Formally
known as Glen Valley Park, Elder Book is located at the corner of Municipal Drive and Glen Valley Drive. The 8.5 acre park
land features a walking trail, open play space, retention pond, and on street
parking. The name was changed earlier this year to reflect the school that once
sat on that property. Parts of the school house foundation can still be seen in
the wooded southeast corner of the park.
“The
Elder Brook School site harbors the remains of the School District No. 3 Schoolhouse
and is located in Greenville Township, Outagamie County, Wisconsin. The land on
which the school was constructed was deeded as a school house property in 1854
but the earliest available plat maps of the township dates to 1873. This map
depicts a school on the property. However, it is likely that the original
construction occurred in 1854 or soon thereafter as free public education was
mandated by Wisconsin’s state constitution six years earlier in 1848. By 1937
state-wide compliance with Wisconsin’s law resulted in the creation of 7,777
school districts with 6,181 one-room schools (Apps 1996:177). State mandated
consolidation efforts reduced that number to 2,289 one-room schools in 1959 but
as late 1964, 595 one-room schools remained in operation; 20 of these were
located in Outagamie County (Rothwell 1963). Today, Wisconsin has 424 public
school districts with 2,215 schools, none of which are operating one-room
school houses. A standing structure on the Elder Brook school site is last
visible on a 1943 aerial photo but is no longer present on a 1957 aerial photo
of the site.”
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