Memories in Focus

School days 106 years ago

MARION HISTORICAL MUSEUM PHOTO

For 78 years, children in first through eighth grades attended class in the same room at Dobbs School, near the present-day site of Marion Reservoir’s swimming beach. Students who continued their studies went on to high school in Marion. Dobbs, built in 1873 by stone mason William B. Dobbs on the edge of his farm, was operated by the sixth of what eventually were 130 school districts in the county before the district was consolidated into Marion’s district. The building was donated by Harvey Kruse and his schoolteacher wife, Hannah (second from right in middle row), and moved to the National Teachers Hall of Fame at Emporia State University, where it now serves as a museum.  Students and their teacher, many of whom still have relatives in the area, posed outside the school for this group photo in 1914.

Front row (from left): Clarence Mohn (1907-1989), Elmer Schlotthauer (1908-1995), Irvin Stenzel (1908-?), and Agnes Ehrlich (1907-1987).

Middle row: Clarence Propp (1905-1972), Jonah Schlotthauer (1904-?), Herman Schlotthauer (1903-1986), Bertha Ehrlich (1905-1982), Emma Schlotthauer (1905-1996), Hannah Schlotthauer (1907-2000), and Pauline Vogel (1907-1992).

Back row: Victor Stenzel (1900-1959), Dan Schlotthauer (1900-1972), Helen Stenzel (1900-1959), Mabel Christensen (1901-1995), Paul Vogel (1902-1992), Linda Schlotthauer (1902-1993), and Roma Vogel (1903-1993).

In back: teacher Alex Stenzel (1891-1976).