1860's School in Lowell
LOWELL GRADE SCHOOL
In 1872 Lowell had the largest and finest school in Lake County, a two story building; the brick structure was erected at a cost of $8000. M.A. Halsted founded this school in 1862.*In 1896 the present grade school was built. Board members were P.O. Clark, president, E.S. Clark, M. Driscoll, H. Haskins, Clerk.
Although the building has been remodeled and added to, it has become antiquated and overcrowded. Through the efforts of the Parent Teachers Association and the Tribune, a 40 cent levy is being included in the tax appropriations this August. The levy is ear marked "cumulative building fund."
*NOTE -- There are two different lines of thought as to whether the first 1860's brick school on Main Street was built in 1862 or in 1868. Town Historian Richard Schmal explains it thus:
- For some reason the 1862 date is on the plaque at the school site -- the plaque honoring Halsted as a benefactor of schools (He had built an even earlier school on Commercial Ave. in the 1850's.)
But I have two sources that say that the school was built in 1867! They are both rewritten in the "Pioneer History" columns. One is from The Autobiography of Melvin Halsted, Part Three -- "In 1867 I was elected Cedar Creek Township Trustee and built the first graded school building. . ." The other is The History of Lowell from the Beginning to 1896 by H.H. Ragon, in the Dec. 1987 "Pioneer History" under "school houses" where Ragon wrote that the building was built in 1867.
Sometimes I just used "the 1860's" when I spoke of this school's beginnings.
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