Hickory Grove Schoolhouse
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Hickory Grove was a functioning schoolhouse sixteen miles west of Maryville, Missouri. The school was a part of district 17 (Hickory Grove School District) and was located in the Atchison township. The Hickory Grove School District was formed in the spring of 1882, and the building was constructed in the spring of 1883. The Board of Directors in April of 1883 were William Pence, Bartley Knoble, Perry Farrens, and the clerk was George W. Williamson. On April 14, 1883, a contract was formed with William Allen to build the school house for $70, and on April 21, 1883, $600 bonds were issued to draw interest in construction of the school. School started on September 3, 1883, with Mary E. Weaver as the first teacher. ​At its largest, the school had an enrollment of 38 students in grades first to eighth. Hickory Grove School closed in 1946, four years before Missouri mandated the consolidation of rural schools in 1950. The school is located at Nodaway County Historical Society Museum, and it serves as a learning tool to show how rural school in Nodaway county functioned.
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Photo courtesy of Nodaway County Historical Society
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The Milbanks donated the building to the Nodaway County Historical Society to be located on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University, formally known as "Northwest Missouri Normal School" in 1970. With the leadership of Stephen Le Mar and Neva Rhodes, the building was moved to Northwest's campus, east of the Administration Building. In 1996, Professor Tom Carneal and Frances Stuart negotiated the transfer of the building to the Nodaway County Historical Society and moved it to the Nodaway County Historical Society Museum Campus (located at 110 N Walnut St. Maryville, MO). The Hickory Grove School building became a part of the museum campus along with the Caleb Burns House and the Price Museum and Research Center. The school was in need of repairs; a shingle roof was put on the building before moving, and after being placed on the foundation, all windows were replaced, wall boarding was put on the walls and ceilings, parts of the floor were replaced, and the interior and exterior were painted.
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Everett Brown, assistant to Dr. Robert Foster, being presented ceremonial key to Hickory Grove
Photo from The Maryville Daily Forum
Within the school building, there are numerous artifacts representing rural education in the 1880's to the 1940's. In the center of the building facing north are the students desks of various sizes to accommodate students' seats from first to eighth grades (kindergarten was not offered). Each desk had an ink well, and each student had a piece of slate and chalk for writing. In the middle of the desks sits a pot belly stove to heat the building. The stove was fueled by wood which was usually gathered by the older boys. In the front of the individual desks is the recitation bench for individual grade instruction or a class activity. The teacher's desk was in front of the recitation bench and behind it sits a blackboard for instruction.
The U.S. flag is attached to the front wall above the blackboard. There is also 19th century teacher aids for teaching music, pull-down atlas's maps for teaching U.S. Geography, pictures of Presidents Washington and Lincoln, and plaques recognizing the Nodaway County Superintendents ending in 1967-8. Other artifacts include lunch buckets, a water pail with tin cup, coal-oil and gas lamps, a 1902 piano, ink pens, ink wells, and textbooks of the period. There are copies of "Secrets of the Old School House" (Hickory Grove) written by Neva E. Rhodes and published in 1983 which provides insight into the daily operation of Hickory Grove School and rural schools of the time.
Inside of the renovated Hickory Grove Schoolhouse that can be seen at Nodaway County Historical Society