March 28, 2024

It must be a sign

Union County Historical Society continues project to install signs for one-room schoolhouses

A white sign with black lettering stands near a field in Union County, one of 103 that will eventually be installed across the county. The sign reads "Site of Grant No. 6 Valley School ca. 1889-1916."

The sign depicts the location, name and years open of a one-room schoolhouse in Union County, something the state of Iowa is known for.

“It is the desire of the Union County Historical Society to place a nice, sturdy sign where each country school in Union County once stood,” said Deb Bradley, a board member of the historical society.

Bradley initiated the sign project alongside the historical society after scheduling a reunion for her husband’s Union County one-room school class. She called as many people as possible, and the reunion happened in 2006. Bradley then scheduled a reunion for her classmates who attended another country school in Union County.

That was when she decided to continue with the idea of preserving the history.

Signs

Bradley started the project in 2011, researching locations of schools and the years they were open. The schools were a maximum two miles apart via a guideline eventually put in place to prevent students from walking too far to school.

The first and only sign so far — installed in December — is located three miles north of Shannon City on the corner of 250th Street and Lark Avenue. It’s the only sign that’s been installed, so far. It is one of 103 signs that will be installed across the county by members of Union County Historical Society.

Alan Culvertson is credited for paying for and installing the first sign.

“These signs are to honor the spot where the root of education began for thousands of Union County rural school children for over 150 years,” Bradley said.

It’s expected signs for schools in the first three townships will be finished in spring.

Supplies for the signs — which includes a steel post, aluminum sign and tamper-proof hardware to attach the sign to the post — will be purchased through fundraised and donated money, which can be sent to Union County Historical Society, Attn: Country School Project, P.O. Box 693, Creston, IA 50801.

History

Historically, 103 one-room country schools were spread across 12 townships in Union County as part of the Iowa Rural School System.

The first school was built in Lee County in 1830, and eventually 12,623 schools were constructed in the state.

According to Bradley, the schools were small log cabins, and sometimes were built on skids so they could be moved based on where the students lived.

“We do, however, foresee a little problem with Dodge No. 9, a couple of Pleasant Township schools and Jones No. 4,” Bradley said. “We joke that Dodge No. 9 is going to have to be marked with a buoy, as it stood in what is now 3-Mile Lake. Where there were once roads that lead to a couple schools in Pleasant Township, there are now cornfields and pasture, and Jones No. 4 got hidden away with the build-up of Highway 34 through Talmage.”

Similar to the current consolidation situation in Iowa, the country schools across the state were eventually consolidated until the last one closed in 1966. By this time, buses were used and roads were in better condition, so children did not have to walk, ride horses or take a hack, a kind of carriage, to school.