Timeline of history for Boyceville High School’s Centennial Year
The following timeline of the Boyceville High School is tidbits found through books, documents and personal testimony.
1647: Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law establishing a school system from which one-room schools emerged.
1785 and 1787: Northwest Ordinances, which included what was later to become Wisconsin and several other midwestern states included a provision for establishing local schools as states were formed.
1791: First school in Green Bay. Taught by Jacques Porlier who was paid by the father of the children who attended.
1817: Schools were common in the Green Bay and Prairie du Chien area. Supported by religious organizations.
1818-1836: Wisconsin became a part of Michigan Territory and subject to its school laws. Michigan law said that if there was insufficient tax money for schools, parents of students could be assessed to make up the difference. This was called a rate-bill tax.
1836-1848: Wisconsin is a separate territory.
1840: Wisconsin territorial law laid out a plan for townships to organize schools, including examining and certifying teachers.
1848: Wisconsin became a state and in its constitution was a provision for free education for everyone between the ages of four and twenty. Wisconsin became a leader for free public education. Constitution also provided for the election of a state superintendent of schools.
1866: J.E.R Best was stated as being in town and as a school teacher, previous lady who taught was unable to control the unruly class.
Aside from Best, teachers listed were Miss Annie Stickney who married William Hayes and is thought to be the first teacher. Other earlier teachers were Mrs. Levisa Blakeley, Eliza, Kate and Mary Teare.
1868-1870: Around this time it was believe that the first school house was built. It was a log structure with a “shanty” roof located along the banks of Tiffany Creek.
1874: At a meeting of the members of the board of the Town of Tiffany on Oct. 24, 1874, land was set aside for school district number one.
Some time in this era there was a one-room frame house built in replace of the log structure, this building was later sold to the Methodist Church.
1879: First compulsory attendance law passed. Said that parents of children ages seven to fifteen must attend a public or private school for at least 12 weeks of the year. Law poorly enforced.
1887: The Town of Glenwood board and the Town of Tiffany board met to form a joint school district. The sections set aside formed joint district number seven. Those signing for Glenwood were H.J Baldwin, J.P Robinson and William Johnston Jr. For Tiffany were Amos Goff, William Steen and E.M Toll (?)
1888: A second frame school house was erected, this one was a two-room building that was big enough to accommodate the growing number of pupil. This building still remains on Race Street near Highway 170 in Boyceville.
1913: The community decides that an eighth grade education is not enough, so plans begin for a two-story school building that provides grade levels 1-12.
1914: A new brick school house was constructed with additional rooms added to it.
1914: Legal voters of the district met and passed a resolution to establish, organize and maintain a district free high school. The vote was unanimous (later changes in 50s).
1915: Certificate of establishment issued by the state superintendent for a high school district at Boyceville HS- Joint School District number 1- Town of Tiffany and Hay River.
1916: An addition of two rooms was made to the brick building, which gave the district a six-room school.
1917: First high school commencement was planned and canceled, 8th grade exercises held instead and 11 people received diplomas- Esther Ajer, Beatrice Appleby, Arlene Barnstable, James Chase, Capitola Hurd, Katherine Lewis, Mildred Bonesville, Gertrude Terrill, Lenora Johnson, Hazel Johnson, Kathryn West.
1917: Ernest Crocker, 18 years old, was Boyceville High School’s first graduate, and died on November 30, 1917.
1918: High School marching band is mentioned to have played down the street during a protest.
1922: On January 23 the brick school house building burned around 11:00 at night. The $20,000 building was completely destroyed. Students attended classes in the Opera House- Opera House burned in 1929 worth $16,000. The Class of 1922 had 2 members- Rudolph F.C. Gebhardt and Magnild V. Everson.
1922: The Village of Boyceville became incorporated and it was on March 25 that the first caucus was held. Prior to this Boyceville was within the Town of Tiffany.
1924: New seven room brick building is erected. Possibility of more rooms than seven rooms.
The school was built back up on its present location. It housed eight grades and provided a four-year high school course, the grades taking up four rooms (two in 1 room) and the high school three, namely the assembly, English and commercial rooms.
There was also a half basement under the assembly room, which was used for gymnasium purposes.
1926: Glee Club was organized.
1928: GAA (Girls Athletic Association) was formed. This remained until sometime around the 1970s when Interscholastic sports took over.
1930: Staff listed was Principal and Math teacher S.J Paynter, Commercial Teacher Mrs. C.W Dubisar, History, Social Science and Girl’s Athletics teacher Ruth Carpenter, English and Library- Mary Jones, Science and Athletics- Edward Bornemann, Band Instructor- Charles Harris.
1930/31: Student Council was formed, but abandoned due to lack of success.
1932 and 1933: Conference Champs for Boys Basketball.
1933: First duty of sophomores were to initiate the freshman class. Library Club was also started.
1935: May 26, Baccalaureate Sunday was held at German Lutheran Church. May 29, Commencement was at the Community Hall.
Students go without rings that year because the school board forbids any salesman, but the principal disobeys and lets them in.
1935/36: The only social event of that school year was the Jr/Sr banquet to honor the 1935 graduates. There was also a class play called “The Road Back”.
1936 and 1937: Conference Champs for Football.
1938: 8 man and 11 man football was played.
1939: Conference Champs for Boys Basketball.
1939: An addition to the school was made and a gym was built. That gym is now the room where wrestling practice is held.
1939: Boys won conference softball championship. Measles epidemic caused no pictures of grades 1-4.
1941: Dunn-St. Croix Conference Champions in Kittenball.
Feb 1, a point system for GAA is established- 125 points to earn scholastic letter, points based off play, attendance, practice, etc.
1942: Conference Champs for Boys Basketball.
1944/45: Kittenball team won Eastern Division Championship but lost to Baldwin in playoffs 8-4.
1945: Only sports in the yearbook were Kittenball and Basketball. Basketball team wins Dunn-St. Croix by beating Baldwin 25-17.
1947: Boyceville wins first place trophy in Forensics and then again in 1948.
1947: Wisconsin legislature directed each county board in the state to form a committee and develop a plan for the consolidation of the county’s school districts.
1947: Conference Champs in Baseball
1948: Football returns after being gone since 1942 and Baseball was Conference Champs
1950s: State was stressing consolidation of the small one-room school with the larger schools. An effort was made to get all districts into a high school district.
Over 20 schools in the Boyceville area closed their doors and became a part of Joint District #1 Boyceville Public Schools.
1951: The first FFA picture was taken and the Bulldog, which was the name for the yearbook was being printed by the Glenwood City Tribune.
1951 and 1952: Conference Champs for Football.
1951: Conference Champs for Boys Basketball and Baseball.
1952: The Bulldog was dedicated to Jim Van Dien. The half mile relay team of Harold Olson, Jean William, Jerry Riek and Jerry Evan won the state championship.
1952: Conference Champs for Baseball.
1953: Conference Champs for Boys Basketball.
1954: An addition to the school was done, which provided four elementary classrooms, a school lunch room and an agriculture shop and classroom.
1954/55: Volleyball qualified for the state tournament and finished fourth. This was a mens sport and there were only two teams (with Downing) in the division. It was not an official sport and only played during the noon hour.
1955: Lyle H. Mackie became the District’s first superintendent as that job and the role as principal were officially separated.
Also at that time, Lois Oakland becomes the District’s first secretary.
1955: Conference Champs for Boys Basketball.
1956: The first letter jackets were purchased.
1957: Conference Champs for Boys Basketball.
1958: December 27, 1958, by a vote of 158 to 36, the voters of district number 1 turned down an offer to merge schools with Glenwood City.
1957/58: A bond referendum and building needs booklet was created with reasons listed as to why an expansion was needed and where the area’s priorities were.
At this time there are 250 students enrolled in the high school. It was predicted that enrollment would increase to around 301 by 1961.
On January 7, 1958 a vote for the referendum is held at the high school.
1959: With the growth in students, a new school designed to accommodate grades 1-8 was dedicated in Connorsville in May of 1959. About the same time an extensive remodeling project took place in Wheeler.
1960s: after many public meetings, the project of consolidating was completed except for a few changes in land parcels.
1960: Regional Champs for Baseball, Conference Champs for Boys Track.
1961: Construction was complete on the “new” gymnasium, which is where the class of 1962 received their diplomas for the first class to graduate in the gym. This is currently the gym near the middle school and district office entrance.
1961: Conference Champs for Boys Track.
Around this time Ed Evenson gave land to the district, which was used to construct the sporting complexes that are currently located behind the school. Football games prior to 1960 were played on what is now known as Pafko Park.
1961: Conference Champs for Boys Basketball and Regional Champs for Baseball.
1962: Nearly all of Wisconsin’s one-room schools were closed with the small districts consolidating into larger ones.
1962: Conference Champs for Football and Regional Champs for Baseball.
1963: Conference Champs for Boys Basketball and Baseball.
1964: F.H.A has its first picture taken.
1967: Conference Champs for Baseball.
1969: W.J. Amundson took over as Superintendent following the leave of Mackie. The school at this time owed $75,000. By retirement in 1987, the school had a fund balance of $750,000 and was making roughly $50,000 a year in interest under his supervision.
1970s: Third and fourth graders were moved to Wheeler and fifth and sixth graders were sent to Connorsville.
1971: Conference Champs for Wrestling.
1972: The first color pictures were in the yearbook- Joesph Pieters was the advisor at the time.
1974/75: German language course was replaced by Spanish in the curriculum.
1975: Conference Champs for Girls Track.
1976: Conference Champs for Wrestling.
1979: Regional Champs for Girls Track.
1980: A new elementary school library and kindergarten room were added. The high school agriculture and business rooms were expanded and a new industrial arts room was built.
1980 and 1981: Sectional Champs for Boys Track.
1984: Regional Champs for Volleyball, Conference Champs for Girls Basketball, Regional Champs for Baseball.
1985/86: Track is built around the existing football field. A concession stand is built near the bathrooms that were already in place. (This booster club stand has since been replaced).
1986: Conference Champs for Baseball
1989: Sectional Champs for Boys Track and Regional for Girls.
1989/90: $4.8 million dollar remodel was completed, which brought further additions to the current school building as well as an entirely new elementary school “Tiffany Creek Elementary”.
This project was completed on a bond referendum with TCE costing roughly $3.2 million and the remodel around $1.6 million.
Opening of TCE closed the doors at the Boyceville, Connorsville, and Wheeler schools and put them under one roof.
1990: Sectional Champs for Boys Track.
1990 and 1991: Conference Champs for Boys Basketball.
1992: Regional Champs for Wrestling.
1994: Sectional Champs for Wrestling.
1995: Wrestling Conference Champs.
1996: Conference Champs for Baseball, Wrestling State Champions.
1996, 1997, 1998: Wrestling Sectional Champs.
1999: Conference Champs for Football.
2000: New High School addition opened with the offices, gymnasium, kitchen and commons area being added. The addition went roughly from Andy Hamm’s current science/math room and extended east.
2000: Sectional Champs for Baseball and State Runner-Up.
2001: Conference Champs for Boys Basketball and Regional Champs for Girls Basketball, Regional Champs for Wrestling.
2002: Boys Cross Country Sectional Champs and Girls Conference Champs, Conference Champs for Volleyball, Regional Champs for Boys Basketball, Sectional Champs for Girls Basketball and State Runner-Up, Regional Champs for Wrestling.
2003: Sectional Champs for Wrestling and Boys Track.
2004: Boys Cross Country Sectional Champs and Girls Conference Champs, Girls Basketball Sectional Champs and State Runner-Up, Conference Champs for Girls Track.
2005: Conference Champs for Volleyball, Regional Champs for Wrestling, Sectional Champs for Boys Track and State Runner- Up, Conference Champs for Girls Track.
2005- District Office, which was placed in a separate building previously, moved into its current location within the high school.
2006: Sectional Champs for Wrestling, Conference Champs for Girls Track.
2006 and 2007: Girls Basketball Regional Champs.
2009 and 2010: Sectional Champs for Wrestling.
2011: Girls Basketball Regional Champs.
2012: Boys Basketball Regional Champs, Baseball Conference Champs.
The Boyceville School District currently touches in three counties – Dunn, St. Croix and Barron – with 16 townships/municipalities: Town of Forest, Town of Hay River, Town of Lucas, Town of New Haven, Town of Otter Creek, Town of Sheridan, Town of Sherman, Town of Springfield, Town of Stanton, Town of Tainter, Town of Tiffany, Town of Vance Creek, Town of Wilson, Village of Boyceville, Village of Knapp and Village of Wheeler.