St. Joseph in Buchanan County, Missouri — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
The One-Room Schoolhouse
For nearly 250 years the country school was the backbone of American education. These simple buildings often served as school, chapel, town hall and community center.
One-room schoolhouses were the most common type of schools in the Midwest from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. As the name implies, a one-room schoolhouse is a school with only one classroom in which one teacher taught many students of differing ages and grade levels. Older students helped younger ones with their work and carried out classroom chores for the teacher.
The schoolhouse was usually the first public building to be constructed in pioneer or rural towns. The building was also used for other public functions, such as social events, political meetings and church services.
Students would often have the same teacher from first grade until age 16; the children of an entire community growing up together in one room.
Dedicated in 2011, the Pony School is an authentic reproduction of an 1860s period one-room schoolhouse. It has a cupola for the bell and tall, custom built, double hung wooden windows with 19th century restoration glass that provide excellent lighting. Inside are handmade desks, each supplied with slates and chalk, as well as McGuffey readers and primers. Pine floorboards, beadboard paneling, slate chalkboards, a raised platform for the school marm's desk and a potbelly stove replicate the frontier-era furnishings.
Funding for the Pony School was provided by a grant from the Daughters of the American Revolution, private donors, and the Pennies for the Pony School drive in which school children donated coins to build the school. Hillyard Technical School students assisted with its construction as part of a class project.
Erected by Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Education • Settlements & Settlers. A significant historical year for this entry is 2011.
Location. 39° 45.341′ N, 94° 50.95′ W. Marker is in St. Joseph, Missouri, in Buchanan County. Marker is on South 9th Street (Business Interstate 29) north of Mitchell Avenue, on the left when traveling south. Marker is located in front of the Old One Room Schoolhouse, on the Pony Express National Museum grounds. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 914 Penn Street, Saint Joseph MO 64503, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Saint Joseph (within shouting distance of this marker); Pony Express Stable (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); The Civil War in St. Joseph (about 300 feet away); The First Pony Express (about 300 feet away); Patee Town (about 400 feet away); C. B. & Q. 5614 Steam Locomotive (about 500 feet away); Patee Park Baptist Church (about 500 feet away); Jesse James Home (approx. 0.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in St. Joseph.
More about this marker. Marker is a large composite plaque, mounted horizontally on waist-high posts.
Credits. This page was last revised on April 26, 2022. It was originally submitted on August 30, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 1,039 times since then and 141 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 30, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.