One-Room Schoolhouse Drive

Historic Kage School, established in 1854, is a repurposed guest cottage as seen Wednesday, July 18, 2018 in Cape Girardeau.

Fred Lynch ~ Southeast Missourian

A closer look at three one-room schoolhouses in Southeast Missouri

My first experience with a one-room schoolhouse is from very early in life and somewhat unique. The first house I remember living in was a large, white, four-square home in Central Illinois in the middle of corn and soybean fields. Our garage: a one-room schoolhouse.

It was known as the Gregory School and had been moved from its original location to our little homestead many years prior. It still had the typical schoolhouse lights, tall windows and store room in the back that housed the stove and served as storage for both the school of its past and our personal use. Unfortunately, the chalkboards had been removed, but you could still see the outlines faintly. I often wonder if this old schoolhouse contributed to my love of history (and school) in some way.

In Missouri, there are many one-room schoolhouses still standing, and several are on the National Register of Historic Places. One-room schoolhouses have been converted into homes, stores, garages and more. Like many historic structures, all one has to have is the love of historic preservation and a little imagination.

The history of the one-room schoolhouse

For most of our nation’s history, people received their primary education in a one-room schoolhouse. The last operating one-room schoolhouse closed in the United States in 1967, excluding some religious orders that may still use one-room schoolhouses today. Churches originally established the first schoolhouses, with the primary goal of education to teach reading so students could read the Bible.

The United States Constitution fails to mention education. However, a year after it was signed, Congress adopted the Northwest Ordinance, which declared, “Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”

In June 1808, the Territorial Legislature of Louisiana passed an act to organize a school in St. Louis; it was not until four years after the first school was established in St. Louis that Congress made Missouri a territory. Missouri’s admission to the United States as a state in 1820 led to the formation of public schools in every township there was land declared “school lands,” and rental fees of the land helped fund the school.

The organization of Missouri’s school districts changed several times between 1820 and the mid-20th Century. As early as 1875, state officials were pushing for rural schools to consolidate. It was not until the 1940s, though, that any official laws were passed and consolidation became common, thus leading to the demise of the one-room schoolhouse in the mid-1960s.

The length of the school year was dependent upon the area in which the school was located; children in rural areas were needed to help with the day-to-day running of the farm. Class sizes varied, and one-room schools were community-oriented. Neighbors worked together to build the schools and to help maintain and support them.

The Kage School

Kage School in 1954

Southeast Missourian archives

Located at 3110 Kage Road, Kage School in Cape Girardeau is one of the schoolhouses still standing in the Cape Girardeau area. The land where Kage School is located originally was set aside by the United States to be used for the development of a local school in 1847. The first school was a hand-built log building completed in 1854. The school building we see today, which was the German vernacular building technique, was completed in 1880.

Kage School had a diverse racial and economic attendance. It included well-established families, African-American students and children from a local poor farm. Everyone was welcome to study at Kage School. It resisted consolidation much longer than many other local one-room schools. It closed its doors in May 1966, one of the last rural schools in the area.

Kage School recently underwent a massive renovation and is now a local vacation rental.

The Campster School

Campster School

Southeast Missourian archive

If you have driven on Bloomfield Road towards Dalhousie golf course in Cape Girardeau, then you have driven past Campster School. It was a rural school in the southeast part of Cape Girardeau and was named for the family who owned the land.

The structure seen today was built late in the history of one-room schoolhouses — 1940 — but served as a one-room school for that part of the township until the mid-1960s. Campster School resembles many other buildings built by the Works Progress Administration, and the stone is from Perryville, Missouri.

Campster School closed after the 1966 school year. The building was utilized as a development center and daycare for handicapped children by United Cerebral Palsy and was officially opened as a development center for United Cerebral Palsy in 1971. It was sold in the early 1990s and has since been under private ownership.

The Higgerson School

Higgerson School

Submitted photo

Head south on Interstate 55 to New Madrid, Missouri, and you will find the Higgerson School historic site.

Higgerson School

Submitted photo

Higgerson School was originally the school for Higgerson Landing, but was moved to New Madrid for restoration. Its original purpose was to replace schools damaged by the flood of 1927. Higgerson School is the only one-room school functioning as a state historic site. Visiting makes a great day trip. It is restored to how it would have looked in 1948, and offers a great look at life in simpler times.

These three schools are just a few of the one-room schoolhouses left in the area. If you look a little closer while driving around the Southeast Missouri countryside, I bet you will spot several more. The one-room schoolhouse reminds many of their childhood and evokes a longing for a simpler time, when life moved a little slower.