Allamakee Co. IAGenWeb - School Records

Waterville School notes - 1872
T.F. Healey, county superintendent of schools

Friday, March 8
Visited the Waterville School, in company with Messrs. Dahl and Iverson of the district above mentioned, to whom I return my sincere thanks for the interest which they took in my visits.

Mr. H.* Miller had charge of the large array of empty benches we found in this school. From a roll of 38 we found 3 present. Mr. Miller is a well educated young man himself, but the three scholars present are grossly defective. They could not read in a second reader correctly; indeed to tell the truth they could not articulate distinctly, and yet were endeavoring to read in a fifth reader.

Mr. M. says nothing could induce him to continue teaching after this term, and nearly all of the male teachers I spoke to talked in a like striated.

Source: The Mirror and Chronicle, Thursday, March 14, 1882, Lansing Iowa, Page 3
~transcribed by Cindy (Maust) Smith
* The newspaper print was difficult to read the initial

Waterville school notes
October 22, 1930

The following pupils received a grade of 100 during the first six weeks: Helen McGeough, Anna Jacobson, Arlene Gjefle, Alta Gilbertson, and Florence Duffy.

In the spelling contest the past week the third grade gained first place. We helped our grade win: Lloyd Johnson, Earl Iverson, Helen Larson, Hazel Halvorson, Everett Ellefson, *na Jacobson, Arthur Hillesheim, Betty Sorenson and Bernice Jo**. Grade seven and three are now tied for first place, each having earned two points.

Bernice Grangaard and Ruth Swain are the only beginners who have had the work on their teeth completed.

The Freshmen who received high marks in the intelligence tests are: Winston Laughlin, Laurayne Ellefson and Orval Gunderson.

The following grade pupils were neither absent nor tardy during the first six weeks of school: Ordell Iverson, Mary McCormick, Wilmur Monserud, Warren Pederson, Emmet Slattery, Norma Sorenson, Ruth Swain, Clarice Tysland, Earl Erickson, Dorothy Swain, Lillian Gjefle, John Johnson, Mae Lorentzon, Helen McGeough, Clarice Molitor, Alfred Puls, Dorothy Gronna, LeRoy Young, Elva Sorenson, Marjorie Peters, Theodore Spinner, Everett Ellefson, Lloyd Johnson, Hazel Young, Arlene Grangaard, Mervin Hillisheim, Amos Peterson, Erna Svebakken, Arlene Gjefle, Norma Lieran, Ernest Bjerke, Donald Johnson, Gordon Hillisheim, Verdell Greeny, Esther Fredendahl, Clara Ella Gronna, Norma Gronna, Floyd Kolsrud, Lila , Raymond McGeough, Francis Molitor, Dorothy Monserud, Anita Peters, Robert Puls, Paschal Slattery, Roy Spinner, Helen Gilbertson, Raymond Glynn, Alton Hanson, Irene Hermanson, Lloyd Kolsrud, Vernon Larson, Gertrude McGeough, Mary Molitor, Norman Monserud, Jean Puls, Hubert Cooper, Florence Duffy, Vera Fredendahl, Ruth Hanson, Vivian Hermanson, Joyce Wareberg, Cletus Kelly, Joseph McGeough, Jean Moellerman, Lester Steele and Ruth Spinner.

~Allamakee Journal & Lansing Mirror, October 22, 1930
~transcribed by Ann Krumme

Buses In Dirt Road Days
by Madonna Storla

After horse-drawn buses became obsolete in the Waterville School district, mechanical buses were put into operation. Keeping them ready to roll so pupils could be in their classrooms on time posed a bit of a problem, especially since hard surface roads had not made their appearance yet.

It was a big task to keep them operational, so mechanics were hired to do this task, including Carl Busness, Helmer Kolsrud, Gordon Gunderson, Ford Thias, Alfred Uglum and Norman Monserud.

Norman Monserud, now retired from his mechanics job and partially retired from farming, said he started work by 6:30 a.m. to be sure all the buses would start, it was "jumped" and made ready to roll. Brakes were checked, oil changed and trucks greased. After each trip, the buses were checked.

At the rear of the original Waterville school, a barn had been built to house horses for the non-mechanical buses. The building was later enlarged to accommodate buses while they were being serviced.

Monserud drove a school bus for 32 years, part of which time, he and his father, the late Walter Monserud, had shared driving chores. He was also farming with his father. He whimsically noted, "the pay for being a bus driver wasn't that great." He was a bus mechanic from 1969 to 1983, when he retired.

Trucks used for bus service included Internationals, Dodges and Fords. Preventive maintenance was the main issue. The trucks took a lot of abuse in those days of bad driving conditions when roads would be "bottomless" in the spring of the year.

Large holes in the mud would present a problem. Often willow branches would be spread across the holes to enable the buses to get through. Sometimes the creek would overflow causing more problems, but the drivers always did their best to get the pupils to school on time.

After the Waterville School was changed to the category of "Elementary School," all of his orders came from the Waukon office, since the upper grades and high school people were transported there. He said this meant no additional problems, since relations were good.

Monserud has seen many changes in Waterville, and like everyone who has spent their entire life in the area, it has become a sad experience to see a small town disintegrate. Many things contributed to the decline, one perhaps being the loss of the high school. One by one the businesses left the main street and homes were left empty, but this is the case in many communities.

They question of the whereabouts of the original horse-drawn buses has arisen often, but Monserud related that they had been put up for sale. Today they would be valuable antiques.

Still farming a little, Monserud and his wife, the former Ethel Shefelbine from the Dorchester area, reside in Waterville. He claims to be retired and as he said, "I feed some cattle and help my brother, Wilmer, on the farm.

~Postville Herald, Wednesday, April 30, 1986, pg 13
~transcribed by Cindy (Maust) Smith