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The Glawe School was built in Ocqueoc Township, Presque Isle County,
Michigan, about 1885. Logging and farming had attracted more settlers to
northern Michigan and families followed. When citizens of Ocqueoc decided it
was time for a school, a log building was erected on land donated by
Christian Glawe. It was located on Ocqueoc Highway on the south side of the
present Lutheran Church.
Seventeen students attended the new Glawe School for about three months
the first year. The first teacher, Emma Platts, was paid $20 a month and
was provided room and board from area families. Population at the school
fluctuated, reaching as high as forty-five students as numbers in the
community changed.
Each school day began with a prayer and the pledge to the flag. Grades 1
through 8 were taught in the one room school: first graders in front,
older students in the back. Instruction was given in reading,
penmanship, arithmetic, history, geography, hygiene, and grammar.
Students were taught in groups and then sent back to their seats to work
quietly while another group came to the front. The only whole school
instruction was in penmanship; although stories were read and current
events discussed as a group. Older students helped younger ones with
school work such as reading and arithmetic problems. After eighth grade
most student's education was finished. Over time, more students went to
high school, but distance made this difficult. Many students boarded
with families in Onaway to be able to attend high school.
Heat was first provided by a wood-fired stove which was maintained by
the older boys. Wood was donated by parents and stored in an outbuilding
behind the school, next to separate outhouses for girls and boys.
Drinking water came from a pump outside the building. Older students
were responsible for keeping a bucket filled with water each day. There
was a dipper in the bucket that everyone drank from. As time passed, the
wood stove was replaced by a coal furnace, the dipper by a drinking
fountain, and the outhouses by indoor bathrooms.
One memory of the schools early days is the mittens, scarves and
overshoes scattered around the floor grate to dry on winter days, which
meant that the odor of wet wool permeated the room. Students often
brought jars of soup for lunch which would be dumped into a communal pot
on the wood stove and shared among all. Discipline was maintained by
standing the offender in a corner at the front of the room. The teacher
rang a bell to begin the school day as students walked from their homes
or arrived on sleighs if the snow was very deep. Special events at the
school included such things as box socials, Valentine parties, and
Christmas programs. Those who attended Glawe wished to preserve these
memories of their school; therefore, the Glawe School Committee was
formed, the building moved for preservation, and the exhibits and
artifacts were collected and displayed.
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