Locust School

Locust School Museum

  • 1640 Big Canoe Rd, Decorah, IA  52101
  • Phone (563) 382-4166

WCHS owns and maintains the one-room Locust School. The school is maintained as a living history site where school classes are able to visit and experience a typical school day of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The school was built in 1854 of rock quarried from a farm one-half mile west of the school site (the Ruffridge Farm).

The Locust School Calendar for 2024 is shaping up. The Committee has been busy communicating with area schools for field trip scheduling. Another venture for the Locust volunteers is the “traveling trunk” which is available for social organizations and care facilities to access and learn about the early Iowa school system. A School volunteer takes the “trunk” to the group and presents a program. This may be scheduled by e-mailing fbbrim@outlook.com. The 2023 release of the new book “A New History of Iowa” by Jeff Bremer contains a great deal of information regarding the high priority the settlers of Iowa placed on educating their children. It details how, by 1900, 97% of Iowa inhabitants were literate.

Locust School was built in 1854 and was a part of this movement.

And finally, our annual Country school Reunion event is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, April 28, 2024. Mark your calendar and plan to join us for a fun afternoon! THANK YOU to all of you who have supported this National Register property.

Click here to view a video of the school.

The physical address for the school is, 1640 Big Canoe Rd. It’s at the intersection of W38 (Locust Road) and A26 (the Canoe Ridge Blacktop).