CHAPTER XVI.
MASSENA TOWNSHIP (CONT'D).

TOWNSHIP EDUCATION.

The first school house in the township was erected on section 8, Whitneyville. It was used for educational purposes for some time, then occupied as a residence, next as a granary, and in May, 1871, reverted to its original uses.

District No. 1 comprises sections 1, 2, 11 and 12, and in July, 1878, a house was completed on the southwest corner of section 1. J. N. Porter was the pioneer teacher.

District No. 2 embraces sections 3, 4, 8 and 10, and a school house, on the northeast corner of section 9, was erected in July, 1874, with Alice Kellogg as the first teacher.

District No. 3 is composed of sections 5, 6, 7 and 8, and, as stated, its first school house, on section 8, was the pioneer building erected for public educational purposes in the township. In May, 1871, it was removed to section 7, but the site was afterward changed to the present location of the district school house, on the northwest corner of section 8.

District No. 4 comprises sections 17, 18, 19 and 20, a school house on the southwest corner of section 17 being erected in the summer of 1884. A Miss Jameson taught the first term of school, in the fall of that year.

District No. 5, whose school house was built in the summer of 1884, on the southeast corner of section 16, is formed of sections 15, 16, 21 and 22.

District No. 6 is composed of sections 13, 14, 23 and 24, and has a school house on the southeast corner of section 14, the original building having been erected in the summer of 1884.

District No. 7 has a school house on the southwest corner of section 25, erected in the summer of 1872--the second in the township. George Fish was the first teacher. The district embraces the territory in sections 25, 26, 35 and 36.

District No. 8, whose school house was built in 1873, embraces sections 27, 28, 33 and 34, and its pioneer teacher was Ira Shoudy. Its school house was originally situated on the southeast corner of section 28, was eighteen by twenty-eight feet, and its construction cost $465. The town of Massena was afterward founded on section 33, and the school building is now within its corporate limits.

District No. 9 embraces sections 29, 30, 31 and 32, and its original building for school purposes was erected on the southwest corner of section 29, in the summer of 1875. The first teacher in the district building was S. E. Morrison; but prior to the erection of this structure school was taught in the house of Cornelius Denham, on section 20, by Pauline Holaday.

TOWNSHIP CEMETERY.

On the 27th of October, 1877, the trustees of Massena township purchased four acres of land on section 16, and laid it out for burial purposes. The first interment, August 29, 1878, was of the remains of Maggie M. Moore, an infant, the religious services being conducted by Rev. Isaac Brown.

"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 195-196.
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, August, 2018.