You don’t have to walk up hill, both ways, to explore the history of Wisconsin schoolhouses at Reed School. Before 1960, most rural Wisconsin children were educated in a one-room school just like this. One-room education reflects a less mobile, more rural time in our history. Reed School, built in 1915, served as a one-room country school through 1951. It provided a first through eighth-grade education with only one teacher. The school is typical of the more than 6,000 one-room schools that dotted the landscape of rural Wisconsin.

When it was built in 1915, Reed School had an innovative design. It was a concrete brick structure measuring 30 feet x 50 feet, unusual for the era. It boasted a concrete foundation and a wood-frame bell tower. While it was modern for the time, Reed School lacked indoor bathrooms, plumbing and a water supply. Water was carried in by hand and electricity wasn’t added until 1941.