Canal speaker's topic to be one-room schools
Comet staff report

Wallace "Wally" Dolan will portray the schoolmaster and talk about one-room schoolhouses for the program at the Carroll County Wabash & Erie Canal annual meeting on April 17.

It will begin at 7 p.m. at the Canal Center, and is open to the public.

Dolan is a retired college teacher of history from the University of Southern Illinois. He also learned about early schools from his grandmother, who taught in a one-room schoolhouse after graduating from eighth grade.

He will tell how classes were taught and about the significance of the 1800s school buildings as churches, meeting places, and community centers as well as schools.

Dolan is also a canal volunteer and greeted guests at the schoolhouse at Canal Park during the Canal Christmas open house.

The annual meeting will also include a social hour, refreshments, and a short business meeting. There is no charge to attend.

The date of the meeting will coincide with the seasonal return of the canal association's passenger pontoon boat. The "Delphi," as the boat is called, will begin giving rides in the late afternoon, weather permitting.

"It was a big thing in canal towns to have the canal operating again after a long winter," said Canal Board president Dan McCain. "The townspeople would be excited that the boats were running again, and new things would be arriving from the far off ports, and shipping of grain and pork would resume. Also highly anticipated would be the news from the Eastern states and Europe."