Pioneer Prairie Learning: 50 One Room Schools in the Kansas Flinthills

At one time the eight Kansas counties represented in this book contained more than 650 one room schools, and the 50 included in the book are among the best and most interesting of those that can still be found. The last of these one room schools closed in the mid-1960’s.

The photos in the book were taken during a period when long distance travel was discouraged because of the COVID-19 pandemic (April—August 2020); all of the schools were photographed in their original surroundings. Some of the schools are privately owned and currently being used for storage, residential housing or merely sit vacant; others are owned by the township or local historical society and continue to serve as community centers. A few are accessible by hardtop roads but most are found on dirt or gravel roads--some of which are rarely used one-lane roads.

Many of the descriptions in the book include text-boxes containing comments of students who attended one room schools in the Kansas Flint Hills or teachers who taught at them. These comments are intended to give the reader a sense of how it was to teach or learn in a one room school located in the Kansas Flint Hills.