students.

If you have any photos or memories of the school to share, please contact us.

District No. 21, Lakeland School
DISTRICT FORMED 1851
YEARS SCHOOLS BUILT 1855, 1869
GENERAL LOCATION N/A
MODERN ADDRESS Co. Rd. 21 and 32nd St.
DISTRICT BOUNDARIES The St. Croix River marks the eastern border, surrounding the Lakeland area; just north of St. Croix Beach.
DISPOSITION Burned in 1948.
NOTES *The building constructed in 1869 was a two story wooden building that cost about $6,000.*Before having a building, school was held in local homes.

Teachers

1931-2: Margaret Carlson
1932-3: Margaret Zorn (principal)
1933-4: Margaret Zorn (principal)
1934-5: Margaret Zorn (principal)
1935-6: Margaret Zorn (principal)
1938-9: Flossie Nelson and Ruth Schubert
1939-40: Ruth Schubert and Lillian Johnson
1940s: Jane Kearney Chatterton
Other teachers: Lucy Munger, Mattie Elliot, Mary Fenner, Nettie Bohrer, Angie Atwood, Anna Raymond, Mrs. Ramey, Mrs. Evelyn Roettger
Other principals: S.C. Sarborn, J.W. Nesbit, E.H. Mosher, D.M. Henderson, Mary Fenner, C.E. Roe, Hattie Watson, Edward Swanson
Brief history of the school:
1850s: The first school was taught in the house of Elias McKean, and taught by Harriet A. Newall
1855: Tax of $300 voted to costruct construct a building1869: A two-story schoolhouse was built for$6,000. It’s 26 by 40 feet, wooden frame, and white.
1877: Changed to independent school district
1890s: School repaired and rebuilt
1947: School burned down in autumn, no witnesses, and district became part of the Afton School District.

Other Facts:

  • Grades 1-4 were downstairs and grades 5-8 were upstairs – each grade had its own room.  The upper grade teacher was principal.
  • At one time student enrollmemnt was 100 (according to the Stillwater Gazette). By 1938, it was 42.
  • Minnesota History was a subject in the 1930s.

Memories:

“There was no electricity in the schoolhouse when I started. There were kerosene lamps in side brackets on the walls near each window. When a suggestion was made to the school board [for electricity]…Andrew Nelson addressed my father with a strong Swedish accent and said ‘Sixty years ago when I went to school we didn’t have ‘lectric lights. If your girl needs glasses, take her to the doctor.’ I did get glasses at age eleven and District 21 got electricity!”

– Peggy Wolter

“The teachers rode to school on the school bus from old Stillwater Motor. This bus returned to Stillwater with the high school pupils. The teachers then returned from Lakeland to the old Stillwater Motor Garage.”

-Marcella Schrank Fisher

“The huge coal stove with the ornate jacket that kept us warm in winter…the ice slide we made and tore down on our feet or on chunks of cardboard. It’s a wonder we didn’t break our necks.”

-Mavis Smart Johnson