MEADE COUNTY & TOWN SCHOOLS

Gone forever are the one-room country schools that dotted the countryside around Meade County. The buildings may be gone, but one has only to bring the subject up where a group..

The Belle Meade School district was the first one formed in Meade County and it covered a huge area of 54.5 sections, encompassing most of Range 27 and 28, Township 31. 

The Wilburn school served a joint district in Meade and Ford Counties. The school itself was located in Ford County but many families connected to Fowler in Meade County used this school.

McNulty began as a subscription school in 1887, and was originally conducted in a sod house on land that was first homesteaded by Henry H. Budgett, and later owned by the Theis Cattle Co. We don't know where the name of McNulty originated..

Records indicate that the Jasper school was organized November 7, 1885. The school was located in the NE/4 of the SE/4 of Section 26-T31-R29. Although the boundaries of the school district changed, and even the name of the towns changed, this school was the one stabilizing force around which this community existed.

Records indicate that Five Mile School was organized in late 1885. This school was in the southeast corner of Meade County barely a mile and a half from the Clark County line. The school itself was located in the NW/4 of Section 14-T34-R26 in Sand Creek Township.

Longview was in the extreme southeast corner of Meade County, just two miles west of the Clark County line and two miles north of  the Oklahoma Border. Englewood was the address of the officers and many of the students. The school was formed May 31, 1885, on Section 3-T35-R36 on land owned by Wolford Wyatt..

Atwater School was organized in March of 1886. It was disorganized January 5, 1946, and became District #75. Later it was disorganized again and attached to District #51... then unified as part of 226.

Highland School was organized March 16, 1886, and disorganized at the end of the term of 1938-39, at which time the school closed and the students were sent to Fowler. We don't know a lot about this school, it was well..

District 11, which only lasted for a short while. It was first formed March 14, 1886, and apparently disorganized December 18, 1897. By the time the 1909 Plat Book was published the whole area was part of School District 15.

Grandview school was located four miles south and 1 mile west of Fowler, in the SE/4 of Sec. 23-T31-R27. The district itself was originally part of District 1, but District 12 was organized April 23, 1886. It was disorganized September 23, 1946, at which time it became a part of Joint 72 and eventually Fowler 225 Unified.

Fairview School was organized and the first sod school house was built there by pioneers of Irish Flats, located about 20 miles south and a short distance west of Meade. The next house was a frame building not very large but it was the heart of the community for school and community gatherings.

This stone building erected in the early part of 1886, still stands on the hill 13 miles south of Meade on Highway 23. In that early day the government wanted the land settled and would give the land to any who were willing to come this far west to live. 

The Valley Grove School was located in Sand Creek Township in the NE/4 of NE/4 of Sec. 25-T34-R27, on land owned by R.M. Painter. The school was organized May 15, 1886, and disorganized January 5, 1946... however there was no school at this location after 1932. The district became part of #77, then disorganized and became part of #79, and later consolidated with 226 Unified, and students were sent to Meade, Englewood and #26 (Sunny Dale.)

Century School was organized in 1885, in the Irish Flats fourteen miles southwest of Meade. This school was located on the NW/4 of the SW/4 of section 32-T33-R28. We don't have a photo of this first school. In 1915, the buildings were sold and the school was rebuilt on the NW/4 of the NW/4 of section 27-T33-R28. (one mile south of the curve on hwy 23)  Century was disorganized in 1946, and with consolidation became part of District 73. 

This school was established in 1885, two miles north of the town of Pearlette. It was said to have been disorganized in 1899, but we have a teacher listed in 1904. It eventually became part of District #37, but disappeared early on in Meade County history.

Black school was organized May 8, 1886, on land belonging to Moses Black, which was the SW/4 of the SE/4 of Sec. 35-T32-R28.

In 1916, District #25 was consolidated with District #35 to form District #69. The buildings were sold at pubic auction in August of that year. To further confuse things, this building was moved to District #68, just a mile east of the Black School location.

District #26 was organized May 8, 1886. It disorganized January 6, 1946, and became District #77, then this district disorganized and became #82. District #82 and #Jt.18 unified in 1965, and then became part of 225 (Meade.)

District #27 was organized in 1886, and disorganized and attached to District #28 in the spring of 1899.

It did, however, have a schoolhouse in Section 9-T32-R26, probably on Henry Coleman's land.

District 28 was organized July 10, 1886, it disorganized January 5, 1946, to be joined with District #77, and later #81. In 1965, it became part of Unified District #225.

District #27, which was to the east of this district, combined with #28 early on... in 1899.

Lakeview always had a decent schoolhouse. We found where the first one was sold by sealed bid by the Board of Directors in 1916.

District #29 was organized in 1886, and disorganized  in 1899.  The map at left is from the 1909 Meade County Platt book with this school district shaded yellow. You can see what portions of this school district went to #2 and what went to #28 when it was disorganized.  To put this map in perspective, Meade is just a little over a mile from the west edge of Section 6; in fact, dist #2 quickly joined the Meade City district.

District 30 was organized August 21, 1886, and wasn't disorganized until 1946, when it became a part of Jt.74 and eventually part of Dist. 483 (Meade-Seward) in 1965.

Our notes show that Prosperity started out in a sod house, but soon a nice big schoolhouse was built on the SW/4 of the NW/4 of Section 9, T32-R24.

Evergreen School was 18 miles southeast of Meade and only 3 miles west of the Clark County line in southeast Meade County on Section 15-T33-R26. It was originally built on land belonging to John A. Cole and is sometimes called the Cole School.

Pleasant View was located in the northeast corner of Section 16-T30-R28, just two miles south of the northern boundary of Meade County. It is often called the Merkle school as William Merkle owned much of the surrounding land and had seven children of his own going to this school.

District # 34 was organized in 1886. It was disorganized in 1946, and consolidated and annexed to #78. In 1958, the patrons of the school voted to consolidate the district with Plains Joint #74 for the fall term. Eventually it became part of District 483 and 226.

We have no photos of this school, only scant public records and tidbits of family histories. The schoolhouse was located in three different places during the life of this school... the first one being in the SE/4 of Sec 8-T33-R28. The second location was in the SW/4 OF THE NE/4 OF SEC.18-T33-R29. Eventually it ended up in the NE/4 OF THE SE/4 of Sec 13-T33-R28... just east of what is now Meade State Lake.

District 37, known as Western Gem, was formed November 8, 1886. The schoolhouse was originally located on land belonging to B.F. Latta, in the SW corner of the SE4 Sec.17-R27-T30. According to first-hand stories this schoolhouse was an abandoned sod house.

District #38 is another one of those school districts that did not last very long and served very few students.

We have no record of when it was formed, but the early officers were all from the Allen and Gray families, with Cyrus G. Allen as Director. We don't know where the schoolhouse was located but are surmising that it was near Rev. Cyrus Allen's home.

The one and two room schools that dotted the Kansas landscape a generation ago and are now just a part of our history. Those of us who received our education in these surroundings have a great wealth of memories to share with anyone who is willing to listen. What you find in the pages that follow is just part of the story...

Prior to settlement, Meade County was pretty much occupied by open-range cattle operations, buffalo hunters and other adventurers. The county was first formed in 1873, but went through different configurations until it was finally organized with the current borders in 1885. Settlers, however, started to acquire land in the Fowler area as early as 1878, and settlers meant families, and families meant children in need of schools. 

In the spring of 1916, plans were made by members of St. Anthony Church to start a parochial school. Esther Link was hired to teach the school-age children in the parish. The back of the church was used as a classroom facility for four years.

Esther Link taught in the school for three years before moving to New Mexico. She was succeeded by Miss Agnes Louragon who taught just one year.

Just three short years after Meade was established in 1885, the Washington Building was constructed just to the east of the present grade school and Jr. High. It was a two story structure containing six classrooms with a full basement. There was a bell tower with a bell large enough to be heard for two or three miles. It opened in 1888, at which time three teachers divided the sixty or so pupils into more or less ungraded groups. 

The first Friends in the Fowler community were the Nixon Rich and Albert Roberts families, who located there in 1905. Since there was no High School in Fowler and people recognized the need for one, and since it was known that Friends were interested in higher education, these Friends were approached about the establishment of an Academy if a building was provided for that purpose...

The first Friends in the Fowler community were the Nixon Rich and Albert Roberts families, who located there in 1905. Since there was no High School in Fowler and people recognized the need for one, and since it was known that Friends were interested in higher education, these Friends were approached about the establishment of an Academy if a building was provided for that purpose...