Colfax No. 9

Colfax No. 9. Herbert Quick School House. , Iowa Country School History , Grundy County's first school, located two miles east of Grundy Center, opened in 1850. The Iowa General Assembly in 1858 established the Iowa Rural School System under the Common School legislation. Schools were generally located in the center of a four-square mile area so that no child lived more than two miles from a school. By 1905, 12,623 Grundy County students were answering morning roll call from 117 rural schools. School consolidation, in which country school districts joined town districts, began slowly in the 1890s and early 1900s. Beaman organized the first consolidated school district in Grundy County in 1915, followed by Dike in 1917, Conrad in 1920, Reinbeck in 1923, and Wellsburg in 1952. The only area not in a consolidated district was the large area around Grundy Center. In 1953, boundaries for the township schools were changed to put all rural school districts within community school districts, including a proposed new Grundy Center Community School District. In March 1954, twenty-one districts voted, and 19 of them voted in favor of immediately joining the new district. The proposal was approved by the Grundy Center town district as well. By 1956, only ten rural schools remained open in Grundy County. In 1961, the last rural schools closed with only Holland No. 7 Independent School remaining open. In 1966, it also closed and Holland students began attending the Grundy Center Community School, completing the district's reorganization and consolidation that began in 1954. , Herbert Quick School House , Colfax No. 9, also known as the Herbert Quick School House, was originally situated in Colfax Township, Grundy County, Iowa. The original design of the building is consistent with Generation 1 country schools that once dotted Iowa's rural landscape. In 1933, at the suggestion and supporting efforts of D.R. Earl, county superintendent of schools, the building was secured and moved from the original location to Grundy Center's Orion Park as a memorial to noted author Herbert Quick, who attended school at Colfax No. 9 from age 8 to age 16. Colfax No. 9 is maintained as a museum and has been used throughout the years to create a country school learning experience for children. , The wooden blackboards, interior coved siding, and double desks are original to the building. The kerosene lamp, wood stove, tin lunch buckets, maps, books, water bucket and dipper are all items found in early country schools. The schoolmaster's desk belonged to Herbert Quick and was presented to the school house by his family in 1933. A collection of his writings is housed in the school. , In 1996, the original school house windows were replaced. In 2016, extensive renovations were begun. These included a new foundation, floor joist repair, and siding repair. An enclosed entrance and a bell tower were added, which are features common in many Iowa country schools. A heating and cooling system was installed. , Iowa Country School Architecture , “First generation rural schools originally built for the Iowa Rural School System are easily identified since each school has one classroom with 3 or 4 windows on opposite sides and no basement. All are very similar but no two are identical. These schools had a classroom with a jutting entry or an enclosed entry of 1-3 tiny rooms with a flat front. The type of entry, roof line, chimney, doors, etc. varied based on decisions made by each school board.” , , Sandy Kessler Host, Curator for the Iowa Rural Schools Museum of Odebolt, Iowa, For more information or to schedule a tour, please contact the Grundy Center City Hall at (319) 825-6118 , A special thank you to the Grundy Center Historical Society and the Grundy Center Historic Preservation Commission , [captions] , . Interior of one-room schoolhouse, Grundy County, Iowa, 1939. , . Students arriving to school, 1939, Grundy County, Iowa. , . This photo of Colfax No. 9 School House was taken on its original site. , . It was at the suggestion and supporting efforts of D.R. Earl, county superintendent of schools (1913-1933), that the building was secured and moved to Grundy Center's Orion Park as a memorial to Herbert Quick. Herbert Quick first attended school in this building when he was eight years old. , . An atlas showing the original location of the school. , John “Herbert” Quick , John “Herbert” Quick was born in 1861 in Shiloh Township, Grundy County, Iowa. When he was 2 years old he contracted infantile paralysis that led him to develop a life long passion for books and reading. Quick was 4 years old when he started school at Shiloh No. 9 and was soon reading at a fourth grade level. When he was 8 years old, the family moved to Colfax Township where Quick completed his country school education at Colfax No. 9. In his mid-teens, Quick paid $1.00 to enroll in a six-week teachers institute in Grundy Center. He received his teaching certificate shortly before his 16th birthday. , Quick was an educator, lawyer, politician, editor, publisher, and American author. He taught at country schools in Grundy, Cerro Gordo, and Kossuth counties, and also served as a school administrator. While teaching, Quick studied law and in 1889 passed the Iowa Bar Examination. He practiced law in Sioux City, where he also served as mayor. He managed telephone companies in Iowa and Nebraska; was associate editor of LaFollette's Weekly; editor of Farm and Fireside; and a regular contributor to various magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post. He headed the Federal Farm Loan Bureau in Washington, D.C. and then took charge of the American Red Cross in the Far East, achieving the rank of Colonel. , From an early age Quick dreamed of being a writer. In addition to his contributions to leading magazines, he devoted time to writing literature, often based upon his memories of growing up in Grundy County. His first book, In the Fairyland of America, was published in 1902. Quick is best remembered for his trilogy of novels that were set in nineteenth century Iowa and depict the pioneer experience: Vandemark's Folly, The Hawkeye and The Invisible Woman. , Quick died on May 10, 1925, of a heart attack. At the time of his death, he resided in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. , Herbert Quick Novels and Writing , Published works by Herbert Quick include: , . In the Fairyland of America . Aladdin and Company . Double Trouble . The Broken Lance . Virginia of the Air Lanes . American Inland Waterways . Yellowstone Nights . On Board the Good Ship Earth . From War to Peace . The Real Trouble with Farmers . The Brown Mouse . Vandemark's Folly . The Hawkeye . The Invisible Woman . One Man's Life (autobiography) . We Have Changed All That (Herbert Quick and Elena Staphoff MacMahon) . The Fairview Idea . Mississippi Steamboating, The Old Prairie which we feared, loved, and conquered, a thing of great beauty and wonder... Maybe, long after we are dead and gone, someone will find it precious. , , Herbert Quick, Vandemark’s Folly