Trenton, WI

About half-way between Beaver Dam and Waupun, WI, on US151,  is this old brick school.  It was on the Southeast corner of Breezy Point Road, about a mile northeast of County Route A.  The fire address of the house next to it said "Town of Trenton W7811"  Photos taken on 8/25/10.

The following photos were taken on 8/2/21. Notice the deterioration of the roof.

Prairie Du Chein, WI

This monster probably had more than one room, but ya gotta admit, it is an interesting structure!  We shot this school on 11/29/09.  It is on US18 on the east side of town.

We visited this school again on 10/22/16.  There is now a veterans' memorial in front of it, including with a tank!  But I only photographed the school to post here to show the changes in 7 years.

Minneola, MN

Also photographed on 8/9/09, this school is also on US52.  It is in Minneola, MN, about 1.5 miles north of Zumbrota, on the west side of the road.  As with the previous school, this one is now being used as a town hall.

Hampton, MN

This one was on our drive home on 8/9/09.  It is on US52, about eight miles north of Cannon Falls, MN, on the east side of the highway.  It is now being used as the Hampton Town Hall.

Little Marais, MN

On Aug 8th, driving on from Finland to Little Marais, we came across this old school on Minnesota State Highway 61, now being used as a community center.

Park Hill School, Finland, MN

On 8/8/09 we went to Finland, MN to see their heritage center.  The Park Hill School had been moved from a short distance away to this location for preservation, and was in the process of being fixed up.

Larsmont, MN

In August 2009 we took a trip along the north shore of Lake Superior for a week.  Aside from being a beautiful drive with lots of hiking and biking, we found some schools!  This one is in Larsmont, MN, and was photographed on 8/4.

Oklahoma City - Stoney Point School

The last week of March, into the second week of April 2009, I was attending a school for my job in Oklahoma City, and took Jill with me.  While I attended classes, Jill toured the town.  On April 1st, she was at the Harn Farm historical center and shot these photos of the Stoney Point School, including the photo of the sign explaining its history.

Boscobel, WI

Here's an interesting school on US61, two miles south of Boscobel, on the east side of the road.  Notice the steeple is in the rear of the building.  It was October 2008, and my mom was visiting from Alabama.  We were taking her on a trip up to some well-known apple orchards in Gays Mills, and this school was along our route of travel. Sign above the porch says "1864."

McAuley School, West Chicago, IL

We used to live in Geneva, and passed this school often.  It is located west of West Chicago on Illinois Route 38 (Roosevelt Rd), south side of the street, address 1820.  It is the McAuley School, District 27, and is now a museum and used for school field trips.  We were on our way home from Milwaukee's Irish Fest in August 2008, and decided to come through our old neighborhood in the Chicago area.   While there, we made sure we drove by this school to get some shots of it.  Built in 1913 on site of an older building.

On 5/29/14 we took the following photos:

The following photos were taken by Bob Blaus of West Chicago on 11/18/24, posted with his kind permission.

Mr. Blaus stated the following:

I spoke with the d33 Facilities director this afternoon. They'll close up from the elements now and reshingle it in the spring. He said full restoration as funds become available.  I always figured they let it decay to a point we're there would be no practical choice but to tear it down.when I first saw the roof off, that's what i kinda thought was happening, except there were 2x4s propping up the walls on the inside. They completely removed the roof! Can't help to think it would have been less expensive to reshingle the roof year's ago and not let it decay to the point it is today and what is the underlying reason to put in this herculean effort go save it now. I'm just glad that it is!! My friend's mom was a teacher there when it closed in 1992.

Illinois, just east of the Mississippi River

On 12 May 2008, on our way to Lisle, IL to tour Morton Arboretum, we passed this school which we had seen many times in previous drives to and from our old neighborhood in Illinois, since we always take US30.  We had seen this house become more and more modernized, and this trip it looked like it had a fairly new paint job.  While taking photos, we met the owner who told us how long he had the house and when it stopped being used as a school, but I don't remember that information!  The location is on US30 about six miles east of the Mississippi River, on the SW corner of the intersection of Millard Rd. 

Bell School, Near East Troy, WI

On WI SR20 at junction of Bell School Rd, SW corner, east of East Troy a few miles, about 3.5 miles east of I-43. Residence Nicely restored and used as a house.

Photographed 7/25/07.

The following photos were taken on 10/18/17.

Gilman, IL

The same day we shot that beautiful Indiana school and visited Grissom AFB, we continued our trip home on US24 and came across this restored school on the west side of Gilman, IL.  Interesting shape for a wooden school.  I don't think the front doors had all that glass on the original!  The monument out front said it was Parker School, built ca. 1931 and restored in 2006, so it was freshly restored when we found it!  Jill used the glass doors to shoot a photo of the inside.

Photographed 12/5/06

Kelly Agricultural Historical Museum

This museum collection of buildings is two miles south of Sharpsville, IN on US31, on the NW corner of the junction with County Road 550N.  "Public School, 1887, District No. 9," was moved here.  We were traveling from Dayton, OH to Peru, IN to visit the Grissom AFB aviation museum on 12/5/06 when we spied this beautiful structure.  My digital camera was only two weeks old, so this is the first school using something besides my 35mm Pentax.

While we were taking photos, a gentleman pulled up and asked us if we wanted to see the inside.  Although the museum wasn't open for business that day, he was the overseer and was there for some other business, so he thought we might want to see the inside.  It has been nicely restored.