Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

June 5, 2014: The oldest portion of the Newell-Fonda Community School opened on February 5, 1912. “The new building marks an era of progress in the Newell schools. In coming years, it will be a monument of foresight of the men who built it.” (Newell Mirror, February 1, 1912)

The building currently at the heart of the Newell-Fonda school complex got there the old-fashioned way: The previous one burned down.

SCHOOL BUILDING DESTROYED
Uncontrollable flames totally obliterated the brick school building on Saturday evening — probably will resume school work next Monday.

If one could forget the heavy loss involved and the almost inestimable detriment to the school, it would have been a magnificent sight when the building was wrapped in flames. The fire burned fiercely while the woodwork was destroyed. All that remains of the building is the blackened and crumbling walls. There were twenty tons of coal in the basement which is still burning. The walls are lighted up at night with a red glare like a ghostly jack lantern.
— Newell Mirror, February 9, 1911

And that, kids, is why school buildings in the first two-thirds of the 20th century were stuffed chock full of asbestos.

To my knowledge, the 1912 Newell school building is one of and quite possibly THE oldest of the early-20th-century multistory, symmetrical flat-roofed schools in use in small-town Iowa today (but not the oldest overall). The building was even a bit ahead of its time, as I tend to peg the era as 1913-28. Bagley’s school built the following year still included a bell tower.

As you can see in the picture, it’s firmly wedged in between much later additions, but is that going to change? A story in the Storm Lake Times says the Newell-Fonda district is looking into adding capacity in 2023. “Central tower,” as the superintendent calls the 1912 structure, currently houses certain specialty and extracurricular classes. A study will be conducted on central tower, which could result in either its demolition (which would leave a hole in the complex!) or Americans With Disabilities Act compliance (which at minimum means an elevator).

Either way, it’s not going anywhere in its upcoming 110th full year of operation, so take that, Locust School.

You probably haven’t heard of Gardiner. But if you’ve driven US 169 in Dallas County, you saw the extinct map dot’s once pride and joy, a two-story brick school building.

Stories, with pictures, from the Perry News and Raccoon Valley Radio indicate the long-abandoned school has finally been demolished. It was done in controlled burns over Christmas break 2019-20. The building’s wood and remnants of window frames were consumed in 2018 in a controlled burn by the landowner, who is also Bouton’s fire captain.

The Perry News says the last eighth-grade class graduated in 1958, and that is correct but doesn’t end the story. That year, part of the district containing the school became the northernmost part of the Central Dallas school district. The school was used for a few elementary grades for three more years, and even had a playground. Its closure was covered in a long article with photos in the Perry Daily Chief on June 15, 1961. A “rump” part of the Gardiner district in Spring Valley Township that did not join Central Dallas joined Perry in 1964, along with Bouton and others.

Today, though, the Gardiner school land is a border property in the Perry school district. The migration must have happened in 1993, when Central Dallas merged with Adel-DeSoto to become Adel-DeSoto-Minburn. (Central Dallas might actually have been the better name, given the spread of the new district, but the little fish has little say in how the big fish wants to address itself.) A Perry Chief article October 3, 1991, is about residents on the fringes of Central Dallas wanting to be moved to Perry. That would make the Gardiner school a notable example of when that type of thing happens.