From the “Scratcher” or notebook of Superintendent of Public Instruction Philetus Fales:
Dec. 12, 1867: “Teacher, E.L. Moore. 12 pupils present. Drill them the A.M. in reading & Arithmetic. Called upon the Officers and then rode home in a drizzling rain.”
May 21, 1868: “Visited school at Sac & Fox Agency, dist. 39. Anna Reed, teacher. District finishing a fine new school house. Expect to occupy in two weeks.”
Dec. 16, 1868: “Visited School Sac & Fox Agency. School house new & elegant & furnished with seats from Leavenworth. Teacher Dr. Moore one of the few good teachers in the county.”
Dec. 17, 1868: “Visited school at Greenwood. Mr. Coburn teacher. School small, and sustained under discouraging circumstances, as the wretched building is almost inaccessible from almost every quarter.” [This entry clearly does NOT refer to the Greenwood/Sac & Fox Agency school referred to above. Since Mr. Fales didn’t provide a number, it is unclear which district he has visited.]
Apr 23, 1869: “Visited School at Greenwood & the neighborhood south ot see about cutting off district from Greenwood. Meeting to be held tomorrow by settlers to decide on proposition of Sup’t.”
May 7, 1869: “school 39–Greenwood, Miss Storm, teacher. Moderate. No force. 20 pupils, various readers.”
Feb. 15, 1870: [Term began] Dec. 6. John H.D. Carlin, D.D., L.L.D., &c, &c, Teacher. A man of remarkable attainments, quite familiar with 27 languages. Of course a very instructive teacher, but out of place in a Common School. visit Feb. 15.”
From the Pomona Republican, 23 Dec 1915: Greenwood School house burns.
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From “The hitching post…” column in the Ottawa Herald, a series of articles about early Franklin County schools researched by Bruce Fleming and written by Herald Editor and Publisher Jim Hitch. 17 and 24 January, 1991.
Greenwood School, Dist. 39, was located two miles east of downtown Pomona and two miles south, on the northeast corner of the intersection.
Harrison Reed, the great grandfather of Frances (Reed) Larson, 1009 W. 6th, donated the ground for the first school.
Leona Reed Bodenhamer, Greeley, attended Greenwood School, as did her father. “He was born in 1874 and his school days were in a log cabin about one mile south of the present Greenwood Church, in the timber on the east side of the road. They had split logs for seats and the heat was from a big stove in the middle of the room.”
The first school served for approximately 22 years and a second school was constructed about 1890, on the north side of the road across from the Greenwood Church. It was a one-room school with regular benches that sat two. The benches came in two sizes, large and small.
Mrs. Bodenhamer started school in 1907. “There were about 60 students in nine grades and all were taught by one teacher, Alice Ramsey.
About 1911, the one room was divided by a sliding door and a two-room, two-teacher school created. That same year a small basement and furnace were added.
On Dec. 23, 1915, the second school house was destroyed by fire and was promptly rebuilt. While construction was in progress, classes were held in the church.
The new two-room building served until 1960 when the district was consolidated with Chippewa School, three miles east. The Chippewa schoolhouse was moved to Greenwood and attached to the Greenwood school building, and was used as a kitchen and dining room. A hot lunch program was initiated with Mrs. Bob (Edith) Reed doing the cooking until the school closed for good.
One room, on the north, came to be known as the “Goat Room” because someone put a goat into it one Halloween.
After Greenwood closed, the original part of the school building was torn down. Raymond “Brownie” Slankard used it in the construction of his house.
The addition (the Chippewa school) still stands and is used as a community center.
According to a story in the old Ottawa Republican, “The Indians were removed in 1863 when it was determined to start a town at the old agency. Judge G.B. Greenwood of Arkansas, the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, had been here and assisted in the making of the treaty, and he and [Perry] Fuller, William Pennock, Thomas McCage, H.S. Randol, H.B. Denman, Thomas Connelly (a halfbreed with John T. Jones was educated by Dick Johnson, and was an intelligent man) and others laid out a town and named it after Judge Greenwood.”
“Two or three buildings were erected (dwellings) but no great speculative results were had from the sale of lots. It id doubtful if the town was ever platted. It soon withdrew in oblivion.”
Classes were first held in the district in 1867 and Amanda Cain, who closed several Franklin County schools, taught the last students at Greenwood 93 years later, in 1960.
Other teachers, whose names have been recalled by former students, were Nellie Pingree, Harvey Gillett, Amanda Cain, Kenneth Kuegler, Earl Blair, Helen Bushnell, Stella Gibson. Beulah Thomas, Esther Ann Lynch. Mary (Davis) Graves, Marjorie (Meaghor) Cochran and Ray Nitcher.
Many former Greenwood students still live in Franklin County and they include: Lorenzo Nitcher, Lorraine (Nitcher) Reichard, Jeannette (Nitcher) Lewis, Lee Nitcher, Pamela (Nitcher) Olson, Lois (Hamilton) Markley, Mona (Slankard) Pennington, Dennis Slankard, Bessie Jane (Slankard) Phillips, Anna Mae (Melton) Hendrickson, Terri (Shepherd) Hower, and Roberta (Reed) Shepherd.
Also, Beth (Reed) Shepherd, Joe Reed, Judy (Hamilton) Altic, Charles Hamilton, Erma (Hamilton) Thompson, Bob Hamilton, Betty Joyce (VanHorn) Hamilton, Joyce (Hamilton) Hahn, David Reekie, Mollie Jo (Shepheard) Worthington, Clark Shepheard, Jim Slankard, Donna (Matteson) Weiderholt, Beverly Jo (Ellison) Flager, Gordon Ellison and Nellie Pingree.
Also, George Graves, Evelyn (Graves) Collins, Frances (Reekie) Priddy, Wilda (Farris) Wright, Virginia (Farris) Mages, Berniece (Farris) Spaulding, Everett Hunter, Marie (Johnson) Simms, Norman and Dennis Devin, Nancy (Devin) Ferguson, Linda Devin, Jackie and Roger Higbie, Mary (Dawson) Gast, Mary (Adams) Bancroft and Florence (Pingree) Ellison.