The 143-year-old Excelsior School House bell rang again last week.

Monday, May 14, 2001

The 143-year-old Excelsior School House bell rang again last week.

Edna Hill greeted Banfield Elementary School third-graders and their teachers who held classes Tuesday through Friday in the log building.

According to Marcia Wilson, the idea for "Pioneer School" was the Banfield "third-grade team" of teachers who throughout the school year seek to expand the learning horizons of their students with new experiences outside the classroom.

Teachers Deb Holt, Marilyn Sinz, Carol Gilbertson and Wilson and teachers’ aides walked from Banfield Elementary School in southwest Austin to the Mower County Fairgrounds for an entire day of classes.

Many of the students dressed in children’s styles from long ago. Boys wore bib overalls and straw hats. Girls wore stepout skirts, shawls and bonnets. The teachers and their aides also dressed in the garb of bygone school days.

"It was the outgrowth of a lesson to study how immigrants came to America and started their lives over again on the prairie," Wilson said.

The setting for a taste of education on the prairie was perfect.

Excelsior School House served families in Lyle Township from 1859 to 1869.

It was moved to the Mower County Fairgrounds in 1957, where it has become a museum and one of the most popular attractions at the Mower County Historical Center.

Each August, during the Mower County Fair, the school hosts retired school teachers’ reunions.

Throughout the summer, it is visited by the curious, who see the pot-bellied stove in the rear of the one-room school house, wooden desks all lined in rows, slate boards, wooden floor and other accouterments of a typical prairie school.

Shirley DeYoung, curator of the Mower County Historical Center, said the Mower County Historical Society welcomes the curious.

"These third-graders have been such good visitors," DeYoung said. "I think they’re having a lot of fund and learning, too. We’re happy to have them visit us."

Hill served as the students’ and teachers’ guides through the many historical exhibits.

They visited the Milwaukee Junction railroad museum and collection of train cars and engines, the firefighters’ museum and Native-American museum, where H.J. Williams’ extraordinary collection was a special treat for the third-graders.

Sara Brucker, daughter of Rick and Marianne Brucker, and Sydney Hataye, daughter of Garrett and Alaina Hataye, were among the girls who dressed as their counterparts did more than a century ago.

So did Hannah Thompson, daughter of Dave and Jackie Thompson, who surprised her classmates when she announced she wanted to go to school in the log building all the time.

"Why?" the third-grader was asked. "I like doing math problems on a slate board instead of my math book."

The Banfield teachers tried to incorporate as much of their daily lessons plans in their Pioneer School visits to the fairgrounds.

They also had spelling bees, recitation of poems and "blab school" or reading aloud in class just like pioneer families’ children did.

When recess and lunch time took the children outside, the teachers attempted to recreate games from yesteryear as much as possible.

The annual Mower County Historical Center open house is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. June 17. Free tours of all the buildings will be offered and refreshments served.

Call Lee Bonorden at 434-2232 or e-mail him at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com.