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I think my fascination with one-room schoolhouses probably started with Laura Ingalls Wilder. I loved the Little House on the Prairie books as a child, and the little schools Laura attended and eventually taught in were as interesting to me as the log cabins, covered wagons and trips into town.
I never attended a one-room school, but in fourth grade I did go to a very small school with only one classroom for each grade. We didn’t even have a cafeteria. We ate lunch at our desks in our classrooms. Looking back, it wasn’t anything like the rural schools Laura Ingalls described, but there was something about going to such a small school that I loved.
I eventually grew up to become a teacher myself, but by then one-room schools were mostly a thing of the past. Still, I’ve never completely lost my fascination with them. Maybe that’s why I love finding old schoolhouses tucked along Arkansas backroads.
Arkansas has a surprising number of one-room schoolhouses still standing. Some have even been restored so today’s students can get a glimpse of what school was like for the children who came before them.
One Room, One Teacher
In the 1800s and early 1900s, one-room schools were common across rural Arkansas. Schools were built in nearly every community and were typically close enough for children to walk to and from school daily. Most schools included first through eighth grade, all taught by one teacher.
Students worked independently while small groups took turns at the recitation bench. Reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic were central, along with grammar, geography, history and penmanship. Older students sometimes helped younger children with their lessons.
The school term could be much shorter than today’s and often followed the agricultural calendar. In some communities, school was held during the summer, closed for cotton picking and reopened afterward.
Arkansas established free public education in its 1874 constitution, but attendance was not yet compulsory statewide. A 1917 law generally required children ages 7 through 15 to attend at least three-fourths of the local school term. Learn more about the history of education in Arkansas.
A Day at an Arkansas Schoolhouse
Inside, lessons rotated throughout the day. Tests might be written on the blackboard for students to copy onto their tablets, and Friday afternoons sometimes brought spelling or arithmetic contests. Recess gave everyone a chance to get outside for baseball, hopscotch and mumblety-peg, an old-fashioned game that involved completing a series of tricks with a pocketknife and sticking the blade into the ground.
The schoolhouse itself was usually pretty basic. Many had no electricity or running water, so they heated with a wood stove and got drinking water from a well or a shared bucket. Restrooms were generally outhouses, and students often helped with everyday chores like carrying water, bringing in firewood and keeping the stove going.
The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program collected firsthand memories from former teachers and students. One remembered that owning a folding drinking cup instead of a plain tin one made a child feel rich. Another walked about 2½ miles to school and stopped using his shortcut through the woods once snakes became active in spring.
Read Life in a One-Room Arkansas Schoolhouse.
Who Taught School?
Teachers didn’t necessarily have college degrees, and some were not much older than their students. Arkansas used examinations and different levels of teaching licenses to determine who was qualified to teach.
Mabel Goree Bell was just 20 when she began teaching at Skylight School in Washington County in 1925. During her six-month term, she taught students ranging from Primer through ninth grade. By the end of the term, three of her female students were ready to take the Washington County teacher examination themselves, and all three passed. Read Bell’s firsthand account of teaching in a one-room Arkansas schoolhouse.
For teachers who didn’t live nearby, boarding with a local family was common. Their responsibilities extended well beyond teaching lessons. With several grades sharing one room, the teacher also kept order and made sure the school day ran smoothly.
Rules, Discipline and Segregation
With so many ages sharing one classroom, discipline mattered. There wasn’t a single rulebook followed by every Arkansas school, since local districts and individual teachers had considerable control. Former students generally remembered strict expectations, including staying in their seats, paying attention and obeying the teacher.
Not every Arkansas child had the same educational opportunities, either. Schools were segregated, and those serving Black children often received fewer resources than white schools. Several of these buildings still survive, including Northern Ohio School, Pocahontas Colored School and Beebe Colored School, preserving an important part of Arkansas’s educational history.
More Than a School
The use of a schoolhouse didn’t end when lessons ended for the day. Many doubled as community gathering places and hosted spelling bees, Christmas programs, pie suppers, church services and music and community meetings that brought neighbors together throughout the year.
That may be one reason some of these little buildings are still standing. When one-room schools began closing, many were converted into churches, homes and community halls. Better roads and school buses made it possible for children to travel farther to larger schools, and Arkansas’s 1948 School District Reorganization Act accelerated consolidation. In the years that followed, hundreds of small school districts disappeared.
Learn more about the history of Arkansas schools and consolidation.
Why Kids Should See a One-Room Schoolhouse
It’s one thing to tell kids that eight grades once shared a classroom. It’s another to stand inside one and realize just how small that room actually is.
Visiting an old schoolhouse gives kids a chance to see the wood stove, desks and blackboard while thinking about what it would have been like to walk to school, carry lunch from home and share one teacher with children of all ages. It also makes it easier to see that while schools have changed dramatically, kids really haven’t. They still looked forward to recess, worried about tests, made friends and occasionally got themselves into trouble.
Fortunately, quite a few of Arkansas’s old schoolhouses are still standing. Some have been restored or preserved specifically so today’s students can step inside and get a better sense of what going to school once looked like.
One-Room Schoolhouses You Can Visit
Writer’s note: This is not an exhaustive list, and other schools may be located around the state. I did my best to include only structures that were still standing, but, as with many historic structures, time and the elements challenge their viability. Not all properties may be open to the public.
Rocky Branch School – Rocky Branch/Larue area near Rogers
Enjoy a Day at Rocky Branch School
Rogers Historical Museum
Northern Ohio Schoolhouse – Parkin
Parkin Archeological State Park
Independence School – Stuttgart
Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie
Arkansas Register of Historic Places
Pocahontas Colored School – Pocahontas
Eddie Mae Herron Center & Museum
National Register documentation
Little Red School – Searcy
White County Pioneer Village
White County Historical Society
One-Room Schoolhouse – Prairie Grove
Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park
Sloan Heritage School – Harrisburg
Parker Pioneer Homestead
One-Room Schoolhouse – Mountain View
Ozark Folk Center State Park
Steele Schoolhouse and Pemberton Schoolhouse – Scott
Scott Plantation Settlement
Redwine Pioneer Schoolhouse – Greenwood
Redwine Pioneer Schoolhouse
Note: This is a replica schoolhouse furnished with historic school artifacts.
More Historic Arkansas Schoolhouses Still Standing
These buildings help preserve Arkansas’s one-room-school history, but they aren’t necessarily staffed attractions. Check current ownership and access before visiting.
Beebe Colored School – Beebe
White County Historical Society Restoration Project
Arkansas Register of Historic Places
Tulip School – Tulip
Arkansas Register of Historic Places
Cedar Grove School No. 81 – Brockett community near Pocahontas
Encyclopedia of Arkansas
Old Union School – Birdell, Randolph County
Encyclopedia of Arkansas
Grubb Springs School – Near Harrison, Boone County
National Register documentation
Cover photo by Mel Lockcuff. All other photos by Julie Kohl.
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