Country School: One Room - One Nation

Visiting the Little Red School House in Cedar Falls, Iowa

Tammy chats with Robert Nemeyer, Ph.D. prior to his on-camera interview.

June 12, 2009
We arrived for our first interview with a one-room school historian at exactly 1:00 pm in Waterloo, Iowa.  Robert Nemeyer is employed by the Grout Museum and recently completed work on WWII oral histories and an extensive accompanying exhibit.  Bob has taught Iowa history at both the University of Iowa and Iowa State University.  He is also a survivor of the 2008 Parkersburg tornado.

He is currently working on a video history of the Bennington No. 4 one-room school near Waterloo.  He gave us an excellent interview for our country school documentary film.

Little Red School House Guide Rita Congdon shows us a ballot box used when the one-room school was also a polling place.

By 3:30 pm we were at the Little Red School House in Cedar Falls, Iowa chatting with guide Rita Congdon.  She told a great story about a paddle with holes in it. : )

Rain began to fall as we worked inside and the exterior shots were gathered from a nearby picnic shelter.  The rest of the exteriors were shot by standing in the rain and sheltering the camera with an umbrella.  We have pledged to shoot this film in all kinds of weather during all four seasons, so this steady rain is presumably just the beginning of our meteorological experiences.

Here I am framing up a shot of the Little Red Schoolhouse in the rain.

Evening found us at the Marshall Center School on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa.  We were there to shoot the school at night, and to do an on-camera interview with Site Director Sue Grosboll.  Sue's insights into the history of one-room schools come from her experience as a scholar and from growing up on a farm.

Sue Grosboll, Ph.D.

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Spragueville, Iowa Shoot Features Gathering of One-Room School Teacher & Students

Caroline Bredekamp joins Donald Wentworth and others for on-camera interviews.

June 11, 2009 (continued)
After shooting exteriors of the North Bend Community Center in Spragueville, Iowa--and a tasty meal at a local eatery in town--we met a former teacher and several former students at the school.  We had planned on three or four interviews, so we weren't sure how to deal with so many people!

The North Bend School was orginally the Fairfield No. 2 school.

After everyone had signed their release forms, we began the on-camera interviews.  The entire group sat quietly during the interviews (not easy to do!), and then politely applauded at the end of each.  What were we worried about?  Everything went great!

Former student Richard Ganzer was able to point out where he had carved his initials in a floor board years ago.  His penance?  He has coordinated much of the physical restoration of the building.  Wow, that's way worse than having to stand at the blackboard with your nose in a chalk-drawn circle! : )

Richard also pointed out the unique and sturdy construction of the building.  It was originally a church.

Jerome Thompson from the State Historical Society of Iowa is shown above with North Bend Community Center's Caroline Bredekamp during lunch.  Thompson was on hand to present the Lauren Horton Community History Award to the North Bend Community Center Association, and the North Bend Writers Group, for their long-term efforts to preserve the North Bend One-Room School and their preservation of the history of Fairfield Township in Jackson County.

Caroline also showed us the Fairfield No. 4 school in Sprauegville (1867-1966).  Geez, Iowa is crawling with country schools.  : )  Today was a great start to our Country School: One Room - One Nation project!  Now it's on to our first interview with a one-room school historian in Waterloo, Iowa.

Caroline chats with Tammy in Fairfield No. 4.