Four country schoolhouses served the educational needs of students on the eastern edge of the School District of Wild Rose prior to the end of 1964.
The people in the community usually built these one or two room schoolhouses, and the teacher’s desk was generally in the front of the classroom as well as a black chalkboard. Somewhere in the room, there was also some type of wood burning stove, which the teacher stoked with wood to provide heat for the school during the winter.
There was some variety in design, materials and building traditions. Pine River School was a two-story building with more than one classroom, and today is used as the Pine River Town Hall. Brushville, Glendale, and Clarks Mill schools were all one-room schoolhouses.
These country schoolhouses represented good education, quality, and the ability to be self-reliant. People who attended these four schools remember the strong emphasis on community.
By Wisconsin statute, all of the elementary school districts were required to merge with high school districts by July 1, 1962, to provide equal education for every child. By merging, some schools were expanded and several students had long bus rides.
The four country schools, Pine River, Brushville, Glendale and Clark Mills, were acquired by the School District of Wild Rose and a new elementary school was built on the eastern edge of the district.
When John and Foster Hanson learned the School District of Wild Rose was looking for a place to build a new school, they donated 20 acres where Pleasant View Elementary School now stands.
Two teachers related to John and Foster Hanson continue to work in the school district, Michelle (Hanson) Kasuboski, 3rd grade teacher, and Erika Hanson, married to Jon Hanson is a Title I teacher.
When it came time to name the school, the district devised a contest. Karen (Jenks) Czeskleba, Steven Sorenson, and Chris Sorenson submitted the winning name, Pleasant View Elementary School.
Teachers from the four country schools moved to Pleasant View School when it opened in January 1965. The teachers included: June Caswell, Brushville; Gladys Nimmer, Glendale; Regina Rich, Clarks Mill; Eleanor Tetzlaff and Margaret Chmielak Goodwin, Pine River.