The following appeared in The Rock County Star-Herald on Feb. 9, 1950.
Lunch Program Inaugurated at Hardwick School
Hot Dish, Sandwich, Dessert and Milk Now Are Served to Children
The traditional lunch bucket — as important to the pupil as pencils and books in years gone by — has vanished from the Hardwick public school scene.
The cold lunches, which for years were a part of the everyday life of the rural students, have been replaced with hot noon day lunches, a program recently inaugurated at the school.
Every noon, over 100 growing, hungry youngsters can be seen seated at tables enjoying good, wholesome warm food, prepared by Mrs. Richard Goettsch and her assistant, Mrs. Reuben Abraham. And the children’s mothers are happy, too. Now their boys and girls no longer have to carry their lunches, many of which were brought back home with evidence of only a nibble here and there.
At Hardwick, the “A” type lunch is served. This consists of one hot food, sandwich, dessert and milk, which is served to the youngsters at a cost of 20 cents per day. The district recently remodeled the basement into a lunch room and kitchen to provide the lunches for the children.
The hot lunch program combined with the bus service now in use for the second year since the consolidation of a number of rural districts with the Hardwick District No. 48 is proving advantageous for both children and taxpayers alike, residents of the community state. …
District officers report that the school is open to further expansion, and that they are willing to share their facilities with other neighboring districts so that they may enjoy the privileges of a larger school system.
Rural districts in the Hardwick area are being invited to join with Hardwick. However, increasing the size of the school will mean enlarging the school facilities, and the board is anxious to know what to expect in the way of future enrollments, as, one director said, “We don’t want to over-build or under-build, but build according to our needs.”
Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.