S NEWBURG SCHOOLS 1952 } THE EAGLES~

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The Newburg School District was part of the original district that was created by the county commissioners on April 1, 1901 . The first school election was held at the Fred Gessner home on April 23, 1901, and the name chosen was Abercrombie. It composed all of Tacoma and Newborg Townships. On July 11, 1906 , the county commissioners detached Newborg Township from the Abercrombie and formed Newborg School District. John Fossum and J. G. Kane were members of the arbitration board

It must be remembered that several one room school buildings had been built throughout the district and that a schoolhouse located near what is now the Carl Kersten farm served both the towns of Newburg and Russell.

After several attempts to get a schoolhouse in the Village of Newburg failed an election held in June of 1910 was successful and school opened in the fall of 1910 with Miss Maude Grey as the teacher. What is now the Alvin Schepp residence was used as the schoolhouse for two years.

On July 24, 1911, an election was held in the Village of Newburg and created Newburg Special School District No. 48. C. F. Shong and J. T. McGovern, along with H. E. Layne, County Superintendent, served as the Board of Arbitration. On May 6, 1912, Newburg annexed over seven sections of land from the Abercrombie District. The Board of Arbitration, this time, consisted of Almer Anderson, G. F. Peterson and H. E. Layne. In August of 1912 a school building was moved just south of the townsite of Newburg. This building was placed on a basement and a second story was added. During the remodeling, school was held in the Opera House and a store building adjacent to the Opera House.

In July of 1913, 18 sections of Abercrombie was organized into Deep School District No.51.

No major changes in the size of the district or the school building took place until August of 1935 when construction began on a new building just south of the existing structure. This undertaking was incorporated with a WPA project which made it possible for some government financing. The new schoolhouse was of brick construction and included a large gym, besides classrooms and library. On November 30, 1936 , classes began in the new building with new desks and equipment.

In November of 1946 the school grounds took on a new look with the moving of the school barn to the Roalkvam farm near Upham.

On August 1, 1947, the size of the district grew by 13 sections when the entire liberty School District No.26 was annexed. The building underwent some major repairs under the supervision of Henry Shong during the summer.

In the spring of 1948 the first reorganization meetings were being held throughout the county which in later years were to have lasting effects on Newburg No.48. This is the year that the theromseal windows were installed.

The 5W ¹/₄.34 of Sergius township was annexed to Newburg in August, 1950 .

In May of 1951 a reorganization program of school districts brought all of Newburg, portions of Thrums and Brander and all of Newborg and Abercrombie into one district namely Newburg No.48.

October of 1953 found the first operation of school-owned buses.Two 36 passenger buses with Robert Goheen and Engeman Opdahl as drivers and one 10 passenger bus with George Olson as the driver.

Portion of Deep No.51 was welcomed; becoming a part of No; 48 by an annexation proceeding on July 19, 1956 . A year later in October a portion of Starbuck township was annexed to Scotia No.22 from Newburg.

A new high school addition was added and completed in 1958. This included classrooms, gymnasium, modern science room, an up-to-date industrial arts department and a library. The cost of thi~ project was around $250,000. In addition to the new facility many major alterations were made in the old building such as converting the old gym to a cafeteria.

A small portion of land from Eckman District No.49 was annexed to Newburg in November of 1959. On September 4,. 1962, the boundaries of Newburg District No.48 extended beyond county lines for the first time. This came about by the annexation of 18 sections of Pratt District No. 34 of McHenry County. This addition brought the size of district to 134.75 sections which it is today.

In November of 1963 about eight acres of property located south of the school grounds were purchased from Mrs. Jacob Overgaard for the purpose of providing more playground space. In the spring of 1964 , with assistance from Amerada Petroleum Corp., and Mrs. Reginald Henry, together with local residents, a baseball diamond was built. Seeing the need for more space for the music department a large room was added just west of the gymnasium. This addition was built in the summer of 1966 and has since proved its necessity.

During the past five years there has been no change in the size of the district or no major changes in the facility. A special thanks to all who hav& furnished information for this brief detail of events. Some of the information may not be exact but in general is thought to be fairly accurate.

Superintendents who have been in charge of the Newburg School System are as follows:
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See the Russell city map!

            Later, on October 19, 1906, a meeting was called to decide what to do
         with the schoolhouse south of town. It was decided to move it into Russell and
         in November classes started there. The school was moved to a site some distance
        east of the elevators and south of the cemetery. This was later converted into the
         private home of several Hagedorn families and still later moved to the Jevne farm
         and became the home of the Robert Tvedt family.
            In February 1907 the people started talking about a new school. By July
         12th things were humming. A vote had been called for on June 29, 1907 as to
         whether Abercrombie should float a $7,000 bond to build a new school. Out of
         230 votes cast, 123 were for and 97 opposed issuing the bonds. The townsmen,
         as well as interested families outlying, had worked hard and being it was such a
         lovely day everyone got out to vote and won. Mr. Charles Shong was still
         President of the Board.
            It was on January 3, 1908 that Russell almost lost the school they did
         have. The banking around the building had caught fire and was going good when
        discovered.
            It was on May 28, 1909 that the contract was let for a new school. Mr.
         D. A. Dennie of Minot got the contract with a bid of $7,209.00 including
         heating and everything. Work was to begin immediately with the completion
         Russell School (194])         date set for August 20, 1909.
            During the month of June the County Superintendent ran a survey as to
         the number of children in the Abercrombie District and found 52 boys and 59
         girls over six years and under 20 years.
            From the Bottineau County News of July 27, 1909 - "Minutes of
         Abercrombie Nd. 24. Paid to D. A. Dennie, material for furnace $53.48. Paid to
        W. B. Spray for installation $29.25. The bids were let for bonds to State Bank of
         Newburg and Russell First State Bank. Motion was made to pay Dennie half of
         the contract price, $3,604.50. C. F. Shong Board member."
            In the early fall of 1909 a Mr. Walter Eggers came from Indiana to take
         over at the opening of the new school.
            From the Bottineau County News of Friday, September 17, 1909 -
         "RUSSELL'S NEW SCHOOL. Russell's new school, one of the best in the
         county, is practically completed and school began on September 13th. The
         building does credit to the hustling business - like School Board of Abercrombie
         District. It is modern in all details. The latest ideas in combination heating and
         ventilating are embodied in the Campbell furnace. It has about the best arranged
         ventilation system that can be had short of mechanical means. The building
         consists of four well lighted recitation rooms finished in hard wood and hard
         maple flooring. Each room is lighted by seven large windows to the side and
         back of the pupils. Stairways are artistically arranged and finished with hard
         wood like the rooms. Only three rooms will be used this year but an ever
         increasing attendance is expected in Russell with its rich surrounding
         countryside and hustling, bustling community. It is sure to become an important
         school center.
            "The teachers for the new school were Mr. Walter Eggers, principal; Mrs.
         Anna Murphy, intermediate; Miss Annie Best, primary. The co-superintendent
         was still P. E. Christenson.
            "The School Board for that first year was F. S. Herte~ president; J. E.
         Buchholz, clerk; J. G. Kane, treasurer; C. S. Shong and R. M. Tyson."
            The first class of High School graduates was in 1920 . They were: Margaret
         Cooley (deceased), Myrle Goheen, Genevieve Hertel and Ruth Knudson.
            The Russell school had many varied activities over the years. It was on
         November 15, 1 924 that the first P.T.A. was organized. Mr. Bob Tyson served as
         president and V. J. McFarland was vice-president. Mrs. Frisbie was the secretary
         to this group of 37 members who met every two weeks to discuss school
         matters.
            In 1925 a band was organized under the baton of Miss Lucille Maier. You
         will find this picture elsewhere in this booklet.
            Russell played a big part in sports having some fine basketball teams, both
         boys and girls, over the years. There was a dandy baseball team for some years.
            One Act Plays, Play Day, Glee Club, Flag Drills and Maypoles were all part
         of events when you went to school.
            In 1 927 there was the murmur of the need of a gymnasium. For many
         years the school used the movie theater for a gym. Basketball games were played
         there, programs, graduation exercises, plays, declamation contests and what not
         took place there.
            Again the town and country dads went to work for something better for
         their children. They needed a gymnasium and so out they went with their
         petitions and again they won. Early in 1936 the contract for the new gymnasium
         was let to a Minot contractor, Mr. Hetland. It was to be built onto the west side
         of the school. On April 22 he came with the first load of lumber. To the best
         information that could be obtained we believe this was put up under the P.W.A.
         program of that time. The building was to cost $13,000. The government was
         putting up $6,000 and the school $7,000. Members of the Board at this time
         were Robert Buchholz, V. J. McFarland, W. W. Hall, Steve Wolff and George
         Goheen. (There may have been others but we did not obtain any further
         information.)
            When the school term opened on September 23, 1936 with George
         Grooters, superintendent and Leona Bon, principal , the gymnasium was not
         quite ready for use.

            On September 30 the opening of the new gymnasium was considered a
         huge success and the people of Russell were well pleased.
            On October 9th the entire school went all out to put on a big carnival to

         raise funds to buy a curtain for the stage. Admission to the carnival was free.
         From the proceeds they did buy curtains that cost them $300.
            In 1947 the Deep School decided to join forces with the Russell School.
         After the first year students were bussed in. Population changes and school
         reorganization programs saw the Russell High School merge with Newburg after
         the class of 1951.
            The grades continued on for several years with Newburg operating both
         schools as one and bussing students from Newburg to Russell and vice-versa with
         some of the eight grades in each of the schools. It was in 1954 that Russell
         closed their doors for good as far as the education program was concerned. The
         building was used for some years for various events, meetings and dances. It is
         now private property.
            Our last Board to help with the transition included Victor Tyson, Arthur
         Krenz and Chester Brandt. We are sure there were others but have not been able
         to obtain the information.
            Starting with the first class of graduates in 1920, down through the class of 
.........1951 , we have record of 181 students becoming Russell High School alumni. We
         were unable to find any kind of record at all for the years 1922,1923 and 1924
         and in 1944 there were no graduates.
            We have found our places in society in every walk of life. Our pride in
         Russell Hi is shown by our presence here during this, the first reunion ever held
         by Russell. Our thanks to the many from the Newburg community who helped
         to make it possible.
            We, as the Russell Hi History Committee wish to say that we've enjoyed
         searching out the facts. We don't vouch for their exactness as we had no definite
         records to gather from. The Russell school records were unfortunate 'flood
         victims' of high water in the Russell vault some years ago.
            Thanks to the people willing to offer information, plus hours of scanning
         the Bottineau County News - now the Bottineau Courant, the list of students
         and teachers from the office of County Superintendent and trillions of
         telephone calls we have pieced it together bit by bit. Hope it brings back a few
         memories for you too. v

                             Mrs. Vernon (Betty Anderson) Pfau
                             Mrs. William (Harriet Wolff) Johnson

 * 1971 Newburg School Reunion booklet

s THE KRAMER SCHOOLS s s ss sCli Click to see the city of Kramer Click to see the city of Maxbass . k ss THE MAXBASS SCHOOLS s MUSTANGS ss s Kramer and Maxbass jpeg pictures supplied by Charlotte Gust and  Kevin  Tengesdal  s s

s

  l Kramer Elementary School - Newburg/Kramer Elementary Students
  l Maxbass Elementary School - Maxbass Elementary Students
  l Newburg Jr.Sr. High School - Newburg/Maxbass/Kramer Students Grades
 7-12
After a series of community meetings, with good attendance and lots of local and area interest, the decision was made to formally proceed with the reorganization.

More meetings and public hearings had to be scheduled among the three boards along with the county and state committees for reorganization. The final decision in the process was to call for an election  of each of the districts to ask the voters to approve or disapprove of the proposed merger.

The election was held on December 14, 1989. The results of the election of each of the three districts were:

                Kramer District
                           Yes Votes - 30 No votes- 10
                Maxbass District
                     Yes Votes -93 No Votes -6 
                Newburg District
                     Yes Votes - 146 No Votes -0

                                                          COMBINED TOTAL VOTES:
                                                                  Yes - 269 No- 16

After the approval another election was held to elect a total of seven new board members. The reorganization plan had provided for two board members from each of the former districts and those elected  were as follows: Kramer, Jean Brandt and Faye Kersten; Maxbass, Todd Streich and Marlene Ellsworth; Newburg, James Miller and John Wyman. In addition, Raymond Boll was voted in as an "at  large" member based on the plan's requirement that the candidate with the greatest number of votes be seated as the seventh member.

During the current school year (1990-91) the new district was renamed the Newburg United School District #54. As of this year, the school continues to operate schools at Kramer, Maxbass and   Newburg. v

*1991 All School Reunibooklet.