Silbernagle & Around the School Yard

Leah Uffelman, Adrian Wolfleg, Verna Schmaltz, John Richter, Fred Lyczewski and Jean Schvengler(Nee Poffenroth) (and the man with her – his name is not mentioned) are interviewed about their time at school.

(A historic marker in the shape of a small school house is on a post along a fence line in a grassy fall field. The title of the film appears: Around the Schoolyard. Silbernagel School.)

(Vera Schmaltz shares memories at the Beiseker Golden Years Club)

Vera Schmaltz: I attended a country school, it was called Silbernagel school.

(Leonard Hagel shares memories from his home over zoom)

Leonard Hagel: I went to school along with my brothers and sister. Our school population was maybe 20 kids.

(Leah Uffleman shares memories from her home over zoom)

Leah Uffelman: In the Beiseker district, there was a school west of Beiseker, Silbernagel school. There was a bit of controversy between the Hagels and the Silbernagels at that time, because both of them had many children and lived in the area. The name Silbernagel evidently was decided upon anyway, so that was kind of interesting.

(Leonard Hagel shares memories from his home over zoom)

Leonard Hagel: It was actually a two-room schoolhouse to begin with, they had a couple from Ireland who came and they taught the junior grades and also high school, although the population of the school was very low, but this couple lived there in the teacherage. They did very well, but before my time, they left there, and teachers were very hard to come by. So it was downsized to one room and one teacher. That’s how it was until they closed the district.

(Vera Schmaltz shares memories at the Beiseker Golden Years Club)

Vera Schmaltz: For buildings on the place, there was the school and the teacherage, the barn and there was a coal shed and the two outhouses, which were important.

(Matt Schmaltz shares memories at the Beiseker Golden Years Club)

Matt Schmaltz: I remember a set of swings and a teeter-totter basically. Later on, a basketball court was set up, but we played on the ground- dirt floor, not on a wooden floor.

(Vera Schmaltz shares memories at the Beiseker Golden Years Club)

Vera Schmaltz: In the winter and the summer, the boys always had to go out at lunch time, feed the horses and take water to them and stuff like that.

(Fred Lyczewski shares memories at the Beiseker Golden Years Club)

(Monty Metzger shares memories at the Beiseker Golden Years Club)

Monty Metzger: We had a small barn there beside the school. That is where the horses were stabled during the day. I remember there was a set of swings and two outhouses, one for the boys and one for the girls. Sometimes we’d rock the outhouses when the girls were in theirs. That was part of the deal.

(Matt Schmaltz shares memories at the Beiseker Golden Years Club)

Matt Schmaltz: We did have a softball diamond, and a little bit of a backstop.

(Jean and Frank Schwengler share memories at the Beiseker Golden Years Club)

Jean Schwengler: We did have an outhouse for the girls and the boys, and the boys sometimes wanted to push over the toilet when you were in it. Did you not do that?

Frank Schwengler: No…I didn’t do anything like that [winks]

Jean Schwengler: No [chuckles].

(Leonard Hagel shares memories from his home over zoom)

Leonard Hagel: The strange thing that happened is the school disappeared without a trace. There is nothing going back there now. It is kind of sad because there’s nothing there that would indicate that anything had ever happened there.

(The Beiseker Station Museum logo appears).