The stories of Lincoln and McKinley schools

By Emily Mayer

In the Sept. 4, "Darts and Laurels" section of the Havre Daily News Opinion page, a laurel was given to the efforts to change the name of Mount McKinley to its traditional name of Denali. The paragraph continued on to state that there are a lot of places and things named after President William McKinley, including a street in Havre. However, the Havre Daily News forgot the other prominent fixture named after President McKinley, that being Lincoln-McKinley school.

McKinley School was constructed in 1904 to alleviate the overcrowding at Havre's first permanent school, the Washington School.

This first Washington School was located across the street from the new Post Office, at the southeast corner lot of First Avenue and Third Street. At the time the first Washington School was constructed in 1894, it created considerable controversy as being too big for the number of students in Havre. By 1900, teacher Miss L. E. Lepper, the future Mrs. L. K. Devlin, complained about the crowded conditions, there being 65 to 85 students in a room meant for only half that size. When McKinley School was built, the complaints were similar-too big for the student body.

McKinley School would be pressed into greater service after the first Washington School burned in 1912 due to an overheated furnace. Rather than re-build on that site, the school board decided to build a brand new school further down First Avenue. Students from the first Washington School attended classes in what available space was remaining at the McKinley School while the new Devlin School was being built. Rotating schedules were necessary to accommodate all of the students. Seeing a need to again alleviate already existing crowded conditions at McKinley School prior to the Washington School fire, another school was built in 1912, that being the Lincoln School.

The Lincoln School was built on the same block as the McKinley School. If one looks at the old Devlin School, the Lincoln School and even the St. Jude Catholic School, they look a lot alike - due in no small part that the same architect, F. F. Bossout, was responsible for the design of all three schools.

Both McKinley and Lincoln schools were named after assassinated presidents. William McKinley was shot September 6, 1901 by anarchist Leon Czolgosz and died on Sept. 14, 1901. Abraham Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth and died the following day.

McKinley School was also referred to as "Public School" or "East End School" in the early Havre newspapers. In addition to conducting classes for students, other groups and organizations also met in the building, including both the German and Norwegian Lutheran churches holding services sometimes in their respective native languages until their churches could be built.

Over time, the need for a new school on Havre's East End was made very apparent, especially after military personnel returned from World War II and started families. In 1952, both the McKinley and Lincoln schools were razed. and in 1954, the new Lincoln-McKinley School opened on the same site with a student body of 450. Among its more charming features was a first grade classroom with a fireplace. My mother was one of the first students to attend first grade in that classroom; years later, it was my first-grade classroom with Miss Joyce Kessinger at the helm, a teacher whom I hold in high regard to this day. Also included for the first time was a cafeteria which served freshly prepared hot lunches to students on-site, not prepared and brought in from elsewhere as it is in most Havre schools today.

Thousands of students have come and gone through the doors of McKinley, Lincoln and Lincoln-McKinley schools, and many of us have fond memories of attending classes there. We had excellent teachers in the classroom, fantastic cooks in the cafeteria, made life-long friends on the playground and learned lessons we still follow today.