THE START OF AN ERA

Montgomery county's first consolidated school will open Monday, December 3 (editor's note: year would have been 1918) in the new building just completed in the Lincoln-Wales independent school district. Owing to the fact that the section of this special edition of the Express containing the writeup of the schools of the county was printed before the Lincoln-Wales building was completed, it was not possible to secure a picture of the building in time to run it with the other school buildings. It is therefore run in this section.

The building is 64 x 54 feet in size, with an addition on the west side 22 x 30 feet which will be used as the engine room. The main building is two stories high, with a basement.

In the basement are the domestic science rooms, gymnasium, two toilet rooms and also a fan room in which is located the equipment by which the building is ventilated. The gymnasium has a fifteen foot ceiling, while the ceiling in the other part of basement is ten feet high.

The main entrance on the first floor is on the east and another on the south, and two flights of stairs lead from the first to the second floor. One flight of stairs leads from the west side of the main corridor and the other from the corridor near the south entrance. The first floor contains two class rooms 20 x 25 feet in size, a kindergarten room 19 x 25 and a manual training room 20 x 25.

On the second floor is the assembly room 25 x 40 feet in size, with movable platfrom and located in the north part of the building. A library, 11 x 25 feet in size is located east of the assembly room. The principal's office is in the front part of this floor, back of which are the corridor and stairway.

A class room 19 x 25 feet occupies the northeast corner of the second floor, and a laboratory 12 x 19 feet is in the southwest corner. This floor also equipped with two toilet rooms. The building will be heated by steam, and the lighting will be by an individual electric system installed in the building. All of the equipment will be modern in every particular.

It is expected that nearly seventy-five pupils will be enrolled in the school, including a number tuition pupils who will probably attend. C.C. Stewart of Henderson will be the Principal, and Gus Bade of Panama, Neb., and Miss Sophia Mainquist of Red Oak also have been engaged. Other teachers will be employed if the enrollment of the schools make it necessary.

The special election to vote on the question of forming the Wales-Lincoln consolidated school district was held on May 3, 1916, the election carrying by a majority of 27 votes. The vote stood 47 in favor of consolidation and 20 against it. A special election several years ago on the same proposition was lost, but the greatest opposition at that time came from the districts in Lincoln Township located the farthest from the proposed school. The district formed by the 1916 election does not include the four corner districts of the township.

Bonds for the erection of the new building were voted in the amount of $25,000 on July 27, 1916, but this election was carried by a majority of only 1 vote, resulting in 75 votes in favor of issuing the bonds and 74 against.

Following the election an application was made for an injunction to prevent the sale of the bonds, but when the case came up in the district court at the February term of this year the injuction was not granted.

The contract for the erection of the building was let in May of the present year to C.M. Pennell of Council Bluffs at $1,700, the heating contract went to John Anderson of Omaha for $4,200, and Chas. Foster of the Light Shop of Red Oak got the lighting contract at $800. The new fixtures were purchased at a cost of $800, two acres of additional ground was bought for $600 and four wagons for $880.

No payment is to be made on the bonds until 1920, at which time the $1250 annually will be paid. The interest payments after that will be $1,000 each year until Nov. 1, 1926, then for ten years the annual payment will be $1,500, which will leave $4,000 as a last payment to be made on Nov. 1, 1936.

The directors of the school are R.W. McMullen, J.S. Stewart, W.D. Rees, D.Q, Jones, and Albert Buehler. E.W. Owns is secretary and E.E. Jones, Jr., treasurer.