Category Archives: Schools

Mar 31

When pants are outlawed, only outlaws will wear pants

Posted on Friday, March 31, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Outlying areas of Appanoose County, including the towns of Cincinnati, Exline, Mystic, Numa, and Rathbun, were involuntarily attached to the Centerville school district in the summer of 1966 as the modern district era in Iowa began. Not only did the … Continue reading →

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Mar 22

A is for Ayrshire

Posted on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

This is the 20th anniversary of my first multi-day trip to photograph Iowa highway signs. I spent the first half of spring break cooped up to pump out an important class paper, then set out amid gray skies and brown … Continue reading →

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Mar 17

Sioux City to tear down Crescent Park school

Posted on Friday, March 17, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Sioux City’s Crescent Park Elementary School, which from a certain point of view closed twice, will be demolished by the end of the year, the Sioux City Journal reported last month. A final public walkthrough of the building was held … Continue reading →

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Mar 13

B is for Beaver

Posted on Monday, March 13, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

April 17, 2016: “Tuesday last the contract was let for the new school house in Beaver. D.C. Ferrell of Omaha got the contract for $40,740.00, M.J. Madison got the contract for plumbing for $700.” — Grand Junction Globe, February 26, … Continue reading →

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Mar 10

North Tama bond issue fails by six votes

Posted on Friday, March 10, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Based on my research, the core school building in Traer is likely among the 50 oldest in use in Iowa. Following Tuesday’s failed bond referendum, it’s going to be that way for a while longer. A $14.25 million bond issue … Continue reading →

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Mar 06

C is for Coburg

Posted on Monday, March 6, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

September 17, 2014: The addition to the Coburg school in southern Montgomery County was used for less than 15 years (1956-57 to 1968-69). This is what’s visible of what’s left; the original school was demolished in 1979. The Coburg and Essex … Continue reading →

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Feb 24

Blairsburg school slightly older than initially thought

Posted on Friday, February 24, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

For a while now, I have been basing what I know about the Blairsburg school building on a student newspaper article. However, it turns out some of it was faulty, but in a potentially interesting way: I knew that its … Continue reading →

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Feb 15

Bellevue bond issue would keep 1848 building

Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Multiple bond votes in the 2010s to replace Bellevue Elementary failed. This time, the Bellevue school district has scaled back its construction proposal, and the complex with a building from 1848, where school has been held since 1861, would remain … Continue reading →

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Feb 01

Benton bond issue would close Keystone, Norway schools

Posted on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Benton Community School District, one of a declining number of districts operating sites in more than two towns, is proposing to centralize most of its elementary students. A $48.5 million bond referendum to be voted on in March covers … Continue reading →

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Jan 25

East River Township School, 1956-68

Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In my 2014 Des Moines Register column about Manilla’s school, I invoked the evolution of a “typical” school complex in small-town Iowa. At the core, you have a two- or three-story symmetrical brick structure from 1913-28. An elementary wing comes … Continue reading →

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