Jewell County's first school formed in 1871

Ionia High School

It was early in the history of Jewell County, Jan. 28, 1871, that the county's first school district was formed. Citizens met at the county clerk's office in Jewell City and formed District No.1, Jewell City.

From that beginning, the county eventually made provision for some 165 school districts. The idea being students wouldn't have to go far from home to receive an education. By 1877, there were 125 districts formed. Jeri Shute and Erma Dillon's book Prairie Jewels tells the stories of some 170 different schools in Jewell County.

Some districts remained as "common" schools or those providing an eighth-grade education. Some districts, like Athens, were formed specifically to be a high school. Some districts, Ionia No. 3 for example, evolved slowly into a four-year high school. First a one-year high school, then two years, then three years before becoming an institution with a four-year curriculum.

During Jewell County's history, there have been 15 high schools: Athens, Burr Oak, Esbon, Formoso, Ionia, Jewell, Lovewell, Mankato, Montrose, North Branch Academy, Otego, Randall, Rock Hills, Webber and White Rock. This article looks briefly at the history of Ionia High School.

Dorothy Henningsen Borger, Wanda Alcorn Thummel and Marion "Roger" Fedde are the authors of the definitive work on the Ionia High School; History of Ionia Rural High School, District #3, Ionia Township, Jewell County, Kansas (2011). The trio also have authored History of the Country Schools in Ionia Township, Jewell County, Kansas (2008) and History of Ionia Grade School, District #8, Ionia Township, Jewell County, Kansas (2010). This article relies heavily on their research for the history of Ionia High School. Readers should peruse their works to find the details and depth this article will not present.

Ionia High School had its roots in the 1906-1907 school year when the principal, W. D. McClure, taught ninth grade classes. According to the April 4, 1907 Ionia Monitor, a class of six was to graduate on April 19 with E. D. George as the commencement speaker.

The high school remained a one-year program until the 1912-1913 school year when students were offered two years of high school. Mr. J. W. Langley taught the eighth, ninth and tenth grades. Two years were again taught in 1913-1914. This allowed Verda Marie Hayman to come back to school and earn a two-year diploma to go with her 1911 one year-diploma.

This was not uncommon, when grades were added to the curriculum, students returned to school. If successful, they earned yet another diploma. Verda Marie Hayman Alcorn was the mother of the Ionia School History book's author, Wanda Alcorn Thummel.

There was an unsuccessful attempt at a three-year high school in 1915-1916. The two-year curriculum continued until 1919-1920 when the Ionia High School offered three years of instruction. This was followed the next year, 1920-1921, with a four-year curriculum being offered.

The Ionia High School had come of age. That spring, Friday, May 13, 1921, saw nine members of the Class of 1921 graduate from Ionia High School. The event, held in the Ionia Opera House was "well attended." Bernta Dusenbery was valedictorian.

The next year, 1921-1922, was another milestone. The high school had four teachers, was designated at Ionia Rural High School District No.3. Enrollment increased. That spring the Class of 1921 was the first to graduate from Ionia Rural High School.

In reviewing the 2011 Directory of Jewell County High School's Alumni by Karen Ross, we discover some 322 graduates matriculating from Ionia High School's four year curriculum. The first class, the Class of 1921, had nine members as did the last class, the Class of 1960. The largest class was the Class of 1925 with 15 members. Two classes, the Class of 1945 and the Class of 1951, each had only one graduate.

With 322 graduates, only a few can be identified by name. One name, however is regularly mentioned when talking with those connected to Ionia schools. Miss Vera Marietta. According to Prairie Jewels and newspaper clippings, she had at least a 36-year teaching career in Jewell County. (It is thought she also taught at least one year in Wichita.) Twenty-four of those years were educating the students of Ionia. She, herself, graduated from IHS with the Class of 1925.

"Ionia roots are real strong!" said Doris Aronis Kirgis (Beloit). She graduated with the Class of 1949 and reports the class has two other living members. Wanda Alcorn Thummel (Esbon), one of the authors of the Ionia School history books, and Joan Simmelink White. She also recalls "Everybody went to Ionia on Saturday night." There the men played cards, the women gathered at the grocery store to talk and the youngsters played outside.

Kathleen Loomis Little and Marion Roger Fedde, members of Ionia's Class of 1953, still live locally. Little in Jewell and Fedde on the family farm just west of Ionia. Both have fond memories of Ionia, the friends they knew and the teachers they had.

Roger Fedde, as did his older brother Ernest, only went to Ionia schools. Living a scant half mile west of the school, Fedde "walked" to school. Both Ernest Fedde and Roger Fedde agreed, "school wasn't called off" for snow!

Little started to school at Ash Creek No. 54 just two miles east of Ionia. She walked or rode a horse but if "the weather was bad" her dad would take her. Her family moved to town during her second-grade year and she completed the rest of her school years in Ionia.

Nancy Bartley Nitsch was one of the members of the last class to graduate from Ionia – the Class of 1960. As she remembers it, "Our class closed the school down!" The group of nine was "so glad to graduate from Ionia" though "sorry" for the class behind them that would not. Echoing the sentiments of Kirgis, Nitsch said. "We loved Ionia."

Doyle "Hooley" Alcorn is a well-known Jewell Countian who graduated from Ionia High School – 78 years ago – in 1943. With the exception of his stint in the U.S. Army during WWII, he has been a resident of the county. A collector of memorabilia, Hooley still has his "I" – he lettered four years in football and three years in basketball at Ionia High School.

Not only does he have the "I", he has the certificate that went with it as well as the program from the banquet. Readers will need to visit with Alcorn to learn why he missed his senior year of basketball. This writer isn't telling.

Though Alcorn graduated 78 years ago, he is not the oldest living graduate of Ionia High. That distinction goes to Ernest Fedde. Actually, Benjamin Ernest Fedde, as his dad was also a Benjamin, he was either Ernest or "Little Ben." Fedde now lives in Arkansas.

Fedde was "young" when he started to school. His mother, Mary Dauber Fedde, took him to the Jewell County superintendent of schools sometime before the school year started. He remembers she had him "count and say some ABC's." He went to school and had no trouble graduating with the Class of 1942 those 79 years ago. Like Alcorn, he played football, basketball and baseball.

Fedde also recalled "a stunt" he and a few others pulled. It was a "nice" spring day. One good for a baseball game. Fedde and his friends went to the principal's office and pretending to be the principal, they asked Athens to come up for a baseball game.

The Athens school's arrival was the first the Ionia principal knew about what was going on. But Fred Dicker came to umpire and the game was played afterwards. The culprits got a "real talking to" according to Fedde.

The graduation ceremony for both Alcorn and Fedde was held in the Bertna Theater, in the Dusenbery Mercantile building in Ionia. Where they graduated is not the only connection between the two. On the Ionia baseball team, Fedde was the pitcher and Alcorn the catcher.

Incidentally, the Bertna Theater was named for the Dusenbery's daughter, Bertna. She was the first valedictorian in the history of Ionia High School.

There are many more Ionia High School graduates with many more stories. Many more tales about practicing basketball outside on a dirt court or going to Jewell for a "good practice," memories of 6-man football, playing tennis – nobody at Ionia had "tennis whites" and putting on roller skates and rolling down the hill on the sidewalk toward town.

There are still Ionia High School graduates, the Ionia Alumni still meets and those alums are proud to have been Ionia Trojans in Black and Gold! Ionia roots really are "real strong."