Laney School was one of the prairie schools attended by Dickinson County students from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s.

A former teacher and several students gathered November 8 with others to celebrate the dedication of Laney School #96, one of the prairie schools attended by Dickinson County students from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s.

Laney was one of 114 schools (3 made of brick, 8 made of stone, and 103 made of wood) serving 5,503 Dickinson County students, ages 5-21. The average daily attendance was 2,757 as many students were needed to help on the farm and couldn’t attend every day.

By 1959, the number of county schools dropped to 10.

Pearl (Watt) Lenhardt taught at Laney, the school attended by her father in 1882-83, when she 17 and 18 years of age.

“I enjoyed teaching at Laney,” Pearl said, “and I lived with the Meehans, who lived a quarter of a mile from the school. I had to walk to the school and arrive before school in cold weather to start a fire. One night I decided to try banking the fire the night before and arrived the next morning to find the building full of smoke.”

Lenhardt said she remembers all of her students and their accomplishments and their tragedies, including the Moyer boys who lost their mother at a young age. She shared the story about keeping the Moyer brothers after school during Christmas season so she could send the Christmas tree home with them as she knew they didn’t have one.

“I had a nice group of pupils,” she said, “and when two of my students, Max Coup and Gerald “Sonny” Britt, took the test required of students before they could go on to high school and passed with flying colors, I felt like I had done a good job of teaching them.”

Along with sharing her memories, Lenhardt donated her grade book to the Talmage Historical Society.

Former students and a teacher celebrated the dedication of the Laney School marker.

Six former students, Mildred ( High) Sybert, Ralph Snyder, Dean Romberger, and J.W. Romberger, Shirley (Gormley) Gray, and Ron Britt shared their memories of attending Laney School in the early 1930s and 1940s. Carol (Pettijohn) Peterson attended to represent her mother, Ruth (Foster) Pettijohn, who recalled the Foster, Drake, Snyder, High, Romberger, and Bathurst students, and also recalled teachers by the name of Fanelle, Fred Schopp, and Harry Stewart.

The boys reminisced about the time they dug a cave into the side of the steep embankment next to Laney School. J.W. Romberger called it a den, and Ralph Snyder called it a hut, but they both admitted it was a place they tried to coax girls to enter. They both also admitted they were not successful in their endeavors.

A marker for Glenwood School can be found at the intersection of Highway 18 and Gulf Road. The school closed in 1948.

A former teacher, nine students and their friends and family gathered June 10 to celebrate the dedication of a historical marker for Glendwood School District #95, one of the prairie schools attended by Dickinson County students from 1879 until it closed in 1948. The marker was placed at the southeast corner of Highway 18 and Gulf Road intersection.

Frances Hartenstein Burdick taught sixth grade at Glenwood when she 17 and 18 years of age during the 1945-46 school year.

“Although I wasn’t much older than some of my students, it was an exciting year for me and I learned a lot,” Burdick said, “including how to control the Bowser boys, who one day went rabbit hunting during school and didn’t return. We had quite a confrontation. After that they knew who was boss.”

Burdick said she sometimes drove a Model A to school, made $120 per month, and had to start a fire before 8 a.m. in the wintertime.

Nine former students–Loren Noel, Helen Lambert Fulton, Maridean Simpson Bebermeyer, Mahlon Engle, Mildred Coup Hansen, Leland Garver, Eldon Noel, Jason Zook, and Lola Zook—recalled school days from the early 1900s.

Loren Noel, whose family was instrumental in making the dedication and historical marker possible, attended the school for eight years beginning in 1923. He recalled that the school was originally named Zook School in 1879 until a later name change to Glenwood.

“Earl Engle told me that Zion Church held meetings at Glenwood while they were building their new church,” Noel said.

Helen Lambert Fulton, who later taught at Flora and Union Center schools, was a student and remembers Glenwood as a wonderful school because the teachers allowed them to perform plays for different groups in the county.

Former Glenwood students and a teacher dedicated a historical marker.

“Teacher Glenn Kready wrote a song, Sparking Peggy Jane, and Mahlon Engle and I sang it,” said Fulton, who also remembered teacher Bill Rock splitting out the seat of his pants during a particularly vigorous recess and leaving the students alone while he went home to change his pants.

Fulton was remembered by the boys, according to Loren Noel, because she came to the school for the first time with a short dress when all of the other girls wore dresses four inches below their knees.

“I assure you,” Fulton quipped, “that was the last time I wore a short dress.”

Maridean Simpson Bebermeyer admits to being a bashful little girl, who enjoyed Red Rover and Tag during recess. She, like many other students, remembered walking through big snow drifts to school, although her father took her to school most days, and then she walked home with the Noel sisters.

Some of the students, like Mahlon Engle and Mildred Coup Hansen, were lucky enough to have a pony to ride to school.

“My two sisters rode with me,” Engle said, “and when the pony had his winter fur, there were three marks in his coat where we slid down off his back. Those days were challenging but joyful times.”

Leland Garver remembers Engle stopping by the school to give he and his friends some basketball pointers.

“There was always some devilment going on,” Garver said. “I also remember that Francis Hartenstein was a real pretty teacher with that long dark hair blowing in the wind.”

The basketball pointers must have helped because Eldon Noel, a Glenwood student from 1935-1943, remembers the success of their basketball team and competitions with Chronister and Pleasant Hill Schools.

“The tournaments started on Saturday and the championship game would be late that night,” Noel said. One of the games won was the 1941 Championship title.

Jason Zook, who attended Glenwood along with his siblings, also remembers basketball success, including winning a championship with only four players.

Some of the teachers remembered along with Hartenstein,  Kready and Rock were Mabel Stoffer, Reba Kreider, Georgia Hale, Flo Knisely and Reva Botz.

Glenwood was one of 114 schools (3 made of brick, 8 made of stone, and 103 made of wood) serving 5,503 Dickinson County students, ages 5-21. The average daily attendance of all of the schools was 2,757, as many students were needed to help on the farm and couldn’t attend every day.

By 1959, the number of county schools dropped to 10.

If you attended a one room school in Dickinson County and would like to dedicate a marker, contact Ron Britt, 263-0807, for more information.