Category Archives: Schools

April 17, 2015: The Stone Schoolhouse in Lansing was in use from 1863 to 1973. Preservation Iowa’s list of “Most Endangered Properties” includes two old school buildings. First, as found in the tipoff for this blog post (Sioux City Journal), … Continue reading →

Some residents of the Harmony school district don’t want to be a part of a consolidation with Van Buren, according to this article from the Burlington Hawk Eye. In November, the AEA denied all requests to shift land from one district … Continue reading →

Seymour students displaced by a March tornado that severely damaged the school may be back in the school building in a few weeks, Iowa Public Radio reported at the beginning of the month. Elementary students are already back, which is … Continue reading →

May 14, 2010: The Dunkerton school was a short distance from anything in town when it was built in 1921, but development has moved southward since. Photo slightly out of focus from old camera. The oldest part of the Dunkerton … Continue reading →

After three bond referendums failed — two making a majority but missing a supermajority by a handful of votes — the HMS school district intends to close the district’s oldest building in 2019, KIWA Radio reports. That would be Hartley … Continue reading →

After a delayed opening of an all-new Riverside school complex on the outskirts of Oakland (the south US 6/59 junction), the property in the city was left empty. At the end of December, the Council Bluffs Nonpareil reported that the school … Continue reading →

The Allamakee district voted unanimously to close Waterville Elementary at its board meeting in December, reports the Waukon Standard. A crowd at the meeting hoping to save the school left in sadness. As soon as the notice of “consideration” was … Continue reading →

October 2, 2015: The original Hamburg High School. Two weeks ago, the Hamburg School District sold their original school building for $25,000, the Valley News of Shenandoah reports. (Second story: KMA.) There was a higher bid but it would have … Continue reading →

April 17, 2015: Waterville Elementary, on X32 in Allamakee County, has an old-school gym (pun mostly intended) to go with its 1922 building. Trophies inside recall the days when this was a high school. We had made it nearly half … Continue reading →

I finally made good on the first part of a personal New Year’s resolution: I went through my entire timeline of school district and building changes and made year notations on a list of Iowa towns for closed buildings. (The … Continue reading →