My four sources are:
Time Line:
1862: A one-room public school was
started under the village sponsorship.
1870: Only two houses in this area
at this time.
1870: Railroad reached Eau Claire
1872: Villages of Eau Claire, Eau
Claire City and N. Eau Claire were incorporated and
1874: A Telegraph station was established
in East Eau Claire.
1880: Railroad officials decided
to locate a division point between St. Paul and Elroy in
1881: East Eau Claire was then platted
by the City of Eau Claire and the Rail
1882: One
room building constructed but cannot be substantiated. The
school was a
1882: The first church services
were held for any denomination. People of
all faiths helped
1883: The contract for the building
of a schoolhouse was given to O.W. Hubbard.
20x40 feet,
1883: A post office was established.
1886: The first established church
was the Methodist Church, soon followed by the
1887: Officials of the Village of
East Eau Claire secretly went to Madison to obtain the charter
1882: The council approved constructing
a three-room school, each room
1888: They
voted to have nine months of school and added an addition to the school
house,
1891: It
is said that 208 students were enrolled.
1892: A
three-room building was erected on the same location as the one room school
house
1893: The
school district purchased Lots 7 and 8, Block 6 of the Original Plat, located
on the northwest
1896: The first newspaper was started
and called the Altoona Headlight.
1901: The
eight grade class consisted of three students.
1903: A
class of fourteen was the largest graduating 8th grade class in the school’s
history. Produced a
1906: The Bethlehem Lutheran Church
began.
1911: A new brick building was constructed
for all grades through high school. The city
vacated 123.75 feet
1912: An addition was built. The
district sells the building and land on the northwest corner of 1st Street
West
1913: Need
for a district high school was becoming apparent. The voters adopted a
resolution to establish
1916: The St. Mary’s Catholic Church
was begun. St. Mary’s established the first
high school in Altoona.
1920: The
first athletics was introduced. A six-team high school track meet was held
at the Eau Claire
Again enrollment grew and they added
an addition to the school. This was used as a high school, kindergarten
1921: Football
was added.
1922: A
two-story brick and concrete addition, matching the 1911 school building,
including a gymnasium
1922:Girls
athletics began.
1928: Kindergarten
was added to the elementary and kept just two years.
1932: High
school went from four teachers to three.
1933: The
belfry of the school was removed, the roof repaired and an electric bell
installed.
1936: Transportation
of students was begun.
1937: A
band instructor was hired. Arthur M. Howe was the instructor.
1938: Another
great year for sports. The Basketball team on the Class “C” State Championship.
1941:Band
practice had to be held in the Methodist Church basement for lack of space
in the school.
1944: The
high school finally got back to four teachers.
1945: The
grade school went back to six teachers.
1947: Einer Pedersen was made principal
and superintendent
1949: Building
of a new school was discussed due to the lack of space.
1950: The school was destroyed by
a fire Halloween night. Classes were held in the city hall, (auditorium),
1950: November
13, Plans were set in place for a new school. Ten acres of land was purchased
from
1951: The
purchase of the Woodington land was completed and preliminary plans were
drawn up. Progress
1952: A 16-room building was constructed.
The
grade school wing was completed and classes started on
1955: An addition was added. Two
classrooms on the west end of the grade school wing and a gymnasium,
1955: The new elementary school
was built east of the junior senior high school.
1956: The
first basketball game was played in the new gym on November 2.
1961: Another addition was added
to the junior senior high school. This addition
south of the high school
1964: Construction
of a new elementary school was begun and completed in September 1965.
1967: Lighting
was installed on the football field, new 66 passenger bus was purchased,
and a new position,
1974: Construction
started on vocation-physical education addition to the south end of the
high school wing.
1978: A
study determines that the district needs a new high school.
1982: Land
was purchased between the high school and 7th Street West for use as a
future school site.
1983: School
board was forced to buy three re-locatable buildings. Two of these were
used for high school
1987: Ground
was broken in May, 1987, and construction of the grade school addition
and the new
1988: The
grade school addition was occupied in early 1988 and the high school was
opened for
Leader Telegram
(no
date but possibly 1987)
Gerald Hagen
book
Zelda Connell
as told to her daughter Marie Duvall
History of Eau
Claire County School Districts.
The first school was a one-room
wooden building located on East Division and Bartlett Ave.
called the City of Eau Claire.
Village of East Eau Claire was not included.
East Eau Claire.
company was established. There
were only two house in East Eau Claire at this time.
one room wooden structure heated
by a wood stove. It was meagerly furnished with double
seats, few books and a teacher’s
desk.
build it, and were entitled to
use it for church services.
The first church
in Altoona was the
old wooden schoolhousewhere services
were held every Sunday. The First Baptist Church
of Eau Claire used this building
also. The Episcopal Church of Eau Claire purchased the old
school building which was made
into the present Episcopal Church.
twelve foot ceiling. The site of
the new school was the southwest quarter of Block 5 of Shute’s
Addition. That is the northeast
corner of Division Street and Daniels Ave. Initially there were
two teachers with two departments.
Eight months was established as the first school term.
Episcopal Church.
to be come Altoona.
had three classes. In successive
years two additional buildings were used for classrooms from
kindergarten through eighth grade.
High school students attended Washington Town High School.
to make it three departments and
to grade the school, with the head teacher to be the principal.
on the corner of Bartlett and Division,
and was used by the 3rd to 8th grades. The first and second
grades were taught in a building
located just north of the John Lange home. (Building on Division
and Hayden.) The new school building
was built just west of where the first school stood, and all
grades were taught there. The small
building that was used as a 1st and 2nd grade school, was moved
to its present location, where
the Episcopal Church now stands, on First Street West, and still housed
the 1st and 2nd grades until the
new building was built. This building consisted
of three rooms with
three grades in each room. The
first and second grades were housed in the building what is now
St. Lukes Church. The third to
eighth grades were housed in the building east of the present school building.
corner of 1st Street West and Hayden
Avenue. A school building was erected although one report says that
an existing building was moved
in. This building is still standing in 1987 and is now the St. Luke’s Episcopal
Church. This building was always
used for the lower primary grades of the school district.
52 page yearbook called the Altoona
Headlight.
of Cortland (now Division) Street
north of Daniels Ave between Blocks 4 and 5 of Shute’s addition for a
building site. This was adjacent
to the original school building. A two-story building was erected and completed
in 1911 providing ample classrooms
for eight grades.
In 1911 it was necessary
to erect another building, and
the old building was sold to the
Botsford Bros., who moved it and made three dwelling houses of it. One
became
the Howard home, 1419 Garfield,
one the John Stahl home, 1819 Garfield, and the other Boettcher home,
1811 Garfield. Since
that time the school has made many improvements. Stokers have improved
the heating
system. Showers have been added
to the convenience of the athletic program. It has purchased a movie machine
and a loud speaker. Many of the
rooms have a radio. The school provides recreation in the form of baseball,
golf and basketball. Forensics
is a part of the school program. The school band has won recognition in
tournaments.
and Hayden Avenue to Christ Church
of Eau Claire. In April the original school on the north east corner of
Division
and Daniels was sold, removed and
converted into family residences at various locations.
a free high school. The high school
opened October 1st, for an eight-month term. The first graduate was
Emma R. Duncan, class of 1915.
They purchased the Railroad Eating
house, moved it across the road to its present location, 214 West
4th Street, and established a school
and chapel there.
County Fair, at Augusta. It was
the first athletic event. A basketball team was also established that season.
and gym. St. Mary’s was then used
as a Boy’s Boarding school.
and more classrooms was added.
The basketball team took second
place in Class “B” and state championship in Class “C: track.
Due to a shortage of teachers the
grade school was reduced from six to five teachers. The high school
had three teachers including the
principal.
churches and empty store buildings.
Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Woodington.
The site was south of Bartlett Avenue, between 5th and 6th Streets West.
on the plans for the new school
was discussed at the October 1, 1951 meeting. Early morning hours of
October 31, 1951, the Altoona Public
School burned. The alarm was sounded at 3:45 AM. Only the brick
walls and chimneys were left as
the building was gutted. The following buildings were used to continue
classes:
High School-Altoona Auditorium,
7&8 in the YMCA in Eau Claire, 5&6-Orthopedic School, Eau Claire,
4th- YMCA Eau Claire, 3rd-Lutheran
Church, Altoona, 1st &2nd- Methodist Church, Altoona. In a meeting
November 2, 1951 it was decided
to continue the plan to combine the high school and elementary students
in the same school building. The
spring of 1952 the high school graduated 30, its’ largest class ever.
September 22. The high school wing
was completed and classes started on October 12. The hot lunch
program resumed on November 15.
Open house was held on November 30, 1952 and over 1500 people
signed the guest book.
shop area, three classrooms, a
stage with dressing and shower rooms under it on the east end of the gym,
and the gym was extended to the
west from the high school wing.
wing and gymnasium consisted of
large home economics room, larger shop rooms, typing and bookkeeping
room, two science rooms, several
small rooms and a new boy’s locker-shower room just off the south side
of the gym. The former boys’ and
girls’ dressing rooms under the stage were converted to the girls’
locker-shower facility. The hot
lunch kitchen and multi- purpose room was expanded and improved.
superintendent of schools, was
created, and Principal Einar Pedersen was promoted to the new position.
Assistant Principal Robert Bredesen
was promoted to principal of the high school and middle school. Wayne
West was made principal of the
elementary department, kindergarten through 6th grade.
Opened 75-76 school year.
classrooms and one for grade school
classrooms.
high school started.
the 1988-89 school term.