As the schools of Minnesota prepare to close for a while . . . we look backward to simpler (if not always happier) times:
Contributor: Jay Kuehn of Oakdale
Date of picture: May 1941
Date of contribution: Unknown
Caption: “This picture was taken in May 1941. Mrs. Hector, the 3rd and 4th grade teacher, had us put on the play ‘Robin Hood’ in the woods behind Beaver Lake School. Ten of the classmates are deceased, that I know of. I have lost track of 13 of them; some of the 11 others still get together once each summer.”
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Contributor: Jean Didion of West St. Paul
Dates of pictures: 1932 and 1933
Date of contribution: 2011
Caption: “These are for the Bulletin Board.”
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Contributor: Raymond G. Hanson
Date of picture: 1939
Date of contribution: May 24, 2011
Caption: “The enclosed photo is respectfully submitted for publication in your newspaper.
“The school in later years was known as the Little Canada Elementary School on Little Canada Road. The school was built in 1934 and is still there today. The newer Little Canada Elementary School is now located on Eli Road, just to the north of the old school.
“I graduated in the class of 1944. There were only 10 of us in the eighth-grade class — Mrs. Lillian Linden, teacher.
“Thank you in advance!
“P.S. I am in the second row, bottom right.”
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Contributor: Polly Culver Reed of Thief River Falls
Dates of pictures: 1936-1940
Date of contribution: May 17, 2010
Caption: “Enclosed is a picture of students enrolled in the kindergarten class of Edgcumbe Elementary School in St. Paul in 1935-36. As you can see, this school is a simple wood structure called a ‘portable’; it could be moved to any site where a school was needed until a new building could be constructed. The 1939 picture shows these same students in the one-room interior of the building — which resembles a rural school, complete with stove, from a generation ago in Northern Minnesota. The school was on Syndicate Avenue just south of Highland Parkway.
“I apologize for the missing names, but it’s been a l-o-n-g time!
“Just to tell you briefly who I am: My grandparents came to St. Paul from Michigan in 1905 with their children. Their first meat market was on Canada Street in Lowertown. The family moved to 1294 Randolph in 1917 and purchased the building on the corner of Randolph and Griggs, 1219 Randolph, to establish S.J. Culver and Co. Grocery and Meats. My parents were Pauline and Milton Culver, and we lived at 1224 Juno Avenue, one block from our store. I graduated from Monroe High School in 1948.
“Becoming an elementary teacher was my college goal. I was excited to find my student teaching assignment was in the new Edgcumbe School, built about 1940 (a brick building facing Hamline Avenue). The best part was that my supervising teacher was the very woman who had been my kindergarten teacher in that little ‘portable’ school building in 1935, Miss Lois Caines.
“I look forward to checking my computer daily to see what you will do with what I have sent. Thank you for whatever you do.”
Bulletin Board 