Cultural History

The main school forest site consists of two parcels of land with a total of 7.3 acres. The larger parcel, 5.73 acres, E1/2 of NE ¼ of Section 36, Town 27, Range 15, was patented to William H. Howard from the United States government in 1886. He and his wife mortgaged the property to Ephraim Bond in 1887 for $300 and were foreclosed upon in May, 1890. In 1901, Mr. Bond’s heirs conveyed a strip of land to the Minnesota & Wisconsin Railroad Co. for $75.00. Fred Decker purchased the land, excepting the railroad right of way, in December, 1904. Mr. Decker and his wife Emelia sold 46/100 acre of this parcel to Miss M. C. Thomas of Menomonie in May, 1906 and 3.5 acres to S. A. Carpenter in June, 1906. F. A. Springer, E. J. McKernon, Maxime Branshaw, Gust Schutz, John Borchert, and Clarence Kitchner owned this land in succeeding years. The smaller parcel was sold to the school district in August, 1953.