Photo Gallery
1880 – Mary Winans, nee Murray, first teacher in Shawano.
Mary Murray’s permit to teach, dated May 19, 1855, was signed by John Wiley, then town supervisor of the Town of Shawano.
Notes
Mary Murray
First Teacher In Shawano
This is a photo of Shawano’s first teacher, Mary Murray, who arrived in the Shawano area in 1853 from Indiana. Her permit to teach, dated May 19, 1855, was signed by John Wiley, then town supervisor of the Town of Shawano.
Mary was a child herself — she was just sixteen when she started to teach school. She had eleven pupils, including her younger brother and sister. The first term started in May and lasted three months. The second term began in January.
Early in the 1850’s the first two schools in Shawano were built. One was located amongst a small group of homes that had grown up around the Powell Trading Post along the Wolf River (near the 22 bridge). The school, a lean-to, was built adjacent to a house over a large pine stump which served as a desk.
The other school was built on land just north of Shawano Creek which was purchased in 1854 and was built on the site (near the present Ainsworth School). Records indicate the school session lasted only 16 days in January and February and at various times 25 students, ranging in age from 4 – 15, attended. Though this seems like a short amount of time, it was fairly common. Most schools were in session two months in the fall, three in winter, and two in the spring. It wasn’t until 1915, that a nine-month school session began in this area.