1914 - Handsome New Rudisill School Building on Spy Run Avenue Now Goes Into Service The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Saturday, January 31, 1914, Page 12.
Handsome New Rudisill School Building on Spy Run Avenue Now Goes Into Service
[ Photos ] The Teachers--Rear row, left to right, Miss Veta Affleck, J. P. Bonnell, principal: Miss Irene M. Noll. In Front--Mrs. Clara F. Morrison, Miss Sarah M. Foster.
Smallest Pupil-- Paul Starke, Helen Francisco.
Custodian--Mrs. Mary Batchelder.
Another step in the marked advancement in Fort Wayne's excellent public school system will have been taken on Monday morning of next week when the pupils of the Spy Run district are transferred to the new Rudisill buildIng which today received enough of the finishing touches to permit of its use.
With the examinations that closed the first term on their hands. Prof. J. P. Bonnell and his corps of teachers, consisting of Miss Veta Afflick. Miss Irene M. Knoll, Mrs. Clara S. Morrison and Miss Sarah M. Foster, have had a busy time for the move but hard work preparing incident to the transfer is welcomed because in the new structure is embodied all that can be asked for the comfort, health and convenience of the men, women and children interested in the change.
There will be little confusion as the rooms have all been fitted up and there is nothing to do but assign the scholars to their places and start them in just where they left off in the old Rudisill building.
Plenty of Room for Everybody.
There will be plenty of room for everybody when the change has been completed and from cramped quarters, absence of a lighting system and the many conveniences that have been suffered for the last few years in a school house that was considered ample in its time but that has grown too small with the rapid increase in the number of pupils there will be a most welcome and a most needed change.
For three or four days of this week there was present the rush and confusion attendant upon important changes of this character. Painters and carpenters, electric light men, decorators janitors and heating experts were hustled long by the contractors and hundreds of little things that could not have been attended to until the last minute were left to finished up so that nothing would be left to distract the pupils or confuse the teachers when they move in.
Has Three Big Exits.
In addition to being as near fire-proof as modern methods can make it the new building has three big exits and can easily be emptied of its pupils within a very few minutes in case their lives should become endangered by fire.
The building faces Spy Run avenue and is located a short distance north of Lawton park. The main entrance is on this side and big doors with a short, broad stairway provide ample means of egress and ingress under ordinary conditions.
The other exits are at the back of the building and lead to the yard and both are easily reached from any part. The stairways are of concrete, as are all of the floors and none is steep.
Probably no school building in the city has a basement better fitted for the uses to which it will be put. On account of the drainage facilities it was not possible for the contractors to go very deep into the earth for the foundation and an result the windows are only a few feet from the ground floor, which provides for excellent lighting and ventialation.
Could be Used for Class Rooms.
Although there is no immediate necessity for it the basement could be pressed into service for class rooms if the attendance should reach a point beyond the capacity of the regular rooms. For the time it will be used for storage and for recreation when the weather is inclement enough to preclude the children from leaving the building.
The heating system, of the late fan type, in located there as is lavatory for the 118e of the boys. In keeping with the other parts of the school house, this is very commodious.
There is, among other conveniences, a room on the first floor set apart for the use of the teachers. There they can leave their wraps and other belongings and those who remain in the building during the noon hour will have a comfortable place to spend the time.
Has a Big Auditorium.
In keeping with the movement that brought about parent-teacher clubs to enable teachers to become acquainted with the fathers and mothers of the scholars, which offers a medium for ascertaining the home environment of their charges, a big auditorium has been built and it will serve also the purpose of gynasium.
School entertainments can be held as it is fitted with a stage and plenty of seating capacity for the parents who want to attend these functions. Community meetings for the people living in the district to discuss civic governmental problems can be held in this auditorium, as there have been rapid strides in the last few years toward making the school building the meeting place of the people who want to talk over public affairs of general interest.
Although the lower floor is big enough for seating as many people as might be expected to attend any ordinary entertainment or public meeting, there a gallery provided for overflows should they occur, and in addition to its modern equipment, this room in splendidly lighted and ventilated.
Add Higher Grades.
There are ten rooms in the bullding that can be used for classes, but for the present only eight will be put into service. On the first floor the kindergarten room has been established and another class will be organized from the children in the school district.
When this is added it will make the eleventh in the city as all buildings, where it is possible to provide for the instruction and entertainment of children not quite ready to enter upon their regular school duties, have kindergarten classes, ranging in membership from twenty-five to forty pupils.
It is proposed in the course of time to add grades up to the seventh, but for the new term this will not be undertaken, but next fall it will be necessary to advance some of the scholars beyond the sixth, the highest now taught and provision will probably be made for taking care of them.
Prof. Bonnell will enjoy the sensation of having an office all to himself. In the center of the building on the second floor provision has been made for a private room for the principal and this he will welcome.
At the old building there was no office for him and he was compelled to use a desk in one of the class rooms. For the present two of the rooms will be devoted to recitations as they are not needed for other purposes now.
Room for Playgrounds.
Just at this time the outlook from the rear windows of the building is not particularly inviting. The school yard presents an unevened surface of sticky clay and the scholars will have to play indoors until the rain and sun do the work of drying.
Eventually a playground will be established and equipped as there is plenty of space for it and until equipment is bought and placed for the amusement of the children the school garden idea is worthy consideration, as there is not a blade of grass on the whole lot and cultivation would probably improve the ground.
Near Center of District.
In the first place the new school building is located nearer the center of the district from which it will draw its pupils and in the second place it is a distinct ornament to Spy Run avenue. The old building is located on Elizabeth street which unpaved and too near the power plant of the Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana Traction company. The noise and dust were both bad elements to contend with and the elimination of both will be thoroughly enjoyed by the school.
One more teacher will be added to the corps on Monday, but just who this will be had not been given out today. In addition one of the kindergarten teachers will have to take charge of the class there and the time arranged so that whoever has the task can divide her work with one of the other buildings.
Bought Grounds Several Years Ago.
Several years ago the members of the school board recognized in the rapid growth of the Spy Run section that there would soon be a demand for a bigger and better school building.
Options were quietly obtained through real estate dealers upon the lots that have been built on and they were purchased and held until some such time as the school fund would allow of the construction a new building.
This forethought saved a lot of money as there has been rapid advance in the price of real property in this location, especially since Spy Run avenue was paved. There were some houses on the property that netted a little income between the time of the purchase and the time that building operations were begun.
The contract for the building was let to Henry Hilgemann, now a member of the board of public works, and work was started in the fall of 1912. Dark brown brick was used in the structure with stone facing and it is highly ornamental in design. Mahurin & Mahurin drew the plans and superintended the construction of the work. The cost completed will be about $75,000, which does not include the $15,000 paid for the grounds.
Mrs. Batcheldor Delighted.
Nobody connected with the move is more delighted than Mrs. Mary Batcheldor, the custodian of the new school, who was transferred along with the other teachers.
Directing a corps of cleaners for the last two or three days, she has made the dirt left by the builders fairly fly, and when the school is formally opened everything under her care will be found in first class order. Her duties will be doubled under the new roof, but she does not mind every lick of work she puts in will show for itself and this is pleasing to any energetic cleaner of the same kind as. Mrs. Batchelder.
Mud, mud and more mud was her portion in the cold building. Brooms, scrapers and mats provided there failed to remove the mud from the shoes of the pupils, no matter how arduously they applied themselves to the task and the corridors and school rooms never reflected the constant effort of trying to keep them presentable.
Place for Her Outfit.
With plenty of water on every floor, a place for all her to equipment and new floors and windows to work on she expects to keep the place shining. She has been hard at it getting ready.
The old Rudisill building has been abandoned as far as school purposes are concerned. It never had an electric wire in it and was generally dark and uninviting. Members of the school boards of the last few years have recognized that any expense in fitting it up would be money thrown away and it was maintained as cheaply as possible until the time arrived for giving it up.
The property on which it in located is valuable strip and will likely pass into possession of the Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana Traction company, which owns the ground on two sides of it.
The building was erected in 1890 by the trustee of Washington township for a high school building and used for some time, but the attendance was hardly sufficient to justify the expense of maintaining and eight years ago it became part of the school system of Fort Wayne and had since been controlled by the school boards.
It is a substantial school house and might easily be converted to some other use if the traction company eventually buys it. At the time it was built everybody in Washington township looked upon it with pride and expected that it would survive, but the march of progress soon overtook and overcame it from an institution of learning it will more than likely pass into sordid commercial life.
