MUSCATINE COUNTY IOWA HISTORY

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Cedar County Country Schools in Wilton Area

Transcribed by Elizabeth Casillas, February 5, 2016

South Union – Rochester Township No. 6

     This school existed as Rochester Township Sub-district No. 6 until 1874 when it was reorganized as South Union Independent School District. In 1882 the school board set out trees in the school yard. By 1935 there were 52 trees there.

     The school burned down the night of Jan. 12, 1883. It is believed that a tramp had entered the building and started a roaring fire to warm himself. Immediately a new building was erected at a cost of $600 for school house and contents. It was insured with the White Pigeon Insurance Co. Minnie Jennings was the first teacher in the new building. She received $25 a month for the fall term and $38 a month for the winter term when there were 43 pupils enrolled. By 1917 the enrollment had dropped to half that number.

     The school was closed in 1964 when it became a part of the Wilton Community School District. At that time there were only three rural schools left in Cedar County. The school house was put to use as a machine shed on the Hilbert Marolf farm.

Sugar Creek School

     The first school house was located in Section 28 on the west side of the creek about ½ mile northwest of the Sugar Creek mill. It was. . .

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     This page sponsored in memory of Anna Atwill, James S. Atwill, Emma Atwill Baker, Rena Atwill, Margaret Atwill Baker and Alexander Atwill, children of James and Margaret Atwill by their brother and niece, Richard and Arvella Atwill.

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Picture – Sharon Independent School 1918 – Courtesy of Lonnie Walton
Back row, left to right: Walter Kaufmann, Lonnie Walton, Mrs. Edith Winsell, teacher, Thomas Gill.
Front row: Parker Walton, John Knouse, Karl Dach, Helen Dach, Mabel Laucamp, - Laucamp, Louis Gill, Lucille Gill.

. . . called Sugar Nook and stood on the west side of the road which at that time followed the creek above the mill. The building was of red brick and was furnished with long benches, seven scholars to a bench. Later the road along the creek was abandoned and in 1872 a frame school house was built on the south side of the road about ¼ mile west of the creek in Section 33 and the name was changed to Sugar Creek.

     The Sugar Creek school did not open in the fall of 1944 because of the small number of pupils. They were sent to other schools. On July 1, 1955 Sugar Creek school district became a part of the Wilton Community School. The schoolhouse had been used as a private dwelling since 1947. On June 23, 1953, the schoolhouse and its contents were sold at public auction.

Osage – Lime City

     Osage was located in the N.W. corner of Section 22 of Sugar Creek Township. There is no date for the beginning of this school, but it must have been very early for it was attended by the Steretts who came in 1836.

     The schoolhouse was located ½ mile south of Lime City and faced west. At the front there were 2 outside doors with a window between. The door on the south was for the girls’ entrance and the north door was the boys’ entrance. Each door opened into a separate cloak room with a door into the school room. Between these small rooms was the teacher’s platform with a desk and armchair. The boys occupied the north half of the room and the girls the south half. There were desks and turn-up seats of various sizes. The entire back wall of the room was a blackboard and under that were two long recitation benches – one for the boys, the other for the girls.

     There were 2 windows on the north side and 2 windows on the south. . .

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Picture – White Pigeon School about 1911 – Courtesy of Cedar County Historical Society
Back row left to right: Ruth Rorick, Erma Port, ?, Belle Kiser, May Chapman, Nevin Port, ?.
Middle row: Lela Witmer, ?, Ruby Whitmer, ?, ?, ?, Bill Langley, ?.
Front row: Rose Rorick, ?, Glee Rorick, Edith Langley, Lela Kiser, Mae Whitmer, ?, Frank Langley, ?, Clifford Chapman.

. . . side and a window behind the teacher’s desk. A large heating stove stood in the middle of the room. On the wall hung a large map of the United States and also a smaller one of Iowa. There was a well with a long handled pump in the school yard.

     When Lime City grew into a town, about 1889, the schoolhouse was moved ½ mile north and the name was changed from Osage to Lime City. A few years later a large schoolhouse was built which was twice as long as most schools and it was divided in the middle with sliding doors to form two rooms. The doors could be opened to form one large room for special events. Two teachers were hired and the students were grouped according to age.

     When the lime kilns were closed the number of pupils dropped so that only one teacher was necessary. In the 1950’s the school became a part of the Wilton Community School district. The schoolhouse was sold to Mr. and Mrs. E. D. Hinkhouse who remodeled it into an attractive home.

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     This page sponsored by Arvella and Richard Atwill.

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Palestine School – Farmington Sub-District No. 6

     The Palestine schoolhouse was built sometime prior to 1867 on the southwest corner of Section 5, Farmington township, which is 1 mile east and 5 miles north of Wilton. A new schoolhouse was erected around the turn of the century. An outstanding teacher of this school was Anna Atwill who served 11 years until her death in 1907.

     This school had a cyclone cave which was made by digging a hole in the ground several feet deep. Bridge planks were put over it and covered with dirt. A gradeway entrance with a door to close was made. Later, when trees made a windbreak on the school grounds this cave was no longer needed.

     The school closed in the early 1950’s. The schoolhouse was moved to a farm 1 1/4 miles east on the south side of the road and was used for grain storage. The district is now a part of the Wilton Community School.

Pleasant Valley – Farmington Sub-District No. 5

     In the early 1860’s when reorganization of the school districts took place in Farmington township, Sections 17, 18, 19 and 20 were declared to be Sub-district No. 5. This school was named Pleasant Valley because of its location. Oliver Boynton built the schoolhouse in 1863. It burnt in 1882 and a new edifice was put up immediately.

     Bina Boynton Clark, who taught at Pleasant Valley for 15 years and her cousin, Lela Badger, a teacher there for 30 years, greatly influenced the lives of the children of this district.

     The school was closed in 1936 and is now a part of the Wilton Community School District. The schoolhouse stood empty until it was purchased in the 1940’s by Jake Davies, who tore it down and used the lumber to build a store in Wilton junction. The land was returned to the Carl Allmandinger farm.

Burr Oak School – Farmington Sub-District N. 1

     Burr Oak school was the oldest in Farmington township, Cedar County. The first school building was about 12 by 16 feet and built of rough boards. In 1857 Servetus Tufts transferred ½ acre of land out of the NW 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Section 29, Township 79N, Range 1 to Farmington School District No. 1. John Quincy Tufts (later congressman) was the first schoolmaster. Sometime between 1872 and 1885 the schoolhouse was moved ¼ mile south, putting it in the exact center of the district.

     A meeting to organize a Free Will Baptist Church was held in the schoolhouse in 1859. Church and Sunday School services were held there until a church was built in 1865.

     The school was closed in 1935 and the children were sent to the Wilton Junction school. In October 1946 the land reverted back to the farm then owned by Alma Shuger. The school building was sold at auction to a Wilton contractor who tore it down for the lumber.

     District No. 1 is now a part of the Wilton Community School District.

Prairie Bell – Rochester Township No.

     The first school in this area was on a small sand hill in the northeast corner of the southeast quarter of Section 7 of Rochester township. This was just about 1 mile straight north of the Tipton interchange on Interstate 80. This school was called Sandy Hook. When the rural. . .

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. . . school districts were laid out to include four sections, a new district was created including Sections 17, 18, 19 and 20 of Rochester township. It was called Prairie Belle. The school building still stands at its location across from the entrance to the Cove, but the Prairie Bell district has become a part of the Wilton Community School.

Sharon School – Sugar Creek Township No.

     Oldest records of Sharon school are dated 1849. They are the oldest known records of a rural school in Cedar County. The school was located about ¼ mile northwest of Sharon corner in Section 23 of Sugar Creek Township. A schoolhouse was built by E. C. Crippin, contractor, in the winter of 1849-50. William Crippin was hired as the teacher in March 1850. Franklin Butterfield, who helped lay out the town of Wilton and named it in 1854, taught Sharon school in March and April 1855. During the Civil War the Copperheads in the area held meetings in the school building. A new schoolhouse was built at Sharon corners in 1866. It still stands and is a rental residence owned by Fred Gill. The Sharon school district has become a part of the Wilton Community School.

White Pigeon – Sugar Creek Township No.

     The first schoolhouse in this area was in the northwest corner of Section 13 about straight east of the Langley farmstead. Later a two story building was erected north of the Isaac Kiser homestead on the Kiser farm. This was almost directly across the road from the Zion Methodist Church.

     Two teachers taught in this school in the early days. The younger pupils gathered on first floor and the advanced students were instructed on the second floor. Generally a man taught the older group. When the number of pupils dropped to the size of an ordinary school about the turn of the century, only one teacher was required.

     No one knows where the name White Pigeon came from, but when a mutual insurance company was formed at a meeting in this schoolhouse it was called the White Pigeon Mutual Insurance Co. after the school. Also the White Pigeon Grange was organized in this school building.

     White Pigeon school closed, the schoolhouse has been torn down and the land returned to the Hansen farm. The district is now a part of the Wilton Community School.

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     I remember how, when I was in the lower grades, the girls lined up in two lines and marched around the school grounds in the warm afternoon sunshine west of the school chanting to each other. The 1916 presidential election was coming up, and one group would call, “Fried rats and pickled cats are good enough for the Democrats.” Then the other line would chant back, “Stale ham and old tin cans are good enough for the Republicans.” No hard feelings, just fun.. . . . Lydia Nagel

     Remember when trainloads of soldiers passed through Wilton during World War I? You would run to the tracks so that you could wave at the brave boys.