Primers, Potbelly Stoves and a Whole Lot of Chalk

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Submitted by Michelle Allensworth Pendleton and the SCHS Members for Change:  A Renewal and Preservation Group

It all began with a suggestion on a hot July in 1966. At a Shelby County Historical Society members meeting, Mr. Roy T. Neff offered up the idea of doing a survey for historical data of the rural schools that once existed in the county.

It’s difficult for us to imagine today; one teacher in a one-room school with students ranging in ages from six to sixteen; all at different learning levels. The very youngest students sat in the front rows and the oldest students sat in the back. Often, the only heat for the school came from one centrally located potbelly stove which would be lit a few hours before the children hurried inside upon the ringing of the bell.

A rural school Committee was eventually formed and supervised by Mr. Neff in which several Society members volunteered and various chairpersons were appointed among them. A call went out to the citizens of Shelby County asking for their help in the local newspapers even as the search for records and documents was already underway. Shelby citizens shared their memories of attending the rural schools and old class photos that some families had kept as nostalgic heirlooms with the committee. Interestingly, there once were 70 school districts in Shelby County.

By 1969, the compilation of 19 rural school histories had been accomplished and 145 rural school and class photographs had been printed and frames for them were made by Fletcher Thomas of Shelbina. This same year, Roy Neff announced the ambitious ongoing plan for the Historical Society to purchase, move and restore a county rural school, had yet to find success due to an assorted number of problems. The project was an idea proposed at a SCHS member meeting in 1966 and a year later the Society President appointed a committee to secure a rural school house and location site. At the January 1968 member meeting, Roy announced he had found one available rural school building and a site for it at Shelbina Lake and the Society agreed further investigation for purchasing the school was needed. The site at Shelbina Lake must have fallen through because in 1969 Mr. Neff had reiterated, they had found a school but no location site to put it on. He further stated the project “…has to be a county-wide affair, a few people working on it cannot put it over.”

In the January 17, 1969 Shelby County Herald, Roy Neff wrote an article titled simply, “Historical Society News” in which the main topic was an update about the county rural school project. His words from the article still ring true today and are worth sharing in the following selected quotes. Here, he wrote specifically about the rural school project, “A lot of people have worked on the project, and I trust you have enjoyed delving into the past and have saved a lot of valuable information from being lost forever.” He added, “People too old to know what our program was about will die off.  Another generation will come into possession of this material, (meaning individual family records, documents and photos). Chances are you will consider it junk. In that case, report it to the Historical Society for future evaluation. And remember, don’t throw anything away that might have some historical value, regardless what subject it is on.”

Mr. Neff went on to write about all the SCHS projects to that date, “A lot of hard work has been accomplished in all of our programs. A lot of fun and educational to some. A lot of records preserved for the tomorrows, even for people that are not interested today.”

So, with Roy T. Neff’s words fresh in your mind:

Class, open your desks and take out your chalk and writing slate, your black and white marbled cover Composition Book notebook and Big Chief lined writing tablet. And for good measure, take out your Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper, because school is always in session at the Shelby County Historical Society.