The Hay Lake School is a historic schoolhouse in

Scandia, Minnesota Scandia is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,984 at the 2020 census. Scandia is 25 miles northeast of Saint Paul, Minnesota, and is part of the Twin Cities Metro Area. History As evidenced by the town' ...

, United States, in use from 1896 to 1963. It is now operated by the Washington County Historical Society as a museum alongside the 1868

Johannes Erickson House The Johannes Erickson House is a historic log cabin in Scandia, Minnesota, United States, built in 1868 with a gambrel roof, a distinctive tradition from southern Sweden. It was moved to its current site adjacent to the Hay Lake School in 1974 ...

. The school was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1970 for having local significance in the themes of architecture, education, and social history. It was nominated as Scandia's first and only surviving early school.

Description

The Hay Lake School is a small brick building with white trim. The

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

roof is topped by a belfry. The main façade on the east has a porch with a decorative lattice

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

, a typical embellishment of the period.

History

The

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

for this part of Washington County was organized in 1855, but classes were initially held in various local homes. In 1860 the district acquired the former Elim Lutheran Church, and classes were held there until 1890. This building is now preserved at the nearby Gammelgården Museum. Local residents around Scandia worked to construct the area's first purpose-built school in 1895. One of the lead contributors was Peter Rosell. While carrying a load of bricks intended for the project, however, he broke through ice on the St. Croix River and drowned. The Hay Lake School was completed in 1896 and served continuously until 1963, when a new school building was constructed nearby. The old building was boarded up and stood vacant for years. In 1970 a group of local residents, many graduates of the school, decided to refurbish the building and open it for tours, helping it gain National Register status in the process. The Washington County Historical Society accepted management of the schoolhouse in 1974, moving the Johannes Erickson House onto the property to form a small museum complex near a 1900 monument to the first Swedish settlers in Minnesota. Four years later the historical society gained full title to the school by purchasing it from the Forest Lake School District.

References

External links

Hay Lake School and Erickson Log Home
{{National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota 1896 establishments in Minnesota Defunct schools in Minnesota Education museums in the United States Former school buildings in the United States Museums in Washington County, Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Minnesota School buildings completed in 1895 School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Schools in Washington County, Minnesota

Description

History

See also

References

External links