Pioneer History by Richard C. Schmal
Schools of Eagle Creek Township
(from the Nov. 26, 1996, Lowell Tribune, page 12)In 1836, only two years after the first pioneers settled in Lake County, some of those first settlers chose to live in the area that is now Eagle Creek Twp., in the southeastern corner of the county.
Their first school, a private one, was in a log house on the "Cutler lot" northeast of the South East Grove Cemetery, but by the year 1840, there were enough families to warrant the building of a public school house, a very small building of logs on a site also in the center of the grove.
The first teacher there was Olive (Mrs. Ray) Hixon, followed by Eliza Kinyon Nichols in 1842. Mrs. William Brown and Rhoda Wallace Dinwiddie also taught in that early school, as did D. Crumpacker, who was so tall that he had to stoop through the doorway and bow his head when walking around the room. Ellis Sargeant was the last teacher there.
By 1850 the men of the community were able to raise enough money by subscription to build a larger, frame school building, which served until 1865, when it was sold to Joe Bray and removed to the Jay Doak farm, formerly called the Hugh Boyd place.
Then a still larger building was erected just north of the second one, so well-planned for the future that it was not abandoned until the consolidated school, Center School, was built in 1926. The abandoned structure was sold to William Bryant in 1927 for the sum of $55.00
In the time of the third school, the teacher was told only to teach the children of Center Twp., though the area of South East Grove took a part of three townships, also including Eagle and Winfield. To solve the problem, the commissioners met and decided to change the boundaries of Eagle Creek Twp.
In a story written by Avis (Mrs. Joseph E.) Brown (nee Bryant) in 1929, much was said about the fine progress: "Each building was more pretentious than the preceding, a splendid illustration of the progress of our American life.
"Slab seats were replaced by raised seats, they in turn were replaced by the latest style of factory-made seats, with desks. Slates and sponges were discarded for the more sanitary pencils, pens, and tablets -- as was the water-pail and cup for the drinking fountains. Even the blackboards were changed."
In the Plum Grove area, the first school was guided by Mary Ann Thompson during the winter of 1846-47, in a small log house built by Alfred Buckley to hold a claim. This little building was later used for many years as a blacksmith shop.
The first public school building in that area was built on what was once called the Pearce place. Built in 1850, 20-by-24 feet, the logs were hewn flat on two sides and laid on edge, with ends notched and saddled. The cracks were chinked with split pieces of hard wood, over which a mortar of clay and lime was plastered.
The building had three windows, one door, and had desks of long boards supported by two inch square sticks driven into auger holes in the logs of the wall at a slant. The seats were slabs from the outside of a large log, flat side up.
The school term in those days was determined by the amount of money in the school fund and varied from six to eight months. Spelling matches and revival meetings brought capacity crowds, and again the school needed more room.
The trustee, John W. Dinwiddie, engineered the building of a larger frame building in 1860, sold to Jerome Dinwiddie in 1896. The next building lasted until 1927, when it was sold to Claude Brownell.
In what was the Center School area, the first school sessions were conducted in the Thomas Temple residence, north of where the brick Center School was later erected in 1926.
In 1869 the first school building was built by John W. Dinwiddie, a frame structure about 24-by-36 feet, used later as the garage at the Center School.
In 1929 Mrs. Brown wrote about the more modern Center School: "This fine brick edifice of four rooms, modern basement, big auditorium is up to date in every respect. Eagle Creek residents have reason to be proud of this monument to their interest and efforts. The cost in dollars is $40,000.00, but its value in service to the township's boys and girls and to the adults, as a community center, will be far greater." Center School closed in 1990 and was demolished.
On the east side of Eagle Creek, early school houses were built in 1840 and 1850, near the south line of the David Turner farm. Another in the area, built in 1860, was sold in 1927. The North Eagle Creek School, circa 1861, was a small frame building erected a short distance from the residence of John Anderson. It was closed in 1912 due to small attendance and was sold to T.K. Fisher, who used it on his farm as a granary.
Just one-and-one quarter miles from the town of Hebron, a frame school building was built in 1860, and sold in the year 1902 to Mat Witters, who moved it to Hebron as a dwelling.
The first brick schoolhouse in Eagle Creek Twp. was built by Hugh Boyd on land donated by Edward Donnaha, and was used until 1900, when the building was torn down. One other school built near the Winfield Twp. line was a co-operative venture between two townships, but in 1917 the building was demolished by a terrible cyclone, and it was not rebuilt.
Among the many school buildings in the Eagle Creek Twp. schools in those early days, the list includes four private schools and fifteen public ones. Three buildings were log, eleven were frame, and one brick. Those early schools were replaced by two brick buildings, the Center School and Liberty School (erected in 1920 on Range Line Road). Since 1840 more than twenty structures of various sizes and materials have been built at the expense of the taxpayers in Eagle Creek Twp. Now those two brick schools with lots of memories are both gone, and all Eagle Creek Twp. students, grades K-12, attend school in the Town of Lowell where four of the five Tri-Creek School Corp. facilities, all but Lake Prairie Elementary School, are located.
The following is a part of a poem written by Rose Shoemaker, taken from History of Lake County, 1929, Volume X, of the Lake County Historical Association:
The Pioneer Schoolhouse
The old-time schoolhouse,
Alas, that is no more!
Its walls have long since crumbled;
likewise the puncheon floor.
The footsteps, too, have vanished,
that marked the trodden sill,
and only pioneer memories
young generations thrill.
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