Photos in our Museum graphic provided by Sheridan, WY Travel and Tourism www.sheridanwyoming.org and the Sheridan County Museum Collection
The official publication of the Sheridan County Historical Society and Museum
WHAT’S INSIDE
2
Sheridan’s First
School
3
Member Moment
4
SCHS News
5
6
Teacher Wanted
7
8
WSHS Update
9
From the
Collection
11
12
Rules for Teachers
From the Museum
From the Memory
Book Collection
Teachers and
Schools in Rural
Wyoming
Call for
Submissions
Solace in
Numbers
From Forty-Seven
to Three
13
Call for
Submissions
14
15
16
19
Calendar
20
Little Blue School
Renewals/Donors
Membership
Information
Civil War
Discussions Come
to Sheridan
VOLUME 3, NUMBER 3
FALL/WINTER 2011
A TEACHER’S BUSY YEAR
by Lorrie Layton
Information taken from Walt Peters’ papers/
Dwight and Lorrie Layton Collection.
“B
“Boys’ outhouse blown over by wind.” So writes Miss
Mildred Martin, teacher of the Dow school in her November
1933 monthly report to the County Superintendent and
Walt Peters, Clerk of District 18. The Dow school was a
one-room school located east of Wyarno and was attended
by eight children assigned to six different grades in the
fall of 1933. Other schools in District 18 at this time
were the S.R. School and the Verona School. One of the
requirements the county school teachers at these schools
had to fulfill was to send in a monthly report showing the
attendance for the month,
reasons for any absences,
students who were added
These unknown individuals pose for a
or dropped, professional
photo outside the Verona Schoolhouse.
Verona School started in 1909 and
educational
journals
remained in operation through the
being read by the teacher,
1937-38 school year. The name Verona
visitors,
and
needed
came from the railroad siding named by
repairs at the schools.
a railroad worker after his hometown
of Verona, Italy. The building was sold
A blown over outhouse
in the late 1940s and moved to 444 N.
would certainly qualify
Sheridan Ave. as a residence. Photo from
as a needed repair.
the Sheridan Museum/Layton Collection.
The monthly reports
recorded activities at these isolated schools such as Christmas
programs, yearly Christmas parties, and spring picnics. The
occasional visitor was also recorded as were the very rare
times spent with students from other schools. Miss Brown,
instructor at the Dow School in 1937, entered in the May
report that, “Mrs. Garber of Big Horn talked to the students
of the Dow, Verona and Plum Creek (District #34 on Dutch
Creek) Schools about ‘Flowers’. The Plum Creek
School showed our school its homemade movie of
This 1934 Kibben Hardware
Social Studies activities.” This must have been an
Co. receipt shows items purchased for the Dow
exciting day for the children to spend together.
School. Among the purchases was a broom for
$1.15 and ½ gallon of paint for $1.80. Image from
The entries for the causes of absences offer a
the Sheridan County Museum/Layton Collection.
continued on page 10
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tim Barnes
Katie Curtiss
Mark Demple
Joe Gingles
Linda Grosso
Helen Laumann
Judy Musgrave
Sonja Roberts
Leon Washut
ADVISORS
Dick Bodine
Jo Forbes
Karen Gardner
Mac Grimm
Ken Kerns
Steve Maier
Mary Ellen McWilliams
Mike Nickel
Anne Nickerson
Scott Nickerson
Bob Prill
Linda Prill
STAFF
Nathan Doerr, Museum Director &
Curator of Museum Education
Diana Oedekoven, SCHS Bookkeeper
Rebecca Lincoln, Merc Manager
Eddie Dankenbring, Building &
Grounds Supervisor
The Log is the official publication of the
Sheridan County Historical Society and
Museum. Subscriptions to The Log are a
benefit of SCHS and Museum memberships.
Complete the application on page 19 of
this newsletter to become a member.
Editors of The Log:
Nathan Doerr
[email protected]
The official publication of the Sheridan County
Historical Society and Museum
SHERIDAN’S FIRST SCHOOL
S
by Mary Ellen McWilliams
Sheridan’s first school took place in what many believe to have been the first cabin
built in what is now Sheridan. It was built in 1878 by trapper Peter “Dutch Henry”
Van Dover and his partner. It was known as the “Dutch Henry” cabin, and they lived
in the cabin only a short time.
John Loucks acquired the sod-roofed cabin, later described as a “hut” by Loucks’
son Homer, from a Dr. Rhodes in 1882 and had it moved next to his Mandel Post Office,
store, and home “with a breezeway between”, he wrote. The family had planned to use
the cabin for their kitchen, but with no place available for Sheridan’s first school, they
lent it for that purpose. Here, Clara Works, first teacher and daughter of early settler
James Works, taught the area’s youngest residents for $75 per month. For five days a
week, the room with dirt roof and floor also served as a home for five people – Clara
and four girls who lived too far to make the trip to school daily. Most students came
from surrounding ranches as the fledgling town was sparsely populated. The building
was used from October of 1882 until February of 1883 when the school was moved to
a frame building on West Brundage near where the Elks Club stands today.
The Loucks’ building was described as about 12’ x 15’ making it difficult to
imagine that they could fit many students and a teacher into the space available. In
later years, Clara recalled, “It is hard today to visualize a crude little room with desks
made of two long rough boards nailed to the wall and seats of unplanned slabs with
the bark clinging to the underside, a box stove, and the books used were just those that
the pioneers had brought with them.” Clara continued teaching in Sheridan for several
years before marrying Gustav Moeller of Buffalo. Clara then taught in Buffalo and
later became Superintendent of Johnson County schools.
A long-time, former teacher in our community, Phoebe Gligorea, did initial
research on the families of the students from Clara’s list of early schoolchildren.
Additional information has been garnered from the Sheridan County Heritage book.
For some, we have little or no information. We do not believe the Collins or Carroll
children are related to those families in Sheridan today.
Judy Musgrave
[email protected]
SHERIDAN COUNTY MUSEUM HOURS
Jan.–April 30:
Museum Merc Only
1–5 p.m. Tues.–Sat.
May:
1–5 p.m. daily
June–Labor Day:
10 am–6 p.m. daily
Sept.–Dec. 24:
1–5 p.m. daily
MUSEUM ADMISSION
Adults: $4 Seniors: $3 Students: $2
Children 12 and Under: FREE
Veterans & Active Military: FREE
Blue Star Families: FREE
Sheridan County Historical Society
PO Box 73 • Sheridan, WY 82801
Sheridan County Museum
850 Sibley Circle • Sheridan, WY 82801
(307) 675-1150
This interior
drawing is by
artist and historian
Robert C. Wilson and was
drawn from the description
given by Clara Works.
www.SheridanCountyHistory.org
continued on page 18
2
continued from page 2
The students were:
• Lillie Brodley
• Virgil (Doc), Frank, and Kate Brundage – Their parents, George and Mary
Brundage, ranched on Little Goose Creek.
• Fred, Lewis, and Nellie Carroll
• Frank and Lettie Collins
• Ida Cornwell – Her father built the earliest frame house in Sheridan and
drove the Sheridan to Birney, Montana, stage route.
• Louis and Mary Ellison
• Amanda, Everett, May, and Orval Hardee – These children were from
the Oliver Perry Hardee family whose brother and sister in law, Vess and
Harriet, accompanied them and the Collins family into the country on the
Bozeman Trail. At one time, according to the Sheridan County Heritage
book, Harriet traded two pounds of homemade butter for two lots in the
business district on Main Street of Sheridan.
• Birdie Held – She was probably a daughter of Henry Held, Sheridan’s first
blacksmith and active in the formation of the Sheridan Masonic Lodge, No.
8 A.F. and A.M. in 1886. Held also had lived briefly in the Dutch Henry
cabin.
• Frank Hunter – His father, Judge J.G. Hunter, was Justice of the Peace in
Sheridan from October 1890 to December 1894. The family’s homestead
was located about a mile from Sheridan. Judge Hunter later died in a tragic
car accident on a mountain road.
• Annie Mae Loucks - A daughter of John and Annie C. Loucks, Annie Mae
married Cameron Garbutt, raised five children, and resided in Sheridan.
She was very active in the community, and in 1910, she established the
Sheridan Chapter of the D.A.R.
• Anna, Henry, and Minnie Thurmond - They were children of John and
Mary Thurmond. John Dudley and Elias Thurmond were brothers who
brought their families from Missouri to Sheridan by wagon over the old
Bozeman Trail. Elias left Sheridan in 1895, but John Thurmond lived here
the rest of his life.
• Sadie Walters ♦
The late artist and historian Alan Bourne completed this
sketch of Miss Clara Works and her students to show just
how cramped Sheridan’s first school must have been.
18
The official publicati
Historical Society an
Membership in the Wyoming State
Historical Society/Sheridan County
Historical Society and the Sheridan
County Museum are two separate
entities. Anyone can be a member
of either entity or both. We strongly
encourage our supporters to join both.
The Museum is owned and operated by
the Sheridan County Historical Society.
Check your mailing label for
when your membership(s)
expire. SM is SCHS/WSHS
membership and MM is
Museum membership.
As a private, non-profit (501)(c)
(3) organization, the Sheridan
County Historical Society can
accept various kinds of donations,
and all are tax deductible for the
donor.
For Your Consideration:
• Designate the Sheridan County
Museum as the beneficiary of
memorials for loved ones.
• Outright gifts to the SCHS of
money, land or other assets.
We appreciate donations of
any size.
• Deferred gifts.
• Designate the Museum in your
Insurance Policies, Wills, or
Trusts.
Members of the Board of Directors
will be honored to discuss one or
more of these options with you at
your convenience. Just return the
attached mailer and check the box
requesting further information.