Historic Oconto County, WI school buildings.

The Linzy Brook School

The Linzy Brook School District was organized at a meeting held July 19, 1890. The town board of How of which it was a part organized it. John Holl. Charley Koehler, and Jacob Holl were the first school officers, they received salaries of five, three and two dollars. At this first meeting $150.00 was raised as tax money. In December of that same year another meeting was held to decide where the school house should be established. The Contract for building the school was let to Jacob Holl for $310.00 in June 1891. It was supposed to be finished by August of that year. The specifications state that the building was to be 20 by 28 feet, the roof boards must be of hemlock or pine, the siding, cornish and floor of clear pine. There must be three windows on each long side and one door in the middle of the front side. The chimney must be of good white brick. All materials for the the building must be of good sound timber "otherwise we will not pay for the building". The jobber must also clear the building site which is one-half acre.

At the meeting in July of 1891 it was decided that school should be held for two terms of three months each, three in the fall and three in the spring. The motion was also passed to hire a school ma'm. Ten cords of hard wood and two of soft wood were bought at 95 cents a cord, to be piled in the school yard. The job was also let to John Runge for building a ''water closet" for $5. At this meeting $200.00 tax money was raised.

In September, 1891. the first teacher was hired, Katie Holl for $25.00 a month. A school month consisted of 22 days. The board purchased the following furniture:
12 double seats $45.00
1 teachers desk chair 8.00
1 blackboard 25.00
1 American reading chart 5.50
1 set of maps 22.50
1 pail, dipper, 1 broom, 1 basin, and 1 box of soap .80
1 bell .25

Among some of the first pupils in the school were Jake Holl, Ben and George Holl, Jo(e) and Peter Holl, Anne, Paul, and Bertha Jeske. Charlie Kohler, John Kohberg, and Walter Dicke.

In the year 1894 wood was bought for 88 cents a cord. In 1896 $75.00 was raised as tax money. The school yard was not cleared then of trees or stumps. The boys were supposed to go out in the yard and grub out the stumps and roots.

Other teachers were Bertha Bowen, Nina Saunders, Marietta Bartlett, Laura Johnson, Lillian Richards, Dora Pottle, and Claire La Febvre.

A new school board member was Matt Holl. In 1899 it was voted to have 7 months of school, 4 in the fall and 3 in the spring. The district was altered in 1901 to include part of Underhill when Henry Dicke was on the board. This year the voters decided to clear the school yard and build a wood shed. One Hundred Twenty-Five Dollars was raised. The school books were kept in the district and sold to the children. John Koeppen was elected librarian. August Schettpeltz had the job of whitewashing and scrubbing the school for $3.75. At one meeting the voters passed a motion that the teacher ring the bell herself. Another motion was that at least one member of the board visit the school at least once a month. Now the teacher's salary was raised to $28.00.

The first mention of attendence at a school board convention was made in 1905 when Henry Dicke and Jacob Holl journeyed to Oconto to attend one. Adelaide Tayler was superintendent.

Eight months of school was started in 1906. Here a motion was also passed at the Annual Meeting "that the school board should visit the school ma'm more prompt". August Giese was on the school board now. Ella Holler was teacher. The tax money received from Underhill was $212.09, and from How $119.58. It cost $305.98 to run the school that year.

In 1910 the voters raised $200.00 toward a new building and the first of December a special meeting was held to authorize the district to borrow $1,500.00 from the state trust fund to build a new school building. William Lemke was the contractor for the building. The 14,150 bricks cost $92.45. The haulers were paid $2.40 for hauling 800 bricks. Louisa Rusch was the first teacher in the new building. Now the school was scrubbed every month. The teacher's salary was raised to $35.00 a month. The stove for the new building cost $100.00. but it is still in use (1953). The board members were Henry Wegner. Frank Boerchinger, Jacob Holl. The first census were taken in 1910 and there were 73 on the list.

The following are some of the teachers that have taught at the Linzy Brook School. Louisa Rusch. Rose Holz, Dora Prattle, Gladys McKinney. Jessie Hammill, Anna Karbon, Margaret Aldrich, Irene Monnette, Christine Otradovec, Kathryn McHugh, Irene Christensen, Alice Jorgensen, Elsie Hansen, Bessie Belon- (missing)

In 1913 a well was provided for the school.

The following were board members: J. H. Bartz, Frank Boerschinger, Matt Holl, Win. Jeske, Henry Wegner, Jacob Holl, John Lanser, Gus Koening, John Linsmeyer, Conrad Bartz, Nich Bergman, Harold Holl, Albert Jeske, Wm. Dittman(n) and Rogert Wegner.

The present school board members are: Robert Wegner, William Jeske and Bill Dittmann.

The district has an active 4-H Club with about 20 members. Mrs. Alfred Runge and Mrs. C. Steigel are the leaders. The school is the headquarters for the club. The most recent improvement to the school is a new radio and six new desks.

Although our school today may appear the same as it did many years ago. there are many technical advancements that have taken place.

Mastry of the tools of learning - reading, handwriting, spelling, correct speech, and arith(m)etic - always has been and always will be a fundamental task in our school. In fact, we give more time and attention to the search for better ways of teaching these basic skills than to any other form of school improvement. The tool subjects are not taught in the same way that you and I learned them. Different materials are used; different procedures; different pupil activities. But the same skills are developed. Not all the children master the so-called 3 R's as well as they should. This was also true a generation ago. The fact is that, by and large, today's pupils read better, speak belter, write better, spell better, and have better command of arithmetic processes than the pupils of any previous period. Many research studies have shown this.