an important question:
swings, teeter-totter,
merry-go-round,
or
slipper slide?
which was your favorite?
TERRY HUNT KORELL: The slide in the park was my favorite even though it did dump you out. Teeter totters were bad unless you really trusted the person on the other end. I once had someone climb off when I was up in the air and I hit bottom like a lead balloon.
JACKIE UHRI: I remembered the merry go round and swings as broke my arm on them almost 60 yrs ago!
merry go rounds
This photo in the Maple Grove Country School museum is labeled as "3rd grade 1933 to 1934" but does not identify either the school or the boy. Neat picture, though!
John Burgett at District 52 country school
photo 804 - e. g. samuelson & a merry-go-round
Mary Snabl Sturgeon, Class of 1932, took this picture of E. G. Samuelson on the playground of the town school, no date. Fortuitously, the merry-go-round showed up in the background.
Merry go round at the school. Helen Norris. Class of 1936, is second from left. Photo 6586, shared by Helen's daughter Betty Ann Siemsen. Run through imagecolorizer.com in 2020.
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From Ken Ahnholz, Class of 1962:
I broke my arm there when my Mother, Lola, was in the hospital with my new baby sister Oct. 8, 1952!! |
teeter totters
There is a teeter totter under all those kids, who are the students of country school teacher Ted Kubick at the Allison Country School, District 51.
School year 1929-1930. Reading up, left row: Jess Richardson, Hubert Hunzeker, Daniel Richardson, Irma Vondrasek, Howard Widdifield, Arvid Blecha, Joe Karas, Ruth Schmidt, Rudolph Klapka, Bob Vondrasek.
Right row, reading up: Ted Kubick-teacher, Alma Fencl, ukn first name Richardson, Louise Richardson, Clyde Hunzeker, Roy Hruska.
Photo 6471, shared by Debbie & Howard Blecha, a photo that Arvid Blecha had given them. Teacher Ted Kubick had graduated from Table Rock High School in 1928.
School year 1929-1930. Reading up, left row: Jess Richardson, Hubert Hunzeker, Daniel Richardson, Irma Vondrasek, Howard Widdifield, Arvid Blecha, Joe Karas, Ruth Schmidt, Rudolph Klapka, Bob Vondrasek.
Right row, reading up: Ted Kubick-teacher, Alma Fencl, ukn first name Richardson, Louise Richardson, Clyde Hunzeker, Roy Hruska.
Photo 6471, shared by Debbie & Howard Blecha, a photo that Arvid Blecha had given them. Teacher Ted Kubick had graduated from Table Rock High School in 1928.
From Larry Layden, Class of 1961:
I remember a playground "accident" that happened when I was in the seventh or eighth grade.
We had a row of teeter-totters on the playground. They were "unbreakable" made from 2" by 10" boards about 8 or 10 ft long. Plenty strong for 80 pound kids. Normal kids anyway.
And they weren't built to serve as catapults.
Anyway one boy would set a - straddle the end touching the ground and the other boy would walk up the end that was in the air, turn around and face the boy setting on the end on the ground. Then he would kick his legs out to the side of the board and slam dunk his rear end down onto the up raised board. This would cause the board to sing up, raising the boy off the ground and slinging him up in the air.
We did this so often that eventually the board broke at the center - point pivot causing splinters to fly thru the air. One splinter hit someone big time, causing a trip to the Doctor. I think it made the paper.
The next day we walked by the crime scene and saw the custodian, installing a new teeter-totter. He was angry at being called on to perform this additional work and asked us if we knew how the old board got broken. Course we all knew nothing.
I remember a playground "accident" that happened when I was in the seventh or eighth grade.
We had a row of teeter-totters on the playground. They were "unbreakable" made from 2" by 10" boards about 8 or 10 ft long. Plenty strong for 80 pound kids. Normal kids anyway.
And they weren't built to serve as catapults.
Anyway one boy would set a - straddle the end touching the ground and the other boy would walk up the end that was in the air, turn around and face the boy setting on the end on the ground. Then he would kick his legs out to the side of the board and slam dunk his rear end down onto the up raised board. This would cause the board to sing up, raising the boy off the ground and slinging him up in the air.
We did this so often that eventually the board broke at the center - point pivot causing splinters to fly thru the air. One splinter hit someone big time, causing a trip to the Doctor. I think it made the paper.
The next day we walked by the crime scene and saw the custodian, installing a new teeter-totter. He was angry at being called on to perform this additional work and asked us if we knew how the old board got broken. Course we all knew nothing.
LUELLA HINRICHSEN: My memory was in country school, but a "big" kid wanted to teeter totter with me and thought it'd be funny to hit the ground real hard. Of course I hung on, but slammed my chin real hard on the plank. Split my chin wide open, never went to the doctor to get stitches.
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EDDIE HANNA, CLASS OF 1945. A story told to Sharla Sitzman:
When we were in the third grade, Miss Irwin was our teacher. One day when we went out for recess, there was this merry go round. One of the students, I don’t remember who, fell off and hurt his leg. |
Here are the third graders who were out on the playground that fateful day described by Ed Hanna. This photo of the Class of 1945 when they were in the third grade was in a reunion booklet compiled by Marian Day Goodenkauf for the 60th reunion of the Class. Dolores Karas Sochor shared the booklet.
swings
1954 - Billy Petrashek (Class of 1967) gets a gash in his head on the swings. I asked Bill about this and he laughed. "Another boy, quite a bully, was trying to take the swing away from me. The swing bounced and hit me." Neither boy got the swing. Bill must have been in kindergarten. SLC.
November 20, 1952
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Detail of Photo 1372
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district 65, woodhill country school
THE GIRLS
Swing on the left: Joan Johnson and Darleen Mertes
Standing: Marjorie Mertes
Swing on the right: Marilyn Kent and Dorothy Mertes
THE BOYS
Swing on the left: Vernon Kalina, Marion Kalina, and Norris Gold
Swing on the right: Allen Gold and Dale Johnson
and then there was the slipper slide....
before a picture of a slipper slide could be found, there were memories.....
ELAINE BINDER: I fell from the top of the big slide and broke my arm. Years later when they moved that slide to the park they got the slide put together wrong so that when you got to the bottom it just dumped you out because the top of the slide was now at the bottom. Really dangerous!
JOYCE NEWTON: That was a very dangerous slide ; I think slides like that are now basically banned or should be. I remember how slick it was and burning hot in the summer . I was a swing fan and merry go round
SHERRY WINKINHOFER: I remember the big old slide they had on the playground. It was so tall! Some of the kids would hang from the bar across the top to swing out a little before going down, to catch a little air. I thought I would try it, but just like always, when I tried something I got hurt! I ended up with the wind knocked out of me and a sprained back. I never tried that again! I did like the monkey bars though!
then, in june 2018, betty ann wilkins shared a picture of the slide at the school in 1936:
Photo 6585, shared by Betty Wilkins, daughter of Helen Norris Siemsen Martin, who died in 2018 at the age of 98. This was one of Helen's pictures, notated as having been taken in 1936.
this photo generated a storm of comments, becoming one of the most talked about pictures on the facebook page for quite a long time. some comments were general, like these:
Prudy Waters: There were very dangerous slides at the park and at the school. I remember them clearly.
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Joyce Newton: Yes, they were there even in mid to late 1970s when I used to take my kids to visit my Mom—at school anyway —
Marcia Kay Lang Schlegelmilch: Death Trap! Cara Harris Davis: That thing scared me to death! I would freeze when I got up there! Lesley Kerner-Slayaker. Me too! I would get to the top and have to take the stairs back down. Chuck Weaver from our class broke his arm in 2 places in 6th grade going down that. Shannon Sitzman Edwards: Slid down that many times as a kid! |
Joy Vrtiska Robison: How well I remember this killer. But we had loads of fun on it!
That had to be one quick burst of speed. Shirley Ebeler Hines |
other memories were more specific:
Shannon Freeman
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I remember that slide, and flipping over that top bar before you slide down- |
Kim Vrtiska
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Growing up there was one at the school and one at the park. The one at the school had a big hump you flew off of and the one at the park was more straight. |
Missy Stevens Freeman
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I think we all swung from the bar at the top too!!! Don’t know how we all survived!!!! |
Kim Vrtiska
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Oh yeah and slid down the poles |
Jackie Flider Uhri
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You probably added wax paper! |
Valerie Binder
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Packed snow on it and then went down in snow pants. That was a ride! |
Lori Vrtiska Seibl
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I remember thinking that everyone else’s slide was so boring compared to ours! We would go to the top, climb over the edge, and slide down the poles. Or we would grab the bar and swing as hard as we could to see how far we could fly off the hump! There were a few broken arms! Never would happen today - and can hardly believe that they let it happen then! |
Suz Sitzman Ellis
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Ooh. Ooh! I got one! |
Shannon Sitzman Edwards
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The mean boys would stay under there and do that to us when we went down |
Suz Sitzman Ellis
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I always thought it was an extra lift. I liked it. |
Carolyn Sue Uhri-Rottmann
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l had the very first short mini-skirt in TR in the 50's before they became popular. My skirt got caught on something at the top so when I got to the bottom I was wearing a 10" skirt. One girl ran inside to tell Mrs. Rexroth who immediately called my Mother & the rest of the class circled around me as we shuffled into the building. One positive - I found out who my true friends were. |
in 2019, a picture of the school showed the slipper slide from the side
Photo 7764, shared by Susan Gavitt Horton in 2019
sometimes playground equipment is unnecessary:
From 1917 history of a country school in Pawnee County, see State Historical Society records for name of school
A 1954 teacher's bulletin that includes playground rules: play only on the west and south side of the building...... (?)
