Apple Pie School District No. 27

Perhaps the Douglas County rural school with the most unique yet humorous name was that of "Apple Pie." I remember as a child listening to KLWN radio on the rare occasion we had school closures because of a major snow storm, for the name of Apple Pie to be announced. Of course the schools were listed alphabetically, so Apple Pie would have been the second listed, after Adeline District No. 65. I always chuckled when Apple Pie was mentioned, wondering how it had been named.

The district was established in April of 1867. A deed was given to the district by J. C. Metsker for the site on the southeast corner of E 650 and Dg. Co. Rt. 458. The first building was that of native stone. There was a celebration of the raising of the school and a potluck dinner was enjoyed by all. After dinner a meeting was held to choose a name for the new school. This was the fall of 1867, which turned out to be a very good season for apples. It seems that almost everyone brought apple pies in their picnic baskets. It was suggested that "Apple Pie" should be adopted as the school name, thus it became known as Apple Pie District No. 27.

The first recorded teacher for the term of 1897-98 was Rachel Fisher, followed by: Pearl Metsker, Elva Helstrom and Anna Clinger.

The stone building had grown too small and was replaced in 1903, by a wooden frame building. Teachers in this building were: Nellie Dettek, Jessie Ady, Bessie Taylor, Fred Barrett and Dora Sinclair who taught the term ending in 1910.

Teachers during the next decade were: Zella Page, Lena Brown, Ethel Sherfy, Harley Wymore and Albert Black.

The 1930's were taught by: Albert Black, Lottie Anderson, M.W. Janicke, Elizabeth Dunn, Albert Hadl and Hugh Allen.

The 1940's had: W. Kaufman, Myrtle Ingram, Elizabeth Crawford and Esther Koch.

Eighth grade graduates for the term of 1940-41 were: Arletta Downing, Melvin Fishburn, Rova Flory and Robert Harrell.

The original location of Apple Pie was on the southeast corner of N. 950 Rd. and E. 650 Rd., where the Apple Pie Fire Station now sits. The wooden frame structure (2nd bldg.), is now hidden in plain sight, as it has been relocated to the NW corner of this intersection and is now used a barn. Please respect this location, as it sits on private property.