KSGenWeb - The Primary Source for Kansas Genealogy

Chase County Kansas Historical Sketches

1863 - 2003 





FOREST HILL SCHOOL

A Prairie Fire By: Bessie Thompson Shattenberg

The prairie fire was a very real menace in the early days of Kansas. The luxuriant growth of the native grasses made the fires a grave hazard to the early day settlers. I have heard my father say that the slough grass grew tall enough to hide a horse.

In 1888, Miss Nellie Buffington, aged 18, was hired to teach the Spring term of school at Forest Hill, District 54. The spring term was a three month school, March, April and May, and was attended by the smaller children, since the older pupils had to stay at home to help with the farm work.

At this time there were about forty pupils enrolled, the oldest a boy of 14 years. About 2:00 on a warm March afternoon, with a strong south wind, the teacher noticed a line of smoke in the south and knew a fire was approaching. She hoped to keep the children from noticing the fire, so told them she would read a favorite story. As the fire came nearer, driven by the strong wind, the noise of the flames and the darkness caused by the thick cloud of smoke, attracted the attention of the children and pandemonium broke out.

Miss Buffington told the oldest boy to place a bench against the only outside door and sit on it so no child could get out. The hysterical children tried to get out of the windows, but the teacher managed to keep all of them in the building.

The grass in the school yard had been worn down by the children at play, so when the fire reached that area it parted and passed by on either side. As soon as the smoke cleared away, the largest boy was sent out to see if the roof was a- fire but soon returned to tell them that everything was all right.

When the ground had cooled sufficiently, the children were allowed to go home. Two of the families had lost their homes but there was no loss of life and the parents were loud in their praise of the young teacher for her calm and courageous actions during the crisis.

Miss Buffington was later married to Charles P. Thompson and lived in Chase County many years.

The last teacher mentioned at Forest Hill was Helen Layport, 1938-39.

Chase County Centennial, 1872 - 1972




Chase County Submitted Historical Sketches
compiled and abstracted from the Chase County Courant, Chase County Leader, other sources and newspapers
by Lorna Marvin.
Please submit your historical sketches.



Return to Chase County Submitted Historical Sketches


Background and KSGenWeb logo were designed and are copyrighted by
Tom & Carolyn Ward
for the limited use of the KSGenWeb Project.
Permission is granted for use only on an official KSGenWeb page.
The USGenWeb Logo was designed by Linda Cole.

 
 
Check out these links!