For over a century one room rural schools dotted the landscape. At its peak, 289 rural school districts were scattered among the county’s 62 townships, more than any other county in Minnesota. Each district had their own board, hired their own teachers, and built and constructed their own schools.

Generally teachers were young single women who after graduating from high school had one or two years of “normal” school training. They were responsible for students from grades one through eight along with other duties assigned by the school district.

Doris Hardie, a teacher at district 104 in Amor Township recalled:

“Chores were assigned each week such as carrying water, stacking wood, washing chalk boards, raising and lowering the flag and bringing in playground equipment. There were two outhouses that needed sweeping each week and after the students left for the day, I swept and some weekends scrubbed the floors. There were lesson plans and checking papers and workbooks and grading before going home for supper.”

The rural school era ended on June 30, 1971, when the state mandated that all rural schools close.

Today very few rural school buildings remain standing. The 1940 Barnard School is an exception. It was constructed between 1939 and 1940 as a New Deal era Works Projects Administration project, a federal work relief program. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the school is an excellent example of Moderne style architecture. It replaced a two story frame school that had become dilapidated and was considered a firetrap.

Barnard remained an elementary school until 1982. After that it served as a community art center and is now a private residence.