On our trek to the family Thanksgiving feast on Thursday, I happened upon an old, abandoned school building. As a life long educator, school buildings of any kind pique my interest, but I am particularly drawn to those buildings no longer being used for education.
Normally, in Iowa, we come across the little white one room country schools. In the 1950's, most of the country schools merged with neighboring community schools and the rural students began attending school in town. Many of the buildings became township gathering halls. Some were converted to houses or storage buildings. Many were simply no longer used. Thursday's find was unique. A former country school that was three stories made of brick and mortar construction. Over grown with trees, it was sitting in the middle off a plowed field. The building was fitting of a low grade horror movie. Its panes of glass were all broken, but the window frames and cross pieces were still intact. The cement steps leading to the entry way were covered in leaves, but were in near perfect condition.
Although dilapidated, some of the architectural beauty remained. As I took pictures and wandered around the overgrown school grounds, the sounds of school bells, and children's voices filled my head. It was easy to imagine a playground and even a ball diamond. It is times like these that I wished I could time travel, if only in my mind, back to a point where the old school was a living entity.
