Origins of the 1892 Public School Building (and more)
(From a 1979 article, written by Robert Pawling at the time the Kutztown Area Historical Society purchased the building)
The old school may be more important than many people realize for it constitutes the best example of a Victorian schoolhouse remaining in Berks County and perhaps even in the entire Commonwealth. Only Reading's ornate Fifteenth and Perkiomen Avenue building which burned to the ground in 1969 was comparable.' Undoubtedly other examples of this style of architecture will be demolished due to a recent state regulation forbidding the use of multi-story, wooden-floored, school structures, un-protected by sprinklers. This merely underscores the importance of our building and points out the need for continued restoration efforts to ensure its long-lived presence in the community.
Kutztown's School accommodations in 1892 were inadequate to serve the five grade-levels of primary, secondary, intermediate, grammar and high school. As early as 1880, school authorities had been forced to transfer high school students to the old town hall. Remaining grade-levels held sessions at the two-story, four-room schoolhouse located where the Kutztown Bottling Works now stands.
On January 22, 1892, the Kutztown School Board held a meeting to explore the possibility of adding two suitable rooms to the old structure. What exactly transpired at this meeting is not known, however, shortly thereafter the school board paid Augustus Wink $850.00 for a 200 foot x 185 foot lot at the corner of White Oak and Normal Avenues. Here a brand new public school building was to be erected.
Lansdale architect M. B. Bean was hired to draw up the blueprints, for the school board was apparently impressed with his design of the Lansdale schoolhouse which they had visited. No expense was to be spared to make this school the envy of every community in the county. Classrooms were to be spacious, measuring 34' x 25' x 12 12'. Only the finest materials were to be employed in its construction. The basement walls were to consist of the best blue limestone, the joists of the strongest black oak, the mortar of "showy" Fleetwood sand, the wood trim of the finest hemlock, the roofing squares of "Big Washington Vein" slate, and the steps, trimmings and corners of the "very best hard, blue, King of Prussia marble." Over 130,000 bricks were supplied by Josiah Fisher and Grim Brothers of Allentown. Ten thousand of these were expensive pressed bricks used for the exterior walls. Gasser and Johnson's Northeastern Planning Mill made 79 inside shutters at a cost of $400.00.
Throughout the project the board advertised for bids by printing hand bills, thus tending to keep most of the labor within the local area. Daniel W. Kline became the chief carpenter at $1.75 per day while his hired hands received 18c per hour. Lewis Dietrich was engaged as stone mason on the project while Phillip Wentz got the bid for doing the marble work. Wagonhorst and Smith did the tinwork for the steeple and William Quigly was the plasterer receiving a wage of 24e per square yard. Other familiar names who were employed as laborers included Solon Boyer, John J. Sharadin, William and Nicholas Scheidt, John Angstadt, Chester Betz, E. H. Fenstermaker, Howard Geiger, Julius Schneider, Jonothan Mertz, Addison Billig, Wilson Brown, Charles Christman and Peter and Edward Steckel.
One can well imagine how quickly the cost of so ambitious a project could drain the school's treasury. Problems began to crop up in January of 1893 when Lewis D. Dietrich and his hired hands refused to do any more masonry work until they received more "front" money first. The school board arrogantly released Dietrich and hired Chester Rhode, perhaps a relative of board member Cyrus J. Rhode, to finish the brick laying. Henry Derr was then employed as mason. Dietrich was called before the board and directed to fix some "shoddy work" on the cellar piers. When he refused to cooperate, the board had the corrections made by someone else and sent the bill to Dietrich.
By March, 1893, funds were so low that it became necessary to borrow money from the citizens of the town. Loans varied in size from schoolteacher Alice Hottenstein's $100 to the largest loan of $2,000 made by Maria E. Bieber. Others who invested in the cause were Mary and Clarence Miller, Charles and Frederick Zehm, Nora Kline, Daniel Spohn, Jonas Hock, Mary Gehr, Harriet Kemp, and Dr. Edward Hottenstein.' On April 10, 1893, Jonothan Gonser offered a loan of $2,100 but by then the financial situation had improved enough so that the board only needed to accept $1,525 of his original bid.
A heating system was installed by Smead Wills and Company of Philadelphia, Pa. for a sum of $800. Heating was accomplished by a rather interesting method. A furnace supplied hot water to radiators in two centrally located basement "dry closets." From here the heat was carried by means of eight hot-air ducts to each individual classroom. The cranks which were used to open and close these air registers are still visible today. There seems to have also been an auxiliary "stack heater" for especially cold days. Eventually this "indirect" method of heating was found to be inadequate, and it was replaced by the present steam radiator system.
By the end of summer, 1893, most of the work remaining to be done was all but completed. Water service to the old schoolhouse was cut off on August 28, 1893. Three months later, board member Cyrus J. Rhode acquired this property at a public sale. With the school year fast approaching, Kutztown Borough Council passed an ordinance requiring that White Oak Street be graded and that pavements be laid "because public school children will pass that way."
When the board met for the first time in the freshly painted new schoolhouse, there was reason enough to be proud. What other community could boast so fine a school, or, at a cost of $17,600, a more expensive one. The work, which was completed in less than 20 months, had required untold hours of sacrifice on the part of the board and building committee comprised of Daniel Wartzenluft, Isaac Christ, Nathan Kemp, Cyrus Rhode, Dr. Edward Hottenstein, Lewis S. Heffner, and Ulrich J. Miller.' As they made plans for the coming school year and building dedication, no doubt everyone was satisfied that all the effort had been worth it.
The opening of school was postponed in order to permit a proper dedication to be held on October 1, 1893. A more protracted affair is hard to imagine. The exercises, resembling an odd mixture of political rally and revival service, entailed a scripture reading, a prayer, a sermon, a letter reading, three hymns and seven addresses. Neither the afternoon's heat nor the length of the program could discourage a standing-room-only crowd from squeezing into two second-story classrooms to get a glimpse of the proceedings."
Among the dignitaries who had a part in the program were Dr. Edward Hottenstein, President of the Kutztown School Board; Dr. Nathan C. Schaeffer, State Superintendent of Schools; and Morton Montgomery, that eminent historian of Berks County. Berks County School Superintendent, William Zechman spoke on the free school system as a "represser of tyranny and crime." He went on to compliment the directors on the fine school they had erected stating that "it was second to none in the county, the city of Reading included."" Charles Gehring, a member of the New York Tribune staff, wrote, "I gratefully remember the kind and most valuable instruction I received in the Public schools of my native town and I note with esteem its advancement with the erection of a magnificent public school building." It is amusing to note that times really do not change very much. Two of the scheduled speakers expressed dissatisfaction at the meager salaries being paid to Kutztown teachers. There was even one chap from Birdsboro who got up and delivered an "offhand speech" on the disgrace of low pay to teachers in general. Despite this brief negative note, Judge Bland of the county's orphan court summed up the sentiments of nearly everyone when he pronounced this "a proud day for Kutztown."
School began in 1893 with the following instructional staff: George Bordner, high school; Alice Hottenstein, grammar; Laura Gross, intermediate; Rosa Christ, secondary; and Annie Stein, primary. Salaries ranged from $45.00 to $25.00 a month. Apparently, some boys were learning a bit too much in the new school. Board minutes reveal that the janitor had been using "bad language" in front of the high school boys and the board resolved to "tell him about it." So much for hands on learning experiences. In 1909 the high school was raised to a third-grade high school and by 1912 it had been elevated to a second-grade level by adding one year to its course and employing an additional teacher. That was also the year Kutztown became the first county school to install playground equipment for its children. The educational program was further improved a year later by inaugurating a music program with employment of George W. Fichthorn as Superintendent of Music.
Events moved along swiftly toward the ground breaking for a new high school located directly across White Oak Street from the 1892 building. Because outsiders could attend the high school for one dollar a month, enrollments had increased sufficiently by 1916 to justify a new $31,000 educational facility with assembly-room gymnasium and principal's office." The present building was not big enough for all the children so that high school classes were held in Trinity Lutheran's Parish House until the new school could be completed. On December 7, 1917, the students and faculty marched across the street to take up classes in the new building, leaving the old schoolhouse exclusively for elementary use. One month later an energy crisis of sorts shut down the schools for seven weeks. There was a shortage of coal.
During the Great Depression, Kutztown, like many other communities, took advantage of WPA projects to make improvements in facilities and services. One such project in 1936 involved the construction of a fire tower addition to the 1892 elementary school to replace the old iron fire escape. The new wing was also to have a "flush toilet system" furnishing facilities for boys on the first floor and girls on the second. School board minutes for December 6, 1937 report that the grounds and buildings committee had inspected the new "facilities" and "considered it a wonderful improvement." In 1956, the elementary school was moved to a new building near the Saucony Creek, and once again the proud old 1892 schoolhouse was recycled. Thereafter it served as the Junior High School Annex until 1977 when it was vacated in compliance with a state condemnation citing wooden-floored schools as firetraps.
Perhaps a no more fitting site could have been chosen to house our community's historical society than the 1892 Public School Building, for no other place has had a more common contact with the lives of Kutztonians. By preserving this school, we preserve a piece of our own identity.
