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When the Kenneth School was demolished earlier this month, the event evoked memories of better days for the former white two-story, two-room facility.
Most memorable was the winding metal fire escape once attached to the northwest corner of the school built in 1901.
For those in the Kenneth community, the fire escape was a popular slide.
“That was more fun than anything,” remembers Doris (Halverson) Hoven, who attended the school before it closed in the spring of 1968.
An upstairs door accessed the fire escape, but children found another way to enjoy the spiral slide.
“After school we would climb up on the inside and slide down,” Hoven said.
Located on West First Avenue, the school never had indoor plumbing or running water.
School children would use an outhouse on the back southwest corner of the two-acre property and were able to drink from a fountain located inside as long as the water tank was kept filled.
Hoven recalls that students would sign out on the blackboard to use the outhouse. Most students brought lunch to school each day, while some of the town kids were able to go home over the noon hour.
Hoven said she transferred to Magnolia when she entered the seventh grade.
She and her husband, Keith, returned to live in Kenneth later on when the school had become Kenneth’s community center and city hall.
“We had Halloween parties there,” she said about the second floor being turned into a haunted house.
“It was more fun just planning it,” Hoven said.
The former school soon became the hub for other activities such as Santa Days, an election polling place, Bible school and a meeting area for the 4-H club.
Picnics were enjoyed on the school’s vast lawn.
People would use the plumbing facilities Lutheran church across the street when possible.
The school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The city hall moved from the school to the former grocery store on Main Street after the business closed in 1993.
The school gradually fell into disuse, and the roof began to leak which continued until the demolition. Birds and other critters moved into the school.
The Kenneth City Council sought ways to save the building. They opted instead to tear the school down and level the lot.
“The inside was horrible,” said council member Laurie Gangestad.
The school’s playground equipment will stay.
The council allowed useable materials to be salvaged before the demolition occurred.
Mike Davis used lumber from the school for his rental cottages and gathering space at The Lake in Luverne.
“We used the window trim from inside the school for the main building at The Lake,” he said.
Bead board from the school’s walls became the ceiling in one cottage, and he was able to salvage the chalkboards. He left the original patina on the wood.
“I would have salvaged more but that smell was overwhelming,” he said.
The school bell was removed and placed in front of the Kenneth Fire Hall for the city’s centennial in 2000. The school bell is still displayed there.