to complete the fourth classroom and then five teachers were employed to
teach an
average enrollment of 400 pupils. Each room was heated by a separate wood-burning
stove. A well on the schoolgrounds furnished the water which was dispensed
in each
room by a pail and dipper. Outdoor toilets were used until the new Hamilton
school
was built in 1903. The rooms were lighted by windows in the three outside
walls.
The "blackboards" were placed along the inside wall partition,
The furniture con-
sisted of crude homemade desks and seats. The texts used in this building
were
Electic, Swinton, and McGuffey spellers; McGuffey and Swinton readers; Rays
arithmetic; Mitchell's geography; Clark's grammar, Guffey's history; and
Hatch's
physiology.
    By 1877 the enrollment had grown to about 500 pupils. Then, too, there
was a
demand for a high school which was established in 1877. These conditions,
made
necessary the erection of a second school buildirng on the site. County records
in
the superintendent of school's office show that the sum of $3,200 was spent
to erect
a four room, two-stor Yr structure on. the northeast corner of the schoolyard,
the corner
of 18th and Jefferson streets. This building is said to have been about 30
x 80 feet,
of frame construction, and painted white. The building was built so that
the long
side faced 18th street and the width side faced Jefferson street. The entrance
to this
building was built on the- playground side at the center of the structure.
This en-
trance led into a hall and stairway which separated the school into an east
and a west
wing. The rooms were heated with woodstoves. The janitor was John Miller
who
had only one arm, but who did his work efficiently, bringing in all of the
wood and
keeping the two buildings clean in spite of his handicap. For some time only
one
of the upper rooms was used for high school classes. The lower rooms were
used for
the grades as five elementary teachers and one high school instructor were
employ-
ed by 1878. The county records show that additional sums were spent to complete
the unfinished rooms up to 1890. Eight teachers were employed in the grades
and
high school by that year.

    Still another school building was erected on the present Hamilton school
site in
1897 for about $1,500. It was a small auxiliary school building of the barrack-type
to care for the crowded grade conditions. According to Arthur Lohmann this
tem-
porary structure was of frame constructure about 30 x 60 feet and was built
at the
southwest corner of the present Hamilton school site housing the sixth grade.
This
one-room barrack was used until the new Hamilton school was erected in 1903.
Six-
teen grade and high school teachers were employed by 1900. Credit for the
informa-
tion about these three schools on the Hamilton school site must be given
to Fred
Dicke, Sr., Peter Schroeder, and Arthur Lohmann. Miss Edna Smith, a clerk
in the
city superintendent's office, states that the buildings were torn down by
Henry Kap-
pelmann and the lumber sold for construction of homes in the city.
    Leading Two Rivers citizens and the school board opened the campaign
for a
new and modern school building to replace the three frame buildings as early
as
the 1900's. As usual when faced with the expenditure of a large sum of money,
the
citizens first voiced much opposition since many felt that the old frame
buildings
were meeting the educational needs of the community. But the wise and future-
minded community leaders kept agitating until finally in 1903 a large bond
issue was
floated to pay for a new school. Building operation began in 1903 and thi
school
was completed in 1905 with appropriate dedication exercises presided over
by Mayor
John R. Currens.
    The new and present H. P. Hamilton school was constructed of pressed
brick
and finished in oak trim for about $54,000. The mason work was done by Frank
Wolf while Ira Stehn did the carpenter work. It is a two-and one-half story
building
with a full basement. The basement at first housed the :lavatories, heating-ventilat-
ing plant, and store rooms. When built, the second floor was used by the
grammar
grades and the high school classes, for by that time there was a city superintendent
who taught some high school classes as well as four other secondary instructors
in
Latin and German, English, manual training, and music. The first floor of
about six
classrooms was used for .the kindergarten and grade children. The city clerk's
school
report to the county superintendent in 1905 for the school year 1904-05 records
the
fact that seven departments were in operation - the high school section was
counted
as one department. The report also records the fact that there were 614 grade
pupils
enrolled, but some of them were attending the Roosevelt school. The bonded
indebted-
ness of the district in 1905 was $37,000. The high school report on file
for the same
year shows that 26 young men and 20 young women were attending high school.
Three young men and three young women graduated from the four year high school
course in the spring of 1905,.


227