In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Walking uphill to school and back

Discussion in 'Everything Else (off topic)' started by Backwoods Savage, Jun 5, 2019.

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  1. Backwoods Savage

    Backwoods Savage Moderator

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    Several times it comes up about having to walk miles to school and it was uphill both ways or something similar.

    I got to wondering. Is there anyone on this forum besides me and my wife who did walk to a country school? Especially those one room school houses.

    Here is the country school where I attended. It is still standing too! Also it is owned by a friend of ours.
    Fenmore school.JPG

    My wife also attended a country school but that school was sold and made into a home. She was lucky though as she was less than 1/4 mile from the school. My hike was 1 3/4 miles.
     
    Backwoods Savage, Jun 5, 2019
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  2. papadave

    papadave

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    Lived in the city, but walked a mile each way to Junior HS (first one), and both HS I attended.
     
    papadave, Jun 5, 2019
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  3. Chazsbetterhalf

    Chazsbetterhalf

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    When I grew up my mom never learned how to drive and my dad left Monday morning and didn't get home till dinner time Thursday. So had no choice but walk. The street I lived on had a nice little hill. During winter wasn't unusual to have to get a run at it to make it to the top.
     
    Chazsbetterhalf, Jun 5, 2019
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  4. bear 1998

    bear 1998

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    Only when i missed the bus.....what amazes me...these kids get picked up right in front of there homes . Got behind buses already that stopped 6 times within a 100 yards n the kids werent small either ! When i was 10..i had to walk 200 yards to catch the bus with 6 other people. Lawsuits n chicken chit people today....
     
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  5. Canadian border VT

    Canadian border VT

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    Grew up in the city, 1 square mile, a river on one side and then the school was on top of the hill. Three-quarters of a mile to school. But we went home for lunch.. One way was all up hill.. Other not so much!
     
    Canadian border VT, Jun 5, 2019
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  6. Jack Straw

    Jack Straw

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    Dennis, is it possible to post a picture of the house your wife grew up in? It’s very beautiful!
     
    Jack Straw, Jun 5, 2019
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  7. Chaz

    Chaz

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    Our Jr high school was literally uphill both ways.

    Can't remember how far, not very to be sure (maybe 1/4 mi). But it was over the hill from our house, so it was 1/2 uphill, then 1/2 downhill.
     
    Chaz, Jun 5, 2019
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  8. ironpony

    ironpony

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    My Dad went to school in Brooklyn NY he would hang on the back of the trolley so he could use the nickel to buy a hot dog on the way home.
    He lived in Coney Island on the beach also, he would go skinny dipping after school so his Mom would not know, seeing his wet clothes.
    this would of been around mid 1930's
     
    ironpony, Jun 5, 2019
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  9. wildwest

    wildwest Moderator

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    eI cannot find a decent pic of kiddos school, the white on the left was the original school, then the 3 room addition on the right sometime in the 60's-80's (sorry I cannot recall), later the gymnasium, the tall part towards the back. The old school now houses the groundskeeper , which I find interesting as the roads and playground are dirt, not sand, rutted dirt and there is no grass there.

    Inked10690289_10203389398014299_576957301190493165_n_LI.jpg

    Here is my fathers, grades K-8, less than 1/8th mile, his great grandfather donated the land and volunteered to run the school board for decades. He chose this spot because it has a rare for Colorado plains artesian spring, they built a water fountain for it. IIRC it was 1902 or 1911 it was built. Sadly, it's a residence now, that obviously does not even water the lawn. I'm certain the trumpet vines on the fence there are from the Tanaka's next door to the west (bought part of the farm, husband survived WWII Japanese concentration camp with nothing more than he could fit in a tiny suitcase) and my G G Grandfather. I wanted to get a pic of Ironton School a bit south closer to Denver that the same ancestor donated (born 1834 Pennsylvania), but cannot find one now, sadly it's probably gone (interesting since it was native stone, small but grand). It was two stories as well but not as wide. What intrigues me is that his mother and sisters could not read or write, granted they were all born late 1700's and early 1800's, but this man married a school teacher and they helped shape Denver before it was really even a town. It was "Littleton Territory" and "Kansas Territory" back then. His wife and children and all the other little girls under the school board all learned to read and write. Impressive!

    upload_2019-6-5_13-13-4.png

    Across from the school below. Where what was left of the old farm, it was sold off piece by piece for 100 years, 1/3 during the depression. What remained and where I was fortunate to spend summers at with my aged grandparents, I learned to love simple pleasures, kindness generosity despite one's wealth (in this case lack of wealth but did without to help others), church, Bible School, unconditional love, tolerance and acceptance. The old farmhouse was just beyond the neighborhood in the picture, the two stone pillars announcing the lane to the home still stand since the 1870's though the lane and crop fields are all different and the farm house is now a neighborhood. Giant tall cottonwoods and irrigation ditches used to line the lane. I cannot find the words to express what a blissful safe place this was for a child.

    Capture.PNG


    I neglected to add, my elementary school K-6 was about 3/4 mile away, Junior high was 1 mile, got swing to a rope across the creek be it backpack, trumpet or whatever :rofl: :lol: for 3 years. I started working at the local pools at age 11 (fudged on my youth work permit that I was 13). The next 8 years I rode my 10 speed to one of two local pools for work on weekends and full time in summer, both about 2 miles away each. Until I started had enough money to buy a car :makeitrain"
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2019
    wildwest, Jun 5, 2019
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  10. yooperdave

    yooperdave

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    Walked to H.S.

    Not quite a mile one way but it was shorter at the end of the day when school was out.





    And usually in a blizzard!
     
    yooperdave, Jun 5, 2019
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  11. yooperdave

    yooperdave

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    You've been there? :jaw: Maybe the two of you dated but the ornery one left you for Dennis?

    :D
     
    yooperdave, Jun 5, 2019
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  12. Jack Straw

    Jack Straw

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    I don’t kiss and tell!:p
     
    Jack Straw, Jun 6, 2019
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  13. Mwalsh9152

    Mwalsh9152

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    I took a bus to jr high and high school. After being suspended from the school bus for some debauchery, a friend and I realized it was actually better for us schedule wise to walk about 3/4 of a mile and take public transportation. That bus would drop us right in front of the school, and we didnt have to get up as early.

    What I never understood was when I was in elementary school, if I walked out the front door of my house and looked right, I could see a school that was less than 2/10 of a mile away, but I had to walk about a mile to my school.
     
    Mwalsh9152, Jun 6, 2019
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  14. hovlandhomestead

    hovlandhomestead

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    We lived in Hawaii for a few years. I went to 6th and 7th grade there in 1976 and 1977. We lived on a hillside called the Kaiwa Ridge. For 6th grade I walked downhill to the small school in the neighborhood called Lanikai Elementary.

    For 7th grade at Kailua Elementary, I walked a ways down the hill to the beach at Kailua and caught a public bus that I rode to a stop close to the school. Of course that bus didn't stop there. It was an invitation for a friend of mine and I to explore the island. Since my public middle school was very lax on taking any attendance, we skipped school regularly to ride the bus lines to different beaches and rural mountain areas to explore. We could easily eat off the land for the day with all the fresh fruit. I had a paper route, so also had some of my own spending money for other treats. It was a lot of fun and formative experience of freedom at that time in my life, the memories of which I will always cherish. It was an important part of my education, beyond my experience of attending a very culturally diverse public school.
     
    hovlandhomestead, Jun 6, 2019
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  15. Backwoods Savage

    Backwoods Savage Moderator

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    Thank you. You might like this old picture of it. It has not changed much over the years but now her nephew is remodeling the interior. It should really be nice when he finishes the job.

    At Harry Woolstons.JPG
     
    Backwoods Savage, Jun 6, 2019
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  16. billb3

    billb3

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    If I missed the bus I would walk to school and it really was uphill both ways. Also downhill. 3.7 miles each way.
     
    billb3, Jun 6, 2019
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  17. fishingpol

    fishingpol

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    I was bussed across town. When I was growing up, my neighbor next door grew up a ways down the street. He walked to a one room schoolhouse. I believe it was on a map of 1865, so it was an oldie. It was close to a mile to walk. He said in the winter, the reservoir out behind it would freeze over and they would cut through the woods on an old carriage trail and cross the ice for a shorter walk. Kids were more durable back then!
     
    fishingpol, Jun 6, 2019
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  18. Jack Straw

    Jack Straw

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    My grandfather had to ride a horse 3 miles to the railroad station and then take a train 10 miles to school. He said it was along day.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2019
    Jack Straw, Jun 6, 2019
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  19. fishingpol

    fishingpol

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    The horse probably didn't like the train ride either...:whistle:
     
    fishingpol, Jun 6, 2019
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  20. Jack Straw

    Jack Straw

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    He ran along side!:p:rofl: :lol:
     
    Jack Straw, Jun 6, 2019
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