- Education - Janesville Sesquicentennial
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- [Photo; caption reads: The second Janesville High School,
built in 1895, stood on High Street between Dodge and West Court
streets.]
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- Schools make the grade
- Janesville schools have come a long way from the one-room
cabin by the river where rough-hewn
- logs allowed the wind to whistle through the cracks.
- Today's educational institutions include a multimillion-dollar
public school system, vocation district
- and two-year university, and the only school for visually
impaired youth in the state. Below is a chronology of education
in Janesville that highlights important advances.
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- 1838: What is probably the first school in Janesville was
established in a primitive log structure on the bank of the Rock
River in the 600 block of West Delavan Drive. The first teacher
was Hirman [Hiram] H. BROWN. Indians sometimes gazed through
the windows as students studied.
- 1840: A log house was converted to school use in the woods
near Main and Milwaukee streets. The teacher was Cornelia SHELDON,
succeeded the following winter by the Rev. G. W. LAWRENCE.
- 1843: A log schoolhouse replaced the 1838 school until the
"Red Schoolhouse," a frame structure, was built.
- 1844: The "Red Schoolhouse" in the joint district
of La Prairie and Rock was constructed.
- 1844: A stone school was built on the corner of Dodge and
South High streets, and in 1946 [1846] the Rev. Thomas RUGER
organized the Janesville Academy in the building.
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- In the 1850s it was known as the Janesville Collegiate Institution.
In 1855 it was purchased by the
- city and became the Janesville Free Academy.
- The structure was used until 1876, when it was replaced by
a brick structure known as the Central
- School. In 1889 the school was named Lincoln.
- In 1929 it became the Janesville Memorial Armory for the
32nd Tank Division, Washington
- National Guards. This building is now the headquarters of
the Rock County Historical Society.
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- City divided into wards
- 1845: Two brick school houses were built, one on each side
of the river, and the village was divided into two school wards.
A few years later, the districts subdivided and seven wards were
organized within the village limits, now the City of Janesville.
- 1848: The first superintendent of schools in the Town of
Janesville, James SUTHERLAND, was elected.
- Aug. 27, 1849: The Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped
was established as a private school. Eight pupils lived in the
home of Capt. Ira MILITMORE. In 1950, it became the first
state tax-supported institute.
- 1852: The Wisconsin Institute for the Education of the Blind
was constructed on its present State Street sight.
- 1853: Josiah WILLARD, the father of Frances WILLARD,
and his neighbors constructed a schoolhouse for their children
in Rock Township.
- 1855: The school house in the Third Ward was destroyed by
fire, the first fire after the arrival of the hand engines.
- 1856: Brick school buildings were constructed in the 2nd
and 4th wards, and the schools were graded into high school,
grammar, intermediate and primary departments, with the old academy
becoming the high school.
- 1858: A high school, to be known as Jefferson School, was
built on "the burying grounds." It was used as a high
school until a new one was built in 1895, and then served as
an elementary school.
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- From 1904 to 1933 it was the Rock County Rural Normal School,
a training school for elemen-
- tary teachers.
- In World War II, the rationing boards for gasoline, tires,
sugar, fuel oil, coffee and flour operated
- in this building, which was razed in 1947. The site was a
neighborhood park bounded by Wisconsin, Van Buren, Holmes and
Atwood streets.
-
- 1858: Frances WILLARD, after studying in Milwaukee
and Evanston, Ill., returned to Janesville to teach one term
in the schoolhouse where she studied in 1953-54 [1853-54].
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- Parochial schools open
- 1865: St. Paul's Christian Day School, affiliated with St.
Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, and St. Patrick's School
both were founded. They are the two oldest continuously operating
parochial schools in the city.
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- The Rev. H. ERNST taught 20 pupils at St. Paul's that
year in a one-story frame structure built at
- Academy and Van Buren streets. In 1928, a new school was
built on South Academy Street across from the church, which is
now occupied by the Blackhawk Credit Union.
- The congregation moved to 210 S. Ringold in 1956. Dedication
of the new school was in 1963.
- Thomas TRACY was schoolmaster in the basement of St.
Patrick's.
- A new school under the Sisters of Mercy was built in 1871
at the rear of the present church
- sanctuary, a successor school was occupied in 1971, and the
100-year-old combination convent and school was demolished.
-
- 1866: Old Washington School was built in the First Ward.
The site is now a park.
- 1873: Webster School was built in the 4th Ward on the site
now occupied by the Knights of Columbus Hall.
- April 13, 1874: The Wisconsin Institute for the Education
of the Blind was destroyed by fire. One of the 75 students died
in the blaze. Henry NELSON, a blind student from Beloit
who also had epilepsy, was never found, and it was suspected
he suffered from a seizure when he heard the fire alarm. Superintendent
LITTLE suffered injuries during an attempted rescue.
- 1888: Adams School was built on the corner of Caroline and
Glen Streets.
- 1891: Washington and Douglas Schools were built in the 1st
and 5th wards.
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- New high school built
- 1895: A second Janesville High School was built on High Street
between Dodge and West Court streets. After 1923, the building
served as a vocational instruction facility until 1962, when
it was razed and replaced by a city parking lot.
- 1898: Frances WILLARD, by then famous for her activity
in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the equality for
females movement, including the right to vote, died in New York.
She was one of the most famous American women of the 19th century.
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- [Photo; caption reads: Old Washington School was built in
1868, but has since been torn down.]
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- District expanded during early 1900s
- 1903: The first public school kindergarten opened in Janesville.
- 1903: The position of truant officer was added in the public
schools.
- 1904: Garfield School was built on South Jackson Street to
relieve overcrowding in the 4th Ward. The school served as an
administrative center for the school system from 1959 until it
was demolished by fire in 1974.
- 1910: Physical education for girls was established in the
public schools, along with an agriculture course.
- 1912: The Janesville Vocational School was established and
located in Lincoln School on the current Historical Society site.
It moved in 1923 to the 1895 high school across the street when
that building was vacated.
- 1918: The Janesville School Board discontinued the teaching
of German in reaction to World War I.
- 1921: The education of handicapped students began when the
need for a special teacher for "subnormal" children
was recognized. Two classes were formed.
- 1923: Janesville High School, a junior-senior high school,
was built on South Main Street at a cost of $930,9663 [$930,963].
Its architectural design and innovative educational facility
drew "attention from educators all over the middle west."
In 1954, the building became Marshall Junior High School.
- 1929: Wilson and Roosevelt schools were built.
- 1932: The Janesville Education Association was formed.
- 1939: New Washington and Adams schools were finished, and
an eight-room addition was added to Roosevelt.
- 1943: Juniors and seniors were released one hour early each
Tuesday so those wishing religious instruction could report to
their respective churches. This practice was discontinued after
June 1945.
- 1954: A new Janesville Senior High School was built on South
Randall Avenue.
- 1956: The pupil services department was established in the
public schools.
- 1957: Jefferson School was built on Mount Zion Avenue and
Lincoln School on South Oakhill Avenue.
- 1960: A fee system was adopted in the public schools.
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- AFS established
- 1960: The American Field Service was established in Janesville.
- 1962: Franklin Junior High School was built at 450 N. Crosby
on the West side.
- 1964: Scholarships for Technical and Recognized Training
(START) was established to provide grants for non-college bound
students wanting specialized training.
- 1965: The Blackhawk District of Vocational, Technical and
Adult Education was formed by state mandate, dissolving the Janesville
Technical School.
- 1966: Jackson Elementary School, 441 Burbank, and Madison
Elementary School, 330 N. Grant, was finished.
- 1966: The first 300 students attended UW-Rock County Center.
- 1967: Construction of the present Wisconsin School for the
Visually Handicapped was finished.
- 1967: Another high school was completed on the West Side
and named the George Parker Senior High School, and the Randal
Avenue school was named Joseph Craig Senior High School, both
after industrialists in Janesville's early 20th century.
- 1967: Monroe Elementary School at 55 S. Pontiac was built.
- 1969: The Janesville Education Association was the first
teacher union to engage in open negotiations in Wisconsin.
- 1969: Van Buren Elementary School at 55 S. Pontiac was constructed.
- 1970: Harrison Elementary School at 441 Burbank was built.
- 1971: Edison Junior High School was built on the South Side
at 1649 S. Chatham.
- 1971: A Craig High School "sit in" resulted in
open campus.
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- Enrollment peaks
- 1973-74: Janesville public school enrollments peaked at 13,656.
Enrollment later declined, causing school closings and teacher
layoffs. The 1974-75 enrollment was 13,460, and the 1984-85 enrollment
was 9,928. Some forecasters predicted a downward trend until
1988 and then a slight rise.
- 1975: Blackhawk Vocational District facilities were constructed
on the current Prairie Avenue campus.
- 1975: The Janesville schools Educational Services Center
moved into the vacated vocational headquarters at 527 Franklin.
- 1979: La Prairie School for the Handicapped was closed, and
the multi-handicapped children were moved to Lincoln Elementary,
and early childhood to Adams.
- 1981: The outlying schools of Happy Hollow, Hill Crest and
Rock were closed despite much protest from the families in those
areas.
- 1983: The Janesville School Board voted to continue operating
three junior high schools, even though lower student numbers
made the cost of maintaining three schools more expensive than
two. More than 1,000 people attended a public hearing, and not
one favored closing a school.
- 1984: The state Legislature raised high school graduation
standards in answer to a widely read report decrying the lack
of excellence in American schools. The ruling effected Janesville
in only a few subject areas.
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