Ash Grove School District 19

Ash Grove School District was officially organized in 1909, but may have existed in other forms earlier than this, as multiple school shared this name going back to 1885.

The site of the school was about 12 miles southwest of downtown Dodge City, about 1 mile north of today’s Ford County roads known as 102 Road and Wilburn Road. The land that the school was built on was owned by a man named Samuel Harrell, who had come to this area from Cassville, Missouri. This location is only 2 to 3 miles east of Ensign, which is in neighboring Gray County. The school was contained within Fairview Township of Ford County. School District No. 19 covered 12 square miles of land.

The original school building was replaced by a brick building sometime before 1932. Heinie Schmidt noted the nice appearance of the school and grounds in a letter he wrote to the Dodge City Daily Globe published in the 03-29-1932 edition. Mr. Schmidt specifically mentioned the beautiful trees planted years before and how well they had been nurtured to result in their present beauty. Other newspaper articles state that it was one of the prettiest schools in the state.

Zelda Woodworth of Richmond, Indiana was the school’s first teacher. She taught for 2 years beginning in 1909. She boarded with the W. F. Rhodes family who lived nearby. In late 1910, she married Samuel Harrell, the man who provided land for the school building. Mr. Harrell served as the school board treasurer when District No. 19 was organized. Other board members were M. F. Sayre (director) and C. M. Bratton (clerk).

This collection contains a couple of record books from the Ash Grove School Clerk from 1921-1934. The collection also contains documents related to the employment and election of officials in charge of the school district from 1933-1935.