Iowa One Room Schools: Wilton #5, Rainbow School

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, September 16, 2016

Wilton #5, Rainbow School

Southeast of Wilton, Address is 1414 Trail Ave. Best way to find it is from Wilton proceed east on US6 to Taylor Ave, then turn south. Continue to 130th St. and turn east, proceed to Trail Ave and turn south. This house is just south of 140th St on the west side of the road.

Former owner William McClean provided the following information:

It had originally sat 1 mile to the south but when the township lines were redrawn the location was now in Sweetland Township. The local farmers realized that they would have to build another one. So they gathered on an appointed day with their teams, jacked the building up and set it on logs, rolled it northward. The one dissenting voice from Sweetland said, “Hey, you can’t do that!” “No? Just sit there and watch us.” “I’ll get the Sheriff!” “Go ahead.” 7 miles to Muscatine by horse, found the Sheriff and 7 miles back. By that time it had been moved to an acre of ground donated by my GGGrandfather JF McClean “for the benefit of the public education,” and the teams were all dispersed quickly over the horizon. The Sheriff said to Grandpa, “You can’t do that.” Grandpa said, “No? You can take it back, then.” There it still sits. It is no longer in the family.

There have been several additions done over the years and there is small resemblance to the old 1-room schoolhouse. We put on a garage to the West, then added 2 rooms above the garage and a large picture window facing the road on the East where there had been 2 anti-rooms for girls and boys coats and lunch pails. Probably the best view left wold be from the South side. We had replaced the Easternmost of the original 3 windows by a doorway entrance. Subsequent owners added a large addition on the North side which really obscures the old 1-Room appearance. There is/was a pump at the driveway entrance

The first photo was taken on 5 September 2016, and after verifying this was the school, we returned on 15 September to shoot in late evening.