By Gwen Tveter
Contributor
The 1889 Blooming Prairie School, under the auspices of the Walworth County Historical Society, located on the Walworth County Fairgrounds, 411 E. Court St., in Elkhorn was moved to its present location in 1959 from its original location at the intersection of old 89 and Highway 11 after it closed its doors to students.
In those days, schools were located about two miles apart because children of all ages had to walk to class. It cost the parents a cord of wood to send their child to school so that the schoolhouse was heated for the winter.
Recently, the Royal Joy Williams Questers had the schoolhouse’s Seth Thomas clock restored and repaired. Now when students enter the schoolroom they will hear the “tic-tock” of the Seth Thomas clock provided by the County Fair office.
The second improvement made to the old schoolhouse is a stained-glass window above the entry door indicating 1889 as the year built and the illustration of the Wood Violet, the state flower along with the state bird, the Robin, designed and installed by the Gilbertson Stained Glass Studio in Lake Geneva.
Originally, the school was surrounded by a blanket of wildflowers in spring and the children recorded the names of the flowers they saw each day, resulting in a practical botany lesson from the blooming prairie.
There were three Blooming Prairie Schools in all.
The first was a log cabin constructed in 1837, just one year after the territory was opened for settlement indicating the importance the early settlers placed on education. Consider the pressing issues of constructing homes for shelter and preparing the ground for food crops.
The second building was of brick constructed in 1857. The present frame building was constructed in 1889.
Gwen Tveter is a member of the Walworth County Historical Society Board of Directors. She teaches classes at the one-room schoolhouse during May field trips hosted there, and other special events.
