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Marceline Lincoln School: Local Black Education History Through Period of Significance, Part 3

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Pre-Period of Significance

Prior to the period of significance (1933-1954), there was a considerable amount of attention given to the Lincoln School, sometimes referred to as the “Colored School.” Melia K. Franklin, a PhD candidate at the University of Nebraska, wrote her dissertation on race in Marceline. In her dissertation Franklin speaks directly to the history of Black education in Marceline. She asserts Marceline was a bit of an anomaly, because as early as 1889, she notes, Marceline provided a “colored” elementary school in an abandoned carpenter’s shop.[1]

Another account of what might be construed as acceptance was the publication of a picture of G.W. Moorman, the teacher at the school for at least the 1899-1900 school year.[2]

According to one report, the carpenter’s shop was on East Walker Street[3] and was soon razed and the “handhewn Hayden School” was moved “from the north end of town to the vacated lot.”[4] That school survived until 1930 when it was destroyed by fire.[5] The Black students would spend the next two years in the Second Baptist Church until the current Lincoln School was erected.[6]

A report in 1930, indicated that the Hayden School, also called Lincoln School, had burned down on 4 September 1930.[7] About six months after the Hayden School burned, Black parents petitioned the school board for a new school. A $4000 bond issue proposal was issued, stating the “school, which would be of brick and tiles, would be built on the Curtis Arnold place.” Since the burning, the Black schoolchildren had been holding classes in the “Negro church”; it was a Baptist church.[8] The bond failed, and the Black school remained in the church for the next two years. The election regarding the $4000 bond issue failed by only 56 votes, missing the two-thirds majority needed, adding “there is widespread sentiment for the new school building [and the] Negro taxpayers feel they are paying taxes to support the other schools of the city and therefore are entitled to a school themselves.”[9] The reasons for the failure are unknown.

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A year later, in April 1932, The Marceline News asserted the Black children needed a proper school again, arguing that:

“The Negro children must be given consideration at this election. They are entitled to a comfortable, well lighted new building. The old building, which was destroyed by fire, was in the fourth ward. As most of the Negro population lives in the third ward, the proposition to change the school site to the third ward is logical and should receive the attention of the voters.” [10]

That call for a special election triggered more publicity and was followed by increased support but high-ranking local officials and prominent residents. The next month, an article appeared in support of a new school for Black children. In this one, prominent members of the community wrote about their support of a new building. Examples of what some said are: Mrs. Georgia Steiner, President of the Civil League, who said, “I heartily endorse the proposal for the Lincoln School Bond.”; Albert Zurcher (the official Marceline timekeeper for the Santa Fe Railroad) stated, “I am in favor of Bond issue in order to give the Negro school children a chance for proper school education”; C.U. Murray, a prominent mercantile business owner, argued that, “The Negro school building is needed. The cost is small. The bonds should carry.”; and Mrs. Ola Putman (wife of Dr. Putman who built the first hospital in Marceline) who echoed Steiner by saying, “I heartily endorse the place for proving the Negro children of Marceline a school.”[11] A petition that convinced the board to move forward was signed by 504 residents. It is unknown what the population was in 1932, but the 1930 census has the population at 3,555. While the

racial breakdown of the population is unknown, the 1930 Census report shows Linn County had a population of 23,339 with 500 Black people, or .02% of the population. If this percentage is assumed to be consistent with Marceline’s population, Marceline would have had roughly 71 people of color in 1930.The election to vote on a proposed bond issue of $3500 to build the nominated property was held May 17.[12] The bond issue carried by a vote of 475 to 79. This was the third time the proposal had been voted upon. It was defeated at the city election in April 1931, and again at the city election last month.”[13] The city requested bids for the new school.[14]

By July, work had started on the new school; the lot was owned by the Marceline Board of Education at the time. Floyd Newman[15] “was the low bid for the general contract, his bid being $2,855.45, who was $266 lower than the next bid.”[16] Bealmear and Grube won the heating and cooling contract for $436, while Fred Wolfskill[17] was employed as the work inspector. The total project would run $3291.46, easily coming in under the $3500 originally earmarked for the project. As part of the contract, the building was to be completed within 45 days, just in time for the new school year.

 

Period of Significance

Just before the start of the 1932-1933 school year, The Marceline News reported the new school would have 20 students.[18] The school was dedicated on 7 October 1932 at 8 pm, opened on time for the 1932-1933 school year with August Anderson as the teacher and 20 students enrolled.[19]

Since its erection in 1933, the Marceline Lincoln School continues to sit at the corner of South Chestnut and West Wells Streets in what is still Marceline’s Third Ward, the area in which the bulk of Marceline’s black population lived at the time of its erection.[20]

Graduates of the Lincoln School often used the white high school’s auditorium for their commencements too, usually on the same day as the white school’s commencement.

Through the 1930s and 1940s, the school had an unsteady enrollment of students, the minimum number of black students needed to have a separate school for students of color was 20;[21] However, Marceline’s schools for Black students often dipped well below this threshold, yet Marceline continued to supply a formal schoolhouse for the children, with the exception of the two years the students took class in the Baptist church

The attendance totals that are available for the years included in the period of significance are as follows:

These numbers show the Lincoln School had an historically low attendance through most of its existence. While it may be easy to conclude the reason the school closed by 1955 was due to low attendance and not because Marceline was immediately and swiftly complying with the Brown decision, this assumption would be incorrect. The school was erected despite the 1928 and 1929 school years having attendance that fell under the 20-student threshold mandated by state law. Furthermore, the community ensured the school remained open for over 20 years despite historically low attendance. These facts indicate that the school board, at the least and perhaps the city government, had no problem ignoring the state law. Additionally, while this appears to contradict a statement in Magic City, in July 1955, the school board finalized their fill integration plans for the Lincoln School, adding that, “This will be the first year of total integration…as last year [1954] integration was completed on the high school level only.”[35] This integration was in line with the 3-Step recommendation of integration given in the Brown case, and 15 years before Missouri’s constitution was ratified to officially make integration a state law.

Despite this low attendance, the school enjoyed many accolades and publicity. For example, in 1941, The Marceline News announced the school had held a program and a picnic, the slogan of the school is “Common Things in an Uncommon Way” and listed the two graduates.[36] Several other years include short stories about the Lincoln School graduation programs, too. Some simply state the basics: who the speaker was, the teacher’s name, the names of the graduates, and enrollment. Others were more in-depth, including details such as the order of events or expounding on the attendance records of students, including the graduates.

Toland indicates there was no black high school at the time, so all high schoolers were bussed to Keytesville where they’d get in a car and drive to Dalton, Missouri 27 miles directly south of Marceline Franklin’s research supports Toland’s personal recollection. “Black students who wished to receive an education beyond the eighth grade were bussed to the nearest black high school in Dalton, Missouri, approximately 30 miles south of Marceline. Several interviewees had memories of the busses that took the black students to and from high school.”[37]

She added the school’s seating arrangement was beneficial to all the students. The seats were arranged in three rows which were broken down into grades. As a result, everyone heard everyone else’s lessons, “so you kind of learned ahead if you were in a younger grade.”[38] She credits this as the reason she earned all A’s in her high school in Dalton, Missouri.

According to Franklin, prior to the landmark Brown decision, “Marceline had begun desegregation at the high school [emphasis added] in 1953…. The elementary was desegregated in 1955, just shortly after the decision.[39] She doesn’t mention any names of the high school students. Marceline high school yearbooks for the school year of 1953-54 show there were no black high school students attending. However, in 1954-55 and 1955-56 the yearbooks do show black students: two students of appear in the 1954-55 yearbook (Freshman Nola White and sophomore Mildred Tinsley); Tinsley is not listed in the 1953-1954 yearbook as a freshman. It is possible she started at Marceline High School in 1953 and simply wasn’t put into the yearbook for some reason. As per Franklin’s conclusion that the elementary started segregation in 1955, a clipping from 1954 states that “Mrs. Thelma Potter of the Lincoln School and eight pupils” were guests of the Womans’ Society.[40] However, an ad announcing that the Lincoln School is up for sale implies it had been abandoned after the 1954-1955 school year. This means that elementary education integration would have started with the 1955-56 school year.

The Lincoln School was allowed to hold activities in areas typically thought to be “whites-only” venues. For example, several reports discuss the Lincoln School holding commencement in the auditorium of the white high school.

Ownership

After Brown was enacted in 1954, the schoolhouse was abandoned. According to Kremer and Roberts, the city held the deed on the property until sometime into the 1960s when it was sold to Avie Still and Fred Fischer.[41] However, 1955 ads and The Marceline News article refutes this statement (Figure 15). The newspaper had two ads announcing the “Notice of Sale of School Property” in its 14 and 21 October 1955 issues and reported that the Lincoln School building had been sold to Alvah Still and Russell Fisher for $2005 in 1955.[42] The Phase III survey adds that in “the 1970s they sold the building to the present owner, John Leopold,”[43] who continued to use it for a plumbing and heating business and sheet-metal shop. Later in the 1970s, Leopold used it for an antique shop and … a military museum.[44] Adam Skinner purchased the schoolhouse 2016 from Leopold’s son, who emptied out the museum after Leopold died.[45]

 

THE AREA

Marceline has had four wards for 100 years. Marceline’s City Clerk, Lindsay Krumpelman, stated the city has no map of the wards. The ward maps for 1940 and 1950 (Figures 16 and 25) were located in the National Archives site. These fall within the POS and show no alterations to the boundaries during that time.[46]

Assuming no changes occurred in the borders seen in the undated map, the Lincoln School would be in the west central section of the map, above Walt Disney Park and Centennial Dr., which runs through the park (Figures 16 and 25).

Regrettably, there are no extant historical properties in Marceline that could be used as comparison. The closest comparison would be the Park School in Brookfield; however, that school has been heavily renovated, and parts demolished when the additions were built, thus its historical integrity is non-extant. The Lincoln School remains the only extant resource of Black education in Marceline (The Black Baptist Church is no longer standing).

 

The history of Black education in Missouri, as in most of the areas of the post-bellum South has been satiated with racism, with Black children either being outright denied a formal education or crammed into rooms or small buildings under the guise of “separate but equal” education.

The Lincoln School was the only K-8 school for non-white children in Marceline during the Period of Significance, 1933-1954. . Until Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS, in 1954, African American children were required to attend “separate but equal” schools. Prior to that, after graduating from Marceline’s Lincoln School, students were bussed and driven down to Dalton, Missouri (27 miles south of Marceline) to the Black high school there.

Today, the Lincoln School is the last extant resource representative of education for the Black community during the era of segregation in Marceline and is a candidate for the National Register under Criterion A.: ETHNIC HERITAGE – BLACK and EDUCATION.

 

[1] Franklin, Melia K. School and Community, Community and School: A Case Study of a Rural

Missouri Setting. Dissertation. U of Nebraska, May 2011.

 

[2] Moorman’s photo appears in the 31 March 1899 edition of the Marceline Journal-Mirror just above a “school and

Church” update.

[3] Franklin’s information here appears to be inaccurate, as the only carpenter shop was at the southeast corner of       Lake and Kansas.

[4] The Magic City, p. 52.

[5] No school appears in any part of city area described on the 1902, 1911 and 1930 Sanborn Fire Maps.

[6] See “Bids”, “Colored Citizens”, Magic City, and “Toland”. All of these corroborate this statement.

[7] “937 ae Enrolled in School Here.” The Marceline News, 12 September 1930.

[8] “$4000 Bond Issue for Negro School.” The Marceline News. 20 March 1931. The location of this church is

unknown. It does not show up on any Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps nor is a location given in news reports.

[9] Ibid.

[10] “Vital School Election.” The Marceline News. 1 April 1932. The 1930 Census, as noted earlier, shows 65.5% of

the non-white resided in Ward 3.

[11] “Unite in Favor of The School Bonds.” The Marceline News. 6 May 1932.

[12] “Special Election for Negro School.” The Marceline News. 29 April 1932.

[13] “A 6-to-1 Vote for the School Bonds.” The Marceline News. 20 May 1932.

[14] “Bids for New School Building.” The Marceline News. 24 June 1932.

[15] Newman was contracted 9 years prior to raze the buildings that once stood where the current Masonic Temple

does.

[16] “Work Started on the Negro School.” The Marceline News. 15 July 1932.

[17] Wolfskill was the contractor who completed the Uptown Theatre in 1930.

[18] “More than 900 in the Schools Here.” The Marceline News. 9 September 1932.

[19] “The Lincoln School Report.” The Marceline News. 7 October 1932.

[20] “Lincoln School News.” The Marceline News, 27 May 1932. Additionally, there appear to be no specifics about

the Black population in Marceline’s Third Ward during this time. Census records, as discussed above, only show the city’s population. The statement regarding the Third Ward being where most of the Black population lived is based on articles regarding where to put the new school and on Toland’s comments.

[21] Henderson, p. 1.

[22] “Fine Lincoln School Report.” The Marceline News, 10 October 1930.

[23] “Big Enrollment in Public Schools.” The Marceline News, 11 September 1931.

[24] “4979 Students in the Linn Schools,” The Marceline News, 29 October 1937.

[25] “Perfect Lincoln School Record.” The Marceline News, 7 October 1938.

[26] “4,344 Enrolled in Schools in County.” The Marceline News, 6 October 1939.

[27] “827 Enrolled in The Schools Here.” The Marceline News, 6 September 1940.

[28] “792 Are Enrolled in Schools Here.” The Marceline News, 5 September 1941.

[29] “The Lincoln School Report.” The Marceline News, 2 November 1945.

[30] “673 Enrolled in The Schools Here.” The Marceline News, 6 September 1946.

[31] “665 Are Enrolled in Schools Here.” The Marceline News, 5 September 1947.

[32] “Lincoln School in Closing Program.” The Marceline News, 14 May 1948.

[33] “31 From Here to Attend College.” The Marceline News and The Bucklin Herald, 16 September 1949.

[34] “779 Are Enrolled in Public Schools.” The Marceline News, 4 September 1953.

[35] “Supt. Sage Meets with School Board.” The Marceline News and The Bucklin Herald, 15 July 1955.

[36] “Lincoln School News.” The Marceline News. 30 May 1941.

[37] Franklin, p. 150. There were 23 interviewees. All were white.

[38] Toland.

[39] Ibid., p. 151. This information is also found in Magic City, p. 56

[40] “Womans’ Society Meeting.” The Marceline News. 19 February 1954.

[41] Kremer and Roberts, Phase III.

[42] “Lincoln School Sold to Home Heating Co.” The Marceline News. 18 November 1955, 69.11.

[43] The Phase III form indicates this, and it is confirmed by Adam Skinner (the current owner of the schoolhouse).

However, he cannot confirm that the couple who had it before Leopold did anything with it, despite what the Phase III document states, and no information supporting the shop has been located. Conversations with Shelly Herring, who wrote the original eligibility assessment request for the school, have further confirmed this information.

[44] From Phase III document and confirmed by Skinner and Waddle, who has the deed records showing a 1973

purchase of the property which combined lots 17-24.

[45] From personal correspondence with Skinner.

[46] Suzan Stephenson, Linn County Clerk, sent a current map with no known date, but because that map is outside of

the POS, it is not included in this nomination. The map, however, shows that there have been no alterations to the boundaries of any of the Wards.

 

Marceline Lincoln School: Black Education History and Importance During Segregation, Part 2

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Marceline Lincoln School, located at 201 Wells Avenue in Marceline, Linn County, Missouri. was erected in 1933 by Floyd Newman, a local builder, after Marceline voters approved a bond request to build a new “negro school”[1] after the previous one burned down. While Marceline does not have official records or relics of the Black community in the city, like most rural cities they don’t have the resources larger cities have to preserve such history, newspaper articles did frequently discuss issues in the Black community, particularly issues revolving around the education of non-white children in their community.

This building was the sole K-8 educational facility in Marceline for non-white students between 1933-1954 (the year the school was built until desegregation began and the school closed). Students who extended their education into high school had to travel to The Dalton School in Dalton, Missouri (27 miles south of Marceline) to obtain their high school education.

The architect is unknown, but it was most likely Newman who drew up the vernacular plans. After the Marceline School Board sold the property in 1955 at the start of school desegregation which resulted from the decision in the case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS, various owners used the building for such things as a storage area, an antique store, and now a carpenter’s workshop.[2]

In 1866, Missouri school districts were, as the law states, “required to establish within their respective jurisdictions one or more separate schools for colored children when the whole number of by enumeration exceeds twenty.”[3] Marceline’s government disregarded this law. The school was erected, despite not having met this threshold for the two years prior to being approved by a city-wide vote. Rarely did enrollment increase very much beyond 20 students. In fact, it had an historically low attendance rate, falling several times well below that threshold; yet the city never closed it down.

Marceline started integrating their high school during the 1953-1954 school year (before the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision.[4] They then integrated their elementary school during the 1955-1956 school year.[5]

As the last extant resource representative of education for the Black community during the era of segregation in Marceline, the Lincoln School is locally significant under Criterion A: ETHNIC HERITAGE – BLACK and EDUCATION and eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.[6]

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AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATION IN MISSOURI

Missouri, a former slave state, like most states, faced hardships concerning the education of people of color. As Lori Bogle notes, citing Julius Hunter: “’Missouri has been a mirror reflection of the nation as it displayed its confusion, indifference, guilt, cruelty, pride, subterfuge, embarrassment, benevolence, and sympathy in handling the issues of how blacks should and would be treated’.” She agrees with Hunter, stating “The state has not always responded to national issues in a traditional way [and] maintains an identity distinct from her southern sisters” because most slave owners owned few slaves and as a result, “a closer relationship between black and white often existed.”[7]

Between at least 1847 and up to the start of the property’s period of significance (1930-1954), there was considerable debate regarding the education of African Americans in the state. For example, 1847 Missouri law stated, “no person shall keep or teach any school for the instruction of negroes or mulattoes, in reading or writing, in this State [and violators] shall be punished by fine not exceeding $500, or by imprisonment … or by both.”[8] However, as seen below many individuals of different races argued that this was something that needed to change.

While the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, it did not equate to full acceptance and equality in any aspect of life, let alone education. In 1866, Missouri school districts were, as the law states, “required to establish within their respective jurisdictions one or more separate schools for colored children when the whole number of by enumeration exceeds twenty.”[9]

Three years later, the debate about the education of non-white children began to pick up steam, as evidenced by the words of Richard B. Foster, the founder of Lincoln University in Missouri. Foster argued the education of  “colored children ‘of educable age’ was inadequate” as were the schools these children attended when compared to the schools for white students.[10] He stated “we may well accept that the colored schools of this State are mostly in poor condition; too few in number, little thought of, little cared for” and thus, the State is not doing its duty to these children.[11] He ends his speech by calling for more funds to be used in giving Black students of the time more access to education and to make it more equitable. Foster’s words were not heeded. In 1875, the Constitution of the Missouri State contained a statement that read: “Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent.”[12]

In 1920, The Journal of Negro History reprinted one of the most complete histories of the development of the black public school system in Missouri;[13] the article spans the decade between 1865 (the year of the end of slavery) and 1875.[14] The history outlined in the Journal establishes that it was more commonplace between 1865 and 1875 than thought for Missouri slaves to have some rudimentary education. Many were taught how to read and write by their owners; this meant that many slave owners violated the rules against the education of slaves.[15]

In 1931, W. Sherman Savage[16] expounded on the state of education for black children, writing that the 1865 Missouri constitution was explicit in how Black education was to be supported in the state, particularly that the legislature made it the duty of the school boards in the respective towns to establish one or more separate schools for Negro youth. The legislature made it mandatory upon the townships to establish schools for Negro children.[17]

The constitution at this time declares that it was “the duty of the State to provide education for the Negro as it did for the other citizens of the State”; this law mandated local school boards to establish “one or more separate schools” for non-white students and prohibited the making of false statements claiming to have created such educational facilities.[18]

Precious little seemed to have changed in Missouri since the state’s 1875 ruling of separate schools for white and Black students until 1954 when Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka overturned segregation.[19] Even then, the three-step desegregation program (which started with desegregation in junior and teacher’s colleges, followed by high schools and adult education programs, and finally technical and elementary schools) would not be fully implemented in some communities because no formal timeline was given for integration.[20] Furthermore, there tended to be a “de facto segregation in the cities, there [was] a great deal of voluntary racial separation in schools that have a racial mixture.”[21] It wasn’t until 15 years after Brown that Missouri courts gave “the duty to terminate dual school systems and start operating under a unitary system at once [to the local Board of Education].”[22]

However, this was not the case in Marceline. Marceline did not take the 3-step approach or wait 15 years for desegregation to be formalized in Missouri; instead, after Brown, the city swiftly terminated the dual school system, began high school integration immediately, and closed the school the following year (1955), moving all students into their previous whites-only schools.

 

AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATION IN MARCELINE

Up until the opening of the Lincoln School in 1933, Marceline had been following the letter of the law for the most part. There was a two-year period during which the children did not have a formal schoolhouse; after their school burned down classes for non-white students in the Baptist Church for two years until the Lincoln School was built.[23]

After Emancipation, Black children were allowed to get an education; since Marceline was not yet a city in 1863, there was no known school. However, one early Marceline account states that the Black children had a school in a carpenter’s shop in the 1890s, roughly two years after Marceline was incorporated.[24] One year later, the “colored school” was mentioned in a short piece about Marceline schools.[25] Within the context of Black education in Marceline, the school received almost yearly recognition in news articles.

Additionally, Marceline began desegregating its high school in 1953,[26] a year prior to Brown. This move illustrates the attitude the city government, citizens and school board all had: That the law must be followed.

 

MARCELINE’S AFRICAN AMERICAN POPULATION

During the period of significance, Marceline’s African American population shifted dramatically.

In the 1930 Census,[27] the population looked like this:

  • Ward 1: 1 family; 5 people
  • Ward 2: 4 families; 12 people
  • Ward 3: 12 families; 59 people
  • Ward 4: 2 Black families; 6 people – 3 Mexican families; 18 people

(90 total non-white residents)

By the 1940 Census[28] the demographics had changed significantly:

  • Ward 1: 0
  • Ward 2: 4 families; 14 people
  • Ward 3: 8 families; 22 people
  • Ward 4: 5 Families; 41 people

(77 total non-white residents)

This trend continued in the 1950 Census:[29]

  • Ward 1-2: 0
  • Ward 3: 3 Black families listed, totaling 27 people. There were 2 families labeled “B2” with 11 people.
  • Ward 4: 2 Black families with 10 people; 3 Mexican families with 16 people

(53 total non-white residents)

While the school would be placed in Ward 3 because that Ward housed most of the African American population at the time, the Census shows that African American families were reasonably spread out in Marceline. In fact, when the Mexican families are added to the total, nearly half of the non-white population lives outside of Ward 3.

That diversity shifted significantly between the 1930 and 1940 Census’. Marceline saw a loss of 13 non-white residents during this decade. Additionally, Ward 1 lost the one family that lived there, while Ward 2 maintained its population. Wards 3 and 4 saw the largest changes in population with Ward 3 losing 63% of its non-white population, while Ward 4 became the new center of the non-white community with a 58.5% increase in non-white residents.

The trend of losing non-white families continued over the next decade too, with Marceline losing 24 more non-white residents. By this time, no African American families resided in Wards 1 and 2, Wards 3 and 4 split the non-white population with 27 and 26 individuals respectively.

 

[1] “Work Started on the Negro School.” The Marceline News. 15 July 1932, XLV.41.

[2] Skinner, Adam. Personal Interview. 2 June 2023.

[3] Laws of Missouri, 1866, p. 177, Sec. 20 as cited in Henderson, p. 1.

[4] Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Opinion; May 17, 1954; Records of the Supreme Court

of the United States; Record Group 267; National Archives.

[5] Marceline: The Magic City: Centennial Edition, Marceline, Missouri. City of Marceline. 1988. This also seems to

contradict a report from the Marceline Board of Education that refers to integration being complete in 1954, but it may have started in 1953 and ended in 1954. See AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATION IN MARCELINE below.

[6] This is noted in both “Architectural/Historic Inventory Form.” Marceline Survey. Commissioned by Missouri

Department of Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Office. April 2018. Survey No. LI-AS-001-037. [Marked “Individually Eligible], and “Architectural Survey of Marceline (MO.): Final Report.” Marceline Survey. Commissioned by Missouri Department of Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Office. April 2018. Survey No. LI-AS-001-037.

[7] Bogle, Lori. “Desegregation in a Border State: The Example of Joplin, Missouri.” Missouri History Review. 85.4,

  1. 442+.

[8] Laws of Missouri, 1816-1847, p. 103, cited in Henderson, David. “Integration of Missouri Public Schools Faculty

and Students Twenty Years After Brown.” Missouri Commission on Human Rights. Department of Consumer Affairs, Regulation and Licensing. October 1974, p. 1.

[9] Laws of Missouri, 1866, p. 177, Sec. 20 as cited in Henderson, p. 1.

[10] “Some Aspects of Black Education in Reconstruction Missouri: An Address by Richard B. Foster.” The Curators

of the University of Missouri, U of Missouri P: Columbia, Missouri, 1984. 85.4, p. 19.

[11] Ibid., p. 21.

[12] Missouri Constitution, 1875, Art. XI, Sec. 3 as cited in Henderson, p. 1.

[13] Williams, Henry S. “The Development of the Negro Public School System in Missouri: The Period from 1865 to

1875.” The Journal of Negro History. Apr. 1920, V.2, pp. 137-165.

[14] Ibid, p. 138.

[15] Ibid, p. 144.

[16] In 1934, Savage became the first African American to be awarded a Ph.D. from Ohio State University in History

by a predominately white university. He was a college History professor and author.

[17] Savage, W. Sherman. “The Legal Provisions of Negro Schools in Missouri from 1865 to 1890.” The Journal of

Negro History. July 1931, 16.3, pp. 309-321.

[18]Ibid, p. 310.

[19] Brown.

[20] Henderson, p. 45.

[21] Ibid, p. 58.

[22] Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education, 396 U.S. 19 (1969).

[23] These classes were held in the “black Baptist Church.” However, no research has turned up indicating the location

of this church within the city limits. The 1930 Sanborn Fire Insurance map shows the Baptist Church on

Ritchie as the only Baptist Church within the city limits. That building is not the Black church referenced.

[24] Because no other carpenter shops show on the 1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, the shop located on the

southeast corner of Lake and Kansas (one block south of the downtown business district) is most likely the “school” referenced at the corner of Lake and Kansas (one block south of the downtown business district).

[25] “The Schools.” The Marceline Mirror, 3 September 1891.

[26] Franklin, Melia K. School and Community, Community and School: A Case Study of a Rural Missouri Setting.

Dissertation. U of Nebraska, May 2011, p. 111.

[27] “1930 Census: Volume 3. Population, Reports by States: Mississippi and Missouri.” U.S. Census

Bureau. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1932/dec/1930a-vol-03-population.html. Accessed 1 September 2023.

[28] 1940 Census Enumeration District Maps – Missouri – Linn County – Marceline – ED 58-20, ED

58-21, ED 58-22, ED 58-23. National Archives. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5833471Accessed 15 December 2023.

[29] 1950 Census Enumeration District Maps – Missouri (MO) – Linn County – Marceline – ED 58-28

to 32. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/18559828 National Archives. Accessed 15 December 2023.

20230817_083614

Marceline Lincoln School: Setting and Architectural Description, Part 1

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Lincoln School, located at 201 Wells Avenue in Marceline, Linn County, Missouri, is a rectangular one-story, stuccoed, side gabled building with a basement. It has ceramic/hollow clay tile walls, red brick quoining and red brink framing all first floor historic and non-historic windows and doors. The building is painted white (non-historic). Two feet of the basement extends from the ground; that is rock face concrete painted gray. The gables are non-historic gray metal clapboard. Five brackets line both the north and south gables.

The schoolhouse shares its lot with multiple non-contributing resources which include three sheds (one used as a quail coop, another as a chicken coop and the other as a greenhouse), and a small carport, with one contributing object flagpole). The elevations of the schoolhouse are divided in two sections by a change in material that occurs at the line between the first floor and basement areas. At the south elevation, an historic door at the bottom of non-historic stairs leads to the basement.

Its interior maintains its historical layout. The first floor is a large, one-room area with historic plaster and windows, with a non-historic floor covering the historic subfloor. Some plaster has been removed; all of it has been painted white. The ceramic blocks used in the construction of the resource can be seen where the plaster has fallen off or been removed. The frame for the blackboard remains on the west wall, as does the library area that protrudes from the internal west wall by approximately five feet. The historic chimney/flue remains at the north wall of the first floor. The windows are historic and appear to maintain the look and feel they have had since the school was constructed and opened in 1933. The upper pane of the east windows were that way during the 1930s,[1] so it is reasonable to think they were always like that.

Stairs lead down to the basement. The basement takes up the same dimensions as the first floor. Here, more historic windows are apparent, though some are missing the glass. The remnants of the bathroom pipes can be seen in the southeast corner of the basement. Three floor jacks line the basement from north to south supporting the floor. The historic subfloor can be seen from the basement. The historic chimney is located at the north wall of the basement and the historic coal chute occupies the northwest corner of this wall, too.

While there have been alterations, in the case of the Lincoln School, “the overall sense of past time and place is evident.”[2] Given its, historic function and significance during the period of significance between 1933 and 1954 the Lincoln School is locally significant under Criterion A: ETHNIC HERITAGE – BLACK and EDUCATION and eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.[3]

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ELABORATION

Setting

The Lincoln School is a one-room schoolhouse that covers approximately one-fourth of the .643-acre lot of which it is a part.[4] The school is located one-half of a mile south-southwest of Marceline’s downtown commercial district. It is in a rural (non-downtown area) neighborhood in the southwest region of Marceline; a city park is to the south[5], a gravel parking lot to the east, an alley to the north and the owner’s house is to the west. The neighborhood is a mix of late-19th and early-20th century homes as well as newer homes and vacant lots.

It is but within the Marceline city limits. It sits directly north of the baseball diamonds in Walt Disney Municipal Park, which is across W. Wells St. to the south. The school is due east of the house that is on the same current property (the historical property border does not include the lots on which the non-historic residential house sits). To the north is an alley and to the east, across the street, is a gravel parking lot.

Tanjua Waddle, Recorder of Deeds for Linn County, stated the school originally sat on Lots 17, 18, 19, and 20 which were sold as a single parcel in 1900 and stayed a single parcel until 1973. When John and Marjorie Leopold purchased the lots in 1973 Lots 17-20 were combined with Lots 21, 22, 23, and 24. The original parcel (Lots 17-20) was purchased on 5/21/1932 by the Marceline School District and owned until 1955 when the school district sold it.[6]

The original lot sizes were 25×140. Lot 17 runs along Chestnut St. on the east line of property. The old school building sits on lot 18. Lots 19 and 20 are in between. Thus, the original site would have extended 100 feet east to west along W. Wells Street, 140 feet along Chestnut, 100 feet along an alley separating W. Wells from W. Curtis Street. The western boundary would have cut through the middle of the current lot (Figures 2 and 3).[7] All references to lots from here refer to the historic property designated as Lots 17-20.

A sidewalk, located along the east boundary of the property, was added after the period of significance. It is not within the boundary and marks the east boundary of the property. The lot is level.

The schoolhouse shares the non-historic lot with a non-historic house (not included in the historic boundary) that is the residence of the school’s owner. A quail pen, a duck and chicken pen, and a storage shed located north-northwest of the school building share the historic lot with the school; a carport is located next to the north wall, but not attached to the resource. An historic flagpole (contributing object) is in the southeast corner of the property. The dates for these changes are found in the “Alterations” section below.

Landscaping is minimal. Two mature trees obscure the main east elevation façade when viewed facing west but are not within the boundary. Otherwise, the historic lot is free of other obstructive vegetation.

The original historic school flagpole made from a railroad semaphore pole is near the southeast corner of the property.[8] A piece of concrete with the remnants of a pole are in the ground about 10 feet east-northeast of the northeast corner of the school.[9]

Architectural Description

Exterior of Lincoln School

The schoolhouse is a rectangular one-room ceramic/hollow clay block building. It has a side gabled roof, open eaves, and a painted stucco exterior. The door and windows are framed by standard red bricks. Brick quoining is on each corner. A red brick, single flue, chimney with non-historic cap, exits the roof at the north side of the building at the roof peak. The gables are covered with non-historic metal clapboard.[10] Five historic wood brackets line the underside of the overhangs on the south and north sides of the building.

The first-floor exterior is relatively smooth stucco painted white (which continues every elevation) with brick quoining at its north and south corners. The eaves are open. An area of rockface concrete block painted gray demarks the location of the basement.

The hollow clay block first floor rests on top of a basement built with rock face concrete blocks above grade and poured cement foundation below grade. The external measurements are 25 feet by 38 feet.

East (Primary) Façade

The first floor consists of three bays and a historic concrete stair with six steps and landing and an historic handrail.

From south to north, its first bay holds a non-historic, metal, single-leaf door and transom. The window in this transom was removed at an unknown date and has been boarded up from the back at least since 2016.[11] The door and transom are surrounded by red brick. At the base of the door the red brick is a rowlock of 21 bricks. The bottom rowlock extends four bricks beyond the bottom of the door on each side. Stacked on those two sets of three bricks are three headers on both sides of the door. Above the three stacked header bricks is a stacked course of 36 bricks leading to the top of the transom. The transom is topped with three rows of running bond extending half a brick length beyond the stacked header courses.

“Lincoln School” is painted in black above the running bonds above the transom. The owner says when he purchased the property, the sign had been painted over and he repainted it.

Bays two and three are nearly identical. Bay two contains a mulled pair of nine light windows. The upper portion of the window frame area has been boarded over on the windows. When this happened is unknown; further research may uncover when and why they were boarded over.[12]

These windows are framed by red brick that follows a similar pattern as the brick framing seen around the front entryway. The sill area is made up of a rowlock of 34 bricks, three of which extend beyond the window frame. Over those three bricks are three stretchers. On top of those is a stacked bond consisting of 22 bricks. The lintel area is comprised of three rows of running bond (Photos 1 and 5). The upper sashes of the first-floor windows on this elevation –as well as on the north elevation—are believed to be sandwiched between additional solid sashes; however, this could not be confirmed due to how the additional solid sashes were installed.

At the basement level are a pair boarded up windows. The sills are stone. As with the other windows, when this was done is unknown.

Bay Three shows the same window layout, including the red brick framing and boarded over basement windows.

South Elevation (Secondary Façade)

The gable has five historic wooden triangular knee brackets and non-historic clapboards (installed in 2018; See Figure 8 for what gables looked like when the property was purchased by the current owner) . These were likely historically finished with wood clapboards; these are currently metal.[13] Three square windows openings are equally spaced across the upper half of the first-floor wall . Each opening features a wooden frame and sash of a single pane with nine lights. Each window opening in framed by red brick trim that follows a similar pattern as the previously describe trim around the windows and door of the east elevation. (This pattern was the same when the property was purchased). The pattern for this frame is 20 rowlock bricks forming the sill with three extending beyond the window frame topped with three stretcher bricks atop of which are 11 bricks in a stacked bond and topped with three rows of running bond to make the lintel. At the basement level, there are three bays, each positioned directly below the windows of the first floor.  The east and west bays feature a single window opening, boarded up and painted gray.

A stairwell, made of concrete blocks and a flight of concrete stairs, descends to the basement level alongside the elevation, beginning in front of the west bay and terminating at the center bay with a historic wood entry door to the left. These stairs are mostly historic. Some work to repair eroding steps was done, but as much of the historic material as possible was used in those repairs. There appears to be a drainage system integrated into the stairs.[14]

 

North Elevation

Like the south elevation gable area, this wall also has five historic triangular knee brackets with and non-historic clapboards (Figures, 4, 6 and 15; Photos 3 and 11). The same type of quoining as described above is seen at both corners of the wall.

This elevation has only two bays, each containing a single pane window with nine lights surrounded by the same brick pattern described in the discussion of the east elevation. The lower central light of the east opening has been replaced with a piece of plywood. The pattern for these frames is 19 rowlock bricks forming the sill with three (3) of these bricks extending beyond the window frame topped with three stretcher bricks atop of which are 22 bricks in a stacked bond and topped with three rows of running bond to form the lintel. Boarded over window centered in the basement wall are consistent with what is seen on the east elevation.

The historical coal chute occupies the lower right (northwest) corner (Photo 3). A modern utility gauge and wiring are affixed to the center of the wall. The wiring pole extends down from the gable to a covered opening where an historic window was located (Photo 3). A brick chimney with a non-historic flue pipe and cap extends from the roof ridge above this elevation.

Non-contributing sheds and a shelter occupy the green space north of this elevation.

West Elevation

This elevation has stucco wall painted white no windows on the first floor and only a single pair of boarded over windows nearly centered in the basement wall (Photos 3 and 7). Quoining is seen at the corners (Photos 3 and 7). The eaves are open. Figure 13 can be used for comparison.

Interior of the Lincoln School

This space is entered into through the non-historic metal door on the east façade.

First Floor

The layout is of one large room  with few embellishments. The walls are plaster but portions of it have fallen off in some areas, exposing the red hollow clay blocks of the building. Its interior measurements are 23’ 4” by 36’ 7”.

 

Along the east wall there are some small areas of exposed sections of the red hollow clay blocks. The windows are bordered by historic wood trim. All windows are framed in a similar way. None of the windows open and, as seen from the exterior, the top sashes are boarded over. No window appears above the lower window sash.

The ceiling is non-historic tin sheeting . Trim around the ceiling is non-historic. The beams, trusses, and some plaster and lathe remain under the tin sheeting which was applied to preserve the ceiling and prevent anything from falling and hurting someone. The five fluorescent light units and two ceiling fans that hang from the ceiling are non-historic.

The chimney bisects the north wall. It is covered with plaster, though the red bricks are exposed near the top half of it where the stucco has fallen off. An infill of circular hole for an old stove or heater flue pipe is approximately three-fourths of the way up the chimney.

A stairwell to the basement begins at the southwest corner of the first floor and descends northward into the basement. It is enclosed by an internal plastered frame wall along the east side of the stairwell and an internal plastered frame wall at the north side.  The north wall features a built-in bookcase that served as the school’s library.

The flooring is now particle board. It was placed down to ensure the still existing historic subfloor would not be damaged by the equipment the owner uses in the current building.

The blackboard, which was on the west wall north of the library room has been removed, but it remains on site in storage (Photo 18). The wood frame of the blackboard still exists on the west wall; it measures 12 ft. x 4 ft.

A single section of historic pine located on the landing of the interior stairwell. The wall around this interior stairwell is original on the west wall; dry wall has been placed on the schoolroom (east) side of it.

Basement

The basement can be accessed from the exterior through an historic door or through an original interior stairwell from the first-floor classroom area.

The basement is one large room constructed of concrete blocks and concrete. All but two of the historic basement window sashes remain intact; four of these have been infilled. These windows consist of three rectangular lights. The historic wood door is made up of six-panels and leads to the external stairs at the south elevation wall remains. The external portion of the door appears to be unaltered. A chimney is centered in the north elevation wall behind a non-historic furnace system. The historic coal chute is evident on the west side of the north wall. It is covered by plywood on the exterior, but the metal door remains when viewed from the interior. Stamped on the door are “Majestic Breakproof Coal Window,” “1926 Style,” “M-203,” and “The Majestic Company. Huntington, IND.” . Majestic was in business in the 1930s according to their website, which means this door is historic. The style indicates that it was first made in the 1926.[15] Three metal support posts are in the center of the basement to the north and south. When these were installed is unknown; further research is required. A wood support post is located near the northeast corner of the basement.

Modern utility equipment hangs on the north wall.

While it is now used for storage, the basement was where the students ate at a portable long portable table, had their bathroom (the original plumbing still exists in the southeast corner of the basement), and placed their clothing during school.[16] The basement also had running water. All plumbing was capped due to backflow and flooding. The historic main water line is galvanized located on the east wall. The historical main waste line is stubbed out of the basement floor where there was once a bathroom. This waste line is collapsed.

INTEGRITY

The historical integrity of the school is largely intact with the general layout of the property—both the interior and exterior—maintaining their historical integrity of location (it has not been moved), design (it maintains its one-room schoolhouse design),[20] setting, materials (only minor changes have been made, like the addition of an internal tin roof and rehabilitated gables), workmanship, feeling (it remains a clear example of a one-room schoolhouse), and association.

During her 2018 interview with the current owner, Ms. Toland confirmed the top boards of the windows were in place during the time she was a student at the school.[21]

Toland added that a removable stage occupied the south wall, a black slate blackboard hung on the west wall, and all desks faced west.[22] She indicated the basement contained the furnace and bathrooms and where they had a table at which to eat lunch (see discussion about the plumbing in the “Basement” subsection. The removable stage is no longer in the school, but like the desks and the table in the basement, it was never a permanent fixture. With respect to the other features of the building Ms. Toland noted that the look and feel of the school was identical to when she attended school. She confirmed that the library area is identical, that the chimney, position of the blackboard, the placement of the stairs (compare Figure 12 with Photo 17), and the boards over the east elevation windows were exactly as it was when she attended school there. The furnace, something that was not a permanent feature of the school has been removed; however, the chimney the furnace was attached to still exists. Furthermore, the subflooring remains intact. Thus, the look and feel of the property remains very much the same as it did in the 1930s when Toland attended the Lincoln School.

The setting has seen some changes that adversely impact integrity. For example, the playground has been completely removed despite the pole remnant that remains in that area.[23] Three non-historic sheds and a carport being used as storage have all been added to the property. When considering the historic boundary of the property, these are the only changes. If the entire on-historic property is considered, a non-historic residence is included as well (See “Alterations” list for dates).

Despite the alterations, in the case of the Lincoln School, “the overall sense of past time and place is evident”;[24] this conclusion is supported by Toland’s statements. The general layout of the property both the interior and exterior maintaining their historical integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association remain. Specifically, the school sits exactly where it did during the period of significance. It still sits on the same four lots it originally did. The design is unaltered; the layout is mostly intact and recognizable to a former student of the school, as noted above. The setting also remains largely intact with the Walt Disney Park across the street and the surrounding residential neighborhood with some surviving 19th and early 20th century buildings. While three small, non-historic, semi-movable sheds and a non-historic, semi-movable shelter have been added to the historical boundary of the property, these are not permanent structures and can be moved. The building retains most of its historic material. While the main entry door has been replaced, the windows, the sills and lintels and building materials (brick, plaster, etc.) are all historic. The feeling is retained as well, as Ms. Toland commented in her interview about how it still looks and feels like it did when she went to school there; only items have been removed like the desks, portable stage, furnace/stove, and bathroom fixtures (of which the historic pipes still exist in the basement). Otherwise, she notes, the footprint and important features exist as they did when she attended school. Finally, association has been retained. The design as a single-room schoolhouse and the time during which it was built and used show the relationship between the historical period and the school are evident.

 

[1] Toland, Helen. Personal Interview. May 2018. Performed by Adam Skinner and Shelly Herring and phone

interview 2 August 2023.

[2] National Register Bulletin: How to Complete the National Register Registration Form. U.S. Department of the

Interior National Park Service, Cultural Resources. 1997.

[3] “Architectural Survey of Marceline (MO.): Final Report.” Marceline Survey. Commissioned by Missouri

Department of Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Office. April 2018. Survey No. LI-AS-001-037.

[4] Linn County, MO County Recorders Plat Map. SAM. https://linngis.integritygis.com/. Accessed 1 June 2023.

[5] “Marceline’s Country Club.” The Marceline Journal-Mirror, 26 January 1912 indicates the country club was

organized and opened this year with 94 paid members. It was renamed “Santa Fe Country Club” coon after

organization.

[6] Waddle, Tanjua. Recorder of Deeds, Linn County, Missouri, Interview. 17 August 2023.

[7] Historic boundary confirmed during 8 November 2023 on-site visit by Missouri SHPO.

[8] Toland and Kremer, Gary R., and Brett Rogers. Survey. African American Schools Phase III. 2002.

Survey #SWAS023. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/ AA%20Schools%20PIII%20Survey.pdf.

[9] MOSHPO assessed it is the possible remnant of a tetherball pole. However, Ms. Toland has not

verified this. All that is known for certain is that it is in the same area as the playground Ms. Toland identified. Ensuing discussion concluded that it might a May Pole or even where a bell was.

[10] Kremer and Rogers.

[11] The previous owner left no detailed information regarding changes made after purchasing it in 1973.

Furthermore, Rich Hoon, Marceline City Manager, stated the city had no formal zoning laws until 1980. All records prior that, therefore, are, at best, inconsistent. Most records are missing due to this lack of codified building and zoning laws.

[13] Evidence of the wood clapboards was found by the owner shortly after he purchased the property.

[14] On-site inspection by Missouri SHPO confirmed this previously known system of drain holes in the steps is a

drainage system.

 

[15] “Our Story.” Majestic. https://www.majesticproducts.com/why-choose-majestic/our-story. The company started in

1894 manufacturing coal furnaces and coal chutes.  Accessed 28 August 2023.

[16] Toland.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Owner believes the gables were likely historically finished clapboards. He indicates that these were wood and had

asphalt clapboards which are now metal.

[19] SHPO confirmed during the 8 November 2023 visit that the historic subflooring still exists.

[20] Toland confirmed that the school had the exact same layout as it did when she went to school there in the 1930s.

[21] Toland.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Again, this pole remnant is of unknown origin.

[24] National Register Bulletin: How to Complete the National Register Registration Form. U.S. Department of the

Interior National Park Service, Cultural Resources. 1997.

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