School for children has changed a lot from what you experience now! When settlers first came to Hancock County they didn’t attend big schools, but instead were all taught – no matter what age or grade – in a single classroom. The boys sat on one side and the girls on the other with the youngest children in the front seats and the oldest in the back.

 

You can experience what school life was like for kids in the 1800s, and in to the early 1900s, by visiting the Little Red Schoolhouse, right by the Hancock County History Mural! The Hancock Historical Museum now owns and operates the schoolhouse, but it was originally built in 1864 in Marion Township and was designated as No. 7. The schoolhouse was used for 72 years to educate the children living on area farms. It was used for grain storage by the Wisely family, before they gave it to the Hancock Historical Museum and Hancock County Retired Teachers, who restored it and opened it for tours. It is now open during Open Houses and for field trips!

 

Eventually the idea of something called centralization became popular, meaning all the students from one-room schoolhouses would go to one larger school in their area.  This was the start of our local school districts - Findlay, Liberty-Benton, Van Buren, Arcadia, Arlington, Cory-Rawson, McComb, Riverdale, and Vanlue.  Each of these schools have a long and rich history with one-room schoolhouses being the beginning!