Thursday, July 16, 2020

Winner Township School #1



Winner Township School #1 sits across the road from Bethel Cemetery in Williams County, North Dakota.


The intersecting roof lines create a covered entryway above a five-panel door.


The metal roof caps and finials are all still in place.  Notice how the roof slopes up at the base of the chimney...a nice touch.


I've seen this ball-shaped design of roof finial on a few dozen schools in nearby counties.  Simple and attractive.


These windows face east...


...and these face north.  At one time there was an addition opposite the entrance but all that remains of it is an outline on the wall.  What purpose this addition served remains a mystery.


I love this tiny round window below the roof peak on the west side...a touch of elegance.

When this school closed a somewhat larger school opened a few miles away.  You can see that one here:  Winner Township School #2

When I shot the photos of this school I was almost certain that it was another school entirely with a different name.  But some months later, while researching another road trip, I found documents online from the State Historical Society of North Dakota that listed all the pioneer schools in the state.  It turned out that I had mixed up the names and locations of two seemingly unrelated schools.    It's always a good idea to check and double check.  In this case a triple check didn't hurt.

Photographed near Appam, North Dakota on December 19, 2018.

4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I've seen a few schoolhouses with a small round window and they were all in North Dakota.

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  2. Dare I say it? This one's a winner. (I know....groan)

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  3. I can't deny it either...it was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the name.

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