If you carry your childhood with you, you never become old.
∼ Tom Stoppard
Sunnyside, later to become Grewenow School
In 1956 a new elementary school opened on the south side of Kenosha, Wisconsin just one-half block from our home. The new school was dubbed “Sunnyside”, after the area in which we lived. It was a beautiful brick building, complete with a gymnasium, lockers for students, various administrative offices and a large playground with basketball hoops and plenty of room to run around and get in trouble. 😉
A portable as it looked when new €
Prior to the opening of the new building, I, along with my brother John and most other elementary school kids in the area attended school in the “portables” on the west end of the Sunnyside school property. The post WWII baby boom was in full swing and communities all over the U.S. were scrambling to provide housing, services, and infrastructure for the burgeoning population. The portables would be in place at that location until the new permanent building was completed.
Our family had moved from the McKinley school neighborhood into a Cape Cod style home on the south side of Kenosha. The neighborhood streets and roads during that time were dirt and gravel as were most roads further south. For many years we roamed the woods, ponds, and fields to the south of us, playing, fishing, and exploring. (When we weren’t in school or studying) 😊
A portable positioned behind Bain school in Kenosha, during their early deployment. My dad attended Bain school.and may even be in this photo. €
The “portables” were small movable buildings, which had been built in the 1920’s and 30’s for school overflows and other municipal requirements. Though idle for many years, they provided a great service to our fair town until more permanent structures could be completed, or the need disappeared. The portables were about the size of a double-wide mobile home, with enough room for about thirty elementary school children. The desks and equipment we used were depression era throwbacks, like the portable buildings themselves. An oil burning unit heated each one during the colder months.
Old, and probably not built to the standards of the day, the portables were deemed to be unsafe in strong winds, which made them most acceptable to us students who were sent home prior to strong storms. (Blow wind, blow!) 😉 The walls were composed of asphalt siding and thin, a sharpened pencil could be pushed all the way through, from inside out, or outside in. (So I’m told) 😊
If memory serves me, there were twelve portables on location for “Sunnyside” school; with two rows of six facing each other. Students immediately fell into two groups, with one side of the portable rows competing against the other in typical ways that kids do. We would run around en masse shouting at each other or chase smaller groups of our “enemies” when the opportunity arose.
The portables were not high tech €
I attended school in the portables for two years; first and second grade, before the newly constructed building opened up just in time for my third grade. And though I missed the charm of the portables, I soon came to appreciate all the new building had to offer.
The Milwaukee Braves and the portables both passed into history
Sunnyside was more than just a school for those of us who lived close by. The location served as the venue for our scout meetings as well as our Halloween parties. It was one of our playgrounds, our football field, our baseball field and for all nearby residents (especially my mother) the place where the bookmobile came every few weeks, bringing the magic of books.
My cousin Melissa, far right, with other educators at Grewenow School
Sunnyside School was eventually renamed after its first principal, Lester Grewenow. And Grewenow Elementary School is still one of the best schools in Kenosha, thanks to its fine teachers and support staff.
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Note: Whenever “Sunnyside” came up in conversation, you had to be sure to specify Sunnyside “school” Vs Sunnyside “tavern”, which was just up the road a bit. My attendance as far as in which Sunnyside I spent the most time in over the years is a matter of debate. 😉
€ Photos courtesy of the Kenosha History Center
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Thanks for the free trip down memory lane. I too attended McKinley way way back in the 50’s but I must confess that when I saw the picture of Bain” I couldn’t remember which school it was even though I had been there when I was ten yrs. old to play a school
band function. Was it the one near the old Coca Cola plant on Sheridan or near 22nd & 63rd st.
Regardless, this was fun to read.
Nice to hear from you Duke. Bain is at 2600-50th st in Kenosha. Dang, we’re old! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the story.
Enjoyed your story. I, too, attended McKinley El. and McKinley Jr. High also. I remember the portables well before McKinley El. was built. My family lived on 3lst Avenue right off of 60 th St. The Jones family consisted of my older sister Betty, Sue, my younger sister Nancy and brother Larry. I think I remember Nancy hanging around with Campolo’s from 32nd Ave.???
Hi Sue, nice to make your acquaintance. Glad you enjoyed the story. We were on 37th avenue south of 60th street when we lived in the McKinley area. My uncle Fritz and his large family of boys lived on 30th avenue, south of Roosevelt, maybe it was some of them your sister knew.