Old Missoula

40 – Year Period Sees Many Schools Built

During the first 40 years of this century the elementary schools of Missoula experienced a steady growth in pupils, teachers and buildings.

At the turn of the century there were only four grade schools in the city, but by 1920 School District 1 had a total of nine. The Roosevelt on South 6^th street west was completed in 1905, the Lowell on the West Side in 1909, Hawthorne in Orchard Homes in 1910, Lincoln in the Rattlesnake Valley in 1914 and the Franklin in Daly Addition in 1916.

Earlier schools were Central, Prescott, Whittier and Willard. In 1911 there were 50 classroom teachers and by 1920 there were 79. There were 1,710 pupils in 1914 and by 1920 the attendance had increased to 1,817.

J. U. Williams became superintendent of the district in 1906 and served for a dozen years, being succeeded by Ira B. Fee in 1918. Fee served the district for 26 years, retiring in 1944.

Three in 1921

Three new school buildings were completed in 1921, all identical in construction. They were the Willard, Whittier and Paxson, the first two replacing old schools on the same sites. Each building contained 12 classrooms, an auditorium and a gymnasium and only the rooms which were needed at the time were finished. The total cost of the project was $188,580.

The next construction came in 1930 when one classroom was added to the Franklin School. Four more were added to this school in 1939.

The old Central School was razed in the spring of 1935 and the new school was occupied in October of that year. The new building provided 10 classrooms, a library, auditorium, gymnasium, supply storeroom, superintendent’s office, district clerk’s office and rooms for manual arts and home economics.

Lowell Addition

It was the same year that an addition to Lowell School was built. This project consisted of four classrooms, an auditorium and a gymnasium.

The district had 81 teachers and an average daily attendance of 1,893 pupils in 1920.

School attendance grew to 2,239 in 1932, but during the depression years dropped to 2,041 by 1935. However, it soon started the upward swing again and by 1940 had reached 2,312.

Supervisors for music and physical education were employed in 1929 and the school day was lengthened 10 minutes. The employment of supervisors provided help in these fields for the classroom teacher.

The physical education supervisor provided a graded program of physical education for all the grades. Most of this was, of necessity, done in the classroom or on the playground as only three gymnasiums were available – Willard, Whittier and Paxson.

A program of interschool intramural athletics was inaugurated with schedules in softball, basketball, and touch football.

Bulletins were issued by the superintendent regarding left-handedness and suggestions made as to procedure. It was during the 1920 – 1940 period that the swing away from the use of phonics was noticeable. Local teachers practically dropped the method. (The use of phonics in the teaching of reading has come back and is now used as a means of improving reading and not an end in itself.)

 

Also during the 1920 – 1940 era additional attention to primary reading was emphasized. The use of reading aids was stepped up as their value was recognized in preparing the beginner for this fundamental need.