Dover School circa 1897-98.  L. to R. Girls – Daisy
    Gardner (later Refior); “Aggie” Gardner (later Gill); Celia Bonnell (later Rankin); 3 others
    not known;  teacher, “Lyde” Kreiger.  Of the boys on porch:  Roy Bonnell is 3^rd from right.
    All 9 of my father’s children rec’d their elementary education  at this school:  grades 1 to
    8.
    ~By Fern Bonnell and photo submitted courtesy of Julia Dale

 This is the next article in the series on rural school houses in Lee County.  The information on Dover will appear in two articles with the first article on Dover School covering the history of education in the Dover area and the Dover School from the early 1800s through 1913; the second article in May will begin with the year 1914 and cover education until the school was closed and the items sold at auction in 1945.  Information for these articles is taken from contributions from Julia A. Dale, Lillie E. Ivins, Fern Bonnell, Robert McKeehan, Ray Miner, and Everett Refior, along with information from plat maps and the History of Lee County Schools 1830-1962.   In addition, the rural school team interviewed Melvin Frueh as well as extracting information from official annual school meeting minutes, books of official school records, and two1976 Daily Gate City articles, which he has in his possession; Darrell Seyb and Richard and Ruth Bentzinger were interviewed as well and shared information regarding the Dover area.  The Bentzingers loaned the team a picture of the 1916 Dover class for their files.   Although the official school board minutes on hand begin with March 1882 and end when all items have been officially sold, some of the more interesting decisions have been incorporated into these articles.   The school is presently on the property owned by Kevin and Cindy Frueh who are interested in seeing that the Dover School is saved and preserved.

 Dover started when the Bonnell brothers, wealthy apple growers out of New Jersey, bought 880 acres of land in the northwest Franklin Township area in 1843.  They started a store but did not keep it for long.  In 1848 they sold the store to Louis Walker and gave their whole attention to the one thing with which they were thoroughly familiar, which was farming.   Mr. Walker eventually sold the store; the Dickey family ran the store circa 1865 until 1912 when Miss Hattie Dickey built a store in Donnellson.  Although never officially platted or even surveyed for a town site, Dover nevertheless became an important trading center which boasted a schoolhouse, a couple of blacksmith shops, the general store, two or three other small businesses and a post office where Barbara Dickey presided as postmistress.  The general store became “the place” for school supplies and the school became the center of the community for dances and get-togethers of all kinds.

 
Dover School, This is Your History (Part I) 

From the time the first pioneers established permanent homes in the area of Franklin Township, they had a desire to educate their children.  With no designated school districts or available money for these purposes, the pioneers relied upon their own resources and what little knowledge they had concerning the establishment of schools.  Information located by Rachel I. (Bonnell) Adams in an article about school houses in Lee County, IA at the State Historical Building in Des Moines states “the first schoolhouse in the Dover area was built in 1839 on the Alexander Cruikshank farm near ‘Courtright Corner’.” 

Rachel also stated that her father, Albert Bonnell, often spoke of “the little old red brick” schoolhouse next to the cemetery that preceded the “big stone” building – the one which his older brothers and sister had attended; this makes it appear that another school was constructed  before the actual Dover School was built.  There are several other indications that this school may have been built:   two June 1976 Daily Gate City articles that quoted A.C. McMillan as having deeded a two-acre site on March 29, 1850 to Pleasant Grove Ceminary (sic), aka as Dover or Bonnell Cemetery, for a church or a school;  Melvin Frueh, who maintained the cemetery for awhile, mentioned that in a dry year one can see the outline of a building foundation in the northeast corner;  Robert McKeehan states that his grandmother Amanda Jane Beeler McKeehan taught school at Dover in 1869 when she was 17 years old and also went to school there in the 1850s. 

The “old big stone” schoolhouse, long unused, is all that remains of Dover today and is often a topic that comes up in conversation among the old-timers and others in Lee County.  It stands on the original site on the east side of what is now intersection Hwy 218/27 and 180^th Street in Franklin Township, Section #9, and four miles north of Donnellson.  In the earlier days, this intersection was called Dover Corner and at some point during these early years the highway was known as Rt #161.   No information on file indicates exactly when the school was completed but on the 1874 plat map the school exists and was located on property owned by S.C.  Kreiger; in 1897 school districts appeared on the plat maps and Dover School was located in School District #5. 

The one-room school faces south with a double-door entry with a transom window above and a window on either side.  Three windows are on each side of the school to the east and west; there are decorative wrought iron stars on each corner and above the door.  In the late 1800s, there was a wooden platform with three steps on either side leading to the entry of the school.  The school yard was surrounded with a post and wire fence, had an 8’ by 8’ coal shed in the southeast corner, and two outhouses toward the northeast corner.  The school yard did not have playground equipment but the students always occupied their time with a ballgame or other games such as “tag around the school” and “dare base” in the summer and snowball fights in the winter.  In 1899 a motion was proposed by the school board that the school be spouted; motion was carried and galvanized spouting was provided; in 1912 another motion was made by the board and carried to replace the shingled roof with galvanized steel roofing. 

Inside, the pot-bellied stove was on the south side of the building; the blackboard was on the north wall and measured 18’ by 2 ½’ by 2”.  The windows on either side had catches so they could be raised and lowered and had a window blind covering; the floor was pine which was replaced in 1907 and the old flooring was sold to John and Peter Frueh; in 1913 a stage located on the east side of the room was extended to make room for a new organ.  The walls were white-washed and the ceiling was plastered.   In 1905, since text books were in short supply, the school board instructed the teacher to keep a library record of every book that left the school.  Originally water was carried from the public well but in 1911 a motion was made and carried to have a well drilled on school grounds; the 46’ deep well was drilled before the winter term in September at a cost of $345 with added expenses of $4 for boarding of two men and two horses. 

Dover School, fall 1911:  Back Row L. to R.:  Elmer Frueh, Jim Powell, Creigh Hemminger, Don B., Ben Bentzinger.  Middle Row (4^th from L.) Leah B., Emma Bentzinger, Anna Powell, Sylvia Seyb, Ruth Snider (teacher); extreme right, Maurice B.  Front:  Teddy Cruikshank, Georgie Hemminger, Richard Koller, Rollin B., Alice Frueh, Ruth Powell, Bernice Frueh, _____, Beth Powell, Stella Hirschler, ____; Middle Row Willis Schmidt, Raymond Schmidt, Gus Hirschler, Ernie Frueh   ~ Photo courtesy of the Donnellson Genealogy Department

The School Board always appointed a committee to investigate the condition of the school property or review issues and make recommendations before any repairs or decisions were made.   According to the school board minutes there were two school terms:  a three-month summer term which commenced the first Monday in April and a four-month winter term which commenced the first Monday in November.  In 1907, a special meeting was called and it was changed to it to a seven-month term commencing the first Monday in September with two weeks vacation at holiday time at $35 per month.   In 1910, the board authorized the teacher to make up two days on a Saturday if days were lost due to weather.   Also noted in the minutes is the fact that in 1894 and 1897 it was motioned and carried to allow scholars from outside the district to attend school at Dover and pay a tuition fee (later allowed to attend at no charge).  In 1898 and 1899 a motion was made that the male and female scholars “occupy their respective sides of the house.”  

In addition to education of children in the Dover community, the school was also the venue for a literary society which was a special activity for debates, recitations, speeches, and music.   It is stated that people came from long distances and filled the old school until it “burst at its seams.”   

The school also provided a place for Sunday School and church services which gave spiritual guidance.  For years a Presbyterian minister drove from West Point one Sunday; the next was the turn of the Methodist minister from Donnellson.   The Sunday School, not the public school, always gave the Christmas program.  The Christmas Eve programs had a huge tree on the stage and folks brought gifts for their children and Santa handed them out.  In June there was a Children’s Day program and folks really turned out.  The old building was filled with roses and the girls shone and rustled with stiffly starched white dresses and ribbons.

The following are names of school board chairmen during the time frame 1882-1913:  W.E. Dickey, W.S. Gardner, Dr. H. Autrim, E.C. Gardner, Al Bonnell, F. W. Koehler, C.W. Warren, D.D. Bentzinger, Jacob Frueh, A. Cruickshank, August Hirschler, and P. P. Hilty. 

Names of teachers found for the years 1869-1913 include:   Amanda Jane Beeler McKeehan, 1869; Lyde Kreiger, 1885 and circa 1897-98; Margaret Warren, 1898; Ruth Snider, 1911; Madeline Harnagel, 1912; and Lola Wilson, 1913.  

Unfortunately during the years through 1913, very little information and not many pictures are on file.   Family names that could be found associated with the Dover School include:  Bonnell, Bentzinger, Cruikshank, Frueh, Gardner, Gill, Haffner, Hemminger, Hirschler, Ivins, Koller, Krehbiel, Leisy, Powell, Schmidt, Schowalter, and Seyb. 

Diane Kruse and Carolyn Dischler wish to thank everyone that shared their information and photos on Dover School for this article and the upcoming article in May.  If anyone has additional information, special remembrances or photos to update our records, please contact Diane at 319-836-2056 or Carolyn Dischler at 319-469-7631.  All information will be placed on file in the Genealogy Department.