Rock Springs School

The Rock Springs School had their last school day of school. Did you know that the first school in Ableman (Rock Springs) was in 1856? Col. Ableman built the log cabin and Miss Maria Welton was the first schoolteacher. Later the school was located in a frame building on the corner of River and Maple Streets. That building was torn down and later replaced by a water station. In 1900, Rock Springs Elementary School was built on a hill overlooking the town. At the time it was built, the town was thriving as the result of several quarries located nearby. In 1921, an addition was made to the school. There were four classrooms in the old school, accommodating kindergarten through eighth grade and two in the new addition for ninth and tenth grade. The junior and senior years of high school were held in Reedsburg. In 1972, $500,000 was allocated from Reedsburg Area School District to construct the present building. Discover more about Sauk County Schools with the book “Good Old Golden Rule Days” a history of Sauk County country schools. Also take look at remaining one-room schools in Doug Ohman’s “Schoolhouses of Minnesota”. This book is filled with 120 color photographs with tales on the evolution of lunch pails, consolidation of rural schools, profiles of bullies and teachers’ pets and more.