St. Joe School - District 32

Originally written by Adeline Dykhoff

In 1884, the benedictine nuns of St. Joseph Minnesota, built the school across the road from the St. Joe Church (which burned down in 1965 but the parish house remains and owned by John and Cheryl Rutten) located between Perham and Dent.. The St. Joe school burned down and was replaced in 1900 with this existing two story school. This Catholic parish was established in 1871. Among the early settlers were the Balz Fuchs, George Siefert, Martin Fiedler, George Altstadt, Balze and William Hassler, and Adam Gerber Families.

In 1885, the Benedictines built a home for their teaching sisters. This home is now owned by Laurence and Adeline Dykhoff and is to the left of the school house. The School consisted of two floors with about 40 students on each. The Benedictine records show that about 20 nuns taught here between 1884 and 1916. That year the school became a public school and the records were passed to the CourtHouse in Fergu Falls. The records were destroyed along with the Court House in the 1919 tornado.

The first available graduating records are for 1921. Graduates were Frank Alstadt, Roce and Veronica Faching, Anna Bruber, Michael Goyke, Frank Keidel, Rupert Lein, Angela Maier, Agnew Schornack, Eleanor Schmitz and Erwing Sieling.

In those days it wasn’t compulsory to go to school if you had a good excuse. You started when you wanted to and you went until you were 14. Later rules made it mandatory to go 40 days between November 1st and April 1st. When you were 16 you graduated.

German, English, Reading, Arithmetic, Penmanship, Geography and Physiology were taught. When World War I started German was dropped and you were not allowed to speak German in public.

Over the years, depending on enrollment the school fluctuated from one room to two rooms. In 1953, District 32 was consolidated with Perham Public and became District 1396. With steadily declining enrollment the school closed in 1970. The building was sold to Rupert Schmitz, then Steve Polum and then purchased December 12, 1989 by Lawrence and Adeline Dykhoff. They replaced the roof and renovated the building. In August of 2020 Lawrence and Adeline Dykhoff sold the building to John and Cheryl Rutten. They now have become the stewards of this fantastic building and have redone the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and aesthetics of the building. The outside remains as it was back in 1900 - including the graffiti and the ball stick used for many years to get the playground ball out of the surrounding trees.