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Upper Lehigh schools
What's on this page:
- Photos of the Upper Lehigh school in Foster Township
- Reminiscences
- Photos of students in 1921 (with names) and circa 1922
- Published student program for Christmas (both schools, 1929)
- Published student program for Thanksgiving (Butler Twp, 1938)
According to Charlie Stumpf who grew up in Upper Lehigh, the Upper Lehigh school in Foster Township was built in 1867 and closed in 1950, and the school in Butler Township was built in 1876 and closed in 1941.
These two photos are of the school on the Foster Township side of Upper Lehigh:
From Nadine
Heckler: "My aunt Esther is 91. She says that when
she started going to the UL school it only had 2 rooms and that the
building that was across the street (where the honor roll eventually
went) was where the 7th and 8th graders went. Then they added the 3rd
room / addition to the UL school and that's when the other building was
used for just activities. The activities building was eventually torn
down due to its condition. My Aunt Gwenie, who is 88, says the
foundation of that building is still there and that's where they put
the honor roll." Here is the photocopied photo of the Upper
Lehigh
school that Nadine sent. 
This is another
photo of the same Upper Lehigh school. This one was in Foster Township,
and there was also
another
school at the end of town in Butler Township. I don't know if this is
correct, but my dad told us that at one point the boundary between the
townships went through their house on Main Street. When the line was
redrawn, a couple of his siblings had to change schools. Photo courtesy
of the Freeland
Historical Society.
Another memory of the Foster school came
from my dad, Steve Tancin,
who showed up for the first day of school in 1926 only to be sent home
because he only spoke/understood Slovak. So, that year the John and
Mary Tancin family worked on learning English. My grandfather already
spoke and wrote some English; I don't know about my grandmother at that
time. But this became a family project. Here at right is my dad's first
grade school picture. He also remembered that sometimes on really super cold school days, one of the boys would go early and pour cold water into the lock so that by the time the teacher arrived the door couldn't be opened, and they would all have to go home until the lock could be thawed.
About the other school on the Butler Township side of Upper Lehigh: I don't have a photo of that school, but Charlie Stumpf went to school there September 1935 through June 1941 and his memory of the school paints a vivid picture:
Butler Township School - in Upper Lehigh - built in 1876 (when our country was celebrating its 100th birthday). No electricity or plumbing - later a drinking fountain was installed in the Boys' Cloak Room. During the cold winter weather, the main valve had to be turned off at the end of the school day to prevent the water pipe from freezing and bursting. The valve was located underneath the floor of the cloak room - one of the older boys would have to climb down through a trap door to turn the valve. At timeis when the water line did freeze up, water was carried from one of the nearest homes, usually in a huge 'milk can' pulled on a sled.
One teacher taught all subject to all eight grades. The school ceased operation in 1941 and was razed a few years later. It was in service for 65 years. It served about 50 families. In 7th grade I was transferred to the Foster Township school. Butler Township Consolidated School in Drums opened in 1942. When it was time for high school it was approximately 4 miles away, no free transportation, had to pay to ride the school bus.
This is the 1921 grade school class in the
Foster Township school. I'm typing the names so that they're
searchable: Joseph Berta, Anna Opiary, Sue Adomshick, Edna Zierdt, Sue
Petruska, George Koral, Alice Palir, Jimmy Brogan, Anna Semon, Frank
Adomshick, Ethel Danielowich, George Miller, Edgar Wagner, Helen
Buchman, Jeannette Lesser, Kasper, Margaret Heckler, Ann Breznitsky,
Helen Williams, Lulu Shemo (Stubbs), Plavcan (Steve?), Horwath (Main
St.), Horwath (Railroad St.), Bessie Hughes, Bennish (Spring St.), and
teachers John Johnson and Ralph Heckler. Photo came from Charlie Stumpf.This is the grade school class at the Foster school circa 1922. All I have is a photocopy, so the faces aren't very clear.
The photocopy came from Charlie Stumpf.
And here are reports of two student holiday programs from 1929 and 1938, published in the North Side news sections of the Hazleton papers (I don't know which paper the 1929 one was in). I see my dad, possibly his brother Johnny, and maybe some of cousins listed in the 1929 Christmas program, along with two Stumpfs (underlined by Charlie) and many other familiar names. The 1938 Thanksgiving program at the Butler school was reported in the Plain Speaker by Vic Oleyar 11-25-1938. I see my uncles Joe and Georgie and my auntie Helen listed, along with some Berta cousins and also Charlie Stumpf as Jack Sprat. So much fun to think of these kids performing in these programs. Clippings from Charlie Stumpf.
