Zearing, Iowa 1956 History

Rankin introduced the guests. Jack Shelley of WHO, Des Moines, Iowa, was the featured speaker. Music was furnished by the Lions Club, Nevada, Iowa, and the local band. Three local ministers took part in the program. They were Rev. Cronkhite, Father Murphy, and Rev. Eller. The architect, R. H. Vandercook, the contractor, Ben Mulford, and the plumbing contractor, Charles Peet, appeared on the program. Thomas Gordon Lundy, school board president, represented the local school board. The planning committee for the dedication was composed of Inez Adams McBride, Norene Pulley Tisdale, and Lowell Gildersleeve.

The completion of the new gymnasium with additional class rooms was the signal for the addition of new territory to the district from outside of Lincoln. township. An attempt to do so was made at an election held on May 6, 1953. One district in Sherman township voted to join. Two districts in Sherman township voted against. This resulted in the entire proposition being defeated.

On March 2, 1955, an election was held which included territory in Marshall county, one district in Sherman township, and a part of another district in Sherman. The election carried 233 to 0. However, the election was contested in the courts. Early in June, 1955, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the election was legal.

It was obvious that the name, Lincoln Township Consolidated School, should be changed. The district contained considerable territory outside of Lincoln township. At the regular meeting of the school board on September 7, 1954, the board voted to change the name to, Zearing Community School. The name was made official by a legal notice published in The New Tri County News on June 9, 1955.

An election was held on June 28, 1955, to elect board members for the Zearing Community School. The directors elected were Thomas Gordon Lundy, Franklin Dale Johnston, Dr. Elwood E. Everson, Barrett O. Dudley of St. Anthony, Iowa, and Ambrose J. Blayney of Hubbard, Iowa.

Even after the Iowa Supreme Court ruling there was agitation against the election which added Marshall county territory to the local district. According to local school officials the matter has now, August, 1956, been settled and the district remains as it was voted on March 2, 1955.