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THE Independent District was organized and established December 3d, 1864, comprising
all of Fort Dodge, Wahkonsa and Colfax townships. Schools were taught in the various
townships in rented buildings, and educational affairs were not neglected. In 1868
the district purchased the block now occupied by our graded school, and erected
the building burned in January, 1871. Happily for the district the building was
fully insured, and the losses fully paid by the several insurance companies.
During the same year the present building was erected, and has been in successful
operation up to the present time.
In due time Colfax township was taken from the independent district, and four houses
erected within the same at a cost of $1,000 each, and one in West Fort Dodge at
a cost of $1,520. The total cost of buildings and grounds within the present district
amounts to $46,520. The total assessed valuation of all property witliiu the district
is $792,557. the whole number of children in the district between the ages of five
and twenty-one is one thousand, three hundred and seventy-two, of which the number
enrolled in our public schools during the past year was seven hundred and fifty-nine,
or less than fifty-six per cent. The total amount paid for teachers' salaries in
1866 was $1,389.87, including Colfax township. The total amount paid for teachers'
salaries during the year ending June 30th, 1876, was $7,672.13. The total expenditures
of the district during the past year was $15,991.86. This seems like a formidable
increase of expenditures in ten years, yet the growth of population, and the increased
necessities of the rising generation would seem to demand it.
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