Today marks the one year passing of my precious mother.  It’s so hard to lose the one who loves you the most.  Thanks for always being there for us and thanks for loving us Mom.

Love and Miss you Mom †

While traveling along the back roads not too far from where my mother grew up, I saw a little building, abandoned but still proudly standing on the prairie, it was an old schoolhouse.   I never knew where she went to grade school, but I knew the name of the school was Victory.

District 56 was organized in 1872.  Twenty seven students attended the first three month school term.  The school was moved from the original location as more students lived in the western part of the district.

In 1877, District 56 was known as Liberty School.  They were competing in a spelling bee with four other schools and the only two remaining students, both from District 56 didn’t have to compete against each other, their school became known as Victory School.

Undated photo of Victory School from private collection

The school board voted in 1882 to move the school house once again.  Not everyone on the board was in favor of the location.  A group of patrons decided to move the school a mile west to the side of the district that they thought was more populated.   At night they hitched four yoke of oxen to the building, then notified the opposition that they were going to move it.  By the time the sheriff from Abilene arrived in the middle of the night, the school had been set on its new foundation.

April 29, 1949 the board of Victory school decided to close the school.  My Aunt was one of the 5 students attending the final school term at Victory.

Students of Victory School Dickinson County, KS

My mom is second from the left, her little sister is the first one on the right.

Undated photo from private collection

Some information on Victory School was taken from a booklet composed for the Victory School Reunion