The students stood in rows, hands over their hearts, “My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty ...” they sang as teacher Melissa Barker pointed at the words on the poster board.

The students stepped back in time to 1895, when Kalispell’s Central School first opened and 200 children from the city and surrounding areas attended classes in the massive building, which is now the Northwest Montana History Museum.

The school was unique in many ways back then, Barker and her partner, Stu Wilson explained to students. For one, it had electricity and indoor plumbing, which many homes lacked at the time. It also had showers in the basement, so students could clean up at school. While it served students through the 11th grade, kids fourth grade and under weren’t allowed to have recess outside. Horse traffic was heavy and the railroad ran nearby, so the younger students had recess inside for safety's sake.

Teachers weren’t paid every well, so they often lived with a student’s family for a week or two at a time, and then went to another family’s home. Students were expected to bring gifts, like apples and eggs, so a pie or other edibles could be made.

Students also wore hats. The boys wore baseball hats of the time period and the girls bonnets. (Barker made the hats for the class).

Students were also expected to follow a host of rules, (many of which are still standard fare at Deer Park today) but the punishment certainly was different.

A child who showed disrespect might have to sit in the corner with a hat with a big “D” on it. Or they might be ordered to get “three bundles” which meant a trip to the basement to get three bundles of wood for the school’s many fireplaces, which heated the place.

The idea of this immersive “back in time” educational experience began almost 20 years ago when former teacher and volunteer Carolyn Wondrow started the McClaren 1895 classroom in 2007 as a hands-on cultural and historical experience for Flathead County third-graders. 

About 800 students from Flathead Valley schools experience the program each year for two weeks in the fall and two weeks in the spring.

Wilson and Barker, volunteers who are retired and live in Columbia Falls, started teaching the program back in 2021.

The couple had moved here from Minnesota to be closer to family and Wilson had a background in history, so they looked to the museum. That’s when they learned of the McClaren classroom from then Director Jacob Thomas. It was very popular, but Wondrow was ready to pass the program on and the Covid-19 pandemic had seen it canceled.

So the couple said they would like to restart it and they were handed a three-ring binder than outlined the curriculum. Two other people were critical in growing the program. The first was Bill McClaren, for whom the classroom and program are named after.  The other was former museum Director Gil Jordan, they said. 

So that year, after the pandemic restrictions eased, it began anew and the couple have been doing the lessons ever since, along with volunteers Tim Christenson, Ann Dorr, Mary Jo Gardner, Rosemary Gilbert, Karen Highbarger, Jordan, Dee Manning and Julie Miller, noted museum Director Margaret Davis.

The program looks to replicate student life to the time period as much as possible. Girls are separated from boys. They aren’t allowed to use the front entrance of the building, and when asked a question, they must stand up on the right side of their desks and bow (boys) or curtsy (girls) to the teacher.

Girls always wore dresses, Barker explained, and on your birthday, you gave a gift to the teacher, unlike today, when a teacher might give you a gift.

Each session lasts about three hours, with one in the morning and another in the afternoon.

Hall noted it’s a great program for his students and he’s been bringing his classes for the past 10 years.

While the rules were many, the one thing you really didn’t want to do was swear in class.

For that, you got a bar of soap in your mouth.

“I don’t think we’ll need this today,” Barker said with a smile as she put the soap away.

On this day, the Deer Park students were especially well-behaved (no soap needed) and parents were also involved. One noted that a model of the old Demersville one-room schoolhouse that is used in the program was actually built by her grandfather when he was a child and he gave it back to the museum.

For Barker and Wilson, it’s a labor of love.

“The kids are tremendous,” Wilson said. “All those little faces are wonderful to see. They each get something different out of it. When they line up to leave, we ask them would you like to live now or in 1895? About 90% say 1895.”

Of course, there were plenty of hardships their young minds probably aren’t thinking about, but their curiosity is certainly piqued.

“After two-and-a-half hours they’re really excited about history,” Wilson said.