Door-Kewaunee County College: The Normal School

A normal school?  Is there such a thing?  An Act of 1865 allowed Wisconsin to create normal schools as teacher training facilities. County Teacher Training Schools came about at the turn of the 20^th century and were renamed County Rural Normal Schools in 1923. The jokes followed.

One-year teacher training courses for the common, or rural, schools were offered in local high schools when county normal schools were established by an 1899 Act of the Legislature. A few years later, a 2-year course was standard in the county schools, which the U.S. Office of Education classed as junior colleges. County normal schools were the only tax supported schools to focus specifically on the training of teachers. Normal schools supplied the rural school districts, and laboratory schools were at the center of student teaching. College students put learning into practice immediately while under close supervision in the lab schools. By 1918, Door-Kewaunee County Normal School was distinctive. Of Wisconsin’s 30 county normal schools, it was the only school jointly operated by two county boards.

Local normal schools trained teachers for their students’ lives.  The majority of rural students stayed in their local area where their life’s work revolved around farming. It was felt that rural schools should fit country life just as a city child was trained for urban community needs. It was also felt that since many rural teachers came from the city, they needed training to adapt to rural life. Teachers in rural areas were expected to understand rural life and be in sympathy with it while becoming members of the community in which they taught, rather than merely being contracted workers.

Algoma was most centrally located to serve both counties and its railroad service meant dependable transportation. When the school opened in September 1908, there were 52 students. Nine others were turned away due to lack of space as classes were held on the second floor of the building then housing Algoma High School. Students of both counties were able to attend school free of tuition, a boon to those with limited resources.  It was not long before a self-contained school opened at the southwest corner of 4^th and Fremont Streets in Algoma.  The building had been constructed in the late 1870s as the short-lived Ahnapee Baptist Church before being remodeled as the Enola House. It was used as a furniture store and implement shop before being used as the school. 

In 1922, the Busse home to the west was purchased for use as a dormitory.

A year later the joint board decided the needs of female students would be better met with the construction of a new dormitory. D-K’s new dorm was thought to be modern, well equipped and comfortable with its steam heat, hot and cold running water and bathtubs. There was a well stocked library. A large basement provided space for manual training, agriculture and a playroom. That dorm now serves as the City of Algoma’s offices.

Entrance requirements were far different than today’s expectations. Initially students needed to have an 8^th grade education to enter without taking an entrance exam. After 1921, students who had never before taught were required to be high school graduates and have one year of teacher training. 1918 was the last year 8^th grade graduates could take the course and be qualified before the 1921 rule was in effect.

Eventually renamed as Door-Kewaunee County College, the school did the job it was charged to do. Despite being designed as a school for teacher training only, Door-Kewaunee Normal School offered a chance for furthering an education and many made use of the opportunity.

Herb Foshion, who gave so much to Algoma and the surrounding area, was a 1916 graduate. Foshion went on to school and became a physician. Seeing the need for a hospital, he established Algoma’s first in 1928 on Mill Street. Foshion was interested in flying and maintained a plane and a hanger at Algoma’s airfield, along the lake in the approximate vicinity of today’s Highway S and Arlington Street.  Foshion’s wife Pearl Dewaerzeggers graduated the following year. She went on to advocate the chronicling of Algoma’s history. As a member of the Women’s Club, she worked to that effort.

Bill Albrecht, who led Algoma High School’s baseball team to state fame in 1937, was a 1922 D-K athletic standout when the Bugler - the school’s yearbook - noted that he was captain of both the football and baseball team. He played basketball.  Albrecht’s 1937 team took second in the state, but the team was first in the hearts of residents for a generation. Bill’s son Jeff found Algoma’s trophy following his dad’s death. It was returned to Algoma and, during a reception, presented to Dennis Sell, who facilitated the return, and George Miller who accepted it on behalf of Algoma. The trophy was displayed in the collection of Kewaunee County Historical Society Research Center at 319 Steele St., Algoma.

 Further information can be found in D-K yearbooks, Algoma Record Herald, The Monograph, c. 1972, and at the ARC-UW-GB. Postcards and photo are from the author's collection.

After being destroyed by fire in the late 1930s, a new facility was constructed on the site. Both the college and dorm were photographed for the 1960 postcard at the top of this narrative. Today the former college houses Algoma Library while the dorm is the site of Algoma's city offices. The site has been designated by Kewaunee County Historical Society as one of the county's historic sites and craftsman Henry Diefenbach's unique miniature stone buildings enhance the circular sidewalk area in front of the library.