Press-Citizen, Wednesday September 1, 1954 Will House School Buildings, Grounds Department. NO MORE KIRKWOOD SCHOOL CLASSES This fall for the first time in half a century, the doors of Kirkwood School will remain closed when Iowa City pupils return to their books. The two-room building at 628 Kirkwood Avenue instead will house equipment of the schools’ building and grounds department. Erected in 1902, Kirkwood is the oldest school still operated by the independent school district of Iowa City. Through last spring it was used for classrooms. The last two-grade room in the city was at Kirkwood. Through the spring of 1951, the first and second grades sat beside each other, with the same teacher. Since then, only kindergarten and first grade children have attended the ancient school. The final enrollment last spring was 22 tots who attended half-day kindergarten, and 24 first graders. The last principal was Emma Jane Davis, who taught there for many years. She will teach at Roosevelt School this fall. Students who would have attended Kirkwood this year will instead go to either Henry Sabin School, 500 South Dubuque Street or the new Mark Twain School. Parents who live west of Dodge Street will send their children to Sabin and those who live east (of Dodge Street) to Twain. Recollections of Joan Maske Dinnel Kirkwood Elementary was a two story red brick building with swings and slides on the west side of the school. As you went in the front door, if you walked straight in, you were in the combined first and second grade room which had one teacher. First grade sat on the east side of the room and the second graders sat on the west side of the room with the blackboard and teachers desk on the north wall of the room. Behind the blackboard wall there was hallway but it was used for storage. When you came in the front door, the girls’ bathroom was to the right and the boys’ to the left. Before going into the first/second grade room there was a stairway to the left and it went upstairs to the kindergarten room. In kindergarten we sat at tables. In first/second grade we had desks with ink wells and the desk top lifted up. Miss Helen Sublett was our kindergarten teacher. I found out when looking on the newspaper archive that she later married Marion Ebert and they are both buried in Sharon Center United Methodist cemetery. Miss Emma Jane Davis was the first/second grade teacher. We had Charles Picha as a crossing guard who stood on the south side of Kirkwood Avenue. I believe he was born 1881 and died April 1963. Emma Jane Davis was born 1/8/1895 and died March 2, 1959 at Mercy Hospital was but was buried in Nebraska. She was never married. When I went to school she lived in an apartment building on Kirkwood Avenue across from Summit Street.
Photo provided by Phyllis Miller Pinzon 1947 Kindergarten at Kirkwood school In back Miss Helen Sublett 1st row--Rosemary Dvorsky, Joan Maske, Karen Geringer, Carolann Wiley, Bobby McLaughlin 2nd row--Sandra Madden, Dean Carsten, Phyllis Miller,? ,? , ? 3rd row--Irma Henderson, Norma Mackey, Claudia Hopkins, Paul Oxley, Elsie Dayton, Sherry Bell
CLASS MEMBERS: Rosemary Dvorsky (later adopted to Miller) Joan Maske Karen Geringer Bobby McLaughlin Lester Hook--moved in March Phyllis Miller Beverly Duttlinger Carolann Wiley Dean Carsten Irma Henderson Sandra Madden Paul Oxley Norma Jean Mackey Claudia Hopkins Elsie Dayton Barbra Sanders Sherry Bell Jennifer Schlicher Kathleen Fuhrmeister--moved at Christmas Page Updated 11Nov 2013 |
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