Category Archives: Schools

Mar 13

B is for Beaver

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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Dec 14

Boxholm school is gone

July 25, 2012: The cornerstone of the Boxholm school. I have no idea if it was preserved. Boxholm’s school, which closed in 2014, was torn down earlier this year. In March, the Fort Dodge Messenger ran a retrospective — or, … Continue reading

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Oct 03

Algona, Lu Verne consolidation approved

The final assimilation of what used to be the shared but unmerged Corwith-Wesley-Lu Verne schools into Algona will happen next year. Voters last month overwhelmingly approved the merger of Algona and Lu Verne, KICD radio reports. The latter had officially … Continue reading

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Sep 21

Walcott could lose half its school grades

The Davenport school district is considering changes to the grade configuration in Walcott. KWQC and WQAD both reported last week that the K-8 school there could become a middle school for grades 5-8 or 6-8. Younger students would go to … Continue reading

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