The history of this rural, one-room schoolhouse began in 1874. That year, local citizens built the one-room Honey Creek School, originally painted white, located two miles east and three miles south of Glen Elder. The building served to educate local children until 1942, when the school tragically burned to the ground. Within a month, thanks to a pioneering spirit, the students were once again attending classes in a newly constructed Honey Creek School. However, due to depopulation in the Great Plains, Honey Creek and most other one-room schoolhouses were no longer operating in Kansas by 1960.
(Why the “Little Red Schoolhouse?”)
In 1950, Walter Knott, owner of the Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park in Anaheim, California visited Mitchell County, Kansas. He purchased the Iowa Schoolhouse that was located south and west of Beloit and dismantled it, shipped it to California and had it rebuilt at his theme park.
Three historically minded Mitchell county men followed the example of Knott and purchased the Honey Creek School. Harold J. Boettcher, Maurice McDonald and Harold Hill wanted the little schoolhouse to serve as a living example of the education system during the pioneer days and moved it to a location in Beloit northeast of its current site.
In 1976 ( Bicentennial year–USA 200 years old) Helen Bab, a retired one-room schoolhouse teacher, along with other former rural schoolteachers had the little schoolhouse moved to the present location. They gave it two coats of the red paint and subjected the old building to a good “going over” and the Little Red Schoolhouse was born. It served as a showcase location for many local Bicentennial activities and even hosted the Kansas Governor and Senators.
During the next few years, the group of retired teachers kept The Little Red Schoolhouse open for the public. As time passed, however, few teachers were available for staffing or lectures on how the schoolhouse operated in the “good old days” and the building fell into a state of disrepair.
A renovation project came to life in the fall of 2017. Thanks to the generosity of the Harold J. Boettcher family, funds were donated for new drywall, siding, windows and doors and new roof. Crews from the City of Beloit and Mitchell County provided the skilled craftsmen to do the renovation work. The goal of the renovation is that The Little Red Schoolhouse lives on for the enjoyment of many generations to come.
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