Between the years 1882 and 1930, the small one room schoolhouse for school district 14, locally referred to as Lower Fox Creek School for the waterway it sits near, served between one and nineteen students, up to eighth grade. The Upper Fox Creek School, a few miles north and upstream on Fox Creek, was smaller.

Generally, in each square mile some land would be set aside for a schoolhouse, but whether a school was built would depend on how many students would attend. Looking out the doorway of the school, one wonders where the students might have come from. It’s not like there were busses on the Kansas prairie in the 1890s. But Strong City, and its neighbor, Cottonwood Falls, are two miles south of Fox Creek. Most students wouldn’t have had to travel more than two miles to school. It’s worth noting that it would have been uphill both ways.

The school saw its last students in 1930, and became just an old poorly maintained building on the prairie. A tornado tore off the roof (but left the limestone walls in tact) and a cheaper tin roof was installed. For a time, the building was a storage shed for hay.

However, from 1968 to 1972, several Garden Clubs in the middle of Kansas set out to restore the school. Visitors today can step into a close approximation of what children in the 1800s might have seen. The blackboards are original, but the windows, floors, and woodstove are all reproductions. Gone are the coal shed, hitching rails, and girl’s and boy’s outhouses. Remaining, because limestone construction tends to do just that, are the two front entrances. Boys to the right, girls to the left.

Fox Creek offered an eighth-grade education, and that term is sometimes used to indicate how uneducated someone is. Here, however, is an example of an eighth-grade final exam.

Grammar

1.    Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.

2.    Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no Modifications.

3.    Define Verse, Stanza, and Paragraph.

4.    What are the Principle Parts of a verb? Give Principle Parts of lie, play, and run.

5.    Define Case, Illustrate each Case.

6.    What is Punctuation? Give rules for principle marks of Punctuation.

Arithmetic

1.    Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

2.    A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

3.    If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?

4.    District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?

5.    Find the cost of 6720 lbs. of coal at $6.00 per ton.

6.    Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

7.    What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 feet long at $20 per metre?

8.    Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

9.    What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods? Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

Orthography

1.    What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?

2.    What are elementary sounds? How classified?

3.    What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, lingual?

4.    Give four substitutes for caret ‘u.’

5.    Give two rules for spelling words with final ‘e.’ Name two exceptions under each rule.

6.    Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

7.    Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono.

8.    Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.

9.    Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks.

U.S. History

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.

6. Describe three of the most prominent battels of the Rebellion.

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

8. Name the events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620,1800,1849,1865.

Geography

1.    What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

2.    How do you account for the extremes of the climate in Kansas?

3.    Of what use are river? Of what use is the ocean?

4.    Describe the mountains of North America.

5.    Name and describe the following: Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Helca, Yukon, St. Helena, Orinoco.

6.    Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7.    Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.

8.    Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

9.     Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.