Campground School

Kinmundy Historical Society

CAMPGROUND SCHOOL

Meacham Township, Marion County, Illinois

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We are looking for photos of people and/or places from around Kinmundy & Alma. Can you help?

Or maybe you have stories or memories from the "Good Old Days"? What do YOU remember?

The Kinmundy Historical Society would be honored to preserve your memories and stories. We also have the

equipment to scan (or copy) your photos so that they may be enjoyed now as well as for generations yet to come!

We would love to hear from you! For more information, please contact:

Dolores (Ford) Mobley – Dolores@ford-mobley.com

208 Joan Dr.; Divernon, IL 62530; (217) 625-7527

Gladys (Corrie) See – gsee49@yahoo.com

408 S. Washington St.; Kinmundy, IL 62854; (618) 547-7731

Teachers from CAMPGROUND SCHOOL - District #15 (Meacham township)

(1903-04) Myrtle Rogers ($29)

(1904-05) Rose Farthing

(1907-08) Rose Farthing

(1914-15) Miss Dorothy Doolen

(1915-16) Herschel Wilkinson

(1918-19) Georgia Nirider

(1920-21) Opal Rogers

(1922-23) Mrs. Anna Marlow

(1923-24) Mrs. Anna Marlow

(1926-27) Mrs. Anna Marlow

(1928-29) Anna Marlow

(1930-31) Ben Millican

(1931-32) Ben Millican (from Marion Co. Teacher listing book) / Maxine Edwards

(1932-33) Mrs. Margaret Lynch

(1933-34) Theodore “Ted” Mangner

(1934-35) Mr. Floyd Humble

(1935-36) Ben Millican

May 7, 1936: Camp Ground: The directors met at the school house Saturday and discussed plans for re-decorating the school house and digging a cistern, which is very much needed, as water must be carried for the school use

(1936-37) Mr. Zarold Lewis

(1937-38) Mr. Zarold Lewis

(1938-39) Miss Lucille Hays

(1939-40) Miss Lucille Hays

(1940-41) Miss Lucille Hays

(1941-42) Miss Lucille Hays

(1942-43) Miss Lucille Hays

(1943-44) Bertha R. See (listed in Marion Co. School listing of teachers) / Miss Lucille Hays

(1944-45) Mrs. Bertha See

(1945-46) Miss Velma Edwards (later Mrs. Velma (Edwards) Wilkinson)

(1946-47) Miss Velma Edwards (later Mrs. Velma (Edwards) Wilkinson)

(1947-48) Mrs. Eva Soldner

(1948-49) Mrs. Eva Soldner (listed in Marion Co. listing of teachers) / Bill Soldner

(1949-50) Billy Soldner

(1950-51) Bill Soldner

Oct. 4, 1951: Petitioned to be annexed into Kinmundy

(The above information was gathered from "The Kinmundy Express" articles, school photos, information from former students and teachers, and school directories.)

Camp Ground School; Meacham twp; District 15

Letter from Velma E. (Edwards) Wilkinson

(One Room School Memorial – Archives - Salem, IL)

Kinmundy, Illinois

June 1, 1982

Dear Goldie:

I have talked to some and tried to remember some teachers from Camp Ground School and here is the list I have come up with:

1930-31 Mrs. Anna Marlow

1931-32 Miss Andrews

1932-33 Mrs. Margaret Lynch

1933-34 Mr. Ben Millican

1934-35 Mr. Floyd Humble

1935-36 Mr. Ted Mangner

1936-37 Mr. Zarold Lewis

1937-38 Mr. Zarold Lewis

1938-39 Miss Lucille Hays

1939-40 Miss Lucille Hays

1940-41 Miss Lucille Hays

1941-42 Miss Lucille Hays

1942-43 Miss Lucille Hays

1943-44 Miss Lucille Hays

1944-45 Mrs. Bertha See

1945-46 Miss Velma Edwards

1946-47 Miss Velma Edwards

1947-48 Mrs. Eva Soldner

1948-49 Mr. Bill Soldner

I hope this will help you some.

Yours Truly,

Velma E. Wilkinson

The Campground School District #15, was in Meacham township, Marion County, Illinois. The picture was taken in 1895 shows the original school. The picture taken in 1907, Rose Farthing Thurman was teacher. A new school was built close to the original site and in the summer of 1914, the building was moved to the south line of Meacham township and the north line of Omega township in Marion county. It opened in the fall of 1914, with twenty-five pupils in grades one through eight with Lucy Gaskill of Kell as teacher.

Other teachers from the time of the establishment of the school through the year 1914, were Agnes Millican, Tom French, Elijah Crundwell, Clarence Alderson, Ethel Charlton and Burley Swalley. Some of the teachers through the following years were Dorothy Doolen Etherton, Eva Wyatt Soldner, Georgia Nirider Barcroft, Lela Swift Helpingstine and Myrtle Lacey Riley.

In 1934, there were from twenty-eight to thirty-six pupils in grades one through eight and the teacher’s pay was $50.00 per month. Paul B. Chance was Marion County Superintendent of Schools and Guy Perry was Director of Clerks District #15.

The list of teachers over the years following 1934, including Ted Mangner, Floyd Humble, Ben Millican, Anna Marlow, Mrs. Andrews, Zarol Lewis, Bertha Rose See, Margaret Lynch, Leslie Flick, Lucille Hays, Velma Edwards Wilkinson and Eva Wyatt Soldner, again. Mrs. Soldner’s son, Bill Soldner, taught Campground School in the last year of it’s existence before the State of Illinois bought the school building and the surrounding homes in the area and built Stephen A. Forbes State Park just north of Omega.

(One Room School Memorial – Archives - Salem, IL)

Year	Names of Trustees for Meacham twp.; Town 4, Range 4	Names of Directors at Campground School (#15)
1915-1916	A.C. Branson, E.S. Howell, C.S. Farris	J. Lewis, N. Bassett, W. Perry
1918-1919	C.S. Farris – President; J.N. Jones – Clerk; E.S. Howell; Chas. S. Keller – Treasurer	Mary Mayer, S.T. Copple, Wm. Perry
1920-1921	E.P. Lacey – President; E.G. Dillon – Clerk; J.N. Jones; E.E. Brown – Treasurer	Mary Mayer, S.T. Copple, Wm. Perry
1922-1923	E.P. Lacey – President; E.G. Dillon – Clerk; J.F. Britton; E.E. Brown – Treasurer	Pat Conklin, Jasper Long, Mrs. Geo. Mayer
1923-1924	E.P. Lacey – President; E.G. Dillon – Clerk; J.F. Britton; E.E. Brown – Treasurer	P.H. Caughlin, T.H. Stokely, W.J. Phillips
1926-1927	Fred Holzhausen – President; J.N. Jones – Clerk; J.F. Britton; E.E. Brown – Treasurer	Roy Miselbrook, John A. Edwards, N. Bassett
1928-1929	David Courson – President; Glenn Wells; J.N. Jones; E.E. Brown – Treasurer	Roy Miselbrook, T.H. Stokely, J.A. Edwards
1930-1931	David Courson - President; Chas. Mangner; E.A. Merritt; E.E. Brown – Treasurer	Roy Miselbrook, John A. Edwards, A.N. Copple
1931-1932	David Courson; Chas. Mangner; E.A. Merritt; E.E. Brown - Treasurer	A.N. Copple, Maggie Phillips, Roy Miselbrook
1932-1933	Charles Mangner, Roy Neal, Wm. Chasteen, E.E. Brown - Treasurer	A.N. Copple, Maggie Phillips, Joe Perry
1933-1934	Charles Mangner, Elmer Neal, Wm. Chasteen; E.E. Brown – Treasurer	Mrs. Maggie Phillips, T.H. Stokely, G.O. Perry
1934-1935	Elmer Neal, Edd Heicher, Ervin Hampsten; E.E. Brown – Treasurer	Mrs. Maggie Phillips, Guy Perry, T.H. Stokeley
1935-1936	Fred Holzhausen – President; Ed Heicher; Elmer Neal; E.E. Brown – Twp. Treasurer	Ace Mulvaney – President; F.H. Stokely - Clerk
1936-1937	Fred Holzhausen – President; Ed Heicher, Elmer Neal; E.E. Brown – Twp. Treasurer	Ace Mulvaney – President; Guy Perry – Clerk; Cecil Potter
1937-1938	Arthur Courson, Ed Helcher, Fred Holzhausen, E.E. Brown – Twp. Treasurer	Ace Mulvaney – President; Guy Perry – Clerk; Mrs. Maggie Phillips
1938-1939	Arthur Courson – President; Ed Heicher, Fred Holzhausen, E.E. Brown – Twp. Treasurer	Bert Copple – President; Maggie Phillips – Clerk; Guy Perry
1939-1940	Arthur Courson – President; Fred Holzhausen; Willie Slane; Iris Brown – Twp. Treasurer	A.N. Copple – President; Maggie Phillips – Clerk; Allen Edwards
1940-1941	Arthur Courson – President; Fred Holzhausen; Willie Slane; Iris Brown – Twp. Treasurer	A.N. Copple – President; Mrs. Maggie Phillips – Clerk; Allen Edwards
1941-1942	Arthur Courson – President; Willie Slane; Chas. E. Fogler; Miss Iris Brown – Twp. Treasurer	Allen Edwards – President; Mrs. Maggie Phillips – Clerk; J.H. Lewis
1942-1943	Arthur Courson – President; Charles E. Fogler; Iris Brown – Twp. Treasurer	J.H. Lewis – President; Maggie Phillips – Clerk; Guy Perry
1943-1944	Dewey Combs – President; Chas. E. Fogler; Ira Krutsinger; Iris Brown – Twp. Treasurer	Roy Miselbrook – President; Guy Perry – Clerk; James Lewis
1944-1945	Dewey Combs – President; Chas. E. Fogler; Ira Krutsinger; Iris Brown – Twp. Treasurer	(Vacancy); Guy Perry – Clerk; Ray Miselbrook
1945-1946	Dewey Combs – President; Chas. Fogler; Ira Krutsinger; Mrs. Georgia Soldner – Twp. Treasurer	Roy Miselbrook – President; Hugh Coughlin – Clerk; Al. Edwards
1946-1947	Dewey Combs – President; Ira Krutsinger; Charlie Fogler; Mrs. Georgia Soldner – Twp. Treasurer	Allen Edwards – President; Hugh Coughlin – Clerk; Oga Branson
1947-1948	Dewey Combs – President; Ira Krutsinger; Charlie Fogler; Mrs. Georgia Soldner – Twp. Treasurer	Allen Edwards – President; Hugh Coughlin – Clerk; Oga Branson
1948-1949	Dewey Combs – President; Ira Krutsinger; Charlie Fogler; Mrs. Georgia Soldner – Twp. Treasurer	Allen Edwards – President; Glen V. Schooley – Clerk; Clayton O. Branson
1949-1950	Dewey Combs – President; Ed Dillon; Ira Krutsinger; Mrs. Georgia Soldner – Twp. Treasurer	Allen Edwards – President; Hugh Coughlin – Clerk; Herschel Monical
1950-1951	Dewey Combs – President; Ed Dillon; Ira Krutsinger; Mrs. Georgia Soldner – Twp. Treasurer	Frank Henneman – President; Hugh Coughlin – Clerk; Hershel Monical

(The above information was gathered from Marion County school directories.)

Camp Ground School; Meacham twp., Marion Co, IL; 1895

Salem Times-Commoner - Oct. 22, 1980

“A Bit of History” - (Historical sketches of the Salem area’s past. We welcome your comments and contributions.")

“Camp Ground School” by Estel Smith

The accompanying photograph of Camp Ground School was taken in 1895. The occasion was, most likely, “Last Day of school” of the fall term. School sessions then were normally suspended during severe part of winter, and resumed for about three months in March, appropriately called “spring term” Much of the area of old Camp Ground community is now occupied by Forbes State Park, and the site of the pictured school is inundated by the north end of the lake.

This photo has been with the Craig family, descendants of James Craig who settled in that section in 1837, reported at some length in Brickerhoff’s History of Marion county. Mr. and Mrs. John Craig are in the back row at center, and their children are seated among the tots in the front row. They are Roy, Edna and Everett. No persons in this photo are known to be living in 1980. To date no one has been able to identify the teacher. Some of our older retired teachers might say reflectively, but not in bitterness, that the distinguished looking gentleman at extreme right - with heavy watch chain and union officer’s hat - looks rather too prosperous to have been the teacher.

We do not know how soon after 1837 it was that the Camp Ground people started their wilderness school, when land clearing had only begun and home life was about as primitive as our people ever knew it. It is well known in our history that they were concerned about some “book larnin for the younguns,” starting just as soon as they could get a roof over their families and then raise a school house. Many of them had less formal education than their parents or grandparents, but they were aware of it and they intended for their own descendants to not only close the gap, but to forge ahead.

Today, Fred Hankins of Omega, who has been a discerning observer of local history for most of his 87 years, remembers seeing an abandoned log cabin that was well known then as “Old Camp Ground School.” The “new” school, in above photo, was located a bit to the northeast of it. Around the turn of the century, a third Camp Ground school was built, adjoining the old Booker district in Meacham township. Records in the County Superintendent of Schools office show that Camp Ground School was in session up to 1934 with 32 pupils. The teacher was Fred Mangner, who eventually became a well-known farm advisor, hosting a popular early morning program on radio station KMOX - in the fifties. (DFM note: It was Ted Mangner, not Fred Mangner.)

Whatever the best arguments for or against one room school may be “those of us who have attended both kinds, rural and urban, feel that we lost something that was not entirely improved upon by a five acre parking lot full of yellow buses and hot rods. Here in Salem we have often paraphrased a common tribute to great teachers by saying, “The most effective school of English composition that one could have would be composed of a bright student on one end of a log with Herbert Davis sitting on the other end.” We were not always so lucky as to have had a Herb Davis or a Fred (Ted) Mangner in our one-room schools but we do not recall any who were less dedicated. There was something about having the entire responsibility for the education of a little band of children that brought out the best in these. As for community participation, you could not beat it. Take another look at this eighty-five year old picture!

Camp Ground School; Meacham twp., Marion Co, IL; taken on May Day 1908

Third row: Ed See, Fern Stokely, Hazel See and baby sister (Eva), Rose Farthing - teacher, Leona Pugh, Dosh Stokely

Second row: Bessie Stokes, Grace Stokes, Georgia Pugh, Mary Wantland, Monna Ayers, Dorothy Wantland, Minnie Pugh

Front row: John See, Fred Collier, Steven Stokely, Clay Simer, Everett Ayers, Frank Simer

Camp Ground School; Meacham twp., Marion Co, IL; District #15; Possibly family picnic photo

Camp Ground School; Meacham twp., Marion Co, IL; District #15

Camp Ground School; Meacham twp., Marion Co, IL; Lucille Hays - teacher; 1939

Back Row: James Lewis, Thomas Edwards, John Smith, Cleta Mulvaney, Lucille Hays - teacher, Velma (Edwards) Wilkinson, Margaret Potter, Ruth Mulvaney.

Middle Row: Robert Fenton, Ross Mulvaney, Leo Mulvaney, Tom Potter, Ila Mae Edwards.

Camp Ground School; Meacham twp., Marion Co, IL; Velma (Edwards) Wilkinson - teacher; 1945-46

Larry Coufhlin, Roy Mulvaney, James Luceis, Henry Edwards, Billy Pat Coufhlin, Edward Monical, Billy Harris, Betty Simer

Camp Ground School; Meacham twp., Marion Co, IL; Velma (Edwards) Wilkinson - teacher; 1946-47