The Polk County Normal School

Wisconsin Historical Society, Alfred Isaacson, Pub., Polk County Training School For Teachers, Image ID 39462.

May 4 - 8, 2020 is Teacher Appreciation Week. Today we honor and respect our teachers more than ever! During this school year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when teachers have to remotely educate their students online and school closings have resulted in cancelled graduations ceremonies, we thought to bring you a story of the Polk County Normal School and its 1919 graduation ceremony. So cheers to our teachers, who for generations have shaped America’s future one child at a time!

““The exclusive purposes and objects of each normal school shall be the instruction and training of persons, both male and female, in the theory and art of teaching, and in all the various branches that pertain to a good common school education, and in all subjects needful to qualify for teaching in the public schools; also to give instruction in the fundamental laws of the United States and of this state in what regards the rights and duties of citizens.” ”

— Laws of Wisconsin Relating to Common Schools, Free High Schools & Normal Schools, Published under the direction of L.D. Harvey, State Superintendent. (Madison,WI - 1901)

The Polk County Training School was authorized by the Polk County Board of Supervisors in the fall of 1904 because there was a need for better qualified teachers.  “The aim of the school is to increase the quality of teaching in Polk county rather than the quantity of the teachers”.   At this time, the average student entering teacher’s training was 16 years of age. 

In August 1905, construction began on the Polk County Normal School in St. Croix Falls on a bluff above the village, on Madison Street.  The town contributed $5,000 towards building costs and the two acres of land were donated by the Comer brothers, John and Andrew, St. Croix Falls blacksmiths.  There were six students at the first graduation in 1906 and that number increased over the years to an average of about 28 graduates by 1934.   

The enrollment qualifications for potential students in the early years were for persons having a teacher’s certificate from another county, who were graduates of a state graded school or completed one year of high school, or had common school diplomas and were judged by the principal to be capable of a teacher’s education. The course of study was the Common School Manual and it was a one-year course until about 1939, when instruction increased to a two-year course of study.  The teacher’s college certificate qualified the student to teach and also counted toward a bachelor’s degree. 

School Bell from Polk County Normal (Old Manual Arts School), Polk County Museum

On June 21, 1919, sixteen students graduated to become teachers.  E. E. Husband was the President of the Normal School Board and gave the commencement speech.  Here are a few excerpts from his address:

“. . . The future is yours.  The way is open, if not, it is yours to open.  Great possibilities lie before you.  It is, to use a popular expression, up to you.  A world in full need of service is yours.

Tonight, you are thrown out upon your own resources, out upon a great sea of responsibility.  Polk County is proud of you and congratulates you upon your attainments thus far reached, but you stand in the same relationship to Polk County that the young birdslings in the nest stand to their parent bird.  You have developed to that stage where it is now time for your foster mother to crowd you out of the nest.  You are now being thrown out into an atmosphere where you must rely upon yourself backed up by the opportunities offered you by the Polk County Normal and from the diligence and patience of a painstaking and interested faculty.

 . . . Polk County has now done its best for you.  You are now going out into the world to render service.  And in that service, you must depend upon your own resources.  You are to be congratulated upon the kind of service you have chosen to render.  The teaching profession bears grave responsibilities.  The rulers of future generations will come under your instruction, under your training, and the destinies of the future generations will in part depend upon the kind of service you render, upon the channels into which you train the minds that come under your supervision, upon the kinds of character you help to form in others.

. . . It is said that a lobster when washed upon the rocks has not energy enough nor instinct to even wiggle its way back to the sea, but waits for the tide to turn and wash it back.  It frequently dies in this position when the least effort on its part would enable it to reach the waves that probably lie within a few inches of it.  In the affairs of men, remember there are no back-tides.

So while I compliment you upon your attainment and extend to you the best wishes of the people of Polk County for your success, yet I conjure you not to be lobsters, be self-reliant, be character builders, be doers, and these diplomas which we present to you tonight as evidence of your accomplishments in this institution will then have some significance.

In closing, I wish you all that your efforts deserve and remind you of Emerson’s words:

“So nigh is grandeur to our dust,

So near is God to man,

When Duty whispers low, 'Thou must,'

The youth whispers, 'I can.”    

Polk County Normal School – Class of 1919: Elsie Burch, Hazel Burch, Mabel Carlson, Signa Carlson, Mathilda Feske, Esther Gronlund, Clara Hanson, Gertrude Hanson, Gertrude Peterson, Nettie Lumsden, Myrtle Nelson, Clara Peterson, Anna Rogers, Celia Smith, Pearl Swanson, Mildred Will

In 1935, the original County Normal School was destroyed by fire reportedly started from a burn pile of leaves on the lawn on Arbor Day.  The school was then moved to the Manual Arts Building (1885) on the corner of Adams and State Streets.  That building was used until 1960, when the county board moved the school to Frederic.  The Polk County Teacher’s College was relocated to the upper floor of the Frederic grade school building and hoped to make college more accessible to students from both Polk and Burnett Counties.  The last class of the Polk County Normal School graduated in 1971. 

Resources:

Braatz, Rosemarie Vezina. St. Croix Tales and Trails. Rosemarie Vezina Braatz, 2005.

Larsen, Gloria. I Heard the School Bells Ringing. Inter-County Cooperative Publishing, 1999.

E.E. Husband. “To the Graduating Class of the Polk County Normal School”. Polk County Historical Society, 1919.

Dr. Mary Sorensen: Polk County’s Pioneer Doctor

Dr. Mary (Marie) Sorensen was a pioneer in medicine and one of the first doctors in Polk County, Wisconsin.  Perhaps her courage and drive came from her direct descendant, Vitus Bering, a navigator and explorer of the sea and strait near Alaska that bears his name.  Mary was born in Denmark on September 17th, 1839, the daughter of Morten Hansen Bering and Elizabeth Eleonore Carlsdotter. 

Mary moved to the United States at the age of 22.  She settled in Chicago, where she married Jens Peter Sorensen in the spring of 1863.  J. P. Sorensen was a carpenter and cabinet maker.  Mary and Jens had four children together, two boys and two girls.  Mary always dreamed of becoming a doctor, so after four children she decided to pursue her medical degree at Hahnemann College in Chicago.

In nineteenth-century Chicago, a medical degree was not always needed to practice medicine.  Many doctors learned medicine by apprenticeships or by reading medical texts. Other students obtained formal medical training by the newly developed medical schools at this time.  The Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago was one of these schools and opened in 1860.  Except for its focus on homeopathic therapeutics, the instruction was similar to other “regular” medical schools. 

American homeopathy had an early acceptance of women in medical training which was not accepted by many “regular” medical schools during this time. By 1900, it is estimated that 12% of homeopathic physicians were women.  In contrast, female physicians only numbered between 4 and 5% of the entire medical profession by the end of the 1900’s. The Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago began accepting women to its program in 1871 and was an early institution to become co-educational.  It was many years before all medical schools accepted women students. In 1904 there were 160 medical schools in the United States, of which 97 (61%) admitted women. In 1920 there were 85 medical schools, of which 64 (75%) were coeducational.  It wasn’t until 1960, when all medical schools became coeducational. 

Mary Sorensen completed her courses at Hahnemann Medical College, through sacrifice and hard work, and graduated with the degree of M.D.  She first practiced in Chicago, later in Racine, Wisconsin, and then in Tacoma, Washington.  During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s when there were very few woman physicians, many big city hospitals were reluctant to hire female doctors.  For this reason, many of Wisconsin’s early woman doctors took their practice to small, rural towns.  It was in these rural communities where the talents of woman doctors where appreciated and welcomed.

The Sorensen’s settled in Polk County, Wisconsin around 1877.  Dr. Sorensen set-up her practice where the local newspaper reported she had opened a homeopathic and electrical office.  She opened offices in St. Croix, Taylors Falls, and Osceola.  In 1879 the family moved to Milltown, but her services continued to extend over a large part of Polk County.  She held the position of county physician for several years.  It was not long before she proved her ability and fitness for the hardships of this profession.

“They saw patients in their kitchens and made house calls on snowshoes.  Wisconsin’s first female doctors battled discrimination to make their mark in medicine, serving with particular distinction in rural areas. – Earl R. Thayer, Wisconsin Academy Review (2005)”

Dr. Sorensen truly lived the life of a pioneer doctor.  She wore bobbed (short) hair, which was uncommon at this time in history for women.  Dr. Mary had broken her arm and found it impossible to “put up” her hair. She also discovered that it was a time-saver when she was called to a sick bed in a hurry, so she kept it this way.  There were no telephones at this time, so when Dr. Mary was needed, someone would come to her farm home by horseback, buggy or lumber wagon to get her or the medicine she would prescribe.  This is also why Mr. Sorensen always kept two teams of horses ready, so there would be a fresh team when needed.

One time she was summoned to a logging camp outside the county, many miles away, to help a patient with a broken leg.  On these long trips, Mary’s husband went with her.  It was winter, so a horse and sleigh were used to make the trip through the snow.  When night came, they had still not reached the logging camp and found themselves in an Indian village.  The Indians blanketed and fed the horses.  They provided a wigwam for Dr. Sorensen and her husband to sleep in and keep warm through the night.  The trip was completed the next day, the fractured leg was set, and Mary and her husband began their long trip home.

Dr. Mary Sorensen was called into many homes where there were contagious diseases, but never contracted any, despite often working day and night during an epidemic.  Her payment was anything from vegetables to furs.  If she thought her patient couldn’t afford to pay, she would accept nothing.  She was remembered by older settlers of the area as “one of the finest persons ever to have lived there.” 

Both of the Sorensen’s sons followed in their mother’s footsteps and went on to medical school.  The oldest son, Martin, also went to Hahnemann Medical College, but died in his senior year.  Seward, the next son, graduated from Chicago Medical College and practiced at Prentice until he was stricken with tuberculosis and died in 1954.  The Sorensen’s also had two daughters.  Sarina, died as an infant. Elnora graduated from the Chicago Conservatory of Music and Valparaiso University in Indiana.  She taught in the public schools of Polk County and gave piano lessons for many years.  She married Nels Nielsen and lived in Milltown. 

Dr. Mary Sorensen was a true pioneer physician and practiced until she was 65.  She remained active in the Polk County community and spent her declining years on the farm she had inherited from her father, Morten Bering.  Dr. Mary died on July, 28, 1926 at the age of 87 and is buried in the Milltown cemetery.  Many artifacts and medical instruments used by Dr. Mary Sorensen are displayed in the Polk County Museum and donated by Mrs. Carl Sorensen, the granddaughter of Dr. Mary.

Learn More:

• Doctor or Doctress: Explore American history through the eyes of woman physicians (Drexel Legacy Center)

  • Doctor or Doctress presents primary source sets ("stories") composed of the sources left behind by women physicians from history. Complete with both student and teacher supports, each story may provide a valuable and engaging angle from which to study significant moments and themes in the historical timeline.

• First in their Class: Wisconsin’s Pioneering Women Physicians (Wisconsin Academy Review)

  • A discussion of early women physicians in Wisconsin and the trials and triumphs of breaking through the medical barriers. This article also includes a brief discussion of Dr. Mary Sorensen (spelled ‘Sorenson’ in this article).

Welcome to our Polk County History Blog page!

Today history is being made and we are all a part of it! During this pandemic of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), schools are closed across the country, including the state of Wisconsin and our local Polk County school districts. We are starting this blog to provide another place for online learning to occur for students and their families. Each blog will share a story about Polk County history with an artifact, document, or photo from our museum. We will also provide additional resources to continue your learning. We hope you enjoy the journey into Polk County’s past!

Picnic last day of school (June 1, 1900) - Cedar Lake School - District No. 6 - Alden Township, Polk County, WI - Miss Helen Nelson, Teacher

Rural Schools - Settlers arrived in Polk County in the late 1800’s and began building little rural (country) schools. Most were little one-room schools with students ranging in age from 7 to 14 years of age. Schools could have between 30 - 50 students. There was only one teacher in the school who taught all these students. Often the rural school was like a large family. The older students helped the younger ones and they all worked together.

The teacher had a busy job. She was the teacher, principal, janitor and community expert on education. She carried wood and made fires in the school to keep it warm. The teacher washed the blackboards, swept the floor, made lesson plans, made out report cards and planned school programs. The school had very little equipment to use for teaching. Teachers used blackboards, a few maps, a globe and very few textbooks. Most early schools did not have bathrooms! Outdoor toilets were in separate small buildings. The first bathroom (privy) at Ceder Lake School was 5 x 10 x 7 foot and cost $24.80 to build.

How did the students get to school? There was no buses or cars in the early days. Students walked to school in any kind of weather. The walk to school was a long one, over roads thick with dust or mud and deep with snow in the winter. Sometimes there was no roads at all and students followed simple trails to school. Many students had to walk several miles to reach school each day. There was no lunch served at school. Each student had to bring their own lunches, usually in a bucket or pail. During the winter, the lunches were often frozen by the time the students arrived at school.

Cedar Lake School (Students pictured above) - The Ceder Lake School began in 1877. The first school was built for a total of $729.63. On September 1, 1890, it was decided that all children in the district between the ages of 7 and 14 attend school at least 80 days (50 days in the winter and 30 days in the summer). Miss Helen Nelson was the Cedar Lake teacher from 1898-1900. Most teachers in rural schools were women. In 1921, the average teacher was a country girl of about 19 years of age with three years training beyond eighth grade. There were only seven men that taught at Cedar Lake School in its 106 years and none taught after 1903. School bus transportation was first started in 1915. It was only for students who were over two to two and a half miles from the school. Also in 1915, the porch on the schoolhouse was enclosed and indoor bathrooms were installed. In 1960, Cedar Lake became part of the Osceola School district and seventh and eighth graders began attending school in Osceola. In 1967, the third through sixth graders went to Osceola. The Cedar Lake School continued with grades one and two until the 1982-1983 school year when the Cedar Lake School closed and all students began attending schools in Osceola.

Learn More:

• Lesson Plans for the One-Room School (National Park Service)

• One-Room Schools of the Past (YouTube) This video is about country schools. It is geared to a 4th grade audience.