Sugar Creek Twp #2, Pleasant Hill School

Closed in the 1950s.  Located at 1497 290th St/County Route F44, 1/2 mile east of Old Muscatine Rd, north side.  Residence.

Photographed 11/10/17

Center #5

The following information was provided to me via e-mail from Krista Clark on 21 February 2017.

It's a building that was a risk of being torn down until someone came forward who wants to repurpose the structure.  It won't be a school, of course, but at least it will still be standing.  The building sat SW of Tipton, maybe 6 miles or so, although I never saw where it was.  At the time of its most recent move it had already been moved to that location (the farmstead) previously, although no one, yet, seems to know when that happened.  Center #5 is now located on Highway 30 in Mechanicsville.

The school is on the south side of U.S. 30 at the east side of town.  The first photo was taken by us on 1 April 2017, while the remainder were sent to me by Krista.

UPDATE 9/9/17:  A wee bit of work done; no boards over the windows.

UPDATE 10/2/21:  Some changes over the past 4 years.

Sugar Creek Township, Sharon School

At the NW corner of State Highway 38/US6 and Old Muscatine Rd.  Converted to a house, address 2186 Old Muscatine Rd.

Photographed on 8/18/16

Sugar Creek Twp #5, Lime City School

Down in the SE corner of Cedar County is Lime City, which is just a dot on the Gazetteer map, and that is where this school is, located next to a cemetery.  Very visible on the north side of I-80, about the 269 mile marker.  If arriving from the west, the best without too much backtracking is to take exit 265 North to Rochester (X46), the turn East on F44/290th Street to Old Muscatine Rd, and then turn south.  Just north of the bridge over I-80 is 306th St on the east side of the road; turn east there and it will take you to the school.  If arriving from the east, take exit 271, and proceed south on US6/SR38 to Old Muscatine Rd and then turn west.  Follow the road to the bridge over I-80, cross the bridge and turn east on 306th St to the school.  Since we first saw it years ago, it has had a new roof and a row of three window on the east side of the front.  There is an old swing set on the east side of the lot.

If anyone has any information about this school, please comment below or email.

This last photo was taken from the south side of I-80 on Old Muscatine Rd.

Photos taken on 8/13/15

UPDATE: The following photos were taken on 6/8/17:

UPDATE 8/27/18: The following three photos were taken in 1935, and are courtesy of Ted Marolf, whose father is the fourth from the left (with little aviator hat) in the first group photo, and his uncle on the pony was a teacher there for a time.

Bennett’s Seven Schools

The following information has been gleaned from the book, “Bennett, Iowa and Inland Township: A History,” by Verl L. Lekwa, in cooperation with the Bennett Community Club, 1983.

On 31 January 1943, the brick city school in Bennett burned and was gutted; it had been built in 1911 to replace a two-story wood frame structure, and a gymnasium had been added in 1929.  A temporary break in school attendance took place as they decided what to do.  A major problem was lack of money to build a new school. 

The school had students from 1st through 11th grades.  Tipton offered to take the high school students, the 25 then being transported by bus.  The other grades met in the Bank basement, the Methodist church sanctuary, the Methodist church basement, the Lutheran church and the Evangelical church.

In July a vote was taken to consolidate the rural schools in the township (Inland Township), still without a building.  In the fall of the 1943-1944 school year, cement block foundations were built along Third street for moving four rural schools, which had consolidated, into town for use as classrooms.  The first one was placed at the NW corner of Third and Maple.  

At the same time, a 12th grade was added.  By 1946 three more rural buildings were moved along the row on Third Street.  The fall of 1948 was the first time the high school students did not go to Tipton.

For the 1949-1950 school year, students attended a new school which had been built west of town, and all seven rural schools were sold at auction.  Six remained in town, with five of those becoming homes, while another was moved downtown to house a business.  The seventh was moved east of town and made into a residence.

The rural schools which moved to Bennett were as follows:
#2  Marsh School.  Built in 1895, in was moved to Bennett in 1946.

#3  Center School.  Original building constructed ca.1860, replaced 1/4 mile away with a newer building in 1868, and in 1929 that one was razed and replace with a new building which had a basement and toilets.  This one was moved to Bennett in 1946.

#4  Shiloh School.  Originally built in 1867, but replaced in 1898.  It closed in 1937, and was moved to Bennett in 1943.  This was the one which moved downtown in 1949.  Possibly it has been moved again as one of the schools depicted below, because these six were verified as schools by homeowners we talked to.

#5  Unity School.  Was 3 miles SW of town, originally built in 1866 and replaced in 1924 with a basement and toilets.   Moved to Bennett in 1943, and is the one moved east of town for a house.

#7  Willow Shade School.  Originally built in 1869, but replaced in 1916.  Was moved to Bennett in 1943.

#8  Summit School.  Originally 3 miles SE of town, built in 1868.  Moved to Bennett in 1943.

#9  Smith School.  Built in 1885, closed in 1935, moved to Bennett in 1943.

The first photo is from the book, and shows the first school moving into town.  The second photo shows the school buildings lined up along Third St, with the anchor point being the NW corner of Third and Maple.

While I recognized the one building, on Maple St, from Bill Sherman’s book, "Iowa’s Country Schools: Landmarks of Learning,” the rest were confirmed by two homeowners we met in town.  However, we were not given the identities as to which school was which, so if anyone can give such information, we’d appreciate it.  

This first school is on the NW corner of Third St and Maple St.  The problem with this one being identified as one of the seven is that in the photo of the first school being brought into town, this one appears to be the house on the right side of the photo!  So if it was a school, as identified by the one homeowner, then it would have been moved into town prior to the seven in 1943 and 1946. 

These two schools have been joined for this house.  They are on the NW corner of Third St. and Poplar (I'm wondering if these are in the original location, and perhaps the schools were lined on Third from the one on Third and Maple to Third and Poplar. If anyone can clear this up, I'd appreciate it.)

This third school was on Maple Street, SE corner of Fourth. (Unfortunately, we forgot to photograph the south side because we ended up in a conversation with the owner!)

This next school is immediately south of the previous one, still on Maple St.  This looks like it is probably the first one moved into town, since there appears to be only one square one in the photo of the row.

This last school is the home of a woman we talked to at the bank.  She said it has had many additions, which is why it no longer resembles a school.  It is on the SW corner of Fourth and Poplar Sts.

Photographs taken on 11/27/13.

UPDATE, 6/6/15.   On 6/4/15, we drove highway 130 to Bennet and then east bound to Tipton.  This building was discovered on highway 130 on the east side of Bennet.  Unity School was supposedly moved east of town to be a house.  We found no other building east of town other than normal farm houses.  This building on the south side of the street was either a church or a school; does anyone have any information about it?  The taller windows make me wonder if it was a church.

Photographed on 4/4/15

Red Oak #1, Bedbug School

This school was Red Oak #1, also known as Bedbug School.  It was moved in 1989 from somewhere in Cedar County to the Cedar County Fairgrounds in Tipton.  About a year ago it was moved to its current location .4 mile north of Tipton city limits on SR38.  It is with an old church, an old log cabin and another old building, all of which have been moved within the same time frame because the foundations are all fairly recent.  The new location is the Cedar County Historical Society Museum.

One thing I thought was interesting is the door being recessed between the cloak-rooms.  Usually there is  a hall from the door with cloak-rooms on either side.  Also, as with some of the other schools, you can tell which wall the blackboard was on - the one without windows.

UPDATE 10/11/15:  The following information came from the Des Moines Register newspaper:

The Bed Bug school in Cedar County has also seen many changes. Built in 1910 in a rural area, it closed in 1925 when the Tipton consolidated district formed.

Most country schools were officially noted by just a district number, so residents came up with creative names for their local schools. Sandy Harmel, museum coordinator for the Cedar County Historical Society, said Bed Bug apparently got its name after it became a popular bunking spot for hobos riding a nearby train line.

Bed Bug was moved to Tipton and ended up as a storage shed behind the high school. It was gifted to the society in the 1990s. But years of housing lawnmowers and other equipment had been hard on its wood planks.

"The floor was very oily and greasy looking — as far as the building, it was in pretty good shape — but it was going to be over $2,000 to have the floor professionally done," said society president Mike Bixler.

The state program provided $1,385 in 2012 toward having the floors repaired. "We probably wouldn't have done this project without that grant," Bixler said.

The organization has also painted the school and rebuilt the roof. A bell rings out to draw visitors during open houses, school field trips and the annual A Day on the Prairie event, which draws about 500 people to the school, a church and other buildings on the society's grounds.

UPDATE 4/3/17:  The following photos were taken on 1 April 2017, showing the restoration and display

UPDATE 10/9/20:  More photos of the restored buildings.