June 22, 2014: The Wayne school district’s midyear closure of the school in unincorporated Cambria in December 1995 is a crucial link in a discovery I explained weeks ago: It contributed to a streak of closures that predated the modern era and did not end until the 2020-21 school year.
Between the newspaper searches and the IDOE databases, I believe I have upwards of 95% of all small-town closures in the past 30 years.
- Clay Central-Everly sharing has been corrected to 1990 (Hartley Sentinel, 12/7/89)
- Milford Township school, 2.5 miles east of the I-35/E29 exit in Story County, was used by Nevada until 1991 (Nevada Journal, 5/30/91; Ames Tribune, 6/22/13)
- Pella closed Leighton and Otley in 1992 (Pella Chronicle, 4/17/92; IDOE database)
- Grandview’s school closed in 1993 (Wapello Republican, 4/15/95, via IAGenWeb), and I already had the building in Letts listed for this year. Big kudos to both the paper and IAGenWeb for doing and transcribing the series on Louisa County schools.
- Ryan’s school closed in 1993 (Manchester Press, 10/13/92)
- The building was less than 20 years old at the time. It was a replacement for one that was destroyed in a tornado on August 12, 1974.
- The town of Bancroft gained public school students when St. John’s closed its middle school in 1993 (Bancroft Register, 3/3/93). The town only had kindergartners since its attachment to Swea City in 1968 (Swea City Herald, 3/21/68). North Kossuth would use the school for another quarter-century.
- I have received confirmation that Cambria’s school in Wayne County closed in December 1995.
- Elementaries in Elvira and Goose Lake closed in 1997 after an addition to Northeast High School in Goose Lake (De Witt Observer, 12/21/96)
- Keswick’s school closed in 1997 (Cedar Rapids Gazette, 6/26/96)
- Marcus’ original high school, by then only a third-grade building, closed in 1997 (Cherokee Daily Times, 4/24/97) and was demolished in February 1998 (Cherokee Chronicle, 2/26/98).
- Paton’s school closed in 1998 (Scranton Journal, 4/15/98)
- Hanlontown and Plymouth both lost their schools after an addition to North Central at Manly (Mason City Globe Gazette, 4/12/99 and 6/6/99)