Lone Tree Community School - Elm Yearbook (Lone Tree, IA)

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The second floor also has cloakrooms and restrooms. There are 118 students in high school and 264 in grade school this year (1955). Business Directory 1882 According to Mrs. Morris Kelso and V. Smid the following business establishments were located here in 1882. M. Baker M. C. Oglevee. . . M. R. Hill Son. . . H. Constant J. M. Lee G. W. Hensley. . . Richard Huskins. . . Joseph Yakish. . . W. H. Nell Hotel James Menzer. . . C. M. Cott John Vandraska. . , J. C. Weiser J. Oglevee A. H. Brown J. A. Lee Lane Brothers. . . . H. Linder Stock Buyers Kate McCarthy. . . Cott and Pullen. . . Anton Fisher. . . . Incorporation In August, 1890, the progressive spirited citizens incorporated the town of Lone Tree and elected George Windess mayor. Lone Tree Savings Bank In April, 1891, the Lone Tree Savings Bank was incorporated with $10,000 capital and in September of the same year it opened for business. The original incorporators were: A. W. Leonard, John Burr, A. H. Brown, John Oglevee, J. M. Lee, Andrew Rubelman, and John A. Goetz. The bank has had seven presidents. They were: A. H. Brown, John A. Goetz, E. P. Whitaker, David Kirkpatrick, Joseph Walker, and W. R. Brewster. H. C. Buell is now president. The bank hashad four cashiers. They were: Charles Fernstrom, D. Bestor, and H. C. Buell. Ralph Hudachek is the cashier at the present time. Grain Elevator In 1892, two important additions were made to the town. The first was a new elevator located on the pre- sent site and owned by Dayton Riggs and David Kirk- patrick. This elevator was destroyed by fire in 1907 and in the following year the present elevator was built. Another fire in 1936 damaged the building extensively and and destroyed machinery and much grain. The elevator was rebuilt immediately on the same site northwest of the town hall. Pictures At Right: TOP: Elevator and Depot (1908). BOTTOM: Elevator (1955).

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In 1896 the building at the right was completed. A part of this building is the old building remod- eled with the new addition built onto it. This re- modeled building was in constant use until 1915 when it was torn down. It contained three class- rooms and hallways on the first floor. A base- ment had toilets and a furnace room. This building met the needs of the town for about 10 years. A fire damaged part of the building and it was tom down after a new modern brick structure (the one now in use in 1955) had been erected to Second School (1896). take its place. This new school building (not in- cluding the gym) was erected in 1915, just before the price boom, and cost about $35,000. Now (1955) the same structure would doubtless cost twice as much. In 1941 the school gymnasium-auditorium was erected in co-operation with the Work Projects Adminis- tration (WPA) and connected to the north side of the 1915 brick building. When the first building was erected, education in this community was in its infancy. Gradually it has grown and expanded until today our schools are fully accredited and are recognized by all colleges and universities. At the time the present building was built (1915), it was considered large, larger than was necessary to accommodate the patrons of the school. Today (1 955) the building is much too small to take care of the ever-increasing numbers of grade and high school students. The building today is used by both grades and high school. In the main basement are: the northeast room used to prepare hot lunch, as a dining room, and for home economics cooking classes; the northwest room, used both for home economics sewing and cooking classes and a dining room for hot lunch; the old sunken gymnasium on the south is partitioned into two parts and used as the seventh and eighth grade rooms; on the west is a boiler room with a coal stoker and coal bins; boys and girls toilets, a boys shower, and storerooms complete the basement. At street level is the new (1941) gymnasium across the north end of the 1915 building. On the west end of this is a stage with a dressing room on both the north and south sides and with both boys and girls dressing rooms underneath On the first floor are grade rooms and boys and girls toilets with the superintendent’s office across the south end of the hall. On the second floor the original large assembly has been divided into 3 smaller rooms. These are used as home rooms for ninth, tenth, and eleventh and twelfth grades. The large northeast room is a science classroom and laboratory; the small room at the north end of the hall is used as a typing room; the large northwest classroom is used for music and for other classes; the middle room on the west is a grade school room; a small room on the west and next to the ninth home room shelves the library. School Building and Gymnasium (1955). 7

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Newspaper The Lone Tree Branch was established on April 2, 1892, by O. S. Todd of the Colum- bus Junction Safeguard. This four-page paper was printed in Todd’s office and sent to Lone Tree for distribution. The Branch was issued for three months by the co- operation of the businessmen to give the paper a start. William E. Horrel was the first local correspondent for the paper, but he gave up the job after a few months. Hattie Underwood succeeded him in this work of gathering the local news and sending it to Mr. Todd. In 1894, W. H. Younkin moved a newspaper office to Lone Tree where he conducted it after selling an interest to Hattie Underwood. The paper adopted the name of Lone Tree Reporter in 1895. The office of the paper was first located over a store on the west side of Main (Devoe) Street where Shellady’s Grocery Store is now. Later, W. H. Younkin purchased a lot on south Main (Devoe) Street and built a new home for the Reporter. In 1898, this office was wiped out by fire, a big loss to the publisher. For four weeks, until a new printing press could be installed, Mr. Younkin put the paper out each week by printing it in Iowa City. Finally, he purchased the two- story building on Commercial (Front) Street, which is still the home of the paper. The ownership and editorship of the Reporter has changed hands many times. Today, R. Stewart Bell fills both positions. Fire Department Before 1 893, Lone Tree was without and did not consider fire protection of any kind. Several attempts were made to organize a fire company and in 1894 a committee of three, including John Kelso, David Kirkpatrick, and John W. Jayne, purchased fire fighting equipment. This, however, was not the actual organization of the fire depart- ment because there was no organized group of firemen. The first type of fire truck pulled by hand by means of a long rope. The fire department was organized in Sep- tember, 1907, and on January 8, of the following year, a fire whistle was purchased at the price of $38.00. The Zimmerman Steel Company The Zimmerman Steel Company was once a flourishing enterprise which was started by William C. F. Zimmerman and his five boys, and which sold products all over the world. It was with great pride that the people of Lone Tree pointed to this company as a symbol of progress and integrity, and they regretted to see Mr. Zimmerman move his plant to Bettendorf, Iowa, to take advantage of river freight rates. In writing this story about the Zimmerman Steel Company many references were used. The only written source, however, was a book entitled, Leading Events in John- son County (Western Historical Press, Cedar Rapids, 1912.) Many of the local resi- dents have presented facts they knew concerning the plant. From these sources this account has been compiled. The Zimmermans lived on the farm on which “the lone tree” is located. After the boys were old enough to tend the farm, William C. F. Zimmerman ran a saloon in Lone Tree directly south across the street from the present site of the Corbett Lum- ber Company (east side of Main (Devoe) Street). 9