Source #1: Miller County Schools Project

http://www.millercountymuseum.org/schools/MCSS044.html

School Name:    Walnut Grove School             

School District Number:    #44
Location:
Township:  Twn40N    Range:  Rng15W    Section:  Sec05 
Latitude:  38.251400 °N      Longitude:  -92.604100 °W
School Information:

By Kathy Pierson and Angie Needham

Walnut Grove School was built in the early 1920's. The first teacher for the school was Berlie Harvey.

The regular school day began at 9 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m. Students had approximately 20 minutes for each class, 10 minutes for recess, and one hour for lunch. The school year started around Aug 29 and ended around April 14. The library consisted of 125 volumes valued at approximately 50 cents a book.

As other schools in this area, it closed down after the construction of Bagnell Dam.

​

Source #2: Miller County Museum & Historical Society

Photos by: Debbie Simmons, October 24, 2011

http://www.millercountymuseum.org/archives/111024.html

"Recently, Debbie Simmons sent me some photos she took the week that our fall scenery was displaying its most color. Debbie had driven around the area to select a few places where the autumn scenery was most vivid. Debbie then went over to an area north of Bagnell where the old Walnut Grove school is located and took some pictures of the school (photos 04 - 08)."

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

"Walnut Grove was one of the many one room schools the county had years ago which at one time numbered up to about 100 schools. Some of the several teachers there included T.E. Vaughan in 1898 (photo 10), Oliver Brockman in the early 1900’s (photo 11), and Ruth McCommons Barrons in the 1930’s (photo 12)."

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Source #3: The State Historical Society of Missouri

Weber, Frank. "Place Names Of Six South Central Counties of Missouri." M.A. thesis., University of Missouri-Columbia, 1938.

http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_miller.html

"One mile north of Bagnell. Named for the Walnut grove, in the midst of which it stands. (Jas. R. Pruitt)"

​

Source #4: Gladys Wood Diffenderfer

She is 91 and attended the school in 1931 for 1st grade. We had the pleasure of speaking with her and hearing her memories of the schoolhouse.  She let us know that there were about 15 kids that attended that year and Mr. Snodgrass was the superintendent at the time. She remembers watching the eclipse there with an old shoe box. She also talked about how Cleo Hicks helped her learn to draw a doll and how they used ladles at the cistern to get water.  They would all share the same one and the older kids would help the younger ones get theirs.