An artifact from the Tower school survives to this day at AFS park behind Wendy's. Along the path near the river is the original limestone front step. It was saved by the Clay family from the dump, and later donated to create the bench at the park by Mark Clay.

If any readers know of any other artifacts, or have remembrances of the Tower school, please post here. Or, send them to the Leader at the address above.

What do you think of the Lost Hutchinson series? Are readers enjoying seeing some of the old buildings? It has been a fun project to research and write. And, hopefully it will be a valuable piece of history once it is published as a magazine later this year.

Thanks to Jay Beytien, Julie Jensen, Datloff Weseloh, John Korngiebel and the McLeod County Museum for providing important information for this series.

It was the fall of 1937. Our 2nd grade class was
in the upstairs North classroom of the Tower School.
(Our class was one of two 2nd grade classes.) Miss
Olive Hill was our teacher. She used the small
adjoining round tower room for quiet reading time, if
you had your work done. That was really special.

Preparations had started for our new school
building. There was digging and blasting in the area
between the Merrill High School and our Tower School.
I was sitting in the last desk in the northwestern
corner of the classroom. A dynamite charge went off
outside. The tall free-standing cupboard on the wall
behind my desk tipped over. The very edge of the
cupboard caught the back of my seat as I sat there in
class! No one was hurt, but what a jolt and close
call! You can see why they completely vacate an area
nowadays before construction starts.

After the Christmas break, we had 2nd grade classes
above the old fire department. (This building is now
also demolished.) Above the fire department we were
only disrupted by the fire bell ringing. Fire
Prevention Week practice was unique.
We students had to go down the fire escape on the
north side of the building--two by two. The metal
fire escape did not reach the ground, and it was on a
hinge-spring. One child at a time was not heavy
enough to keep the metal stairway heading downward.
We were lifted to the ground from the last step, which
was still too far for us to jump.

It would be interesting to hear stories from other
people. Thank you for featuring the Tower School and
other buildings now gone for our enjoyment. It brings
back old memories.

Ruby Benjamin Madsen
Bloomington, MN

A few post cards of the school:

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http://x0c.xanga.com/eedd9710c7432129983462/w94623071.jpg

1924 post card:

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http://xef.xanga.com/ce7d8311c2c32129989550/w94628201.jpg

1910 post card front:

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http://x75.xanga.com/2d2d8b1a18635129994580/w94632477.jpg

Back:

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http://xa3.xanga.com/396c12e217635129994446/w94632353.jpg