Otter Tail County once had 289 rural schools

Contributed photo
Kids enjoyed playtime outside at Western Township School District #56.

By Tom Hintgen

Otter Tail County Correspondent

Country schools in Otter Tail County are fondly remembered. At one time, Otter Tail County’s 289 rural schools were the most of any county in Minnesota.

Contributed photos
Above: Kids enjoyed playtime outside at Western Township School District #56. Below: District 56 school, front, left to right, Ray Munson, Dick Munson, Paula Stock, Bruce Ewert, Mark Stock and David Stock. Back, left to right, teacher Dorothy Bergerud, Byron Stock, Wayne Stock, Kathy Jorgenson, Mary Stock, Norma Stock, Dennis Ewert, Diane Stock and Linda Jorgenson.

Many kids who grew up on farms formed their basis for life while attending one-room schools. Today those kids are adults who look back on the days when they learned the basics with reading, writing and arithmetic (the three Rs). And don’t forget penmanship, particularly the Palmer method with rhythmic motions.

“Our teachers had the most beautiful handwriting because they learned to write long before we had typewriters,” said one person while recalling the country school days. “Today that art may be gone but is not forgotten.”

Those who grew up on farms in the 1950s and 1960s also witnessed change.

Some of those changes are spelled out in a book, “Growing up on a Minnesota farm,” by Michael Cotter and Beverly Jackson.

“The small family farm started expanding,” noted the authors “There eventually was more competition for land, fence lines disappeared, the threshing ritual was replaced by combines, corn cribs gave way to corn dryers and hydraulic power replaced muscles.”

The Stock families had several social outlets in Western Township in southwestern Otter Tail County, mainly the District 56 school that housed 1st through 8th grade. 

“It was much like a home school today,” David Stock recalls. “When I was in 2nd grade, 8 of the 14 students were Stocks, and the teacher was my father’s sister. The other kids, the Ewerts and Jorgensons, have been life-long friends. The Munsons moved to California that year, and we never saw the kids again.” 

He says that the biggest school event was the annual Christmas program. 

“The excitement of memorizing for the plays and your single recitation for the community event staged shortly before Christmas brought butterflies to your stomach,” he said. “We also had a spring field day where we hosted two adjoining schools, #49 and #252.”

Otter Tail County country schools also are included in a book, “Farmsteads and Old Neighborhoods” being reprinted by the county museum. Books, when the second printing is completed, will be available at the county museum and Lundeens, both in Fergus Falls. Online purchases will also be available.