Grant #5
Grant Township School House #5 is located on section 15 in Grant Township, six miles south of Buffalo Center, Iowa, on County Road R20.
The schoolhouse stands on its original location but was not the first schoolhouse on that site. While schoolhouse records are still being hunted down, oral histories place the construction of the school in the 1920's. From a purely historical standpoint, the schoolhouse represents Iowa's education system in the era of transition between country schools and consolidation.
We think it is one of only two remaining country schoolhouses on its original location in Winnebago County.
Every year in April, the Historical Society hosts a field trip for our local elementary school at Grant #5. The kids experience the school day as a student in a one-room school house.
The school was considered "modern" at the time of construction, with two cloakrooms, main classroom, basement with furnace, and separate boys' and girls' bathrooms with chemical toilets.
As far as this particular school's context, it sits only six miles south of Buffalo Center, home of the first consolidated school west of the Mississippi. The Grant School remained open, according to oral reports, until the 1950's, at which point it became the township voting center. The township trustees are eager to see this excellent example of a 1920's school, which closed its doors for good in the 1990's, revisited and celebrated.
From a community standpoint, this school is a well-known local landmark, within easy distance of the North Iowa School District, making it a convenient field trip destination.
Preservation Work at Grant #5 Schoolhouse
Recently completed work at the rural Grant #5 school included new steps, porch and overhang, part of the Community School Grant received by the Buffalo Center Historical Society in August 2009 which was intended to preserve the 1920's rural school located about six miles south of Buffalo Center. This grant was a REAP/Historical Resources Development Program (HRDP) grant that was funded for $5000. Watch the slideshow below to see some of the repair work.