Opinion Tribune (Newspaper) - March 24, 1976, Glenwood, Iowa DEPT OF HISTORY DES KOINES IA 503II East Elementary School Has Colorful History Will Soon Be Gone This article was prepared with the assistance of Eugene and the Glenwood Public which holds a thesis written by Charles which was an invaluable source of In the confusing weeks after the East Elementary School property was sold by the Glenwood School dur ing the controversy involving the future of the building and an important aspect of the story seemed the school building has been such a major part of the Glenwood com munity for more than three quarters of a century will be The property and which was of little use to the school board after the con struction of Northeast Ele was sold by that group last Owner Paul Cheyney intends to build apartments on the THE DAYS seem numbered for the brick building which looms down on visitors approaching Glenwood from east Sharp And a major part of Glenwood lives since 1898 will be torn down and replaced with modern It may seem an end for the but its beginnings were no more The Corfield property was purchased more than a century ago by the Western Iowa a religiously oriented organization asso with the Methodist and Episcopal The In constructed a seminary on the During the years the building known as the seminary It was during this time that the institute allowed the taxes on the property to become delin quent in the property was sold at a sheriffs THREE MEMBERS of the Glenwood Board of as King and purchased the property for with the intention of selling the pro perty to the board after approval by local The issue of buying property was put to a vote of the citizens of They approved the and the board then officially bought the property from the three members in the school board was not certain what to do with the The first reference to the old seminary property in the minutes of the board meetings was on when the board moved to commence with the grading of the an immediate need for the impelled by a rapid growth in the number of Glenwood school was apparent and the old seminary building was soon being used for only the downstairs room was designated for but soon the upper as it was referred to in school board was Other reference to the property and building in the board minutes involved hiring a janitor and making repairs on the In a which was to be known as the Third Ward Grade was constructed the It housed the first through fourth grade students living in the east part of the The west side was served by the West Hill con in 1868 on the current junior high enrollment increases persisted in the school board met to discuss the overcrowded con ditions in Glen woods high The decision regarding the construction of a new school was postponed until when voters were asked to approve a bond to construct the new facility on the seminary The Jensen Brothers from Council had completed the by the opening of the fall The finished bas is the present structure at the corner of Second and Chestnut WITH THE newly con high school and two grade the problem of overcrowding seemed the number of students continued to One reason for the growth was the passage in 1911 of a school law which required the school districts to pay the tuition for rural students beyond the eighth the students family was required to In a special election was once again held this time to ask voters for approval of a addition to the high The addition added 20 feet to the north side of the building and added two recitation rooms to the west The addition made the school 50 per cent THE problem was thought to have been the swelling number of students and the well known degenerating effects of high schoolers began taking its toll on the comparatively new In a new water xnew steel ceilings and a complete paint job refurbished the The problem of lack of space was not so easily In there were 200 desks in the assembly hall at the high There were 220 Another addition was ap proved by voters in A runoff election was necessary to break a tie A second story above the 1912 north addition was con at a cost of The addition increased the number of classrooms bv THE enrollment boom particularly in the high school In there were 184 students enrolled in the high school in there were It was obvious that the board could not simply con to add to the present structure in A new facility was In another special election showed voters approved of constructing a new high The West Hill Elementary which had been in use since its construction in was torn down to make room for the new high The which is the facility now occupied by the junior high was completed in Students of West Hill Elementary were moved to the old high school building which at that you knew wed get to it became the East Elementary The history doesnt stop The Third Ward still standing almost the East was condemned in 1937 and was later removed to provide a playground area for the new AND THAT is where the evolution of East Elementary schools com to change three new buildings were added to the community since 1939 but East Elementary continued to be used for grade schoolers until last when the halls emptied after the com of the completely Northeast Elemen The East Elemen tary has been a full Thirtyeight graduating classes received their diplo mas in the school and two generations of children grew up in the building after it became an elementary IT WONT be long before the building is gone and the growing populace of Glenwood warmly welcomes the new apartments with little thought of what once stood on the for hundreds of Glenwood residents and many more who have long left the the school will continue to stand on hallowed property their The high as it appeared in After two it served for several decades as the East Elementary is the Third Ward Grade which stood on the East Elementary property from 1868 until it was torn down in Davis Visits Glenwood Wayne receives an autograph from Steve the athletic banquet speaker Boles has Boles is one of the original members of the Glenwood Community Activities which has assisted in sponsoring the Honors Banquet for 25 Boles missed one year due to For the past 15 he has served as treasurer of the Boles said the speaker who most impressed him over the years was track star Glenn He said that high school athletes have changed little over the There are many more involved in sports he and many more Boles Theyre still all good John Barrett Will Stand Trial A Council Bluffs charged with assault with intent to commit murder after a jailbreak March will stand trial in district court April John Barrett will soon be brought back to this county from Quentin Prison in Walt Green stated he should be transported this was being held in Mills County Jail for Pottawattamie County officials a year ago when he and another inmate escaped from the allegedly striking Sheriff Merle Brown with a metal bar in the Green said he moved to begin extradition proceedings when he was informed that Barrett would be released if Mills County did not show an interest in prosecuting would mean he would be off he Green said there was much resistance in the county against extraditing Green said the Mills County Board of Supervisors would approve the funding for the transportation of Barrett only upon court Green received the court order He said the board was concerned primarily with the cost of transporting and holding Barrett during the Green he was intent on bringing him back to face Ive been fighting every body to get him I guess nobody wanted to see him prosecuted but If not John Barrett will be out free and guys in this county will be prosecuted for much less serious just because they werent slippery enough to get out of the Attorney General Robert Huibregtse is assisting Green in the Green requested his assist ance a Barrett was a prisoner in California when he escaped and fled to He allegedly participated in a robbery in Pottawattamie but county officials felt they did not have a strong case against He was being housed in the local jail when the assault He was then re moved to a maximum security facility in Council Green said Pottawattamie County officials released Bar rett to California authorities without consulting him to inquire if he intended to press charges in connection with the Magistrates Appointed Legally The current county T district Judge Hanson stated the claim by attorneys Market and Mike at the judicial appointing ommission acted improperly the selection process last 3 ar of magistrate was pt substantiated The committee had ap unanimously John atson and for Neither Kelfy nor Markel received any votes in the selection To the claim that the com mission was acting illegally by selecting magistrates with one member Eliot Thomas not the judge No authorities were cited and indeed no argument was presented to support this spurious The other that the attorneys should have been considered first by the com mission in wernot was not supported when the case was heard March the judge The judge The evidence is clear that the commission first considered and then first voted on the lawyer applicants who were re The Markel and will be required to pay in court Watson is currently serving his second term as a judicial Engle has been a magistrate judge since Opinion 2OO YEARS OF FREEDOM Tribune Volume Number 12 March 1976 Price Two Sections Two Face Charges One is Hanged Bizarre Week Includes Kidnap Death 1 J One man is another is being held in the Fort Madison Penal Complex and a third has been released on bond after an alleged kidnap at tempt last week resulted in the arrest of four persons and the jail cell death of one of Raymond Jack Kenneth Jensen and a 14yearold youth were ap early Thursday morning after allegedly at tempting to break into the Silver City home of Kenneth Bud Carlson and kidnap He is the of the Mills County State Bank and isin charge of the Silver City The county attorneys office said Tuesday there is evidence that the men were planning to take Carlson to the bank and force him to open the AFTER THEIR Jen sen and Curttright were involved in a series of moves which included Mercy pital in Council the Oakdale Security complex in Iowa and the Red Oak before being returned to the county jail in Glenwood Sunday Approximately two hours after the men were returned to the was found hanged in his cell County Walt Green said he is investigating the pos that Jensens killed his there is a strong possibility that Curttright committed Green THE BIZARRE series of events began with a radio call Wednesday night at mately The report that the Carlson home in Silver City was being broken Five minutes another call came into the office stating that two subjects had broken the basement window of the home and were kicking at the front Responding to the Ed James found that the subjects had left the area but he was able to obtain a description of the men from While searching the Silver City James spotted a yellow station wagon north of town which matched Carlsons description of the vehicle used in the attempted THE FOUR occupants of the car were arrested by James and were questioned in Curttright and both of were charged with conspiracy to kidnap and with breaking and They were held on was with con and was held on at the request of the county Simms was released on bond Saturday The a Council Bluffs was released to his said there is little likelihood he will be At the time of Curttright and Jensen ap to need medical attent ion due to drug They were taken to Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs for observation and were placed under 24hour THEY returned to county jail Friday where the two were kept in separate quarters from Simms Sheriff Merle Brown had shown signs of cooperating with Saturday Brown he was informed that the pair was causing trouble in the It was found that they had broken the toilet in the cell Brown they were yelling that they wanted a Saturday Brown and Green received an order to transport the two to a mental health security com plex in Iowa While pre paring to move Brown learned the two apparently set fire to a mattress in the Though the mattress was fire the material smoldered and smoked a great Volunteer Gregg Mike Mienders and Steve using oxygen entered the jail and brought out the two Jensen appeared to be un but Curttright re became violent when he was brought After being he and Jensen were administered THEY WERE reportedly in good condition when arrived at where an examination report was writ stating the men had no mood thinking disorders and were com petent to stand Psy attention was un the report The two were again released to Mills County SINCE THE county jail was still in a shambles after the fire and destruction Brown left Curttright and Jensen in the Red Oak jail at County officers later re a report from Red Oak that the men were causing a disturbance in the jail and had set fire to a The sheriffs department again re the pair and returned them to county Arriving in Glenwood at 8 the sheriff remained with the prisoners for a couple of hours before he left to transport two men who had assisted him to their En Brown received a call from his wife that there was a lot of hollering in the Brown and his wife have living quarters in the jail Upon Brown found Curttright hanging in his Tne sheriff said fragments of a mattress cover were apparent ly braided together to make the A preliminary au topsy report stated Curttright died from Green is awaiting a complete Tuesday morning Jensen was taken to Fort Madison and should remain there until court proceedings BOTH CURTTRIGHT and Jensen have police The dead man had served time for auto breaking and entering and escape from Jensen was sentenced in Minnesota for burglary and had served time for breaking and entering and third degree Simms had never been arrested for a and Green is a major reason for his bail being set at He had never committed a and he has a permanent The basis for bail is whether or not they will appear in Green said that the charge against conspiracy to carries a threeyear Bizarre Week Continued on Page 5 Charles Malvern police holds Raymond Curttright as Gregg administers In the at the Howard Clark administers oxygen to Kenneth The two apparently set fire to the mattress in their jail At Fire Chief Willard and Donald Stivers survey the damage caused by the fire and the morning destruction of jail
