NEGenWeb Project

PLATTE COUNTY, NEBRASKA SCHOOLS
COLUMBUS TOWNSHIP

NOTE: Approximate locations of the Columbus Township school districts can be found on the standard township map. Columbus Township is located in Township 17 North, Range 1 West and Range 1 East (T17N, R1W and T17N, R1E) and a small part of Township 16 North, Range 1 West and Range 1 East (T16N, R1W and T16N, R1E). Please refer to the township map on the first page for more detail. Section numbers (S) are given as a reference point only and are as found in the 1899 Atlas. In some cases, the buildings were moved or a new building constructed nearby which may have resulted in the school locating in a different section.
District No. 1 (T17N, R1W; R1E) - (in the City of Columbus) organized March 5, 1860. Boundaries were established May, 1869.

School Report - Roll of Honor (Columbus Journal, June 10, 1885):

School Report (June 10, 1885): 

	Dep’t		      Enroll-	    Average		Percent of
			       ment 	Daily attendance	attendance
	High school		22		21		   95
	Mrs. Brindley’s		19		15		   79
	Miss Martin’s		28		22		   78
	Miss Mullen’s		26		22		   85
	Mrs. Ballou’s		66		60		   91
	Mr. Tedrow’s		41		37		   90
	Miss McGath’s		43		37		   86
	Miss Bauer’s		32		29		   90
	Mrs. Brindley’s		65		59		   91
	Total			342		302		   88

Roll of Honor (Columbus Journal Mar. 8, 1893, pg 2)

Graduates of Columbus High School

Early teachers (1901/1902):

Supt. W. M. Kern, H. Britell, W. E. Weaver, Miss Graham, Mrs. U. S. Mace, Miss E. A. Sheehan, Miss E. Segelke, J. J. Dodds, Miss C. D. Parks, Miss Anna Hohen, Miss Alice Luth, M. M. Rothleitner, Miss Nellie Lynch, Mrs. E. W. Glidden, Miss Madge Cushing, Mrs. S. A. Brindley, Miss Alice Watkins, Miss Pearl Mosgrove, E. A. Garlichs (Music)

Early board members:

District No. 1 remains open.

District No. 3 (S9, T17N, R1W) - Organized in May 1869.

According to the March 5, 1886 Columbus Democrat, during February there were 25 pupils enrolled with an average daily attendance of 22. Zetta Dowty, Teacher.

Early teacher: Miss May Rossiter (1901/1902)

Early board members:

1916-1933 - Names of students and their ages
1934-1943 - Names of students and their ages

District was dissolved July 1, 1995.

District No. 5 (S34, T17N, R1W) - Organized June 1869.

Early teacher: Miss Emma Bean (1901/1902)

Early board members:

1916-1933 - Names of students and their ages
1934-1943 - Names of students and their ages

District dissolved and became a part of Columbus City Schools (District No. 1) on July 1, 1968.

District No. 9 (S22, T17N, R1E) - "Platte Valley" was organized June 1869.

According to the March 5, 1886 Columbus Democrat, during February there were 11 pupils enrolled with an average daily attendance of 8. Fred M. Hess, Teacher.

Early teacher: Miss Bertha Schupbach (1901/1902)

Early board members:

The Columbus Journal, March 26, 1884
Report for the month ending March 20th, 1884.
The seventh month of the present term closed as above, with the following pupils in attendance: Mary Reinke, Annie Ahrens, Maggie Reinke, Maggie Billing, Rosa Rickert, Lizzie Rickert, Louisa Dicke, Agnes Runge, Emma Runge, Gusta Shaltz, Lydia Hill, Rosa Hill, George Hengler, Anthony Hengler, David Lusche, Herman Ahrens, Adolph Rickert, Rudolph Rickert, Sam. Reinke, Julius Held, Richard Held, Gustov Tondel, Henry Luckey, Wm. Lusche, Herman Shultz and Louis Heible. Number in attendance during month, males 14; females 12. Average attendance, males 12; females 10. Per cent of attendance, males 94; females 91.

District No. 9 merged with Lakeview High School as a Class III District on June 1, 1997.

District No. 44 (S11, T17N, R1E) - Organized on February 9, 1875 on petitions from Districts 2 and 9.

Early teacher: Miss Emma Ella Byrnes (1901/1902)

Early board members:

The Columbus Journal, April 23, 1884
ED. JOURNAL:--The winter term of school district 44 closed Thursday, April 10th. The forenoon was passed in regular routine of studies. After lunch the following program was carried out: Recitation by Willie Berning, entitled, Little Birds; Willie Engel, My Pussy; Lizzie Birming, Pussy; Frank Dishner, The Wind; Thomas Dishner, The Voice of the Grass; Annie Engel, Six Little Rabbits; Eva Drinnin, The Little Pets; Agnes Quinn, Memory's Wall; Eliza Drinnin, Little Hal; Victoria Compton, The Still Night; Sammy Drinnin, Dirty Jack; Lidda Killoran, Lockinvar; Geo. Drinnin, Do Your Best; Lizzie Compton, When I was a Child; Geo. Engel, What the Wind Brings; Annie Quinn, The Polish Boy. Our teacher then directed us to pack up our books, which was quickly done, and after candy and peanuts had been passed around, we voted him the best teacher in America.

District dissolved April 30, 1969.

District No. 71 (S2, T17N, R1W) - Formed September 26, 1885 from District No. 12.

Early teacher: Miss Lillian Keating (1901/1902)

Early board members:

The District was dissolved January 1, 1949.

District No. 80 (S5, T17N, R1E) - School District No. 80 was formed on March 4, 1912. Territory was detached from the School District of the City of Columbus, District No. 1.

Early board members:

The District was dissolved March 1, 1968.

District No. 82 (S__, T17N, R1W) - On October 28, 1929, territory was detached from School District No. 1 and erected into new School District No. 82.

Early board members:

District was dissolved and attached to District No. 1 on July 1, 1968.

St. Bonaventure Catholic School -Selected information was transcribed from St. Bonaventure - Our Parish 100 Years (1877-1977)

Saint Bonaventure's school was started in early August 1878. It was a brick building 27 by 53 feet, which was a two and one-half story ediface with dormer windows, giving it the appearance of a three story structure. On the east there were four large class rooms, 21 by 27 feet, two on the first floor and two on the second, ample space for three hundred pupils. The other rooms served as a residence for the Sisters.

On November 4, 1878, the new school opened with eighty enrolled. At first, it was non-denominational, with catechism taught to Catholic students before and after school classes. Quite a number of non-Catholic students were among its first pupils.

The first Sisters in charge of the new school were the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis of Mary Immaculate of Joliet, Illinois.

On September 1, 1879, the school became a select school, affording pupils, whose attinments in the common branches were moderately good, the advantages of a higher course. These sisters turned over the school in 1882, to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, whose headquarters are in Olpe, Germany, and the American Mother-house in Lafayette, Indiana.

Because of the crowded condition of the school and a desire to care for the unexpectedly large demand for board and room from girl students, an addition was built to the west, 26 by 50 feet, in 1883. The laundry north of the house was built at the same time. Higher education was also the aim of the Sisters. Heretofore the classes conducted were chiefly on elementary subjects ranging from the primer to the eighth grade.

On completion of the new wing in January, 1884, the Saint Francis Academy made its appearance. Another room was added for the ninth and tenth grades, making a total of three rooms for classes. Room for a chapel was left over the present parlor and when it was properly arranged for divine services the first Holy Mass was celebtrated October 30, 1884.

Due to scarcity of building funds, no doubt, and probably because the work could be done easily, a spacious basement had been fitted out as the school's kitchen and dining rooms. In the spring of 1886 heavy rains caused the water to rise in most parts of the basement and compelled the Sisters and children to seek refuge in other quarters. A class room was drafted for service, and into this crowded space a kitchen and dining rooms were managed. The new addition provided for four class rooms, two on the first floor and two on the second. One of these class rooms was utilized as a boys' dormitory. The low third story was made into a girls' dormitory. See St. Francis Academy as it appeared in 1886, with faculty, boarders and visiting Mother Foundress of the sisters.

In 1890, more room was still needed and the southwest wing was built. The first floor provided space for the girls' dining room, and the second was equipped with folding single seats which could easily be taken up and the room turned into an auditorium. The third floor was then converted into the Sisters' sleeping quarters.

The first class finishing the tenth grade and literary course was graduated June 24, 1895. It included the following students: Marie Kyle, Rose Flynn, Mamie English, Kate Flynn and Anna Gietzen. Kittie Kavanaugh, also a member of this class, died a few weeks before graduation. Miss English received a special diploma in music.

Sister Josepha, the superior of the Academy, decided that the room which had been used for the chapel was entirely too small and unfit for such a purpose and accordingly plans were made for the building of the north wing, comprising the boys' dining room, the vistor's dining room and the sewing room on the first floor: the second floor was used entirely for the chapel.

On February 8, 1900, amidst a severe blizzard, the first High Mass was celectrated in the new chapel.

In 1900 the Academy had sixty-four children as boarders and a total of two-hundred and fifty pupils, as compared with thirty-four boarders and eighty-five pupils in 1883. In the spring, 1909, a new three story building, almost as large as the old buildings, were erected on the west side. There was a one-story addition on the north which served as a kitchen, bakery, and pantry. The building fronted south and although appearing separate and distinct was joined to the old buildings. The first floor served as a girls' dining room and the top floor as a girls' dormitory, the middle floor was equipped with all the essentials of a modern auditorium.

Mr. Charles Wurdeman, the architect, made the structure resemble the mission style, although in general outline it conforms with the older buildings. The old dining room was divided into sound proof music rooms and other areas were also remoded. It was the aim to remove the musical department as much as possible from the schools rooms, and study hall. By 1910 the course of sutdy met the essetnal requirements as prescribed by the State Course of Study. Music, piano and violin--harmony and technique; art, china painting, water color, oil painting and pastel were optional subjects. It was regarded as an exceptionally high sclass girls' finishing school.

In September 1913, the congested condition of the school was relieved by the withdrawl of seventy Polish pupils to attend the new Saint Anthony's parochial school.

Defective wiring caused a dangerous fire in the old building two years later. The children were all marched out without accident but the fire spread from the old building along the roof to the chapel. Although the firemen were on hand soon after the alarm, the walls of the beautiful chapel were smoke damaged, and the paintings destroyed. The Blessed Sacrament had been removed, the sacred vestments and the altar linens bundled up and taken out. The pews, some windows and the altars and statues at the extreme north end escaped damage. The walls below, however, were weakened and the basement flooded.

Ten years later the parish bought the Saint Francis Academy buildings from the Sisters and the name was changed to Saint Bonaventure's School. It was a free school with eight elementary grades and four years of High School and with a Commercial course. Five class rooms for the high school replaced the girls' dormitory on the third floor by 1929.

June 26, 1950 at 7:30 the first spade of earth was turned for the new grade school, social hall, and Convent, the beginning of the largest building project that Saint Bonaventure's had ever undertaken. The outside dimensions of the steam heated school are 244 feet by 56 feet with classrooms 22 feet by 30 feet approximately 15,000 square feet. The classrooms, which accommodate 35 pupils, are located on the north and south sides, six to each side. The exterior of the school, one story in height, is brick with a flat overhanging roof. Included in the school are three music rooms, teachers' lounge, restrooms, nurse's room and office. The social hall faces Sixteenth Avenue. The combination cafeteria and social hall is a separate structure closely connected to the school itself.

In 1965, St. Bonaventure parish joined with St. Anthony and St. Isadore of Columbus, St. Marys and St. Augustine of Schuyler, St. Stanislaus of Duncan, St. Lawrence of Silver Creek, St. Rose of Lima of Genoa and St. Joseph of Platte Center to form Scotus Central Catholic Junior and Senior High school.

Immanuel Lutheran School - Immanuel Lutheran parochial school was founded in 1893 by Pastor Miessler and taught by him for the first three years. In 1896, Mr. M. Miller was called as the first teacher and remained until 1898. He was succeeded by Mr. Ed Gradoske who retained that position until the school was disbanded in 1901.

In 1901 the members living in the country north of the city organized a school district, and built a school more convenient for the children of the congregation in that area. The school was located five miles north of Columbus, at what is now the northeast corner of 83rd Street and 33rd Avenue.

In 1912, the city school was reopened under Teacher L. Rewinkel, who taught until 1917. The number of pupils increased and the school was enlarged and a second teacher, Miss Adele Miessler, taught from 1914 to 1916. In 1917-18, Mr. E. Marty had charge of the entire school. In 1918, Mr. William C. Pozehl, who had just graduated from Concordia College at Seward, was called and served as principal for 30 years, when he accepted a call to Battle Creek, Nebraska.

In 1939, because the Loup Power District purchased the land across the road from the school for Lake Babcock, the school was closed and consolidated with the city school.

Up until 1917, all classes had been conducted in German. The grades in the school had always been grades one through eight, until 1963 when a kindergarten was started. Pre-school classes were started in 1982.

Early teachers at Columbus:
Early teachers at rural school: Early principals:

Immanuel Lutheran school remains open.

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