FOND DU LAC – Fond du Lac students aren’t the only ones finishing up the school year: the buildings are another year older, too.
Fond du Lac School District’s oldest standing schools include Waters, Pier, Evans and Rosenow elementary schools — all built in the 1950s. Most of the district’s other schools, however, were built in the 1960s and 1970s, and still serve the community today.
Here’s the history of the other district schools.
Oldest middle schools joined the community in 1962
A few years after Roosevelt Junior High School was deemed condemned, two new schools joined the community at the same time in 1962.
Sabish Middle School, 100 N. Peters Ave., and Woodworth Middle School, 101 Morningside Drive, were also designed the same. Shared architect team Schutte, Philips & Mochon of Milwaukee and Sylvester Stepnoski of Fond du Lac even matched the folded plate roof above the gymnasiums in both buildings.
Woodworth’s history was interrupted in 1981, when it closed because of low enrollment, saving the district about $360,000 per year. It reopened in 1992 when enrollment returned to a rate that necessitated three junior high schools.
Roberts Elementary School was built in 1964
Roberts Elementary School, 270 Candy Lane, was built in 1964, and namesake Margaret K. Roberts was still alive to see the dedication. She was most well-known for creating an ungraded primary reading plan that spread nationally, but her education touched every grade level within her 36 years of teaching.
Chegwin Elementary School was first of the 1970s
New school openings picked up in the 1970s, starting with Fahey Primary School in 1970 at the site of what used to be Washington School. Since it only taught kindergarten and first grade, it closed in 2003 when the district needed to make budget cuts.
The first full elementary school of the decade was Chegwin Elementary School, 109 E. Merrill Ave., in 1970.
Chegwin’s design was new for the city: classrooms were open-concept, built as pods around a large media center. Each classroom was actually the equivalent of three classrooms, supporting three different classes or one large group instruction.
Theisen Middle School was admired for its size
Theisen Junior High School, 525 E. Pioneer Road, opened in 1970, and the community quickly noticed its size was second only to Goodrich High School. Construction was still going on when the school year started, but the building was well under capacity, so classes were held around the workers.
The design focused on allowing more adaptability in classrooms, rather than keeping students’ desks in neat rows. In addition to traditional classrooms, Theisen also held potential to accommodate new teaching methods, including team teaching, large group instruction and individual study.
The school was dedicated in February 1971, when construction finally finished on the $2.3 million building.
Parkside Elementary School was built in 1973
When Parkside Elementary School opened at 475 W. Arndt St. in 1973, the state superintendent of public instruction praised it for following the modern design studies for student learning environments, as well as involving parents, teachers, administration and the rest of the community in the process.
The new school had close proximity to Johnson Street, so parents petitioned adding an extra crossing guard at Johnson and Seymour streets to join the one already hired at Johnson and Hickory streets.
Lakeshore Elementary School was last in long string of new builds
Lakeshore Elementary School, 706 Prairie Road, opened in January 1976, meaning students moved in between semesters instead of at the beginning of the school year.
After several schools had joined the community in the past 20 years, the district found need for a new rural school to serve students on the east side of the region. The site was approved after public input, and parents and teachers had given input on the name.
After Lakeshore’s construction, the district had planned a few minor additions the next year — including the pool at Goodrich High School — but after that, the period of near-constant school projects since 1950 came to a close.
Daphne Lemke is the Streetwise reporter for the Fond du Lac Reporter. Contact her at dlemke@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: See when Fond du Lac’s newer schools were built
Reporting by Daphne Lemke, Fond du Lac Reporter / Fond du Lac Reporter
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