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

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Walnut #5

Walnut #5.  This school is now used as a house/inn.  From I-80 exit 83 at Casey, turn to the south side of I-80, and follow the road labeled N77/110th to the east, and it will turn southbound as Kent Ave.  Proceed south to G15/130th St and turn west.  Proceed one mile to next intersection.  The school is on the SW corner.
Photographed 7/31/14
Judy Briley Wedemeyer posted the following on the "Iowa's Rural Schools" Facebook page, 3/18/22:
Walnut center #5 in Adair County is still standing. This schoolhouse is the 2nd one on this site built in 1922 after the previous building was destroyed by fire. When the rural schools were closed in the early 1950's this building was remodeled for a rental. This former school provided housing for hired men, newlyweds, college interns and hunters. The upstairs was remodeled and the deck added to avoid fighting getting furniture up the narrow steep staircase. Original school had no basement but several years after it was built, parents of students gathered with shovels wheelbarrows and dug the basement by hand. Most of the townships schoolhouse ended up on other locations and became garages, shops and even parts of homes.

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