Re: Country Schools
BROWN, AHRENS
Posted By: Don Wherry (email) In Response To: Country Schools
Date: 10/29/2012 at 20:42:23
(Laura Brown)
School # 2 in Grinnell (now Grant) Twp. was most likely on the southwest corner of what's now 40th Street and 370th Avenue. The current address there is 2039 N Penrose St. The current structure, a residence reportedly built in 1981, looks nothing like the school-house in the photo...
Ideally, there were nine rural schools per township.
School #1 was on one of the corners of the intersection of sections 1, 2, 11, and 12. #2 was on a corner of sections 3, 4, 9, and 10, #3 at the corners of sections 5, 6, 7, and 8.
I'm not sure if #4 was at the corners of sect. 17, 18, 19 and 20, but #5 was at the corners of sects. 15, 16, 21 and 22, and #6 was at the corners of sects. 13, 14, 23 and 24 -- OR #4 was there and #6 was at 17, 18, 19 & 20.
School #7 was at a corner of sections 25, 26, 35 and 36, #8 at 27, 28, 33 and 34, and #9 was at a corner of sects. 29, 30, 31 and 32.
Under the ideal arrangement, no child needed to walk further than 2 miles by road to get to school. The ideal arrangement was freely modified to fit the township, its needs and layout.
On an 1896 map of Grinnell Twp., there doesn't appear to be a school at or near the #1 position. #2 and #3 appear in the standard positions. #4 (or 6) is offset 1/2 mile north and 1/4 mile west, toward the center of section 18. School #5 is offset one mile east (at corners of sects. 14, 15, 22 and 23), and #6 (or 4) is offset 1/2 mile south of its normal position, midway between sects. 23 and 24. The # 7, 8 and 9 schools are in the normal locations.
-Don Wherry
--
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