SCHOOL DISTRICT #9 IN 1936

GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE, Sunday Morning, September 6, 1936
SCHOOL BUILDING AT BROWNING Is Modernized Through Funds and Labor Furnished by WPA

Browning High School Remodeling Will Give Agency Town an Efficient Plant

Structure is Completely Remodeled into an Up-to-Date Educational Unit; Work Almost Entirely Done by Indians

(There were Six Photos with One Caption. The photos are not reproduced here.)

Upper left shows Mr. and Mrs. R.J. Croff. Mr. Croff has been a member of the District 9 school board for 24 yers and chairman for the last 12 years. The view next to the upper left corner shows the light court and finished roof of the remodeled part of the school. Upper right shows workmen removing steel trusses from the old roof over the gymnasium. The right center picture is of workmen laying the new roof. Loer right shows the brick wall completed around the light court. At the left of the court is Robert West Wolf, one of the first two full blood Blackfeet Indians to be graduated from Browning High School. The lower center picture is of William Spotted Eagle, the second of the first two full bloods graduated from Browning High School last May.

Trustees of the Browning schools were confronted with the problem of not only enlarging their building but modernizing it so as to meet the requirements of an up-to-date school. The building lacked gymnasium facilities. The gymnasium did not have adequate seating room nor shower bath facilities. The auditorium, which was used for study hall and laboratory, was a dismal place with skylights. There was no space provided in the building for teaching home economics. Many of the classrooms were small and overcrowded. The lavatories were poorly located and poorly equipped.

With so many shortcomings the local school authorities began working several years ago on a plan of modernizing their school building. To finance such a program an effort was made to obtain an appropriation through the Indian Bureau of the United States Government.

Survey Made

A complete survey of the building program was made by Supt. K.W. Bergan, and a plan of remodeling was presented by the architectural firm of J. Van Tylingen of Great Falls. The discovery was made that the funds available would not cover the building program contemplated.

Through the suggestion and cooperation of Warren O’Hara, superintendent of the Blackfeet Indian Agency, a works project was developed to provide the labor for remodeling the old building. The school district furnished all the materials, and after a series of delays which involved several local and county problems, this project was finally approved and put into operation on December 26, 1935.

The first step in the remodeling program consisted of removing the maple floors in both the auditorium and the gymnasium. In order that this maple flooring might be salvaged, it was removed very carefully. All the nails were pulled and all the seams cleaned. Enough was saved to re-floor all the portion of the building remodeled. In a similar manner all the floor sheathing, floor joists and considerable brick, as well as radiators, piping and lumber from all the partitions were saved.

Not Hampered by Cold

The rooms of both the auditorium and gymnasium were left in position so that during the month of February, while the thermometer was registering fifty below outside, the men on the inside were pouring concrete and laying brick. Not one day of labor was lost because of bad weather. During the winter months two shifts of men were used wth an average of 25 men to a shift. A large amount of labor was necessary to salvage the old building.

The plan of remodeling consisted of placing a light-court in the center of the building so that all the classrooms would be lighted through windows instead of skylights. Around this court was placed a new study hall, library, a science room, a set of home economics rooms and administrative offices. The light-court was filled with three feet of dirt which was thoroughly tamped, covered with cement floor and drained. This was done with hand labor. The spaces for the vault and the laundry was likewise filled with dirt and covered with a cement floor. This was all done during the cold winter months.

The laying of bricks for the new walls around the court presented a problem because of shortage of bricklayers and the short hours which they work. This, however, was gradually overcome, and ceiling joists were put in place during the month of March. During April a period of good weather prevailed. During this time the old roof was removed, all the joists and rafters were salvaged as well as the sheathing, and the new roof was placed on the building. Then work of placing partitions was started, which was followed by the installation of electric wiring, plumbing and heating plants.

Heating System Improved

The old heating system consisted of two heating plants. The one plant had two cast iron sectional boilers while the other plant was of large single cast iron boilers. To make the heating system more efficient it was deemed advisable to put in a central heating system which consisted of two steel tubular boilers.

During the months of June the floors were laid. Nuwood beveled tile was integrated into the finish of the rooms. All the finish wood in the remodeled portion of the building is oak and most of it came from the mill ready to install. Cabinet work was installed in the office, study hall, library, science room and the home economics room. During July and August the work consisted of sanding th floors, installing new cabinet work and finishing materials, staining, varnish and painting.

The interesting part of this program has been that the work has been performed almost entirely by Blackfeet Indian labor. During the month of May a construction program under public works, another under the rehabilitation and the erection of a new hospital put an enormous strain on the number of skilled workers on the reservation. This required importing a few skills for labor, otherwise there were sufficient among the Blackfeet Indians to do all this construction during the past year.

The board of trustees of School District #9 consists of Mrs. Vina Chattin, Joe Brown, Leo Kennerly, C.L. McKee and R.J. Croff, Chairman.

Note: The present superintendent, Mary Margaret McKay Johnson, is a descendant of Joe Brown.