THE CACHE IS NOT AT THE GIVEN COORDINATES!!!
Answer the seven questions below to find the numbers to use here:
N 43˚ 58.ABC' W 089 4D.EFG'
As areas in Wisconsin were settled, people started looking for places to educate their children. They would ask their town governments to set up schools in their areas, and many one-room rural schools came into being in this fashion. By 1920 the number of country schools in Adams County had peaked at 84, but soon after that, their numbers declined due to reductions in rural populations, improved transportation, and consolidation mandates from the state. The one-room rural schools disappeared from the maps and landscapes, although some multi-graded rural schools continued to operate. The Adams-Friendship school district covers a large area (the middle two-thirds of the county), and children in the north go to Nekoosa and Plainfield districts, while those in the south go to Westifield and Wisconsin Dells districts.
This cache will focus on the schools that children in the municipality of Adams attended. At each waypoint you will be at a school-related location. Read about each spot, then answer the multiple choice questions that are asked. Find the correct answers, then take the numbers of those answers and substitute them for the letters of the questions in the final coordinates above. When you have answered all the questions correctly and placed the numbers where they need to go, you will have the coordinates of the final cache location.
N 43˚ 58.123’ W 089˚ 49.165’
WP1: The building just southwest of these coordinates houses the district offices of the Adams-Friendship Area School District. The original three-story structure was built in 1914 as the elementary and high school for the students of Friendship and the high school for the new community of Adams. As the population of Adams grew, there were too many students for this building, and a new joint district high school was built at a location on Main Street central to both communities. The building here became exclusively an elementary school for the Friendship children, and over time additions to the building were constructed. Eventually, all of the “town kids” and close-in “country kids” attended two schools in town: the older children (grades 5-8) attended here while the younger children (grades K-4) went to the elementary school in Adams. Just before this building became the district offices in 1998, students in grades 4-6 attended classes here.
A. From this vantage point, if you look closely at the east side of the oldest part of the building, you can see two words. These words are
- (2) NINETEEN HUNDRED
- (0) HIGH SCHOOL
- (3) SCHOOL DISTRICT
- (1) ADAMS FRIENDSHIP
N 43˚ 57.863’ W 089˚ 49.051’
WP2: If you pull in to the parking lot here, you will be away from the busy four lanes of traffic on Highway 13 (Main Street). This is the north end of what has been the Adams-Friendship Middle School (grades 6-8) since the fall of 1998. Because the new community of Adams kept growing and because more students were continuing their educations beyond the eighth grade, the 1914 building in Friendship was no longer adequate for housing a high school program, and a new high school was built. The original part of this building was constructed in 1928 as a high school for the students in the City of Adams, the Village of Friendship, and the surrounding townships. There have been several additions and remodeling projects since the original construction, but unlike some school buildings of the same era, this one still stands and still has students occupying its hallways and classrooms. (Note: There is a recordable benchmark disk in the wall facing west of the lower level of the northwest corner of the building.)
B. On the east side of Main Street in this parking lot is a green informational sign that also gives time and temperature. Which of the following words is NOT on that sign?
- (7) HOME
- (2) SCHOOLS
- (5) GREEN
- (1) EVENTS
Across Highway 13 west of your location is the Adams County Center of Mid-State Technical College, whose main campus is in Wisconsin Rapids thirty miles to the north. Students can take credit courses here in general education and in business, and the Center also provides noncredit adult education classes and academic support services, as well as high school equivalency diploma preparation and testing.
C. There is an informational sign for MSTC in front of the building. What color is the pedestal part of this sign?
- (2) WHITE
- (4) BLACK
- (6) TAN
- (8) MAROON
N 43° 57.794' W 089° 49.010'
WP3: At this location you are on the south end of the Adams-Friendship Middle School. The main entrance to the building is located here, although the south-facing door (now used only as an emergency exit) is well-remembered as where fans would enter for basketball games, wrestling matches, concerts, and drama presentations when this was a high school.
D. There is a fairly new reflecting area here that has flag poles, benches, and a statue. The statue is of a(n)
- (8) BEAR
- (6) DEER
- (7) EAGLE
- (9) SOLDIER
N 43˚ 57.285’ W 089˚ 48.817’
WP4: Continue south on Grant or Linden Street from the previous location until you reach the above coordinates. You will arrive at the southeast corner of a large empty city block that once played a major role in Adams school history. Soon after the Village of Adams was incorporated, a wooden building was constructed on this block to house the grade school children in the community. By 1920 that building was overcrowded, so a brick building was constructed in the center of that same block to serve as a school for the older grade school children. Until 1950, students would attend classes in the older wooden building through fourth grade, and then they would move to the newer brick building for grades 5-8 before attending high school on Main Street. Additions to the brick building at that time allowed for more space, and the wooden building was sold for private use and moved off site. Eventually the older students attended grade school in Friendship, and the primary grades were at this location. 1998 saw the last students pass through the school doors here, and the building sat empty until its demolition in December of 2011. The land is still owned by the A-F school district.
E. From the coordinates, look directly south across June Street. The color of the house there is
- (5) GREEN
- (0) BLUE
- (6) BLACK
- (3) BROWN
N 43˚ 57.895’ W 089˚ 48.728’
WP5: This building was opened in the fall of 1992 as a junior high for all of the A-F district students in grades 7 and 8. When the new high school was built, all of the district students from this building and the sixth graders from throughout the district were shifted to the old (and newly remodeled) high school building on Main Street. With the addition of several classrooms, the building here on Pierce Street became the new Adams-Friendship Elementary School for grades pre-K to 5, and both Friendship and Adams Grade Schools closed their door to students permanently. There are only two other elementary schools in the district now: Roche-A-Cri on Highway 21 east of County Road Z, and Grand Marsh Elementary on County Road E on the eastern edge of unincorporated Grand Marsh.
F. There is a new sign at this location as of July of 2014. One side faces north, the other side faces south. How many total permanent words are there on both sides of the sign together?
- (6) SIX
- (7) SEVEN
- (8) EIGHT
- (9) NINE
N 43˚ 57.962’ W 089˚ 48.101’
WP6: The new Adams-Friendship High School was opened at this location in January of 1998, a couple of days late due to an ice storm. Many students have passed through its halls in the years since. One was Ryan Larson who graduated in 2010 and enlisted in the army soon after. He made the ultimate sacrifice on June 15, 2011, when he was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan. There is a memorial bench for PFC Larson in front of the school here where people can sit and remember the man he was and the freedoms he fought for. If you are able to park nearby, take a moment to appreciate this memorial. If you don’t park, you can still get the information you need for this next question with a slow drive-by and keen observation.
G. There is a second bench to the left of the memorial bench. This was given by
- (0) CLASS OF 2005
- (2) ADAMS-FRIENDSHIP ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
- (5) A-F ATHLETIC BOOSTER CLUB
- (8) ADAMS COUNTY RETIRED TEACHERS