|
KNOWLTON SCHOOL
The first school at Knowlton was erected in 1891 at the cost of $3,000
with the first class to graduate in 1900. Knowlton was one of the first schools in Ringgold County which established a substantial library.
At one time the school at Knowlton was considered to be the foremost in the county. Dr. LeRoy Edward PARKINS of the Harvard Medical College granduated from Knowlton High School in 1905. [Dr. PARKINS wrote The Harvard Medical School and Its Clinical Opportunites in 1916, which was published in Boston, MA.]
Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, April, 28, 1904
KNOWLTON HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
Graduates of the Knowlton School are H. Ellis LININGER, O. Almeda TIMBRELL and John McGINTY.
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012
Mount Ayr Record-NewsMount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, May 07, 1915
KNOWLTON - The Knowlton school will close May 1, and there will be three graduates - Delat FORSYTHE, Lourretta PALMER and Bertha OVERHOLSER.
Ebon McANINCH, who was re-elected principal of Knowlton schools, has decided to accept the position of principal of the Beaconsfield schools.
~ ~ ~ ~
Mount Ayr Record-NewsMount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, September 14, 1915 KNOWLTON - W. H. WRIGHT, Jr. arrived Thursday from Seymour and began his work as principal of the Knowlton school on Monday.
Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker
Mount Ayr Record-NewsMount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, April 28, 1916
KNOWTON - At a recent meeting of the school board, the following teachers were elected: E. M. McANINELL, principal; Grace Adams, intermediate; and Vera Norris, primary.
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2016
During the second decade of the 1900's, several school districts in Ringgold County considered consolidation. Although
the citizens of Redding School District voted in favor of consolidation in 1913, the vote was cast out on a technicality.
The following year, a new school was erected in Redding. In 1915, another election was held in Redding and the citizens
again voted to consolidate. In 1917, a large addition was constructed to accomondate an increase in pupils attending the
Redding School. In 1915, the residents of Delphos voted to consolidate; Maloy residents voted for consolidation in 1917;
and the Beconsfield residents cast their vote for consolidation in 1920. Although the residents of Ellston voted to
consolidate, it was annulled on a technicality when the bonding company realized that the election notice had been
advertised solely by public notices and not published in the newspaper. A second vote was called which resulted in a
vote against consolidation.
By 1942, the school at Knowlton was little more than a country school.
After serving the community well for 48 years, the first schoolhouse was razed by WPA workers.
Click on thumbnail photo or the link to see an enlarged view of the photograph.
Click on "back button" to return to this webpage.
Mount Ayr Record-NewsMount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, May 15, 1941
The voters of the Independent School District of Knowlton voted unanimously Saturday in favor of the proposal to issue bonds in the sum of $1,200 for the purpose of constructing and equipping a school building to replace the present structure. The vote was 25 - 0.
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2016
Knowlton's last schoolhouse was built by the school district in cooperation with the WPA at a cost of approximately
$1,800 passed on to the taxpayers of the district. The interior dimensions measured 28 x 32 feet.
Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, May 17, 1956
The Mount Ayr Board of Education has purchased two schoolhouses to add to their physical plant. They are the Knowlton school and the Washington No. 7 school. These schoolhouses will be moved to Mount Ayr to provide two additional classrooms which will be needed next year. These two classrooms will make it possible to divide the fifth and sixth grades into two sections. Next year's fifth grade will have 41 students while the sixth grade will have 38.
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012
Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Wednesday, September 11, 2014
Snapshots of History
By Mike Avitt
Thanks to the Diagonal Printing Museum for this week's picture (same as the one at the top of this webpage).
I hope you can see the wooden sidwalk leading up to the school entrance. The schoolhouse sat on the hill west of Leo
Carson's old house and faced east.I found a historical account of the Knowlton High School in a November 27, 1941 issue
of the Mount Ayr Record-News. The article was written by Nola Simpson, who graduted from Knowlton High School in 1918, and the
occasion for the article was the dedication of the new rural school built in Knowlton that summer. The Mount Ayr School
District purchased this rural schoolhouse on May 7, 1956. The old high school was torn down in the summer of 1941.
Nola's article focused on the people connected with the old high school but I have additional information I've gleaned
from the newspapers of Shannon City, Diagonal, and Mount Ayr. There does seem to be times when no correspondent was
available and news from Knowlton is very scant, especially the late teens and early twenties. The previous school
was a rural schoolhouse west of town. The new two-story, frame high school was built in 1893 by Gus Lininger and
his crew or around $2,500. The first principal was R. H. Williams in April 1897, according to my informtion,
and the third annual commencement exercises were held May 7th, 1903 with Thressa Keller being the only graduate.
Frank Willey was elected principal in 1904 and was replaced by S. E. Seaton in 1907. Carson Williams and Howard
Ruby graduated from Knowlton High School in 1907. Faye Brown was the only graduate in 1909 and by June 1910, Faye
was teaching at Knowlton. Ebon McAninch, a 1914 Mount Ayr graduate, was hired as a teacher for the 1914-15 school year and also became
the basketball coach. Knowlton didn't have a gymnasium, nor do I see any evidence that Knowlton had a boys basketball
team. Remember, most boys went to work rather than finish high school. Girls stayed in school and got normal training
to become teachers. The demand for rural teachers was exceedingly high. The girls team played several years under
Mr. McAninch, who was a basketball star for Mount Ayr, and Mr. McAninch became principal at Knowlton when he was
about 21 years old. In 1916, Zulah Larson was the only graduate. It wasn't uncommon for Knowlton to have only
one graduate and the most graduates I ever saw in one year was six. The teachers were lucky to last one year.
Some lasted three years. Nola Simpson's article says 1920 was the last year of twelve grades at Knowlton.
Beginning in 1921 only eight grades were offered. The old schoolhouse had
been repainted and reshingled at least once in its 28 years of existence prior to 1921. I want to mention some Knowlton
alumni. My favorite Knowlton grad was Carson Williams in 1907. I've been reading old newspapers for ten years and his name
comes up all th time. He is the one who started the Diagonal Reporter in January 1918 after fire destroyed the
old Diagonal Progress plant in December 1917. Carson owned a variety store, a restaurant, another newspaper in
Lenor, he was a Chevrolet dealer, a banker in both Diagonal and Mount Ayr, and even managed the old Clinton Motel in
the mid 1950s. Now that's multi-tasking! Dr. W. Likely Simpson graduated from Knowlton and Dr. Leroy Parkins attended
Knowlton High but may have graduated at Diagonal. Another doctor, Clifford Belding, also attended school at Knowlton.
Knowlton school reunions were held for many years after the school closed and Diagonal Printing Musuem has
information on that.
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2014
Sources:
Ringgold County History Compiled and written by the Iowa Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the
State of Iowa, Sponsored by Ringgold County Superintendent of Schools, Mount Ayr, Iowa. 1942.
Diagonal, Iowa: Centennial History, 188-1988 p. 13. 1988.
Compilation by Sharon R. Becker, June of 2009; updated April of 2010; updated September 2012 & 2014; updated September of 2015
|
