CONTRIBUTED PHOTO - Van Cleve Consolidated School stands in the small community to the southwest of Marshalltown. Though the building is no more, the district graduated about 334 students from 1921-1960.

Editor’s note: This is the second part in a Times-Republican Education Corner series on some of the area’s rural schools. The series will look at the history and formation of the schools, as well as what challenges they face in modern times.

When one thinks of rural schools in Marshall County, districts like West Marshall, East Marshall, Green Mountain-Garwin or their predecessors may come to mind.

However, there are many small towns included in the larger Marshalltown Community School District. In many cases, those towns had their own country schoolhouses and independent school districts until the days of consolidation came.

“As a child, I went to Van Cleve Consolidated School and we knew at that time, which would’ve been in the 60s, that schools were consolidating,” said Julie Lang, a retired teacher who taught students for over three decades at Marshalltown Schools.

Van Cleve was one example of a community that eventually came into the Marshalltown Schools fold. Lang said the transition to the new, bigger school came with some surprises.

T-R FILE PHOTO - Demolition begins at the old Albion school building in late 2018.

“Then you went to the big schools like Marshalltown and there were no girls’ sports at all,” she said. “You lose your identity.”

Lang said basketball was a huge part of the school culture in those days, and many smaller rural districts around Marshalltown had both boys’ and girls’ basketball teams long before Marshalltown started a girls’ team.

Lang said there were advantages and disadvantages for the smaller districts taken in by larger ones in the mid-20th century. She said in many cases, including Van Cleve’s, some residents were opposed to consolidation because they thought it would be bad for the town.

Lang continues to educate children as a substitute teacher, and has recently helped out at GMG schools.

Here are some of the rural towns and areas that, while once independent, are now part of the Marshalltown Community School District.

Albion

One town whose former school history has been relatively high-profile of late is Albion, sitting just northeast of Marshalltown. In late 2018, demolition crews began taking down the old Albion school building, which had more recently been used as a community center.

That Albion school building opened for classes in 1915, according the “The Continuing History of Marshall County.” The building replaced an older schoolhouse that had opened in 1855.

Like other towns surrounding Marshalltown, the Albion school, which served students from kindergarten to 12th grade for much of its history, was eventually absorbed into the Marshalltown School District in 1962.

However, that did not spell the end for the Albion school. At least, not right away. The building continued to serve Marshalltown Schools as an elementary building for another few decades before closing in 1981.

When the former school and community center was razed to the ground in recent weeks, alumni of the school had emotional responses.

“It was more than just a building to many of us,” Karen Davis Betts said in an interview with the T-R. “I have shed a few tears these last couple of days as I feel as though I am losing a very dear friend.”

She said she attended the school from kindergarten in the 1958-59 school year to sixth grade in 1964-65.

Haverhill

To the south of Marshalltown sits the small community of Haverhill. It has a complicated history as an independent district and now as part of Marshalltown Schools.

Prior to 1916 Haverhill Independent School District was a consolidated district serving area students. A schoolhouse was located on the northeast side of the town.

However, in 1916 a special election was held and the consolidated Haverhill district was split. The district serving Haverhill was then called Independent School District No. 7.

While no specific date was given, District No. 7 didn’t last in the face of students going to the nearby community schools in Van Cleve, Ferguson and Laurel. In fact, it eventually closed for lack of student body, with minimum attendance of five students needed to stay open.

Haverhill students began going to Marshalltown Schools officially after a March 7, 1966 special election saw 108 votes cast in favor of consolidation and eight votes against.

Van Cleve

As Lang said, the small community of Van Cleve sported its own independent school district for a long time.

There were several schoolhouses, including a high school, in Van Cleve when the district was officially formed on Feb. 24, 1914, according to “Continuing History.” Classes opened in 1915 at the district.

“By 1950 it became evident that school reorganization was going to affect the operation of the Van Cleve School,” the book reads.

The Van Cleve district merged with Marshalltown in 1960, just before the likes of Haverhill and Albion followed suit. From 1921-1960, there were about 334 graduates from Van Cleve High School.

By 1962, the community’s schools had been removed from the State Board of Public Instruction’s approved school buildings list, according to “Continuing History.”

Nowadays, Marshalltown Schools dwarfs its neighbor in population. West Marshall has about 870 students, East Marshall about 558 and GMG about 276 students, per 2018-19 Iowa Department of Education certified enrollment numbers.

By comparison, Marshalltown Schools’ 2018-19 certified enrollment shows 5,365 students, more than the other three districts combined.

Despite the differences in population, there are some common patterns between Marshalltown and the smaller rural districts. For instance, many of the communities in Marshall County were settled in the mid- to late-1800s and the first schoolhouses popped up soon after.

Additionally, the schools in the county began feeling the pressure to consolidate as soon as the early 1900s. Students who went to separate country schoolhouses became classmates.

Another major wave of change seems to have occurred in the post-World War II era. That is when the familiar West Marshall and Marshalltown school districts took shape and continued expanding.

Meanwhile, smaller towns like Van Cleve, Rhodes, Clemons and Albion had to either close their school buildings or accept only a segment of a school district’s population. Eventually, many school buildings were either closed or repurposed.

Student enrollment from year to year continues to be one of the top concerns for school district administrations in Iowa. Much public school funding comes on a per-pupil basis from the state government.

Districts large and small continue to face challenges all over the state as education, programming and technology needs continue to change.

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Contact Adam Sodders at (641) 753-6611 or asodders@timesrepublican.com