CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA - HARTINGTON GRADE SCHOOL DESTROYED

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CEDAR COUNTY NEWS   Nov. 30, 1916

School is burned down   

Grade school is destroyed - twenty years ago

            The twentieth anniversary last Friday of the occupancy of 
the present grade school in Hartington passed unnoticed by everyone 
except the Veteran janitor, J.H. Eby, who has been in constant service 
since 1887.

            The old four-room frame building was destroyed by fire on 
Friday evening before Christmas in 1892, the fire being discovered 
about 6 o’clock in the evening. A one story building being used as a 
primary building was saved.

            Prof. A.H. Collins was then superintendent and was assisted 
by Prof. Strain, who was assistant superintendent, Mrs. D.W. Ray, and 
Misses Emma Butler and Emma Hines. Prof. Collins was last heard from 
at Pasadena, CA. Miss Hines still lives near Coleridge. Prof. Strain 
and Mrs. Ray have been called to their reward.

            The present building was completed by Contractor J. Keefe 
of Sioux city during the fall of 1896 and was first occupied on November 
1, of that year.

            August Lubely who served a total of 21 years as a member of 
the school board, was a member at that time and had a share of the 
worries caused by the destruction of the old building and the erection 
of the new one at a cost of $12,000.

            Among those who sat on nearby fences and watched the 
destruction of the old building with feelings of mingled consternation 
and pleasant anticipation of long vacations were Dave Ewing, Dr. Eby, 
Elmer Robinson and J.D.C. Smith.

            Mrs. John Sullivan, east of town and  Mrs. Olga Pierce were 
students who still reside here. 

            Sessions were resumed after the vacation in Hirschman’s hall, 
where three rooms were used and in the basement of the Methodist church 
as well as the old primary building. 

            The pupils were in session in the Hirschman hall a short time 
later, when the fire bell rang. They made a rush for the stairs and failed 
to return for the remainder of the day. During the excitement Lydia 
Campbell, now Mrs. Samuel Harns of Spencer, NE, and a sister of Mrs. C.M. 
Olsen jumped out of the back window to the ground luckily escaping injury.