Keokuk County Iowa IAGenWeb - 1904 School Essay Contest

District Number Eight, Public School of Jackson Township, was organized – well, I am sorry to say I can’t tell when, nor can I find anyone else who can, although I inquired of such parties as Robert Marshall, Jacob Halferty, Mrs. Mary Davis, and others of the earlier settlers; but no seemed to know just when it was organized. Therefore, I am almost led to believe it was just always here.

The first school building was erected near the center of the present school grounds. This building was destroyed by fire in 1872. The following year the contract was let to S.W. Reynolds to erect a new building. This building was finally sold to Capt. D.C. Baker and remodeled into a fine two-story dwelling and the present building erected to meet the demands of the growing district.

Some of the earlier teachers were: Mr. Dodds, Jordan Halferty, Rebecca Jones, Edwin Chacey, Van Marshall, Pierce Halferty, A.H. Cutler, C.L. Starr, and Guy Durbin. Mr. Ed Duree and Miss Jessie Gemmill are our present teachers. For the main part, this school has always been successful in securing good teachers.

Among some of the earlier pupils we might mention Wilson Fye and Guy Halfery of Ollie, Mrs. Ollie Comparet of Iowa City, after whom the little city of Ollie was named, and Geo. Worley who is now in North Dakota.

Our present school building is a two-story structure, 26 x 40 feet and consists of two rooms. It is heated by steam, but it is not giving the best of satisfaction. I believe stoves are the best for small schools. On account of our furnace, we get a half holiday every once in a while. Our school building is painted on the outside and papered and painted on the inside. We have a few decorations. The building needs shingling badly, for when it rains very hard, we pupils in the upper room come near getting drowned. Here and there, and in fact almost everywhere, the water comes through the roof on books, desks, and children’s heads. The seats are in fairly good condition except having been exposed to the jack knives of the boys. I am indeed sorry to say we have no library, but we have an encyclopedia, however, which is an excellent thing. We also have a globe, a planetary, several maps, two physiology charts, a music chart and an unabridged dictionary, but no stand for it. At present time there are fifty-two pupils in the primary room and forty-five in the advanced room.

The number of visits made by parents is somewhat limited.

The future of our school is certainly encouraging. Already the school board and citizens have taken action on the matter and bonds have been voted for the moving of the present building to the center of the school ground and two more rooms added to it. This will give us a four-room building which I hope will be well lighted, seated with single seats and properly ventilated. I hope that the school board will realize that it is their duty to see that the rooms are properly decorated. Beautiful house plants should be provided for the rooms for I believe the school room should be kept as neat and tidy as a well kept home. Then, again, the school ground should be improved, a tasty and substantial fence should enclose it. This fence should be painted and kept in good repair. A part of the school ground should be set apart for a flower garden. In this garden may be cultivated beautiful flowers. This will afford us children something useful to do and not only that, but will beautify the school ground and by so doing it cannot help but instill in the children a love for the beautiful and a tendency for the good things in life.