Elgin Twp No. 1

The school was bought from Annie Chapman & Richard Hawkins for $50 on December 15, 1969.  It was located on the northeast corner of the Albert Hawkins farm along C-12  3 miles east of US 75 (the Struble corner) or 1 ½ miles west of highway 60.  It was known as Elgin #1. The building is located now in Orange City, Sioux County, and is the SIOUX  COUNTY  HISTORICAL SOCIETY SCHOOL HOUSE.

...Photos and information submitted by Wilma Vande Berg

Below is a "winter scene" of the same school house, now located in Orange City, IA.

Below see a view of the inside of the school house as it is a part of the SIOUX  COUNTY  HISTORICAL SOCIETY:

~Was Elgin No. 1 school in Plymouth County, IA.

Elgin No. 2

Above black/white Elgin No. 2 photo from the family collection of Mrs. Orville (Fern Chapman) Cooper

~Photo submitted by Linda Ziemann

Country Schools at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds

Elgin #2

Also known as “The Schlesser School”, “The Groetken School”
 and “The Deegan School”

The first pioneer building to be moved to the fairgrounds was the school house in 1961. Officially, Elgin No. 2, this school was later known as “the Schlesser School”, the “Groetken school”, and the “Deegan School”.

It was built in 1885, two miles east of Struble, Iowa, on a one-acre site in the north-east quarter of Section 9, Elgin Township. The site was part of a 120-acre farm purchased by Philip Boever in 1882 for $600 from the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad Company.

The first teacher was Miss Amy Allen (later became Mrs. George Mills). The salary was reported to be $20 per month. Other teachers were Mr. Nemmers, Rose Greenen and Grace Potter. The last teacher was Mrs. Clara Dobbert when the school closed in 1956.

The school house contains the original pot bellied stove, chalk boards, desks and crock water jar. The school was originally built at a cost of $400.

The first year the Plymouth County Fair Board committee conducted a clarification of Birth and Death Records in the school house and the committee asked people to look up birth records of family members born between1871-1891 and confirm spelling. The records were sent to Des Moines for microfilming as part of the bicentennial project.

In 1976 Helen Schulz, with the help of many teachers, opened the building with school material donated by many interested people.  In 1978 Shirley Woehler and her family helped to start coordination of all the memorabilia and antiques in the school and brought a new theme to the school each year. 

Submitted by Mrs. Ruth E. Peters, Le Mars, Iowa

Elgin No. 6 was the Seney Independent School.

Elgin No. 8 is used as a community center in Struble, per the book Iowa's Country Schools Landmarks of Learning.