McCaskill
Built in 1917
Named For:
Virgil Everett McCaskill graduated from Warrensburg, MO state normal school (1888), Ohio Wesleyan University (M.A. 1892), and the University of Chicago (Ph.D. 1902). He taught for several years in the rural schools of Missouri and at Ohio Wesleyan. In 1896 he came to Wisconsin, and from 1896 to 1902 taught at Stevens Point State Normal School. He was appointed institute conductor at Superior State normal School in 1902, and in 1907 was made president of the school, serving in this capacity until his death on May 6, 1922.
Location: Erlanson Hall on UWS Campus
Features:
Completed two years after the main campus building, and three and a half years after a fire destroyed the original Normal School, the new Training School building opened up on September 20th, 1917. The building was designed to conform to the style of the main building, using the same materials.
The basement consisted of a manual training room, heating equipment, and the gymnasium, with a floor seven feet lower than the regular basement floor giving additional height to the room. The first floor proved office space for the head of the training school department, kindergarten department, and a couple grade rooms. The second and third floors were mostly grade rooms and a library. Each of the classrooms also had an office for the critic teacher. A critic teacher is one who supervises the practice teaching of a student teacher.
Partnerships:
A number of local companies were involved in the construction and furnishing of the building. These included C.D. Pelletier Mill, Stack Brothers, Ross Electric, Webster Manufacturing, Lightbody-Wingate, and Grand Rapids Furnishings.
Replacement:
The training school was renamed in honor of McCaskill on December 18, 1926. The building was replaced with a new training school building in 1959, also named for McCaskill.
Now known as Erlanson Hall, the original building is still in use on the UW-Superior campus for business programs and the Distance Learning Center.