Ironwood Area Schools opens centennial celebration

By MEGAN HUGHES

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Ironwood - The Ironwood Area Schools opened its centennial celebration on July 19 with a ceremony held on the steps of the Luther L. Wright K-12 School.

A crowd of more than 150 attended to honor the occasion.

The ceremony included speeches from guest speaker Paul Mattson and superintendent Dan Martinson.

Mattson spoke about his family ties to the school and about how the Luther L. Wright building had seen many graduations. He had done the math, counting up how many school years there were in which at least one member of the Mattson family was either in attendance at the school or teaching there. He totaled 120 school years, in which years were counted as years per individual, rather than chronologically.

"Think of your connections to the school," said Mattson, "How many years can you and your families come up with?"

A portion of his speech was dedicated to honoring the families that had been multi-generational graduates.

Martinson spoke about the hard work that has gone into the celebration thus far, including the hard work of the Centennial Committee, which has been in charge of planning events in honor of the school's 100 years.

The school held tours during Festival Ironwood, with regular bus transportation from the Historic Ironwood Depot to the school. Tours were self-guided and told the history of the building, with volunteers present to answer questions.

Public reception to the tours was positive, said Martinson at Monday's board meeting. According to Martinson, he had had several people ask if they will be doing the tours again.