"Remarkable Redfield": Memories of the Deiter Schoolhouse

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"Remarkable Redfield"

Memories of the Deiter Schoolhouse

By Shiloh Appel

A modest, seemingly inconsequential fixture in Redfield, the old "Deiter Schoolhouse" sits across from the Spink County Museum today, a quaint little white building reminiscent of simpler times. However, the one-room schoolhouse is a cherished construction to those who knew it well, a building in which the foundational education of multiple generations was laid. One such generation was that of Robert Scott. A pupil at the schoolhouse from the age of six, Scott can testify to what it was like "in days gone by."

"My great-grandfather [Edward H. Allen] helped build the school, and Johnny Deiter's grandfather also helped. It became known as the Deiter School because the Deiters had a whole bunch of kids. They had more kids in the school than any other family around there," said Scott.

The school was originally located one mile South and a half-mile East of "Johnny Deiter's airport," according to Scott. Children would walk or ride their horses to school in the summer and hitch a ride on the Scott family's sleigh in the winter.

"Right behind the school they had a building that was originally built so that the kids who rode horses to school had a place to put their horses inside in case of bad weather. If the weather was nice, they would just tie them to a stake out in the schoolyard. [In the winter] they couldn't drive down …so their parents would stop on the main North to South road and my dad would come down in the sleigh and pick up all the kids that were there and take us to the school," said Scott."I think it was the winter of '48-'49. It was the year that so many cattle died because they would get stuck in the snow and could not travel to where the hay stacks were. The National Guard was called up and they loaded cargo planes full of bales of hay and they would come down and push those bales out to the cattle…I was probably eight or nine years old and I could stand on top of the snow alongside the road and I could lift my foot up about six inches and I was standing on top the telephone pole."

Inside of the school was the iconic pot belly stove, which was regularly fed with coal by the school teacher. According to Scott, coal was the fire fodder of choice because it burned slower and hotter than wood. The school teacher was also in charge of bringing water to fill the large, clay water jug that was "standard issue" in most country schools of the time. It was the sole source of water for the students throughout the day, as there was no running water or plumbing of any sort in the school.

"Being a teacher wasn't just being a teacher. You had to know how to do things," said Scott.

Meanwhile, throughout the day, students would learn science, arithmetic, spelling, grammar, history and government. The one-room schoolhouse served as the learning hub for grades one through eight, and neatness was an important part of schooling.

"One thing that we were taught that I don't see very much of now is writing. We had to learn how to do cursive. That was one of our subjects. We had a notebook with lines in it and we had to sit there and practice our letters," said Scott.

Scott's first year and his last year attending the Deiter School will, perhaps, forever be etched in his memory. His first year in school, when he was six years old, Scott attended school with seven other pupils. But he only spent about five months of the school year actually in school.

"I caught everything imaginable. I had appendicitis, chicken pox, small pox, the mumps twice and German measles," said Scott. "All of those within nine months!"

Scott also remembers the U.S. bombing Hiroshima that same year — on his birthday, August 6th, 1945.

However, Scott also remembers playing out in the school yard with Rosalie Stahl (later Rosalie Harr). They were the only two six year olds in the school that year.

"The teacher used to let us go out and have a recess without all of the big kids," said Scott, with a chuckle. "She was my first girlfriend."

During his last year in the Deiter School, eighth-grader Scott was the only student in attendance.

"They were in the process of merging districts and stuff like that. Parents decided to take their kids to Redfield and have them go to eighth grade in Redfield instead of going to a one-room schoolhouse in the country. But I always thought I was very fortunate — I had my own private tutor hired by the state of South Dakota," said Scott. "In the winter time, because the roads were not that good, I would board up at her house during the week. They had a room for me and everything and I would get up in the morning and eat breakfast and we would do the whole curriculum, but we would be done by noon. So after noon I could go out and play in the snow and do whatever I wanted to do."

In 1953, Scott was the only member of the last class to ever graduate from the Deiter School. He will always remember his eight years there. He will remember the days when he joined the other pupils — days filled with learning and schoolyard games such as softball, hide and seek and kick the can. He also remembers the Deiter School's playground having  a slide close to ten feet tall and a set of swings that were built when his mother attended the school.

After the Deiter School closed down, it was moved to Fisher Grove State Park, where it remained until 2013, when the Spink County Historical Society took ownership of the building and moved it into Redfield. It currently serves as an attraction to the Spink County Museum.

As the saying goes, "A one-room country school is not just about education. It builds pride in the community." — Mark Dewalt