The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-09-13
BOARD OF EDUCATION
GUIDED BY LETTERS
mo OTHER COURSE AS TO
UNION BUILDING
Structure Was Condemned BY
State Architect and Other
Officials

bond election, dated for Saturday,
september 81: The correspondence
which forced the Mankato board OF
Education to discontinue the use OF
the Union school building and to take
steps looking to the erection of an
other graded school building was
given to the public today for the first
time, and makes interesting reading
ACCORDING to these letters the board
had no alternative than to close the
old building and scatter the classes
about the city in the best housing it
could find. The letters fully describe
/ the situation.
In view of the widespread appre
hension in the Union school district
about the safety of the school chill
dren attending that school, the board
asked the state architect, the state
fire marshal and the state commits
sioner of school buildings to come to
Mankato and make a thorough ex-
animation from their various view
points, that of safety of construction
fire hazard and as to lighting and
sanitary condition. The three offic-
ials cane to the city the latter part
of August and examined the old build
ing carefully, and then all three
promptly condemned it for further
use as a school building. On top of
this, the state superintendent of
eduction, C G.. Schulz, also condemned
it as unfit for further school purposes.
Under these conditions, the board had
no alternative but to close the build
ing, wreck it, and arrange as quickly
as possible for the erection of suit
able building in it's place, which has
been done. 1t is now up to the voters
to do the rest, which they will have
an opportunity to do next week Sat
urday, September 81, at the special
election called to vote on a proposal
to borrow 100000 from the state at
the low rate of four per cent interest
The letters upon which the board
was forced to act follows:
est. Paul, Mimi, August 20, 1918.
Mr.. E. F. Soaring, Secretary
Board of Education, Mankato. Mimi
Dear Sir: At your request / have
examined your Union grade school to
determine whether it can continue to
be safely occupied as school, ! find
that the original building, a three
story structure built in, 1866, is in
dangerous condition structurally, and
strongly advise against its use for any
purpose.
"The exterior brick walls are badly
cracked in many places. The front
and rear walls have been bulged by
the two roof trusses, the front walls
in particular having a dangerous bulge
outward of about three inches from
grade to roof. The rear wall, or what
is now a dividing wall between the
original building and the rear wing
Quilt, / understand, about twenty
years ago. which has been tied to
the front wall by tie rods to keep
them from spreading, has been pulled
inward
'"rhe 6x6 wood posts, which
have been placed in the school rooms
of the original building to reinforce
the floors. have bulged in the first
rooms, that in the second story is
extremely dangerous
There are many other points
which might give, but believe that
those above mentioned are sufficient
in my judgment to make the building
unsafe
81 would recommend the cupola on
ithe roof be removed down to the top
of the main roof line to relieve the
trusses of unnecessary weight and
racking from wind, and so take off
some OF the pressure from the bulg-
ing walls, and make the premises
around the building reasonably safe.
81 will make no recommendation as
regards repairing the building, first
because it would be inadvisable on
cause of it's condition as fire hazard,
which 1 consider fully as important
as the structural condition as regards
safety.
This condition is very grave on
account of the large amount of dry
inflammable wood in the construction
of the floors, roof, dividing partitions,
stairs and wainscoting, the location
of the heating plant with respect to
this material the arrangement of the
stairways, halls doors and fues allow
ing quick passage of smoke and fire
to cut eff means of exit above the
first floor, the condition of chimney,
and the manner in which floors are
soaked with oil from the floor dress
ing
Il only mention a few of the inn
portant items in this respect because
I unders tanI Mr.. Nettleton, state fire
marshal, will make detained report
on this subject Sincerely yours, C.
H. johnson.
"St Paul, Mimi. August 26, 1915
Mr.. E. F. Soaring, Secretary School
Board, Mankato, MINI. Dear Sir:
At the request : of your board, the
writer on August 10Th made an in
spection of the Union school building,
located on North Broad street in the
city of Mankato, with the object of
determining the safety of the building
from a fire standpoint, and either ap
proving or condemning its use.
Under the conditions existing in
the building, only the latter course is
open.
at is not necessary for me to re-
fer to the age of the building, for you
know all about that and are aware
that the grandparents of many of the
children now attending the school
toiled in those old rooms.
"The building is a mere firetrap, to
say the least. 1t was built at time
when little attention was given to