Finding Treasures

Mom, Dad, Kurt and I have been searching for books, school desks, pull-down wall maps, chalkboards, a Goerge Washington picture, and a Big Chief writing tablet. We've been to auctions, flea markets, anitque malls and stores, and even shopped on ebay. It has been loads of fun rummaging through boxes, stacks of magazines, store shelves, and sqeezing through narrow paces to get to that one fabulous find.

Yesterday was a big find day. Kurt's friend from the carpenters union donated enough slate chalkboards to cover the orginal area where the blackboards hung, 4'X 27' of slate board. Plus I finally found a Big Chief Tablet in our price range on ebay; however, we still have one day to go before the auction finishes. Hopefully it will stay within our price range. These two items have been the hardest to find.

Treasures are not found in things, treasures are found in people.  I found a treasure that surpasses all material objects needed for the school.  This treasure was found in the phone book, Mrs. Doris Lamers-Dell. Mrs. Lamers-Dell taught at Nickellton School in 1951-52 and lived with my Grandparents Jennie and Willie Borron during that year. She was my mother's favorite teacher. When I spoke with Mrs. Dell yesterday she remembered making a snow lady during the winter of that year and expressed disappointment in not having a picture of the snow lady. She was delighted when I told her I had a picture and would be happy to send it to her. Mom recalls Miss Lamers was a talented artist as you can see from the picture of the snow lady.

I told Mom we need a quest book.  The Macon County Historical Society made a visit in early June. Donna Faye Ayers and her son stopped by last week. This week she brought her grand children. Treasures are showing up little bits at a time, but I am certain more and more treasures will come as the news spreads about the renovation of the Nickellton School. Be a treasure. Share your stories with us, come visit, or share the news of the renovation of the Nickellton School with someone you treasure.

Make Memories and Share Stories with the Ones You Love

On Thursday my Mother and I were coming home from the LaPlata Nursing Home 4th of July celebration knowing as soon as we got back to the house I would be heading home to Pacific, Missouri. We reminisced about the day trips with Aunt Shirley, shopping and spending money, and sharing stories.  Sharing stories was the best. We laughed and giggled like little school girls to the point our tummys were aching. I am so thankful for the  memories and stories I shared with Mom, Dad, and Aunt Shirley. Ok enough of the sappy stuff.

 Shirley Borron-Weber started 1st grade  at Nickellton School in 1937-38 and graduated from 8th grade in 1944-45. Her teachers were J.M. Ross, Mildred Henry-Bragg and Edna Mitchell.  I think somewhere within the 3 years J.M. Ross taught Aunt Shirley, she developed a crush on Mr.Ross, because she talks fondly of him.  One night during a pie supper or school board meeting Shirley Borron and Betty Collins pretended to chew tobacco using crayons. Just imagine two little girls with a huge wad of crayon wax in their mouth making their lower lips and cheeks bulge. They even proceeded to use the floor as a spittoon and squirted the melted wax out their mouth onto the floor. These two must have been sitting in the back of the room thinking no one could see them or hear them. I am sure they were being sneaky. "It made quite a mess," Shirley recalled, "no one seemed to notice, at least not until the next day at school."

The next day Mr. Ross approached Shirley and Betty at their desks. I almost bet Shirley tilted her head and having a sheepish grin, looked up at Mr. Ross with innocent eyes as if she had done nothing to make the crayon mess on the floor.  Problem was she still had crayon wax on her teeth.  Mr. Ross didn't take to the inocent bit and instructed Betty and Shirley to clean-up the crayons off the floor.

Charlotte Borron-Wheeler, started 1st grade at Nickellton School in 1946. In 1952-53, Charlotte's 6th grade year,  the school closed six weeks after school started. Charlotte's teachers were Nelly Harrison, Lola Bowen, Ida Perrine, Doris Lamers, and Betty Lou Ingraham.  Doris Lamers was Charlotte's favorite teacher. She was young, always sweet and kind, and Charlotte was Miss Lamers' teacher's pet. Plus Miss Lamers lived with the Borrons. Charlotte would walk to school with Miss Lamers and stay late after school with Miss Lamers. After Charlotte finished her school work she would clean the chalkboards and sweep the floor while Miss Lamers graded papers and wrote lessons. The two seemed to be like two peas in a pod. It would be late by the time Miss Lamers finished getting ready for the next day so Charlotte headed for home alone.

To get the full effect of the story I must tell you a bit about my Grandma Jennie Borron. She was quite a character, jolly, hardworking, humorous, and liked to play pranks sometimes. She also had a unique way of disciplining. Mom said "Much of the time you didn't even know you were being disciplined, but you did change your ways."

Momma Jennie had been warning Charlotte about coming home late from school, but Charlotte didn't pay much attention to the warnings and continued to stay late after school.  One evening as Charlotte was walking home on the dirt road, in the distance she saw a small dark figure crawling into the road and then back into the ditch. As she got closer she could see the small figure was actually an animal lumbering around on all fours. Charlotte remembered her momma warning her about the  bears being seen in the woods. Charlotte walked a little further and the animal seemed to get bigger and bigger. It looked as if a bear was right in the middle of the dirt road where Charlotte would be walking. Charlotte thought about turning around and going back to the school, but she didn't want to have her back to the bear. Instead she walked out into the hay field as far away from the bear as possible, keeping her eyes on the bear. Then when she was within seeing distance of the house she ran as fast as she could to the porch and then straight into the front door slamming it behind her. Charlotte was winded and completely out of breathe leaning against the door. A few minutes later Jennie walked in dressed in a brown furry hat, a dark brown coat, dark brown gloves, brown trousers and boots. Charlotte still in a tizzy about her journey home from school about fainted. When she realized it was her Momma she said,"Oh Momma did you see that big brown bear!" Jennie replied, "Hmm... big brown bear ya say?...You gonna come home from school on time from now on?" Charlotte left school on time from that evening forward.

In the first picture Betty and Shirley are the two little girls in the front row, the boy is Junior McLin, the back row is Lelan Collins and Geraldine Collins. The second picture is Miss Doris Lamers.  The third picture is Jennie Forsythe-Borron with one of her horses.

Borron Girl Mischeif and ulterior motives

This summer Shirley, my Mom and I have taken three day trips to various places within a two hour drive from the farm in Neckellton, Bloomington and Centerville, Iowa, Monroe City and Perry, Missouri, and Rocheport, Missouri. I am always the coordinator and driver of the trip, hard to believe isn't it. So on Monday I wanted to take Mom and Aunt Shirley to Perry, Missouri to shop the antique stores and eat at the Hootenanny Cafe. Well about the time we got 10 minutes away from Monroe City Mom said she was getting hungry and suggested we should eat in Monroe City. Aunt Shirley chimed in saying she was getting hungry too and she thought it would be a good idea to eat in Monroe City also. They even began to get me to think my sugar levels were getting low and so I agreed we would eat in Monroe City.

I have to back-up a little here. Just before Memorial Day President Obama paid a visit to several places along Hwy 36. Mom and Aunt Shirley just happened to take a drive on the very day he was visiting. The two ended up on Hwy 36 just about the time he was driving by. These two had snickered the secret service and somehow eluded all the barriers and parked on the side of the road waiting for him to drive by. You can read this entire story on my cousin's blog http://www.sawdustandcowpies.blogspot.com/. One of President Obama's stops was a little diner in Monroe City, Peggy Sue's Diner.

Ok, back to Monday. We drove over to pick-up my Aunt Shirley. She was dressed in a patriotic red shirt with USA in big lettering across the front. Next Aunt Shirley came from her room bringing a JCPenny bag and handed it to Mom. What do ya know, it too was a red shirt, the same as Aunt Shirley's. Aunt Shirely tells Mom to put it on and Mom obliged. So we left for Perry, Missouri with Mom and Aunt Shirley dressed in patriotic red.

We get to Monroe City all having decided we would eat somewhere in the town. Mom knows I don't like pizza or fast food, so she suggests we drive through downtown to see if there might be a diner. We get downtown and Mom says, "Why look Shirley, there is a diner, Peggy Sues." Aunt Shirley says, "Well ya suppose that's the diner where President Obama ate." "Could be," Mom said.Well guess where we ate. I did take a picture of them on my phone camera, but can't get it downloaded. So I do have proof the that  two Borron girls really did eat at Peggy Sues and sat where President Obama sat.

The mischief of the two Borron girls hasn't changed much since they were little. Tune in tomorrow for stories about Nickellton School.

The first picture is of Shirley about four years old, the second is Mom in the 4th grade. Don't they look like little shysters? Hmm.. I kinda resemble them too.

After 110 years it's going to be holey

Today Dad and I plugged small holes, large holes, and everything in between. The school is holey.It seems each time we think we are getting the building ready for insulation, we come across another obstacle.  On the north side of the school the wood worms have eaten thousands of tiny holes in the support beam, the base of the studs, and the wall structure. When we uncovered the outside layer of metal siding we found old metal siding underneath which was used to cover rotten wood. We removed that layer of metal siding and found a three foot by two foot hole. The wood simply turned to dust and fell off leaving the hole. Before the hole could be repaired Dad had to scrape off about one to two inches of rotten wood from the outside of the support beam. Luckily the support beam is an eight inch by eight inch beam, so there was still good support to the north side of the building. In the above picture a new weather treated band board is screwed to the support beam.

This is the view from the inside of the building. While Dad is repairing the hole from the outside, I am screwing in more wire mesh on the walls and the base between the studs. Depending on the size of the hole, each hole must be covered with wire mesh or filled with steel wool. Here you can still see the outside light coming in at the base of the floor.

When the school was built, the builders left a one inch gap around the perimeter of the wood floor, making it open to the craw space below. This made the school open to all sorts of creatures that make holes in wood. Our next step is to cover the wire mesh at the base of the stud with plaster. As you can see a board is in place to act a barrier for the plaster.

These holes have been repaired. Thank goodness, I am exhausted. Talk to you tomorrow.

How did Nickellton School get its name?

Until yesterday it was thought the Nickellton school was named after the town of Nickellton.  This theory does make sense. The school we are renovating was built in 190l, after the town of Nickellton was founded, and it was built a half-mile away from the perimeter of the town on the Loughery Property. There is only one problem with the preceding conclusion,  the school was built on the Loughery Property.

Years before 1875 Missouri set a law requiring a school be located at the center of about every three to four square miles. This made it possible for children to walk a reasonable distance to school. According to the 1875 plat map of Jackson Township, the section of Macon County where Nickellton is located,  Nickellton did not exist and neither did the Nickellton School.  In 1875 there were three other schools within the Jackson Township. One school in 3 out of the 4 quadrants of Jackson Township.  These schools were designated as School No. 2, School No.3, and School No. 4. Two of the three schools were named after the family who donated the land to build the school.  School No.3, Moody School in the southwest corner of the township, formerly located at the corner of Hwy K and Hwy M, was named after the Moody Family. School No. 4, Stow School in the southeast corner of the township, formerly located in what is now a corn field directly across from Ontario Road, was named after the Stow Family. Many other schools in Macon County were named after the families who donated the property to build a school McNeely School, Glaston School, Steele School, Murry School and so on. School No. 2, Bear Creek School in the northwest corner of the township,was named after a geographical boundary of the school district, the Bear Creek. All the children who live on the west side of Bear Creek went to School No. 2 because the creek would flood frequently and the children didn't have a way to walk across the creek.

So what happened to school No.1? Why is there no school located in the the 1st quadrant of Jackson Township, the northeast corner? Interestingly, on the 1875 plat map of Jackson Township there are two dots on the Nickell property which is located in the northeast corner of the township. The two dots are in horizontal alignment and within a 100 yards from one another. Neither dot is designated with a word or symbol. Most dots meant residence unless another word or abbreviation was next to the dot.  School No. 2 thru No. 4 is  represented by a dot with a small square around it and the word school with a number. I have two theories for the reason School No. 1 is not shown on the map. Theory one, the recorder of deeds at the time made a mistake forgetting to place a square around one of the dots and left off the designation School No. 1. Theory two, School No.1 would have singly covered a much larger area than the other three schools. The children of this area may have been home schooled and the school  location was already chosen by the settlers in 1875, but the school was not built yet.

I can't prove it yet, but I believe the original location of the school was not on the Loughery property, but on the Nickell property a half mile north of the Loughery property.  This school building was originally School No. 1 Nickell School named after the Nickell family. One other reason for this conclusion is the number that is on the building in the picture, 1-53-13, the original school district number. 1 stands for School No.1, 53 is the Jackson township number, and 13 is the range in which the township was located. If my theory does pan out, the school has moved two times, from the Nickell property to the Loughery property and then to the Borron property. There was a new school built on the Loughery property in 1901. The original school on the Nickell property could have been destroyed by fire, like many schools of the time, or a natural disaster like a tornado. The Nickellton School located on the Loughery property did have a cellar located directly behind the school. By the time the new school was built on the Loughery property, the town of Nickellton existed. The Nickell family donated land to erect town buildings and a trading post, hence the name Nickellton. I believe instead of changing the name to the Loughery School it was decided by the school board of the time to name it the Nickellton School to keep the original Nickell family name, and to make Nickellton School easier to find.


I still cannot prove any of my theories as I need to look at the plat maps between 1875 and 1897. The Macon County courthouse will be seeing me again. No I haven't committed any crime, I have just been persistent in asking for information. If you know me, I will get the information I need if it is the last thing I do.

One last interesting find was in 1901 the Missouri Schools began redistricting to combine and make larger schools. Nickellton school had the largest enrollment in Jackson Township, it was the largest school building in the township (27'X35'), and the new school opened in 1901. 1901 is the last number on the school sign.

How do schools get their names?

Today is Sunday so I am taking a break. I will be back tomorrow. Hopefully I will have some conclusive evidence as to how Nickellton School got its name, at the present time I only have a theory. I'll give you one hint to my theory: Nickellton school was not named after the town of Nickellton.

Bats and Mice and All Things that Poop.

My Uncle Benny called me the other day to ask what bat poop looks like, "Does bat poop look like mouse poop?" I just laughed. He laughed saying, "Well, you ought ta know, that schoolhouse is full of mice and bats. Ain't it?" For those of you who know my Uncle Benny I'm sure that question is no surprise, but for those of you who don't know my Uncle Benny that's ok. He'll get to know you if you ever come around these parts.

Yes we have bats. So many bats it's about to make my mother batty. Everyday we count the bats to see if the clusters are getting smaller. We thought the numbers were dwindling until last night when Dad and my husband Kurt went to watch the bats leave for their evening mosquito feast. Fewer bats are hanging from the peak of the rafters inside the building, but the migrating bats moved only a few feet to the space between the metal sheeting on the outside of the building and the old ship lap siding. Dad made 4 bat houses specifically for these bats, and the vacancy sign is still flashing. 

As for the bat poop it looks like mouse poop only slightly bigger. Satisfied Uncle Benny? In one evening a bat can consume up to 2000 insects, mostly mosquitos. If you get right down to it, the necessities of life for all living creatures are eating, sleeping and pooping. That is just what these bats do. They make quite a mess of little pebbles of mice shaped poop on the floor of the school house everyday. Mom says, "I'll be so glad when these bats get out of here so I don't have to sweep-up this poop anymore."

Since demolishing the plaster walls and ceiling on the inside of the school, we have not seen a mouse. We do see a sculptured hole in the base of just about every wood stud in the school. I suppose while the teacher taught school the mice had races in the walls around the perimeter of the room. There are a few holes that have grass growing up from the outside of the building. There must have been a line of mice shoulder to shoulder armed with Teflon teeth nibling through the wood and plaster.  My father and I screwed down wire mesh sheeting on the base of the floor between all the studs and stuffed all  1/4" or bigger openings with steel wool. I'm sure we will still have visitors. I just hope it's not when mom is in the school.

Today we began fixing the big hole in the wall and floor where the grass can be seen while standing inside the school. To fix the hole some sheets of metal siding had to be removed. While Dad was on the ladder removing the nails from the siding, Mom was below picking up the nails getting nailed by poop. I'm sure there was bird poop, mouse poop and bat poop.  There was so much poop, I think all things that poop migrated to this space the day the school was sided with metal. Mom took a deep breath and with a tone of dispare, "How much more poop are we going to have to clean up? Now we gotta take all the siding off."  I'm not sure if she realized she was standing where the cows poop everyday. It is quite a mess. Because of the poop mom and dad decide to take off the metal siding and reside the school with vinyl siding. Wasn't poop the reason we decided to make the school house a hunting lodge?

The "Lonesome Mile"

This blog is dedicated to the fearless leaders who bestowed upon the children of the Nickellton School the knowledge needed to become productive citizens of society, the teachers. Recently I had the privilege of interviewing Mildred Henry-Bragg, the last known teacher of the school still living in the Nickellton Community.  Mrs. Bragg taught for one year from 1941 to 1942.

When asked what she remembered most about the school she recalled her daily trek to school. Mrs. Bragg road her horse to school down the "Lonesome Mile". It was the quickest way to school, a trail only a horse could manage. It was called the "Lonesome Mile" because no one lived on this narrow dirt road. Today the "Lonesome Mile" is marked by a fence that borders Jace Weber's property to the west and James Riplogel and McMichael's property to the east. The "Lonesome Mile" stretches from Hwy M to Oxbow Rd. She would then ride east about a half mile on the dirt road now named Oxbow road. There she would stall her horse in the small red horse barn in back of the school yard for the day, and then ride back home in the evening.

During the year Mrs. Bragg taught school, my Grandpa Willie was the president of the Nickellton School board and Mrs. Mary Loughery was the clerk. Mrs. Loughery was in charge of the finances and would write a check for $50.00 to Mrs. Bragg every month. Today schools have principals for academic leadership and discipline issues, a janitor to make sure the area is clean and safe, a nurse, food service personnel, play ground monitors, teacher assistants, and numerous other position.  Mrs. Bragg took on all those roles. Everyday she would bring in the water and the coal, start the fire, clean and sweep the building, hang the flag, make lesson plans for multiple grades and subjects, and even put on a pot of beans for lunch. She did all this five days a week for $50.00 a month. If someone needed disciplining she would do that too, although she never recalled needing to discipline anyone.

She noted the government did provide a few food commodities, lot of beans and some fresh fruit; however the school did not provide pots for cooking the commodities, nor dishes and utensils for serving the food.  Remember she road a horse to school, so she had to pack a heavy dutch oven pot and enough serving dishes and utensils for seven children in a satchel on the horse. My mom was the food service director for the Elsberry School District. She remembers throwing away many trays of food daily. Mrs. Bragg said, "Well things hadn't changed. The kids never ate the beans, and rarely ate the fruit."

Students pictured with Mrs. Bragg in front of the school porch from left to right are Dolly Krawl-Snow, Leroy Mclin, Genevieve Nickell, Donny Chaney, and Billy Don Loughery.

The Washington Woodsmen

Northern Missouri is known for having good hunting ground. Every year people from all over the country come to deer hunt. I guess we have the biggest and the best deer around. They come halling 5th wheels and trailers, four wheelers and gators, and all the equipment needed to gut and hang their trophies. My husband and his gang of Washington Woodsmen come just the same. Six of them in all shooting a slue of deer every fall. They have become known by the local farmers as the Woodsmen who save the crops. They are so popular with the farmers you would think their parade of trailers and trucks are actually a staged celebration of their return. Our cow lot looks like a KOA trailer park with no management or parking assignments for two weeks. And the back of the barn becomes the latrine. Not a good thing when the Washington Woodsman forgets to dig a hole and then cover it up. Know what I mean? My father just about stepped in the wrong place, hence the idea came to build a hunting cabin with toilets. 

My Dad and husband considered several options. All costing more than anyone wanted to spend, so with much money mising the idea became a lifelong fullfilled dream. It was decided to use the Nickellton School as a hunting lodge, after all my parents were paying taxes on a building they were not using.  I think the idea truly became a task when three of the Washington Woodsmen, plus my dad, gutted the entire building. All the plaster lath, trim, mice nests, birds nests, raccoon nests, seed and feed sacks, trash, you get the idea, were removed in a matter of one day. We did save the trim and the waynescotting and plan to put both back in the schoolhouse.  One window was cut out and reopened and one door open. For the entire day it looked as if smoke and dust billowed out of the two openings as if on fire. By the end of the day the demolition team was covered head to toe in black dust.  The team wore 3m dual cartridge respirator masks to prevent inhaling the dust.  It was a diry job, perfect for the Washington Woodsman and not me.

In 1998 a tornado ravaged the area taking the roof off our barn and pulling up some of the shingles on the schoolhouse. When the barn was repaired dad also had a metal roof placed on the schoolhouse. He used the tin from the barn to cover the entire structure of the schoolhouse. This process covered all 8 windows and no longer did the schoolhouse even resemble the schoolhouse in my post from yesterday. It simply looked like a tin box with a triagle lid. The one good thing was it preserved the structure making it possible to do the renovation.  I am still  not sure why the Nickellton Schoolhouse has been saved, but in the  many intances where the schoolhouse could have been torn down, something was done to preserve it instead.

I am new to the blogging scene, never even read a blog and I have a phobia about My Space and Facebook. This is my second post and I am having fun. Join us on our renovation quest and help us have some fun. Share your thoughts or stories of yester year.

The Boy Who Saved the School

My Grandfather, W. R. Borron, known as Willie, saved the Nickellton School. He was a member of the class of 1916, graduating from the 8th grade. He never went on to finish high school as at that time it was more common for students to begin working after the 8th grade. After graduation he worked on the family farm in the Nickellton Community. Grandpa Willie had six sisters Lola, Anna, Bessie, Goldie, Mary and Hally. Bessie and Anna also graduated from Nickellton School, Lola taught at Nickellton School from 1947 to 1950. Grandpa Willie's children went to the school, Shirley Borron-Weber and Charlotte Borron-Wheeler. My Aunt Shirley graduated from the 8th grade in 1945. My Mother, Charlotte, went to Nickellton School during first, second, third, 4th and 5th grade, and for six weeks of 6th grade. Nickellton School closed after the first six weeks of school in the 1951-52 school year.

My family is deeply rooted in the legacy of the school as you can see. My great Aunt Anna and Bessie are in the picture with my Grandpa Willie sitting just above the first arrow. I am not sure of my Grandpa's original intent for buying the school when it closed, but he saved the school by making that purchase. In 1953 he paid less than $1000.00 for the school. Shortly after purchasing the school he paid Sam Cobb, a man with what would be considered a semi-tractor trailor truck $1000.00 to move the Nickellton School to our family farm. In 1901 Macon County, the 2nd largest county in land area Missouri, had 104 schools. The majority of those schools were one-room school houses. Now, in 2010, we know of four one-room school houses remaining in Macon County, Nickellton School being one of those schools. The schools either parished by fire, natural deteriation due to neglect, or were torn down. As the schools closed, the school items deamed vaulable like chalkboards, pianos, desks, maps, and clocks were redistributed to schools that remained open. Had it not been for my Grandpa Willie, the school would have parished.

This picture was taken in December of 1988. He wanted a picture of himself in front of the school one last time. One year after this picture Grandpa Willie died. He thought for sure it would be the last time anyone would really care about the old school house.

Did you go to Nickellton School as a child? Or did any of your relatives attend the Nickellton School? We would love to hear from you.