FAYAL SCHOOL (1901)
NE corner of Fayal Road and McKinley Avenue | Architects: Gerhard Tenbusch and Isaac Vernon Hill | Built: 1901 | Lost: 1911
The Presbyterian Church (left) and the Fayal School, circa 1910. From the Eveleth Public Library archives.
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A postcard collage of Eveleth schools. The 1901 Fayal School is center right; the 1912 Fayal School, top left.
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The Fayal School viewed from the southeast. The man at the fence is Superintendent of Schools Burton O. Greening. Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections at the University of MN Duluth.
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The first school at the Fayal Location opened in 1899 in a one-room building that had been moved from the Auburn Location south of Virginia. That small building quickly became overcrowded, prompting the School Board to issue bonds for the construction of a larger, more permanent school. Architects Tenbush and Hill of Duluth designed the new $14,076.05 Fayal School, which was built by D. T. Denton and opened on January 14th, 1901. The old schoolhouse later became the Presbyterian Church. In June 1902, photos and plans of the Fayal School were sent to the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York as part of School District No. 22’s exhibit. (Eveleth and Virginia were originally in the same school district.) In 1903, the new Eveleth Independent School District No. 39 built the Fayal Kindergarten at the northwest corner of Fayal Road and Auburn Avenue to relieve pressure at the larger building.
The new school was a three-story, 11,776 square-foot wooden structure with five classrooms and a capacity for about 200 students. It faced south on the corner of Fayal Road and McKinley Avenue. A December 1900 article in the Eveleth Leader said, "It is not without a just feeling of pride that our citizens point to the latest addition to the public structures of our village, as it stands today without a peer on the iron ranges." The third floor was built as living quarters for janitors and teachers, but that space was later used for classroom purposes, as well. The school’s attractive, asymmetrical architecture was said to have been in a “picturesque country clubhouse” style that was similar to the ornate Duluth dwellings Tenbusch and Hill designed. However, the maze of hallways, stairwells, and small spaces were cause for concern in case of an emergency.
Fears over the building's safety were realized when fire completely destroyed the Fayal School on April 25th, 1911. The fire awakened janitors Edward Erickson and William Barrett at 6:00 on a Tuesday morning—just hours before school would have begun. The Eveleth and Fayal fire departments could do little to contain the fast-moving blaze, and the schoolhouse quickly reduced to a smoldering pile of wood. Nobody was injured, but the fire, determined to have been caused by the building's furnace, was a $20,900 loss. The accident further cramped the Eveleth schools, but the destruction of the Fayal brought a “sigh of relief to parents who had children in attendance.”
The Eveleth School Board held an emergency meeting the day after the fire to discuss replacing the burned school. The new school, which opened in February 1912, cost $60,000 and could hold twice as many students as the building that burned.
The new school was a three-story, 11,776 square-foot wooden structure with five classrooms and a capacity for about 200 students. It faced south on the corner of Fayal Road and McKinley Avenue. A December 1900 article in the Eveleth Leader said, "It is not without a just feeling of pride that our citizens point to the latest addition to the public structures of our village, as it stands today without a peer on the iron ranges." The third floor was built as living quarters for janitors and teachers, but that space was later used for classroom purposes, as well. The school’s attractive, asymmetrical architecture was said to have been in a “picturesque country clubhouse” style that was similar to the ornate Duluth dwellings Tenbusch and Hill designed. However, the maze of hallways, stairwells, and small spaces were cause for concern in case of an emergency.
Fears over the building's safety were realized when fire completely destroyed the Fayal School on April 25th, 1911. The fire awakened janitors Edward Erickson and William Barrett at 6:00 on a Tuesday morning—just hours before school would have begun. The Eveleth and Fayal fire departments could do little to contain the fast-moving blaze, and the schoolhouse quickly reduced to a smoldering pile of wood. Nobody was injured, but the fire, determined to have been caused by the building's furnace, was a $20,900 loss. The accident further cramped the Eveleth schools, but the destruction of the Fayal brought a “sigh of relief to parents who had children in attendance.”
The Eveleth School Board held an emergency meeting the day after the fire to discuss replacing the burned school. The new school, which opened in February 1912, cost $60,000 and could hold twice as many students as the building that burned.
