Group seeks information about one-room schools in Washington Township
Located on the corner of P58 and Minburn Road stands an example of school architecture from the early 1900s. Lovingly cared for by the Washington Township Foundation (a group of local historians), Washington Township School was one of the first to consolidate in March of 1920 when a group of five men were elected to act as a building committee. When the school opened in late fall of 1921, nine other rural schools in the township were closed.
A steady stream of settlers from the east came to the prairie in the late 1840s. As soon as they had established their homes, they set about educating their children. Often it would be the father or mother teaching their own children, or a few neighbor children would gather at the same time. The Garoutte Log Cabin was one of these first schools in Washington Township. Later, a school was also established in the upper story of the Ike Daugherty home. The teacher and her students had to climb a ladder to enter it!
As the population increased, a need for a better system became evident. The township was divided into nine school districts with a one-room school in each district. Due to extensive work by local historians, much is known about many of these nine schools:
School #1 was established in section 26 and was known as the Bever School. It was destroyed by fire in 1915 and rebuilt. The new building was moved to Washington Center corner in 1921, and made into a house for the superintendent.
School #2 was originally called the Murphy School, and later the Ellis School. It was located on a high piece of ground in section 14. When it closed, it was purchased by Harry Elder, who moved it down the hill and across the river on the ice since it was too big to go across the bridge. It sat at the bottom of the hill east of the North Raccoon River.
The first school in Washington Township was in the third district. It opened in 1857 with John Warford as the teacher, either in a house or an unused building nearby. In 1861, an acre of land was set aside for a school building. It was first called the Myers School and later renamed “Mayflower.”
In 1858, the first Washington Township officers were elected at the schoolhouse in the fourth district, but there is no record of when it was built. The building was moved three times and became part of the house on the Virgil Booth farm.
Before there was any school building in the fifth district, students went to school in a room at the end of a chicken house. They could see and hear the chickens clucking and crowing as they studied. It was known as Washington Center since it was in the center of the township, and was located just north of where the Washington Township School now stands.
School #6 was located one mile north of Panther Store in section 33. The students at that school were determined to complete their education as evidenced in a 1913 news article which tells of the six pupils to graduate that year. Their ages ranged from 15 to 21!
School #7 was in section 32, two miles west of School #6.
School #8 was two miles west of Washington Center on the southwest corner of section 20 near the former town of Ephesus. Ephesus is known as the “mystery town” because no one knows much about it.
School # 9 was located on the southeast corner of section six.
More information on Washington Township can be found in 1969 Minburn Centennial and Washington Township, 1850–2000 history books.
To see the WTCS museum or donate items, email Deanette Snyder at deanettesnyder@gmail.com.
Please contact Myrna Griffith at wpldirector@minburncomm.net or Sue Leslie at densueles@aol.com if you have further information about the schools in Washington Township.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Group seeks information about one-room schools in Washington Township
