One-Room, Country, & Historic Schools of Franklin County

Acorn School

The Acorn Schoolhouse is on the old John Brown Highway, intersecting with Iowa Road. The white wooden clapboard school was built in 1900, replacing an earlier structure built in the 1870s. The school closed in 1959 and is preserved by the Acorn Ladies Club and local landowners.

Briles School

The Briles one-room school is located east of Ottawa in Franklin County, Kansas. It was built in 1868 and was last used in 1961. When Highway 68 was widened in 1980, the school had to be moved 100 feet to save it. At that time, the Full-O-Pep 4H club helped with the restoration. Since then, it has been used for the 4-H club, Peoria Township meeting hall, a voting precinct, and as a community center.

District #8

The District 8 Schoolhouse was built of native stone in the Italian Renaissance style. The entry tower has an arched opening. The tower is topped by a metal tile that looks like clay. There are porthole windows in three visible gables. It is located at 2505 S. Spring Valley Road, just southwest of Junction City, Kansas.

Homewood School

This one-room school is located at the south edge of Homewood. It was built in 1906. The school is well cared for today.

Old Ottawa High School & Junior High

The old Ottawa High School & Junior High School has been converted into apartments for senior citizens. The three-story red brick building with stone courses above the first and second stories was built in the Collegiate Gothic style with crenelated towers and east entrances. The South portion, built in 1909, served as a High School and a Junior High School. The North portion was built in 1919 as a separate Junior High. In the 1960s, it served as a Junior High only. The central cafeteria was built in the mid-1970s. The building was condemned by the school board in 1998. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in October 2000. It was sold in 2004, and rehabilitation was completed in 2007 to convert the former school into apartments for senior citizens. It is located at 5506 South Main Street in Ottawa, Kansas.

Tauy Jones Hall at Ottawa University.

The Tauy Jones House is a massively constructed two-story, twelve-room stone structure built in the Italianate style with Georgian details and a gable roof. The walls are of cut stone 34 inches thick. The sandstone house was built from 1863 to 1867 on the site of Tauy Jones’ 1843 log trading post and hotel, which pro-slavery arsonists destroyed in 1856 who were attempting to kill Jones. The stone was quarried near Fort Scott, Kansas, and transported by wagon. John Brown often stayed nearby in the grove on the other side of the creek. There were unverified legends that the house was a stop on the Underground Railroad and that Abraham Lincoln slept at it; however, it is verified that Horace Greeley did visit the Jones family.

It was the home of John Tecumseh “Tauy” Jones, who was of half-Chippewa heritage and served as an interpreter for the Pottawatomie, a leader and minister for the Ottawa tribe, a friend of John Brown, and a co-founder of Ottawa University. In 1875, the building burned and was rehabilitated.

The oldest building on campus, Tauy Jones Hall, houses various administrative offices, including the Chancellor’s Office, Human Resources Department, Finance Department, Marketing Department, and the Office of University Advancement. The copper dome on the top of the building is a distinct feature of this historic building. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in June 1982. It is on the Ottawa University campus at 1001 South Cedar Street in Ottawa, Kansas.

Pleasant Valley School

This one-story building has a front-faced gable roof. The interior space of the building is comprised of a large central classroom, with one small coatroom on the west wall. The stage stands at the north end of the classroom. The school served rural Wellsville, Franklin County, Kansas, from its completion in 1889 until 1954, when consolidation forced its closure. It is located at 2905 Thomas Rd., Wellsville.

Silkville School

The native limestone one-room school is all that is left of the hopeful Utopian community of Silkville. This one-story rectangular building with a gable-front roof was built in the vernacular style. The exterior walls are rough-cut stone blocks with semi-finished mortar joints. Wooden shutter doors over window openings. It is located about two miles southwest of Williamsburg at the U.S. 50 highway and Arkansas Road intersection three miles southwest of Williamsburg.