Beaver Township
Summary from the survey completed in 1997- 5 homes
- 2 other uses
- 2 unknown fate
Stout
Section 10 - Southeast cornerThe Stout Independent School District included part of Sections 10, 11, 14 and 15.
Original 2 story frame Bldg. torn down about 1934 - then 1 story frame bldg. (on site) used as school, Community Center - now home of Joyce Rewerts
Beaver No. 1
Section 2 - Southeast corner- burned down - rebuilt - Claus Walterman bought it - moved it to Stout block south of former grocery - Scott Symore 516 3rd Stout residence
Beaver township school No. 1 is now being held in the new school building, which has just been completed at a cost of $1375. The old building sold to H. W. Wiltfang, who will tear down and use it the erection of a barn at Parkersburg.
--The Grundy Republican (Grundy Center, Iowa), 26 December 1907, pg 6
Beaver No. 2
Section 4 - Southeast corner- GONE burned
Beaver No. 3
Section 5 - Southwest corner- Tree fell on it - taken down to Glen Arends - Calvin Heyenga - Stout
Former Teachers And Pupils of 90 Yr. Old School Hold Reunion
About 60 former teachers and pupils of the rural school in Dist. No. 3, Beaver township, four miles north of Fern, held a reunion in the old schoolhouse on September 13. The school building in this district was among the first rural school buildings in the county and it is about 90 years old. The school has been closed a number of years, but the building is still retained by the district and it was in good enough condition to hold the reunion of former pupils and teachers.The following story about Beaver No. 3 was written by Mrs. Dan Galpin, who was a pupil in that school 58 years ago:
I attended the reunion for teachers and pupils at the old schoolhouse Beaver No. 3 which is located 4 miles north of Fern on highway 14 in Grundy County. While there I was deeply impressed as memories of my school days started here in 1895. We were all reminded of the many things that took place here and also many poems learned in this school, but since long forgotten.
On the way to the schoolhouse that day with two of my old school mates, Mrs. Minnie Brandt and her sister, Hiska Pruisner, we crossed the old bridge west of the schoolhouse and turned to look for the pond where we once played on the ice. Very much changed, indeed, but we still remembered the spot. Just below the hill on the same road we pointed out the old spring. It was then I was reminded of the poem in the old Harper's Fourth Reader:
I wondered o'er the village, Tom,
I sat beneath the tree upon the schoolhouse playground
That sheltered you and me.
The tree is slowly dying, Tom,
Some heartless wretch has carved its back.
Upon this tree I carved your name
Your sweethearts, just below it, Tom,
And you did mine the same.
But none were left to greet me
And few are left to know,
Who played with us upon the green
Some forty years ago.
The old schoolhouse is much the same,
Barefoot boys at play,
Were sporting just as we did then,
With spirits just as gay;
And the bell swings to and fro,
Just as it did when we were boys
So very long ago.
The same old desks within its walls
With jackknife carved initials.
The master's desk in the same old place,
His chair against the wall.
But none were left to greet me
And few were left to know,
Who played with us upon the green
Some forty years ago.
I wandered over to the spring,
The boards have fallen down,
But the water just as clar as then
With green grass all around.
While stooping down to take a drink,
Dear Tom, I started so to see
How very much I've changed
Since forty years ago.
None were left to greet me
And few were left to know
Who played with us upon the green
Some forty years ago.
The years in the poem would seem out of place for at least one person present, Mrs. E. L. Pieper, who attended this school and just recently celebrated her 82nd birthday.
Seeing the familiar face of one of my old teachers, Mrs. Clara Bloomfield, reminded me of more things and poems.
I missed one teacher not present, Mrs. Anna DeVries Schaffer of Aplington. It was she who had our class memorize the last few lines of the poem Thanathopsis. I recall she tried so hard to impress the meaning of those few lines, and in later years I could understand why. Here are the words as I remember them:
So live, that when thy summons come
To join the innumerable caravan
Which moves to that mysterious realm
Where each shall seek his chamber
In the silent halls of death,
Thou go not like a quarry slave at night
Scourged to his dungeon,
But with an unfaltering trust approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him
And lies down to pleasant dreams.
Then later in the day I found myself going over the lines of my favorite poem which our class thought an awful task to memorize:
Oh why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
Like a swift flying meteor, a fast flying cloud,
It's the wind of an eye, a long drawn breath,
From the blossom of health, to the stillness of death.
The leaves of the oak and the willow will fade,
Be scattered to earth and together are laid,
The rich and the poor, the low and the high,
Are mingled to dust and together shall lie,
We breathe the same air, we view the same sun,
We run the same courses our fathers did run.
From the death we are shrinking our fathers did shrink;
To the life we are clinging, our fathers did cling,
But it flees from us all like a bird on the wing.
I could go on and on as my memory serves me, but will close with these few lines:
Still sits the schoolhouse by the road,
An idle beggar sunning.
The sumac still around it grows,
And blackberry vines are running.
I wonder if any one can tell us the year this schoolhouse was built? If so, please write. It must date back to the 1860s.
I wish to thank those who made this reunion possible and hope the younger generation will carry it on and that some day in years to come, some one else will be as deeply moved as I was with happy memories of their school days. --Mrs. Dan Galpin
--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 8 October 1953, pg 2
Beaver No. 4
Section 17 - Southwest corner- Same place made into a home Herbert Schwarz live in it
By Salem Lutheran Church
Beaver No. 4 High In Milkweed Pod Collection
Beaver No. 4 where Mrs. Bert Heerts is teacher has made the biggest collection of milk weed pods. The latest report from that school shows a collection of 44 bags.--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 5 October 1944, pg 1
Beaver No. 5
Section 16 - Southeast corner- was made into a home by Henry Flesner
Beaver No. 6
Section 23 Northeast corner- moved to town by Ben Clapp then bought by Les Peterson carpenter - 1st. St. - Rental property residence
Beaver No. 7
Section 25 Southwest corner- brick still there - Mildred Stewart owns land - used for grain storage built 1926
Beaver No. 8
Section 34 Northwest corner- Moved to Holland (Colfax Twp.) (? Harken home) or Lincoln Center Sch. behind old creamery in Fern
Beaver 8 Joins Dike District
At a special election held last Saturday in the Rural School District No. 8, Beaver township, and in the Dike Community School District, the Beaver school was voted into the Dike District. The merger will be effective on July 1st.In the Beaver District the vote was 21 to 1 in favor of joining the Dike district. Only 30 votes were cast in the Dike Community district and all of them were in favor of the merger.
--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 14 April 1955, pg 1
Beaver No. 9
Section 30 Southeast corner- ? maybe in Stout or Fern
NOTE - Wooden PV school beside Church PV no. 7 moved to Fern creamery for storage (?) 1/2 bldg. needs paint - Al Cummings owns creamery and uses for storage - Wava Meester JD Meester also Alvina Voss - One was on corner in Fern - Beaver ?