Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1899 — FIRST HIGH SCHOOL IN WEST. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FIRST HIGH SCHOOL IN WEST.

It Wa« Opened at Kenoaha, Win., in the fear 1848. It is to Michael Frank more than to anyone else that the free schools In Wisconsin owe their origin, and he has been called the father of the free school. In 1846 he secured the passage of a bill in the Territorial Legislature providing for free schools In the village of Southport. This law, however, was not to until it was approved by the voters of the village. It was rejected at the" first election, and the first meeting called to consider the question broke up in a row. Colonel Frank did not despair. He talked and lectured o*

the subject and with success, for at the next election the bill was approved by the voters. ' Fifty years ago the old high school arose as a memorial to the indefatigable Industry of men whose names are part of Kenosha’s early .history. Charles Durkee, Harvey Durkee, Michael Frank, John B. Jilsum, Samuel Hale, H. B. Hinsdale, F. W. Lyman, Sereno Fiske, J. V. Quarles and Reuben Deming were men who lived and labored in

Kenosha and who would have done honor to whatever stations they were called, for they were public-spirited citizens and foresaw the educational advantages in the system of free schools to which they had pledged themselves. The old high school was torn down in 1890 to make way for the new building that now adorns the old site.

KENOSHA’S OLD HIGH SCHOOL.