| LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA |  |
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| LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA | |
Page 43
Transcribed by Sharon Elijah, November 17, 2019
Map of Concord township
Concord Township was originally called Fredonia, and embraced what is now Oakland and Concord. It is bounded on the north by Muscatine County, on the east by Grandview Township, on the west by Columbus City, Union and Oakland Townships and on the south of Columbus City Township. Among the early settlers of this township were J. C. Sterling, Macajah Reeder, Captain Wheelock, R. F. Newell, George Stone, Joseph Clark and the Shellabargers. The northeastern portion of the township is fine farming land, while the southern part is sandy bottom land. The township is well-drained, and is watered by the Iowa and Cedar River and Indian Creek. It was organized in 1852.
The first school building in Concord Township was erected on land belonging to the father of Robert F. Newell. The township now consists of six districts, each of which has a good schoolhouse, and the schools of the township will compare favorably with all others in the county.
| 1. Fredonia No. 2 |
| 2. Indian Creek |
| 3. Linn Grove |
| 4. Sandy Grove |
| 5. Washington Independent |
| 6. Welington |
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Picture: FREDONIA, 1934
Fredonia school was repainted and the wainscot varnished and a new ventilation system was installed in 1934. This brought the school to a state standard rating. All the work was done by CTA workers.
Fredonia school was located in the town of Fredonia, about two miles east and north of Columbus Junction. The land was deeded by Mr. and Mrs. D. C. Mason in 1894.
At one time Fredonia boasted several businesses including a grocery store, barbershop and blacksmith shop. The school building had two rooms. Grades 1-4 were in the south half, while grades 5-8 were in the north room. The school closed in 1956 and pupils were bused to Columbus Junction.
After teaching for several years in one-room schools, I was elated to be hired to teach in a two-room school in Fredonia. Working with children in the first four grades, instead of as many as eight grades in a one-room school, seemed like a dream.
When September came we got right down to work, with phonics probably getting the most emphasis of any subject. Sometimes little four year-olds started first grade and began their education while very young. Many things were no different than in the one-room school. Water came from a pump and was carried in by buckets. The room had to be swept and dusted, erasers cleaned, coal carried in and the fire built. I felt fortunate to have men teach in the other room as they would bring in the coal for me.
There was a change in teachers in the room with grades 5-8 because it was the time of World War II and one man was called into service. I taught with Dean Jacobs, Alden Bebb and Helen Clark. Mrs. Stanley Arthur substituted when one of the men left. During her time there she and I took our whole school on a train ride from Columbus Junction to Muscatine and visited the fire station and other buildings. It was a big deal then.
I was married while I taught in the Fredonia school. I remember apprehensively approaching the school director, Kenneth Buster, to ask if I could teach after I was married—because in those days single teachers were favored. He laughed and joked about it, so I continued teaching—and Miss Williams became Mrs. Quigley.
Helen Clark and I enjoyed teaching together. We could car pool from Columbus Junction. One morning, because of car trouble, we had to walk to school; it was a very cold day and we almost froze. Her husband was working on the railroad in western Iowa and by this time my husband was in the Army.
One time I distinctly remember someone (not me) taking a bull snake out of the upper classroom. At recess time we found its mate near the swings. One thing our county superintendent was very emphatic about was that we, the teachers, be on the playground at all times. After the boys and girls came to school in the morning there was not time for preparation or paper grading or anything, as not only did we play together but we also carried our lunches and ate …
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Pictures: FREDONIA Gladys Ball’s class
Front row, left to right: Lee Allen Foster, Dickie Simmons, Lyle Wilson, Dick Lukins . Back row: Gladys Ball – teacher, Farell Snyder, James A. Carey, Rose Ann Carey
FREDONIA Front row, left to right: Jerry Stromer, Richard Oscar Reed, Louis Swain, Johny Conklin, Ronnie Swain, Bobby Duncan, Lee Andy Reed. Second row: Leah Virrups, Charlotte Reed, Elaine Virrups, Nancy Barber, Ann Reed, Beverly Johnson, Patricia Stromer, Merry Boyd. Third row: Judy Carey, Larry Boyd, Edwin VIrrups, Charles Stromer, Jack Swain, Philip Stromer. Back row: Mrs. Grim – teacher, Mary Swain, Patsy Carey, Dean Johnson, Deanna Solomon, Jerry De Witt, Janet Allen, Johnny Allison, Darlene Reed, Mrs. Margaret Schlichting – teacher.
… together in our classroom or in the schoolyard. There was a lot of togetherness in the rural schools. Programs were a big thing in the country school. It was especially nice in Fredonia as we could dress and wait turns in one room and perform in the other room, the one with the piano.
Many years later, after a long time at home with my own two children, I returned to the classroom in the Columbus Community School in fifth grade. I was privileged to teach the boys and girls of some of the students I had taught in the Fredonia school. It was a joy to teach several years alongside Marlene Buster Griffin on the faculty of the Columbus Schools; I would observe her teaching and feel proud that I had a small part in her education in the Fredonia school. Also, a director on the school board during my teaching in later years was Lee Foster, who had started to school at a young age in Fredonia while I was teaching there. Now, one who I had made decision for in first grade was in a position to hire or fire me.
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Picture: FREDONIA, 1934
Front row, left to right: John Abbott, Neil Brown, Randall Teel, Vernon Snyder, Wayne Nicewanner. Second row: Marguerite Blivens, Shirley Hamilton, Mary Katherine Brown, Milly Nicewanner, Pat Morrison, Doris Eierman, Juanita Murphy, Yvonne Abbott, Darlene Snyder, Mildred Teel, Alice Mare Baker, Dorothy Diller. Third row: Mildred Crull- teacher, Mabel Nicewanner, Lucille Diller, Leroy Adams, Dorothea Berry, Robert Diller, Albert Diller, Harold Diller, Carol Teel, Eunice Teel, Evelyn Nicewanner, Roberta Diller, Emma Brown, Margaret Barker-teacher. Back row: Burdette Brown, Ida Mae Adams, Mary Morgan, Gail Teel, Mildred Polton, Lillian Jean Jacobs, Arlene Carey, Lee Bliven, Harry Cooper, Richard Brown, Forest Snyder.
| Years | Teacher | Grade | Months | Salary Per Month |
| 1918-19 | Jessie Foster | 9 | $65 | |
| Ruth Clark | 9 | $65 | ||
| 1919-20 | Evan Reese | 9 | $75 | |
| Louise Thompson | 9 | $75 | ||
| 1920-21 | Emma W. Orr | Adv. | 9 | $100 |
| Louise Thompson | Prim. | 9 | $100 | |
| Mae E. Johns | Adv. | 9 | $100 | |
| 1921-22 | Mae John | 9 | $100 | |
| Mrs. Ella Burrell | 9 | $90 | ||
| 1922-23 | Mrs. Lillian Taylor | Adv. | $95 | |
| Mrs. Ella Burrell | Prim. | $95 | ||
| 1923-24 | Lillian Taylor | Prim. | 9 | |
| Mildred Jacobs | 9 | |||
| 1924-25 | Mrs. Lillian Taylor | 9 | ||
| Mildred Jacobs | 9 | |||
| 1925-26 | Mrs. Lillian Snyder | 9 | ||
| Helen Lee | 9 | |||
| 1926-27 | Cecil Schlichting | 9 | ||
| Mrs. Margaret Schlichting | 9 | |||
| 1927-28 | Cecil Schlichting | 9 |
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| Years | Teacher | Grade | Months | Salary Per Month |
| 1927-28 | Mrs. Margaret Schlichting | 9 | ||
| 1928-29 | Cecil Schlichting | 9 | ||
| Mrs. Margaret Schlichting | 9 | |||
| 1929-30 | Daisy M. Kemp | Adv. | ||
| Margaret E. Barker | Prim. | |||
| 1930-31 | Marvin H. Coder | 5-8 | ||
| Elsie Coder | 1-4 | |||
| 1931-32 | Marvin H. Coder | 5-8 | ||
| Elsie Coder | 1-4 | |||
| 1932-33 | Margaret Barker | Adv. | ||
| Mildred Crull | ||||
| 1933-34 | Margaret Barker | Adv. | ||
| Mildred Crull | ||||
| 1934-35 | Dean Jacobs | Adv. | ||
| Lola Lewis | Prim. | |||
| 1935-36 | Dean Jacobs | Adv. | ||
| Lola Lewis | Prim. | |||
| 1936-37 | Dean Jacobs | Adv. | ||
| Lola Lewis | Prim. | |||
| 1937-38 | Dean Jacobs | Adv. | ||
| Lola Lewis | Prim. | |||
| 1938-39 | Dean Jacobs | Adv. | ||
| Lola Lewis | Prim. | |||
| 1939-40 | Aldon Bebb | Adv. | ||
| Lola Lewis | Prim. | $80 | ||
| 1940-41 | Aldon Bebb | Adv. | $80 | |
| Lola Lewis | Prim. | $80 | ||
| 1941-42 | Aldon Bebb | Adv. | entered | $80 |
| Dean Jacobs | Adv. | entered | $80 | |
| Margaret Arthur | Adv. | $80 | ||
| Margaret Williams | Prim. | $80 | ||
| 1942-43 | ||||
| 1943-44 | Helen Oak Clark | Adv. | 9 | $100 |
| Margaret Quigley | Prim. | 9 | $100 | |
| 1944-45 | Maxine Blankenhorn | 9 | $150 | |
| 1945-46 | Maxine Blankenhorn | 9 | $200 | |
| 1946-47 | Mary L. Dunsmore | 3 | $150 | |
| Mildred Crull | 6 | $200 | ||
| 1947-48 | Delores Marshall | 9 | $200 | |
| 1948-49 | Mrs. Ray Bonnichsen | Quit Oct. 15 | ||
| Gladys Ball | Replaced above for 90 days | |||
| Mildred Crull | ||||
| Geneva McRoberts | Took over March 7 | |||
| Mrs. Russell Grim | ||||
| 1949-50 | No record | |||
| 1950-51 | Dorothy Grim | Prim. | 9.5 | $215 |
| Margaret Schlichting | Adv. | 9.5 | $215 | |
| 1951-52 | Dorothy Grim | Prim. | 9.5 | $218.50 |
| Margaret Schlichting | Adv. | 9.5 | $218.50 | |
| 1952-53 | Dorothy Grim | Prim. | $230 | |
| 1953- | Margaret Schlichting | Adv. | $230 | |
| 1953-54 | Dorothy Grim | Lower | 9 | $250 |
| Margaret Schlichting | Upper | 4.5 | $250 | |
| Vesta V. Bebb | Upper | 4.5 | $250 | |
| 1954-55 | Margaret Schlichting | $270 | ||
| Mr. Harold L. Abbott | $270 | |||
| 1955-56 | Maxine Johnson | Lower | 9.5 | $313.50 |
| Harold L. Abbott | Upper | 9.5 | $313.50 |
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Pictures: FREDONIA
Tom and Irene Carey in 1920
Picture of school
The land for Indian Creek was deeded by H. Tucker in 1854. Indian Creek School in Concord Township was located east and south of Columbus Junction, not far from the Indian Creek Cemetery. According to 1874 atlas the Indian Creek School was located at what is now the H. Addleman farm in section 35. By the time of the 1900 atlas the school had been moved close to Indian Creek Cemetery.
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Pictures: INDIAN CREEK, 1923
Front row, left to right: Della Briggs, Margarey Wagner, Irene Carey, Warren Reynolds, Arnold Knott. Back row: Emory Artel, Esther Crull, Faye Shellabarger, Bessie Delzell, Russell Knott, Marvin Taylor, Jay Shellabarger. Lillian Snyder was the teacher of this class.
INDIAN CREEK, 1916
Front row, left to right: Thomas Carey, Rex Carey, Everette Kamp, Raymond McGee. Back row: Howard Locke, Leonard Murfin, Harry Johnston, Carl Kemp
In the 1890s, the teachers received $18 a month. Henry Schlichting was the director at this time and raised the salary to $30. Jess Newell taught there in 1905. Elva Foster was another teacher. Some of the pupils in 1910 were: John Gabriel, Jack Carey, Frank Mishler, Jake Shellabarger, Nela, Lela and Marie McKean.
Cecil Schlichting taught 1923-27. The pupils enrolled were: third grade: Carol, Garnet Adams, Herbert Mishler; Fourth grade: Earl Anthony, Rex Carey; fifth grade: Louis Anthony; sixth grade: Opal Mishler (Burns), Lois Shellabarger, Marie Gaskell; seventh grade: Dorothy Gaskell, Esther Shellabarger; eighth grade: Alfred Gaskell, Carl Anthony.
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Pictures: INDIAN CREEK
Front row, left to right: Lonnie Furnas, Royce Carey, Ray Shellabarger, Ralph McKean, Cecil Shellabarger.
INDIAN CREEK Indian Creek’s “Chicago Bears,” c. 1924 Left to right: Lonnie Furnas, Robert Carey, Edwin (Dusie) Buffington, Royce Carey, Clark McKean, Ralph McKean, Ray Shellabarger, Cecil Shellabarger.
INDIAN CREEK, 1923. Those Chicago Bears, plus one more. These little pictures were originally given to Royce Carey by Margaret Schlichting in memory of days at Indian Creek school.
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Pictures: INDIAN CREEK
Royce Carey as a small studious pupil
INDIAN CREEK This picture is of Elva Foster Bonnichsen who graduated from Washington Independent, returned to teach at Indian Creek, then sent two of her children, Carola and Frances Bonnichsen, to Washington Independent.
INDIAN CREEK, 1916 Front row, left to right: Irene Carey, Lois Shellabarger, Opal Mischler, Esther Shellabarger. Back row: Mildred Mischler, Marie Johnson, Reva Kemp, Theresa McGee, Nina Kemp. Stella Shellabarger was the teacher of this class.
| Years | Teachers | Months | Salary per month |
| 1918-19 | Leola Kemp | 9 | $90 |
| 1919-20 | Bess Bettler | 9 | $90 |
| 1920-21 | Hazel Walter | 9 | $95 |
| 1921-22 | Mary Rexroth | 9 | $90 |
| 1922-23 | Cecil Schlichting | 9 | $75 |
| 1923-24 | Cecil Schlichting | 9 | $75 |
| 1924-25 | Cecil Schlichting | 9 | $75 |
| 1925-26 | Cecil Schlichting | 9 | $90 |
| 1926-27 | Marie Johnston | 9 | $90 |
| 1927-28 | Marie Johnston | ||
| Mrs. Marie Cox | |||
| 1928-29 | Marion Williams | $75 | |
| 1929-30 | Marie Breneman Fisher | $95 | |
| 1920-31 | Marie B. Fisher | $95 | |
| 1931-32 | Marie Fisher | $90 | |
| 1932-33 | Pearl Johnston | $75 | |
| 1933-34 | Pearl Johnston | $45 | |
| 1934-35 | Miriam Lieberknecht | $40 | |
| 1935-36 | Cecil Schlichting | $50 | |
| 1936-37 | Nellie Lee | $60 | |
| 1937-38 | Nellie Lee | $55 | |
| 1938-39 | Nellie Lee | $55 | |
| 1939-40 | Nellie Lee | $60 | |
| 1940-41 | Nellie Lee | ||
| 1941-42 | Nellie Lee | $70 | |
| 1942-43 | Nellie Lee | $85 | |
| 1943-44 | Rachel Larson | 9 | $100 |
| 1944-45 | Pearl Johnston | 9 | $125 |
| 1945-46 | Beatrice Smith | 9 | $150 |
| 1946-47 | Pearl Johnston | 9 | $150 |
| 1947-48 | Doris Clark | 9 | $150 |
| 1948-49 | Janet I. Morrison | 9 | $180 |
| 1949-50 | Doris Clark | 9.5 | $225 |
| 1950-51 | Doris Clark | 9.5 | $225 |
| 1951-52 | Geneva McRoberts | 9.5 | $247 |
| 1952-53 | Geneva McRoberts | 9.5 | $260 |
| 1953-54 | Geneva McRoberts | 9.5 | $300 |
| 1954-55 | Closed |
Page 53
Illustration: INDIAN CREEK.
Myrtle Jamison, County Superintendent, presented this certificate to Carl Kemp in March of 191 for attending fifteen months of school without being absent or tardy once.
Picture: INDIAN CREEK.
1953 class with teacher, Geneva McRoberts. Row by wall, front to back: Phil Martin, Sharon Boyd, John Addleman, Carol Pantel, Shirley Carey. Other row: Kathel Addleman, David Addleman, Steve Martin, Joyce Stewart, Pat Boyd.
Page 54
Pictures: LINN GROVE
Linn Grove was located three miles southwest of Letts on the Letts family farm.
LINN GROVE – Later picture.
Linn Grove was located three miles southwest of Letts on the Letts family farm. The Delmer Roehs family has made the building into a home.
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Pictures of report cards:
LINN GROVE The report card of Katie Rowe (Keith Jordan’s mother)
| Roger R. Letts | Raymond Tisor | William Kammer |
| Florence Saultz | Marie Hartscock | Katharine Reed |
| Mable Saultz | Leroy Hartstock | Eunice Griffith |
| Clarence Ellis | Helen Letts | Albert Tisor |
| Clarence Criger | Henrietta Letts | Helen Wheeler |
| Harold Hartstock | Edwin Letts | |
| Mable Wheeler | Clara Criger | |
| Ralph Tiser | Ivan Hartstock |
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Copy of Eight Grade Graduation Program
For Eight Grade Graduation Exercises To be held at Linn Grove School May 26, 1911, 8:15 p.m. Music Theme: - My Country School Life Neta F. Shaw Class Prophecy: - Jessie A. Corbin Theme: - The American Girl Harriet M. Farmer Theme: - My Country Home Life Ora F. Shaw Music Address: - Hon. F. M. Moisberry Exercise: Linn Grove School Presentation of Diplomas Music
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During recess kitten ball was a favorite game. One day Walter Bush had the misfortune of batting the ball through the schoolhouse window, scaring the teacher as she was sitting at her desk grading papers. That ended the ball game for that day.
Black Man, Prisoner’s Base and Ante-Over the School House were popular games then. The boys gathered together by the side of the schoolhouse to eat their noon lunch from dinner pails. The girls would have their parties and lunch to themselves. Trading food was done on the sly, as the teachers didn’t approve of it. Laura Lowe came of ten to visit school and would bring the students a treat of cookies and popcorn balls.
The programs at Halloween and Christmas were always fun. Hank Bedwell, who lived nearby, would bring his gas lantern and hang it on the ceiling in the schoolhouse during the evening programs. He would stay and enjoy the programs, too. Box suppers and pie socials were held once during the school year to help buy school equipment. One year Lucy Morgan, a pupil, decorated her box with pink crepe paper and ribbons and put in her favorite foods for the box supper. It was auctioned off among others to the highest bidder, Hank Bedwell, but Lucy was too bashful to eat lunch with him.
Margaret Shimak took many of her lemon meringue pies to the pie socials. The las day of school was always exciting, as the mothers would bring baskets of food, putting it all together for a big picnic dinner which was enjoyed by all the families of the Sandy Grove school.
Teachers that taught at Sandy Grove were: Anna Barnes, Nellie Lee, Lola Lewis, Arian Lowe, Hazel Thompson, Louise Schomberg, Bernice Krahl, Adelia Hafner, Margaret Bell, Edith Newton, Maude King, Hazel Thompson, Iva Paullins, Guy Thomas and Evelyn James.
It is not wise to spend most of our time looking back, but at times it pays to compare present conditions with the past in order to decide if we are moving in the right direction.
The one-room rural school is gone, but for those of us who were lucky enough to attend one, there are still fond memories. There was the “potbellied” stove that roasted those who sat near, while the ones in the far corner shivered with cold, the pump in the schoolyard for drinking water, the outdoor toilets in the far corners of the yard, and the woodshed that held the supply of wood or coal.
Page 57Pictures: SANDY GROVE.
This picture was taken on Armistice Day, 1918. The pupils dressed to celebrate and all waved flags. The Director gave them the day off.
Front row, left to right: Hilton Barker, Ernest Wagner, Harold Wagner, Helen Barker, Margaret Barker.
SANDY GROVE Great ball game, 1928-29
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Picture: SANDY GROVE
A keepsake given to her pupils by Miss Lola Lewis in 1917 at the close of another school year.
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SANDY GROVE SCHOOL District No. III Concord Twp., Iowa Sept. 4, 1916 – May 25, 1917 Miss Lola L. Lewis Teacher School Officers J. H. Barker, President R. G. Lowe, Secretary Max Lowe, Treasurer R. W. Wagner, Director
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Before school in the mornings, at noon and recess there were the games: one old cat, ante-over, steal sticks, cross tag, and hide and seek. In winter it was a snowball fight, a game of fox and goose in the snow, skating on a nearby pond or coasting on a dangerously steep hill.
Oh, sure, there were the studies; the first graders struggling with new words in reading, laboriously writing the a, b, c’s, or trying to remember that three plus four equals seven. At times they could listen to the older ones recite and by the time they reached seventh or eighth grade they knew half the answers, and as always there was joy in success and sadness or disgust in failure.
Many lifelong friendships were formed in those early schooldays. To most everyone there was that favorite boy or girl that was thought of as a special friend, and in many cases those wonderful friendships lasted throughout life.
In September 1923 I began a career of teaching at Sandy Grove school in Louisa County, four and a half miles northeast of Columbus Junction, about then miles from where I grew up.
I graduated from Letts High School in 1920, attended branch summer school at Muscatine during the summer of 1923 and began to teach. With more college training on my part, I taught fourteen more years in one-room country schools in Muscatine County, seven years in elementary grades in Muscatine and twenty-one years in junior high in Rock Island, Illinois.
I still think of Sandy Grove and other rural communities where I taught as places where the parents cooperated with the teacher to assure the youth of the district a good beginning in education. As I look back fifty years, it is only natural to wonder where they are now, what they chose for their life’s work, and what they have met in the way of success and failure.
Our present system of consolidation and busing has the advantages of better buildings, with gymnasiums and auditoriums, good libraries, woodworking or machine shops, and courses in art and music. The disadvantages as I see them are the vast number of students a teacher meets in a day, perhaps as many as two hundred. This means that the students lose their identity as individuals, there is almost no time for individual help, and the greater the number the more numerous the problems of just being together. From the parent’s viewpoint, there are so many teachers, principals and counselors (as many as ten for each student), that close cooperation between parents and teachers is impossible.
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Pictures:
SANDY GROVE: This is a picture of Miss Emma Barnes (Helmick), who was Harold Wagner’s first grade teacher in 1915
SANDY GROVE This photo is of Hazel Thompson, who graduated from Columbus Junction High School in 1916. She taught Washington Independent, Sandy Grove, Old Clifton and Louisa Center. She retired from L & M after over 40 years of teaching.
One more building was added Saturday to the long and growing list of one-room Iowa rural schools that have either been sold or torn down when the Sandy Grove School of Louisa County was auctioned to the highest bidder.
Frank Garret of Columbus Junction entered the high offer of $405 for the structure, which since 1882 has stood in a school yard of approximately one acre five and one half miles southwest of Letts and four and one half miles northeast of Columbus Junction. Mr. Garrett will use the building for home construction in Columbus Junction and will move the school intact if he finds it practical to negotiate the Iowa River Bridge.
The Columbus Junction auctioneering firm of Kotz and Duncan handled the sale with W. Fay Collins of Letts serving as clerk. Earl Bedwell of Columbus Junction entered the high bid of $105 for the school yard, and the contents of the building, consisting of a stove, organ and desks, went to various bidders at the Saturday morning auction.
The auction stirred a sentimental twinge in the minds of a number of old-time residents who received their first schooling in the building, but school officials said the school had been closed for several years and there was no use letting it stand idle any longer. Children of the district have been going to the Letts district, which was recently consolidated.
Sale of the school was another indication of a trend that has been evident in Iowa for a good many years as rural school after rural school is close. Another school closed in Louisa County during the past year was the Mt. Hope School near Grandview.
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| Years | Teachers | Months | Salary per month |
| 1918-19 | Edith Axtell | 8 | $50 |
| 1919-20 | Hazel Thompson | 8 | $65 |
| 1920-21 | Maud King | 9 | $80 |
| 1921-22 | BerniceKrahl | 9 | $85 |
| 1922-23 | Ivy Paulins | ||
| Margaret Bell | |||
| 1923-24 | Guy Thomas | 9 | $75 |
| 1924-25 | Evelyn Jame Duncan | 9 | $75 |
| 1925-26 | Nellie Lee | 9 | $77.50 |
| 1926-27 | Arian Lowe | 9 | $77.50 |
| 1927-28 | Arian Lowe | 9 | $87.50 |
| 1928-29 | Louise Schomberg | 9 | $75 |
| 1929-30 | Louise Schomberg | $85 | |
| 1930-31 | Adelia Hafner Klipstein | $75 | |
| 1931-32 | Edith Newton | $75 | |
| 1932-33 | Edith Newton | $75 | |
| 1933-34 | Hazel Thompson | $60 | |
| 1934-35 | Hazel Thompson | $55 | |
| 1935-36 | Hazel Thompson | $55 | |
| 1936-37 | Hazel Thompson | $60 | |
| 1937-38 | Hazel Thompson | $60 | |
| 1938-43 | No school, lack of students | ||
| 1943-44 | Closed consolidated with Letts |
Picture: SANDY GROVE, 1934.
Front row, left to right: Elizabeth Bush, Ardis Lowe, Marian Van Delinder, Marjorie Van Delinder, Doris Milholin, Bessie Shimak. Back row: Emma Shimak, Helen Shimak, Emma Davidson, Charlotte Davidson, Pauline Lowe.
Page 61
Pictures: Sand Grove Ball Team.
Front row, left to right: Roe Hankins, Floyd Johnston, Lester Hafner, Frank George. Back row: Jean George, Rick Wagner, Earl Wagner, Walter Wagner, Charlie Dowson, Frank Blake.
WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT. Pleasant Grove Church is behind the school
The original Washington school in Concord Township was started in a log building in the northeast corner of section 23 sometime before 1851. The first frame building was built in 1861 in the northeast quarter of section 22 at a cost of $67.00. The second schoolhouse was built in 1904 at the same location at a cost of $1386.00. In 1919 this building moved to a location next to Pleasant Grove Church. This move took place when Letts reorganized its school district, making this school no longer centrally located. This school closed when Washington Independent became part of Columbus Community School District in 1951. The church bought the schoolhouse and used it as an addition to the church.
Page 62
Picture: WASHINGTON
At the home of the teacher, Hazel Thompson, after a trip to nearby timber to gather wild flowers. Front tow, left to right: Mathew Thompson, Carol Bonnichsen, Lola Dallmeyer, Ada Kemp, Harold Shellabarger, Robert Quinn, Lester Kemp. Middle row: Theodore Thompson, Herbert Newell, Chris Thompson, Irene Quinn, Daisy Kemp, Violet Shellabarger. Back row: Louis Briggs, Charles Shellabarger, Dorothy Littrell, Hazel Thompson- teacher, Gloria Littrell, Viola Shellabarger, Mary Thompson.
A few months before the Armistice was signed, making the world safe for democracy, my formal education began. With my lunch, which Mamma had packed in a shiny half-gallon syrup bucket, my new penny pencil, and my new Big Chief pencil tablet, I started to school. Papa took my brother and me in his Dodge touring car the two miles to school. I had looked forward with great anticipation to going to school, but when he drove off to go home, my attitude changed to utter dismay and fear, and the tears began to flow.
So began my formal education. Soon I became acquainted with the fifteen or so other children, learning to spend the school day out of sight of Mamma with the assurance that I would get to go home before dark. In fact, I soon learned to like school!
It really was a nice school, nicer than many others, I later learned. After the first year, the school building was moved to a more central location only a mile away from my home. We had a big, grassy playground. In warm weather at recess and noon we played tag, red rover, rolled down the slope or played “ante-over the coal shed.” The girls played house using the cut grass to make room divisions in our make-believe houses. The boys played marbles or mumbly –peg with two-bladed jackknives. In the winter we brought our sleds to school and rode belly-buster down the south slope, dodging trees and other sleds.
The school building was large and square, and had a high celling. The desks and seats were single and securely bolted to the floor in two straight rows. Each evening, the teacher sprinkled sweeping compound on the floor to make it easier to sweep around the legs of the desks. There was a cloak room with a sink at one end. In the sink there was a shiny three gallon cream can with a lid, and a dipper with a handle for drinking water. In the sink also was a wash pan, where we pumped water from the cistern with a pitcher-pump to wash our hands before lunch. On winter days, sometimes children would bring a pint jar with soup in it, which the teacher would put in a big pan of water on top of the heating stove at recess. By noon it would be hot for a nourishing lunch. The stove was a big, jacketed heating stove and it stood in the corner of the classroom.
School began at 9:00 a.m. and dismissed at 4:00 p.m. It seemed to me that most of the first year was spent studying phonics from a chart that hung on the wall. When we finally started reading it was from a Wheeler Primer. We learned to count and write our numbers before we did addition. All the children’s parents had to buy each year’s books at the drug store in town. Rural children’s books were sold at one drug store, town children’s at the other.
All the grades, one at a time, at the tap of a bell, came forward to the recitation bench at the front of the room. Here they had their instruction and recited orally, then went to their seats and studied. So it was sort of a review for the older ones and pre-instruction for the younger ones every day. No wonder that the country school students often out-performed their town counterparts in county tests.
Page 63
Picture of a Certificate Award
To ELVA FOSTER Of the Washington School, Concord Township Louisa County, Iowa, is awarded this Certificate for being Neither Tardy Nor Absent From school during the month ending Jan. 24 day of Jan. 1905 Vinne Letts C. R. Wallace Teacher County Superintendent |
Because our school, Washington Independent District 1, was an accredited school, the teacher was required to teach manual training to the boys and domestic science to the girls. Now I was always very decidedly left-handed. In sewing we hemmed handkerchiefs or dishtowels and sewed quilt blocks. I couldn’t make any headway. The teacher finally pinned the material to the knee of my stocking, but still insisted that the needle be held in my right hand. Mama had to straighten her out!
Every fall the school put on a program. The children learned recitations and songs. There were also dialogues and playlets. We had curtains up for a stage and dressing rooms. Two fathers pulled the curtains. After the program was a box supper or a pie social. A local auctioneer auctioned off the boxes. Generally, the teacher’s beautifully decorated box brought the highest price because the young men in the neighborhood made the teacher’s boyfriend pay a big price for the privilege of eating with her!
At Christmas time Santa usually made an appearance. The shades were drawn and we were all very quiet in order to see who would be the first to hear the teacher drop a pin, when the swinging door between the cloak room and the classroom burst open and there was fat, jolly Santa.
On Arbor Day we would gather outside and plant a tree in the school yard. Someone would have dug up a small tree from the woods to use for this purpose.
On the 1st day of school there was always a picnic lunch with mothers and grandmothers and an occasional father present. The lunch was spread on a table outside, weather permitting. After everyone had finished eating and the table was cleared, children cleaned out their desks. The boys shouted and yelled in anticipation of a fine summer, and the girls often cried because they would miss each other all summer. Then everyone piled into the family cars, waved to the teacher and vacation had begun.
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Picture: WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT NO. 1.
Front row, left to right: Estella Shellabarger, Orpha Estle. Second row: Frances Newell, Leah Higginbottom, Emma Abbott, Eva Clark, Dora SIdman, Jessie Foster, Gertie Dowson, Fern Sidman, Hector Dowson, Earl Utter, Bert McNamer, Carl Curtis, Ray Morse, Frank Blankenhorn, Tina Sidman. Third row: Ben Curtis, Ed Higginbottom, Maud Sidman, Lou Sidman, Tillie Blankenhorn, Elva Foster. Fourth row: Effie Kelly- teacher, ?, Joe McNamer, Fred Sidman, Phil McNamer, Edna Shellabarger, Aura Morse, Edwin Newell, Glen Higginbottom, Ruth Clark, Edwin Blankenhorn, Floyd Blankenhorn. Back row: Thomas Newell, Velma Clark, Ray Blankenhorn, Scott Blankenhorn, Harry Dowson, Leila Shellabarger, Scott Dowson.
| 1892-93 | M. S. Carrigan |
| 1893-94 | Addie E. McNamer |
| Spring 1894 | J. R. Syphrit |
| Fall 1895 | Nellie Jamison |
| Winter 1895 | Clara E. Chandler |
| Spring 1896 | Maurice Kennedy |
| 1897-98 | M. E. Kennedy |
| Fall 1898 | Gertrude Creswell |
| Winter 1898 | Will J. Reaney |
| Spring 1899 | Effie B. Kelly |
| Fall 1899 | Gale Loubell |
| 1899-1900 | Effie B. Kelly |
| Fall 1900 | R. J. Newell |
| Winter 1900 | R. J. Newell |
| Spring 1900 | Effie B. Kelly |
| 1901-02 | Effie B. Kelly |
| 1902-03 | Wm. E. Whicher |
| 1903-04 | Laura Weaver |
| Vinnie Letts | |
| 1904-05 | Vinnie Letts |
| Amy Rowland | |
| 1905-06 | Harry R. Dowson |
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Picture: WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT, 1925.
Ruby Lieberknecht and Chris Blauer going for a ride in Hilt Lieberknecht’s car.
The country school was a quarter of a mile from where I lived. I attended this school for eight years. I walked the dusty or muddy or sometimes icy and snowy road most every day. I had to be very ill or it had to be very bad weather to stay home, for I loved school. Usually I waited for three or four cousins to come by to walk with me. They had a horse we called old Dick, which they sometimes drove hitched to a topless buggy. Three could sit in the seat and a couple stand in the back. As this was most unusual, it was an event. A couple of children who lived a mile away had a pony and cart. We thought they were very lucky.
I do not remember owning a rain coat. The family umbrella must have covered me. I had overshoes and leggings that came to the knees to wear in winter and I remember walking on the hard snow drifts to see if I could get home without breaking the hard crust.
Washington school in Louisa County was in the center of a one acre square. A white rail fence was across the front. A cement walk leading to the front porch passed a well and pump and a tall flagpole. To the left of the school house was a woodshed and the boys’ toilet. To the right was the girls’ toilet and a grove of trees in the back.
The front door opened into a long hall. On the left was a long rope that led to the bell tower. Sometimes the teacher let the older pupils ring the bell to call the children in from play. There was a locked room where the teacher kept supplies and her personal things. On the right was a long row of hooks on the wall with a long bench beneath them. The students put their lunch pails on the bench and hung their coats and caps on the hooks. They ate their noon lunch on the bench. Mostly it was hard boiled eggs, sandwiches, cake, cookies, and once in a while a piece of chicken. A door opened into the one-room school. On the south were two windows and a big stove and a wood box. The teacher made the fire in the morning and the big boys were asked to put wood or coal in during the day. A table stood in one corner with a water bucket and one dipper. We all drank from that bucket! The west had a long row of windows. It was so tempting to look out and watch the sky, clouds, trees and fields. A blackboard covered the north wall. Announcements, writing and arithmetic lessons were written there by the pupils. The teacher’s desk was in the center of this wall, with a small bell to call classes. A long bench from where the class recited was in front. Student desks filled the rest of the room. They were in rows—small desks in front for the little children and larger ones in the back for the older boys and girls. The desks …
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… were slanted and had a groove for pencils and a pen, with an ink well to the right. Under the top was a shelf for books, tables and slate. As the teacher called a class the students stood, and when she struck the desk bell they marched in a row to the front bench and stood until she said “Be seated.”
A one-room school was interesting. You could see and hear everything. It was sometimes hard to study as the students were tempted to watch. I am sure many pupils learned things listening to others recite. In the morning the teacher might read from the Bible or have a prayer. She might read a chapter in a book. I remember I would not like to miss school because I wanted to hear the story. The east wall had shelves of books. I have often thought it had a good library for a country school. I think I read everything in it.
Discipline must have been good. I never saw a hickory stick. A few times a big boy would have to stand and hold out his hand and the teacher would hit him on the palm with a ruler. More often you had to stay after school and write big words, or “I will not whisper again” 100 times. The teacher would also talk to you and explain why you should not be naughty.
We had recess of fifteen minutes at 10:30 in the morning. At noon after our lunch we played baseball if the weather was nice. In the winter we had sleds to slide down a small hill in the school yard. During the winter there might be a spelling bee or a program at night where students were in a short play or spoke pieces, called readings.
We liked spelling bees. We call then spell downs. All students would stand. The teacher would pronounce the words for us to spell. As we failed we sat down. I never made it, but got close sometimes. A big boy, Fay Foster, usually beat me. Children really wanted to learn to spell and get good grades in everything as they knew they had to take “County Examinations” to enter high school at Columbus Junction.
A box supper was for parents and older boys and girls in the neighborhood. The women and girls decorated boxes and filled them with fried chicken, sandwiches, cake, pie and other goodies. My father was usually asked to be auctioneer. He would try to get as much as he could as the school needed the money to buy supplies, etc. A good time was had by all.
Teachers were usually local men and women. I remember Miss Edna Shellabarger, Scott Dowson and Miss Jessie Foster. The students were Fosters, Dowsons, Shellabargers, McCormacs, Turkingtons, Dallmeyers, and others.
| Years | Teachers | Months | Salary per month |
| 1918-19 | Hazel Thompson | 9 | $55 |
| 1919-20 | Loretta Dacy | 9 | $75 |
| 1920-21 | Loretta Dacy | 9 | $90 |
| 1921-22 | Loretta Dacy | 9 | $100 |
| 1922-23 | Loretta Dacy | 9 | $80 |
| 1922-23 | Anna R. Lieberknecht | ||
| 1923-24 | Faith Walter (Shellabarger) | 9 | $80 |
| 1924-25 | Faith Walter (Shellabarger) | 9 | $85 |
| 1925-31 | Faith Walter (Shellabarger) | 9 | $100 |
| 1931-32 | Genevieve Collins (Shellabarger) | $80 | |
| 1932-33 | Genevieve Collins (Shellabarger) | $75 | |
| 1933-34 | Henrietta Wilson (Howell) | $60 | |
| 1934-35 | Frances Letts | $55 | |
| 1935-36 | Miriam Lieberknecht | $50 | |
| 1936-37 | Helen North | $70 | |
| 1937-38 | Izola Metzger | $70 | |
| 1938-39 | Izola Metzger | $75 | |
| 1939-40 | Gladys Ball (Kitchen) | $70 | |
| 1940-41 | Gladys Ball (Kitchen) | $75 | |
| 1941-42 | Gladys Ball (Kitchen) | $80 | |
| 1942-43 | Nellie Wilson | $85 | |
| 1943-44 | Marjorie Oepping (Bonnichsen) | 9 | $100 |
| 1944-45 | Doris Gerling (Clark) | 9 | $125 |
| 1945-46 | Doris Gerling (Clark) | 9 | $150 |
| 1946-47 | Doris Gerling (Clark) | 9 | $150 |
| 1947-48 | Elaine Adolphson | 9 | $150 |
| 1948-49 | Elaine Adolphson | 9 | $175 |
| 1949-50 | Nellie Lee | 9.5 | $175 |
| 1951-52 | Closed |
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Pictures: WELLINGTON.
Wellington is the left, while Linn Grove is on the right. These two schools were moved in to the Letts Consolidated school grounds and used as extra rooms.
WELLINGTON. The second Wellington building.
In the fall of 1858 the Wellington school, commonly known as “Little Brick”, was built. Mollie Dowson attended and later taught there. Lewis Newell states that many of the rural schools before the 1900s were usually rectangular; after the turn of the century they became square. Carol Schafer has information that indicates the first Wellington was brick, but she also has a picture showing what must be the second Wellington, as it is a wooden structure. The first Wellington School was brick, John Lowe did the carpenter work. Thomas Dowson Jr., grandfather of Raymond Bonnichsen and Lewis Newel did the brick work.
All three of the old atlases show a school on the north side of the section line about half-way between sections two and eleven. This is the dirt road that runs east and west on the north side of John Padgett’s farm. Jessie Foster (Torode) taught at Wellington during the 1917-18 school year, one of her students was her six year-old niece, Carol Bonnichsen Schafer.
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Pictures: WELLINGTON.
Jessie Foster Torode, a teacher at Wellington.
WELLINGTON. This photo is of Mollie Dowson, a Louisa County pioneer (Mrs. Mary Dowson Newell). Mollie attended and later taught at Wellington in 1871. Her family had settled on a raw prairie homestead in North Concord. She left Wellington to attend school in Iowa City, but returned to Concord to teach at Washington Independent #1. Her family lived in the Scott and Hector Dowson home (now owned by Steve and Barb Bonnichsen).
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