New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1894-02-28
SOME MORE SCHOOL HISTORY
More of the Events that Have Led up to the
Present Trouble.

"AaI aPpedIe't Ill Iile ldSI Weeh heVlcN
on the same subject
r When the's.Turners' Colonization So.
ciety' was dissolved in 1862, it donated
large number of blocks to the town, tc
be used as public parks. for the erection
? of public school buildings, and for vari-
Gus other public purposes specified in
the documents in question. All of our
? public school buildings. five in number,
were built on tracts thus donated by the
r ''Turners" Had these "Turners' been
less public-spirited, they would have
} decided all of this property, most of
which is located in the heart of the town
to their own local society. The Turn
} ers' Colonization Society" also turned
over, in 1862, nearly 300 lots to Tu,n-
ers' Commission, for the purpose of
} founding private institution of second
ary instruction. In 1871, this Commission
founded the New Ulm Academy. Many
"Turners" donated property to this school.
When the board of education decided to
open a public high school, the Academy
was discontinued. The Turnverein Of
fered the use of the rooms in TurnerHa I'LL
that had been occupied by the Academy,
to the board of education free of charge,
. until the district should provide suffici-
ent room for all its classes by the erec-
ton of an additional building. These
5 rooms in Turner Hall were occupied by
) public intermediate classes up to 1884,
and by public high school classes from
1888 to 1886. About 200 lots and other
l property owned by the Academy, includ-
ingsome Of the furniture and appliances
now used in our public schools, were
subsequently donated to the public high
; school by the board of directors of the
/ Academy, composed of s'Turners'' Chas.
, Roos, William Pfaender. Peter Schercr,
Fir. Forster, John G. Rudolph, H. Ham
mer, F. Immel, II. Cirkler, and H. G.
: Petersen. If these .sTurners'' had deed
l ed the Academy property to the "Turn-
5 verein', individuals of the Strickler-S Sill
2 verson variety would have found it i'm
e possible to create a school lot question
What this question really IS, has never
been clearly stated. 1t was claimed that
! there must be some mysterious conncc-
= ton between the "Turners" and the pub
f lie schools; that something must be
3 wrong about those donated lots that the
property of the private organization
, known as the New Ulm Academy was
really public property: and that num-
Der of rooms in Turner Hall were owned
' by the city, the school district. or some
indefinable and invisible public body
The cry of ''Boodle p was raised, and the
school lot Cicero exhausted his immense
stock of imported slanguage in denounc-
ing all who ever had anything to do with
"them lots" We desire to refer those
who may be interested in the history of
"them lots'' the property of theAcademy
and the Turnverein, and public phan-
) toms, to the public records of this coun-
ty.
The school election of 1898 showed
the following result:
H. schapekahm Uutheran) 622; R.
Pfefferle 621; E.G.Koch Outheran) 6o3
F. Burg 6O2.
DR.. Strickler's statement that ou,
school war is contest between the
/ 'Turners'' and the churches, has beer
t widely circulated. The Turnverein has
about 100 members, including probably
20 between IS and 81 years of age, anc
small number Of nonresident members
The Turner'S, therefore, cannot poll more
8 than so votes. Allowing an equal num-
r Der of votes for their ladies. there still
remain. of the 600 votes cast for Kocf
o and Burg, more than 400 that are in nC
| way COuliSSlCci " "ilil liIC iufilfCIGln.
t After the election of 1898, the boarc
t OF education was composed of the fcl
lowing members: DR.. Strickler, Pres't
Prof, A. +. Rein, Clerk; Chas Silverson
Treasurer; R, Pfefferle, H. Schapekahm
8 P. Scnerer. The five members frs
named at once formed quinquevirate
| The actual transaction of the boards
business thencefortht took place in private
meetings held by the Five. Whenever
new scheme had been matured, they
r called special meeting of the board ane
carried it. To make member Scherer'
: situation as unpleasant as possible, th,
= Five adopted the rule that all member
d who did not vote on any matter befor,
It the board. should be recorded as votin.
- ~, <