By Tammy Kilby

For the Times

LAFAYETTE COUNTY —  With the beginning of another school year comes the conversations of starting school so many years ago. Happy to recall the simplicity of life in a rural one-room school is longtime South Wayne resident Richard “Hook” Fernstaedt. He said growing up in Blaisdell, a one-room rural school, was one of simpler times. He attended Blaisdell with his older siblings, Carol and Bruce. 

“School started in the first grade for me,” Fernstaedt said. “We didn’t have kindergarten back then. There were five kids in my grade, but everyone in all the grades were in the one-room school. Each grade was taught separately, but some grades might have been taught together.” 

He can still remember how the classroom was set up and ready to teach when students arrived.

“There were chalk boards on every wall. They were green, not the blackboards you might think there to be. There was a board that the teacher wrote bird sightings on,” Ferndstaedt said. “If someone saw a robin, the teacher would write it down and keep track of that information. She liked to keep track of that sort of thing.” 

When someone walked in, the building was simply one large classroom.

“Grades were divided by age, with the little kids sitting in the front row, so they could see the teacher. The older kids sat in the back,” Fernstaedt said. “The teacher’s desk would be at the front of the classroom most of the time, although it would be moved to a different place once in a while.”

Older students helped tutor the younger students, he said.

“Some of the older girls would help the younger ones with their reading and mathematical skills. Our readers, the term used to describe the English reading books, had Ted and Sally stories. The cat was Tuffy and the dog was Boots. I’m not sure if we had history, but there probably wasn’t as much history back then,” Fernstaedt joked.

Teacher lists are long for the one-room schools in Lafayette County, with usually one or two teachers per rural school, with several rural schools dotting the countryside. 

“My teachers were Mr. Grant Dale, and Mrs. Ruth Irene Lancaster,” Fernstaedt said. “(Dale) lived down the road from our farm. He taught first through third grades, while she taught the older kids. I remember her the most, although I’m not sure why she had the bigger impact on me.”

Blaisdell School was located on Wis. 176 in Wayne Township. It is one of the few one-room school buildings that remains in Lafayette County. Most of the schools have fallen under disarray and have returned to nature, in one form or another. Blaisdell School is now a private residence. 

“Getting to school was usually a two-mile walk, or we rode our bikes,” Fernstaedt said. “My bike was red, passed down from my brother. If it was raining, Dad would give us a ride to school, otherwise we had to find our own way. Once we were at school, we played until we heard the bell. Then we filed into school, one kid at a time, and took our places at our desks.”

School days started with the Pledge of Allegiance, hand over the heart, facing the flag. Recess and lunch seemed to be the reason for attending school, as connecting and socialization is still an important part of a students day.

Fernstaedt remembers small details, like his lunch box and what food his mother would make for him.

“My dinner pail was tin, painted black. The metal lid latched down, which held everything in place. The handle was a metal piece that arched over the top,” he said. “Mother always made our lunches, because there wasn’t convenience food back then. My favorite lunch was a bread and honey sandwich. She would also pack a couple of cookies or something good that she baked. She was always baking treats and things for our family.” 

His father also took part in his education, as Walter Fernstaedt served as the clerk/treasurer on the Wayne School Board until 1967 when the country schools closed. At that time, Richard Fernstaedt attended Gratiot — Black Hawk Junior High for seventh and eighth grades. He graduated from Black Hawk Schools in 1972.

As records have deteriorated over time, a handful of information can be helpful in giving a better overview of a school district’s composition. In the fall of 1951, for example, it was reported that Lafayette County had 85 one-teacher schools, two two-teacher schools, two three-teacher schools, and one four-teacher school. With 1,559 elementary pupils, there were two integrated districts with 221 elementary and 106 high school students, according to the Rural School Messenger, dated Oct. to Dec. 1951. 

In the decades since, larger school districts have taken the place of the former small learning centers. The two superintendents listed include Paul Gleiter, who served until the early 1950s, and Howard Teasdale, through the rural school’s closure.