SAVING MAPLE G
ROVE
Fromm Wade sees hand of the divine
Some kind of miracle took place in the town of Hamburg over the past two months.
The people of the township saved their K-5 school. It is Maple Grove Charter School, a rural Marathon County icon located on a one-acre lot located at the intersection of CTH L and Schoolhouse Rd.
The Merrill Board of Education made a determined effort to close “the little red schoolhouse,” but a grassroots, community effort prevailed. A five-day trial in Marathon County Circuit Court proved critical. A multi-month petition effort by dogged school defenders to obtain 810 signatures was crucial.
In the end, the Merrill school board threw in the towel, agreeing to transfer both the school and 18,000 acres of township property worth $54 million to the Athens School District. It failed even to schedule a hearing before the Wisconsin School District Boundary Appeals Board. The Athens Board of Education agreed to attach the Hamburg sections of land and Maple Grove School in an unanimous vote on Feb. 27. It next renewed a charter school contract with Maple Grove School.
News of the victory was greeted with shock and joy in the Hamburg community.
Peter Fromm Wade, a key defender of the Maple Grove School, however, does not see this win as a mere triumph of a small community against a school district with all of its power, resources and money. He sees the hand of God at work. “It was by Providence that pioneer settlers in 1870 built a log cabin and school here in the town of Hamburg,” he said. “And it is by Providence that this cabin became over time Maple Grove Charter School. And it is by Providence that Maple Grove Charter School has been reattached to Athens School District in a story that, even if you look nationally, is so unusual. God is directing the path.”
If Fromm Wade thinks the Divine reached down to save a K-5 school, it is because he sees God steering the entire history of the town of Hamburg, which includes his pioneer relatives, the famed Fromm Brothers fox farm and that busi- ness’ cherished project, a red-steepled school surrounded by an 18-acre school woods.
This history, said Fromm Wade, starts with his great-grandparents, two Pommeranian settlers, Frederick Fromm and Alvina Niemann, who homesteaded on a 40-acre plot of land in 1870 across the street from a 26 by 34 foot combined log cabin church and school. They sent their children to Maple Grove School which, by 1904, had been rebuilt as a 30 by 30 foot structure with a spire that reached 46 feet into the air. The spire contained a National Cast bell (still operable) that summoned the children to school.
Fromm Wade said his great-grandparents had a “deep-rooted ethic of education” first learned in Europe and passed that along to their children. They encouraged their children to become teachers and four of them — Herb, Walter, Edward and Arthur — did. Herbert Fromm served as a principal in Abbotsford. Arthur went on to get a master’s degree.
In 1953, Hamburg residents requested Maple Grove School be attached to Merrill School District in order for the school’s graduates to go to high school. The school children were eligible to attend Athens High School, but no transportation was available in those days.
The Fromm Brothers Corp. purchased a school bus to take Hamburg students to high school. (Fromm Wade recalls personally seeing the 1940’s era 20-foot long bus stored in a company barn.) The attachment was not without controversy. A July 31, 1952 newspaper clipping saved by Fromm Wade reads “Hot Dispute in Vote to Annex District to Merrill.”
In time, a white Maple Grove School was painted red. The Fromms largely funded a major, $92,000 project in 1962 to construct bathrooms, a kitchen, multi- purpose room and basement.
Over the years, the Fromm Brothers Corporation was generous with the school. It annually provided Christmas bags of candy, peanuts, fruit and popcorn balls to the school children. Fromm Wade, who attended Maple Grove School, both received the Christmas bags, and with his aunt, Doris (Tead) Fromm, helped pack them.
Walter and Mabel Fromm, after cashing out their share of the Fromm Brothers business in 1976, placed $500,000 in a trust to be used for scholarships for Maple Grove School students. Today, the well managed trust is valued at $3.5 million and, over the years, has paid out $6.5 million in scholarships. A second trust, the Sylvia Wohler Scholarship, has also aided graduates of Maple Grove School.
A fight to keep a school
Years of challenge to secure Maple Grove School’s future would start in 2011.
The Merrill Board of Education, pressed to cut its budget, started discussing whether it should close Maple Grove School. Peter Fromm Wade, hoping to come to the school’s rescue, ran for school board, but lost.
Undeterred, he persuaded Maple Grove to become a charter school and keep some local autonomy.
“My feeling at the time was instinctual,” said Fromm Wade. “The school is so meshed with my family and the heritage of the pioneer people, it was imperative I devote all of my passion to Maple Grove Charter School.”
But the Merrill School District budget situation failed to improve and, despite passing a referendum that promised keeping Maple Grove open for a year, there were new calls for closing the K-5 school and other rural elementary schools.
Fromm Wade called a meeting in November 2019 and, in a discussion with 80 to 100 concerned township residents, the group decided not to fight the Merrill school board, but, instead, to attach Maple Grove School to Athens School District.
The Merrill school board tried to close the school, alleging that Maple Grove had not lived up to the terms of its charter school contract. Marathon County Circuit Court Judge Mike Moran, however, ruled that the school had lived up to its contract and, under the terms of the agreement, the school could not be closed until the contract lapsed.
With this window of opportunity, Fromm Wade and other school supporters started a petition drive to switch Maple Grove and Hamburg property to Athens School District, which, starved for students, welcomed the proposal.
To guide them through this process, the Maple Grove supporters hired a law firm, Nowlan and Mouat LLC, Janesville, and a public relations firm, Mueller Communications, LLC, Milwaukee. It also hired Gille Designs and Graphics to make 25 large signs placed about the township urging people to sign the attachment petition. Fromm Wade said a core of around 20 volunteers went door to door during the COVID-19 pandemic to obtain the needed signatures for Maple Grove Charter School to become part of Athens School District. The Hamburg people rallied to the cause of their local school, he said, and that made all of the difference.
“The grassroots support was crucial and essential,” he said. “Without it, there would be no Maple Grove School.” Fromm-Wade said local community stubbornness was a factor, but people pulled for Maple Grove because of a feeling that the school was their school.
“These people felt, and rightfully so, that this was their school that they built through their hard work,” he said. “I think this feeling is still strong in the town today. It’s basic pride of ownership.”
Fromm Wade said there were plenty of times in the tussle with the Merrill school board that he had to keep the faith.
This faith, he explained, however, was always rewarded.
“Doors would open and we would walk through those open doors,” he said. “That continued to happen.”
Fromm Wade said he is “very delighted” that things turned out well for Maple Grove School and, most importantly, its children. He said that the experience in fighting for the school has left him humbled and thankful.
“I followed the passion given to me by the Holy Spirit who told me this is what you have to do,” he said.
Peter Fromm Wade
Mapler Grove School in Hamburg before it was painted red
