The Lone Cedar School as it exists today.
By Matthew Barnes
The early 1910s saw a movement in Missouri to consolidate schools. The goal was to offer better educational opportunities to students. Most consolidated districts later became part of reorganized districts, however, there are quite a few still in existence today. The closest one to Atchison County is Jefferson C-123 at Conception Junction. There were a total of six consolidated districts in Atchison county at one time. This “school days gone by” series will share the history of each of these school districts on a biweekly basis.
As I stated above, the main goal of consolidation was to create better educational opportunities for students, but that didn’t always work out. That is the case with the Centennial C-1 school district. The citizens of the Shiloh, Lone Cedar, and Mayflower districts voted to consolidate on May 27, 1915, creating the first consolidated district in Atchison County. The district was located north of Rock Port and was largely based around the Centennial Church. A bond issue election was held in the fall of 1915 to build a modern brick high school near the Centennial church. Because of Centennial’s small size and population, the tax increase needed to fund the construction would have been exorbitantly high. As a result, the bond issue failed overwhelmingly and no other attempt was ever made. Schools continued to operate as they did before in the three rural schools.
That’s not to say that consolidation didn’t have its benefits. Three new square schoolhouses were constructed in 1924 when bonds in the amount of $3,000 were passed. The district also had a lower tax rate compared to other rural districts due to lower administrative costs.
Centennial was included in the proposed Watson R-V school district in 1951. The proposition failed so therefore the district continued to operate as it did prior. Centennial was annexed by Rock Port R-II in 1956 and the Mayflower and Shiloh schools were closed. Lone Cedar continued to operate for several more years.
If anyone has any information on the Daleview, Westboro, Irish Grove, or Nishnabotna districts, please contact me at 712-303-8583 or o2mbarnes@gmail.com.
