Historic Stoughton - 1892 High School

Photo of the Stoughton 1892 High School taken in 2022

The 1892 High School

211 N. Forest St.
Stoughton, WI 53589

Description

The 1892 High School is one of Stoughton's oldest and most prominent landmarks. It occupies a raised site at the north edge of Stoughton's Original Townsite with views of the Yahara River farther to the north. It's located in a section of town that has historically been devoted to educational purposes, and grew to be known as the community's "Central Campus." It's listed on the state and national Registers of Historic Places and is a designated local landmark.

Architecture

This Victorian Eclectic cream brick load-bearing masonry building is two and a half stories tall and is approximately sixty by eighty feet in dimension. The complex hip roof covers a 5 x 2 bay main block and two rear extensions that are successively set back in width, creating in effect a complex T-shaped plan. The building rests upon a rusticated ashlar stone foundation, built of locally quarried stone and features raised mortaring with a rounded profile. The main (south) elevation is dominated by a mildly projecting center-gabled pavilion that houses the main entry and stairway. The center gable is raked with brick corbelling and features a small gable pendant incised with a decorative floral pattern, indicative of the Queen Anne style. The center gable screens the bellcast base of a now-missing 14 foot wooden school bell tower. The tower was added to the building circa 1907, probably at the same time the new Neoclassical high school by Claude and Stark was constructed. The tower stood in place at least until the late 1920s, but has since been lost, perhaps to the elements. The roof and dormers are presently sheathed with asphalt shingling. Originally the roof was-covered with slate and more recently with wood shingles. more ...

Early History

The last three decades of the nineteenth century witnessed a tremendous influx of immigration into Stoughton, the majority of it Norwegian. As a result, Stoughton became Dane County's second largest city and was informally titled "little Norway."¹ By 1892, Stoughton's population totaled approximately 3000 people, up fifty per cent from just eight years earlier.² The school district was forced to implement a half-day system in order to allow each eligible student a chance for an education. more ...

Recent History

In April 1999, Stoughton residents voted 1,196 to 735 to approve spending $335,000 to renovate the 1892 high school. Voters also approved $19,250 for annual custodial costs. The school district planned to lease the building to Madison Area Technical College (MATC). However, these plans were scrapped when bids for the work exceeded the referendum amount by more than $150,000.

In 2016, the school district again began looking at its options for the building. Proposals to tear the building down to create more parking spaces prompted the formation of the "1892 High School Coalition," a partnership of community organizations comprised of Sustainable Stoughton, the Stoughton Historical Society, the R' Olde House Society, and the Stoughton Landmarks Commission. This group held forums, developed a social media presence, and solicited advice from various experts to identify new uses for the building. To raise awareness, they produced this video.

Several viable options were proposed for restoring and maintaining this important landmark. These included utilizing the building as a youth center, maker space, community center, adult education center, middle-school fabrication lab, and others. Funding sources for the renovation were identified based on the intended use and ownership of the building. One of the more notable proposals was from a group of civil engineering students at the University of Wisconsin, who investigated renovation alternatives as part of their capstone engineering project. Their project results are documented in this PowerPoint presentation.

Preservation proposal for 1892 High School

History - continued

At the same time the school population was increasing, its existing facilities were starting to fail. In January 1890, the first high school was forced to close its doors for two days and send its students home. The building's furnace failed to keep its inhabitants warm enough to comfortably conduct classes.³ The growing number of new students and the lack of adequate facilities motivated the community to consider the construction of several new school buildings.⁴

In July, 1890, participants in the Annual School Meeting for District No. 3 proposed the construction of two new school buildings.

O.C. Lee offered the following resolution. Resolved that the school district board be authorized and instructed to purchase school building sites adjoining the high school building and one on the east side of the railroad track.⁵

By the beginning of 1892, the school district had selected an architect for the new high school and the work of quarrying the foundation stone had commenced. The January 23, 1891 Stoughton Courier includes the following two mentions as part of its "Local Laconics" column, a free-rambling account of local events.

Stone for new high school building being hauled from E. E. Ladd's quarry just east of here.

Messrs. Townsend, Jensen and Ovren inspected the high school building in Madison on Tuesday in company with Architect Gordon, who is drawing plans for the new high school building.⁶

The latter mention indicates that James O. Gordon, a Madison architect, had been contracted to develop the plans and drawings necessary for a new high school.⁷ This reference also indicates that Gordon had designed the Madison high school and had shown it to his new clients in Stoughton as a way of illustrating what they should expect in their own.⁸

In September, 1891, the school board decided to "purchase of Andrew Erickson two lots west of the High School building at the named price of $650.00 to be used as a high school site.⁹ Those attending the same meeting decided to levy $7,500 over a three year period to pay for its construction. Despite what seems like strong support for the construction of a new high school "a motion was made and seconded to wait one year before erecting a high school building."¹⁰ The June, 1892 District meeting decided once again to forestall the commitment to build.¹¹

In February 1892, the community at large was publicly notified that the fate of a new high school was to be decided at a Special School Meeting and "that the qualified electors of joint district No. 3 should attend to consider the advisability of erecting a new high school.¹²

Soon thereafter 150 of the local townspeople gathered to express their opinions about the need for additional school space. A number of prominent local individuals, including L.K. Luse, Levi Kittleson, O.C. Lee, Mayor Hanson, T.C. Lund, and Rev. A. Bredesen, spoke in favor of new construction as proposed. In conclusion the meeting "declared favorably for the erection of a two-department building on the east side to cost $4,000 and a high school building elsewhere to cost furnished $12,000. The future of these recommendations were to be decided at the next school meeting.¹³

On March 4 1892, 400 people gathered in the opera house. There they decided to raise and spend $15,000 in building the two school houses and to establish a three-man building committee to consist of L.K. Luse, M.A. Johnson and O.C. Lee.¹⁴ By April the East Side school was under construction and Messrs. Luse and Clark had started to inspect the heating systems of schools in Beloit.¹⁵

By July, the local newspapers contained a "Notice to Contractors" requesting sealed bids for the construction a solid brick building containing five schoolrooms. Full plans and specifications were available for viewing at the office of the district clerk.¹⁶

Although fully decided upon, difficulties continued. Most of the community's contractors were already completely booked up and only one bid was received as of August 19. In addition, because of what must have a been a boom time for construction, building brick was in short supply. Nonetheless in September 23, the Courier could report that "the contract for the erection of the high school building has been let to Bonnet & Sons of Whitewater, and work has commenced on the foundation. The contractors are said to be hustlers and will have the building completed in a few months."¹⁷

By the end of March, 1893 benefit entertainments were being held, the proceeds of which went towards the purchase of laboratory apparatus and the fixing up of the gymnasium.¹⁸

It seems that Stoughton's growth continued to out-pace its educational facilities, since it was not long before another high school building, this time designed by Madison architects Claude and Stark, was designed and constructed. The 1907 construction of the newer Neo-Classical structure probably coincides with the erection of a 14-foot wooden bell-tower on the older high school.¹⁹

¹Ferd Homme, Oak Opening; The Story of Stoughton (Stoughton; Stoughton centennial History Committee, 1947), p. 53).

²Population figures were taken from the Sanborn-Perris Maps.

³Stoughton Courier, p. 5:l.

⁴West School - constructed in 1886, enlarged 1899, 1905. East School - constructed 1891. South School - constructed in 1900.

⁵Proceedings School District No. 3; 1878 - , pp. 58.-9. [On File at School District Administration Building.]

⁶January 23, 1991, Stoughton Courier, p. 5:1.

⁷Record of two $100 payments from L.D. Clark, District Clerk to J.O. Gordon, Architect (one in February 21, 1891 and one in July 6, 1891) · seem to confirm Gordon as the building's architect. Proceedings, pp. 120, 152.

⁸Gordon, a native of New York State, came to Madison with his parents in 1857. In 1889 he began his own career as an architect. In 1892 he took as his partner a native Madisonian, Fred W. Paunack. Paunack died in 1904, and Gordon continued the firm with his son until his own death in 1915. The firm advertised itself as making "a specialty of designing residences," most of which can·be defined as Queen Anne in style. Gordon was one of Dane County's more accomplished architects. Buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places designed by Gordon and Paunack include the following: 150 Langdon Street (1892), Madison; Mt. Horeb Opera Block (1895), Mt. Horeb; and Halle Steensland House (1896), Madison.

⁹Proceedings, p. 59.

¹⁰Proceedings, p. 61.

¹¹June 10, 1892, Courier, p. 4:3.

¹²February 5, 1892, Courier, p. 5:2.

¹³February 12, 1892, Stoughton Hub, p. 4:1.

¹⁴March 4, 1892, Courier; p. 5:2.

¹⁵April 29, 1892, Hub, p. 5:2.

¹⁶July 15, 1892, Courier, p. 5:4 and Hub, p. 4:3.

¹⁷September 23, 1892, Courier, p .. 5:1.

¹⁸March 31, 1893, Courier, p. 5:2.

¹⁹The State Historical Society of Wisconsin has on file a postcard of the Stoughton High School with the bell tower in place. The estimated date of the postcard is 1907. None of the earlier Sanborn Maps indicate that the tower is original.

This commment is unpublished.
Matt · 10 days ago
Talk with the state about transitioning it into a long term care facility for veterans. There's definitely a need for that in the area. You could even talk of donating the building to the state to help drive interest.
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Dean A. Hanson · 2 years ago
The last class to graduate at the downtown campus was the SHS Class of 1967. The new campus High School building was first used in the fall of 1967 when the next school year started. I for one spent the first two years of my high school days at the old downtown campus, then finished the second two years at the new campus. The SHS Class of 1968 was the first graduation held at the end of the ’67 - ’68 school year, at the new high school.

One more small bit of information is that upon moving to the new high school it was only a THREE year high school. That is to say the 9th Grade Class stayed at the downtown campus. That was when a new name was first applied to the old downtown campus. This is when we first heard the MIDDLE SCHOOL name used, here in Stoughton, for the 7th, 8th, & 9th grades that were combined at the old location of the high school. Only the 10th, 11th, & 12th grades moved into and occupied the new building. This in turn makes the SHS Class of 1970 the first to graduate from the new high school, after completing all their high school years at the new high school. Also their graduation was held on a Sunday afternoon for the very first time, after many years of an evening event being held. The high school principle at that time was so displeased about the event being held on a Sunday afternoon, that he put his foot down. He refused to allow that to happen again, so it went back to being an evening event for the next several years.

The referendum to build a new high school actually failed the first two times it was proposed for construction. Only after repeated cuts to the original plans, did it pass on the third vote. This is part of why the move to the westside location was delayed, to the start of the 1967 school year.
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Curator@HistoricStoughton.org · 2 years ago
If you have information or photos related to the history of the 1892 high school, you are welcome to post it here.
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  Jennifer M · 4 months ago
  
  @Curator@HistoricStoughton.org Hi, I recently found a photo Album in my Attic from the Winter gradation class of 1892. I would be happy to donate it. Thank you.
  Sincerely Chris and Jennifer Meyers Turbis.
  
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The 1892 High School

Description

Architecture

Early History

Recent History

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History - continued

Architecture - continued