Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
BRYANT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
BRYANT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Originally known as the South Dodge Street School. The wooden structure built in 1869 along (Wilde) Mt. Loretta and (South Dodge), Bryant was renamed on December 23, 1889. It has been suggested that the action followed the desire of the board of education to name all the buildings in honor of famous Americans, however, no mention of any person named Bryant was included in the board minutes. In a June 1997 article in the Telegraph Herald it was stated that the name came from William Cullen Bryant, considered America's first great poet, who wrote "The Prairies" about American expansion. (1)
A petition to build a new Bryant School was filed on October 6, 1916. Another, filed with the board on February 6, 1918, was rejected as being inadequate and not in legal form. Bryant was finally chosen for replacement in 1938. It was then the oldest school in the district. The modern Bryant School was accepted by the board on February 23, 1940. It opened for classes on April 9, 1940.
In 2015 John E. and Alice BUTLER donated $780,000 to replace eighty-eight windows with energy-efficient ones that matched the style of the original 1940 windows and ten doors at the school. (2)
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Source:
1. "Area Well-Schooled in Patriotic Names," Telegraph Herald, June 13, 1997, p. 3A. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=aEyKTaVlRPYC&dat=19970613&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
1. "2015: A By-The-Numbers Review of the Year in the Tri-States," Telegraph Herald, January 3, 2016, p. 2