West Branch Times, West Branch, Iowa, Thursday, April 28, 1927
Transcribed by Sharon Elijah, August 28, 2018

SPRINGDALE SCHOOLHOUSE SOLD AT AUCTION

     The old frame school house at Springdale was sold at public auction Saturday afternoon for $465. Lewis Endsley and Clare Lehman were the purchasers and we understand they will wreck the building.

     Under the hammer was sold four walls crowded with the recollections of sixty years. To many, Springdale will seem a strange place without the familiar old school house. Few would choose to stay the march of progress and they are proud indeed of the fine new school plant which has succeeded the old building, but it is not strange if the passing of the old halls of learning will bring a tug to several heartstrings.

     Only a group of pioneers with vision would have built such a pretentious school house as the Springdale Seminary in 1867. The aftermath of the Civil War must still have been felt, even in remote villages like Springdale. The course of study which was insisted upon was pretentious in the extreme, having no less ideal than a college preparatory course; and the Springdale school is claimed to be the first accredited school in the state. Such branches as Greek, German, trigonometry, civil engineering, moral philosophy and others as advanced were taught at the seminary and students from all parts of the state sought culture within its walls.

     Today the Springdale Consolidated School is housed in a $55,000 brick building, modern in every way, and it is safe to say that the educational ideals of the early settlers have not passed with the old school house but have moved with the generations, changing, perhaps, and adopting the best of the new, but fitting into the new surroundings with the same sentiments, “The best is none too good.”