Linn Township, Beach School

Built 1890, now a home at 1145 Linn Ridge Rd.  From Mt. Vernon or Cedar Rapids, the easiest way it to arrive from Mt. Vernon Rd (Lincoln Highway).  About 2.5 miles west of Mt. Vernon is Ballard Rd, and about 1/2 mile west of that is Horn Road.  From C.R go north on Horn while from Mt Vernon go north on Ballard.  Beach School is on Linn Ridge Rd between these two roads, and on the north side of Linn Ridge.

Photographed on 10/26/14

Sardinia School

Slated for demolition, this school was moved to the city of Walker in the mid-1990s, and displayed at the Walker Historical Site on Rowley St.  The school was originally located in the rural area NW of Walker, which would have placed it in Buchanan County.

Photographed 9/1/13

College Twp #? Western

South of Cedar Rapids is the village of Western.  The Cedar Rapids Gazette, 7/19/06, had an article about the village and accompanying the article was a photo of this school, converted to a house.  The owner said it still had the original chalkboards when he bought it.  It is located just west of the SW corner of Club Road and Western College Road.  To find it from Cedar Rapids you use Wright Brothers Blvd east of I-380 and turn south on Club Rd.  Proceed south into Western and turn west on Western College Rd.  The fire number address is 909.

(Photos taken 8/10/11.  Previously posted with a photo from 2006)

Bertram Township #6

This is one we've driven past many times and finally, today (7/6/11) we stopped and asked the owner about it and received gracious permission to be on her property to photograph this school.  It is located on the north side of U.S. Highway 30, just west of where it becomes 4-lane west of Mt. Vernon.  There is a cross street on the south side of the highway - Cedar River Rd - and the school is located .15 mile west of that junction.  The fire number for the owner's house on this lot is 1223.

This school is on its original location and was converted into a garage.  It has new windows in the original casements, and vinyl siding all around.  The front of the school, now a garage door, is facing south towards U.S. 30.

Grant #3, Walker, IA

Another school we saw on 5/1/09 was this one, about two miles west of Walker on Iowa State Highway 920.  It was set back from the road and this angle to be able to shoot the whole building necessitated a telephoto lens.  This school was obviously moved to this property, since it sits behind a house.

Buffalo #1, Burlingham School

Another school the Cedar Rapids Gazette told about, built before 1900.  This one is located south of Prairieburg, IA on the NW corner of Prairieburg Road and Wapsie Banks Road.  The original school was built by 1869, but burned in 1925.  This building was a church 1/2 mile away, and was moved to the location of the burnt school in order to replace it.  A basement was dug prior to the placement of the building.  The school closed ca. 1950.   It is now fixed up and rented out as a special "cottage" for things like newlyweds, anniversary get-aways, etc.

Photographed 3/5/09

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.

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:

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.

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!

Franklin Township, Abbe Creek School

Abbe Creek School is a restored school between Cedar Rapids and Mt. Vernon, on Mt. Vernon Road, which used to be the old Lincoln Highway.  It was built in 1856 to replace an 1844 wooden structure. It was also used as a meeting house for the settlers.  The school was closed in the 1930s, and in 1964 it was restored for use as a museum.  Schools take students on field trips to this old building, but it was closed up the day we shot it, 5/7/05.  The second shot shows the entrance to the tornado shelter.

Update 20 April 2014:  New photos with a digital camera, and you can see more of the building without the bushes.

UPDATE 3/4/16:  I found this article on Wikipedia which has some good information about the school.  Also, the Cedar Rapids Gazette had a good article.

Usher's Ferry collection, Cedar Rapids, IA

Usher's Ferry is a historical village/park on the northwest side of Cedar Rapids, IA.  They have a collection of several old houses, a church, schools, etc arranged in a little village with a large central park.  In the center of the park is a gazebo.  The park was under water in the great flood of 2008, and many buildings were severly damaged.

The first school below is the Cherry Valley School, built in 1878 on Cherry Valley Rd, SE of Fairfax in the College Township school district.  It was relocated to Usher's Ferry from Fairfax and restored.  It was restored again after the flood.  This school was photographed on 10/2/04.

The red one is Monroe #6, Pleasant Prairie, originally located on Blairs Ferry Rd.  It was converted to a house once it was no longer used as a school.   It was then relocated to Usher's Ferry and restored to represent a Grange Hall.  It was severely damaged in the flood and not currently restored (considered to be "in mothballs").  This photo was taken on 9/23/06. Destroyed by a derecho on 8/10/20.

This photo was posted on the Ushers Ferry Facebook page; it is of the Cherry Valley School in its original location ca 1900