The Last of the Clay County Country Schools, 1999-2015

Kaufman, Fern; Gross, Donna

From introduction: "Clay County, one of the earliest and also one of the smallest of South Dakota’s sixty-seven counties, hosted South Dakota’s first school: a small log cabin built in 1864 at the bottom of Ravine Hill, Vermillion. Thus began the rich history of early education in Clay County. Over time and until 1970, seventy-seven country schools were built and maintained within its borders. By state law in 1969, all country schools began the process of consolidation with a larger school offering K-12 education. Clay County would now close the last of its country schools. The Clay County Country School Project, begun in 1999 by Fern Kaufman and Donna Gross, provides a pictorial history of sixteen of the county’s remaining country school buildings. The intent of the project was to provide photographs and information of Clay County Schools while some of the buildings still remained. Although students and teachers fondly provide stories and school experiences of early country school education, the school buildings themselves also have stories to tell: their location, their architectural style, their present condition, their present use. All these elements speak or “talk” just as their human occupants have done. Sadly, many of Clay County’s early schools have been destroyed or are in poor condition; however, a few have new modern uses. The goal of our project was to capture the existence of the remaining schools through photography, research, and partnerships. Logging many miles on the county’s country roads, we found remaining school structures and took preliminary photographs of them. Hours spent in Clay County Courthouse records, as well as researching old school records found in boxes at the Austin Whittemore House revealed rich details: school openings and closings, names of schools, natural disasters and rebuilding, lists of students and teachers, minutes of YCL (Young Citizens League) meetings. At this early point in the project, the idea of partnering with Vermillion High School students emerged. English teacher Sharon Ross and librarian Shari Kolbeck liked the idea. They helped us to find students and work space for the project. Utlimately six students from Ross’ American Heritage class volunteered. Working with us, each student selected one of the schools to research and document history. Their projects culminated in presentations to their class and to community organizations, thus fulfilling a class assignment as well as providing additional and valuable information of their schools. As the project drew to a close in November 2004, professional photographs provided a visual history supported by research data of the remaining school structures in Clay County. These black and white photographs now in large format, matted and framed, were displayed on the walls of the Vermillion High School Library where they were exhibited for seven years. Finally, believing that the high school exhibit had come to its natural end, we sought a more permanent venue. In 2011, the WH Over Museum accepted the photographic exhibit with its accompanying research material into its collection. With this permanent housing for all the materials, we felt the project to be completed..." Project funding was provided in part by a 2015 Historic Preservation Fund grant to Clay County (project number SD-15-018) administered by the South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office (grant number P15AF00064) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Clay County, South Dakota is a Certified Local Government.

The Last of the Clay County Country Schools, 1999-2015

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