1956
On Friday, January 6, the Robbinsdale Recreation and Fire Departments arranged a Christmas Tree Bonfire at Lee School. This was before burning was banned in the late 1960’s. The children brought Christmas trees from home and enjoyed the huge bonfire. On April 17, the Superintendent of School District 24, Edwin J. Cooper, spoke to the Lee PTA. School Board members attending were Free C. Bayard, Chairman; Clifford C. Smith; and Dr. Frank Hosterman. Others on the Board were William Cavanagh, Richard Parish and Hans Mickelson. Mr. Cooper pointed out that the school enrollment was four and a half times greater than ten years previously. Fourteen hundred kindergarten children made triple shifts necessary. The post war “baby boom” continued into the 1960’s.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s, many money-raising functions were held at Lee School to buy not only things like the Civil Defense bell, but blackout shades for the classrooms and offices. On the first day of school, the children were shown where the bomb shelter was. The Civil Defense authorities stocked this area with food and water. The children also practiced curling up in fetal positions under their desks.
On January 17th, Deputy Director on Minneapolis Civil Defense, W.A. Small spoke to the PTA and said changes had been made in defense preparations because the new hydrogen bombs destroy everything within a mile radius. The principal objective now was to get the children home so that family units could evacuate in private automobiles to an area at least fifty miles distant. Families desperately tried to make their own plans. By the 1980’s, we realized there is no running away.
On February 21st, more than 1700 parents and children attended the dinner and open house at Lee School. The school had 1260 students. Mrs. Idell Silberman, who later served on the School Board, was in charge. She was assisted by Mr. Ceaburn Squires, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Rice, Mrs. Karyl Walcher, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Dressel, Mrs. Douglas Fredin, Mr. and Mrs. John Grant, Mrs. Robert Sandgren, Mrs. W. H. Than, and Mrs. John Bandli— all PTA members. Proceeds went to buy a Civil Defense bell and a light system. Mr. Robert Tharp was the principal and was pleased with the event. In September, Mr. Willis Boynton became principal of Lee School. In the spring of 1956, Lee School PTA mothers, under President Virginia Lukaszewski, assisted with administering polio shots for the children. Poliomyelitis was a dreaded disease, often causing paralysis or death. People dreaded the possibility of living out their lives in an “iron lung.” These “shots” and later the oral vaccine have eliminated this terrible plague.
Due to the pressures of an increasing number of students, the new Robbinsdale Senior High School opened at Toledo and 37th Avenues. Mr. Milo Mielke, Principal moved to the new high school and held that position until he retired in 1968. after 39 years with our schools. The school on Regent Avenue became Robbinsdale Junior High School (grades 7-9).
Mr. Mark T. Woodward became principal of the Robbinsdale Junior High School and served until his retirement in 1974. He worked to get programs started for children with learning disabilities, especially hearing, and encouraged money in the Student Activities Fund to be spent on the 35 Nature Pictures which all students could enjoy. After the school was closed in 1979, the pictures were hung in the Robbinsdale Senior High School.
This post is part of a series loosely based on the book Robbinsdale Then and Now by Helen Blodgett.