Join us for a one-room school reunion on the lawn of the Lone Star School on Saturday, June 24, from 2 to 4 p.m. The address is 601 N. State St., Jerseyville.
Anyone who attended a one-room school in Jersey or the surrounding counties or who is interested in one-room schools is welcome to attend.
Historical Society Board Member Patsy Halemeyer says, “Bring lawn chairs, your family, friends, and memories. We’ll provide iced tea and cookies. There will be no recitations, tests, or grades, just a relaxing and fun afternoon.”
The Lone Star School dates back to 1877 and was one of more than 70 one-room schools located throughout the county. The school originally stood roughly 13 miles west of Jerseyville, near the intersection of Routes 16 and 100.
For more than 75 years, students in the area were taught the three R’s (reading, ’riting and ’rithmetic) in the humble one-room school.
Water for the school was originally supplied by a nearby spring. One former student recalled having to run pigs out of the spring and then letting the mud settle before getting a bucket of water.
The school was closed in 1952. In 1955, Patsy’s grandparents, Clifton and Josie Schudel, bought the building and the ground on which it sat for $961. They paid an additional $7.25 for personal property, which included a piano.
Ownership of the school was maintained by the Schudel family for three generations. In 2001, Patsy and her husband, Bill Halemeyer, donated the Lone Star School to the Historical Society. It was moved to its present location two years later.
Today, the school includes many of its original contents, including the oil lamps, writing canvas (the school was built before blackboards became commonplace), school library, and its student desks.
Special guest Drake Goetten, winner of the 2023 Jersey County Historical Society Scholarship, will read his winning essay, which describes what it was like to attend a one-room school.