pagesof history
Hoyt No. 36 School now rests in the
ront owing: (F dle ll fo e th d 7 include Frisk, (Mid ss of 195 ike Adams, Daryl Vicki Clark, la C e h T 957: ebeler, M y Harvey, rk, lass of 1 zen, Bill H cy Forslund, Nanc arvey, Cassie Cla C s l e o re o D h g c to u n H o o S a a h D t N d p , , y n in n is o H sze cso rk, L . Th ulette Eri Ron Dree ebbie Cla Mrs. Marg Smith D ) r: lw Row l-r:) ark Dreeszen, Pa teacher (Back Ro M Hebeler, erb Dreeszen and x Falls, S.D. Row l-r:) n n a o J r, u H , ele Bob Heb , Larry Dreeszen rrell Packing in Sio o ey M rv t a a H y a im J Skip D n As Greater Hoyt School District fades into history, three former students o n e k was ta
Memories...
135 years of history...
This history was compiled by Akron Hometowner sources, including school records found at the Union County Courthouse.
April 6, 1880 Voted to build school house. A 1
percent tax was levied in the district for the 1880 School House Fund. Authorized to loan $250 on School House Fund, which was paid back in one year. School to be built, 18 x 24 feet with 10 feet frost brick foundation built with cottonwood lumber. Sided with fine siding. Inside should be ceiled [sic] with fine ceiling. One brick chimney with three windows on each side of building. One door on each end of building. Build as soon as the necessary money could be raised. Tax of one-half percent for teachers fund; three mills on the dollar of valuation was voted for confinement fund for 180. Term of four months winter school.
August 27, 1881
Teacher’s Report for Hoyt District No. 36,. Sioux Valley, Dakota. E.L. Ericson, Superintendent of Schools. Total of 60 days taught by Josie Waterbury in 1882. Eighteen students enrolled.
April 1883
Any scholar attending school from out of district will pay a tuition of $1.25 per month.
1884
Teacher salary was $30 per month.
1913
New schoolhouse to be built 24 x 36. Two cloak rooms. Billfry [sic] on roof of cloak rooms, main building bell platform extend above peak of main building with a roof. Teacher salary was $55 per month.
1918
Basement dug out under schoolhouse. New furnace and coal bins. Teacher salary was $80 per month.
1925
Teacher Bernice Hanson did a textbook inventory with her report: Civil Government textbooks cost the most, Dunn’s Community Civics, $1.25 and
reminisce. Audrey (Ericson) Ericson not only graduated from Greater Hoyt’s Eighth Grade, she returned to teach there and has been a school board member for most of the last 42 years; her sister, Joan (Ericson) Hedeby, also graduated from Greater Hoyt School; and Audrey’s daughter, Paulette (Ericson) VanderHam, was a third generation Greater Hoyt graduate.
Activities
The students performed plays at Christmas and Spring programs. They also competed in Speech Contests against other schools. Joann remembered having a carnival when she was in first grade. She and another girl classmate dressed as Siamese twins. They wore Mr. McMurray’s overalls, each standing in a leg. Mr. McMurray was their neighbor. In Spring when Audrey was teaching, the students had relay race contests against the other schools. All of the races were held in Alcester and were similar to today’s school track meets.
Lunches
Johnson, $1. Drawing textbooks were the cheapest at 27 cents while readers ranged from 45 to 80 cents. Teacher salary was $130 per month.
1929
Storm cellar built. Teacher salary was $115 per month.
1935
Bought playground equipment. Bought 1 1/2 acre land from Akron Savings Bank.
1937
Dike built west of schoolhouse. District Clerk’s Annual Report and School Treasurer’s Annual Report, dated July 14, 1937: 25 students; Value of School Buildings & Sites, $2,000; Total Value of Furniture & Equipment: $750. Money deposited at First National Bank in Akron.
1938
Wired for electricity. Teacher salary was $85 per month.
1944
New furnace bought and installed for $168. Teacher salary was $120 per month.
1967
Teacher Lois Laferriere had 10 students in this final year of teaching in the one-room country school. Teacher salary was $330 per month. There were 227 books in the library and 95 textbooks. There were two reference sets (one each): World Book and Atlas encyclopedias
Their mom usually sent a piece of cake, a sandwich, milk and a fruit such as pears or peaches or applesauce as their school lunches. “One family had lard sandwiches,” said Joann. “We didn’t always have meat sandwiches,” said Audrey. “We’d have brown sugar sandwiches, which I remember having first at my grandmother’s house.” During World War II, the school received “government food rations,” which they heated on the stove in the basement of the school.
Discipline
Opening Exercises
Each school day began with “Opening Exercises.” According to Joann, the teacher would read something or have them read; they’d sing songs and sometimes they’d do real exercises. The students also hung the flag on the flagpole and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. “We had respect for our country,” said Joann.
Recesses
“We went outside no matter what,” said Joann. The students played ball, rode bicycles and played games such as Hideand-Sneek, Pump-Pump-Pull-Away, and Annie Over.
Winter Time
Hoyt School is located on flat land. In winter, the students would skip morning and afternoon recesses. Then at lunch time, they climbed the hill by the Hebelers’ place, across the road to the north of the school, and sled down the hill. “We’d be all soaking wet,” said Joann. “We’d sit around the stove until we were half dried off.” The students also made snow angels. Paulette noted the girls could only wear dresses at school but they wore long johns underneath. The long underwear would get so wet, they’d stand close to the stove as long as they could stand its hot heat. “There would be so many mittens and gloves on top of the stove that not much heat would come out,” said Paulette.
Mainly, they had to stay in for recess when the teacher disciplined them. But there were other forms of discipline. Joann’s first grade teacher put another girl in the cloak room in the winter. When Joann got caught talking, she told the teacher she was talking about nothing. Then she had to write 500 sentences with the word “nothing” in each. Audrey remembers writing spelling words 100 times as discipline. We didn’t get in trouble When the high school students came to visit, Audrey was blamed for writing a note the teacher caught the We didn’t want to get on students passing. dad’s bad side. He might not “Another girl was the one who passed the note and blamed me,” said give you a lickin’ but he’d Audrey. “We didn’t get in trouble,” said give you a tongue lashing.” Audrey. “We didn’t want to get on - Audrey Ericson dad’s bad side. He might not give you a lickin’ but he’d give you a tongue lashing.”
“
School Transportation
One day it was raining so hard that Joann thought their dad would give them a ride to school, which was 1.5 miles away. “I never got a ride to school,” said Joann. “They gave us another coat. We could hardly walk because it was so heavy and wet by the time we got to school.”
Ball games
In Spring, the Hoyt School students competed in ball games against the other country schools’ students, including West Union, Spring Creek, Mount Hope and Garland. “We’d take turns,” said Joann. “Either we’d go to those schools or they came here. Parents provided transportation.”