Sawyer Co. School History - 
Raynor School

 


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(Transcribed from the book "History of Education In Sawyer County, Wisconsin, 1902,"
pages 225 & 226)

On the 5th day of June, 1884, Alfred Raynor, who was living on Section 4-38-6, appeared before the board of school directors and asked that a school be provided for his three children as there were no other children of school age within four miles of his residence.  The board did not see fit to grant his request.  In December, 1885, Mr. Raynor went to Chippewa Falls and employed Lena McGilvray, on his own account, to teach his children for three months.  During the following January some of the members of the board visited the school and decided to relieve Mr. Raynor of all financial responsibility for the school.  The school was held in one of the rooms of the Raynor residence.  It closed early in March, 1886, and had an enrollment of three pupils.

At the March, 1886, meeting of the board it was decided to build a school house for these pupils.  The building was accordingly erected on the right bank of the Chippewa river about a quarter of a mile above Mr. Raynor's residence.  The carpenter work was done by C. C. Brown.  On February 16, 1888, this building was burnt.  By order of the school board at its meeting held during the following March another building was immediately erected a few rods above the present residence of Henry Crawford.  This school has since been officially known as the Crawford school but the newspapers have applied the names of Raynor, Lessard or Crawford, depending upon which of these three gentlemen happened to be the clerk of the sub-district. 

The following terms of school have been held:

McGILVRAY, Lena - December 1885 to March 1886 for three months
BROWN, Nettie - December 27, 1886 to April 8, 1887
BUTLER, Maggie E. - June 6 to October 21, 1887
BROWN-WILSON, Mrs. Nettie - December 9, 1887 to February 8, 1888

We gave above February 16 as the date of the burning of the Raynor school house because that was the date given us, but we are inclined to believe that it was one week earlier, or on February 9, 1888.