One of the first teachers was a Mr. Ramsland who taught in the log cabin.
The
best known teacher was Walter E. Larson who taught this school from 1896-1898.
He
served later as county superintendent of schools, as state rural school supervisor,
and
later became principal of the Door-Kewaunee Normal School at Algoma. As superin-
tendent he advocated school consolidation. While a teacher at this school
he organiz-
ed the still active Memorial Association which cares for the cemeteries in
the district.
He also organized and led a district singing class, and a night class for
those inter-
ested in completing their elementary educatign During the 1860's and 70's
summer
and winter terms of school were common. Teachers on record were: Mary Boettcher
(S) 1872; Anna Burnett (S) 1873; Herman M. Tyler (W) 1873; Aurelia Lawrence
(S)
1874; Mathias Norman (W) 1874; Edward Torrison 1876; Guy Aubol 1877-8; Katie
Dempsey 1879; M. Boettcher 1880; John Dunbar 1894; Otto T. Dover 1895; David
Fitzgerald 1898; P. Max Geimer 1904; and Alma C. Hanson 1905. Others reported
as
having taught in the district were Belle C. Hammond, Mary Davies, Nora Morris,
Christine Ulness, Oscar Delbeck, and John Suse.
    The school house has always served as the center for community affairs.
About
1918 school fairs were held each fall. The school officers set aside prize
money for
farm products and school exhibits. Programs by the children and district
people were
featured at these events. Spelling matches were common and when extra money
was
needed for certain purposes, box socials wer held. During the summer the
church
uses the building for a parochial school.
    A place of historical interest in the district is the site of the hamlet
of Eaton
which was located on the old Calumet Road a half mile southwest of this Sunny
Crest
school. The s9pall village served as a mail distributing center for other
small post
offices nearby. The Eaton post office was first located a half mile west
of the old
village of Eaton. Later the office was moved to, the village and was housed
in the
old' red schoolhouse which Aubol had moved to this hamlet. The hamlet of
Eaton at
one time boasted of a post office, a blacksmith shop, a store, and a tavern.
Today
nothing remains of the old village except the Kolwey residence and a tumbled
down
stone building.
                          LIBERTY JT. 3- WEBSTER
                        Geraldine Christianson Valleskey


    During the early days of
the district, the residents there-
of became greatly interested in
spelling and spelling matches.
When Webster's spelling books
were published, they were en-
thusiastically adopted by the
school. As years went by the
"old-timers" remembered this
speller and the interest in spell-
ing. It was natural then that
Gilbert Gullckson, a school-
board member in 1918, should
suggest that the school be nam-
ed the Webster School. The dis-
trict school is also known as the
Gulickson School, ,as Thalham-
mer's School, and as the Rube


School by various groups.
    Liberty District 3 was organized in the early 1850's and was then known
as New-
ton district No. 8 which consisted of sections 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
and 15 in the
present Liberty township. After 1857 when this area became part of the township
of Buchanan, it became Buchanan district 3. In 1860 it was renamed Liberty
district 3.
Since its organization, large areas were detached to the west and other smaller
areas
attached to the east and south. It was not until 1890 that this district
became joint
with Newton when a small area in Newton was attached to Liberty 3, and then
this
district became Liberty Joint 3.
    The first log schoolhouse was erected in the early 1850's. The chinks
between the
logs were plastered with red clay. The school site was the southeast corner
of section
11 which is-at the crossroads of the present church property. The school
was furnish-
ed with long tables, the full length of the room. The girls sat on one side,
while the
boys sat on the opposite side facing the girls. Their seats were backless
benches. A
"black" board, 3 x 3 feet in size, was used for teaching and demonstration
purposes.


109