| Additional Information: | The building is the former Hillside School, constructed ca. 1904. When completed, it was a one-story, Front Gable building finished with narrow clapboards. A large, round-arched opening holding a group of three windows was centered on the front façade. A gender-segregated entrance surmounted by a round-arched transom appeared on either side of the grouped windows. The school was accented with simple corner and cornice boards, and shingling enriched the gable end. In the early 1960s, the school was converted into a private residence. The building retains the shingling in the gable end and is clad with clapboards (probably not original). As part of the conversion to residential use, the windows and doors were removed and/or enclosed, new openings created, and the entrance moved to the west façade. This changes the vernacular form of the building to a Side Gable. It has an asphalt shingle roof. A single car garage has been constructed on the east side and a breezeway connects it to the building. The interior has also been altered such that it no longer conveys its association as a one-room school. These alterations compromise the integrity of the former Hillside School.
The Hillside School was constructed in 1904 as a one room schoolhouse serving the children in the surrounding township. The school ceased operations in 1954 and was abandoned. In the early 1960’s the school was purchased by the Nelson family and converted into a residence. A newspaper article from the time highlighting the remodel, specifically the installation of electricity for light and heat, details the changes the new owners made. The family patriarch, Mr. Nelson, who had attended the school when he was younger, described when he purchased the school it looked the same as when he attended. He went on to detail how he completely reconfigured the “abandoned but structurally sound building” by adding a basement, lowering the ceiling 3ft and dividing the large main room into 5 rooms. The school is owned by the grandson of Mr. Nelson. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Atlas and Farm Director with complete Survey in Township Plats of Dunn County, Wisconsin. St. Paul, MN: Webb Publishing Co., 1915.
Barum Lutheran Church. Barum Lutheran Church: 1859-1959, July 31, August 1 and 2. Elk Mound, Wi: Barum: Lutheran Church, 1959.
Barum Lutheran Church. Barum Lutheran Church: Elk Mound, WI 125th Anniversary. Elk Mound, WI: Barum Lutheran Church, 1984.
Curtiss-Wedge, F., and Geo O. Jones and others. History of Dunn County Wisconsin. Minneapolis-Winona: H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co., 1925.
Fapso, Richard J. Norwegians in Wisconsin. Madison, WI: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 2001.
Foote, C.M., and W.S. Brown. Plat Book of Dunn County. Minneapolis, MN: C.M.Foote & Co., 1888.
French, Bella, ed. The American Sketch Book: Menomonie and Dunn County, Wisconsin. La Crosse, Wi: Sketch Book Company Publishers, 1875.
Nelson, Thomas O. Atlas of Dunn County, Wisconsin. Fergus Falls, Minnesota: Thomas O. Nelson Co., 1959.
United States Department of Agriculture. Dunn County [air photo]. 1:20,000. Photo BRR-1-23. Wisconsin. August 2, 1938, accessed June 2020, https://maps.sco.wisc.edu/WHAIFinder/#15/44.9302/-91.6509.
Wyatt, Barbara and State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin: A Manual for Historic Properties; Vol.1. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986.
Wyatt, Barbara and State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin: A Manual for Historic Properties; Vol.3. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986. |
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