Source: Broadwater Elementary — History
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Broadwater History
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1909 – Present
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| When Broadwater Elementary School opened its doors in 1909, local newspapers were featuring daily accounts of explorer Robert Peary’s discovery of the North Pole and President William Howard Taft’s Butte whistlestop. The school was built on the edge of town to accomodate the westward moving population. The 1910 U.S. census lists the population at 10,013. The land for Broadwater was purchased for the sum of $3000 from the Suburban Homes Company. The school was built in three sections at three different periods of time – 1909, 1916, and 1920. A stand alone annex was built in 1956. Designed by Billings architect Curtis Oehme, Broadwater is an example of the Renaissance Revival style typical in the early 1900’s. The rooms still have original wooden floors, closets with ornate metal coat hooks, and doors that slide vertically. When closed, the doors double as chalk boards. One of the most distinctive and remembered details of the school is a circular fire escape slide from the top floor that is still in use. Today, the school is home to over 340 students in kindergarten through the sixth grade. The school was designed by architect Curtis Oehme.
Sources: 2001 Broadwater PTA Historic Tour Newsletter, http://www.redfly.com/forum/schoolhistory.htm (2000) Broadwater School History 1909 – Present |
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Prices in 1909
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| Hamburger 10¢ | Bacon 13¢ per pound |
| Baseball Bat 10¢ | Buggy $38.50 |
| Milk 30¢ / Gallon | |
| The 1909 Sears catalog did not contain any items that run on electricity. You could purchase all the materials for a Craftsman house starting at $845.00. | |
How Crazy is this? Sears catalog had on no electric items…
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