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

Friday, April 9, 2010

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.

2 comments:

Margaret M said...

Garrison that is where my Mom grew-up, showed her the photos, she wondered if this might have been were they did a lot of voting at.
She also stated "those are wonderful photos".

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

I could't say anything about the voting, but it wouldn't surprise me because schools were very often used for voting.