Submitted by Richard Hartsell
Crestland class of 1962
HISTORY OF DELAWARE TOWNSHIP CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL
Township schools were established in Iowa In about 1881. In Delaware township nine small one-room schoolhouses were situated two miles apart each way. A two-room wooden building known as central school (because it was centrally located in Delaware township), was built on the present school site.
The district was consolidated in 1913 and a new school building (located Just east of the current structures) was completed and dedicated on February 11, 1914. This new Delaware Township Union School was the first township high school of its kind In the state.
The building was described as follows: "The structure is two stories high with a basement and is built of brick. There are four recitation rooms and a principal's office and library with cloak rooms for all. In the basement are two excellent rooms which can be used for school purposes if desired. The building Is heated with steam throughout. The furniture is of the best and the seats and desks are adjustable to the height of the pupil."
This schoolhouse was condemned a few years later and abandoned and torn down in about 1925--the brick was used to build a house on the Albert Hatch farm. A new modern brick building was built in 1923.
When the school was first consolidated, the children were hauled to school by horse drawn buses. The school furnished the buses, and the drivers had to furnish their own team.
In 1931 horse-drawn buses were replaced by motor buses which the drivers had to purchase. These were later replaced by larger buses furnished by the school. E. H. Wedeking has the distinction of being one of the first bus drivers and driving for the longest period. He drove 43 1/2 years--and maintained his sanity--until his retirement in 1966.
The following superintendents served from 1913 through 1958: John A. Hayes 1913; Russell A. Johnson, 1914-1919; H. M. Rombaugh, 1919-1923; Reston A. Morris, 1923-1925; Frank W. Jakeman, 1925-1931; Roy Dayton, 1931-1932; D. P. Edwards, 1932-1937; Olaf E. Dahl, 1937-1947; D. J. Slefken, 1947-1948; Darwin J. Friedlund, 1948-1949; Richard R. Lashier, 1949-1950; Charles Waterbury, 1950-1956; Alvin A. Folkers, l956-1957; Clyde Bixler, 1957-1958.
There were 400 graduates from the Nemaha school during the period 1914-1958. Because of arbitrary state-mandated, library and curriculum standards and threatened withdrawal of state funds (sound familiar?), Delaware Township Consolidated school and the Early school reorganized into a single system known as "Crestland Community School District" on July 1, 1958. High school students were bused to Early and the grade school children from both schools were bused to Nemaha.
In 1989, after over 100 years of school activities on this site, the doors of proud old "Nemaha School" closed for the final time. The grade school departs as part of a further reorganization between Crestland and Schaller. The building is literally falling apart--and it is time to say "farewell."
Many Graduates have gone out from the Nemaha High School to hold responsible positions in the community and the world. As we meet once more as "Bluejays" may we remember and rejoice in the laughter and learning of this place.