ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF CLARENCE HIGH SCHOOL
1869-1969
CLARENCE, IOWA

Transcribed by Sharon Elijah, September 15, 2014

The editors acknowledge with thanks the use of the following:
        THE CLARENCE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL – ITS HISTORY FROM THE BEGINNING INCLUDING THE ALUMI RECORD.
        HISTORY OF THE CLARENCE SCHOOLS FROM CENTENNIAL 1859-1959 CLARENCE, IOWA.
        SPORTING RECORDS FROM SCHOOL RECORDS.

HISTORY OF CLARENCE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

     It is thought that the first school was taught in a loft over Fish and Gerez store. This was the same site as the Baltisberger and Kline department store now occupies.

     In this early day “select schools” were taught by tutors. Eunice Fink and Howand Bell were teachers who held these schools in their homes during the first decade of Clarence school history.

     1865 was the year the first public school house was built in Clarence. It stood where Kermit Roelf and Richard Bauchmann now live. This school house was a small one-room frame building. Mattie Johnson was the first teacher. Some of the time the school was so large that the “overflow” had to attend the “select schools.” All grades in this school were taught together. Teachers were paid 15 dollars a month. Two other teachers who also helped in the one-room school are Lizzie Freeze and Joshua Hammond.

     The first school building, after serving its usefulness as the seat . . .

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. . . of learning in Clarence, was moved to a site on Main Street and was torn down at the time the Ford garage was built in 1926.

     The first graded school building in Clarence was erected in 1868 at a cost of $9,000 including grounds. This school building was a wooden building of two stories; four large school rooms, two recitation rooms, a music room, a small library and some modern apparatus. W. B. Hanna proposed the plan for the building, although Mr. Hanna was not a practical architect. The building was erected by A. D. Young, contractor and builder of Vail, in Crawford County. An admirable feature of this school building was a large hall, intended for a play hall. When the weather became bad and scholars couldn’t go outdoors, this hall became a great advantage. Said Mr. Stubbs, about this hall, “It is true, that it sometimes is like bedlam turned loose, but as the scholars of the different rooms have recess at the same time the noise is not so objectionable.” Mr. Stubbs was principal of the school for eight years and one term, 1870-1879. During the winter of 1878, the average daily attendance of the school set a record to that date of 165.

     The yard of the school was furnished with a new well and walks, the house repainted and blinds put on, and the lightning rod injured in 1874 when the house was struck by lightning, was replaced by a new one.

     The average length of the school year in the 1870’s was nearly 38 weeks; the longest having contained forty, and the shortest thirty-five. The school did not attain its full membership in a day, a term, or a year, but with a roll call on its first morning of only seventeen, it went on increasing. In the spring term of the second year, the enrollment reached forty-three and in the following winter sixty. In the fall term of 1873 it was seventy, the largest number every enrolled in one term. Up to this time there had been but three departments. It now became necessary to add another and regrade the school. The membership during the whole twenty-eight terms had been 310.

     First available records date back to the fall term of 1883. G. F. Skinner was principal then. He and his wife served the school until 1891.

     In that early day the elementary schools was divided up into three groups; primary, intermediate, and grammar rooms. Carrie Decker, Emily Graves, and Minnie Bolding, taught the grammar room from 1883 to 1892. Subjects included the three R’s, Grammar, and Spelling. Declamation and Physiology appeared in 1887.

     In the high school Mr. Skinner had an enrollment of 57 in the fall term, 59 in the winter and 29 during the spring session in 1883-1884. Pupils ranged in age from 13 to 21. It was during this term the fourth year of the high school curriculum was added. Joe Fell was the first student to meet the requirements for graduation under the modern four year plan, being the only graduate in 1884.

     J. A. McLaughlin guided the distinies of the local school from 1891-1892. No one knows who taught the primary. Mrs. Alex Grant instructed the intermediates, Minnie Boling had the grammar group, and Gertrude Simmons was assistant principal.

     In 1892 J. H. Morgan became principal and stayed on until 1904. . . .

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. . . Few changes were made in the management of the school, although Mr. Morgan added Elocution in 1894. Here are some of the teachers during the Morgan era: Primary – Mrs. Lulu B. Ramsey came during his stay but no record of other primary teachers is available. Intermediate – Mrs. Alex Grant, Elma Sheldon, Edith Brink, Dora Evers, Clara Wallace and Lucy Woods. Grammar Grades – Minnie Boling, Violet Starr, Lydia Bauman and Myrtle Bixler. For many years Gertrude Simmons was Mr. Morgan’s faithful assistant in the high school.

     L. B. Stewart was elected to superintendent of the school in 1904. At this time Penmanship was added to the growing curriculum.

     From 1905 to 1909 M. R. Fayram came to head the school. He instituted the first modern curriculum and divided the school year into two semesters instead of the three term plan.

     In 1906 music was given a place in every grade in the school for the first time.

     Mr. H. H. Kent was elected principal in 1909 and served the school one year.

     J. R. Neveln, whose three brothers were Iowa school superintendents, was selected by the board in 1910.

     E. I. Heuer was superintendent from 1913-194.

     Henry Irons came to serve the school faithfully and weel from 1914 to 1927, a period which saw many changes including a building program and consolidation. The community was most fortunate in being able to hold the services of a man whose shrewdness and keen business ability kept the educational opportunities for its children at such a high level. Truly the Irons regime was outstanding among the group if educators who gave service to the Clarence Schools.

     On March 8, 1915, a $30,000 bond issue for a new building carried by a four to one majority. The rural districts were given the opportunity to vote on consolidation before the new building contracts were let. On March 29, 1915, the vote still stood against consolidation.

     In 1921 an effort was made to purchase additional ground to meet the expansion of the enrollment and afford much needed playground space. A $22,500 bond issue was placed before the people and carried, but the bonding company found the election illegal and one the second attempt the issue was voted down.

     In 1927 R. J. Kidder was elected superintendent when Henry Irons resigned after 12 years of faithful service.

     In 1929 Irving Finger came to direct the school. He was responsible for our outdoor playground equipment. He established a new type of discipline and left a new set of records for his successor.

     Keith L. Benner was elected superintendent in 1931 and guided the school for the next seven years.

     The “New Deal” was probably responsible for the new addition which made the Clarence school plant one of the finest in Iowa. Ever since consolidation the school had been crowded; the stage was inadequate, the gymnasium far too small, and there were not enough classrooms. The Board of Education was told of the P.W.A. grants for new buildings. Investigation showed that they had the support of the public without government help. The election, for a “$20,000 bond issue which was held twice, is a matter of history. It carried three to one the last time.

     The new addition was built at a cost of $29,000 in the summer of 1934. It contained the best combination gymnasium-auditorium in this section of Iowa. The playing floor is 45 x 68. The stage has a 34 foot opening and crowds of 800 people can be accommodated at plays and basketball games. New class rooms, commodious locker space, a kitchen and spacious halls meant an outlet for the over crowded situation that prevailed before 1934. A new office for the superintendent, which lessens the administrative problem, was included in the new arrangement.

     From a staff of four teachers in the beginning the school faculty once boasted 16 but was operating with 12 in 1938. The school enrollment had reached 266. The simple games and playtime activities of the early days has been succeeded by competitive sports in which the school has shared with pardonable pride.

     The trophy case in the new building holds a score of silver and bronze awards which are emblematic of team championships in girls basketball, baseball, boys basketball and track.

     The high school principal Jenna Beadle heads the list of those who have performed faithfully and well over a long span of years. Miss Beadle came to Clarence in 1919 and taught here for 27 years. Mrs. Lulu Ramsey taught primary for thirty years or more and Arly Glendenning is numbered on the list of those whose tenure was lasting.

     The enrollment in the Clarence School during the 1956-47 school year was 209. The enrollment for the 1958-59 school year was 375. The change in size during that time has been brought about mainly through . . .

. . . two new consolidations. In 1952 eleven ¾ sections were added from Dayton and Massillon Townships and a small part of Jones County. In 1954 15 ¾ sections were added from Fairfield Township. This last consolidation change the name of the school to Clarence Community Schools with a total of 53 ¼ Sections. In 1947 there were 24 people working for the school district, and in 1958 there were 34.

     In 1953 a Bond Election was passed for $250,000.00 for reconstruction and equipping the old buildings and building and furnishing an addition. Construction was started early in 1954 and the building was first used in the fall of 1955. The new addition consists of grade rooms, music rooms, shop, agriculture, and a multi-purpose room. The old building has been changed over to make room for a larger dining room, a new science room, and a new home economics room.

     In 1958 a questionnaire was sent out to the graduates from the past ten years. This study showed that over 60 per cent of our graduates during that time have gone on to college or have taken some other type of advanced work beyond high school level.

     Another addition was added to the school for use in the fall of 1967 at a cost of $255,000. Of this amount $100,000 was made available through a gift from the Joe Ditz estate. The building included a library, classrooms, administrative offices, rest rooms, and a connecting corridor. Included in the library complex was a conference room, storage room teacher and librarian workroom, and a reading room for 75 persons. The corridor was lined with student lockers for junior and senior high students. The library floor was carpeted and the entire addition air conditioned.

     Rooms in the old building were made available for expanded commercial and science instruction. During this time parking and playground facilities were improved.

     Other improvements in the educational program lately have been . . .

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. . . expanded metals shop facilities, science laboratory equipment, and a television replay system for every classroom.

     The following subjects are being offered in the high school curriculum: 4 years of English, 3 years of science, 4 years of mathematics, 3 years of home economics, 3 years of shop, 3 ½ years of social studies, typing, bookkeeping, commercial law, drivers training, and drama.

     The Clarence athletic program has been very successful. The following records cover 1950 through 1968.

     The overall boys basketball record is 264 wins and 127 losses. The boys went to the state tournaments in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. The seasons records in those two years was 27-1 both times.

     The girls basketball record for 1950 through 1968 was 260 wins and 1138 losses. They went to state in 1955, 1956, and 1957.

     The boys baseball record during those 18 years was 244 wins and 137 losses. They were beaten in the 1957-58 state finals with a 28-3 record that year.

     Girls softball was started in 1962. They have accumulated a record of 38-52.

     Boys track was also started in 1962. In 1968 they won the conference trophy and a boy won the state 440 yard dash.

     Girls track was started in 1968.

     The coaches of these records are as follows: Bill Holmstrom, Bob Tschirki, Dick Ramsey, Don Dutton, Al Cooperider, Jerrel Gallagher, Ken Shaw, Jack Heaton, Monte Pearson, Vern Bottorff.