Porter School in Prairie Village, Kansas, in 1953.
The first school in Johnson County, Kansas, was the Shawnee Mission school, and the few white children that were there attended the Indian school, with the exception of those who received private instruction.
Shawnee Methodist Mission by Kathy Alexander.
The first Territorial legislature, which met in July 1855, passed the first body of laws for the Government of Kansas. In chapter 144 of these statutes is found an act, section 1 of which reads: “That there shall be established a common school or schools, in each of the counties of this territory, which shall be open and free for every class of white citizens between the ages of five and twenty-one years, provided that persons over the age of twenty-one years may be admitted into such schools on such terms as the trustees of such schools may direct.”
Owing to the political situation, little was done in the administration of school laws nor any other laws enacted by this legislature or those of 1857. The first Free State legislature, which convened in 1858, passed additional laws for the organization, supervision, and maintenance of common schools. It created an office of Territorial superintendent of common schools and declared “that all school districts established under this act shall be free and without charge for tuition to all children between the ages of five and twenty-one years, and no sectarian teacher shall be allowed therein.”
The first schools for white children as provided by the territorial laws were established in Johnson county in 1857, and the great development of the school system of this county is shown by the following statement, furnished by Miss May Cain, county superintendent of public instruction: Number of districts organized (not including cities of first and second class), 97; number of district clerks reporting, 96; average daily attendance per teacher of schools of two or more grades, 10; high school, 13; total, 23, The average salary paid male teacher per month of two or more teachers: grades $69; high school, $91; average salary of male teachers in one teacher school, $64.75; average salary of female teacher in one teacher school, $48.25; average salary for female teacher per month in schools of two or more teacher’s grades, $55; high school, $75; average cost per student per month on enrollment in one teacher school, $3.50; average cost per student per month on enrollment in schools of two or more grades, $2.50; high school, $3.60; average cost per student per month on average daily attendance in schools of two or more teacher’s grades, $3.40; high school, $4.75. The average length of the school year in weeks in one teacher school, 30.62; the average length of the school year in weeks of two or more teachers, 33.86; number of school buildings, one teacher school, 82; number of school buildings, two teacher school, 16; (two districts in the county had colored schools) making two buildings in the district.
The number of school rooms in one teacher school, 82; number of school rooms in two teacher school, 55; total, 137; number of schools built in year ending June 30, 1914, 1; cost of same, $4,500; number of students in one teacher school passing the common school examination this year: males, 34; females, 43; total 77; number of students in schools of two or more teachers passing the graded school examination this year: males, 19; females, 12; total 31; number of certificates granted-first grade, 11; second grade, 22; third grade, 20; temporary, 6; total, 59; average age of persons receiving certificates, 25; number of teachers receiving certificates having no previous experience, 22. The number of high school teachers employed who were graduates of a college or university, 7; of a normal, 3; number of teachers not graduated, but having completed one or more years of a college course, 1; Number of grade teachers who are graduates of a college or university, 6; of a normal school, 3; of a high school or academy, 20; of a normal course, 4; number of teachers of one teacher school who are graduates of a college or university, 6; of a normal school, 3; of a high school, 20; not graduates, but having completed at a high school or academy three years, 6; two years, 7; one year, 10; number of teachers employed who hold State certificates: one teacher school, 2; grades, 1; high school, 7; number of teachers employed who hold high school normal training certificates, 25; first grade, 54; second grade, 30; third grade, 13; number of teachers employed who had no previous experience as teachers: one teacher school, 10; grades, 4; high school, 1; total 15; number of colored teachers employed in one teacher schools, females, 2; average length of time spent by county superintendent in actual school inspection, two hours.
One hundred and twenty-six teachers took reading circles during the year. Sixty-two of the one-teacher districts have school district libraries with 4,342 volumes. Twelve of the two teacher schools have libraries with 2,542 volumes. The school census for 1914 showed 5,229 students of school age. The total taxable value of school districts of Johnson County in 1914 was $16,562,577.00.
Historic Schools of Johnson County
| Name | District | Years of Operation | Location & Information |
| Gardner | ?? | ?? |
 Old Gardner School This old school in Gardner, Kansas, was moved from Shawnee Street. The wood-frame rectangular building has a gable room. Serving as a dwelling today, it is located at 129 N Sycamore Street. |
| Johnson County | ?? | ?? |
 Johnson County School This one-story wood frame building was designed in the vernacular style with a gable-front roof on a stone foundation. It is located at 16120 159th Street in the Olathe vicinity. |
| Lanesfield | 12 | 1870-1963 |
 Lanesfield School The Lanesfield School is located 685 feet south of the Santa Fe Trail. The Lanesfield School is a one-room schoolhouse in Johnson County, Kansas, built in 1869-1870. It is the single structure remaining on the site of the free-state town of Lanesfield, Kansas. The Lanesfield School was built in the vernacular style schools of the Midwest. The bell cupola was added in the early 1900s. It served as a school from 1870 until consolidation in 1963 and as a community gathering point. It was converted to a local museum in 1967. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in October 1998. It is located at 18745 South Dillie Road in the Edgerton, Kansas vicinity. |
| Lone Star | 74 | ?? | West of DeSoto, Kansas, in LexingtonTownship, |
| Merriam | 79 | 1873-1911 |
 Old Merriam School The old Merriam School was the first school building erected in Merriam in 1871-72. Before that time, students were taught in an old gin mill, which was rented for eight months at $54. The school was built because students had outgrown a rural school. The structure’s builder was Joseph Mater, who molded and fired the brick on-site. When it was completed, the first floor served as a large classroom for kindergarten through eighth-grade students, and the second floor housed public gatherings. Generally, one teacher instructed all of the students. The building also served as a church and Sunday school facility. This building was heated with wood until 1880, when coal began being used. L.M Short was the first school teacher, and he accepted the job for $250 a year – a good salary at the time. Students who wanted to continue their education had to travel to either Olathe or Rosedale (Kansas City.) They could ride the old Strang line to either place. In 1907, funds were raised for the bell. This building was used as a school for 39 years until 1911 when a new school was erected at 5701 Merriam Drive, which is gone today. After 1911, an addition was added to the east with chevrons in brick bulkheads, and the building served as a Chevrolet dealership. An auto repair shop came next. In the 1930s, the Gas Service Company was based here, and in the 1950s, and Gribble Music Company used the space. By the 1980s, Robert Pittman Moving and Storage was the occupant. The main block of the rectangular two-story brick building is a pared-down version of the Italianate style with some neoclassical influences. The eastern addition, likely added around 1920, is a one-story with a flat roof and parapet. The building now serves as a commercial building. It is located at 5820 Merriam Drive in Merriam, Kansas. |
| Oxford | ?? | 1877-1965 |
 Oxford School Oxford School is one of the oldest schools in the state of Kansas. Until 1920, the school was the only one in Oxford Township, providing education for 1st through 8th grade students. After 1920, it was converted into an elementary school and was used until its student body became too large during the 1950s. The school was moved from its original location at 135th and Mission Road in March 2003 to its present location in Ironwoods Park at 147th and Mission Road in Leawood, Kansas. Serving as a museum today, great care was taken to restore the building to its original beauty with historical accuracy. |
| Shawnee Methodist Mission | NA | 1839-1862 |
 Shawnee Methodist Mission  Shawnee Methodist Mission These two-story red brick rectangular buildings comprise the Shawnee Methodist Mission Historic Site. Located along the Santa Fe Trail, they were built between 1839 and 1845. The buildings were established as a manual training school attended by boys and girls from Shawnee, Delaware, and other Indian nations from 1839 to 1862. The Shawnee Indian Manual Labor Boarding School served briefly as the second capital of the Kansas Territory from July 16 to August 7, 1855, when pro-slavery advocates controlled the legislature. The buildings served as classrooms, a chapel, sleeping quarters, living quarters, and offices. The 12-acre National Historic Landmark was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in October 1966 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1968. Operating as a museum today, the site is owned by the Kansas Historical Society and administered as the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site. The buildings are located at 3405 W 53rd Street in Fairway, Kansas. |
| Stilwell Grade and High School | ?? | 1920 |
 Stilwell School From 1910 to 1920, this was the Stilwell Grade and High School. From 1920 to 1959, this was the Stilwell Grade School. This two-story brick building with a full concrete basement was designed in the Neoclassical with a hip roof. When the school closed, the building was converted to apartments. It is located at 6415 W. 199th Street in Stillwell, Kansas. |
| String Town | 58 | ?? | Stilwell, Aubry Township. |
| Sunlight | ?? | 1920 |
 Old Sunlight School This rectangular wood-framed one-story building was designed in the vernacular style with a hip roof with a gable wing. It serves as an Eagles Lodge Clubhouse today. It is located at 24125 West 135th Street in Olathe, Kansas. |
| Virginia | 33 | 1878-1962 |
 Virginia School The one-room Virginia Schoolhouse in Monticello, Kansas, initially sat near 71st and Clare Road. The school, for grades 1-8, opened for class in 1878 and operated until 1962. Monticello is an extinct town today, and what was left of it has long since merged with Shawnee and Lenexa. In 2005, the old school was relocated near Mize Elementary School at 7301 Mize Road, Shawnee, Kansas in 2007. The vacant one-story wood frame rectangular building was designed in the vernacular style with a gable roof and an entrance bay on the south side. An outhouse was located to the Northeast of the school building, but it was not relocated with the school. The school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 2004. |
| Walnut Grove | ?? | 1878-1951 |
 Walnut Grove School This schoolhouse once sat a couple of blocks north of its location in Olathe, Kansas. It was moved to the Walnut Grove Elementary School campus at 118th Street and Pflumm. |
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, January 2024.
Also See:
One-Room, Country, & Historic Schools of Kansas
Sources:
Blair, Ed; History of Johnson County, Stand Publishing Company, Lawrence, KS, 1915.
Cutler, William G; History of Kansas; A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL, 1883.
Historic Public Schools of Kansas
Kansas Historic Resources Inventory