The second Lincoln School building on Sawyer Street in Shawano.
Imagine being a teacher in Lincoln School in 1904! Seven teachers sitting on the steps of Lincoln School on Sawyer Street in Shawano, WI. This is the second Lincoln School built on this site. 1. Miss Delphs 2. Emma Sommers 3. Alice Roberts 4. Bergwin Jones 5. Lima Sommers 6. Grace Tone 7. Anna Naber
Teachers On The Steps Of Lincoln School – 1904
Sawyer Street, Shawano, WI
Its the start of a new school year so we thought it important to talk about the history of being a teacher in Shawano.
Imagine being a teacher in Lincoln School in 1904!
Seven teachers sitting on the steps of Lincoln School on Sawyer Street in Shawano, WI. This is the second Lincoln School built on this site.
1. Miss Delphs
2. Emma Sommers
3. Alice Roberts
4. Bergwin Jones
5. Lima Sommers
6. Grace Tone
7. Anna Naber
TEACHING IN WISCONSIN IN THE EARLY DAYS
To provide special training of teachers, Wisconsin began a normal school building program in 1865, opened the first normal school at Platteville in 1866. Other state LaCrosse, 1905; and Eau Claire 1916. In these schools tuition was free to students who were residents of the state.
Two and four year courses for teaching were given. Completion of the two year course enabled teachers to teach in the rural schools; four year course completion admitted them to a state university and a five year course allowed them to teach a subject in high school. Most who attended these normal schools only had an eighth grade education to begin with.
Teaching institutes were also conducted in many cities including Shawano. Training schools for teachers of rural schools grew out of the teachers institute system and began under legislative authority in 1899. (Shawano held classes for this in the basement of Lincoln School. For more details, read the interview with Mrs. Cattau). Completion of these programs allowed the teacher to teach at the rural schools.
Pay for teachers was not good. Most of the time pay was set by the boards and depended on the wealth of the district. However, in 1913 a minimum wage for teachers was set by law — $40 a month. If boards paid less, they would not get state aid. In 1921 this was raised to $75 a month.
The pay for men and women was not the same. In 1874 men were paid an average of $47.44 per month and women were paid $32.13. There was not much advancement for women either. In 1873 all county superintendents were men. By 1891 10 of 70 were women but women were paid $582.50 and men $823.50. In 1891 of the 175 high schools only one high school, Plainfield, had a woman principal.
Teaching was one of the few occupations open to women. In 1874 certificates for women teachers outnumbered men 2 to 1 and by 1890 it was 4 to 1. Teachers, unlike other professionals had to maintain a very strict moral code.
LINCOLN SCHOOL
Lincoln School is significant in the development of the Shawano school system because it was the first school built for the purpose of educating students after Shawano incorporated as a village in 1871. Before this, there were rural schools but no organized school system. There have been three schools where the current Lincoln School is located on Sawyer Street and all have been named, Lincoln School.
The first public Lincoln School building was constructed on the present Lincoln school site in 1871, and used as a school until 1887. This first school was a wooden two story building consisting of two rooms and a recitation room. Caroline Magee was the first teacher. The building was later moved to Main Street so a new school could be built. Later it was moved to South Main, next to The Farmers Brewery, where it was used as a furniture store but was torn down in 1990.
In 1887, a new brick building was built to replace the old Lincoln School at a cost of $8,000. Along with elementary classes, the high school remained in Lincoln School until 1902 when a separate high school was built. The second Lincoln School was destroyed by fire in 1924. Fire was a common occurrence in schools at this time.
In 1925, a third Lincoln School was built on the same site. It cost approximately $130,000 and was considered, at that time, to be one of the “most up-to-date school buildings in any city in Wisconsin.” The fire that destroyed the original Lincoln School in 1924 presented city leaders with an opportunity to expand their approach to education. They planned a school that would serve children from kindergarten through eighth grade in the burgeoning progressive model.
The Lincoln School is the oldest surviving school building in Shawano, and is the only remaining school building constructed in the city prior to World War II. The building served as the district elementary school until 2011 when it was sold and developed into apartments.
Lincoln School, located at 237 South Sawyer Street in Shawano, Wisconsin was listed on the National and State Historic Registers in 2013.