SCHOOLS OF YESTERYEAR
McMillan School
Paris No. 2, Part 4
by Janis Stein

Join in the continuation to learn about the improvements made at McMillan School during the 1920s, along with other expenditures.

Paris No. 2, also known as McMillan School was located in Section 21, Paris Township, Huron County. Paris No. 2 stood on the north side of Atwater Road, 10 rods east of MacDonald Road.

According to the Annual Statistical Report dated in 1925, Mr. Theo W. Gracy taught nine months of school to 61 students for a wage of $130 per month, totaling $1,170 for the year. The 61 students comprised 30 boys and 31 girls. According to the census of the same year, 123 children (65 boys and 58 girls) five years of age and less than 20 lived within the district boundaries of Paris No. 2. The library contained 65 volumes, 11 of which were added during the school year. The Statistical Report also documented that the district established a library in 1900 by a vote at a district meeting. According to the form, this information was essential for apportionment of library money. The school property was valued at $1,500, however, McMillan School had not reached the coveted “Standard School” classification.

Sessions for the 1924-1925 school year began on September 8, 1924, and ended on May 20, 1925. During that time period Mr. Gracy taught the following: Agriculture, Arithmetic, Geography, Grammar, History, Drawing, Penmanship, Physiology, Reading and Spelling.

The Financial Report for the year ending July 13, 1925, revealed money on hand in the primary fund on July 14, 1924, totaled $884.53, while the general fund totaled $149.53 and the library fund reached $87.63. Money received from the primary school interest fund totaled $1,736, and $35.09 was received from the library fund. District taxes received for the general fund totaled $75. Total receipts, including money on hand on July 14, 1924, totaled $2,967.78.

On the other side of the column, expenditures included Mr. Gracy’s wages for the year at $1,170, money paid for library books totaling $78.72, and the district spent an additional $145.13 for general purposes. Paris No. 2 would enter the following year with $1,573.93 on hand.

School board minutes dated July 12, 1926, revealed plans to improve the school’s roof and purchase a new door. Paul Piontkoski agreed to shingle the roof for $24.25. “The shingles will be laid 4 ½ inches to the weather and to put old shingles in the woodshed to be used for kindling. John D. Peruski and Frank Gwizdall to put door jim and to hinge the new door and must take the lock from the old door and put it in new.” Peruski and Gwizdall earned $4.50 for their work on the doors.

At the beginning of the fall term in 1926, 62 McMillan students met a new teacher, Lewis Kolar. Mr. Kolar taught seven and one-half months of school, earning $130 per month. In February 1927, the board invested in additional maps and a globe, totaling $50.23, and Peter Osontoski earned $5 for “washing and patching plaster.”

According to the 1938 history on file at the Huron Intermediate School District, Mr. Kolar “resigned to accept a more lucrative position in Chicago so his unexpired term was finished by Miss LaVerne Stauffer” (surname spelled as Sheffer on Annual Statistical Report).

The July 1927 school board minutes showed more improvements at McMillan. For a price of $40, Paul Piontkoski would “build a new lavatory 2 feet longer and 6 inches wider than the old lavatory stand. To be built in same place on cement wall – cement mix 4 to 1: 4 shovels of gravel to 1 shovel of cement.”

According to the Annual Statistical Report, Thomas O’Shea signed on as teacher in the fall of 1927, and would remain at McMillan until 1938. Enrollment declined to 48 students, and Mr. O’Shea taught nine months of school for $165 per month. On October 24 of the same year, Philip Gatza earned $17.50 for his work repairing the coal shed as well as the brick on a corner of the school.

Illness swept through the Paris No. 2 school district over the next few years. In his teacher’s notes, Thomas O’Shea documented four of the Danielski children missed five weeks of school. They were home with the mumps during February 1928 and didn’t return until the second week of March. Likewise, during January and February of 1929, many students were “out with diphtheria.” Mr. O’Shea also made note that at the end of 1929, eight students left to attend St. Mary’s in Parisville.

Thomas O’Shea perhaps noted the absence of wall décor and expressed this to the board. The treasurer documented McMillan School paid the Colonial Art Company $20.75 on March 28, 1928, for wall pictures. Improvements continued outside the school as well. On July 24, 1929, the school paid John Peruski $1.50 for “one load of gravel.”

Be sure to look for this column next month as the history of Paris No. 2 continues.