Oconto County WIGenWeb Project

HISTORIC OCONTO COUNTY SCHOOLS

Norway Pines School
10300 Pipeline Rd.
Town of Bagley, originally Town of Maple Valley
Oconto County, Wisconsin

Photograph above courtesy of : Oconto County Genealogical Society
This foundation may have recently been removed in land clearing.

Norway Pines
1927

Three children in first row, left to right:

Elizabeth Lepinski, Unknown, Frances Stix,

Six children in second row, left to right:

Unknown, Julia Lepinski, Marie Stix, Robert McLoyd, Henry Madsen, Joe Lepinski

Four Children in third row, left to right:

Florence Hansen, Helen Stix, Warren Scott, Fred Stix

Back row, left to right:

Evelyn Madsen, Dorothy Hansen, Teacher; Ethel Nelson, Hans Stix, Charlie Lepinski

Teacher Lois Runge signed the 1926-27 Report Card. Teacher Ethel Nelson signed the 1927-28 Report Card. Teacher Erna Beckendorf signed the 1933-34 Report Card.

Photos, names and historic comment contributed by: Bette Elbe

Norway Pines 1934

In wheel barrow: Calvin Hiemerl, Earl Anderson

Middle: Hazel Hiemerl

Back Row Standing left to right: Sheridan Hiemerl, , Rosella Anderson, Viola Rupiper, RuthTetzlaff, Merlyn Rusch, Frances Stix.

Teacher: Erna Beckendorf was not in the photograph

Photos, names and historic comment contributed by: Bette Elbe

Posed in both pictures is my late mother Frances Stix-Malueg. All the Stix kids went to Norway Pines through grade 8. I should mention that Erna Beckendorf was the teacher in 1934. I must tell you how each of the Stix children treasured their days at Norway Pines. I still have some of their Report Cards!

Teacher Lois Runge signed the 1926-27 Report Card. Teacher Ethel Nelson signed the 1927-28 Report Card. Teacher Erna Beckendorf signed the 1933-34 Report Card.

Norway Pines Graded School had two rooms and originally taught grades 1 through 12. Graduates received Completion Certificates. High Schools in larger cities such as Oconto, Oconto Falls, Gillett and Suring eventually took over the "college preparatory" education of grades 9 through 12 and graduates received "High School" Diplomas. Norway Pines School, along with many other rural schools, then offered grades 1 through 8.

The 1934 photograph (above right) shows a brick building with a coal chute just to the right of the children. In later years, as enrollments gradually decreased, only 1 teacher was employed. The 1927 photograph (above) shows 17 students of all ages with their teacher Ethel Nelson who taught at the school from 1924 to 1929. This was a long time compared to the one school-year term contracts that were most common in rural schools. By 1934 the student body photo shows 9 children whose clothing and props reflect a decidedly farming influence.

Norway Pines was originally built in Town of Maple Valley southeast of Breed. In 1917 that township was divided and the Norway Pines School was then in Town of Bagley. Initially there was a mix of lumber employee children with a few farmers' offspring. Yearly enrollment changed as families moved in and out of the area according to the father's employment.

As tree harvesting and milling dwindled, land in the area was sold to homesteaders, and the school was increasingly filled with a more permanent population of local farm residents' children of.

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