Writing “Does a one-room school house ring a bell?” for the Chippewa Herald, Deb Anderson tells us,
“Luella Stokke is on a mission: To restore Pleasant Dale School #9, the one-room school house she attended as a child. Committed to this project she said, ‘It took me a while to get the idea to restore it. It just popped into my head: It's just sitting there, not being used. Why not restore it?’”
The school has been moved three times, from its spot in the Township of Stanton, between Knapp and Boyceville, to the Village of Knapp; moved within Knapp; now next to the Knapp School Property. Originally it was attached to the Village of Boyceville and then to the Menomonie School District in Dunn County.
The school dates back to the 1900s. It held grades one through eight with the usual open teacher and about 4o students. It used a large black wood-burning furnace. The students b brought in the wood since there was no janitor.
In her article, Deb Anderson wrote,
“The actual school property consisted of the school building, a playground, two outhouses (boy's and girl's), and a woodshed, which ‘served more than one purpose.’”
And, of course, back in the day, the kids walked two miles to get to school!
