NORTHSIDE/ELIOT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
6800 So. Cedar Lake Road

There have been three buildings on the site. The pictures of the buildings don't seem right, so if you have any clarification, please contact us.

FIRST SCHOOL

The first goes back to 1885, when the North Side School was built near the northern boundary of the township in the "Falvey District." (Louisiana Ave. was then called Falvey Street after the Falvey family.)  It was a wooden structure, and was eventually sold for $150 and removed.

SECOND SCHOOL

A new North Side School was built for $6,700 in 1912-13. Also a frame structure, this building was destroyed by fire the night before the great tornado of June 2, 1925. Legend has it that a janitor fell asleep and his newspaper caught fire. Students attended Oak Hill School while it was being rebuilt.

THIRD SCHOOL

The new school was renamed Eliot and dedicated on April 2, 1926. A new janitor, Joe Koelfgren, would serve the school from 1932 to 1954. In the beginning, the school had only an auditorium in the basement, two classrooms on the first floor (the ones on the east side near the front door), and two unfinished classrooms upstairs.  Grades 1-3 shared one room, and grades 4-6 were in the other.  This picture is from 1926.




In 1952, 20 more classrooms were added to accommodate the swelling numbers of families moving to the North side. The $825,000 addition was opened on March 4 of that year. The principal was Mary Towey, who had been a teacher at Brookside.

In 1974, a scandal exploded, with teachers charging the school, and particularly Principal Mary Towey, of wrongdoing over a 20-year period. The School Board seemed reluctant to act, but some parents were so incensed that they moved out of the neighborhood.

By 1977 the boomers had passed through and the school was closed. Children were reassigned to Peter Hobart and Cedar Manor. In November it opened as a fine arts center.

In 1981, a suspiciously high incidence of breast cancer seemed to be present in women who worked, volunteered, or were students at the Eliot building. Chemicals in the water, left over from years of industrial pollution, were suspect. The State Department of Health investigated, but concluded that there was nothing in the building or in the water that could explain the trend. In 1982, superintendent Mike Hickey sent a memo to the concerned women that said that no more action on the part of the school district was warranted, stating that diseases tend to occur in clusters.

Thanks to a generous donation, the Historical Society has in its collection Eliot Elementary School PTA Directories from 1954 to 1967. There are also several years of teacher rosters.

See the school district’s web site at http://www.slpschools.org/

NORTH SIDE MOTHERS' CLUB

In the years before the advent of the PTA, mothers banded together to raise funds and provide their children's schools with items the school board could not or would not provide. The Northside Mothers’ Club formed in about 1923, changing its name to Eliot as the new school was built. The stated purpose of the club was “to study the welfare of the pupils of North Side School and of the young people of this community who might be helped by the club.”

The Mothers’ Club concerned itself with a variety of needs, the most important of which was providing the students with a hot lunch. It appears that they made these lunches themselves, but were continually lobbying the school board to provide such lunches and were still doing so in 1930.

The group held events such as dances, bridge parties, and bunco parties to raise money for such items as:

Balls and bats for the boys
Long jump rope for the girls
Phonograph records for the school
Easter party
Oil cloth for art tables
Christmas trees in classrooms (a common contribution of PTAs)
Shades for windows
Furnishings for rest room – davenport/day bed
School picnics

They also went in with the Ladies Aid Society to purchase T.B. (tuberculosis) bonds. And they sent flowers to teachers, etc. who were ill – one of their goals was to “remember the sick in different localities.”

One interesting fundraiser was a “Hard Time Dance,” held in January 1931. A prize went to the best hard time dressed lady and man.

In 1932, a sand and gravel company provided free sand for the playground.

In 1933, they “financed and sponsored a boy scout movement” with the Ladies’ Aid.

In 1934 they celebrated Founder’s Day with a skit, songs, and a cake, but founder of what? That year they heard Mr. Roy Olson from the St. Cloud Reformatory speak on the present crime wave among our boys and girls.

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.