Hillcrest Origins

In January of 1953, the Brookings school district bought 10 acres of land east of Hillcrest Park.  According to the Brookings Register, this area would be a new residential section.  There were no immediate plans to build a new school on this site.  So why did the school purchase this land?

Note that in the article above, "...future needs of the city's school system are being surveyed by the University of Minnesota..."

Further action by the school board resulted in a change of plans.  Instead of the land east of the park, the school district will be deeded land on the southern edge of the park. (The blue date below is incorrect; as one can see, the paper is dated March 4, 1953.  Is dementia creeping in already?) This land "will allow the board to assure itself of a building site on the east side of town if and when the need and desirability for school building in that section is decided upon."

That survey recommended not only a new grade school, but also an addition to the high school (the future annex).   The price tag was estimated at $475,000 for both projects:  $250,000 for the grade school; $200,000 for the annex addition to the high school, plus $25,000 for remodeling.  

Shortly thereafter, "(A) $425,000 bond issue was sold at a meeting of the board of education of Brookings independent school district..."  This rate was considered to be excellent, according to W. R. McCann, president of the school board.  "Other recent school bond sales in South Dakota have had rates as high as 2.6 percent..."  Construction on both projects is expected to get underway as early as June 1, when plans are approved and bids will have been let.  

 

In June, "(B)ids totaling $240,449 were accepted Tuesday evening (June 1 or 8?) by the Brookings school board for the addition to be constructed at the central site."  (The central site refers to the high school, as the high school, the elementary, and primary school were all located next to each other).  Additional bids "would be opened this summer for the new elementary school to be constructed in the east part of the city."

In late July, 1954, the board accepted the bids totaling $198,487 for Hillcrest Grade School.  The general contractor was H. E. Mills.  (He also helped develop and build many of the homes in East Acres and Indian Hills)  Work would start immediately, with a finishing date in 300 days, giving the staff ample time to prepare the school for the 1955-56 school year.  The picture below views the school from the corner of 3rd St. and 15th Ave. looking northeast.

A somewhat larger picture of the same:  

Within a month much progress had been made at Hillcrest.  The picture below appears as if it was taken on 3rd St. a little past 15th Ave, and looking northwest along 15th Avenue.   This looks to be the entrance on 15th Ave. The swimming pool would be off to the right.  

Since Hillcrest grade school would open for the 1955-56 school, how would the school board determine which school students would attend?  Medary Avenue seemed to be the logical boundary.  "In this connection, Supt. Horrigan announced that those students whose parents reside on the east side of Medary avenue as well as all those whose homes are east of Medary will attend the new Hillcrest grade school if they are in kindergarten, first, second or third grades... IF, and Horrigan stressed that 'if,' there is overcrowding, adjustments will be made after the first day of school."

That article from the Brookings Register of August 8, 1955,  entitled "Changes to Mark Opening Of City Schools on Sept. 6" was too big to scan for this post.  Some of the changes include a new superintendent, a new junior high school principal, and new principals for both Central Elementary and Hillcrest Elementary.  

Mr. D. L. (Doc) Horrigan was promoted from high school principal to become the new superintendent.  He replaced J. E. Martin, who had been superintendent for many years.  "Doc" taught for about three years (Elkton?) before coming to Brookings in 1929, where he was a science teacher and assistant coach.  Virgil Bell, high school science teacher and assistant coach, would replace Mr. Horrigan as high school principal.   Floyd A. (Lefty) Johnson, also science teacher and assistant coach, was the junior high school principal, replacing Miss Lillian Schiefelbein.  She had served about 25 years.  The new Central principal was Charles Stewart (he would be the principal when we were in grade school).  His signature on our report cards was neatly written as Charles S. Stewart.  Some of us wondered what the S. stood for.  We, not very wisely, thought it was "Strawberry."  The first principal at Hillcrest Element-

ary was Mary Greenwood.  She had been an elementary teacher for a few years before becoming principal.  At the time, she lived about two blocks from me near the corner of 2nd St. and 8th Ave. at 807 2nd St. (we lived at the corner of 2nd St. and 6th Ave.). She later moved to 628 13th Avenue, according to some old phone books. 

Mr. Karnes mentioned to us during our school days that he and Mr. Bell were encouraged to apply for the principal's job when Mr. Horrigan was named superintendent.  Mr. Karnes preferred to remain in the classroom, so he did not even apply for the position.

Another change was also somewhat eventful.  "Miss Stella Ericson, formerly the elementary principal for many years, will now serve as elementary supervisor for all six grades at both the central and Hillcrest Schools."  In 1963, our family moved a block away to the corner of 3rd St. and 6th Ave. (602 3rd St.)  Miss Ericson was our next door neighbor at 604 3rd St. She and Miss Agnes Schlender had lived there for a number of years.  Miss Schlender was the secretary to the superintendent.  In days gone by, single female teachers frequently lived in a rented room in a house near the school.  Our house at 3rd St., for example, had a back entrance with a stairway leading upstairs.  The house at 604 3rd St. had a similar arrangement.  This enabled a renter, often a teacher, to enter her room without disturbing the occupants.  In fact, we rented out a room to Dr. R. H. Whalen, genetics professor at SDSU when he first moved to Brookings.  I even had him for a class when I was at SDSU.  Miss Malmstrom, according to some old phonebooks, lived on 5th St,, just across from the old high school.

When Miss Ericson and Miss Schlender moved to a smaller residence in retirement in the mid-1970's, one of my older brothers wanted to buy their house.  Since I was ready to invest in a house, I bought it instead.  My brother was kind enough to lend me some money to make the purchase.  I resided there until my mother died in 2003, when I moved into her house at the suggestion of another brother, who actually owned the house where I currently dwell.   Coincidentally, while doing some housecleaning  recently, I found an old Bible that belonged to Miss Ericson.  

One memory of Miss Ericson remains fixed in my mind.  As elementary supervisor, she would often visit classrooms and comment on our cursive handwriting.  As the above photo indicates, her cursive was very stylistic and artful.  She even gave us little notecards that had the cursive letters for us to use as a reference.  They were smaller versions of the letters that teachers used to display above the chalkboard.   

When Hillcrest opened in 1955, the schools were expecting record enrollment.  While the first day of classes was Tuesday, Sept. 6, kindergarten did not start until Wednesday the 7th.  Four of those classes would be held at Central, while two would be held at Hillcrest.  Hillcrest would eventually expand a few times to accommodate the growing population on that side of town.   There would be no hot lunch at Hillcrest, while hot lunch would be served for Central and the Jr.-Sr. Hi students in the new annex multi-purpose room.  

Times have definitely changed (have the changes in curricula improved the quality of the schools now?).  Whereas school started after Labor Day in the past, school has started as early as August 20th in some years.  The school day starts earlier, also.  Instead of 9 to 4 (unless one had an 8 o'clock in the old, crowded Jr.-Sr. Hi), it's more like 8:15-3:15 today.