Madison #1, Wray/Young, North Liberty, IA

We had seen this building many years earlier and thought it looked like it might have been a school.  The we watched as the owners modified it and put a couple additions on.  Still wondering, we had a friend who had lived in the area for decades and she said it was indeed a one-room school.  So in December 2007 we finally took a couple shots of it.  This house/school is one mile north of our house in North Liberty, on State Highway 965 (old US 218).

Update, 10/18/10.  This house is now for sale, and the flier says, "Unique Single Family Home Built From a Restored Schoolhouse."  As you can see in the above photos, it has an addition on both sides, plus it has a 3-car garage.  Description of the inside tells of some excellent work.  Price is "reduced" to $285,000!

More photos from 1/20/11 show more of the house overall 

The following photo was taken from Hendershot Rd. on 6/15/16

Coralville, IA

We had seen this large structure many times - it is only about 15 minutes from our house.  We hadn't photographed it because it wasn't a one-room school - or so we thought.  On our anniversary in Aug. 2007 we took a tour and learned that the upper level was never used for classes, rather it was used as a gymnasium, for assemblies or dances, etc.  The school was built in 1876 on a land donated by the Ezekiel Clark family.

7th and 8th grade classes continued here after the lower grades were moved to the new school built begining Spring 1949. In 1951, with an addition to the new school, the 7th and 8th grades also moved there and this school became used as a warehouse for the city.

In 1974 the Johnson County Historical Society received a 50-year lease for restoration and use of the buildingas a historical museum, which opened 4 July 1983.

West Des Moines, IA

Visiting Des Moines and all the tourist stuff over there in October 2006, while in West Des Moines we came across this preserved school.  Bennett School. Built 1926-1927. Used until at least 1941 and then used as a home.  Originally on Fuller Rd and 50th St., now on Fuller Rd east of Grand Ave, moved there ca.1996. 

Hopkinton, IA

On one of our scenic day drives northeast of Iowa, we came across this house made from a school, 4 miles NW of Hopkinton.  It is on Iowa SR38, at the NE corner of Ridge Rd.  We had parked on the shoulder to take the photo and a lady came out wanting to know what we were doing.  I told her we were pretty sure her house was an old school and that we like taking shots of old schools.  She verified it was indeed a school, but she didn't know much about it because it was already converted when they bought it.

update 3/13/11  Two new photos.  From Delhi this school is 3 miles SE.

West Branch, IA

This school is at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, IA.  Our photos were taken on  9/1/08.  You can read about this school in the last photo, which is a shot of the plaque in front of the school.

College Township, Center School #1

Built in 1875, located where the hotel at Kirkwood Center is today, at 7725 Kirkwood Blvd.  It was replaced when a new school was built across the street in 1900, and became used as the township hall.  It was relocated to Usher's Ferry Historical Village in 1977 and restored.  The building was severely damaged by the 2008 flood, and was restored again.

Photographed on 9/23/06

UPDATE: This school was demolished by a derecho on 8/10/20.

Grinnell #9

Driving home from Des Moines on Interstate 80 on a spring day in May 2006, we spotted this school about a mile north of the highway when we were just west of the Grinnell exit.  So we headed up the road into Grinnell and discovered this school to be about one mile west of the Grinnell airport.  Although it is now used as a house, the old swing set was still there.

4/17/10 update:  We shot these photos today for some better color and contrast.  The exact location is on 410th Avenue at the SE corner of 20th St, 1 mile west of Iowa SR146.  The swingset is no longer there and the side yard is full of cars and other junk so we didn't shoot the west side as before.

UPDATE 11/14/16:  This school closed in the early 1950s.

Newton Township #9, Holman School

A friend lived in Troy Mills for a while and told us about this school downtown.  So on April 1, 2006, when we went to visit we made sure we had our camera with us.  It was built in 1883.  Located at 5912 Troy Mills Rd, just north of Coggon Rd, west side.

On 24 February 2016, Mr. Ken Frasher, with The Forgotten Iowa Historical Society, provided me the following information:

Originally this school was located in section 29 of Newton township Buchanan County with the ground being owned by C.W. Butterfield. The school was moved to Troy Mills in probably the early to mid 50's and became the carpenter shop of Virgil Chester for years. After that I believe it sat empty for several years and then became a dance studio. The name Holman probably comes from the early families that lived in the area with many being buried either in Troy Mills or Upper Spring Grove.”

The western section of the school, behind the three windows and with the side door, looks to have been added after the move to Troy Mills.

The following photos were taken on 23 February 2016:

Franklin #3 Union School, Donnellson

On 1/21/06, while coming back from Eagle Days in Keokuk, IA, we were heading up US218 as usual when Jill spotted this school about a mile west of the highway on 190th St, about three miles north of Donnellson.  Normally, in the summer, trees would have blocked the view from the highway, but this winter drive let us see it.  So we drove down and shot it - and I told Jill she had the "eagle eye."

On 7/23/11 we re-photographed this school, and you can see how it looks behind all the weeds in the summertime.  Also notice the chimney is missing and the roof painted.

On 6/29/12 I was e-mailed the following information:

" This school, 3 miles north and 1 mile west of Donnellsonn in Section 17, is thought to have been built in the 1840's. It was damaged by fire in the 1880's or '90's. It was rebuilt perhaps within the original walls. The school closed in 1941 and the building still stands, used for storage."

Walker, IA, Polk #6

This school was one we came across on our way home from Independence, the same day we shot the previous photo (10/30/05).  We took a back road to a friend's house before heading home, and passed this school 3.5 miles west of Walker, on the south side of Iowa SR 920, at the junction of County Route J92.

UPDATE 12/10/10:  SR920 is now designated County Route D62.  This school is no longer here.  Some foundation debris was seen today; perhaps it was moved elsewhere rather than torn down?

UPDATE 11/20/18: I learned from someone who knew a member of the family who rented the farm on which this school stood, and they were told that a grass fire got out of control and burned down this school.

Independence, IA

We had been up to Independence several times and had shopped in this store before we finally decided to take a shot of it in October 2005 - after verifying it was indeed a school!  The store manager did not know where it came from, but she did say it was moved to its present location on old U.S.20 west of downtown.

Boulder Township, Frozen Hill School

This is another school reported in the Cedar Rapids Gazette (10/3/05), and which we then had to go see on 10/23/05.  When we took these photos we found the school in the northeast corner of Linn County, a mile west of the Jones county line.  It was on Frozen Hill Road, on the SE corner of the junction with Old Church Rd.  It stopped operating as a school shortly after the end of WWII and the people who bought the land it sits on were going to make it into a house, but that never happened and the building deteriorated.  They decided to give the building away and finally someone acquired it to move it and make into a cabin.  We took these photos before they moved it.  We do not know where it was moved to.

Big Grove #1, Stone Academy, Solon, IA

This is a school we passed many times before we decided we needed to take a photo in September 2005.  It is about three miles north of Solon, IA, on Iowa SR 1.  This stone school was built in 1842 and is used for field trips by local schools.  It closed in 1953.  Our original posted photo was taken with a 35mm photo, so on 3/16/11 we shot these with our digital camera.

In 1976 a tornado tore the roof off and destroyed the interior.  Restoration afterwards included fixing up the exterior walls and putting on a new roof, and then rebuilding the interior.  

Monroe Township #5

In April 2005 we read an article, with accompanying photo, in the Cedar Rapids Gazette about an old school near Garrison, IA.  This school is about five miles west-northwest of Garrison on the southeast corner of 13th Ave and 59th St.  The school came into the possession of the Benton County Historical Society when the Monroe Township Trustees decided the school was no longer needed.  But the school would have to be moved.  The article discussed the need to find property for it, and to restore it, with Vinton being a possible location.  Although there was no information as to when the school was originally constructed, the article indicated it may have been in 1870s or 1880s.  The local 4-H group used the building for meetings into the late 1990s.  We have not read any follow-up as to what happened to this school.  We photographed it 5/15/05.

Update 8/6/12:  The following two photos were taken by Larry Blazicek in the summer 2011.  A storm with very strong winds caused damage to the building in July, and the county condemned the building. It was razed in September 2011.

Clinton Township #?, Stony Point School

I was told about this school by a supervisor at work.  When he learned Jill wanted shots of one-room schools, he said he drove by this one daily. It is located west-northwest of Cedar Rapids on Iowa SR94 (Covington Road), at the SE corner of Rogers Rd.  We took these photos 5/8/05, the day after we shot Abbe Creek.  There was a restoration effort underway at the time, but I don't know how much has been done.  This school was used from 1879 to 1959.

Update 20 April 2014:  The restoration effort was dropped for lack of funds.  Photos taken today show how much deterioration has taken place since 2005.

The following photo was posted on Facebook by Ushers Ferry Historical Park, showing the school when it was in operation.

UPDATE 12/6/22

I was recently contacted by the current owner of this school requesting permission to use one of my photos. She told me they were going to move it elsewhere for restoration!!

The first link is what she sent telling me about preparing for the future move. While the 2nd link is abou the move.

Preparing to move.

The 12/5/22 move.

I was amazed to see the stonework in the old foundation!