Looking back at the one room school

By Helen Boertje

The first mention I found of this school was in the Jan. 1, 1874 Iowa Voter which states that “Andy Kerr has a successful writing school in progress”.

In 1877 the Knoxville Journal informs the public that C. F. Whitlatch will give a lecture at the school on Sat., April 14 on “prison life”. On Oct. 5 Governor Stone was coming to the school to address citizens on issues of the day.

At the school house in the Marion County Park one can find information about the school compiled by Janet (Agan) Ritchie. There is a copy of the Sept. 19, 1889 Board of Directors meeting, the earliest minutes she could find. Among the expenses listed are three boxes of chalk for .45 and a teacher’s daily record book for $1.00. There is also a listing of students with ages for each year from 1909 through the 1945 school year. A partial listing of surnames of students who once attended Burr Oak includes: Agan, Betterton, Bonebrake, Caulkins, Chambers, Damon, De Vos, Harrington, Heemsbergen, Hughes, Hunt, Kennedy, London, Marshall, May, McMillan, Mihalovich, Miller Newman, Pope, Roll, Scott, Shives, Skaggs, Smith, Ward, Weishaar, Whaley. (See picture above for additional names) After the school closed the school house was sold for $370, the coal house for $27.00, the swings for $32.00 and the pump for $6.00.

I visited with former teacher Helen Ward Roberts, age 102, who resides at the Griffin Nursing Home in Knoxville. When Mrs. Roberts was hired to teach in the fall of 1926 she was warned that discipline was lacking. She solved the problem by “telling them who was boss”. While she was teaching at Burr Oak she boarded with her Uncle Ira and Aunt Elsie Ward and either rode a pony or horse to school. She remembers that she had to go to treasurer Bill Bye to pick up her check of $70-80 per month. School room supplies were meager. With the money from pie suppers she bought curtains, a good teacher’s desk, and a four burner kerosene stove. The school, of course, had a coal burning stove for warmth but she wanted the cook stove to prepare hot soup for the children as some were bringing only a slice of bread for lunch.

She talked about many of her former students and was especially proud that one of them, Tony Maholovich later became police chief of Des Moines.

Mrs. Roberts comes from a family who believed in the value of education. Her father T. F. Ward was also a school teacher. She said he was teaching at the Lincoln school the day she was born. Her youngest brother Ira who is still living graduated from West Point and served in Korea and Vietnam. Following retirement he taught at Iowa State for 16 years.

After teaching at Burr Oak, Mrs. Roberts decided she would like to become a nurse and was accepted at Iowa Methodist for nurses training. However, instead of pursuing her dream of being a nurse, she got married. Years later in 1948, she started working at the Collins Memorial Hospital. She served as administrator there for several years.

She still has a keen mind and does as much reading as her eyes permit. None of these silly little romance novels for her. She reads quality fiction and asked me for recommendations of civil war novels, her current interest. Although she said one of the boys at Burr Oak was bigger than she, I can just imagine she had no trouble letting him now who was boss.

Teachers at Burr Oak included Mary McClymond, Bettie Lyman 1886, Miss Letitia Keefer, Miss McClymond 1887, Mr. Williamson 1888, Miss Hannah Spencer 1889, Miss Hannah Spencer, Miss Essex 1890, Miss Essex 1891, Miss Maud Spicer, Laura Essex 1892, Laura Essex 1893, Katy Derry 1894, Lizzie Hightman, Sherman Wilson 1895, Lizzie McKinney, Alta Marsh 1898, Julia Ruchman, Flora Kester 1899, Flora Kester 1900, Nellie Morrow, Hettie Britton, Mary Kelly 1901, Walter Bone, Nellie Rogers 1903, Vella Karns, Mrs. Lillian Bennett 1904, Mrs. Lillian Bennett, Lizzie McKinney, Gertrude Mallory 1905, Floyd Putnam, Jennie R. McConnoughey 1906, Cluna Karns, Cora Hill 1907, Katherine Sturgeon, Claudia Henry, Helen McConaughey 1908, Grace Foridell, Maude Shook 1909, Maycie Worthington, Mabel Bush 1910, Marjorie Stanger 1911, Beulah Jones 1912, Oletha West, Orba I Moore, Beulah Jones 1913, Beulah Jones 1914, Beulah Worstell, Laura Mason 1915, Laura Mason 1916, Nellie Gardner 1917, Lora Flanders 1918, Mabel Jenkins 1919, Olla Bennett 1920, Mabel Jenkins 1921, Beatrice Erb 1922, Beatrice Erb, Edith Mulby 1923, Edith Randall 1924, Edna Snow, Fern Orcutt Hughes 1925, Helen F. Ward 1926-28, Esther Bucklew 1929, Zelma Cain 1930-33, Ruby Penland 1934, Martina Agan 1935, Jessie Williams 1936-37, Rena Fee Welch 1938, Kathryn Nutt 1939, Maxine Adams 1940, Anna Ruth Beary 1941-42, Hazel F. Worrall 1944, Miss Doris Burton 1945.

The next school will be Springdale. Please contribute any information you may have by calling me at 641-628-4716 or e-mailing helenboertje@iowatelcom.net

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