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Stout
Manual Training School
Senator Stout strongly believed that education was the best method
in uplifting the standard of living for the 4,000-plus dependents
on the Knapp, Stout & Co., Company payroll. He endeavored
to provide practical education for the manual laborers and those
responsible for domestic management as well as their children.
He contended the best education was one that equipped young people
for practical life work.
And thus, on January 5th 1891, the Stout Manual Training School
opened its doors.
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Stout's
unique educational concept supported manual training integrated
into the public school curriculum from kindergarten through high
school.
So successful was the school that in 1892 ground was broken for
larger facilities: a clock-tower manual training building connected
by a bridge to the Central School, which housed the grade school
and high school. |
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1894, Senator Stout introduced the Kindergarten Training School
to his campus. He believed the kindergarten concept afforded an
opportunity to train young eager minds at a time when those minds
were the most receptive to learning. He further believed that children's
playtime could also be utilized as an effective teaching vehicle.
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The
second Manual Training building stood for only five years. A boiler
room fire, in February 1897, destroyed both that building and the
Central School. While in Madison, Senator Stout received a telegraph
announcing the disaster and immediately took an indefinite Senate
leave of absence to deal with the situation.
He received a petition to rebuild the school buildings destroyed
by the fire. Three hundred citizens, city and county officials,
and Board of Education members signed the document. The new manual
training building (now Bowman Hall) was rebuilt in 1898 and was
made as fireproof as possible with sandstone, brick, concrete, and
steel.
The new manual training building and the adjoining Central School
opened in 1898. A high school diploma or its equivalent was the
only admissions requirement. Tuition was $100 per year with the
normal course of study lasting two years. The first graduates were
five in domestic economy and two in manual training. |
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Domestic science
and manual training classes were put in charge of the Yellow Lodge,
with instruction to make the most charming possible home with
their own hands. The end result was a home suited for a newlywed
family.
The building later became the Homemaker's School for Instruction
and also housed the first campus library.
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The
School of Physical Culture, opened in 1901, served as a physical
education facility for students as well as a community center for
the residents of Menomonie. |
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foundation of an Art Department began with Senator Stout's desire
to include aesthetic awareness along with manual training and domestic
science. Senator Stout sent art instructor Kate Murphy to the Orient
and around the world to acquire art objects for the Institute's
art collection. |
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Sewing
classroom, 1903. Domestic Science students sewed their own uniforms,
which they were required to wear in some of their classes.
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In 1908, the
Stout Institute Articles of Incorporation changed control of the
institution from the Board of Education of Menomonie into the
hands of a Board of Trustees, with James Huff Stout as president
and L.D. Harvey as vice-president.
The Stout Institute's four purposes were:
- Preparation
of manual training teachers and teachers of domestic art and
science
- Training
of women as homemakers
- Training
of men as trade workers
- Experimental
work in the field of industrial education
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Manual
training students in the drafting room, circa 1910. Senator Stout
believed students could learn their trade more thoroughly in the
Institute than as an apprentice. |
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