Wales Community

On Sunday many walked to church services. Services were held three times a day -- morning, afternoon and evening. Most times the services was spoken in the Welsh language but as time went on, they changed and spoke in English.

In 1876 the first school was built in Wales. A little one room building in the southeast corner of the present school yard was built. Before this time, some schooling was held in the Jackson Buchkner home about four miles north of Wales (about the year 1859.)

A little later on, there were school houses every two miles. Usually they were built on a corner. There was one tow miles North of Wales. This one was called Bellview and sometimes referred to as the Morgan School. The name Bellview was given to the school because of the beautiful sound the bell made as it rang. When the school was torn down, the bell was removed and placed in the Wales school built in 1917. Most all the little country school houses were one room buildings, heated by wood burning stoves. School would start in the fall. This meant getting together school supplies. One necessary item was the dinner bucket. Few might have a new one, but many used the tin syrup bucket. Some lunches were wrapped in newspapers or maybe a brown paper sack, Enough food waS sent for the noon meal and obviously noon was the most logical hour to eat it, but sometimes recess during the morning seemed to be a good time to eat a little of it.

There was an ante=room where the lunches would be set on a shef and wraps hung. Too, there was a water bucket, sometimes filled with water pumped from the well by the teacher or one of the older children. There was a common drinking dipper.

The teacher was also the janitor. She would room and board with one of the families living in the neighborhood. This was long before the era of school buses. Children walked to school carrying their shcool lunches and the teacher did the same. School opended at eight in the morning and closed at four in the afternoon if possible. There were fifteen minutes recitation periods. In reading, spelling and arithmetic there were often two classes going at once, some doing work on the blackboard and some orally. Spelling words were written on tablet paper, alternately with promouncing words through assignment. Pupils exchanged and graded the papers. Now and then some of the bigger boys might be found trying to chew tobacco at noon or recess. At the beginning of the school term. the older students explained to the younger ones which one was which. At recess or during the noon hour games were played -- baseball, blackman, annie over, break the gate and many others.

At this time it was hard to believe the country school would disappear and consolidated with a school in town. The Lincoln Township, going to school meant going to Wales. NOTE: Eventually there was consolidation (high school closed in 1960, elementary school closed 1974(?)), and the Wales School was lost to Red Oak.

Today in Lincoln township we have one such country school teacher, who many years ago taught school in the township. She is Lina Lampe. She taught at the Buehler school house two miles south of Wales for four years, and later at the Steiner school house two miles west of the Buehler School. Another country school near Wales, called the Taylor school, was two miles west of Wales. Mary Thomas attended this school.

For many years there was a country store in Wales. In 1882 William B. Hughes bought 2 acres from John E. Wood to build a general store. The lumber for this building was sent out on wagons from Omaha, Nebraska.

In 1892 John Owens purchased the store. In 1905 he built a new store and operated it with his son, E.M. Owens, until 1924. At this time two brothers, Ward and Bill Jones, bought the store and ran it for the next ten years. In 1925 Clarence Wedell purchased the store and with the help of his wife and three daughters ran it for many years. The store could be compared to the hub of a wheel, so many things centered around it. The Wales Store was always a gathering place for farmers of the community and very lively on Saturday Nights. The men would gather on the south porch to have a game of cards, or just sit and talk, while the woman gathered around and visit about the topics of the day. For many years on Saturday nights, there were always "treats" on the store, a big pot of coffee with plenty of cookies, or ice cream, according to the season. Clarence was known as the "Price of Wales". Strangely enough he was not of Welsh, but of Swedish descent. In 1953 Dale and Doris Dalton were the new owners of the store and ran it until 1962, and then closed it. The store was in the same location throughout the years. At one time it faced south, and later the front faced west. There were many changes and additions to the store since the original was built. Ths storekeeper in the early days also served as a postmaster.

Another very busy spot in Wales in the early days was the blacksmith shop. Everyone owned horses, so shoeing horses, sharpening discs or plow lays kept the blacksmith quite busy. It was a prosperous business.

The township boasted they had a cheese factory. It was located one mile east and one mile south of Wales. It is not known when it was built. In 1887, Evan T. Evans moved there from New York and worked for a company that owned the factory. He worked in the factory for sixteen years. He operated a dairy with the factory, had two hired men and had sleeping rooms upstairs in the factory.

Mr. Evans made all kinds of cheeses and had a large export business shipping cheese to all parts of the United States. The factory closed in 1903 and the Evans family moved to Elizabeth, Colorado. After the factory closed, it was torn down. The farm is now owned by William Miner.

In 1910, a William Goodlow and family came from Rockport, Missouri, and settled in Lincoln township. They were the only black family that has lived in the township in all the years that people can remember. They lived here for twenty two yeaars. They were a good family and well liked by everybody in the coummity.

A big item long ago was clothing. Usually the mother would sew for the whole family. Most everything was made at home --- including dresses, shirts, underchothes, hats, jackets, mittens and even overalls. "Homemade" they were, very few things were store bought. The women of the home wee kept quite busy.

WALES-LINCOLN: The condolidation propsal carried by one vote, and that fall, 1916, the new district was organized. It included all of Lincoln Township except Districts 1,3 and 7;also section 18 and parts of sections 17,19, and 20 of Sherman Township, District No. 7, Lincoln Township, joined in the spring of 1918. The rural schools were open for a year or tow while the new building was constructed.

STENNET: 1919-'20: all Districts 7, 8 and 9, and parts of Districts 4, 5 and 6 in Sherman Township; plus most of Districts 1 and 2 in Red Oak Township. Eight grade and high school classes were held in the Church while the new building was under construction; some of the rural schoolhouses were used for the lower grades.

COBURG: 1919-'20; only Districts 1 and 2 of Grant Township. 1920-'21; added District 6 in Grant Township, Districts 6,7 and 8 in West Township, and the Star school in Page County. The consolidated district approved a bond issue 29 February 1920 and the new school building opened in the fall of 1921.

ELLIOTT: 1920-'21; Elliott Independent, Districts 2,3 and parts of Districts 4, 5 and 6, Sherman Township, plus District 3, Pilot Grove Township.

PILOT GROVE: 1920-'21; all districts except Number 3; the Consolidated district continued to use rual schoolhouses. The orginal plan included all of Pilot Grove Township; residents of the western part of the township objected, but the county board of education approved the plan. About the last of December 1919 a vote on a bond issue for a school building carried.

Then landowners of District 3 bought court action, and the judge sustained their claim that they were not legally part of the consolidated district; the dicision also invalidated the bond issue election. In September 1920 another attempt was made to pass a bond, but it was defeated. District 3 joined the Elliott Consolidated School.

GARFIELD: A consolidation proposal was defeated in July 1916. A new measure passed in June 1920 and the district opened in 1920-'21; included were all districts in Garfield except most of District 7 and the east half of District 6. (Nos. 6 and 7 formed the Independent District of Garfield.) Also included was District 2 of West Township. The district continued to use rural schoolhouses.

CLIMAX: 1920-'21; Districts 4,5 and 9, West Township; plus Keystone and Union Schools, Mills County, and Goff school,Page County. The consolidation proposal was approved in the fall of 1919. The new district continued to use rural schoolhouses. The consolidation was not a success, and 1924-'24, Numbers 4,4 and 9 West Township were back in the township Independent records.

In October 1919 the County Board of Education fixed the boundaries of the Frankfort and Scott Townships Consolidated District.

In May 1921 a proposal was submitted to the voters for a bond issue to build a consolidated schoolhouse; the measure failed and the plan was dropped. In September 1945 another propsal was offered to the voters; that plan included approximately 48 scections in Scott and Frankfort Townships. It also was dedfeated.

In 1916, No. 2 joined the Wales-Lincoln Consolidated District. It remained open for two years while the new school was built. The building was torn down, and the bell was placed on the new schoolhouse.

19 July 1895; EXPRESS: Wales: Schoolhouse No. 3 will be remodeled and fitted with new seats and slate blackboard.

No. 3 became an independent district when neighboring schools consolidated. It closed at the end of the 1935-'36 school year. The building was sold at action to Chris Myers, who salvaged the lumber.

SECTION 16; WALES; CENTER; NO. 5.
1 June 1871; db 7:82: ...T.W. Crandall ...sum of Twenty Dollars .... to District Township of Lincoln....one square acre southeast corner....
3 August 1894; EXPRESS; Wales: ...a contact was given for a new school at the center.

LINCOLN TOWNSHIP NO. 5 - WALES;CENTER (1894-1918)
17 August 1894, SUN; Wales: John Davis is remodieling the schoolhouse here and enlarging it. The entrance is to be changed from the south end to the east side.

Wales-Lincoln Consolidated District was formed in 1916, but No. 5 was open for two years while a new buildong was erected. After the school closed, it was moved to the west side of the school property, and used as a bus barn. It burned in 1930 or 1931.

Ghomer Congregtion Church was organized in 1872; it met in the schoolhouse until a church building was erected in 1876.

23 April 1874; Expressl; Lincoln: We have preaching at 10 every Sabbath a.m. in teh Welsh schoolhouse ......

SECTION 17: Taylor; Evans; No.4. The schoolhouse was in the southwest corner of the section; apparently is wasn't built until about 1880. No. 4 entered the Wales-Lincoln Consolidated District in 1916. The school remained open for two more years, until the new schoolhouse was built, and then it was torn down.

SECTION 24: Shepherd, Swede; No. 6. The school may have been called Rainsberg. The building was in the northwest corner of the section.

11 April 1878; EXPRESS; lincoln: We are to have (a) new schoolhouse built this season...in district No. 6, known Shepherd's District...but one more is needed.......

In 1916, Mp. 6 joined the Wales-Lincoln Consolidated District. The school ran two more years, until the new schholhouse was ready.

11 March 1919; DB 41:35; QCD...To Humphrey Evans...one acre northwest quarter northwest quarter....

The Swedish Evangelical Mission Church met in teh schoolhouse from 1878 until 1912, when a church building was moved to the southeast quarter of the section.

SECTION 27: Buehler; No. 8. The school was built about 1880, in the southwest corner of the section. In 1916, No.8 joined Wales-Lincoln District, but the school was open for two more years, until the new building was ready.

20 March 1919; 52:584:QCD....Wales-Lincoln to Louisa Buehler.....Albert Buehler bought the schoolhouse, moved it a half mile east, and used it as a chicken house.

SECTION 29: Steiner, Maynes: No 9
4 September 1872; DB 8:119: .. J.B. Packard to District Township of Lincoln..one square acre southwest corner...for3 school purposes only...

LINCOLN TOWNSHIP, THEN AND NOW;
1989; by Dale Williams, Ben Jones and Dell Wiedeman: Steiner or Maynes School - There were two graves on the north edge of the school yard...People lived in the old schoolhouse until their new house was built near the school...

12 December 1921; DB: one acre, southwest quarter to Vern Steiner.......

The school ran through the 1918-'21 school year, then joined the Wales-Lincoln Consolidated District. For a time, the shcoolhouse was used as a dwelling, and was then torn down.

LINCOLN TOWNSHIP NO. 7 - FAIRVIEW (1891)
SECTION 36: Fairview; No 7. The schoolhouse was bult in teh early 1870s in the northwest corner of the section.

21 September 1917; SUN: Sealed bids will be received for erection of a schoolhouse in Independent School District No. 7..

It is doubtful that the new schoolhouse was built. In March 1918 No. 7 became part of the Wales-Lincoln Consolidated District.

The Baptist Church met in the schoolhouse. It is said that a German Church met in the school building after it closed.