History Behind the Victory Flagpole - May 2010 Behind the Victory Flagpole The schools of Shingle Creek - Behind the Victory Flagpole — The schools of Shingle Creek

Have you ever thought about what the Shingle Creek area would have been called had not Rufus Farnham settled there and built a shingle mill on the creek? It might have remained Bohanon Creek or even Sawmill Creek or Flour Mill Creek. But when Rufus arrived at Camden Place in 1853, that changed everything.

    Shingle Creek gets its source of water from Eagle Lake and Bass Lake, winding its way through the northwest suburbs, through Palmer's slough and eventually emptying into the Mississippi at Camden. It was in this area where there was a succession of different kinds of mills - first the shingle mill, then a flour and grist mill, and then many sawmills. These furnished employment for thousands of men and turned out millions of feet of lumber.

    With all this bustling activity, a little settlement came in to being on the banks of Shingle Creek and the settlers decided to organize and elect officers. So in 1860 the township was organized with the official name of Crystal Lake Township. At the first election just 55 votes were cast.

    In this area the first school outside of the small village of Minneapolis was established. This was in 1863 and was known as Hennepin County School Dist. #2. It was actually a crude claim shanty reached by a plank from the other side of Shingle Creek and located where 44th and Dupont Avenues are today. The very first school teacher was only a girl herself. She was 17-year-old Mary Smith and she had 12 pupils. Her role as a teacher was complicated with curious Indians in the vicinity looking in the doors and windows of this small schoolhouse to see what was going on.

    In 1867 a large one-room schoolhouse replaced the old claim shanty. It was known as the "Red Schoolhouse of Hennepin County" and was erected where the tennis courts now stand in Webber Park. It became a part of the Minneapolis School System when Shingle Creek became a part of Minneapolis in 1887. But in 1889 it was sold for $60 and torn down. At the same time the first part of Hamilton grade school was erected at 44th and Girard N. With eight rooms, it was the third school in the vicinity of Shingle Creek.

    An interesting side note to this story is about Methodist minister Reverend Robert B. Atchison, who came to this area and thought "Shingle Creek" was too countrified a name for such a bustling milling community. He tried to get the Federal Post Office to change the name. They wouldn't. He then talked the Pacific R.R. into naming their depot here, "Camden Place." That worked, and in April of 1888 the post office changed its name to Camden Place, after the Reverend's hometown of Camden, New Jersey.