The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-09-13


woodwork and doors are extra heavy.
and the wainscoting throughout the
building furnishes additional fuel.
1.-THE arrangement of the building
| is such that fire would spread through
| it rapidly. 1t is said the means of
egress are sufficient and that the
building could be emptied in two
minutes in case Of fire. However, on
account of the very poor ventilating
system, the building might be filled
with smoke in less than two minutes
and make the escape of many impos
sible
1.-THE fan room of the ventilating
system is located in an enclosure in
the basement which opens up under
the main stairway, affording an ideal
opening for fire to spread through
| the building.
"The ceiling in the boiler room is
iof wood, and only about three feet
above the boiler. A large smoke
pipe from the boiler to the smoke
stack is within a few inches Of the
ceiling.
"The boiler room connects with
passage way at the foot of the stair
way leading to the boys basement.
Only wooden partition divides this
from the girls side, and the door in
use between the boiler room and this
part is of wood.
at would be useless to suggest
how to correct the defective con-
ditions found, for the undertaking
would prove to be so costly that you
would not consider it.
tIn conclusion, l can only say that
the building is most unsafe and a
menace to the lives of the children
who are compelled to attend school
| in it. l do not care to shoulder the
responsibility OF in any way approv-
ing the use of this building, fer
should fire occur here such as oc-
Cured in the Collinwood school,
where one hundred seventy. one
children lost their lives, this office
would be subject to severe criticism.
"In view of the conditions exist
ing, the only course open for this
office is to condemn the use of this
building for school purposes, and
lit is recommended that the board
take immediate action along this
| to be used in place of this building
until such time as the building can
be ebuilt.
"The thing to be considered first
and last is the safety and welfare of
the children and teachers who must
attend school in this district. Re-
spectfully, George H. Nettleton,
chief assistant"
est. Paul, Mimi, August 81, 1915
Mr.. e. F. Soaring, clerk board of edu-
cation, Mankato, Mimi, Dear Sir:
1 am enclosing herewith the report
on the Union school building at Man
kato made by Mr. S. A. Challman of
the department of education. In view
of the findings and recommendations
made by MIN in his report, the build
ing is hereby pronounced unfit for use
as a school building. Yours truly,
lC. G. Schultz, superintendent of edu-
tcation.
st. Paul, Mimi, August 81, 1885,
Superintendent c. g. Schulz, State
| Capitol, st. Paul MINI. Dear Sir:
At the request of the school board
of Mankato, l made an investigation
of the Union school building on Au-
gust II, 1918. The investigation was
restricted solely to the educational
land sanitary features of the build
ing, as the school board had invited
experts on safety of construction and
fire hazard, who were expected to
make their examination on Monday
following the date of my visit.
"J'he Union school building was
erected as a three story, six room
structure in 1866 Subsequently
two story addition has been built in
The rear. There are eight school
rooms in the building, seven of which
are ured by grade school pupils and
one for the sub normal department.
1.-The rooms are all abominably
lighted. The arrangement of win
dows is such that both pupils and
teacher must face certain windows
of the room. Shades are consequent
ly pulled to exclude the light from
the windows which interfere with
the vision of the pupils, and to
some extent with the windows
which effect the vision of the
teachers. The points of the COM
pass affording the maximum amount
of light are the north and the south.
These sources of light, as well as the
distribution of the windows, consti-
tute serious menace to tie pupils
in this school, Considering that re.
peated school surveys show that not
less than twenty-five per cent of the
pupils in our schools are suffering
from defective vision, and that con-
ditions such as those which exist in
the Union school at Mankato are
bound to aggravate such a candition
and will most likely result in. eye
strain for pupils with normal vision,
the best interest of the children
from the standpoint of protecting
their dyesight demands that these
rooms be discontinued 1t is further
to be noted that the rooms are not of
standard height, and in addition to
being improperly lighted are also
inadequately lighted.
'The toilet rooms in this building
are poorly located, and while the
school board has done everything in
the way of modern fixtures and ven
tilations their location renders them
unsanitary and difficult to supervise.
To protect the morals of the child
rem, toilet rooms should be located,
so as to facilitate supervision. My
recommendation would, therefore, be