Garden Grove School No. 1Garden Grove Township, Decatur County, Iowa |
 |
| The Mormon settlers [kept a school] but it was very inferior. The
new settlers had been here but a few months before a room was secured
and Mrs. Enos Davis was engaged to teach a tuition school during the
winter of 1848-1849. In 1853 the school district was regularly organized, and the next year a pretentious two-story school house was built. Being burned, this was replaced with a large brick building built on the same foundation of the first school. This building, in after years, became known all over this part of the state, as in 1867, Prof. R.A. Harkness took charge of the schools and remained nearly 20 years, and pupils came from forty to fifty miles to attend the schools here, and hundreds of the leading men and women in this and adjoining counties remember Garden Grove as their school-day home. Prof. Harkness leaving to accept a professorship in Parsons college was a severe blow to the educational interests of Garden Grove, and was felt for many years, but they have of late steadily improved until we now have as fine a school as can be found in any town of equal size in the state. L. M. Hastings, Jr. came to Garden Grove in 1858, and became the leader in "everything that pertained to the children and youth. He taught both in the Sunday School and the high school. Presently [1915],the school employs a principal and five other instructors. They are housed in a commodious and very comfortable building, heated by a furnace and furnished with a good supply of apparatus and a small library – mainly standard works of reference, and while there are now too many good schools near by for ours to enjoy the prestige they once had, Garden Grove is still noted for her good schools and many pupils from the surrounding country are every year enrolled as students. J.H. Drake, M.A., is principal, Mrs. Mary Zichy, assistant, J.F. Chemberlin, grammar room, Nellie Thomas, intermediate, Dilla Swope, 2d primary, Mayme Judd, 1st primary. SOURCES: "Souvenir Supplement of the Garden Grove Express." Garden Grove Express. Garden Grove IA. 1900. HOWELL, Prof. J.M. & SMITH, Heman C. "Schools." History of Decatur County and Its People. Vol. 1. Ch. XIV. "Decatur County Towns." Pg 186-9. S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Chicago. 1915. KELLOGG, Mrs. O.N. Harriet. An Interesting Early History of Decatur County. Ch. XXI. "Garden Grove." Decatur County Historical Society Newsletter. Vol. No. 1, Issue No. 2. Leon IA. May/June 2007. |
 The Mormon Trail Community School District was consolidated on July 1, 1959, comprising Humeston, Garden Grove and LeRoy schools. This was a combination of 11 school districts and 160 sections of land. Derby joined the district on a later date. Initially, grades were at LeRoy, Junior High at Humeston; and High School at Garden Grove. A new building was constructed at Humeston in 1996 for the elementary school. The junior and senior high school is now located at Garden Grove. The LeRoy school was sold to a private individual. |
 |
 High School Football Team 1914 - 1915 |
 1923 Football Team submitted by Barb Whitsitt Paul Young, Frank Hill, Teddy Warrington, Albert Thomas, Syvan Petticord, Roland Edwards, Edgar Arnold, Lyle Bates, Car Brown, Arnold Lovett, George Bowman, Lester Fulton, V.M. Long. Submitted to the Journal by Grace James. |
|
 Roger Coffey, Lela Miller, Clara Smith, Janice Webster, Millie Wagner, John McCa, Bob Mendenhall, Audrey Hill, Dick Owens, Miss McClung, Deloris Nulph, Juanita Morgan, Doris McBroom, Dorothy Day, Beverly Massey, Zelma Adair, Dorothy Carrico, Richard Smith, Dick McKern, Ivan McCullough, Bob Crawford, Betty Williams |
 |
 |
 |
 Mormon Trail Saints |
|||
| Garden Grove School No. 3 Garden Grove Twp., Decatur County, Iowa |
| Garden Grove Express Garden Grove, Decatur County, Iowa Thursday, May 4, 1893 The school board met Monday evening and elected the following corp of teachers for the next school year: Miss Anna MCNEILL, Assistant. Miss Bina SWOPE, Intermediate. Miss Agnes BURNS, Grammar. Miss Cora ARNOLD, Primary. The school closes Friday after a very successful year under the principalship of Prof. BRANDVIG. All the departments made marked advancement. The discipline in main being good, and very careful and painstaking instruction in all the rooms. The people of this district may well feel proud of their public school, as it is in good hands. |
| Garden Grove Express Garden Grove, Decatur County, Iowa Thursday, March 22, 1894 The new school board organized Monday be electing J. J. MCCLUNG president of the board. The following are the committees: On Building and Grounds. J. S. BROWN J. J. EVANS On Finance. C. D. MALLETTE J. R. WHITE On Supplies. W. T. WATERS. C. D. MALLETTE After transacting the routine business the board adjourned to meet Wednesday, March 28th. Copied by Stacey McDowell Dietiker January 16, 2004 |
| Original page created by Sharon Becker 2013, undated 2017; transcribed and reformatted by Conni McDaniel Hall Oct 2019. |
| Schools Directory *** Decatur County IAGenWeb |