Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 12/02/98

SUMMARY

The Independence School is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion C with local significance as a good example of a rural, one-room Plain Traditional style school built in 1914. The interior and exterior of the school have undergone various periods of neglect, and at one time the building was altered for use as a residence. In 1993, the Stuttgart Agricultural Museum restored the damaged windows to their original appearance, replaced the interior stage and removed the interior partitions. Also at that time they added a small belfry to the roof of the building. Adjacent to the building is a privy, a two-thirds replica of a Lutheran Church, and a replica of a fire engine station. None of these buildings are contributing to this nomination.

ELABORATION

In 1883 seven or eight Mennonite families settled near the Bayou Meto on the edge of what is commonly known as the Grand Prairie about two-and-one-half miles northwest of Stuttgart, Arkansas County. Although traveling directly from Iowa, part of this group originated from Abbervillers, Switzerland and the other came from France. They moved as a colony to Arkansas in search of a milder climate than Iowa. The Mennonites traveled to Hazen on a train. From that point they moved all of their personal belongings, household items and farm equipment by wagons drawn by oxen teams. There were twenty-five in their party and some of them moved into houses that were already on the farms that they purchased, and others built houses.

Mrs. Anna Zimmerman's diary that she kept when they came to Arkansas in 1883 gave this description: "This county was a vast stretch of prairie, dotted with patches of timber, and prairie grass as high as a tall man. There were no roads and it was very easy for a person to become lost on the will unsettled prairie. Prairie fires were numerous and could be stopped only by back-firing." Ann Zimmerman continued by describing the first schoolhouse built in 1884. "In 1884, a few families decided to build a schoolhouse two miles from our home. The work was donated as well as the lumber. The roof was of clapboard split shingles from the raw timber. Rough planks answered the purpose of seats, while openings were left for windows and doors the first summer." The Independent school earned its name because the farmers and Mennonites financed this school without state or county funds.

The school had to be rebuilt in 1914 after the original schoolhouse was destroyed by a tornado. The name was changed from Independent School to Independence School at this time. According to oral tradition, the builders faithfully reproduced first building's 1884 floor plan and some of the original salvageable lumber was utilized in the 1914 building.

In 1949 the Arkansas School Consolidation Act was passed whereby all one-room country school districts had to consolidate with larger town schools. The citizens of the

Independence School District in the Belcher Township, Prairie County, Arkansas, voted to consolidate with the Hazen School District fifteen miles to the north. However, school continued to be held in the Independence School building until April 1954 when children of all ages had to be bused to Hazen.

The one hundred and thirteen acres on which the school stood was sold to Ralph Rhein the owner of the adjoining land. He did not want the school buildings so the Hazen School District sold it to F. E. Erstine of Stuttgart who moved it adjacent to the northern edge of the city limits on Arkansas Highway #11. He left it essentially the same except for creating another outside door on the side, placing a couple of interior partitions, dismantling the stage and adding plumbing. Erstine used the building as a tenant house on his farm for a short time and then it stood vacant for many years. Following Erstine's death, his family started settling his estate and selling off his many holdings. In 1974, the Stuttgart Agricultural Museum found out that the schoolhouse was going to be burned down. After negotiating with the family, they agreed to let the museum have the building provided it would be moved from the farm immediately.

The museum hired a house mover, Charles Sanders, who moved it to its present location on the newly established Stuttgart Agricultural Museum grounds. The Independence School was set on concrete blocks. The local National Guard unit agreed to make the necessary restorations: taking out the partitions, closing the wall where a door had been cut and raising the floor to create a stage.

SIGNIFICANCE

The Independence School is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion C with local significance as a good example of a rural, one-room Plain Traditional style school built in 1914. The interior and exterior of this school have undergone various periods of neglect, and at one time the building was altered for use as a residence. In 1993, the Stuttgart Agricultural Museum restored the damaged windows to their original appearance, replaced the interior stage and removed the interior partitions. Also at that time they added a small belfry to the roof of the building. Adjacent to the building is a privy, a two-thirds replica of a Lutheran Church, and a replica of a fire engine station. None of these buildings are contributing to this nomination.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Zimmerman, Anna Bechler. My Diary. Privately published in 1955.

The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas. Chicago, Nashville, and St. Louis: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1890. 683-684.

Burkett, Bennie Frownfelter. Stuttgart, Arkansas: One Hundred Years on the Grand Prairie. (Standard Printing Co., Stuttgart, Arkansas. 1980 reprinted 1995).

Interview with Mable Siefert (the last teacher of the Independence School when it closed in 1954.)

Interview with Ron Zimmerman (great-grandson of Anna Bechler Zimmerman, who lives at Stevens Point, WI.)

Interview with John Tait Jr. (grew up in the Independence School District and son of Mr. Tait who wrote the Teacher's Saddle.)

Interview with Kathy Beck McNay (attended Independence School.)

Interview with Ralph Rhein (owner of the farm on which the Independence School was originally located.)