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Back to the Present

By Terri Castelaz 2 min read

This week's Back to the Present, provided by the Menominee Range Historical Museum in Iron Mountain, features the Nelson P. Hulst High School, along with the Fulton and Lowell schools in Iron Mountain.

The foundation for the Nelson P. Hulst High School on Madison Avenue at the top of East Ludington Street was laid in 1891 with construction completed in 1892.

The first photograph in this series was taken by Iron Mountain photographer Jorgen J. Eskil shortly after construction and basic landscaping had been completed. The gray granite blocks came from an Amberg, Wis., quarry.

In the early 1900s two additional annexes were built near the high school. The photograph above was taken by Iron Mountain amateur photographer Adolph Anderson shortly after the Lowell School was completed.

The Fulton School, also known as the manual training school, was located to the northeast of the Hulst school, shown in the second photo at the far right in the back, opening after the Christmas holidays in January 1904.

Manual training classes were taught in the eastern first floor classrooms and in the basement, where an engine powered by compressed air coming from a four-inch pipe running from the Chapin Mine air pipe ran the machinery. Home economics classes were taught on the second floor and a special classroom in the southwest corner on the first floor was for those students who couldn't hear or speak.

The contract for the Lowell School, a four-room building housing grades one through four, was let in June of 1904.

To allow students to pass from one building to the other during inclement weather, an enclosed ramp spanned the gap between the Hulst and Fulton schools, while a tunnel connected the Hulst and Lowell schools.

The Hulst and Fulton schools fell to the wrecker's ball in April 1949.

The Lowell School, used as a wood products manufacturing plant for some time, was abandoned in 1957, vandalized, and finally gutted by fire July 18, 1960.

Hulst Manor, a public housing facility, was later established at the site.

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