The Superior Express -

There did not seem to be many articles or comments about the 160th Birthday of the State of Kansas which was observed on Jan. 29, 2021. However, on Facebook, a photo surfaced showing students from Jewell County's Sweet Home School celebrating the Kansas Centennial. The photo was taken 60 years ago at the little country school.

In 1961, Sweet Home School District 75 was located at what is now the northwest corner of the intersection of H Road and 150 Road. This is "the four-mile corner" west of Jewell.

Sweet Home was a typical "one-room" school. One classroom, an entry way and a flag pole to the east of the school. There was a circle drive around the school. To the west was a horse barn with stalls for students' horses. At the edge of the school ground stood two outhouses. The one on the north was for girls and the one on the south was for boys.

The entry way had benches for lunch boxes, hooks for coats, some storage cupboards and the cistern pump for pumping water. The cistern was fed by the water which ran off the roof and through a charcoal filter system (no chlorine). After recess and at lunch, someone would turn the handle to pump the water. There was also a crock of water.

According to Prairie Jewels by Shute and Dillon, the school had been organized on March 14, 1873. It was likely called Sweet Home as it was east of Sweet Home Hill in the Sweet Home community. A story is that in the "early days" the school was farther west, closer to Sweet Home Hill. It was disorganized on June 1, 1962.

In 1884, there were 48 students attending Sweet Home School with J. W. Lightfoot as the teacher. At this time, it is not known who was the first teacher at the school.

Teachers at the school during the final years it was open were: Inez Birdsell (1942,1943, 1947, 1948), Thelma Proctor (1950-1953), Dawna Green (1954-1955) Buelah King (1956-1958), Fawna Barrett (1959, 1960) and Art Harms (1961).

Other teachers during the history of the school were: Lizzie Berry (1881), Grace Yapp (1913-1915), Leota Hoag (1919), Bertha Knarr (1923), Hazel Loomis (1931) and Grace Jenkins (1933).

Some surnames of students who attended the school were Kelley, Woddell, Topliff, Oplinger, Sprenger, Byers, Blacker, Crumrine, Eilert, Blacker, Birdsell, Shaffer, Durant and Headrick. It is certain there were many others.

It is known that Rex Headrick, Bob Crumrine and Ben Schaffer were on the school board in the 1950s. At that time, one task of a school board member was to watch the school on Halloween evening to prevent the "town boys" coming out to tip over the outhouses. One year's watch was not successful and school delayed the next day as the outhouses were reset.

During the 1940s and 1950s the school population dwindled. Records show seven students in 1953. But 60 years ago, in January of 1961, there were 13 students enrolled with Fawna Arasmith Barrett (at that time Fawna Wilson) as the teacher. Two memorable things happened that month.

On Friday, Jan. 10, 1961, the entire school went on a field trip - a rarity in that day and time. The students loaded up in cars (no seat belts) and went to Jewell to Barrett's home and watched television as John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the United States.

The second memorable thing was celebrating the Centennial of the State of Kansas. A picture was taken to record the event. Students and Barrett had dressed for the occasion. Long skirts or centennial skirts for the girls and "pioneer" clothes for the boys. Students attending Sweet Home School that year were: Steve, Louis, Louise, and Phillip Birdsell; Dirk Durant and Dotty Durant (Baxa); Dianne McCune (Brown) and Kathy McCune (Smiley); Leonard and Kenneth Shaffer; Kerma Headrick (Crouse) and Melinda Headrick (Rose) and Mary Eilert (DeBey).