Iowa One Room Schools: Dover School, Donnellson

ORIGINS

I grew up in a small Ohio town and I rode the school bus from 1st through 12th grades. My bus ride always included a country road on which every school day we saw a one-room brick school house. (SW corner of Stine Rd and Enon-Xenia Pike). As the years went by I watched this wonderful, familiar friend fall apart. After I married the school really began to deteriorate. Every time we visited the area I would want to take a photo of the school but never did. Finally, when we went specifically for the task, the school was gone. It was a huge loss for me and, since that time, whenever we pass a one-room school it is a joy to stop to take a picture or two. Thus, our collection here and the blog with schools in other states. Jill :oD

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Dover School, Donnellson

This is a school we have passed dozens of times over the years. It is on US 218 4 miles north of Donnelson and 2 miles north of County Road J56, on the NE corner of 180th St. When we first saw it in 1996, US218 was a 2-lane highway in that area. A few years ago they began widening it and the new construction got nearer to the school building. We also watched the building's condition deteriorate. It is still there, but the new highway has cut lower so the school is on more of a hill. These photos were taken during the time the construction had cut away part of the hill, in April 2004 when we were on our way to St. Louis.

On 7/23/11 we came by this school and decided to stop at the antique store which was built on the south side of it to see if we could get on the property to photograph it. The antique store is "Apple Tree Antiques." We talked to the property owners' daughter who gave us the school's name and said it was built by the 1870s.