Former School Building in WI Demolished in 1989

Tweet

The Lincoln School was erected in 1920 and 1921. It replaced a frame school erected in 1851, a brick school built in 1867, and finally, a large stone school that burned in 1895. The 1895 school represents the first district secondary school in Menononee Falls. Bricks and other materials salvaged from the ruins of this structure were used in the construction of the Lincoln School at the same site. The new school opened in 1922. This one-story, brick building paralleled contemporary school designs: a central auditorium surrounded by classrooms above an open gymnasium. A wing was added in 1951 to accommodate rapidly increasing enrollments. One of the largest systems in Wisconsin, this school accommodated an enrollment of 3,000 in 1965. Although reaching a total enrollment of 3,300 in the 1960s, the number of students retrenched by the mid-1970s, thus removing the need for several schools The Lincoln School closed its facilities in 1975. Known as the "Lincoln Center", it was then used as a community meeting place.

Lincoln School gained local significance as an educational building possessing a spatial configuration typical of schools of that period. As such, it expresses the rapidly increasing support for educational institutions. During the late 19^th and early 20^th century, the increasing emphasis on success and specialization of employment gave rise to this concern for improved education. Before its erection, the school system had begun to include special programs, such as agricultural short courses, to serve the immediate community and surrounding rural areas. Like many schools, it also became a community meeting place.

Building Description

Built on the site of the previous high school destroyed by fire in 1919, the one-and-a-half-story brick Lincoln School has a stepped-back facade with a triangular pediment over the projecting center section that features double entrances with concrete and brick staircases leading to the elevated main floor of the building. Blue, green and white tile combined with the school insignia in a geometric-designed panel and panels of raised and inlaid geometric brick patterns, a high stone foundation, and metal door hoods in a stylized Prairie School-influenced design further ornaments the facade. Large multi-paned windows with blue-green sun-screening quality are located on the east and west elevations, as well as on the facade. Common red brick, a stone foundation, and a chimney are evident at the rear of the original building. Two rectangular two-story modern additions built in 1955-1958 are located at the rear of the structure.

The original interior school plan, with classrooms organized around a central auditorium/gym, has remained relatively unchanged.

Designed and constructed by Walter M. Tuckwell of Milwaukee during the year 1919-1920, Lincoln School served as the main high school building until the present facility was constructed in 1949.