Dobrinz School

Dobrinz School. . One-room schoolhouses were common features on the Great Plains during the late- nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Settlers constructed many of the first schools and they used readily available materials like sod or wooden logs. The structure and layout of one-room schoolhouses appear much like Bonanzaville's Dobrinz schoolhouse., The Mapleton Township District #27 schoolhouse was built in 1895. Locals, however, referred to it as the Dobrinz School since it stood on German immigrant John Dobrinz's farmland. The schoolteacher usually lived with the Dobrinz family and taught grades one through eight. The age of students ranged from as young as three to older than their teacher. Teachers were usually young, single, women who taught subjects such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Schoolchildren helped their teacher with chores alongside their daily lessons. Older children managed tasks such as collecting drinking water from a nearby well and chopping firewood for the stove. Younger children performed chores like cleaning the chalkboard and erasers. The school also served as a central meeting place in the town for services such as Sunday school, a voting site, and as a space for community meetings. One-room schoolhouses remained in use on the Plains until the mid-twentieth century when rural populations shrank. The Dobrinz School was donated to Bonanzaville in 1968 after it closed., (Captions) , 1893 Mapleton Township Plat Map which features the Dobrinz School on John Dobrinz farmland. , Dobring School ca. 1900