Valmeyer Community Heritage Society

Valmeyer Community Heritage Society. Monroe City School House Museum. , Monroe City School was a rural Country School District located on KK Road west of Monroe City. This building was constructed in 1918 on land purchased from Gustav Hirsch. An increase of students later required adding a second building and another teacher. The school closed in 1956 with Eliot Altes and Thelma Hess as the last teachers. Harold Baum, who would later become Superintendent of the Valmeyer District was a student of the Valmeyer District was a student and later taught at the Monroe City School., Since 2012 third grade students from Valmeyer School have visited Monroe City School to celebrate Little House on the Prairie Day. Members of the Valmeyer Community Heritage Society provide a tour of the facility and help the students understand what it would have been like to be a student in one-room rural School House with students of other grade levels., For many years this building was lovingly taken care of by the Steinman family. Following a change in ownership, the building was donated to the Society by Melvin and Jackie Allscheid in 2011, and it was move from creekside pasture in Monroe City to the current location in Valmeyer. The move took about four hours from start to finish. After several years of renovation, the building opened to the public in 2016 for the hosting of a traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibit., The large bell located to your right was originally installed at St. John UCC Church in Valmeyer in 1914. In 1967, the bell from the closed Harrisonville UCC Church replaced the St. John bell, and this bell was purchased by Twyla Miller Luhr. It was displayed in her yard for many years. After the passing of Alois and Twyla Luhr this bell was donated to the Society by the Luhr family., The Mississippi River Flood of August, 1993 caused widespread damage in the Village of Valmeyer. After careful study and deliberation by Village officials and discussion by Valmeyer residents at town meeting, it was decided to try to relocate a major portion of the community to higher ground. Planning began in September, 1993, and Walter and Dorothy Stemler family agreed to sell part of their farm to be used for the new location of Valmeyer. Ground was broken on the new town site in December, 1993. Construction work began in 1994, and the first families began to move into their homes in 1995. Several of the town business including Mar Graphics, Mike's Service and Convenience, the Corner Pub and First Bank quickly opened on the new town site. Valmeyer School began classes in their new facility in 1996. All three of the Village Churches built new facilities and welcomed their congregations to relocated Valmeyer. Since most of the physical memories of the original town had been lost, it was decided to from a group to help preserve the physical and cultural heritage of the Valmeyer area, and that led to the formation of the Valmeyer Community Heritage Society., Thank you George Obernagel for his generation donation of the interpretive sign, the flagpole and spruce tree.