Just a Walk Down the Road: the History of Southern St. Charles County, Missouri

The One-Room Schools of Township 45, Range 2
by Bob Brail

Today a school teacher uses several kinds of technology that were not available to the one-room schoolhouse teachers of days gone by. For example, modern teachers regularly use computers in their classrooms for a variety of tasks. One is to record grades, which are now entered electronically, thereby doing away with the teacher’s grade book.

Those grade books, though, can tell stories and revive old memories! The Boone-Duden Historical Society possesses two such grade books in its archives. Both grade books are from one-room schools in Township 45, Range 2, of St. Charles County, and both belonged to Viola Mades Koelling, who taught in area schools. These two books and others like them would have been used in all of the one-room schools of their day.

This grade book is from Bacon School, which was located at the present corner of Old Colony Road and Highway DD. The school was started sometime before 1875 on land owned by Williamson Bacon. In a 1978 interview, Ora Johnson recollected attending the school for nine years, when his teachers were Ella May Castilo (1895-1897), Constance Watson 1898-1901), and James U. Muschany (1902-1904). The grade book includes grades for reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, language and English, physiology, deportment, nature study, and agriculture. The teacher, Miss Josephine Schiebendrein, mistakenly marked her book with #65; Bacon School was actually #64. Miss Schiebendrein did not finish the year; after ten weeks she was replaced by Roy C. Koelling, who had taught at Hamburg School the previous year. Around this time, Koelling married Viola Mades, who began teaching at Bacon School in 1931. Bacon School was closed on June 2, 1950, and sold two years later for $2,100. It was still standing later in the 1950’s, its white walls accented by the green window sashes, but eventually was destroyed in a fire.

During the previous school year, Viola Mades Koelling taught at Calamus Springs School (# 65), and that is where this second grade book originates. The Calamus Springs School was most probably named for a nearby spring which was inhabited by the oddly shaped, greenish flowers of the calamus (also known as sweet flags), which bloom in May through August. The school was located in the eastern end of the quarry just northeast of the intersection of Highways 94 and DD. It opened in 1896 and closed around 1950. The building still stands, its blackboard adorning one wall (N38.39.653: W90.46.209). Obviously this school had a wonderful student-teacher ratio, at least during this school year. It is interesting to note that the grade book lists visitors to the school; the names appear to be mostly siblings and mothers of the students.

Calamus Springs School

Blackboard in Calamus Springs School

Richmond School (# 70) is now situated on the north side of Highway F at its intersection with Stub Road. It is a private residence. Originally the school, a log structure, was located on land donated by Henry William Gerlemann, who later gave land for the present building. The first school, also begun sometime before 1875, was located on the west side of Stub Road, just north of Femme Osage Creek. When the school’s location was changed and a new building was constructed, Gerlemann moved the original schoolhouse to his home and used it as a wash house.

Row 1, L to R: Leon McCormick, Elmer Klussman, Linton McCormick, Erna Bollmann, Frank Cox. Row 2: Olinda Buenemann, Bennie Brakensiek, Harden Hays, Selma Bollmann, Herbert Schemmer, Kadula Greiwe, Tony Schemmer, Ion McCormick, John Kruger. Row 3: Edgar Hindersmann, Ella Langemann, Charles Kruger, Emma Hindersmann, Edna Kruger, Ervin Schemmer (arm around John Kruger). Row 4: Siegfried Knoernschild, Walter Bollmann, Herman Buenemann, Hazel McCormick, Verna Kruger, Ella Klussmann, Gladys McCormick. Fred Hilker in doorway.

Walnut Grove School (# 68) was first located near the intersection of what are now Darst and Levee Roads in Darst Bottom below the old Fulkerson place before 1875. Since it was in a grove of sycamore trees, its first name was Sycamore School. About 1944 the building was cut into sections and moved to a hill in nearby Defiance, due to repeated flooding. Before this move, the school did not have electricity. It is interesting to note that, during the 1948-1949 school year, teacher Opal Schemmer had a class of only boys, seven in all! Their school play that year, written by Mrs. Schemmer, was entitled “A Womanless Wedding.” It featured Donnie Ziegund as the preacher, Dave Cork as the groom, and Bill Parsons as the bride. Parsons, currently a resident of the Defiance area, remembers earning five dollars per month, working as the school’s janitor; his duties included starting the fire each morning. Parsons recalls using his nine months’ earnings to buy a bicycle. Currently the building, located next to the cemetery of the Methodist Church, is a private residence.

Hickory Hill School (# 69) was located 1½ mile west of Matson near Pleasant Hill Cemetery on Howell Road. The building still sits at the end of a narrow, tree-covered lane on the summit of a prominent hill. It is now a private residence. Sometime before 1875 the school was constructed of logs and had log benches; that building was torn down and replaced by the current structure.

Years from now the current computer-generated report cards may tell stories of their own, but the grade books from the long closed schools of Township 45, Range 2, now remind area residents to take the time to look around them and think about what it would have been like to attend a one-room school house.

Sources: Carl and Ida Gerdiman interviews; Small Glories (Daniel Brown, Ph.D.); Boone-Duden Historical Society archives; Western Historical Manuscript Collection – Columbia, Http://whmc.umsystem.edu/exhibits/ramsay/ramsay_saint_charles#C; Cracker Barrel News (Schiermeier); One Room Schools in St. Charles County (Hollenbeck); Bill and Gloria Parsons interviews.