Country School: One Room - One Nation

Country School Production Log - Introduction

Production on Country School: One Room - One Nation is about to begin!  We plan to post a Production Log here on the blog that will chronicle our progress.  We anticipate a fast and furious schedule this summer, so it's likely we will have to wait for things to cool down before posting our Log entries.

We expect the project to be a real adventure, so stop back often to follow our progress!

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http://www.facebook.com/pages/Country-School-One-Room-One-Nation/47019007127?ref=ts

One-Room School Class Frozen in Time

Photo courtesy Alice Atkinson.

The photo above depicts a class in the Sumner Township one-room school between Morengo and Williamsburg, Iowa in Iowa County.  This school, like so country schools, has been torn down.

Century-Old School House at Welcome Center Adds 'Scene of Early Iowa' for Lamoni Visitors

By Randy Meline, Graceland University (posted here with permission)

A 100-year-old, country school house from near Leon has been painstakingly restored and moved to its new home behind Graceland University's Welcome Center/Maid-Rite/Amish Country Store complex two miles east of Lamoni at I-35 and Highway 69.

The school house was donated by Graceland alumna and Board of Trustees member Vicki (McVicker) Ross, a 1950 GU Graduate. She grew up on a Decatur County farm and attended the Pioneer School. It has stood since 1889 on the Leon-Lineville road, about 15 miles northeast of Lamoni. It served farm children from Kindergarten to high-school age for many decades.

Now, the school house will serve a double purpose. Area school children will visit and learn about pioneer history, and travelers can pull off I-35 to be greeted at Graceland's new Amish Country Store, (soon-to-be-opening) Maid-Rite restaurant, the Welcome Center, and a beautiful vintage country school house. It is bound to be a place visitors will remember, and return to. (Here is a shot of the school house coming down the highway toward Lamoni. Photos by Dennis Piepergerdes.)

Vicki Ross (who resides in Pennsylvania) has many memories of her early days in the Decatur County countryside. She decided a while back to restore the historic school so elementary and middle school children of today could visit on field trips, learn about early rural education (which Iowa pioneers valued so highly), and share that knowledge with their friends and families.

Now her vision has come true and she could not be more pleased. "This has been a rewarding project, and well worth the effort," she said. "For years to come visitors will feel a special connection when they visit Lamoni."

Vicki financed restoration of the Pioneer School. It was transported last week on a flatbed trailer (in three pieces, requiring three trips - the roof had to be removed) to the Welcome Center by another loyal Gracelander.

Alumnus Orman Brooner, a 1953 graduate, has spent months on the project. Orman and his St. Joseph, Missouri construction company did the restoration work on the school house, securing the exterior and bringing back to life a piece of southern Iowa history. Orman is also a member of the Graceland Board of Trustees.

 
Here is a shot of Vicki Ross, taken in 2007, meeting outside the school
with property owner Ivan Twembly.

The restoration work and move presented Orman and his crews with a number of challenges along the way. For instance, they had the school loaded and ready to go about three weeks ago when a winter storm hit and iced the roads. They finally got a break with the weather, and the school is now secure in its new home.

Orman has made multiple trips to Decatur County from his home in St. Joseph, Missouri to complete the restoration. Work will continue to landscape the area, add concrete sidewalks, an outside dining area, and more.

 
That's Orman, above, posing next to the school house
after the move was completed.

Orman and his wife Colleen are ardent supporters of Graceland. They have championed academic programs and Orman's construction firm has been involved with projects on campus, including The Helene Center for the Visual Arts.

Vicki Ross and her now-deceased husband, Donald Ross, GU Class of 1948, have also been strong Graceland supporters. The Ross family has gifted $1 million toward the major renovation of Platz-Mortimore Science Hall into the state-of-the-art Resch Science and Technology Hall, now under construction on campus.

The driving force behind the Welcome Center project has been Graceland's first lady Bette Sellars. Bette taught art and her husband John Sellars was VP for Institutional Advancement at Graceland a decade ago. They returned last year when John became the university's seventeenth president. One of the first things Bette noticed when she came back to Lamoni was the sizeable Amish presence that had built up around Lamoni in the last 10 years. There are about 45 Amish families in the area now.

With Bette's guidance, Graceland has now partnered with Lamoni's Amish community, the iconic, Iowa-born ‘Maid-Rite' Corporation and the State of Iowa to create a unique dining, shopping and tourist-aid destination at the outskirts of Lamoni.

Bette's vision for the site where the Pioneer School now rests includes adding a white picket fence and Amish-made birdhouses, and other period pieces to accompany the old-time feel of the site. At times there might be cows and calves on hand so visiting children can do some ‘soft-nose' petting.

"Visitors will be able to sit by large windows in the Maid-Rite and drift back in time to a scene of early Iowa," Bette said. They will also be able to view the site up close and explore the restored interior of the school.

The Maid-Rite restaurant is expected to open in February. General Manager Marcy Biesemeyer said there have been some construction and installation delays but she hopes to announce a grand-opening date soon. Amish workmen have been very much involved in the project. Bette and Marcy are exploring a host of ideas for expansion and enhancement of the Welcome Center site.

Work also continues on the Amish Country Store. A vintage-looking porch area will be constructed inside so that Lamoni's longstanding Mite Society (quilting group) can demonstrate their craft to visitors. The Iowa Welcome Center will of course offer travelers free maps, tourist tips and information about Lamoni - places to dine, shop and ideas on how to enjoy and learn more about our great community.

Graceland President Sellars believes further development along the Hwy. 69 corridor will bring newcomers to the city and its businesses, and familiarize them with Graceland. Evolution of the Welcome Center project has occurred in tandem with beautification efforts along the two-mile corridor from I-35 to downtown.

New streetlights have been installed by Lamoni Municipal Utilities and numerous trees have been planted, with support from a ‘Trees Forever' grant and hard work from many community volunteers. Other sprucing-up projects have taken place along the route and downtown.

Courtesy Graceland University.

One-Room School Memories from Jacksonville, New York

Jacksonville School in Jacksonville, NY - 1898

Excerpt from an article by Steve McMahon on CNYLink - February 24, 2009

“The school was right there near a sand hill. After the picnic, we’d go up into to Mr. Bellows’ woods looking for trillium and jack in the pulpit, and then play in the sand afterwards,” Jeanette said. “We usually went home for lunch, because we were close enough. Margaret and Beverly Cochrane lived across the road, and Carol Crook lived nearby. There was a barn and a house between us and the schoolhouse. We walked home and back to the schoolhouse for lunch. When Mrs. Bassett was there, she wouldn’t let the kids back in the schoolhouse until 1 p.m., regardless of how cold it was. Our dog used to walk us to school.”

Ron chuckled and added, “We used to get a lot of snow, and we used to walk to school on top of the snow banks. I remember my mother warning us not to reach up to touch the wires.”

Jeanette recalled fondly, “I didn’t have a bicycle, but some of the girls did. Whenever I got the chance to ride a bicycle after school, it made for a wonderful day.”

Both agreed that they enjoyed attending a rural one-room schoolhouse. Jeanette thought for a minute, and then said, “I think that you got more from the teacher, because there were maybe only three or four kids in my grade at Jacksonville. I think that I learned math ahead of my time. Before you ever reached the next grade, you had the advantage of hearing what the other grades were learning. So, there were things that you picked up on.”

READ MORE here:
http://www.cnylink.com/cnynews/view_news.php?news_id=1235501626

Oklahoma City One-Room School Preserved at Harn Homestead and 1889ers Museum

Thanks to photographer Lana Trussell for permission to post her beautiful photos of the Stoney Point one-room school at the Harn Homestead historic site in Oklahoma City.

According to her Flickr.com site, the sign outside the school reads as follows:

Education was a primary concern of the new Oklahomans and within six weeks of the land run, Oklahoma City boasted a school house. School buildings also served as churches, social centers, and polling places.

Stoney Point School was built in 1897 and located near present day Rose Hill Township. This "three window," one-room schoolhouse closed its doors to the last classes of all eight grades on July 16, 1947. The actual chalkboard, which was made of mud, plaster, and horse hair, can be seen in the schoolhouse today. The Stoney Point School was relocated to the Harn Homestead in 1987.

Visit Lana's website HERE:

http://www.shutterbyme.com/

One-Room School Celebrates Sesquicentennial Anniversary

Chase Allgood / News-Times

A ‘country school’ turns 150

State of Oregon and Gales Creek Elementary School both celebrate big birthdays this week

By Nancy Townsley
The Forest Grove News-Times, Feb 11, 2009

Precisely at 10:30 Thursday morning, Byron and Melvin “Max” Ranes will pull a rope connected to the cast-iron bell that hangs in the foyer of Gales Creek Elementary School.

When they do, the men – whose great-great-uncle and great-great-grandfather, John and Albert Ranes, attended classes there four generations ago – will ring in the school’s 150th year in a fashion reminiscent of its founders’ intentions.

Gales Creek School, after all, has been a center of life in the farming and logging community since 1859, when a simple log cabin classroom was established in a location where thousands have since learned their ABCs.

To celebrate, Principal Betty Flick, parent volunteers and the entire Gales Creek student body have planned a blowout birthday party tomorrow morning, complete with cake and singing. “The neat thing about our school is that there is so much community and so much history here,” said Flick, who will retire at the end of the 2008-09 school year

READ MORE here:

http://www.forestgrovenewstimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=123437600657303400

Black History Month Celebrated at African American One-Room School

Photo by Giuliana Nakashima--The Washington Post

In Black History Month, One-Room School Opens to Offer Lessons

By Jennifer Buske
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 1, 2009; PW03

A 19th-century school that served Prince William County's African American population opens for public tours today in honor of Black History Month.

The Lucasville School, at 10516 Godwin Dr. in the Manassas area, will be open every weekend this month from noon to 4 p.m. The one-room school was the only one in the county solely for African Americans, said Robert Orrison, a historic site manager for the county. A few one-room schools that served whites remain, but most have been converted into homes.

"We opened the school up last February," Orrison said. "It's a great place to learn about segregated schools and how education was done in the 19th and early 20th century."

Built in 1885, the Lucasville School served children in grades one through six until 1926, Orrison said. About 20 to 25 students of different ages would pack into the building each year to learn from a single instructor. The school was filled with benches, not desks, Orrison said, and blackboards were made of pieces of plywood painted black, unlike at white schools, where students had blackboard slates.

Orrison said the school was named after the Lucasville village, which dissolved around the 1940s. The village sat at Lucasville Road and Godwin Drive and was home to several former slaves.

READ MORE here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/30/AR2009013004084.html

100 Year-Old One-Room School Graduate Knitted Caps for Sioux Children

Photo by Ed Suba, Jr. - Akron Beacon Journal

Woman 100 and Still Crafty

Ruth Mahoney of Fairlawn crochets robes for veterans, roots for Indians, Browns

By Jewell Cardwell
Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Friday, Jan 30, 2009

If it's true that idle hands are the devil's workshop, Ruth Mahoney has never had anything to worry about.

Not then. And certainly not now.

The Fairlawn woman, who turns 100 today and will be feted with a party Sunday, has always been immersed in all manner of crafts to benefit the community — locally and at large.

''For many years she knitted mittens and caps for Indian children on Sioux reservations,'' said her daughter Carol Mahoney, also of Fairlawn. ''She did that until her eyesight began to fail.''

Even so, she didn't exactly cut those threads of wanting to help others.

The former Ruth Gottfried was born Jan. 30, 1909, in Upper Sandusky and grew up on a farm about two miles west of town. Her school, located on a corner of the farm, was a one-room schoolhouse.

READ MORE here:

http://www.ohio.com/news/38683894.html

Syracuse Private School Returns to One-Room School Techniques

Fourth Wall Films Photo (not the school in the article)

Eagle Wings Academy of Syracuse brings back one-room schoolhouse approach

Syracuse academy revisits one-room schoolhouse concept

 

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

By Sapna Kollali

Staff writer (The Post-Standard, Syracuse)

Syracuse's newest private school is taking a somewhat old approach to education.

Eagle Wings Academy, on the South Side, is using the one-room schoolhouse model to educate the 18 students currently enrolled, Principal Anna Shipe said. Students, in first to ninth grade, are divided into an elementary class and a secondary class, and they have intensive interactions with their teachers, she said.

Shipe and her husband, David, launched the school in September using donated space from Grace Baptist Church, on Valley Drive. They have eight paid staff - one is a certified teacher - and several volunteers help teach and keep the school running.

"We read reports about the academic plight of city kids and . . . wanted a way to address that," she said. "This is one answer to the situation in the city. It's not the only answer."

READ MORE here:

http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1233137989124530.xml&coll=1

Red Brick One-Room School in Michigan Collects Memories for Sesquicentennial

 

Do you have memories of attending a one-room school? The Red Brick School is collecting such memories (pleasant or unpleasant) in preparation for the township's 150th anniversary.

Please include your name, age, and the one-room school's name and location. Stories can be e-mailed to albaker@glis.net or mailed to:

East China Township Hall
c/o Linda Baker
5111 N. River Road
East China, MI 48054.

Child-sized mannequins/dress forms also would be appreciated.

(From the Port Huron Times Herald)