Fairview School - Odee Township,
District 20 & 76
By
Mrs. Ora E.
Davidson
Fairview School was organized and the first sod school house was
built there by pioneers of Irish Flats, located about 20 miles south
and a short distance west of Meade. The next house was a frame
building not very large but it was the heart of the community for
school and community gatherings. One incident to be recalled by some
was a school Christmas program. Miss Eva Davidson was the nicely
dressed Santa whose clothing became ignited from candles on the
Christmas tree. A man in the crowd threw his coat around her and the
fire was soon extinguished.
Lively
literary programs were attended by everyone near and far and there
were dialogues, speeches and musical numbers.
Once
the teacher, Mrs. McCrellis, planned a Thanksgiving program and
dinner. The women of the district gave the house a thorough
cleaning. White tablecloths gleamed and tables were resplendent with
large yellow paper mums made by the teacher and older girls.
It was
voted to move the school house about a mile south to become more
centrally located for the convenience of all.
Sometime around 1911 a Sunday school was organized at the school
house. A lady minister, Rev. Mendenhall, had charge. She moved away
but later came and conducted funeral services for Miss Elsie Gamble,
a former Fairview pupil for whom Elsie Chapel Church was to be
named.
Last
and large Fairview was built in the early '30s. It was combined with
District 53 (Pleasant Valley) to the east and then Fairview building
was sold. The Pleasant Valley school building now stands 15 miles
south and about one-half mile west of Meade and it too is closed.
Pupils come to Meade by bus.
District 76
organized in January 1946, and disorganized in 1965, the
consolidated with District 20. The building of Fairview School was
moved to the Bud Rhodes farm at the south end of the blacktop on
road 18, and became a barn.
Some family names here mentioned were
Fairview pupils: Busing, Barragree, Buck, Burnette, Byrns, Baker, Carrell,
Carter, Cordes,
Chapin, Cochran, Cope, Davidson, Dye, Easton, Feldman, Fetters, Ford, Gamble,
Godschalk, Hale, Hall, Hesket, Hill, Hinsdale, Hollandsworth,
Holloway, Kimber, Keltener,
Hess, LeValley, Lowry, Marshall, Miller, Mathews, Mendenhall, Meierdierks,
Paden, Ramsdale, Rhodes, Russell, Rube, Senger, Sterling, Martin, Murphy,
Vanderpool, Whitaker, White, and Wriston.
Lizzie
Truhart was a teacher in the old sod building. Maggie Kolb was
believed to be the first teacher in the frame building, probably in
1889. Other names as collected (not complete) are: Maggie Martin,
Mrs. Abbie Bodle, Eva Walter, Emily Painter Pinnick, Foy Danks, Mrs.
Lucretia Bodle McCrellis, Ola Granger, Florence Sculley, Flo Watt,
Clara Carrell, Clara Bromwell, Elsie Cope, Mrs. Harold Armstrong,
Mrs. Louise Hallock, Gladys Moler, Adeline Boiler Gladys Stewart,
Bessie Noble, Marion Overton Paden, Velma Gamble, Basil McBee,
Jessie Davidson and Christina Cordes.
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This
modern-day map shows the location of the school as it
relates to current roads, etc.
