The Little Schoolhouse on the Prairie

Boys to the right,

 

 

 

 

 

girls to the left,

 

 

 

 

 

 

the band in the center of course,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 and up front on the slate board
the name and date,

Hecker School
May 7, 1907

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a picture of a quintessential American country school.
A carefully arranged group of 63 children and adults
pose outside the doorway of a clapboarded schoolhouse.

With 47 boys and girls, aged between 4 and 16 years old,
it's a large school that deserves an appropriate faculty,
so there appears to be at least one male
and two female teachers standing in the center.
 

All the children are dressed in their best clothes,
though one boy stands out as if his mother
shopped at a big city department store.
Since three other men and a ten piece brass band have joined the group
this was surely a special occasion that deserved a nice photograph.

 

The photo is an 8" x 6" albumen sepia print
mounted on card stock that unfortunately was trimmed
so there is no imprint of a photographer. 

The only clue to the location 
is what is written on the small slate board.

Hecker School

If the name had been Franklin School or Washington School making an identification would be impossible. But Hecker is a fairly uncommon Germanic name which narrowed the number of place names. There were a few false trails to eliminate, but the phrase "Hecker School" turned up in a digitized newspaper found in the Library of Congress archives with enough good references to fit with the photograph.

 

 

 

 

Minot ND Ward County Independent
9 September 1903

The school was named after Owen Hecker, a farmer and postmaster of Logan, North Dakota, a small rural community in Ward County a few miles southeast of Minot, North Dakota and only 55 miles south of the Canadian border. Owen was a recent immigrant to Logan, having moved there in 1901 from Iowa at the age of 80. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1821, Hecker became part of America's great westward migration as in 1832 his family moved to Ohio, then in 1854 to Illinois, and then in 1883 to Iowa. Finally in 1901 Hecker, now a widower, and his 4 adult children with their spouses relocated to the prairies of North Dakota.

 

In Hubbard County, Iowa during President Cleveland's administration Hecker was appointed in 1894 as a postmaster to his rural community. Shortly after moving to North Dakota in 1901, Hecker secured another position as postmaster and earned the impressive distinction of becoming the oldest postmaster in the United States. The job of a rural postmaster didn't require the level of duties that a big city post office would have, but Owen's name began appearing in the county's weekly newspaper, mainly in disputes with the Soo Rail Road, either to add a spur onto the line in Logan, or at least stop the train instead of just tossing a mail bag out. I suspect a postman in his eighties had a strong opinion about making a round trip of several miles by wagon in order to pick up mail at Minot's main post office.

The newspaper didn't record exactly when, but around 1902 Owen Hecker decided to build a school on his property to serve the local children. It supposedly cost him $500, and since it was on his farm it naturally was called the Hecker School. In the 1910 census, his granddaughter Cora Hecker, age 27 was listed as a school teacher and I believe she is one of the two women pictured in the photo, perhaps the taller one in the dark dress. The school not only met the educational needs of the community but served as a meeting place for church groups, literary clubs, and other local social activities. Though I was unable to find anything about an event at the school on May 7, 1907, I did find a later report of the school with a brass band.

 

 

Minot ND Ward County Independent
22 December 1910

 

In December 1910 the Mouse River Literary Society met for an debate at the Hecker School and were joined by the Logan Cornet Band under the direction of Mr. L. Nelson. I believe this must be the band in the photo and Mr. Nelson is likely the man with the cornet, standing center right and not wearing a band uniform. (The question for the debate was described in an earlier report. Which did more to advance civilization, the press or the railroads? The argument for the press won.)

   

In the 1910 census there were 231 residents in Hecker's postal area, with farmer and laborer the most common occupations along with a few railroad workers. Considering that North Dakota did not become a state until 1889, it was time of great expansion in the region as the county's population jumped nearly 375% in the 1890s going from 1,681 to 7,961, and then in the first decade of the 20th century leaping another 217% to 25,221 citizens. With the exception of Native Americans, most people in North Dakota were transplants like the Hecker family. And by 1910 many people in this community were 1st or 2nd generation Norwegians, Irish, Swedes, or Russians.

 

Sadly on 16 September 1910, Owen Hecker passed away at the age of 89. Ironically only a week before the Ward County weekly reported that he was in good health and was expecting to reach 100. His reputation as the oldest postmaster merited an obituary on the front page of North Dakota's capital city newspaper.

 

Bismarck ND Tribune
9 September 1910

 

The 1910 census listed this place's name as just "Township 154, R 82". A century later the trains are less frequent and Logan, ND is now considered just a small unincorporated community of Ward County, ND, and the name Hecker does not survive at all, so I'm unsure of the location of the old Hecker farm. Reports in the newspaper mentioned a Hecker Hill in this mostly flat landscape, and in 1904 Mr. Hecker had a bridge constructed across the twisty Souris River, aka Mouse River which he later sold to the county. Unfortunately the street names in Logan are not very helpful either as there is no "Hecker School Rd.", only grandiose names like 93rd Street and 84th Avenue. But I think the site was somewhere on the east side of the river in this satellite view.

 

Logan, Ward County, North Dakota

Minot ND Ward County Independent
12 August 1915

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In August 1915 the Ward County Independent reported on a visit paid to the Hecker Farm by Mr. and Mrs. G. D. Colcord, accompanied by Mrs. Simpson, musical instructor at the Normal, a state teachers college. Owen Hecker's youngest son, William Hecker and his wife served "a dinner fit for a crowned head and consisting of everything conceivable on a menu from fried chicken to ice cream."

Mr. Hecker gave his guests a tour of the farm, of which he was obviously proud, and as Mrs. Simpson came from the teachers college where his daughter, Irene Hecker, was a student, he showed them the old Hecker school building which was used now as a storehouse. The report implies that the old school was no longer in operation, and that another educational facility was in use for the families of Logan. It's the only reference I could find that gives a kind of end date for Mr. Hecker's school, about 10 to 12 years since it first opened in around 1902-03.

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Some of my favorite photos to research are of bands from small towns which had newspapers chronicling the daily local news. Bands show up in reports about almost every event in a town, and next to a church activity, school events were a perfect time for a concert. It's remarkable that such a small place as Logan, North Dakota had enough musicians for a brass band, but not surprising when you consider the power of music. Playing or listening to a musical instrument inspires people. I imagine the great Dakota prairie felt a lot less lonely with the sound of music. And I'm sure it charmed many children too.

The fabric of America is woven with the threads of thousands upon thousands of stories like that of Owen Hecker and his school. It's a stout, strong canvas made of people helping people. Charitable individuals like old Mr. Hecker recognized a need and generously contributed to making a better community and thereby a stronger nation. Finding a story like that in an old photo is like finding buried treasure. Sometimes sepia tone can be golden.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everyone studies hard,
even in shop class.