The township of Idana was founded in 1882 when two land owners combined the names of their wives, Ida Howland and Anna Broughton, to the portmanteau title of Idana. The women were sisters, and the latter the wife of William Broughton, the namesake of the now-extinct town south of Clay Center; Idana is located 6.5 miles west of the county seat.
It was platted by Captain JA Meek, a founding father of the area, who included two additions in 1885.
The same year, a nearby Post Office was moved to town, which was operational until 1980. By 1900 the town had a population of 200 and consisted of multiple businesses, like a bank, general store, restaurant, barber shop, phone exchange, hotel, meat market, lumber yard, picture show, and more. Population peaked in 1907 when it held 374 residents.
Food and other supplies came in via railroad, which went through the area. Its first school was built in 1888, which was a two-story dwelling that housed older students upstairs and younger kids on the main level. Prior to that, students attended Pinkerton School. Soon after the Idana school was built, children from Wheeler and Centennial schools were rerouted to attend.
In 1917, Clay County hosted its first-ever school festival where county schools traveled to Clay Center for events like spelling and writing contests and oral presentations, which took place in the Courthouse Court Room. Students were put into teams based on age; in the written portion of 100 words, Wakefield High School took first place with 90¾, winning a bust of former President Lincoln. Second place was Miltonvale with 81 2/3, winning a 12” globe, and Green took third place with 70 and earned a pencil sharpener. The event was followed the next day by a parade.
A smallpox epidemic closed the school in January of 1915. At the end of the year in 1919, students took time between recess and lunch to host a school-wide rabbit hunt.
A picture above features the school’s former bell, which was posted at the school site between 1889-1932. It was moved to its current position on the townsite’s 100th anniversary in 1982.
