Weldon School

Franklin Township, Decatur County, Iowa
 
Emma DESELM taught a subscription school in Weldon's I.O.O. Lodge Hall in the fall of 1881. During the following spring, the children attended the "Shelby" country school located one mile north of town. William E. MURROW was hired to teach school in town commencing in the fall of 1882.

October 1, 1882 the town was set off as an independent school district and W.C. WHITMARSH hired to teach the school, which was conducted on the second floor of the Town Hall. The members of the first school board were George MITCHELL, S.M. POWELL and L.T. GREENLEE.

DR. Enos MITCHELL was hired to teach the school during the months of May and June, 1883 at a salary of $25.00 per month. He was often obliged to leave the school in charge of one of the older pupils while he attended his practice of caring for the sick.

The next fall Mrs. M.A. CRICHFIELD took charge of the school and had an enrollment of about seventy pupils. The next year Mrs. CRICHFIELD hired Miss Mila GRIMES to help her for a few months.

In 1885 the first school house was erected in East Weldon, where MERLYN OILER now lives, at a cost of $2,000.00, ground included. Joseph COFFEY was the contractor. The first year in the new building MRS. CRICHFIELD was assisted by MISS NORA BROWN in the Primary Department.

In 1886-1887 J.H. JAMISON became principal and the next was I.S. CONDIT.

A.A. ROY, the next teacher, took the first steps in arranging a graded system in the school.

The next teachers were J.C. WINGETT, Charles FISHER, and J.W. COZAD who held the first graduation exercises in the spring of 1893 with six graduates as follows: Frank DURNALL, Anna KLINE, J.L. LANE, Mate MAXWELL, Jessie MARSHALL and Ella TALLMAN.

Anna KLINE was the daughter of J.P. KLINE who had once owned the land Weldon was built on. The Class of 1894 had his son, Carl, Class of 1898 daughter, Gerda, Class of 1900 daughter, Neva. He had many grandchildren graduate in the later years.

As the years went by, the number of children having outgrown that first school building, the grades were continued in the old building while the High School was held in the Opera House until the new modern two story structure was completed in 1895. As the school continued to grow they put an addition on the building.

Some of the Superintendents were: Mr. RADCLIFFE, Mr. LATTA, Mr. HILL, Mr. A.N. SMITH, Professors J.M. HOWELL, J.N. McINTOSH, H.J. O'NEIL.

The first girls' basketball team was organized in 1909. The team included the following girls: Maude BARGER, Eunice HALL, Eva TANSEY, Mae TRISLER, Helen HOOVER, Rosman THOMSON, Eva TILLOTSON, Verna HIDEBAUGH, Ethel LOMAN and Hazel BARGER. It was said they were a good team.

On the morning of April 12, 1917 the school house burned to the ground.

The pupils continued school, some in the churches, the older ones in Parr's Theatre above the locker.

Before too long a rough building, covered with tar paper was built on the southeast edge of the school yard. They called it "The Sheep Shed" and it housed the elementary and grammar grades.

The last to graduate from the old school was the class of 1917 consisting of Perle BARTHOLOW, Helen LOCKWOOD, Hazel LANE, Maggie PETTIS, Mable FISHER, Tessie TRISLER, Hester BARTHOLOW, Vera YOUNG, Gladys EVANS AND Matt GARTON.

The school officials soon made plans for a new modern school building and by fall of 1918 a new structure was up.

By now the U.S.A. was in World War I and the following young men, some Weldon graduates, had entered service; Joe CLINTON, Frank DELK, C.W. DELK, Leslie EVANS, Meredith EVANS, Gordon FARMER, Matt GARTON, Cash GARTON, Herman LIGGETT, Leonard McVEY, Burrell MONROE, Olin MONROE, Roy MONROE, Leo PAGE, William TOMPKINS, Claude WESTFALL, Roy WILSON, Harry WILLIAMS, and Russell DELK still in High School and his Professor, J.E. PRITCHARD.

No classes were graduated in the years 1918 and 1919.

Lowell E. COCKRILL was the first Superintendent of the new Weldon School. The first class to graduate from the school was the class of 1920 with just one graduate, Clifford MITCHELL.

The Weldon Alumni Association was organized sometime before 1906. They did not have meetings every year, but some years they had elaborate Alumni Banquets. The following is a program for the Banquet - a three course dinner - Saturday, May 16, 1925.
PROGRAM
 
 Toastmaster- - - - - - - Dr. O.P. JAMISON
 Prayer - - - - - - - Rev. HUDSON
 Welcome to Sr. Class - C.M. KLINE
 Response - - - - - - - Muriel MITCHELL
 Piano Solo - - - - - - - Mrs. J.I. WADE
 Toast Ability- - - - - - Helen EDDY
 Toast Loyalty- - - - - - Madge SAFFELL
 Vocal Solo - - - - - - - Mrs. Donald PRICE
 Toast Understanding- Mrs. L.E. COCKRILL
 Toast Motive - - - - - - Glen MCFARLAND
 Toast Nobility - - - - - Cecil MITCHELL
 Toast Intelligence - - - Alfred MARSHALL
 Vocal Solo - - - - - - - Edna LOCKWOOD
 Reading-- Rev. Frank MOORE
 "Pieces of Silver"- - - Miss WILLIAMS, Conservatory of Music,
Simpson College, Indianola
 Piano Solo - - - - - - -
SOURCE: DELK, Mary. "History of Weldon"
 
 

Weldon Girls
1902

The Coffey Girls
ca. 1906



1909 Weldon High School Graduates
Girls Basketball Team
1910
Mabel Newel, Neva Kline, Lucile Bodley, Lillie Chapman, Elsie Durnal, Mary Abercrombie   L-R: Maude Barger, Ora Mitchell, Nina Mitchell, Diana Metier, Lorena Snider. Ethel Lowman is not in this picture.
Contributed by Robert Hilliard		  

Class of 1910
Weldon High School

Class of 1912
Weldon High School

Weldon 11th Grade
1915 or 1916

Girls' Basketball Team
1931 - 1932
Bloss D. Metier, Lawrence P. Coffey, Arthur M. Landis, Owen H. Evans, Burrell J. Monroe, Ioan F. Evans, May M. Nish, Kathryn F. Westfall, Jessie Nish, Francis Garris, Lena B. Trisler, Lelia M. Trisler, Helen Hoover, Delphia O. Landis, Eva M. Tansey, Mabel V. McVey Josephine Coffey, Georgia Williams, Eunice Hall, Neal [Nell?] Howell, Christina Trisler, Clara Thompson, Beulah Mitchell, Nina Mitchell Thomas, Neva Williams, Miles Parr, Ellis West, Burris Howell, Paul Davis
[missing 1 name]		 Kenneth Mitchell, Olive Ashby, "X" Lyle Wilson, Gladys Evans, Pearl Bartholow, Mary Lukenbill, Miss Zola Wird, Mrs. Pritchard, Mr. Pritchard, Ruth Hickman, Russell Delk, Robert Farmer, Maurice Hodges, Matt Garton, Willa Carlin, Marguerite Peague, George Marshall, Clifford Mitchell, Jay Horney, Nellie Pearcy, Ramona Parr, Maggie Lettis, Hester Bartholow, Vera Young, Gretchen Sandy, Mabel Fisher, Orel Smith, Gladys Buxton, Olive Ritter, Tessa Trisler, Ida Tansey, Helen Lockwood, Hazel Lane, Frances Luce  

Boys' Basketball Team
1931 - 1932

Baseball Team
1931

Junior Class
September 21, 1936

Girls' Basketball Champs
1954 - 1955
Bob Powers, Nelson Trisler, Max Richards, Virgil Moxley, Paul Simmerman, Ronald Garton, Harold Smith, Warren Wallace   John Allen Page, James Worden, Charles Lee Page, Charles Moxley, Roy Spencer, Junior Garton, Howard Strohm, Ivyl Jackson, Robert Wickham, Marvin Blair, Myrna Fisher, Carol Nish, Donald Garton, Edgar Wallace, Hubert Hull, Miss Young  

  
Original page created by Sharon Becker 2013, updated 2015; transcribed and reformatted by Conni McDaniel Hall Oct 2019.
 
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