Ludlow 9: A Reminder of the Days of Rural Schools
by Jeff Storjohann

In this day of school district mergers and reorganization plans, it's nice to see "where we've been." In the "old days," kids didn't hop on buses or drive to school, but rather walked - like to Ludlow School #9.

Still located a mile north of the Frankville road on the Allamakee-Winnshiek county line, #9 had been the home to hundreds of grade school children from the early 1900's to its closing 3 decades ago.

The current owner of the property was also the school's last director, though that was 32 years ago. Lester Van Wey saw the school educate his two kids, Chuck and Jean, before it closed and a relative bought the structure for $125. The last teacher at #9 was Mrs. Paul Hanke.

According to the original deed, the ground on which the school was built was obtained from the landholder for nothing. It was understood that when the school closed, the original owner would again retain possession. It was as if they knew that the schools would someday close.

After the doors shut and the bells rang for the last time in 1956, #9's furnishings were sold and Van Wey used the structure to store furniture. Gradually though, the roof is giving way along with the foundation and nothing is left in the building now.

A neighbor, Linda Frey, currently uses the area around the school for grazing.

About 20-25 kids answered the school's bell each morning. Today its whereabouts are unknown as it was stolen years ago while it hung in the belfry.

After the 8th grades the students attended the high school in Postville.

Of the nine country schools built in Ludlow township, every bell was stolen within a couple of night's time except for #4's which has been removed for historical purposes.

~Postville Herald, Wednesday, February 10, 1988, pg 2
(This article included the above photo & others that reproduced too poorly to be shown - they can be viewed on the free online archives of the Postville newspapers - link on the Local Resources page of this website)

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Vickery Tells About Ludlow No.9

The picture feature about Ludlow Rural School #9 in last week's Herald brought back memories to Clara Vickery, who started first grade there in 1909. She now is a resident of the Good Samaritan Center in Postville.

She and her parents lived with her grandmother on her farm, where Merlin Snitker now lives. It is east from the school. She was supposed to go to Ludlow #8 but got permission to go to #9 because there was no road leading to the other school.

"I would have had to go through the woods, and that wasn't safe, particularly because of the wolves in there," she said. (She was 7 years old when she started first grade.)

Her family lived 2 miles from Ludlow #9, slightly less than from the other school, and she walked it both ways every day except when the snow was too deep, she said. Then her father would take her in a horse-drawn sled.

When it was cold but there was not a heavy snow or rain, she and her schoolmates still walked, saying they kept warm "by wearing leggings, lots of clothes and scarves over faces."

She said it would take about half an hour to walk the distance "when we were alone, but when we went with other kids, you know how kids will play. It might take us 45 minutes or more."

"Kids those days didn't mind the cold," she explained. When she started school each morning, she was joined by 2 cousins. There were no other students then who lived east of the school, so the 3 of them would walk almost all the way by themselves before they would meet classmates. She could not remember how many attended the school when she was there, but said they included Snitkers, De Witts and Meyers. Vickery pointed out they included Paul Henke. His wife, as pointed out in last week's story, was the last teacher at Ludlow #9.

School started at 9 a.m. and was out at 3:30 p.m., enabling her to get home from school just before it got dark on winter afternoons.

"During the winter, the bigger boys used to bring a plank and fasten it between 2 sleds. Then they would give the rest of us rides down the hill on it," she said.

"I can remember walking home in the mud in the spring, and many a time the mailman would pick me up. That was the tail end of his route."

Teacher Had To Quit
Her first teacher was Mabel Waters. She got married at the end of the fall term to a man named Stock.

That meant she could no longer teach, since the rules in those days were that a married woman could not teach. The next teacher at the school was Mamie McDermott.

Ludlow #9 at that time was a wooden frame building. It was heated with a round oak stove, and as with all country schools, the teacher's duties included starting the fire in the morning.

That was still the case when Vickery began teaching in the fall of 1921. That was at the Birdsell School, which was in Winneshiek County just west of Frankville.

She taught there until the Spring of 1922, when she began teaching a year at what was known as the Woodland School. After teaching in the fall of 1923 at the Evergreen School near Postville, she got married. By then there was no longer the rule that a schoolteacher could not be married, but she quit teaching to, in her words, "conduct my own school at home."

~Postville Herald, Wednesday, February 17, 1988, pg 5

Clara (Waters) Vickery obituary