and taught two and even three terms in this our first temple of free education.
“This brings us to 1859 when the first schoolhouse was built on the site of the present one in Walnut Grove. Samuel Hildebrand, Robert Kerr, Chas. Von Lunen, Abner Griffith, and Probably John Cushon and Jacob Wertz, were the Directors who built it. The ground was purchased from Peter Jacoby for ten dollars. Jacob Jacoby built it for one hundred and thirty-nine dollars. It was about nine feet from floor to ceiling, sixteen feet wide and long enough to have three small windows in each side. One long desk was nailed against the wall on each side, and a bench in two lengths stood by each desk. Besides these there were two more benches, with backs extending nearly the full length of the room. These were for the wee folks. In the end opposite the door was a platform, raised eighteen inches, and about six feet square, upon which stood a small square table behind which sat the teacher as on a throne, and with more power in his little kingdom than any Emperor within the bonds of civilization. Just behind the teacher, against the wall, hung a combination of lumber, lamp-black and nails, upon which the boys would determine – and some times tear off a finger nail – how long it takes light to travel from its source to Neptune, provided, etc. Over the stove which stood in the centre of the room, the ceiling was handsomely mottled with blue, black and red inks, made of logwood, poke berry juice, and other combinations, the result of frequent illustrations of several principles in Physics. When bottles of frozen ink were set on the stove without removing the corks, the expansion of their contents removed the corks and mottled the ceiling with what might otherwise have mottled the copy books.
“The old house was now found to be too small to accommodate all the budding geniuses of an increased population. It was proposed to sell the old site and house and to purchase two new sites and build a small house on each. This was opposed in favor of retaining the old site and building a large house, one of two rooms. After a heated and memorable contest in which five Directors resigned, the latter plan was adopted against the personal desires of nearly every Director finally concerned. What is now Library Hall, and which stands nearly on the site of the first building was the result. The old building, which might well have been preserved as a reminder of a happy bygone time, was sold to the village smith and removed. The Directors who built the new house were : F. A. Joy, Louis Von Lunen, Abner Griffith, Joseph Hoffman, Daniel Horner and Charles Von Lunen.
“The village of Walnut Grove was growing, and in 1884 the necessity for more room, was pronounced. Care had been taken at the spring election that the Board should have a majority favoring concentration of school energy. Accordingly
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