New Lincoln School dedicated

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Oct. 27, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

The original reddish-bricked Lincoln Elementary School stood at the center of the Nymore Village for 82 years, local historians said at a dedication for the new Lincoln School Tuesday.

And now, the new Lincoln, although several blocks from the original downtown of Nymore, will be the focal point of the next eight decades, they said.

More than 350 people filled the new Lincoln's gymnasium to hear Principal Nancy Allen officially ring in the future of education in Nymore and to hear local historians Bob Treuer and Lou Marchand reminisce about the past.

Two common themes intertwined the half dozen speeches given by school district dignitaries and Lincoln project personnel. Each spoke of the storied history of the old, two-story Lincoln building, and second, everyone spoke about the importance of Lincoln's future and its continued importance to Nymore.

"A school is a central part of a community. A school building is a gift a community gives itself," Allen said. "We're proud that Lincoln is the oldest school in the district. We're proud that generation after generation have attended school here."

Superintendent Rollie Morud said the completion of the new Lincoln was also the fulfillment of several promises to the school district residents.

First, he said, early in the process when the school had purchased what has become known as the horse pasture property for the school and residents felt the school would be better located elsewhere, the district administration and Bemidji School Board did as they asked.

And second, he said when the district promised that even though that the district's taxes would be high the first year Lincoln was opened, they would decrease the year after. He said that too has happened with the district's levy decreasing about $700,000 next year.

In addition, Morud talked about the initial negative response from the community to building a new Lincoln. He said someone sent him a letter with a newspaper clipping concerning earlier efforts that had failed to build a new Lincoln. The letter added that this was a waste of time because it would never be accomplished.

"Look at the power of positive thinking," Morud said, gesturing toward the walls surrounding him. "We have a functional, beautiful building. Lincoln used to be the oldest building in the district. Now it's the newest."

Treuer, who lives in the Nymore neighborhood and also was the author of the Lincoln history book compiled by a committee this past year, said history has repeated itself with the building of the new school.

Quite near the new school there once stood another two-room school known as the East School. He added that he hopes the new Lincoln continues to serve as a focal point for Nymore as has the old building.

"Lincoln is an ongoing tradition. The school has been rock solid through these 82 years," he said. "The school is a home to the children and to those of us who are no longer children."

The ceremony climaxed with about 10 students, who are members of the Lincoln school council, cutting a blue ribbon.

Notes:

• At the end of the dedication ceremony, Allen awarded the school district's Director of Business Services Bryan Westerman a plaque for his dedication to the new Lincoln School project. She said that throughout the project's history, all she had to do was call him with her concerns and they were concerns no longer.

• Nymore resident Zola Belle Bleth donated a portrait of herself as a member of the famed American Legion Drum and Bugle Corp in 1938. The Drum and Bugle Corp originated at the old Lincoln School, and was later sponsored by the Legion and is considered to be a major piece of the school's history. The painting -- entitled "Babe and Me" -- was painted by Bleth and will hang in the school.