In The Beginning

by Betty Carr

Richfield opened the doors of its first public high school exactly 100 years after it opened the doors of its first public school.

In 1854 the first public elementary school was opened. It was a one room log school built near Wood Lake on the Ft. Snelling Road (or 66th St.) by five members of the Richfield Methodist church, R. L. Bartholomew, C. Gregory, George Gilmore, C. Couillard and William Finch. Descendants of these five men still live in Richfield. This one room school also served for many years as the town hall.

Miss Mary Syrena Townsend was hired as the first teacher. She was born in Gilford, Maine, in 1830 and was the daughter of Henry Townsend. Early records show that her father, Henry Townsend, and her brother, Robert Townsend, owned large pieces of land near Lyndale Ave. and 62nd St. This area was considered the center of town, being near the village hall (built later) and the principal churches.

Mary Pauline, and Robert Maxson, the children of Mr. and Mrs. Paul W. Maxson, 1810 W. 68th Street, are the great, great, grand nieces and nephews of Miss Townsend.

Hidden away in the vault in school Supt. Rumpel's office are school board records of District 12, the Woodlake District, beginning in 1869, 15 years after the first school was established.

At that time, the school year had two terms. One term was known as the "summer" session; it ran from May through August. In 1869 Miss Florence Moers taught from May 10 to August 10 for the sum of $16 per month plus her room and board. During the "winter" session which lasted from November, 1869, through March, 1870, a gentleman by the name of W. Osgood Douglas received $45 per month for teaching school. Apparently Mr. Douglas aid not receive room and board which accounted for the difference in salary.

In 1870 the school board consisted of William Finch, director, C. Couillard, treasurer, and E. F. Irwin, clerk. Two of these men had helped build the original school. The school tax consisted of "one mill on the dollar" and the total cost of operating the school for the year was $475.79.

It must be borne in mind that Richfield at this time was a great deal larger than it is today. It contained no less than six separate school districts within its boundaries. There was also a joint district, Number 88, which was partly within Bloomington. The school house for District 88 was located on 78th and Portland, next to the Scholz Mercantile Store.

Clarence Christian remembers that the school on the East side was located at the junction of 70th Street and 24th Avenue. District 143, in the middle of the village, had a small school at 54th and Lyndale, built on land originally owned by the Bowen family.

From time to time the one room schools became so run down that is was necessary to rebuild. By 1884 the original Woodlake building was 30 years old. The need of a new school was apparent and on September 6, 1884, the minutes of the school board contain the notation, "On motion of E. F. Irwin, it was voted to raise a tax of $500 to be applied to building a new school house that should not cost $1,000 when completed." The motion passed.

The following year the school lot was enlarged and a plan for a new school 28 X 40 feet was submitted. The building was to be completed by January 1, 1886. In the end $900 was appropriated to build the new school. Some time during this period the now-familiar nine month school year came into existence.

Mrs. Manley Fosseen, who taught about this time in the Bloomfield School (District 88) on 78th Street recalls that the school year began in the spring and went on all year except that it wasn't allowed to interfere with the crops in any way.

"The children came very regularly during the hot summer, but when it came time to dig up those potatoes, the schoolroom would be pretty empty," she says.

In those days, the teacher arrived early and when it was cold got the fire going before the pupils arrived. Mrs. Fosseen had 60 pupils in her class, and they were seated three to a seat. They ranged in size and age from five to seventeen.

In the East school, Mr. W. E. Patrick had a class which averaged between 65 and 75 pupils and included all eight grades. Mr. Patrick taught from 1893 to 1900, after which he became a railroad conductor.

Mr. Charles Finch, whose grandfather owned the land where Woodlake school was built remembers the Woodlake school around 1900. Woodlake seemed to get a new teacher every year. The following is an excerpt from a letter written by Mr. Finch telling of the high spots in the school year.

"We had mud vacation just before Easter every year. One week. Better we had gone to school. The puddles all froze at night and as they warmed up during the day, the ice became rubbery, and we would walk and walk just to see it roll up ahead of us and finally one would get a foot in the full length of the leg if deep enough. To climax the year finally school was closed around June 10 of each year with a picnic at Minnehaha Falls. We planned on it most of the year."

"Half a dozen neighbors with wagons, potato boxes, and lots of neighbors had their own rigs, but all of us kids rode in the wagons with a few adults to keep us straight. Grub enough to feed the nation went along with us (but not at a dollar a bite.) We all met at the school house to start and finally away we would roll. We always had a school yell and colors, each and every year."

"Going up Lyndale to Minnehaha Parkway and east to the park. Lake Harriet was not ready for sometime later, and the east part was nothing to shout about, densely weedy. Lake Amelia (Nokomis) was a swamp. Nothing to see much till we crossed the Milwaukee tracks running to Fort Snelling. We would arrive at the falls about 10:30 and eat dinner about 12:30 p.m. There was a good zoo, deer park, pony riding and a ride down the river to Fort Snelling in the afternoon. Boat left 2:30 p.m. for the Fort, arrived back 5:30 p.m., about time to head for home."

"The children ate good old Cracker Jack, the standby, and a large assortment of candies. Pop came on later, a glass of it would dissolve a shingle nail in a month. Once in a while one would get deathly sick on the stuff, but we kids all lived through the experimental stages of a lot of nationally advertised things. And most of us are still here to tell about it."

During those times, school board business was more easily disposed of than it is now. Incredible as it may seem to the present school board, the board met only twice a year - not twice a month. Expenses were fairly stable.

Periodically it was necessary to buy a new stove, but most of the time all that was necessary was to pay the teacher, the janitor, purchase some wood, a few books, and paint the building. The area was largely a farming community, and one room schools were all that were desired.

AND HOW IT GREW

All through the early years the districts grew slowly. Mrs. Parker Goodspeed, who lives at 1406 West 66th Street, recalls attending school board meetings in the 1910's. Before each meeting she and her husband would clean kerosene lamps to take with them, as the school house was without electricity. She also recalls that it was frequently difficult to bring together the seven people necessary for a quorum to elect a school board.

At Woodlake in 1913, Miss Olive Palmer had 33 boys and 10 girls in her classes. They included Melvin Herman, Walter Davis, Ray Couillard, Clarence Eisele and Frank Keefe. The first three work today for the Richfield School system. Frank Keefe has a farm on Lyndale between 68th and 70th Streets. Mr. Eisele operates the farm on the east side of Lyndale near 63rd Street.

By 1918 it was obvious in the Woodlake District that the one room school would no longer hold all the pupils. The first idea discussed was the possibility of dividing the school into two rooms. This was discarded and on April 23, 1919, the board decided to find out what a new school would cost.

On May 7, 1919, the citizens unanimously voted not to build onto the 33 year old school. Instead a new school, to cost not more than $18,000 was voted. This "new" school is the present Center Building at Woodlake. The old school was sold to William Hopkins for $117.50. He moved it to a different site.

After World War I, the village experienced a terrific growth. The village boundaries were located at 54th Street, and this area close to Minneapolis expanded rapidly.

On the East side, District 109 included the homes around the present East school and the whole area north of the airport. This particular district included many families who were dependent on the new Ford Plant for their employment.

Two schools were built by this district, one on 38th Avenue and 56th Street. It is the present Morris Park school. The other was built on 28th Avenue between 59th and 60th Street. It was the old Wenonah School. With two new buildings, the one room school which had been operating on 66th Street and 27th Avenue was closed.

Growth was not confined to the east side of the village. District 143, in the center of the village, had a peculiar shape. It was wide at one end, reaching as far north as 54th Street between Cedar and France Avenues. The southern part consisted of a narrow arm of land about a fourth of a mile wide between 62nd and 74th Streets. This district was operating a one room school on 62nd and Portland. It also contained the old Roosevelt school at 58th and Bryant.

Two former mayors remember the old Roosevelt school very well. Gordon Bowen was a student there, and Clarence Christian, though never a student, has not forgotten his state board examinations which he took there in 1915.

By 1920 this school was attracting more students than it could accommodate, and it was replaced with the new Roosevelt school. This building was renamed the Windom School when the area was annexed to Minneapolis in 1927. This district also filled up rapidly, and two additions to Windom School were necessary. Four rooms were added at first, and later eight more.

In 1927 the people living between 54th Street and 62nd Street petitioned to join Minneapolis and were annexed by the city. The two school districts affected were forced to make new arrangements for those children who still resided in Richfield. District 109 on the east side was in greatest difficulty because, though annexation took place in July, they were forced to operate their district for some months with no funds.

On the East side in exchange for the schools, Minneapolis assumed the full indebtedness of the district bonds. The part of the district remaining in Richfield received $7,000 cash and the abandoned one room school on 66th Street and 27th Avenue. The tax rate dropped sharply from about 107 mills per year for schools to practically nothing.

For three years this district levied a nominal tax which covered the cost of transporting its children to the Minneapolis schools. The one room school that the district owned was absorbed by Wold-Chamberlain Airport, and during World War II it became a link trainer school.

In 1930 the present East school was built on its present site. Though the district actually needed only two rooms, they built a four room school to make sure that they would have all the room that they would need for many years to come. The children came faster than expected, and before all the Richfield schools united into one district in 1946, two new classrooms were added and a gym was started. In 1942 John Bleedorn was hired as principal.

Following the annexation in 1927, district 143 was left with only a small section of land from 62nd Street to 74th Street between Lyndale and Nicollet. Eighteen families with 36 children remained. For the next few years the district paid tuition and transported most of its children to Windom school in Minneapolis.

On August 12, 1941, an election was held to determine whether the people wished to dissolve District 143. The move was defeated, and taxes were levied to pay Minneapolis tuition of $36 per pupil plus transportation costs of $17.50 per pupil per year.

On March 30, 1942, the county commissioners officially dissolved this district, but a petition was entered by the school board to permit the district to continue. The decision for dissolution was upheld, and this district became a part of District 12, the Woodlake District.

By 1933 the Woodlake School had a faculty of five. There was just one building, the present Center School. It consisted of four rooms on the main floor and one room for the first grade in the basement. This school constantly suffered from an expanding enrollment.

When Woodlake had reached the state where four basement rooms were being used in addition to the four rooms on the first floor, plans were laid to start a new school. The school which finally resulted became the beginning of the present new section of Woodlake School. It included four classrooms, a gym, and some office space. The bids totaled $93,000. Of this amount, $41,100 was federal aid received on a P.W.A. grant.

The school was now big enough to begin to include some things that had not been present in the curriculum before. Federal aid was granted by the W.P.A. in 1938 to institute a hot lunch program. In 1938 a librarian was hired to work one day a week at $2.50 per day. Up to this time the district had not had a kindergarten, but new kindergarten petitioners began to appear. The people seemed to be about equally divided between those who desired kindergarten and those who did not. In June, 1939, the school board granted these people permission to hold kindergarten five days a week for six weeks during the summer months from the first part of June until the middle of July. The problems proved insurmountable, and kindergarten was never held.

In 1940 District 12 purchased its first school bus. Previously the children had been transported in buses chartered from the Richfield Bus Company. The first bus cost the district $2,105, and carried 48 passengers. Edward Norton was hired as a part-time driver. He received the magnificent salary of $45 per month.

By this time the building boom had begun to swell the Richfield population. During the summer of 1941 more than a hundred school-age children moved into the Woodlake District. Once more it was necessary to use the basement classrooms in the Center Building.

The architectural firm of Wessel, Brunet, and Kline were hired and drew up plans for an addition to the new brick building. These plans included five classrooms, a kindergarten, committee room, band room in the basement, nurses' room on the second floor, and a tunnel to the old building. This addition never materialized, for the bond issue was defeated in June.

In desperation the school board appointed Adelaide Bowen, Theodore Hansen, Edith Hughes, Mrs. F. W. Mokros, Mrs. Cedarquist and Mrs. Louise King as a committee to acquaint the public with the immediate need for new classrooms. Another bond election held on August 4, 1941, failed to get the necessary votes.

When school opened in the fall there were fifty pupils in the fifth grade and forty-four in the sixth. It was decided to transport one busload of children to Windom School.

The situation was not improved when the county commissioners dissolved District 143 and added it to an already bulging 12. On May 4, 1942, another election was held for the purpose of selling bonds - this time the addition was cut down to six classrooms. At last the money was authorized, but by this time the country was at war and no building was permitted.

During the summer of 1943 the board was faced with an enrollment of 686 children, where three years before there had been 303. They carefully weighted the possibilities of either renting church basements and other facilities or buying portables from Minneapolis. The portables were finally decided upon because it was felt that it was advantageous to have all the children in one place. Until the portables were delivered in January, 1944, four rooms met in the gym, one in the library, and one in the lunchroom.

One crisis had only been met when another raised its head. Harold Ritchie, who was superintendent, resigned his position November 11, 1943, giving the board ten days notice after which he was inducted into the army. Miss Marion Springer, now Mrs. Massica, became temporary superintendent.

As the enrollment grew, so did the agitation for a high school in Richfield. There were many difficulties to overcome. The village still had two full school districts and part of another. It had to unite into one district before it could even think about a high school.

The school board of district 12 was well aware of this need when they began looking for a new superintendent. When they considered what requirements they would set up for this position, one of the first was to find a man who had had experience with a growing district. Little did they realize how Richfield would grow!

More than forty applicants were considered, but a man from Mahtomedi, who had just finished struggling with a new high school was selected. The appointment of Harry Rumpel was announced in the Richfield News on April 27, 1944.

During the spring of 1944 the Richfield News also carried a letter from George Matchan, State Representative from the south half of Hennepin County, assuring Gordon Bowen, the mayor, that the Richfield Schools could consolidate if they so desired. This could be accomplished by obtaining the signatures of 25% of the freeholders living in each district on a petition to hold an election for consolidation.

One of the first charges given Mr. Rumpel by the school board of District 12 was to "study the application for graded elementary school listing and report the advantages or disadvantages of such a step."

In July 1945, Mr. Rumpel had surveyed the school situation. From his survey he determined that District 12 would very soon have about 100 more pupils and District 109 would have an increase of the same size. About 20 more classrooms would be needed than were then available.

If the village was to consolidate, the schools would have the advantage of being in a single system, thus lowering their operating costs per pupil. It would also make the village dream of a high school possible, as there would be both money and pupils to make it desirable. The new high school was to be located on some unnamed site near the center of the village.

On January 18, 1945, members of the PTA Executive Board began to open their homes to people wishing to sign petitions for consolidation. House meetings were held to answer questions.

Before the consolidation issue could be voted upon, a legal technicality was discovered. Due to the fact that some of the village land had been acquired by the airport, the village no longer contained quite the twelve square miles necessary to form a consolidated district.

In such a situation a solution must be found, and one was. District 109 decided to vote to dissolve and to ask the county commissioners to join them to District 12. The Kimball School, in District 88, was still undecided what to do. On October 1, District 109 voted 100 to 5 to dissolve. November 5, 1945 they were joined to District 12 by the county commissioners.

One week later the school board of District 12 hired the firm of Long and Thorshov to plan a much needed addition to Woodlake School. The same night they selected a 20 acre piece of land between 70th and 72nd from Pleasant to Harriet to be voted upon at a special election as the site of a new high school and a possible grade school. Purchase of the land was approved by the people on January 14, 1946.

On February 19 of the same year the people again went to the polls, this time to approve a $550,000 bond issue. The board planned to allocate $15,000 of the bonds to purchase the school site which had been approved, $15,000 to finish the gym in the East School, $500,000 for the twenty room addition to Woodlake and $20,000 to equip this building.

By April 15 many alternate plans for the wings of Woodlake School had been considered. When the first part of the new building was erected, an addition to the back had been planned. An alternate plan with wings added toward the street was finally settled upon because the Woodlake site had an inadequate playground and adding rooms to the rear would have made even less room available. Bids were considered in May but were not immediately awarded because they were higher than expected. At last the bids were awarded, the building was started, to be ready for use by January, 1947.

On April 29, 1946, District 88 voted to dissolve. The part north of 78th Street was attached to the Richfield Consolidated schools, the remainder joined the Bloomington school system.

As a final climax to the most eventful year the Richfield schools had ever enjoyed, the system was changed from an ungraded rural school district to a graded school district. It had been the largest common rural school district in Minnesota, having 1,079 children in grades one through eight. This change made the superintendent responsible to the state board of education instead of the county supervisor of schools. All records were thereafter kept in the Richfield schools instead of being kept downtown Minneapolis in the office of the county superintendent.

The addition to Woodlake school was large enough to permit the schools to have kindergartens. In the spring of 1947, when the addition to Woodlake had been completed, plans were made to have 12 weeks of kindergarten. These began on March 24, 1947. Two rooms were used, and each room had two sessions per day.

Despite the new school, all was not perfect in the Richfield school system. When teacher's salaries came up for consideration in March, the board offered each teacher a $180 raise. Not one teacher returned her contract. In the end a much higher settlement was reached, and most of the faculty returned.

The board now ambitiously desired to bring its ninth grade students to Richfield, but the number of children increased so rapidly that it was impossible to do so. However, they were able to institute a greatly enriched program. Home economics and an industrial training program were housed in the Center Building at Woodlake. The music department was enlarged and more physical education was offered.

In the fall of 1947 the perennial problem of too many children once more reared its head. An additional kindergarten room and another for first grade were added at East school. It was necessary for some kindergartners to go two days per week while others attended three days. At the end of the session the shifts were reversed and those who had been attending two days per week began to go three days per week.

In November of 1947 another bond election was held in which $250,000 worth of bonds were voted "to provide room for anticipated enrollment next fall." By December the superintendent and school board members were once more poring over preliminary plans for a building to be located at the site on 70th and Harriet.

On March 25, 1948, D'Arcy Leck Construction company was awarded the bid for a school to be erected at 72nd and Harriet. Bids for this building totaled $411,855. The school system contained 1,987 children.

"Superintendent Rumpel Gives Warning on Increased School Enrollment" read a headline in the Richfield News of May 6, 1948. He cited the fact that at that time there were 1,987 children five years old and under. He estimated that by 1954 there would probably be as many as 3,150 enrolled in the grades between kindergarten and eighth. (There were close to 6,000).

In the spring of 1948 the parents of the children at East school asked the board to finish the gym. This project had been delayed for six years while Richfield watched and waited to see how far the airport would grow. The board felt that some decision was due, and on June 10, 1948, ordered the architects to complete the working drawings. Bids submitted on July 8 were rejected as being too high, but in October bills paying for work on the East gym were allowed.

When school opened in September, 1948, double shifts made their first appearance. Pupils who were to attend the new Central Elementary school attended Woodlake part time until the new school could be ready in January, 1949.

By this time the village was operating quite a fleet of buses, and the administration pointed out it would cost less to house these buses in one place than to rent garage space. In September 1949, $12,905 was authorized to build a 10 stall garage.

As usual when school had opened in September, 1949, there were 433 more pupils than the previous year. Three rooms were rented from Oak Grove Lutheran Church, and school board members again went into a huddle with architects. The 1949 state legislature passed legislation allowing school district to bond to 50 per cent of their assessed valuation instead of the previous 20 per cent.

This new allowance, combined with the increased valuation, made the school board feel the time had finally come when the high school and an elementary school could both be added. To save money, the plans used for Central Grade school were slightly altered to be used for the new school.

In the meantime architects went ahead with plans for a high school. On November 18, 1949, voters approved a bond issue of $1,950,000 for the new high school and the elementary school. On January 13, 1950, voters again went to the polls to approve a site on 75th and Penn.

D'Arcy Leck Construction company received the contract to build the new Lincoln Hills school. It was to be ready by September of 1950. This building cost $477,000, and though the total cost was higher than Central, the per square foot cost of the room was less because the new building contained 42,000 more square feet of space and twice as much plumbing. When school closed in June, 1950, the Richfield schools had 2,506 pupils, 541 more than the previous year.

September brought its usual headaches. Lincoln Hills children were forced to attend Central on a half day arrangement until the new school was finished. There were approximately 600 more children present that the year before. (600 children fill an ordinary elementary school) To add to the confusion, 500 more homes were being constructed in the village.

School board and administration heads decided to appeal to the federal government for federal aid. By this time Richfield had achieved the distinction of being the largest village in the United States with no high school. Unfortunately, no federal aid was granted because the growth of the village could not be shown to be due to any government project or installation.

On November 16, 1950 bids for the high school were opened. To everyone's dismay, it was found that building the high school would cost a million dollars more than had been expected. Reluctantly, the high school plan was laid aside and the board once more faced the problem of building more elementary classrooms to house the 400-500 children expected to enter the system the following year.

By this time there were also enough children on the junior and senior high levels to create one of the largest plants in the state. In 1951 the Minneapolis Board of Education informed Richfield that they also had a maximum load at Ramsey Junior High and the following year junior high students from Richfield would be forced to attend Bryant Junior High.

On May 15, 1951, the voters were asked for permission to use part of the million dollars which had been set aside for the high school to make additions to East school and Central school. This permission was granted. An $80,000 addition was made on East school and a $213,000 addition to Central. As this building took place during the Korean War, it was necessary to get approval from the federal government for both additions.

By May 25, the superintendent and the board were once more looking for sites on which to place schools to house the next year's growth. When school time arrived in September, 1951, every available spot was in use as a classroom including four classes which were meeting in the Central gymnasium. At Lincoln Hills one class held forth in the faculty lunchroom.

By November two sites had been located, one on 70th and Nicollet (editorial note: this obviously was a typographical error and should have read 70th and Elliot), the other on 64th and Thomas. If two new schools were built on these sites, enough elementary children could be accommodated to free Woodlake for use as a junior high. Ninth graders could be kept in the village. The board already had $700,000 on hand to start building. Once more the board went to federal agencies to get permission to build.

When this hurdle had been cleared, the board and the superintendent reviewed the plans with the architects to see if some money could not be saved on these two buildings without sacrificing too much in the way of quality. Eventually, the original bid to $717,885.50 was reduced to $697,486.50 by substituting wood for steel windows, using 1/8" asphalt tile instead of 3/16" and eliminating soot blowers. The contracts were let and building began, with schools to be ready by September, 1952.

In the meantime the State Department of Education ordered certain changes in Woodlake before they reluctantly consented to its use as a junior high. Music rooms were added and more shower facilities.

Half of the rooms at Elliot were ready to open one week late in September, but Sheridan was not ready until November. Children at Elliot attended half days there, and children at Sheridan doubled up with those at Lincoln Hills on a half day session.

September of 1952 saw the first million dollar school budget. For the first time the village went from kindergarten through the ninth grade. At this time 780 more children were added to the system, 550 more kindergartners than the previous year and 230 ninth graders. Such an increase in enrollment necessitated additions to the custodial department, more teachers, and even more administrators.

Once more the superintendent and the school board felt that it might be possible to go ahead with the high school plans.

It is frequently difficult for school administrators and board members to determine exactly how the public feels about any particular issue. When it came time to go ahead with Richfield's long-awaited high school, every group in the village was invited to select a representative to form a Citizen's Advisory committee on Education. Twenty-eight representatives of organizations took part, and 10 members at large were selected.

This group met with the architect and went over the school plans. They visited other new high schools in the area. Consideration was given to whether more grade schools were needed first, or if a junior high should have preference.

While the Citizen's Advisory committee worked at these problems, a certain number of other obstacles had been cleared away. The State Department of Education had given their permission to go ahead with the high school even though it would mean putting all first grades on half days the following year. A new reading readiness program for kindergartners, developed especially for Richfield, was expected to help ease first grade difficulties. The village had also achieved an increased assessed valuation.

In April, 1953, the Citizen's Advisory committee recommended the school board go ahead with the existing plans for a high school. Meetings were scheduled for every elementary school to inform voters who might have questions. Each household received a brochure explaining the issue fully.

On May 19, 1953, the $2,750,000 bond issue was overwhelmingly approved. Architect's drawings were promptly approved and bids were called for August 27. On that date the low bidder was D'Arcy Leck Construction company who received the contract. The school was to be ready in September of 1954.

In September, 1953, school authorities were once more grappling with the problem of what to do with all the children. In all the schools, first graders were put on half days. Elliot school had the worst headache. In this area, 30 families per week moved in during the first weeks of September.

The anticipated enrollment at Elliot school had been 815. By the fifth week of the fall term, 967 children were present. All grades up through the third went on half days.

The school board decided to investigate the possibility of buying some mobile units to house this excess. A special election was held October 26, 1953, to approve a new site for a school at 72nd and 4th.

On the same day bids were opened for the mobile units. When it found that $50,000 would be necessary for the mobile units, and that the assessed valuation had risen enough to permit the building of a permanent addition to Elliot school, it was decided to make other arrangements. On January 1, 1954, three rooms were rented from Mt. Calvary church, and only the first grade remained on half days.

At this time Harold Rasmussen, former principal of Mound High, began his duties as principal of the new Richfield High School. He was hired nine months before the school opened in order to set up a program of studies, assist in setting up a staff, to counsel individual students and to assist in selecting equipment, materials and supplies for the new high school staff.

January 26, 1954, the voters approved a $200,000 bond issue for an addition to Elliot school. Eugene Pavek Construction company received the contract and promised the school ready in 150 days.

When September of 1954 came, the entire school system would have opened on time, with all children, kindergarten through high school in their proper place at the proper time, if a five weeks' strike by the ironworkers had not held up completion of the new high school building.

Instead the high school opening was delayed until October 11. During the following months senior high met in the morning and the junior high students attended in the afternoon. Just when the administrators thought that they could put all the students on a staggered schedule, a fire in the gym covered the school with soot. Extensive redecorating became necessary, and the staggered program was not instituted until spring.

Thus, by 1955, Richfield has at last reached the goal of having a complete school system, kindergarten through high school, all except high school seniors, housed within the village. It is an independent, graded system responsible directly to the State Board of Education. Anyone looking back over the years since 1944 would be forced to realize that Richfield has had to accomplish in eleven years what other towns have had fifty years to do. Thus, it is a proud day for us when the high school is at last dedicated.

Woodlake Center Building

Webmaster's Note: Special thanks to Judy Miller, former District 280 secretary, for this reprint.