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Little Green Valley Now & Then—Monroe, Utah
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THE MONROE CITY
LIBRARY
Click photo for full image
. . . On 55 North Main Street we find this beautiful building which is now
the Monroe City Library. Its basement also serves as a meeting place for
several Clubs; The Lions’ Club, The Monroe Literose Club, the D.U.P Camp Alma,
Camp Monroe Mountain, sometimes the American Legion and American Legion
Auxiliary, although the last two generally meet in the Homer Olsen Senior
Citizen Center.
This building is pictured in Utah’s Historic Architecture, 1847-1940 by
Thomas Carter and Peter Goss. It was built in 1934, and the architecture is
Spanish colonial. Information by Muriel Musig Hawkins.
In the beginning this was the new modern Monroe City Hall. It was completed
in 1935 under the term of Mayor V. J. Mortensen. In the Millennial Year of 2000,
Monroe City Hall is located in the old Monroe State Bank building at 10 North
Main Street.
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HISTORY OF MONROE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
By Lou Ella Lee
This is a brief history of Monroe Elementary School from 1864 to the present
time. There are many histories of the Jr. High, Middle School, and High Schools,
but—like the woman on T.V. says: "That’s a whole other story".
Rock School.
Click photo for full image
" How good to have a little town
To call your very own
Where hearts find lasting happiness
And seeds of love are sown."
One Hundred Thirty One years ago in 1864 a little group of home seekers,
weary from travel, made their camp where a clear stream of water made it’s way
through the brush. They called the new home "Alma" after a Book of
Mormon prophet. There were 32 families in the original settlement of this little
town.
At first the people lived in dugouts. Their lives were always
in danger from the hostile Indians. In 1866 it became necessary for the people
in the little settlement to move to Richfield, Gunnison and so on where they
could be safer.
During the summer the women and children lived in these other
communities, and the men went back and forth to Alma to clear more brush from
the land, make ditches to get water onto the land and care for the small crops
they had planted. They were also very busy building a fort for protection from
the Indians.
In the fall of 1866 the men brought their families back to
Alma and lived in the fort which had been completed. A marker stands on first
West and second North showing location of the Fort.
The Indians continued to steal the settlers cattle. A few men
from surrounding settlements and one man from Alma were killed, so in 1867
Brigham Young gave orders to evacuate Sevier Valley and seek protection
elsewhere.
Four years later (1871) some of the men returned to their
lands and tried to make more permanent homes for their families.
The little settlement was now called Monroe after U.S.
President James Monroe. There was another settlement farther north called Alma
and the people wanted to avoid confusion of names, so it was re-named.
These brave people, always in fear of Indians, living in
dugouts and houses with dirt floors and dirt roofs, worked hard to build homes
and to build up a commonwealth.
With all their danger and poverty and hardships these
settlers of Alma knew how important it was for their children to learn to read
and write at an early age. They had been taught that "The Glory of God is
intelligence."
The first school was held here in the Fort, constructed for protection from the
Indians. They had built one huge room on the front to be used as a school room.
There were no seats or desks. The children held their slates on their laps which
was mighty uncomfortable for the smaller ones. When much writing had to be done
they took turns at a table in the corner of the room.
In describing the method of teaching in those days we could
truthfully chant that song "Readin’ and Ritin’ and ‘Rithmatic—
taught to the Tune of the Hickory Stick." The stick was readily available
and used. With our modern day rulings those teachers might be cited for Child
Abuse.
Later on, after land had been allotted to each family and
home built, school was held in the homes of the teachers (usually a two room
house).
Teachers were not hired by a School board as they are today. (there was no
School Board) There were no laws requiring a degree or any certain
qualifications. If someone felt qualified they could teach (usually in their own
home). Most however, were graduates of the eighth grade. The teachers did not
receive a certain wage nor were they paid by the city. A tuition was charged for
each child and the parents paid according to the number of children attending
school.
Books were few and were furnished by the parent. The Bible
and Book of Mormon were used as text books for reading. Later they acquired a
little Brown Reader. Notebooks and pencils were unheard of. Slate pencils were
used and when the slate was covered with writing it could be erased and used
again.
With very few books and a very short school term the pupils
made slow progress. Sometimes a child would attend for a few weeks and then drop
out so his brother or sister could go, because the parents could not afford
tuition for them all.
One of the early teachers who held school in her home was
Clarinda Washburn who had a big family of her own. Another of the early teachers
was Ellen Lisonbee who conducted school in her home on 1st North and
Main Street ( now owned by Dalles and Pauline Julander). Other early teachers
were Lewis Barney, Curtis Bolton and Mary Casto.
These education seeking parents finally built a one room log
schoolhouse. This was some distance north of our present Elementary School. This
room served as school, church and dance hall. Always they provided room for
dancing and theater.
Not many years passed before the parents decided that they
must have a larger, better school. So, construction was started on a new red
brick schoolhouse.
While the school was being built, school was held in the
upstairs of the tithing granary . This was a white rock building located where
our Stake Center now stands on 1st and Main.
The lower floor was used for storing grain, oats, corn,
potatoes, all collected from tithe payers who often paid in produce. Besides
school, the ground floor served as church, school and dance hall.
Teachers who taught here were Malinda Bean and Wm. Collings.
Another teacher was James Williams. Mr. Williams was a member
of the Mormon Battalion and in 1881 he and his family were passing through
Monroe and stopped at the home of A.W. Bohman (my grandfather). Mr. Bohman said
"We are in desperate need of school teachers. Why don’t you stay and
teach school". He did stay and made his home at the very East end of Center
Street. (Later the Ellis Asay home). He was the grandfather of Lindon Anderson.
I’m sure there are a lot of you who have relatives and know
people who have contributed to the educational system of those days.
The old Presbyterian Church wielded a great influence for good for many
years, because a daily school was held here as well as a weekly religious
service. It was constructed in 1882. There were from 24-38 pupils enrolled. Two
sisters named Rose and Mary Lowry taught school here. A feature of the daily
routine was an opening prayer by one of the students and then reading of
scriptures by others. It was later sold to Charles and Thelma Compton and made
into a beautiful home. They preserved the steeple and the bell of the church and
rang it every morning during the school year. The bell is inscribed
"Presented to the Presbyterian Church, Monroe, Utah by the women’s Home
Missionary society of the Presbyterian of Troy." "Let him that heareth
say-come".
Prior to statehood in 1896 many daily schools were operated
by various religious denominations.
The property on which the old Methodist Church stands (South
of Center on 1st West) was granted to Lydia McCarty of Monroe, Utah
January 23, 1880, and then granted to the Board of Education of the Methodist
Church.
After closing of the Methodist School activity, the property
changed hands two or three times and finally the Reynolds family obtained
possession of it in 1919. They lived in the building at the back and a Methodist
Pastor from Marysvale held Sunday Services in the Church itself.
Jennie Reynolds, a member of this family was a wonderful
school teacher for many years.
These religious denominations discontinued their school
activities after Utah became a state.
About 1883 the redbrick schoolhouse was ready for use. It was just one room,
but a big room. The door was in the south end and there were four large windows
on the east and 4 large windows on the west. One of the east windows was later
changed to a door. In the north end of the room was a long platform which was
used as a stage. All the grades 1-6 were held in this room. There were 62
children and one teacher.
In the early nineties (1890) a rock addition was built just
south of the brick room and the two were joined together with a hallway and a
door opening into the new part.
When school started in 1902 there was a complete change. Text
books were free! The parents had always paid for the little Brown Readers, and
they were handed down from brother and sister all through the family year after
year.
Now these were green books with titles "Stepping Stones
to Literature." New language books, history, and geography books—all
free!
The use of slates was discontinued. The slate pencils made a
squeaking , irritating noise and the slates made a loud clattering sound. Some
of the children used a piece of damp cloth or sponge to do the erasing but
others spit on the slate and wiped it with their fist or shirt sleeve.
Read more in the book.
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SIXTH GRADE CLASS OF 1927
Teacher Miss Clegg (Juanita)
Most of the boys wore overalls and had straight hair. All of the girls wore
dresses and had straight hair (excepting pretty Miss Clegg who had curly hair)
Slacks for girls were unheard of, and so were permanent waves, at least here in
Monroe.
Click photo for full image
There were thirty four students in this class, (count them),
and no one thought of complaining then! Why is there so much ‘hoop de doo’
about big classes now?
We WALKED everywhere. You didn’t see many overweight
children then.
If we got caught chewing gum in school, we had to wear the
gum on the end of our nose for the rest of that class, and if we talked back to
the teacher, a ruler was cracked over the knuckles. Drugs were unheard of,
smoking or drinking was a cardinal sin. Even so, most of us enjoyed school and
our teachers, and we became good citizens.
We didn’t have school lunches at that time, but had to
either carry a brown sack lunch or go home for our lunch. The school bell would
ring for time to begin school in the morning, for recess, and when lunch time
was over.
We respected our teachers and so did our parents. If we got
into trouble at school, we really got scolded when we arrived home. Good or bad,
that’s the way it was then. The ones of us still living from this class are in
our eighties, and doing fine for our age.
We loved America, we loved the flag and what it stood for,
and would be careful that none of the flag ever touched the floor or the ground.
Front row from left—John Winget, Bud Hannon, Harold
Sydall, Bryon
Olsen, Dean Larsen, (Dean Larsen went down with the ship Arizona at Pearl Harbor
in World War Two), Fred Dykes, V.R. Magleby, and Garn Johnson.
Second row—Lynn Smith, Cleone Parsons, Shirley Morrison, Ruby
Conder,
Vera Barney, Beatrice Washburn, Winona Lundgreen, Dorothy Simonsen, and teacher,
Miss Clegg
Third row—Ray Robinson, Lucille Sorenson, Ray Williams, Faye Brown,
Steiner Johnson, Mildred Peterson, Von Julander, Melba Yergensen, Kenneth Yergensen, Vera Winget, Blake
Cloward, and Ilean Yergensen.
Fourth row—Georgia Barney, Erma
Winget, Florence Painter, Jenny Beck,
Colba Castle, and Elva Johnson.
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