Almost One Hundred Years Ago

Recently a follower forwarded this link:        http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sdbrook2/Index.htm


There are pictures from the 1918 Brookings High School Yearbook,  The Bomb.   In those days, it seems, the school did not have an official mascot.  One year, if memory serves correctly, the yearbook was named The Pheasant.  The Bobcat name was later given because of a man named Bob Coffey.  Don't know the exact details, but I believe he was a coach, and the athletic teams were called Bob's Cats, eventually becoming Bobcats.

In 1918, the city of Brookings was not even 40 years old.  The town was platted and surveyed in October of 1879 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookings,_South_Dakota). Another fascinating website is http://books.google.com/books?id=SJ4V-7onz7AC&pg=PA7&dq=brookings+south+dakota+mayors&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VZkHVPHkFdC7ggSDnoG4Dw&ved=0CFsQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=brookings%20south%20dakota%20mayors&f=false (A dedication for this work is directed to a Judy Hauff.  Any relation to Barb of our class?)

The school was located about where the west end of Central Elementary was. It may even have been on what used to be the playground, and it was called the Red Castle.

If you go to the above website ( http://books.google.com/books?id=SJ4V-7onz7AC&pg=PA7&dq=brookings+south+dakota+mayors&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VZkHVPHkFdC7ggSDnoG4Dw&ved=0CFsQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=brookings%20south%20dakota%20mayors&f=false) you will find some pictures of the Brookings schools before 1935 (the year the Red Castle was torn down).  If you scroll down to page 62, there are two pictures, one of the Red Castle and another one of what we knew as the Primary Building.  The Red Castle was built in 1888, and then torn down in 1935 to make way by Central Elementary, to open in 1936.  The Primary Building was built in 1908, but was not torn down until about 1980, despite the author's assertion that it was torn down in the 1940's. This picture shows the west (front ) and the north side.  Some of us were first and second graders in that building.  I was fortunate to have the same classroom both of my years there.  that room was on the first floor, right above the word "Public" in the picture.  We used to play tag between the east side of that building and the west side of the annex, which had just been built.  My athletic abilities were sadly lacking, as most of the other students, both boys and girls, were much faster than I was.   On the north side was a small playground with a slide,  merry-go-round, some swings, monkey bars, and a pyramid shaped climbing apparatus we called the "rocket ship".  Also on the east side, extending from the second floor to almost ground level, was the fire escape.  It was just a big, metal tube.  We used to climb up it and then slide down.  There was quite an echo in there if you pounded on the sides and yelled as you were coming  down.  That was eventually replaced with wooden stairs, perhaps in the 70's.  Notice that there is a basement, or a half-basement. When we were in 7th and 8th grades, we had art class in the southwest corner of the basement.   Our 7th grade teacher was a new teacher by the name of Mr. Kleinschmidt, while our 8th grade teacher was Mr. Wesche.  We must have made teaching rather miserable for Mr. Kleinschmidt, as he only lasted one year here. Mr. Wesche also taught Art I, so some of us may have had him during our freshman or sophomore year if we were so inclined. 

Page 63 show all three buildings, the Red Castle, Primary Building, and High School .  The picture is facing east and slightly north.  It appears to be taken from where the southwest corner of the playground at Central would have been, right around home plate of the ball field.  Also on page 63 is the Carnegie Library.  It is now the Community Cultural Center, having been replaced by a new library on the southern half of that same block in 1976.

Update:  The follower just sent me some extraordinary pictures of the the old school buildings.

The top and the bottom pictures of the Red Castle as viewed from the southwest looking to the northeast.  In the background is  the primary building.  To the south of the primary building would be the high school.  The center picture is a better view of the primary building.  What appears to be a flagpole is on the west side, so to the right would be the high school.  When we went to art class in the downstairs, there was a little entrance built about where the tree on the right is.  There was a back door to the high school just to the south of that entrance, and  would just come out that door and walk maybe 25 feet to art class, which was located in the southwest corner of the basement, right above the words Brookings, S. D. in the photograph. 

There appears to be on other misprint in this wonderful work.  On page 14, the title on the photograph clearly says 3rd Street, yet the caption says Fourth street facing east.  The Courthouse would be hidden on the left, just to the left of trees on the north (left) side of the street.  The building on the corner is not Kendall's, but what would later become the  Montgomery Ward's building.  It is now Skinner's Pub, in memory of one of the founding fathers of Brookings (page 7).   Page 57 has the same building looking north on Main. 

There are 288 names listed for students, faculty, administration, and board of education in the 1918 yearbook.  Many of those names may be meaningful to us, and may even be some of our relatives.  There are some Andersons listed.  Would they be related to any in our class?  Esther and Gladys Bairey may have some relevance to my mother.  My mother grew up on a farm in the second and third decades of the 1900's.  My recollection as a bratty young boy is that she always planted a large garden.  She also knew a couple of elderly families in the neighborhood who had large backyards that were ideal for even more gardens, and was allowed to use their space to augment her own garden.  These other two gardens were just down the alley from our house.  One of these spaces was in the backyard of a lady I only knew as Mrs. Bairey.  It was 610 3rd St, right across from the courthouse and a block south of the Jr.-Sr. High School.  Mrs. Bairey passed away in the 1960's.  If she was, say, 80 years old at her passing , she would have been born in the 1880's.  Could these two girls have been her daughters? 

Herb Cheever was a sophomore that year.  It's my guess that he would later become a judge in Brookings.  Another Herb Cheever graduated from BHS in 1956, and later was a political science professor and Dean at SDSU.  Some of us may have been his students there. Would the two Herbs be father and son, or uncle and nephew?

Sophomore Ora Crosser would later work at Bartling's Furniture Store.  He may have worked there up until he was 70 or 80 years old.  His son Lavern (sp?), I believe, worked at the First National Bank, and later bought Jackson's Jewelry, perhaps in the 1970's.

Would the Dybdahls, junior Clarence and senior Julian, be related to Ivar Dybdahl, who started selling cars as the Dybdahl Motor Company in 1915?  According the book A Brookings Album, 1879-2004, Celebrating 125 Years by Chuck Cecil (brother-in-law of Cathy Wilber), Ivar's son and daughter Irwin and Nora continued after their father retired, eventually closing the business in the early 1970's.  At one time, the business was located at the corner of fifth and fifth, just east of the Post office, north of the First National Bank, and kitty-corner to the north end of the Central Elementary playground.  At one time, also, that location was the home of a Council Oak grocery store.

Megaklis Efthimion is listed as a special.  Would this be Mike Efthimiou, who was the owner of Mike's Eat Shoppe, located next door to the College theater?

Forest Frie is listed as a senior who had enlisted in the service.  He was mayor of Brookings from 1964-1970.  His youngest daughter Sandy was a year ahead of us in school..

Clark Fuller is another name that brings to mind a former business in town.  Ed Fuller had the Brookings Steam Laundry.  It was located about one and one-half blocks west of the school on  the south side of Fourth Street.  The telephone office was just across the street on the north.  He did all of the cleaning of the athletic uniforms and towels for the school.  Remember when we had to shower after gym class?  Those towels were cleaned at Mr. Fuller's laundry.  When we moved out to the "new" high school, he was still cleaning uniforms and towels.  He would haul his van or truck up the ramp in the back, and bring them in and out through the back locker-room door.  He was still supplying both the high-school and middle school with towels even after I started teaching at the Middle School in 1973.  Shortly after that, however, the laundry was closed, and the students had to bring their own towels.  Within a few years, showers after gym class were no longer required.

Junior Cliff James is likely another name with ties to a local business.  There was a B and J Wholesale House in town, on Main across from the railroad depot.  The business supplied local establishments such as gas stations with snacks, candy, tobacco, cigarettes, and the like.  Later, it was just James Wholesale.  My father worked there in the 50's , 60's, and early 70's. I believe Cliff James was the owner of James Wholesale. 

One of the seniors is Guy LeFevre (his name is spelled LaFevre in the index, but is correct on page 21.  Would this be "Doc" LeFevre who later owned LeFevre Motors?  There is also a relatively new street named LeFevre Drive in town, although ii is only a block or so long.  The significance for me is that around 1963-4, LeFevre Motors was one of the customers on my Minneapolis Tribune paper route. 

One of the juniors is Frank Revell (would sophomore Lucy be a sister or perhaps a cousin?).  A block south of the Red Castle used to be a big apartment building.  In our youth, it was called the Revell apartments.  A number of the Revell children graduated in the 50's, perhaps in the early 60's.  There was a big Scottish pine that grew on their lot.  When we neighborhood boys would play war games, we would use the pine cones for hand grenades. 

There are two students with the name of Rude, as in Rude's Furniture and also Rude's Funeral Home.  Both of them are juniors, Ida and Minnie. Would they have been twins or cousins?  On a related note, Bartling's Furniture Store also used to have a Funeral Home associated with their business.  Is there a connection between furniture stores and funeral homes?      http://jostfuneralhome.com/history/

The Sexauer name figures prominently in this yearbook.   George, the founder of the Sexauer Seed Company, was on the Board of Education.  It would seem that Verna Sexauer was his daughter.

The next post will include some other names that may be of interest to us.  Some of them may be surprising.