Tucker School

  District 107

Tucker School

District Number 107

The actual history of Tucker District Number 107 started in 1855 when a low ceiling frame structure was built on the land of Cyrus Tucker.

The pupils of a school age were taught to an extent previous to 1855 as far back as 1840 at least when Mill Dunlap taught a school in section 13.  In 1841, the school section was laid ofinto 40 acre plots and sold for $1.25 per acre, then immediately after the tax law passed, a ten-cent tax was levied in this district.

The pioneer school differed in many ways from the modern one-room school of today.  It had no cloakroom or vestibule, the outside door opening directly into the schoolroom.  A long bench was placed along both sides of the room against the wall.  The desks, about five or six on a side, were placed at intervals in front of the bench, forcing the pupils to face the light from the opposite windows.  The boys occupied one side and girls the other.  A blackboard lined one end of the room, in front of which stood the teacher’s desk.  A cannon stove stood in the center of the room and a long stovepipe led to one on which the children hung their clothes.   The dinner buckets were placed under the benches where they were closely guarded by their owners and closely watch also by the teacher so that owners didn’t get hungry during the school period.

The first teacher received a salary $12.00 per mother a term of months and boarded around the families of the neighborhood.  The next year her salary was raised to $16.00 per month.

The district united with District Number Nine in 1858.  The school had about 50 pupils.

On the fourth of February 1873, the schoolhouse caught fire and burned to the ground, with an estimate loss of about $200.00 to the district.  In August of the same year, a new building was erected with a cost $900.00.  This schoolhouse, with certain alternations and improvements is in use at the present time.  A cloakroom has been built on one end.  The windows have been all place on one side so as to conform with the sanitation law.  The seats and desks have been arranged so as to face the teacher’s desk in the front of the room, and the old cannon stove has been replaced by a moden jacketed heater.

In the earlier days, the school had a large attendance. The district is a rich farming community and most of the farmers own their own farms.  The children in most of the families have passed the school age and as there are very few younger married couples in the community, the attendance is small.

1941-42 Mary Lee Stine

1945-46 Wilma Gordon

            Tucker School