South Bloomfield one-room 

school house

 

 

Education was important to the Mennonite settlers.  In Russia they had control of their own educational system, and the loss of this privilege was one of the reasons that the Alexanderwohl village decided to move to Kansas in 1874.  Many of the early schools, some organized as early as 1875, were held in homes. Eventually, about every two-square-mile area in Kansas, had a school house. 

 

South Bloomfield School was built in 1875, and was located two miles west and about one-half mile south of the west edge of present-day Goessel.  The 1897-1898 school year saw the highest enrollment, with 48 students. The lowest enrollment was five pupils in 1953-1954, the last year the school was open.   The building was purchased by Isaac B. Fast and moved to his farm southwest of Goessel where it was used to store wheat.  It was moved to the museum site in January 1983 and restored by volunteers. 

 

One-room schools served as community centers.  Programs, like Christmas Eve and once a month community programs were held at the school.  Sometimes the school building served as a church - instead of driving to " the big church" every Sunday - services would be held in the schools several times a month because of the driving distance.

​

In the very early years most of the schools in the Alexanderwohl community followed a similar curriculum. All classes were taught in German and the main emphases were on the Bible, reading, and arithmetic. Music was also taught, although it consisted mostly of learning hymns.  In 1877 Mennonite teachers were urged by the Kansas Conference of Mennonites to begin teaching some English.  This was the first year that Kansas law required English grammar to be included in a school"s curriculum.  Low German, however, continued to be the primary language spoken in the homes of the Goessel Mennonite community for many years.  High German was considered the language of literature and religious services until the transition from German to English was virtually complete around 1940.