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Reno County KSGenWeb Project
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Reno County KSGenWeb Project
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| School List by GPS coordinates School List by Teacher with date |
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The first schools in Kansas were the mission schools for the Indians. When Kansas was organized as a Territory, and
the white settlers began to make their homes here, their children’s education became one of their first interests.
In the summer of 1855, the first Territorial Legislature passed a law providing for establishing common schools, thus
laying the foundation for our public school system.
Over the next century, white frame or native stone one-room schoolhouses dotted the section corners across Kansas. The children who attended school ranged in age from five to 21 and had to endure dust storms, prairie fires, and cattle drives swirling past the school house in order to get an eighth grade education. They went to school on foot, on horseback, or in a wagon. On their first day of school, many students were foreigners who quickly learned to speak, read, spell, and write English. The minimum term was three months, but usually made a little longer for the benefit of the younger children. For the most part, the older boys and girls went to school only during the winter when they could be spared from farm work. Students worked as far as possible each year, continuing where they left off in the following school session. Many continued until they were 18 to 21 years old or even older. At that time, there was no graduating from country schools and students attended until they were ready to quit. The school teacher was paid $50 a month or less. Equipped with little more than a blackboard and a few textbooks, teachers passed on to their pupils cultural values along with a sound knowledge of the three Rs. By the turn of the century, the population began to shift to the cities and country schools began to lose students and tax support. School districts consolidated, pooling their resources to provide more teachers, broader curriculum, and opportunity for extracurricular activities. By 1966, the one-room country school had become a thing of the past. |
| There are two one room school house lists, submitted by different individuals,
neither of which have dates of publication or a source reference, so be sure to compare both. One list has the GPS
coordinates, while the other list attempted to include the teachers name and date taught.
If you have any additional information, please contact the county coordinator. |
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Copyright 2010 - present by the KSGenWeb Team. All rights reserved. Copyright of submitted items belongs to those responsible for their authorship or creation unless otherwise assigned. |
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