Gale School Memories

PHOTO: Gale School in Belmont’s Third Grade Class 1954-1955. The historic building was recently saved and moved. We asked readers who attended Gale School to send us their memories and photos. Photo Courtesy Carol (Rivers) MacLeod

—A moment lasts all of a second, but the memory lives on forever.

In our July 30th issue we featured the move of the historic Gale School in Belmont. >>Read that Post By Clicking Here<<
It came after decades of hard work and determination by the Save Our Gale School Committee.
Now in its new location not far from its original spot, it will be renovated by Lakes Region Community Development and the building will start a new life.
Among the ideas for its use at the moment are housing, a day care and a senior day care.
The Gale School was constructed in 1894 and was shutdown in 1985 when it was used for cold storage. The school was not only used for elementary students but between 1927 and 1937 it was also the home of Belmont High School.
The building holds some wonderful memories for those who attended school there and we asked our readers who attended Gale School to send us any memories and photos they might have.
We thank those who contacted us and shared these memories.

Robert Banfill who attended Gale School in the 1950s remembers:
“I remember saluting the flag every morning, reciting The Lord’s Prayer and then singing the Star Spangled Banner or America The Beautiful. I was also assigned to ring the bell to start recess. Of course, it wasn’t the big bell in the tower but it was a smaller hand bell.”

Some memories of Gale School graduates from the class of 1957-1958 including: Susan (Moulton) Crawley, Brenda (Roberts) Long, Carol (Rivers) MacLeod and Linda (Booska) Sweet
“The sand-filled fire buckets on the stair landings, the bell pull on the upper floor, the coal-fired steam boiler in the basement where Mr. Harris, the principal when we were in 6th grade, would duck down to for a cigarette every hour.”
“The huge icicles that formed, and fell, from the second story and the fire escape made of wood, designed to create a chimney in case of fire, that would have trapped half the school population.”

“The A-bomb shelter consisting of running outside to sit on the ground under the pine trees, duck our heads, and closing our eyes against the nuclear blast.”
“The playground equipment and the cows that would sometimes break through the rickety barbed-wire fence of the adjoining pasture and wander onto the school property. And those pine groves where high school kids would grope and sometimes even smoke.”
“I remember the sinks used for hand washing outside the first floor classrooms and the heat pipes that were right there because I recall pushing a boy against them due to teasing or something and he burned his arm. That would have been 3rd grade.”
“I remember playing in the pine needles during recess and lunch. Later years I remember our home economics class in the basement.”
“I think for the most part we had really nice teachers back then who wanted us all to succeed! In talking with my two sisters we missed out on having a class trip like they did. That would have been some fun times for us.
“I really don’t remember too much from the Gale School era except for the recesses where we played on the cross-bars, swings and marble games we played. Also had fun toward the end of the year when we played outside games like the grain bag races and stuff we played on the ball field in the back of the school.”

“What I remember about the Gale School is the large windows and on sunny days the brightness in our classroom.
“When my homeroom was on the second floor the outside stairs were used for fire drills. The inside stairs seemed really wide, but I was only 7 years old when I first attended the Gale School. I do remember the bathroom facilities were in the basement. I attended classes from grades 2nd through 6th.

“I had 34 classmates in third grade with Mrs. Dorothea Wells our teacher.
“There were 33 classmates in my 6th grade class with Mr. E. W. Harris as teacher and also the Principal of the Gale School.
“Our curriculum consisted of Reading, Language (believe it is now referred to as “English”), Spelling, Penmanship, Arithmetic, Social Studies and Science. All the classes were held in the same room and I had the same teacher for all subjects.”

Ray Booska who attended Gale School from 1959-1961 remembers:
“The steep paved hill at the grade school was great for us guys in the winter to slide down with our old leather ski boots, competing for distance.
“The floors, stairs & hallways were the creekiest, noisiest floors in the world.
“I often got to play checkers with Mrs. McAllister during recess. Guess it kept me out of playground trouble.
“Lots of good hiding places in the Gale school.
“The (Dungeon) basement was an area often used for punishment for we boys that got in trouble.
“5th and 6th grade was a time for us guys to start selecting girls to develop and hone our hand holding and smooching techniques with especially in the roof covered fire escape area.
“Gale school aged boys at times could group together and flex their muscles and turn Mr. Sylvesters (5th & 6th grade history teacher) VW bug sideways in the parking area. Lots of laughs.
“Singing class included lots of kids that got gathered together in the large down stairs room to sing older generation songs like the old grey mare, coming around the mountain on and on and on for long periods of time!
“Don’t remember having a school nurse?
“There were a few after school outdoor sports. Sometimes on Saturdays we would meet at the basketball court above the town hall and would play with adult alumni.”

Sally Stucker who now lives in Colorado remembers:
“My name back then was Sally Thompson. I attended The Gale School 1965-1967. (Grades 5th and 6th) The Gale School was a step up I thought as we switched classrooms.
“As I recall there were 4 classrooms; 2 on the first floor and 2 on the second floor. I don’t recall all of my teachers, but I do recall Mrs. Casey and Mr. St Cyr.
“The teachers would ring a school bell to announce the classroom change! Exciting times in old Belmont.
“We played softball and marbles in the spring. It was very nice growing up in little old Belmont.
“I now live in Evergreen, Colorado. Very interesting to see that they have saved and moved the old Gale School. Gale is a family name. My maternal Great grandmother was Bertha Gale (Houston). I have enclosed a school picture of myself from 1965.
That old school building sure brings back some fond memories.”

We would also like to thank Joce Humiston Lounsbury for providing a photo of her 6th Grade Class of 1948.