1879 Knott School House (Iowa School), Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA

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1879 Knott School House (Iowa School)

Knott’s Berry Farm

8039 Beach Blvd,

Buena Park, CA 90620

Walter Knott purchased an 1879 school house at Beloit, Kansas, for $253.50. This was the Beloit School House that closed in 1947.  Another source says that the sister school to the one in Beloit, KS, called Honey Creek, known as Iowa 83, has been moved to Knott’s Berry Farm in California. Knott had it taken apart and shipped to the theme park in 1951. The Homestead Act of 1862 was signed by President Abraham Lincoln, many families moved west and to Kansas for the chance of free land. To homestead a head of household man over 18 years could homestead 160 acres of unclaimed land. The Kansas 1879 School House was built by these homesteaders. The 1879 School House is furnished like it was in use in Kansas, as Knott purchased the all that was inside of the school in Kansas. The 1879 Knott School House plaque reads “In recognition of the value to our Nation of the education provided by the one room school house.” This plaque is placed on an original one built in 1879, near Beloit, Kansas.

     The Old Schoolhouse in Ghost Town opened in 1879 in Mitchell County, Kansas, and served many generations of children until it closed in the 1940’s. Walter Knott brought this authentic one-room schoolhouse to Knott’s Berry Farm in 1952. Class is in session in the one room schoolhouse so students can come on in and take a seat. The teacher historian will show them what school life was like back then for students and teachers.  At the Iowa School, the children are introduced to life in a one room school house.  Ironically, it achieved its name because it was built by a group of Iowa farmers in 1879 who had moved west.  The old school house was moved to Knott’s in 1952, complete with its original furnishings.  Since then, Knott’s has added a bell and a bell tower to the school house.  Inside, there are remnants of a traditional classroom including a vintage blackboard, a few desks, and a small library.

South Ward District School, Urbana, OH

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South Ward District School       

725 S. Main St.

Urbana, OH 43078

The South Ward District School is a former elementary school building in Urbana, OH.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 21, 2019. The Urbana Board of Education met in special session in February of 2019 to deliberate the sale of North Elementary and South Elementary to the City of Urbana, with the board ultimately deciding to authorize the sale.   The two buildings were to be be bundled with the former Douglas Hotel by the city and sold to Indiana-based developer Flaherty and Collins, with the Champaign Economic Partnership acting as an agent. Flaherty and Collins was then to turn the buildings into affordable senior housing.  Urbana South Elementary School, 725 S. Main St., was sold for redevelopment and is now part of Legacy Place Apartments.

Hill School Building, Marion, KS

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Hill School Building

601 E. Main

Marion, Kansas

Marion is a city in, and the county seat of, Marion County, Kansas, named in honor of Francis Marion, a brigadier general of the American Revolutionary War, known as the “Swamp Fox.” As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,922.  The Hill School building in Marion is the oldest building in the state of Kansas in continuous educational use. The original wing of the Hill Grade School was built in 1872-73 of native magnesium limestone stone.  It is located at the head of Main Street on an eminence, measured 56 feet by 60 feet, and was 33 feet in height.   

     A 500 pound bell was installed when the school was constructed in 1873.  The school was enlarged in 1889-90. The design of the original building had been influenced by the Roman-Tuscan mode of the Renaissance revival style and while the addition respects the building lines of the original it has been constructed with a more roughly finished stone and is less finely detailed.  The bell was mounted as a memorial during the Bicentennial Year, 1976, when the building was restored.  The stone school building is now part of Marion High School and is listed on the National Historic Register.

Old Carneiro School, Carneiro, KS

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Old Carneiro School

Kansas Highway 140

Carneiro, Kansas

Carneiro, Kansas is a small community, now mostly a ghost town, located in eastern Ellsworth County between Ellsworth and Brookville, directly north of Mushroom Rock State Park, that got its start as a stop on the Smoky Hill Trail and began to flourish when the Union Pacific Railroad came through the area.  Located about 11 miles east of Ellsworth, this tiny unincorporated town started as a stop on the Smoky Hill Trail in 1866 when the Kansas City and Santa Fe Stage and Mail Line began to travel from Kansas City to Denver, Colorado. Called Alum Creek Station, it was established at the point where the Smoky Hill Trail crossed Alum Creek. A post office called Alum Creek was established in December 1872.

     Though a few settlers came to the area, it would not be until Edward W. Wellington came to Kansas in the late 1870s that a town would be established. Massachusetts-born Wellington, a Harvard graduate and attorney, purchased 12,000 acres of land in Ellsworth County and developed an extensive sheep operation named the Monte Carneiro Ranch. The word “Carneiro” means sheepfold or mutton in Portuguese. Over the next several years, he returned to Boston several times and married Clara Edwards in 1879. He also brought back to Kansas with him, several friends from Boston and Harvard, as his new associates. At 19,000 acres, the Monte Carneiro Ranch was one of the largest ranches in central Kansas, and Wellington built several houses and buildings to accommodate himself, friends, and employees. He also established a Real Estate and Loan business and eventually an entire block in Ellsworth.

     In 1882, Wellington and his associates and other area ranchers established the townsite along the Union Pacific Railroad as a shipping point for their livestock. The town’s name was officially changed to Carneiro in June 1882. Before long, stockyards, a hotel, and three general stores were built. In 1885, a school building was constructed. The United Methodist congregation held services in the basement, and the Christian Church held services on the main floor.  In 1895, the Methodists built a new church, which still stands and welcomes members today. In 1910, the village boasted a money order post office, telegraph and express offices, a couple of general stores, a Methodist and Christian church, and 76 people.

     In 1916, the old school was razed, and a new school was built, which served all grades up until the early 1940s. Afterward, it served only as a grade school until the 1960s, when it was closed for good. On September 30, 1953, Carneiro’s post office closed its doors for the last time.  Today, less than a dozen people live in this sleepy little town; its stores and school are closed; but, the United Methodist Church continues with about 20 people in attendance each Sunday. Also gone are the large sheep ranches, replaced today with cattle and wheat fields. Many old farming towns, once their businesses are closed, and most of the homes are abandoned, take on a disheveled, tired, haphazard appearance – often filled with rusting vehicles and farm implements. Not so – Carneiro. Though there are numerous abandoned buildings, this small town is surprisingly tidy, with many mowed lawns and manicured homes.

Monroe #8 One-Room Country Schoolhouse, Walnut, IA

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Monroe #8 One-Room Country Schoolhouse

610 Highland Street

Walnut, IA 51577

     Visitors can step back in time as they visit the Monroe One-Room Country Schoolhouse in Walnut, Iowa. This small, one-room building once was the school for the children that lived in Monroe Township from when it was built in 1931 until 1949 when it was closed as a school. Monroe #8 school was the last country school in the area still standing, and still in good shape.  In the 90s, the landowner, Ralph Hansen, needed to farm the land it stood on but wanted to make sure the building was moved and used.  Enter Letty Johnson and Ruby Anderson, who were elected co-chairs of the project.  They were with the Walnut Creek Historical Society, but knew this would take an entire community to pull off.

     A building site was selected, just across from the former lumberyard, now the Barn Mall.  The lot cost $10,000, but the seller George Mertz allowed a small down-payment and generous contract payment terms.  Darold Larsen, local contractor, removed all the old cement and leveled the ground.  He donated his time.   It was a very rainy summer, so the demolition work took quite some time to complete, but finally the ground was level and ready for a new foundation.  Board members met with Carl Martin and the moving contractor, Glenn Hackwell, to plan out the work.  Vernon Paasch reviewed the stakes which were set for the trench digger to use for digging the foundation.  Jim Hansen with the Walnut Telephone Co. trencher, dug the foundation.

    At last, it was moving day on October 27, 1993.  Monroe #8 was readied to leave the country on its way to its new home in town.  One-room schools were commonplace throughout rural Iowa, and according to the Iowa Department of Education, there are approximately 2,800 one-room schools still standing in Iowa. These structures help remind folks of how much education has changed over the years.  Today, the museum is maintained by the Walnut Creek Historical Society and features numerous artifacts from the school’s past, including photographs, books, furniture, school supplies, and more.  Tours of the Monroe One-Room Schoolhouse are given by the Walnut Creek Historical Society and available by appointment only.

Beckett’s Creek School (S. S. No. 9), Cumberland, ON (Canada)

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Beckett’s Creek School (S.S. No. 9 Cumberland)

1657 Beckett’s Creek Rd.

Cumberland, ON K4C 1G3 (Canada)

Cumberland is an unincorporated village on the Ottawa River in Cumberland Ward, in the city of Ottawa. Cumberland is situated 4 km west of Becketts Creek.  The first school in Cumberland Ward, Ontario, Canada, was located on the north side of Old Montreal Road just west of Beckett’s Creek. In 1875, a new log school on the east side of the creek, ½ mile south, was built on land owned by Sam Lough.  Miss MacDonald was the first teacher and Mr. Garrett the inspector.  In 1901, a foundation was built and the school was sheeted with lumber on the inside, clapboard on the outside, and freshly painted.  In 1910 a well was drilled. In 1901 there were 57 pupils, but according to records, by 1930 only seven remained.  The school closed in 1952 and students were bused to S.S. No. 5 Cumberland in the village of Cumberland.

West Branch Schoolhouse, Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, West Branch, IA

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West Branch Schoolhouse

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

110 Parkside Dr.

West Branch, IA 52358

At the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa, the park’s memorial landscape and its elements symbolize American ideals of religion, education, hard work, community, and entrepreneurship as Herbert Hoover saw them and lived them. Rather than fully recreate the setting of his youth, the landscape and historic furnishings are an effort to commemorate and celebrate Herbert Hoover’s accomplishments and ideals. They reflect the wishes and the direct involvement of the Hoover family, especially Lou Henry Hoover, as they expressed them during the park’s development from 1935 to 1966. Four historic buildings– the Birthplace Cottage, the Blacksmith Shop, the Schoolhouse, and the Friends Meetinghouse– tell the story of Hoover’s West Branch childhood.

     By 1853, enough people lived in West Branch to build and support a public school. Hard work was a core value of the Quaker townsfolk, but so too was education-for both boys and girls. Herbert Hoover’s own mother, Hulda had been a teacher in neighboring Muscatine County before she married. Because the Society of Friends raised much of the money for the construction of this one-room schoolhouse, it was also used as the town’s first Quaker meetinghouse.  In 1869, after the town built a larger schoolhouse, this building was used as a classroom for the primary department, or youngest grades. Herbert Hoover entered public school in 1880 at age 5 and spent three years in the primary department. It is unknown if Hoover’s class met in this building.

Minerva School, Ida M. Ross Youth Center, Minerva, KY

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Minerva School

Ida M. Ross Youth Center

Ida M. Ross Road (KY Highway 435)

Minerva, KY 

Built in 1925 to replace the dilapidated log school, a one room African-American schoolhouse stands in Minerva, Mason County, KY. It is a pristine example of a teacher’s love for their students. Stanley Reed, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was born in Minerva and donated the land for the school and chapel.

Major donor to the project was Mr. and Mrs. Worthington of Minerva. The neighboring chapel to the school was named The Worthington Chapel.  The school housed eight grades and half of the funds to build the school were raised by door-to-door campaigns, dinners, plays and benefits. Once completed, the school educated 12 children that all walked to school. Eventually, the school’s attendance soared to 55 children.

     Ida M. Ross was the teacher and driving force for the project and the school was later named after her. Mrs. Ross even designed the school and her husband, Bill Ross, built it. Bill Ross was a teacher in Minerva and fell ill, so Mrs. Ross took the state teacher’s exam and finished out his semester in Minerva in 1912. She received her A.B. degree from Kentucky State College and did her masters work at University of Cincinnati and Columbia University before completing and receiving her Masters from Morehead State College, one of two of the first African-American women to attend Morehead. Later Mrs. Ross raised enough funds for a bus that her husband drove.

     Ida M. Ross was born on April 30, 1890. She graduated Salutatorian of her class in Covington in 1908 and moved to Minerva and married W. M. (Bill) Ross on Aug. 12, 1908  Later she served as President of the Minerva Colored Homemakers and Matron of the Eastern Star. She was secretary of the Sub District of Women’s Society of Christian Services, president of the Alumni group of Kentucky State College, and a member of the National Council of Negro Women. She also served on the National Committee of Human Race Relations.  Mrs. Ross was invited to the White House three times by three different presidents, Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

     After integration in the late 1950s, the school became a learning and youth center in 1958.  Mrs. Ross taught at Minerva for 42 years, and more than 200 students graduated from the one room schoolhouse.  Mrs. Ross died March 1974 at the age of 84. In 2001, the section of Kentucky 435 from Kentucky 9 AA Highway to Kentucky 1235 was named the “Ida M. Ross Road.”

The Old Schoolhouse, Rittman, OH

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The Old Schoolhouse

9540 Benner Rd.

Rittman, OH

The Old Schoolhouse is a former one room schoolhouse on Benner Road at SR 585 near Rittman, Ohio, in Wayne Co. that is now a rental facility to host events up to 60 guests.

Spring Valley School, Larkspur, CO

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Spring Valley School

14667 Lorraine Rd.

Larkspur, CO 80118

The Spring Valley School, located near the intersection of Spring Valley and Lorraine roads in Larkspur, Douglas County, Colorado, was built in 1874. This simple wood frame rural schoolhouse has an enclosed entry.  Also known simply as The School House, it was the first of about 100 one-room schoolhouses built in Douglas County. It had a 100-year lease which expired, and ownership transferred from a historical society to another owner. The property was listed with the National Register of Historic Places, under Rural School Buildings in Colorado Multiple Property Submission, in 1978. The listing included four contributing buildings, the school and three outbuildings.