Iowa rural schools in Iowa, marked on the old maps, were planned so that students wouldn’t have to walk farther than two miles to attend classes. They were usually just one-room structures with an area to hang “wraps” and park lunch pails.
Clabe Wilson and his sisters, Rectha and Alice, attended Frog Pond School.
The Wilsons farmed in Section 28 in Jackson Township, Guthrie County. I believe that Frog Pond School is in the southwest corner of Section 29 in this old map.
One of Clabe Wilson’s schoolmates there was Wesley Clampitt, who became the Superintendent of the Dexter School when Clabe’s children attended there during the Great Depression. He is mentioned in Leora’s Dexter Stories.
At one time, more than 12,000 rural schools dotted the Iowa landscape, most two miles apart. Today some are in use as houses or farm buildings, others as township halls and community centers. Many have been preserved as museums.
A piece of the school foundation was erected on the site marks the area where Frog Pond School used to stand.
It was fun to learn that former Frog Pond students gathered for reunions as late as 2007. This one was held at The Port Restaurant in Panora.
A tribute to the endearment of the community and rural beauty of Guthrie County, Iowa.