Students reminisce about their days in one-room school

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Boyd England and Warren Iwig have been good friends since their days as pupils at Decker School.

That was nearly 80 years ago.

"I started school in 1921, when I was 6, and graduated in 1929," England said. "My first teacher was a man teacher, and he was a good teacher. On one of the first days of school, he told the story 'The Little Engine That Could.' I still remember that. He was strict. His name was Lawrence Sims."

England said he never got into serious trouble at school, but he couldn't say the same for Iwig, whose nickname was "Peanuts."

His friend didn't dispute the claim.

"I'd have to stand in the corner nearly every day," said Iwig, who went to Decker from 1925 to 1934. "One time I was whispering with another kid. The teacher smacked John with a ruler and asked if it hurt. He said, 'No,' and so she hit him again. Then she hit me and asked if it hurt, and I said, 'Yeah.' I didn't want to get hit again."

England, 90, and Iwig, 84, were among the former Decker students who gathered Saturday at Highland Heights Christian Church to reminisce about their school days and get caught up on each others' lives.

Opened in 1881

Decker School, a one-room, stone structure with thick walls and metal ceilings, opened its doors to students in grades one through eight in 1881. England's father, Josiah, was 11 and among the school's first students.

By the 1920s, classes were still being taught by daylight, and if programs were slated at night, parents brought gasoline lanterns to illuminate the classroom. A coal furnace provided heat.

The school year ran from Labor Day until late April, because youngsters were needed at home to help with the crops and other chores.

"Times were tough and our parents needed all the help they could get to get by," Iwig said. A typical school day during England and Iwig's years started at 9 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m., with a one-hour lunch and a couple of 15-minute recesses.

"We ate lunch on the stage or in the coal house," Iwig said. "Sometimes, we sat behind the furnace in the southeast corner of the building."

Among the former classmates' fondest memories are the softball games against other one- and two-room schools in the area.

School rivalries

"We finally played Highland Park Elementary, which had maybe about 200 kids," Iwig said. "Our little team beat them and sent them back to town."

England said the students also played ice hockey on a nearby pond, using a tin can as a puck and a tree branch or a square block of wood as a hockey stick. "One fad was that everybody wanted knee boots," he said, explaining that the boots protected the youngsters' legs from wayward pucks and hockey stick swings.

Iwig said the students rarely played football at the school because no one owned a football. A softball glove wrapped in twine substituted for the real thing.

Enrollment at Decker School during England and Iwig's years hovered around 40. When those numbers dropped to 17 in 1954, Decker was merged with Tecumseh School, which is now Tecumseh North Elementary School.

Decker School was purchased a few years ago by Mike and Aurora Shields, who have renovated the building into their home.

Iwig and England, who served on the Decker school board for seven years, said they hope Kansans won't allow the state's one-room schools to deteriorate or be razed. They believe they should be listed on the state historic register.

Janine Joslin, executive director of the Kansas Preservation Alliance, said citizens are becoming more aware of the uniqueness of the state's one-room schoolhouses, but no concerted effort has been made to preserve the buildings.

"Preserving one-room schools is happening piecemeal," she said.