IAGENWeb ~ Cerro Gordo Co. ~ Mason City's Centennial ~ The Story of The Schools

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Monday, June 01, 1953
Section 9, Page 2

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THE STORY of THE SCHOOLS

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2 Elementary Schools to Be Erected
$2,395,000 Approved for New Buildings

Mason City voters in the last five years have approved bond issues totaling $2,395,000 for the construction and repair of school buildings.

The latest bond issue - approved last fall - was for $1,200,000 to construct the new Washington and Roosevelt Elementary schools.

The first bond issue, $400,000, was for an addition to Harding School. Then followed $200,000 for improvements to present buildings. Later the voters gave their okay to the $595,000 Herbert Hoover School.

The new Washington School will be built on the same site as the old building which was razed after it was condemned as unsafe. It will provide seven classrooms.

To be built east of Roosevelt Junior High School on a 27-acre site, the new Roosevelt Elementary School will contain 20 classrooms.

The present Roosevelt Elementary School was originally built to house a college. Upon completion of the new Roosevelt building, the facilities eventually will be turned over for use by the Mason City Junior College. The Junior College now [1953] is located in the High School Building.

NOTE: The original Roosevelt Elementary School (above), the former National Memorial University building, was erected in 1903. This building was torn down and replaced in 1979.

[Section 9, Page 2]

Old Central School Built for $30,000

The cornerstone of the old Central School building was laid July 4, 1872, with imposing ceremonies.

Three stories high besides a basement and a cupola surmounted by a flagstaff, the school was built of stone from the local quarries at a cost of $30,000, which for those days was regarded as a fabulous amount to pay for a public school building.

The old Central school was destroyed by fire in December, 1926. It was reconstructed into a 2-story building to serve as the Administration Building of the Mason City School system.

Central School, 1900

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Photographs courtesy of Globe-Gazette unless otherwise noted

Some of the photographs did not scan well. In such a case the photograph has been substituted with a clearer copy if available.

Transcriptions and Note by Sharon R. Becker, August of 2015
Information obtained in notes from other Globe-Gazette articles