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Chase County Kansas Historical
Sketches
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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
by Lorna Marvin.
Please submit your historical sketches.
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