“The Everly Cattlefeederettes won the sectional tournament at Hartley last week. Members of the squad are Jeanette Olson, Vicki Birchard, Cindy Fliss, Janet Scharnberg, Jo Scharnberg, Connie Selk, Lynda Nordstrom, Jan Scharnberg. Judi Walton, Jean Cadwallader, Linda Nath and Sua Morfitl.” — Hartley Sentinel, February 29, 1968, confirming that the feminine version of the name was not unheard of. And, yes, that 1968 team, though the gold of 1966 outranks the silver of that year.
The Everly Cattlefeeders have been gone for three decades. Now the place they called home will be empty.
Two months ago, the Clay Central-Everly school district, which started sharing in 1990 and consolidated in 1993, announced it would be discontinuing its high school and closing one of its two campuses. A month ago, Everly found out it was the loser. Stories: KIWA, Spencer Daily Reporter.
It was not inevitable but it was very likely this would be the case, since Royal already had the elementary facilities and the playground, and that would cause the least disruption.
It is not too common that a district small enough to be in this situation still had multiple sites. The next most recent case would be Harmony, which did the opposite of CCE and closed its elementary while moving all students into the former high school.
By my count Everly is the fourth town this year and tenth in the past three years to lose its only school, not counting two rural buildings (North Winneshiek also closes up shop this month).
(Didn’t look at the right time for an update, I guess. — Ed.)