District No. 74 – Square Lake School

• 1896: District established. School started that year in Mr. T.H. Hillary’s home for a month, until a wood building was erected Feb. of 1896. School lasted a month that year in that building.
• 1917: The building is destroyed by fire. Rumors spread that the fire was set off by a pro-German to protest World War I.
• 1918: The school is rebuilt, this time in brick.
• 1939: Walls are repainted.
• 1943: The school has one pupil left, and when the teacher failed to show up for school, and 2 more students arrived for school, the school closed.
• It was noted in the Gazette that for so young a district, the children’s attendance was excellent as well as their school work.
• Originally, the district was apart of district 4, but students in the western part found it hard to travel.
• The school was 30 ft. long, 12 ft. high and 20 ft. wide and painted white (the wood building).
• Enrollment in 1896: 23 students. In 1938: 12 students.
• There was known to be many conflicts between the townspeople and the school, more specifically the teacher.
• Consolidated into the Marine school district in the 1950s.

“Come with me to the hillside and sit
Beneath the tree;
Upon the schoolhouse lawn that sheltered you and me
But few are left to greet me, and few are let to know
Who played with me upon the green
Just seventy years ago.” -David Monson

“Each teacher brought some skills and some house-wifely good sense to the job. In general, she was isolated and lonely in her job, subject to close scrutiny by the little community. Lack of training in primary work was probably noticed the least. Unfortunately, although great strides have been made, the problem persists today.” -Ila Jarchow Brown