Mills County, Iowa
Silver City Community History
1879 - 1979
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The first public school building was built in the fall of 1880. It was a wooden structure located across the street north of the Baptist Church. Lumber for its construction was hauled from Glenwood. The school enrollment grew until
it exceeded the capacity of the building. After its abandonment as a school, it was used for several years as a granary before being torn down.
The second public school building, which stands upon the highest point in the town, is built of brick with a frontage of 66 feet and a depth of
38 feet containing five rooms. Its seating capacity will accommodate about 200 pupils. This number of pupils placed in a grade school requires the attendance of four teachers.
( History of Silver City, by C. E. Huffaker, Published 1905, Page 6.)
The Silver City School opened in the new building Monday morning with an enrollment of 49 in the primary, 27 in the intermediate and 23 in the high school department, making a total of 99. Under the able management of such
teachers as W. H. Pitzer, Misses May Allison and Ida Huffaker, the News predicts a very successful school year.
(Silver City News October 17, 1895).
In 1911, the first addition was made to the building. It was the west wing which contains the primary room downstairs and the science and typing rooms upstairs. The second addition was built in 1926. The first floor was designed as a home economics room and for several years was used for that purpose. Now it is the school lunch room. Upstairs is the high school assembly.
The gymnasium was built in 1939, as a public works project. It is 80 feet long, and 60 feet wide, with a seating capacity of 500 for sports events.
The first school consisted of eight grades with two teachers. Later the grades were increased to ten, but no extra teachers were employed. When the enrollment exceeded the space in the frame school building,
the upper grade classes were held in the Opera House, until the brick building was completed.
The eleventh grade was added in 1901. The class that should have graduated that year was graduated the following year. In 1906, the twelfth grade was added.
The faculty in the new building, in 1906, consisted of four teachers: primary teacher taught first, second and third grades; intermediate teacher taught fourth, fifth and sixth grades; grammar room teacher taught seventh and eighth grades; and high school teacher taught ninth and tenth grades.
In 1907, with the beginning of twelfth grade, two teachers were employed in high school. A three-teacher high school faculty was elected in 1915. In 1952 a rearrangement was made: kindergarten was added, the eighth grade was placed with the high school and a four-teacher faculty was chosen to instruct this group.
In 1961 the Silver City School District was combined with the Glenwood Community School District, and the high school students were transported to Glenwood. In 1972 the grade school was closed and students now attended classes in Glenwood. In 1977 the school building was demolished, and only the gymnasium remains standing. Plans are to revitalize it for use as a community building.
~submitted by Roseanna Zehner & Darlene Jacoby