Seward County, Nebraska Schools
Education and schools were, and are, an important part of family life for residents of Seward County. Rural one rooms schools made education possible when roads were poor and travel difficult. Larger schools in small towns made an education beyond the eighth grade possible. And schools were an integral part of the social life of a community.
Seward County had almost 100 schools districts. Information on many of the districts is available through the Seward County Genealogical Society or the Seward Library in the volume Seward County Nebraska History Supplement 1983.
The first school district was Camden in the southeastern corner of the county. Other schools soon followed.
In the early 1900s, a movement to create high schools in small towns also started. At the same time, in an effort to better organize schools, the first proposals for rural school consolidation were considered. The earliest state legislation for the consolidation of schools was passed on the state level in the early 1920s.
In 1949, the Nebraska Legislature passed the "Reorganization of School Districts Act" and the consolidation movement accelerated. Nebraska had more one teacher schools than any other state from the 1950s to the 1980s. Today virtually all one room schools have disappeared.
School records can provide a wealth of genealogical information. Each school had to take a census every year and frequently the censuses included all school aged children in a family, whether they attended school or not.
Seward County residents did not give their townships/precincts proper names. The precincts were assigned letters in a manner similar to the numbering of sections in a township in the Retangular Survey System.
The table below is recorded in the same manner with Precinct A in the upper right hand corner. Precinct D is in the upper left hand corner. Precinct M is in the lower left hand corner and Precinct P is in the lower right hand corner.
The Seward County School Districts were:
| Precinct D | Precinct C | Precinct B | Precinct A |
| Dist. 36 - Orton | Dist. 14 - Pine Ridge, McKay | Dist. 12 - Hickman, Hickmanville | Dist. 13 - Oak Grove |
| Dist. 43 - Ritchie | Dist. 15 - Reynolds, Prairie Ridges | Dist. 26 - Gordon | Dist. 50 - Bethelem, Success |
| Dist. 44 - Homburg | Dist. 41 - Salem, Ward | Dist. 28 - Bates, Willow Creek | Dist. 68 - Romine |
| Dist. 55 - Phillips, Barbee | Dist. 70 - Bedford | Dist. 33 - Spring Hill, Liberty | Dist. 87 - Patrick, Hell's Corner |
| Dist. 83 - Staplehurst | Dist. 67 - | Dist. 89 - Blackwood | |
| Dist. 91 - Rocky Corners | |||
| Dist. 93 - Bee | |||
| Precinct E | Precinct F | Precinct G | Precinct H |
| Dist. 54 - Fees, Pleasant Dale, Abrahams | Dist. 8 - Anderson Skyview | Dist. 9 - Seward | Dist. 22 - Gruber |
| Dist. 57 - Kincaide, Wolvin | Dist. 10 - Figard | Dist. 11 - Imlay, Hafer | Dist. 32 - Petri, Detweiler |
| Dist. 59 - Oliver, Rosemond or Rosemound | Dist. 37 - Dally, Anstine | Dist. 46 - Leahey | Dist. 51 - Beckman, Elk Creek |
| Dist. 60 - Utica | Dist. 40 - Rocker | Dist. 69 - Gieselman | Dist. 52 - Highland |
| Dist. 67R - Centennial (location of building, englarged district) |
Dist. 63 - Conway | Dist. 79 - Ricenbaw Clark | Dist. 75 - Leach |
| Dist. 66 - Rohren or Richters | Dist. 85 - Roebka | ||
| Dist. 74 | Dist. 82 - Garland | ||
| Dist. 81 | |||
| Dist. 90 - Tamora | |||
| L Precinct | K Precinct | J Precinct | I Precinct |
| Dist. 38 - Fouse, Beaver Creek | Dist. 27 - Mount or Mound Prairie, Goehner | Dist. 6 - Mount Pleasant, Divan, Red School | Dist. 21 - Hoppel, Pleasant Dale |
| Dist. 42 - Allard, Brown, Grand View, Kinnett | Dist. 30 - Occidental | Dist. 7 - Ruby | Dist. 34 - Waterman, Rosebud, Fosler |
| Dist. 53 - Foster, Bissey | Dist. 58 - Star | Dist. 31 - Hamlin, Brown School | Dist. 45 - Pool, Ficke |
| Dist. 56 - McNeil | Dist. 78 - Atwater, Geis | Dist. 49 - Glendale | Dist. 64 - Ihde, Sunny Slope |
| Dist. 72 - Sleepy Hollow | Dist. 80 - (the Second) | Dist. 86 - Chocolate, Bernecker | Dist. 71 - Leger, Willers |
| Dist. 94 - Brandhorst | |||
| M Precinct | N Precinct | O Precinct | P Precinct |
| Dist. 4 - Beaver Crossing | Dist. 3 - Riverview, Lemon | Dist. 2 - West Mills, Miller | Dist. 1 - Camden |
| Dist. 20 - Ziegler | Dist. 16 - Tremper, Walnut Creek | Dist. 5 - Milford (includes Grover) | Dist. 17 - Branch, Courtright |
| Dist. 35 - Rogowski | Dist. 23 - Brisbin, Pilot Knob | Dist. 18 - Neff, Rosedale, Trabert | Dist. 19 - Fairview, Stahlik |
| Dist. 39 - Campion | Dist. 24 - Flowing Well | Dist. 4 - Strayer, Pleasant View | Dist. 48 - Goldenrod, Stolz |
| Dist. 61 - Blanchard | Dist. 25 - Endicott, Fairview | Dist. 73 - Stauffer | Dist. 65 - Dunten |
| Dist. 62 - Schoop, Gard | Dist. 29 - Harling, Sunny Side | Dist. 84 - Pathe, Sunshine District, Busboom |
Dist. 76 - Schamp |
| Dist. 88 - Cordova | Dist. 92 - Gausman | Dist. 77 - Vance, Blue Valley | |
| Dist. 96 |
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This page was created 20 January 2016 by Joan Shurtliff.