History of Lost Creek School

Lincoln Republican, 2 June 1910

(Condensed statement of the history of the school as read by Alfred Strange, at the close of the school term last week.)
The demand for educational facilities as early as 1872 brought about the organization of District No. 6, of which Lost Creek is a part. One-half the expenses were paid by the state, the other by private subscription; the first building soon was so overcrowded that a second building (the first school house in Lincoln) was erected. At that time, Mrs. A.C. Wait and Miss McNair were teaching about 100 pupils, 60 of whom Mrs. Wait taught. That first school building now used as a shoe-shop by E. Loso. Miss McNair taught the Lost Creek school. The teachers who succeeded her so far as we now have their names were: Ira Russell, Mrs. Wait, Francis Purvis, Edith Shoemaker, W.H. Course (to whom the writer first started to school), Horace Truman, Miss Smith (Mrs. E.A. McFarland), Miss Dunham (Mrs. H. Truman, deceased), N.J. Smith, Miss Smith (Mrs. George D. Able, deceased), Grant Crawford, Miss Barnum (Mrs. Hickel, deceased), A.D. Gilpin, Miss Wilcox (Mrs. Brady), Miss Hughes (Mrs. George Vokel), M.P. King, Chas. W. Smith, Miss Hawkins (Mrs. E.W. Baker), A.A. Songer, Marion Strange, Miss Farquharson, Mrs. Henley, Miss Mannen, Miss Stevenson and last, the present, M. Healey [sic]. In the year 1889 the present edifice was built of native stone by Chas. Tilton. S.H. Long hauled the stone with a team of cattle. The old building was sold to Thos. Feakes, who moved it to his farm.
The students of this school have filled and are now filling important positions in every walk of life: teachers, ministers, housekeepers, farmers, mechanics, politicians, soldiers, engineers, miners and lawyers. Owing to the inspiration received from the teachers of the school, an exceptional few have failed to succeed in their chosen calling.
Today, there is not a scholar in the school I can call schoolmate. Some of us were so ruefully mischievous as to bring down some severe requirements and punishments, yet I feel safe in saying that no teacher or pupil of any term would say: “I have no happy thought, no kindly remembrance, no friendly feeling, for the acquaintance made during my stay in Lost Creek district.”
Of our long list of teachers and pupils, many are beneath the suns of other districts, counties, states and nations, but they are always found loyal to Lost Creek, Lincoln county, Kansas and the United States of America.