03/26/2026
Marengo Valley and Surrounding area schools (early to mid 1900s):
In keeping with yesterday's theme of early 1900s Marengo Valley and surrounding area schools, today will include some more photos of the small local schools in that time frame.
Below is a short history primer about schools in the Marengo Valley and surrounding area. Photos of many of these other schools will be posted individually later, in order to give each school its "moment in the sun", so to speak.
During the settlement of the Marengo Valley in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the families who settled in the small communities and surrounding areas knew that their children needed good schools. The parents of many of these families at this time were immigrants, and one of the things that America provided them was the promise of a good education for their children. In these small communities and rural areas, significant effort on the part of the parents was needed just to build and establish these schools.
Children who were the first to make their way through the school might even become future teachers as they became adults. The distance that students needed to travel to get to these schools was the primary reason for the chosen location of each school. Villages like Marengo and High Bridge were able to build schools within the village. But in the outlying rural areas, the farm families often had to build their own schools. In many cases, those schools were named after the family who lived closest to the school, owned the land the school was built on, were the primary founders of that school, or even provided the teachers from within their own family. Thus, there were schools named after local families, such as Laitinen School, Wilson School, and Provost School.
To be able to reliably get their children to school each day, the schools needed to be within walking distance (a few miles), or at the very least a short horse-drawn ride away. Automotive school buses weren't common until the 1930s and later, and roads were rough by modern standards. In some cases, children who lived further from the schools would even board during each school week with families that lived close to the school. Teachers also would board with local families.
Since many of the parents of these first generation families were Finnish immigrants, they spoke Finnish in their homes. A few never did have a good grasp of English. The next generation, their children, became bilingual. They were able to speak Finnish at home, and English at school and in public. As is typical of immigrant groups, with each generation of these Finnish families the ability to speak, read, and write Finnish became more rare. However, due to the pride many had of their Finnish roots, some of the local schools (and churches) made a point of teaching Finnish to these new generations. This was fairly common into the 1930s, and possibly even later.
Eventually most of these small rural schools were consolidated into larger schools as part of the Ashland and Mellen school districts.
Laitinen, Wilson, and Provost Schools consolidated into the Brunswillow School. By 1956 Brunswillow School was consolidated into the new Marengo Valley School.
The current Marengo Valley School was built in 1956 along Highway 112 between Marengo and Sanborn to consolidate the many smaller schools in the villages of Marengo and Sanborn, along with rural schools like Brunswillow and Agnew.
To summarize:
Several early 1900s schools (Laitinen, Wilson, Provost) consolidated into the Brunswillow School in the early 1930s.
The village of Marengo’s first school in the early 1900s was located along modern day Highway 13 that runs through the village. That building eventually became Slavik’s Tavern (Marengo Valley Inn) in later years. By 1929, a new Marengo School was built on what later became the Ashland County Fairgrounds. This school lasted until 1956. The building became an exhibit building for the Ashland County Fair for years, until it was eventually demolished.
In 1956, the new Marengo Valley Grade School was opened along Highway 112 between Highway 13 north of Marengo and the village of Sanborn. The old Marengo School (grades K through 6), the Brunswillow School, the Sanborn School, and the Agnew School were consolidated into this new school. This school is the now the grade school for the area. Grades 7 and above were sent to Ashland for their junior high and high school educations.
Schools that had been south of Marengo, such as Section 5 School, High Bridge School, North York School, and Morse School were eventually closed and consolidated into the Mellen School District.
