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 SCRAPBOOK - PAST & PRESENT |
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SCRAPBOOK - PAST & PRESENT |
by L. Scott Swanson, Editor Straitsland Resorter
One hundred years ago children named Passino, Lapeer, Griswold,
Wakeford, Hungerford, Schoolcraft, Galbraith, Beebe and Richards
studied reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, language, grammar,
history, physiology, civil government and spelling at the old
Beebe School near Afton.
The students are gone today and the school building is now a home,
but some of the memories remain in an old teacher's grade book
which Will Pekrul salavaged after the school closed.
When schools were first founded in northern Michigan, several
small schools dotted the Cheboygan County countryside. Among them
were the Beebe School on the corner of Afton and Beebe School
Roads, Koehler School #1 which eventually became the Afton School
on Quarry Road, Koehler School #2 by Parrott's Point, the Montgomery
School on Montgomery Road, and the Gorbutt School on M-33.
Eventually all of those schools consolidated into the large two-Afton
School on Quarry Road. Later, the Afton school became part of
the Inland Lakes School System.
Back in the early 1960s, a few years before the old Afton School
burned down, a man bought the building and was going to have some
work done it. Pekrul worked in the heating business at the time
and was called to come and take a look at the building. While
there, he found the old school book and some old pictures. The
man was going to throw out the items, but said Pekrul could have
them if he wanted them.
The book is the teacher's grading book and includes information
about the Beebe School from the fall of 1898 through the spring
of 1904. Beyond the students and their grades, the book also offers
insight into how small country schools operated at the turn of
the century.
In 1898, the school had 19 students, when they all showed up.
Showing up for school was something of a hit and miss proposition
in those days. There were no school buses so students got to and
from school the best way they could, which for most meant a long
walk.
Josephine Hanel attended the Afton School, but says her mother,
Edith O'Connor, attended the Beebe School. Hanel's mother said
she and her siblings walked to school in the fall and continued
going to school until the weather got too bad in the winter. Then,
either the school closed, or if it was open some of the children
didn't attend, until spring.
In the teachers book, the teacher often made notes that talked
about students, particularly the younger ones, coming to school
only on an irregular basis.
The old country schools apparently changed teachers on quite a
regular basis. Nine different teachers are listed over the years
covered in the Beebe School teaching book. At the end of each
semester, the teacher would make notes in the book in a section
titled "Teacher's Report to Successor." In the report,
the teacher talked about the progress of individual students and
needs of the school.
According to the report filed by Dormer in 1901, Beatrice Wakeford
had completed the Third Reader and Roy Wakeford was ready to begin
the Prince's Arithmetic book.
Apparently the district also needed a new school building in 1901.
According to the report, "The most important thing needed
in this district is a "school-house." It would be an
easy matter for the teachers to raise money and obtain a library,
which is very much needed, if there was a building to keep it
in, but it would be useless to try to keep one in a building which
anyone can enter at any time."
Another need the school had in 1902 was new maps. Apparently that
need was met. Bruce and Shirley Blanchard bought the old Beebe
School building in the early 1970s and converted it into a house.
The Blanchards say the building wasn't much more than a shell
when they bought it, but Bruce had always had it in his mind that
he would like to renovate an old school house.
According to the Blanchards, they didn't find much left in the
building when they bought it, but among the things they found
were some old maps, the kind that were in a roll above the blackboard.
Bruce says he also found some old ink well bottles buried in the
yard out behind the house. He also found an old water pail with
a spigot in its side.
The Blanchards say its not uncommon for people to drive slowly
past the house as though they're looking to make sure they're
at the site of the old school. Bruce, whose family background
in the area goes back generations, enjoys local history. He says
he's considered putting up some type of sign telling a little
bit about the history of the site and the old Beebe School.
Hanel, who is now in her 80s, is writing her memoirs. Although
she didn't go to the Beebe School, she went to its successor,
the Afton School. When the Beebe School and the other four schools
combined, they became what was called the Afton Agricultural School.
Eventually, that school was absorbed by Inland Lakes, although
technically Inland Lakes consolidated with the Afton School because
the Afton School was already a pre-existing consolidated school.
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There's no date to be found on this photo, but it shows the students and teacher at the old Afton Agricultural School. Josephine Hanel, who brought the photo in, says she has many fond memories of her days at the school. |