LeMars Sentinel
Friday, March 12, 1915
JOHNSON: (Special Correspondence)
School in District No. 1 was closed on Thursday, the teacher, Miss Theresa Boever, being on the sick list.
LeMars Globe-Post
Monday, January 10, 1938
Henry Thompson’s School Destroyed by Mysterious Fire
Car Seen Leaving Scene Shortly Before 100 Per Cent Blaze
The school taught by Henry Thompson, three miles west of Brunsville, was
leveled to the ground by a mystery fire Friday night. By the time
neighboring farmers, attracted by the glare, arrived there was nothing to
see except the blazing debris of the collapsed building.
The current guess is that the fire was either set, or accidentally started,
by persons who visited the school shortly before the fire started. Members
of the John Haage family, who live nearby, saw a car leave the school
grounds and wondered who had any business there.
According to witnesses, the school “flared up like paper,” and was a blazing
inferno within a few minutes after the first sign of a fire showed.
LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, Jan. 11, 1938
JOHNSON SCHOOL HOUSE BURNED
Building In District Number One Is Total Loss
The school house in District No. 1, Johnson, burned to the ground at an
early hour Saturday evening. Passersby noticed smoke coming from the front
of the building and notified John Haage, the director, who lives a few rods
away. Mr. Haage and his sons hurried to the school house and found the
entry ablaze. All they could do was save some of the furniture and they
broke out a window, removed eleven of the fourteen desks and the supplies
from the teacher’s desk before the smoke drove them from the building. All
the other contents, including a good library, and the building was an entire
loss. The building was an old type school house recently painted and given a
good foundation in good repair. It was worth $1500 to $2000. There was $900
insurance on the building and $300 on the contents.
The cause of the fire is not known. There had been no fired in the stove
since the teacher, Henry Thompson, dismissed school Friday evening. While
the entry door was left unlocked so children could find shelter if they came
early, the inside door was locked. The fire started in the entry.
The patrons of the district met Monday night to make arrangements for
continuing school. There is a vacant house on a farm three-quarters of a
mile west and this may be secured.
