1916 Brandon School

1916 Brandon School. . , The First Schoolhouse , After the Brandon Township organized in 1880, this two-room wood frame schoolhouse was built in 1885. Alma Langhout taught these students during the 1914-1915 school year. The school was moved south across Elm Street to make room for the 1916 school to be built. Later it was remodeled into a home and lived in by various Brandon residents even to this day in 2022., 1916 School Building , The 1916 Brandon School was built to accommodate 125 students with two classrooms, a hallway, and a teacher's room on each floor. In the first floor west room were the first, second, and third grades; the east room for the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. The second floor east room was for the seventh and eighth grades. The west room was for the newly formed three-year high school, accredited in 1921. The first Brandon High School class graduated in 1923. The last graduating class was in 1967 prior to the completion of the Brandon Valley High School on South Splitrock Boulevard., Laying the Cornerstone , In 1915, Brandon consolidated with area schools to form the Brandon Independent Consolidated School. To accomodate the students, the district built a two-story brick school with a basement. This photo shows the laying of its cornerstone with the school board members' names inscribed. When the building was razed, the Brandon Historical Society retained some bricks and used them for this marker's foundation., A Century Later , In 1940, an addition was attached to the east of the 1916 building to provide more classrooms, a stage, and a gymnasium. The 1916 school was used for classrooms until 1988 when the Brandon Elementary addition was completed. After that, it was used for storage until 2005 when the Brandon Valley School District leased the first floor to the Brandon Historical Society for its Brandon Area Museum. Even though the Brandon Historical Society remodeled the first floor, the building became dilapidated. In 2016, it was razed.