THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS

There are no record books of the period between 1870 and 1898. During most of these twenty-eight years the school consisted of only 10 grades which were divided among the four rooms. According to the History of Hardin County, there were two hundred school-age children in the Steamboat Rock district in 1882 with an enrollment of 132, but an average attendance of only 81.

This was the pioneer period when boys were needed on the farms during spring and fall, attending school only in the winter months. The teachers in 1882 were W. A. Doran, Maggie Finster and Lou V. Stone, which suggested that only three rooms were occupied at that time. 

Fourteen years later the school was expanded to eleven grades, and the first class to be “graduated” from the eleventh grade was that of 1896.

The earliest registers which record the names of teachers and pupils date from 1898, when Steve Fitz was Superintendent. Prior to that Lizzie Kadoo and W.A. Doran are the only two that we have record of. The High School had grades nine, ten and eleven, with an enrollment of 28.

Members of the board of education in ‘98 were F.H. Sterns, president, Walter Neessen, George Fisk, D. W. Turner and Thomas E. Gearhart. A. S. Root was secretary, and H.H. Turner was treasurer.

On May 26, 1899, the following graduated: Gertrude Gerhart, Orpha Gerhart, Mary Neesen, Ethel Nason, Ernest Johnson and Ole DeWert.

A footnote stated that Maud Shelton had graduated in 1898 and was back for review, and Ethel Finster was studying Latin. The courses offered in High School during the school year were History, Arithmetic, Algebra, Physiology, Bookkeeping, Botany, Geography, Physics and Grammar. All subjects were taught by the superintendent, for he was the only instructor in High School.