WPA

At first school and church services were held in the various homes but soon suitable buildings were put up and more regular sessions held. Most of the school teachers who taught in the early days were well trained, many in eastern colleges or academies. But these early teachers had to have a large share of courage and fortitude also for wild Indians, sudden storms, blizzards and loneliness threatened them, and the equipment they had to use was meager and inadequate at best. Mrs. Fanny Bowers Smith, who taught the first term of school in Washta soon after the town had been founded, says, “We had no two books alike at our school and there were about fifty pupils."

But there were schools much earlier than this -- Amelia Parkhurst taught the first school in the county as early as 1858, when the Milford society sent her $55 to teach a term of 11 weeks, which she taught with the assistance of Mrs. Carlton Corbett. They had 12 pupils at this school and it is interesting to note that among them were four children from the Phipps family and three from the Parkhurst family.

In 1860 Rosabella Corbett taught a school by herself. This was the first school in Pilot Township. Mrs. Corbett walked out from Cherokee to the log schoolhouse in fine weather but when the weather was unfavorable she rode behind a team of slow-plodding oxen. Eight years later the first frame building to be put up in the township was a schoolhouse, made from lumber sawed at the Banister sawmill. It will be remembered that George W. Banister headed the second Milford company, which settled a few miles away from the main colony at Cherokee.

The third log schoolhouse which we have any record of was built near Washta on Section 31 in 1869. A. J. Whisman helped build this school and a newspaper account of his early life tells us, "The seats were made of logs into which holes had been bored and sticks driven to serve as legs. The desks ran along the sides of the room and were made of boards which Jack Whisman had sawed at a mill farther down the river. These boards rested on sticks driven between the logs which formed the side of the building.

The blackboards were merely boards nailed together and painted black. The erasers were bits of sheepskin with the thick wool left on for a brushing surface. Most of the other early schoolhouses in Cherokee County were frame buildings. The floors were rough and unsightly and the walls scarcely weather-tight. There were not enough windows -- the room was dark and chilly. A stove was set up near the center of the room and a crooked stovepipe led to the chimney at one end. The stove was fed frequently with wood but the supply was often inadequate and some of the children dragged their benches nearer the fire and propped their books upon their knees.

When all the pupils were busy there was the characteristic clatter of the slate pencils. The room was crowded. Grown boys and girls worked beside the smaller children, and all the desks and benches seemed to have been made for the larger children. The

teacher struggled through the morning helping one with ABC's and another with algebra. The schedule was as crowded as the room, but the three R's and spelling held their own.

The early social life in each community centered about the schoolhouse. Here the singing and spelling schools were held, and church services and gatherings of all kinds. Near Cherokee these social gatherings did not get well started until 1870 after the building of the railroad. At that time the Rev. W. F. Rose, first settler in Marcus Township, began to organize singing schools, not only in Cherokee but in outlying districts. He was a good singer and young people came from many miles to join his classes. He was also an able preacher and was so interested in education that in 1877 he was elected superintendent of county schools.

Not everyone could sing, however, but spelling schools were fun for the entire family and night after night entire families would amuse themselves spelling about the fireside. Easy words were given the small children, harder words for older ones and their parents. At spelling meets opposing groups of spellers faced each other, standing at opposite sides of the room. The audience sat in the space between. Words were given out to each side in turn, and when a word was missed, that speller had to sit down; when only one was left on a side the suspense of the contest was increased and interest ran high.

Sometimes box socials were held at the close of the singing or spelling school. Everyone always enjoyed the excitement of the auction as big lunches packed away in plump boxes were sold. The young men added to the fun by bidding against each other until often one had to pay from $16 to $20 for the box of the girl of his choice. Going home afterward the races were exciting too, with sleighs and bobsleds passing each other in friendly but dangerous rivalry.

Prof. Charles A. Fullerton, who wrote the familiar "red song book" for elementary school music, Eva L. Gregg, Agnes J. Robertson, and Kate Logan, the Cherokee County author, each contributed much to the rapid improvement at these schools. It was during the term of Miss Robertson as county superintendent that agitation for a township high school started. She favored such a school and Grand Meadow Township high school opened. That was a great day. Six miles from Washta a four-year high school had started.

In 1911, also, a special school for young men was organized in Marcus Township, but lasted only two winters. In the meantime city churches and city schools were being built in all the towns of the county, but still the smaller towns had to put up with two or three-year high schools. Even when they did get four-year high schools there was often not enough equipment to meet state requirements and the schools were not accredited. Students who meant to go on to the state university had to attend high

The first recorded activity for consolidated schools for the county appears in the spring of 1915 when the Cherokee Times announced that the election held March 25 to determine whether or not consolidation should be effected by the union of Spring and Afton townships of Cherokee County, with Brooke and Elk townships of Buena Vista County, was decided against the consolidation by a vote of 67 to 23. No further action was taken on this. The next action was a special election called at

Aurelia for the purpose of combining several rural districts with that of the town of Aurelia in the settlement of a consolidated district. The election was also defeated by a narrow margin but the advocates of consolidation were not discouraged and preparations for another election were started.

At this time Buena Vista County east of Cherokee, led all the counties in the state in the number of its consolidated schools, and consolidation was discussed everywhere. An advocate of consolidation told his friend who was opposed to it, "You might as well vote for it now as it is sure to win later on." The other replied, "If I am going to have hog cholera I'd rather have it three years hence than now."

Most of the arguments, however, centered around the higher taxes which farmers would have to pay. In spite of hot arguments and bitter objections however, the Aurelia community held another election, March 1, 1916 and this time consolidation won.

The consolidated school at Aurelia was the first in operation in Cherokee County. It embraced the Aurelia school, ten rural districts in Cherokee County, and two in Buena Vista County. Motor buses were used to transport pupils from these outlying districts to the central school. The initial term opened on Monday, September 4, 1916, with a full attendance from all sections of this area.

Larrabee community also voted to decide whether a new building should be erected. The vote passed by an overwhelming majority and a building to cost $125,000 was planned, its construction to start in the spring of the same year.

During the early spring of 1920 the first national conference on the consolidated school movement was held at Cedar Falls and invitations were issued to all county superintendents and educators. Margaret Montgomery was then county superintendent of Cherokee schools.

On January 28, 1920 the Washta consolidated school burned down. The loss was partly covered by insurance and bonds were voted for a new consolidated school building, to cost $100,000. A temporary building was erected in the meantime, and part of the classes were held at Washta Federated Church.

There were ten consolidated districts in Cherokee by September of 1920. They were Afton, Amherst (Simpson Bethel), Aurelia, Brooke, Cleghorn, Grand Meadow, Larrabee, Meriden, Quimby, and Washta. The majority had by this time erected or planned new buildings.

In 1929 a Cherokee Junior College was started at Cherokee. This was a two-year college and offered a wide variety of courses. Credits were transferable to any college or university in the Middle west. While this college was under the supervision of the Servants of Mary, students of all denominations attended. Fees were kept as low as possible and many students who could not afford to go out of the community for advanced education found their opportunities at this school. But in 1938 that college at Cherokee was closed, when the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company brought a foreclosure judgement of $40,511 against the Servants of Mary, who maintained the school.

Chapter 11 - Education & Religion in Cherokee County