Time Machine: Abbe Creek School

Some historians say that William Abbe was the first settler in Linn County in 1837. It is certain he was one of the first.

An adventurer, Abbe left his family in Ohio in the summer of 1836 to cross the Mississippi River and check out the new Wisconsin Territory, which included what would become Iowa.

Abbe was accompanied by his longtime friend Oliver Clark Sr. and Clark's oldest son, Julius. Abbe and Clark each claimed about 200 acres of land, built a 12-by-14-foot log cabin on Abbe's land near a small stream that became known as Abbe's Creek, and returned to Ohio.

Abbe brought his wife, Olive Green Abbe, and children Lucy, Lois, Andrew and Susan to the wilderness cabin in the spring of 1837 while ice was still on the Mississippi. Crossing on the ice saved the pioneers the expensive ferry fee being charged at the time. Clark stayed in Ohio for another year to close his business. He followed Abbe to Iowa in 1838.

Three years later, Olive died. She was buried in a grove south of the cabin along with a daughter, Lucy Willets, and a grandchild, who both died the same year.

Abbe then married Mary Wolcott in Ohio, bringing her back to Iowa. They had two sons, Augustus and William.

More settlers followed, and by 1844, five homesteaders met to plan and build a school/community house on Abbe's land near what would become the Lincoln Highway. Classes were held in the new frame building on weekdays, and students attended when they were not needed to work on their family farms. Circuit riders often preached there on Sundays.

A few times a month everyone would gather at the school for spelling bees and music.

Christian Neidig bought the Abbe farm in 1847 when the Abbe family moved closer to Marion.

Restless in the increasingly civilized land, Abbe set his sights on California. He left in 1849, at the height of the Gold Rush. After a visit home in 1851, he returned west in 1852 to make preparations to move his family there. Before that happened, he died in Sacramento in 1854.

Fight over slavery

In 1856, the frame school structure — some sources say it was destroyed by fire — was replaced with a red brick building.

During the Civil War, the Knights of the Golden Circle, an organization that supported slavery, was one of the groups that met at the schoolhouse.

In 1863, the group brought in a Rev. Winton to preach at the school. A native Texan, he was described as a large, arrogant man who was a fluent speaker. He also was the son of a slave owner.

In his sermon one Sunday, Winton said that Abraham had slaves and he couldn't see why the practice shouldn't continue. A Scotsman named Brown spoke up in opposition to that view, and a free-for-all debate ensued.

The Keplers were the largest family to attend the school, and it was often referred to as the Kepler school. The family's head, Henry Kepler, said the preacher had no business saying what he'd said 'as long as (we) have boys at the front being shot at, starved and plundered for the sake of saving the Union. I can further say to you, if you have forgotten it, that you were so poor when you came that I got you the very pants which you now wear, but I did not think that you would talk the way you do. You had better go back where you came from.'

The Rev. John Richmond, trying to calm the situation, asked that a benediction be given so the crowd would disperse, but he was ignored. Fists were being shaken in the midst of talk of politics, tar and feathers, and shotguns.

When the Rev. Winton left the building, he remarked that this was the only time he had met with such opposition to his remarks from the pulpit. He soon left for his home in the South.

Schoolhouse saved

The school became known as the Little Brick School in Mount Vernon's District No. 2.

When the transcontinental Lincoln Highway was paved in 1925, the school was moved slightly. Instead of facing north, it was turned to face east, and the paved road ran between it and the cemetery.

The Abbe school's last year of operation was 1936.

A tablet memorializing William and Olive Abbe as early Linn County settlers was installed in October 1937. It was placed on a native boulder beside the Lincoln Highway, near the center of the land Abbe had claimed in 1836.

The schoolhouse was put up for public auction on Aug. 31, 1946. It didn't sell, but within a week, Ed Pitlik bought it for $250. Pitlik remodeled the building, added electricity and rented it to Mr. and Mrs. Lester Konigsmark.

After more than 16 years as a private residence, the building and 1 1/2 acres of land were bought by the Linn County Conservation Board in January 1963.

The board began an extensive restoration of the school, with the aim of opening it as a 1900-period country school museum.

Desks were rescued from the basement of an abandoned rural school in Cedar Rapids. Old school books were acquired from an estate.

The Abbe Creek School Museum was dedicated on Oct. 25, 1964. It is located a mile northwest of Mount Vernon on County Highway E48 and is open six to eight times during the summer — typically on a Sunday — for public visits.