Part V. State Institutions
- State School for Dependent Children
[pp. 729-730]
OFFICERS.
M. T. PARK .........................................................................................................................
Superintendent and Steward
Mrs. ISABEL C. PARK ..........................................................................................................................
General Matron
A. F. BRANDT .............................................................................................................................................
State Agent
ELSIE M. LOOMIS ......................................................................................................................................
State Agent
MARGARET NORTON ..............................................................................................................................
Bookkeeper
W. T. SARLES .................................................................................................................................................
Physician
The State Public School for dependent and neglected children
is located at Sparta, in the valley of the La Crosse river,
and is surrounded by hills which impart a varied and pleasant
scenery. The location is most desirable one for the healthfulness
and happiness of the inmates. The grounds are spacious and well
laid out, affording ample play grounds for the children. Flowing
wells abound, furnishing the purest water.
The school was established in 1886 and from its opening to
June 30, 1906, 2,911 children had been received within its
doors, and after a few weeks or months, as might be necessary
for preparation, passed on to homes where opportunities have
been given them to develop into useful citizenship. More than
85 percent of the children thus placed have accepted these opportunities
and have grown and are growing to be good men and women. Rescued
from neglect, squalor and vice, where the downward road was the
easier, lifted up to useful lives in 85 of each 100 cases is
a record which is very gratifying to the friends who urged the
passage of the bill to create the school.
The school is intended for a depot between the children in
their neglected conditions in the several counties and the many
homes to which children will be welcome. Some of these children,
however, have some physical, mental or moral deformity which
may require attention for awhile before they are ready for a
home. Thus the school is placed where, when possible, the child
may be cured of some habits, and finally passed on to commence
real life in a home surrounded by good influences. To do this
requires comprehensive and careful teachers and matrons and those
employed in the Sparta School are doing a noble work in preparing
their charges for worthy homes and lives of usefulness.
The utmost care is taken in selecting homes for the children.
The great number of applications in excess of the children
enables agents of the school to accept only the best homes,
and these only on personal inspection and thorough investigation.
After a child is placed in a home it is frequently visited by
the agent and to supplement this means of supervision, the guardian
is required to make monthly reports to the superintendent regarding
health, conduct, attendance at school, and any other items of
interest concerning the ward.
For reasons already given, some children cannot be placed
in homes. These are given the opportunities of a common
school education and the larger girls are taught sewing and
cooking under a competent teacher. The larger boys are taught
farming. The farm connected with the school consists of 234 acres.
About 100 acres are under cultivation, the remainder being pasture,
some being of light, sandy soil, unfit for cultivation at present.
Sufficient vegetables are raised for the population of the school,
and a herd of cows furnishes all the milk required.
The buildings consist of a main building in which are offices,
superintendent's living rooms, dining rooms for children and
employees, a small assembly room, and sleeping rooms; five
cottages with a capacity for 250 pupils; a large new hospital,
and an old farm building used for epidemics; a school house consisting
of six rooms; a laundry building with heating plant, cold storage
and ice house, and farm buildings.
Visitors are made welcome at the school, as it is the desire
of the present administration to interest the people in one of
the most essential charities of the state, that which may
make true men and women of those who, if left uncared for, might
descend to unuseful and degraded lives.
From its inception in 1886 to June 30, 1906, the total cost
of this school to the state for all purposes, including land
and
buildings, has been $947,401.00.
The whole number of children admitted up to June 30, 1906,
was 2,911; the average number in the school for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1905, was 147, and for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1906, the average number was 156.