Athens Rural High School - District No. 164

Athens Rural High School was truly one-of-a-kind. No town, just a township seeking to have a high school for their students. It was organized by the citizens of Athens Township, independent of any other district and was not connected with any other township.

There was no town of Athens at the time the school was organized. There had been a community developed around the Athens Post Office in the late 1800s but that did not last. The post office was discontinued Aug. 31, 1901. The township, community and post office had been named for the ancient Greek capital, Athens. The high school would also carry the name.

It is not known when talk of a high school began. Perhaps sometime in the early 1910s. The first mention of high school that has been discovered was in the April 16, 1915, Jewell County Republican. An item reported "Rus Jordan was circulating a petition in this neighborhood Tuesday for a township high school in Athens Township." From that point the process of organizing a high school began to unfold.

Just two weeks later, the April 30, 1915, Jewell County Republican informed readers about a meeting in Athens Township at the Columbia school house. "A lively meeting but no decisions." Miss Lula Coyner, the county superintendent, was one of those in attendance.

Three weeks later the petitions for organizing the high school were presented to the Jewell County Commissioners. The commissioners responded by setting a date, June 15, 1915, for the election. June 18, 1915, was also set aside for canvassing the ballots. This according to the May 21, 1915, Jewell County Republican.

The election was held and when the votes were canvassed, the results were 69 in favor of building a high school and 33 against. The measure carried. The Aug. 6, 1915, Western Advocate reported W. L. Palmer had been paid six dollars to print the ballots for the election. Importantly, the September 1915, Jewell County Monitor reported the first school board was Edwin J. Kent, Fred Beeler and H. J. Kennedy.

Kent had come to Athens township with his family in 1872 when he was not yet three. His parents, John W. and Celestia Ann Termain Kent, homesteaded the NW 1⁄4 of Section 9 of Athens Township. The southwest corner of the intersection of today's F Road and 90 Road.

The couple had been married in Ogden, Kan., before moving to Minneapolis, Kan., with their first four children. After coming to Athens Township, three more children were born into the family. Harmony District No. 72, just west and south of the family homestead, was where the children, including Edwin, attended school.

E. J., as he was called, also attended Grellette Academy near Glen Elder. The academy, connected with the Friends Church, was in existence as early as 1888. Kent also attended a business school at Stansbury, Mo. With this much emphasis on education, it seems reasonable for him to work toward having a high school nearby for his daughter to attend. His only child, daughter Ethel, graduated from Athens High School in 1922.

Fred Beeler was born in Athens Township in 1879. His parents, Frederick and Elisa Scott Beeler, were some of the first Athens Township settlers. They received their land patent on Sept. 15, 1871, for the SW 1⁄4 of Section 8 in Athens Township. Today this would be at the intersection of E Road and 80 Road.

Fred Beeler was also well educated for the time. According to announcement of his marriage to Mildred Cornelia Nixon, he had "graduated from Salina" and then attended Emporia for two years. The Beeler Family was a wealthy, well-known and respected family in the area.

Beeler was the first treasurer for the Athens School Board but he did not remain in Athens township. He moved to Jewell around 1925 and was involved in banking. None of his children would graduate from Athens High School.

H. J. (Henry James) Kennedy or the Rev. Kennedy as he was known in much of Jewell County. Though he was not an early settler in the county, having not arrived until around 1900, he ministered in several churches. He held pastorates in Esbon, Jewell, Randall, Ionia and Mayview plus Glen Elder in Mitchell County. He lived on his farm in Athens Township most of the time until his death in 1941. Two of his children, Esther and Frank, would graduate from Athens.

The board went to work quickly and it was reported in the Jewell County Republican's May 6, 1916, issue they were "ready to receive bids."

An interesting sidelight was reported by the May 25, 1916, Esbon Times. An article indicated Ionia Township wished to join in with Athens Township in establishing a high school. The Rev. Kennedy, school board director, explained in the article it was not possible. The school board had already taken office and the process had progressed too far for another township to join in. According to Kennedy "it would take a special act of the legislature" for Ionia to join the process. An intriguing "What if"? nevertheless.

The school was built over the fall, winter and spring of 1916-1917 with Malsbury and Bliss having the contract. (July 7, 1916 Western Advocate). It was located in the SW1/4 of the SW1/4 of Section 15 of Athens Township, or the northeast corner of the intersection of 100 Road and D Road. By August, newspapers were reporting the school would be open and a dedication would be held on Sept. 1, 1917.

A "large crowd" attended the dedication. There was "lots of dinner and fine ice cream." The building was described as "30 by 56 feet" and had a "four-room basement fitted with a modern furnace." There were "large school rooms seated with chairs" and everything "looks fine." A "substantial" 12 horse barn was also on the grounds. (The Jewell County Republican, Sept. 17 1917)

The Jewell County superintendent reported the school offered "four years of work and had 20 students." (The New Era (Formoso) Oct. 25, 1917) The next day, the Jewell County Republican carried the news Athens Rural High School was accredited.

Esther Lucille Kennedy, daughter of school board member H. J. Kennedy, was the first of what would be 180 graduates of Athens Rural High School. She graduated as the only member of the Class of 1918. The last class was the Class of 1943 with six members. The largest class, the Class of 1939, had 17 members.

Appropriately named in Greek, the first annual was 1920s "The Alpha." (Alpha being the first letter of the Greek alphabet.) From that publication it is known the school colors were purple and gold with the white carnation being the school flower. The mascot was the Spartans and the school motto "Excelsior" from Latin, meaning "higher."

After "The Alpha", subsequent annuals were called "The Athenian." Mankato's Alethia Loomis, who graduated with the Class of 1939, was asked about the motto, colors and flower. She noted the school had them but each class also had their own motto, colors and flower.

Alethia Rannebeck Loomis, a couple of months shy of 102 years of age, is the only living graduate of Athens Rural High School. She grew up, not in Jewell County, but in the Dispatch area of eastern Smith County.

According to Loomis, when the Athens school population began to decline, the Athens School Board came to the 1935 Dispatch annual picnic. They approached the Dispatch area parents with the idea of transporting area students, by bus, to Athens High School.

With parents facing the economic hard times of the 1930s, the offer of transportation for their children was one that was not refused. Loomis was delighted with the proposal as it meant she could go to high school. She had already graduated from eighth grade. Her parents thought she was too young not to be in school so she "reviewed" the eight grade the next year.

However, there was just no place for her to go to high school, the existing high schools were just too far away. She was not able to attend high school until the Athens board presented the idea of a bus. Riding the bus for four years, Loomis graduated from Athens High School with the Class of 1939, the largest class in the school's history. She also took the normal training course offered at the school. The course qualified her to teach in the area "country" schools. She did just that for five years.

George Nyhoff built the bus that opened up the opportunity for the Dispatch area students to attend high school. He was also the driver. Loomis described the bus as "a box on a chassis."

The route was about 50 miles in the morning and 50 miles in the evening. Annuals refer to "Our Bus" and "The Bus" – it was an important part of Athens High School from 1935 until the school closed in 1943. Without it, students couldn't have gotten to school. Without it, the school would have closed several years earlier.

Benches were on each side and one down the middle of the bus. No heat. Loomis remembers how cold they were. "We were cold waiting for the bus, then we were cold on the bus." The hot air from the engine was funneled under the middle bench. "Everyone wanted to sit there!" said Loomis. The girls wore their overalls over their dresses to try to keep warm. The overalls came off as soon as they got to school.

In the early history of the school, the Ionia Independent reported Athens High School would be having "Literary Nights" every other Friday evening. It also related the Fall Festival was "well attended." The final item in the article was about basketball. The "goals were up" and it was hoped the team would play other local teams.

Basketball was to be an important part of the school's history and would stay in memories of those who know about the school. Loomis recalls "We all took our lunch in tin buckets. The boys would eat theirs fast and go play basketball."

Athens, though small, was often a contender in the Jewell County Basketball Tournament. This was at a time when there were from 10 to 12 high schools in the county.

Basketball at Athens was an outside sport. The court was dirt. Most are familiar with sweeping a basketball court at half-time. Not this court. This was a court that was scooped when it snowed.

According to Doyle "Hooley" Alcorn of Mankato, "There were no home games." Those were played at Jewell. But the team sometimes "practiced at night. The team just "used car lights."

With all of that, in 1923 Athens High School won the Jewell County Basketball Tournament. Walter Holloway was one of the team members. His son, Leon Holloway of Texas, remembers "Yes, Dad talked about the team." Holloway also remembers hearing of a blizzard that stopped the trains and kept the team from playing in a tournament in Hays.

Other members of the 1923 team were: Curtis Folsom, Dalton Muck, Glenn Sorrell, Corwin Sorrell and Glenn Kuiken.

Athens High School again won the Jewell County Tournament in 1931. Coached by Walter Kuiken, team members were: Gordon "Jack" Alcorn, Phillip Applebee, Clomer Sipe, Dick Birdsell, Garrett "Ikey" Phillips, Donald Christenson, and Arnold Rose. "Yes, Grandpa Arnold played on that team." said Rod Rose of Ionia.

In 1933, the team was coached by Dalton Muck. He was a member of the 1923 team and had graduated from Athens High School. The '33 team didn't win the county tournament. They took second place. But they were "pretty good" and one of five teams invited to take part in the 1933 Class B State Basketball Tournament.

Wanda Alcorn Thummel of Esbon, had two cousins on the team. Dallas Rarick, who spent his working life in Denver but in retirement returned to Jewell County. The other cousin was Gordon Alcorn. "Oh, how he loved basketball," she said. Hooley Alcorn also remembers his older brother, Gordon, loving the game. Alcorn still has a picture of his brother dribbling a basketball on Athens High School's dirt court.

Brothers, Harold and Cecil McClure, were part of the team. "I played the bench," is the first thing John McClure of Osborne, recalls his father, Harold saying about the team. He also recalls hearing about the tournament. John McClure explained, "They were country kids." When an opposing player "almost had to duck" coming into the gym, "they just got shook."

The team was defeated in the first round by three points by Belle Plaine. But McClure remembers being told "We looked at each other and said, 'We came here to play!'"

The team from the truly rural high school with fewer than 40 students, pulled themselves together and went on to win first place in the consolation bracket by defeating Erie 23 to 13. As they represented no town, it is recorded they won for "the southwest corner of Jewell County."

A 2001 Jewell County Record article notes there was no "All Tournament Team" but there was an "Honor Roll of Players." The players were selected "on account of their ability, their clean playing and their sportsmanship." Gayle Applebee (center) and Don Christensen (guard) were both on the "Honor Roll."

There are four places the names of the team members are recorded: on the back of the Second-Place 1933 Jewell County Basketball Tournament trophy, on the back of the plaque for participating in the 1933 Class B Elimination Tournament, on the back of the 1933 State Tournament Class B Consolation Bracket, and the picture that was in the newspaper. Those lists don't contain the same names.

Why? "I can't answer that," said Alcorn. The 2001 article had no answer either. The following alphabetical list of players includes all names from all four sources.

Gordon Alcorn, Gail Applebee, Phil Applebee, Kenneth Borger, Don Christenson, Donald Coffield, Lloyd Dean, Harold McClure, Cecil McClure and Dallas Rarick. Dalton Muck was the coach and Herman Crites was the mascot.

When the war years came around, Athens High School, as well as the others schools in Jewell County, was hard pressed to find teachers. There were just none to be found. They were in the Armed Forces, or in factories or keeping farms running. That, with the declining enrollment, brought about the end of Athens Rural High School, a unique part of the history of Jewell County.

The last class, the Class of 1943, had six students. Dale Birdsell, Wilma Fenner, Norma Jean Finley Jay Wesley Sample, Jerry Watson and Ray Wierenga were the last of the 180 students to receive a diploma from Athens Rural High School. Today all that remains is a stone memorial at the corner of Jewell County's 100 Road and D Road.