The Land
Ruby Heien’s manuscript 5 says that Hermann Baden gave the land for the school in 1911. This puzzled me. The 1913 plat of the area shows that Hermann was the lessee for that quarter of school land. It seemed impossible that he could give or sell land he didn’t own.
Finally with the aid of Patti Johnson in the Kiowa County Clerks office, the mystery was resolved. What was executed in 1911, was a contract agreement between Hermann Baden and the Board of Directors of Consolidated School District No. 2 in Swanson County. (George Penn, Director, Tom Locke, Treasurer, and R. M. Briggs, Clerk.) which provided for immediate occupancy and eventual title. The contract agreement was that (in return for consideration described later) Baden or the “then owners” would provide without cost a warranty deed for the land to the District at the time that Baden or the “then owners” obtained title from the Oklahoma Land Commission . The contract was dated July 31, 1911 which was just about the last day in the short life of Swanson County, Oklahoma. It acknowledged a payment of one dollar already made and provided for a payment of the balance $99.00 on November 1, 1911.
The land was described as 5.01 acres on the northwest corner of the NW quarter of Sec. 33, Twp. 4N, Range 18 W, 525 feet east-west, and 420 feet north-south exclusive of the public road on the north and west.
Hermann Baden did acquire title to the quarter in 1922, but there is no mention of the contract in the County records until 1928. By that time the land had been sold and resold several times. It is finally entered in the County Register on Jan. 10, 1928, apparently in connection with the release of a mortgage on the farm executed by a Mr. Patterson and his wife. The contract was finally fulfilled Nov. 9, 1938 with R. E. and Irene Meyers who were owners at that time. The Meyers duly provided a quit claim deed for said tract in favor of the school district.
After 27 years, the District owned the land. In just another 20 years, the school district was annexed to Roosevelt, and the land sold to E. R. and Mary Fowler who then owned the remainder of the quarter. Then in the year 1999, Eric Jackson and his wife transferred title for approximately one acre on the northwest corner to the Con. 8 Memorial Committee, for the purpose of a commemorative monument. Eric is the grandson of E. R. and Mary Fowler and the son of Ruth L. and Aaron Jackson, ’39 and ’38 Con. 8 graduates.
I had speculated that the impetus for obtaining a deed in November 1938, was probably the ongoing negotiations for the WPA project to build the new class room on the southeast, room 8 in the drawing of the following section . This speculation has risen to the level of documented fact. The November 11, 1938 Student Review reports that the proposal for the WPA project had been approved by the President noting that “the final obstacle being a deed for the land which was obtained last week.” It is also possible that the registration of the contract in 1928 was motivated by the bond issue made that year for building the brick building.
Teachers Other than Chief Administrators
Miss Theresa Lugert – Year Unknown
Miss Loneta Reneau – Year Unknown
Miss Zona Stodgsdill – Year Unknown
Miss Jewel Burton – About 1915 (first high school teacher, 8th Grade+)
Mabel (Ethridge) Browning – About 1911-? (3,4 & 5th Grades)
Miss Etta Buel – About 1911-?
Miss Newty Barnett – Year Unknown
Mrs. Ruby (Burton) Heien – 1923-1924 & maybe another year.
Mr. Stinnet – Late 1920’s-30’s (6th Grade+)
Lela Bristow – (6th-7th Grades?)
Mabel Wilks (then Mabel Mannen) – Late 1920’s
Mrs. Anna Bowman – 1921-1922 (5th & 6th Grades)
Mr. Weight – 1922-1923 (5th & 6th Grades)
Mrs. Bozman – 1923-1924 (7th & 8th Grades)
Chief Administrative Officers
Superintendent sometimes called Principal in the early period.
Mr. Herbert Van Burkelo – 1911-1912 (6, 7 & 8th Grades)
Mr. A. J. Stoops – 1912-1913
Dona Parsons – 1913-1914
Mr. A. J. Stoops – 1914-1917
Mr. S. A. Mitchell – 1917-1918
Mr. J. F. Shortt – 1918-1920
Mr. J. W. Stewart – 1920-1925
Mr. J. T. Biffle – 1925-1930
Mr. Hobson Burris – 1930-1931
Mr. Clarence L. DeWees – 1931-1946
Mr. Virgil E. Woods – 1946-1954
Mr. Asa Marshall – 1954-1955
Mr. E. L. Whitten – 1955-1957
Wagon Drivers
The first two of these (prior to 1923) would have been young, late teens or early twenties.
Mark McFarland
Hollie Moore
Mr. Holt – Eskil Holt’s Father?
George Lee Riley – Virginia (Jones) Sims’ Grandfather
Bus Drivers
Mark McFarland – about 1923-1957. Mark drove a bus most of these years but missed some in the late thirties and early 40’s.
Don Burton
Leon Messick (#4) – Early 1930’s
Mr. Gilmore – 1933-1935 and 1937-1941
Alvin Duke – 1935-1936 and probably in earlier years.
Winford Bock – (#3) – 1937 – 1940’s
Bud Ayers
Joe Manning (#4) – 1940 -?
Albert Baden – 1941?
Mr. Webb
Bob Smith
Robert Schrader
T. Cooper – 1950 (is this J. Tesla “Dutch”?)
Lester Ellis
Dutch Cooper (same as B. T. ?)
Lee Speights
School Board
George F. Penn, member; T. B. (Tom) Locke, chairman; R. M. (Bob) Briggs, clerk – 1911-1912
George F. Penn – 1911-1928
T. B. (Tom) Locke – 1911-1928
R. M. (Bob) Briggs – 1911-?
P. Sims – 1911-?
R. Fowler – nominated once but declined (perhaps)
Charles (L.J.?) McNutt
Charlie Bock
Russell Shockley
Roy Bolding
P. Dempsey – 1934
Carl Heien, Secretary – 1935 and 1936 and probably since 1930
George W. Brown, President – 1935, 1936 and 1937
Ben Hutchinson – 1938-44
Carl B. McClure – ?-1941
George McKinnis – 1941 – 1950?
Aaron C. Jackson
Elmo Mitchell
Horace Holder