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Butternut School Is My Home

    When I attended Butternut School No. 2, Massillon Township, many years ago, little did I dream that it would one day be my home, which it is now. My Grandfather Schneider originally donated the land for the school with the understanding that if the time ever came when the school was no longer used, the land would revert to the owner of the farm at that time. The school was situated on land now owned by Walter Hack.*

     The school had a large enrollment during its early years, but it had dwindled in size by the time I attended it. There were five boys and girls in my class, and when we finished the eighth grade the school closed and remained empty until it was sold at public auction. It was then moved to its present location at 204 Main Street, Lowden, and was converted to a house. The name Butternut School apparently came from the many butternut trees growing on the land; however, by the time I went to school there was only one such tree.

     Oh yes, I have many fond memories of that building—both as my school and as my home.

              Mrs Warren (Elgeva Hamdorf) Stolte

    *Walter Hack farm (SE ¼ of Sec. 23 in Massillon Township).

* ~ * ~ *

I REMEMBER -

. . . . . staying home from school to help Mother make gallons and gallons of sauerkraut.

              Mrs Melvin (Eleanor Mensing) Licht

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School Days & Picnics in 20's

    I had the experience of beginning my school days in the year 1919 in a frame building located where the Lutheran School now stands, with Mr H. Suhr as the teacher. As plans for a new school building were made, classes were continued during construction. It was decided to move the old school building across the street onto the present playground.

     With the assistance from my father's team of horses, and the members help, the school ended up across the street, but facing a different direction, and as classes resumed, the sun always rose in the north and set in the south.

     Since the new school needed more time to complete, and already another teacher was engaged for the lower grades, the basement of the old church was remodeled for classes which I also attended. It was a happy day when the new school was ready for classes.

     When the lilacs bloomed in the spring we knew vacation time was near, but the Big Picnic came before vacation. For weeks ahead it meant practice for the flag, dumbbell drills and other marching and singing to the music of the phonograph records.

     The first part of the program was a church service followed by drills, the school board members with flags and then the school children. The parade began at the school and ended at the railroad track crossing, where everyone was picked up and taken to Scheeper's Grove.

     The first part of the program was church service followed by drills, marches, singing and others. Then to the well-filled baskets for dinner. The afternoon was enjoyed by visits to the various stands and entering contests, including bowling with a ball hanging from a tree limb and swinging it out to hit the ten pins. There was also a rifle shooting gallery, fishing booths for all kinds of goodies and many others.

     By the end of the day or even before, the allowance of the children received from the parents was depleted and all went home tired with balloons, whistles and memories of a great School Picnic.

              Martin H. Licht

* ~ * ~ *

Going To School In Teens & Twenties

    In 1919 when I started to school, it meant going by horse and buggy. Dad had to walk, so riding to school was quite an improvement. I attended Trinity Lutheran School so that meant a four mile trip to Lowden every day. The first year or two I rode with a neighbor girl, Alma Bunge, now Mrs Herb Kroemer.

     One experience I will never forget is when we tried to avoid passing a band of gypsies, who had parked along the side of the road on our usual school route. We decided to go to school by taking another route. There was a huge rock along the side of the road and we were sure the horse would be scared to go by that. Alma got out to lead the horse past the rock and I stayed in the buggy to man the reins. Old Prince had ideas of his own and turned around and ran up the lane to the place where Junior Sander now lives. Uncle Henry Kroemers* lived there at the time and he came to our rescue, by leading Prince past the rock.

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    When I was only nine years old and Norman was six, in 1922, Dad bought our trusty horse, Daisy. We had no place in Lowden to leave her during the day so she had to stay out at Uncle Carl Wenndts.** That is where the Harold Steinke family now resides. So we still had to walk a mile to school. Many times we were very cold, but a hot soap-stone or heated bricks under our feet helped keep us warm for part of the hour long trip.

     We were very seldom late for school and missed very few days. I had at least four years of perfect attendance. The coldest day was a trip with the bobsled when it was -28. We did appreciate the days Dad had to help when the present school was being built. Then we could go with him and give Daisy a day of rest.

     There were no gravel roads at that time, so it meant many muddy roads and in the winter very rough ones. We did get caught in thunder, hail and snow storms. This was rather frightening, but we always felt that the One Above was there with us. During the winter months we had to stay with relatives during the week were home only on Saturday and Sunday.

     We had some very hectic times, too. Once we drove through a swarm of bees and did we go fast for a while. One time a flock of the neighbor's geese were under a wooden bridge. As we drove over it, the geese flew out and scared the horse. She looked for geese every time we went over the wooden bridge after that experience.

     To pass the time on our ride to and from school we would count rabbits, red-winged blackbirds or anything we could think of. Sometimes we would play games like, “I see something you don't see” or “Pack your Grandma's suitcase.”

     Those horse and buggy days hold many pleasant memories, but we were very thankful when we could be taken to school by car.

     Two of my grandchildren are at the same age now that we were when we first drove Daisy to school. When I look at them I think, “How did Mom and Dad feel the first time they sent us to school alone?”

     Old Daisy finally had to be put to sleep, because she was blind, lame and very old. This was on December 26th, and we all shed a few tears at the time.

              Florene (Kroemer) Kruckenberg

    *This farm is located in the SE ¼ of Sec. 22 in Massillon Twp.

     ** This farm is located in the S ½ of the SW ½ of Section 26 in Massillon Township.

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Mini-Memories Of Lowden Grade School in '30's

REMEMBER ???

. . . waiting outside the school door for Mr. Otto Pruess to pull the rope ringing the bell at 8:30 a.m. so we could hurry to play for thirty minutes before classes started.

. . . taking a waxpaper bread wrapper to sit on as we went down the playground slide making it slicker and faster on each trip.

. . . coming to school the morning after Halloween to find the door blocked with a farm wagon piled high with items collected from all over town.

. . . coming back from noon dinner at home with a nickel, and hurrying to Twachtmann's Store for a candy bar or a Big Chief tablet; and having Mr Pruess “hold” the bell an extra minute so we would not be tardy.

. . . watching from across the street as Dr. Charlton roared his Oldsmobile out of the driveway, and thereby getting his nickname “Cannonball.”

. . . envying country students who brought their lunch and could eat at school, and thrilling at the knock on the door when father delivered lunch because of extremely bad weather.

. . . playing baseball at recess and being reported to the teacher that “darn” had been said, and that Mr. McElrath had heard it from his upstairs study hall window.

. . . watching with great excitement as the big junior and senior boys scrambled and fought over some kind of flag, the significance of which we never understood.

. . . holding our breath while Mrs Bakewell read the list of pupils to be excused from final exams and school because of high grade averages.

. . . eating our first Eskimo Pie at the last-day-of-school picnic which was held near Burmeister's creek south of town.

WEREN'T THOSE WONDERFUL DAYS???

              Mrs Joe (Sara Strackbein) Murtagh

* ~ * ~ *

I REMEMBER WHEN -

. . . . . our family moved to 703 McKinley Avenue. A cornfield and a huge barn stood just west of our garden. In less than four years, 1957 to be exact, a new Lowden high school was built and dedicated on the barn and cornfield site. This same building is now the Clarence-Lowden Middle School. My brother, David and I certainly had no excuses for being tardy during our high school years.

              Mrs Ronnie (Karen Sennett) Stange