The first schoolhouse was built in Clay County in 1864 near Lincoln Creek on what was then government land. It was part of Davis County, with the boundary being established in 1867.
The log cabin was nearly complete, resident Samuel Allen filed for the acreage in Junction City, the then-residing courthouse at the time. This act claimed the school as Allen’s own property. (It’s unknown whether this was an accident or done nefariously.)
Another log cabin was purchased for use by a local for the education of 15 original students in 1865. At some point the district was named Lower Lincoln; it became the first of 99 districts across the county.
A year later controversy arose as Geary County was charging taxes of Clay residents, prompting them to file with the state, establishing Clay County as its own entity.
In 1867 the first school district of Clay County was organized as Lincoln Creek/Lower Lincoln School, located east of Broughton and 16th Roads.
In 1878, a stone school house was build on land donated by George Neill. The location was used until 1952. The location was formally disorganized, territory being split between Broughton and Clay Center. Though now deteriorated, the school house still sits there today. It is privately owned.
By 1881, 84 schoolhouses and 145 teachers existed in the county, split up among 95 school districts. (Later there would be four more).
Once towns open in town, curriculum remained the same, focusing on reading, arithmetic, spelling, writing, English, history, geography, Kansas history, agriculture, physiology, and drawing at each location. However, county students attended for eight months out of the year, while town students went for nine.
Lower Lincoln cost just $50 while the last took $25,000 ($986 and around $334,000 today). In addition, the county’s population went from just 24 to 5,000 in 16 years. That same timespan took school property value from the original $50 to $90,000 in school property (more than $3.1 million).
Research via Susan Hammond
