Maple Grove Elementary in rural Clackamas County closes after 123 years
| Maple Grove School Closes |
MOLALLA – Claire Beyer Ferlan carries four generations of memories from Maple Grove Elementary.
View full sizeTeacher Mike Clarke receives a hug from Maple Grove fourth-grader Libby Byrne as she accepts a certificate for her classwork during the past year. Now that the school is closing, Clarke plans to retire."I remember so many things," said Ferlan, 52, a Maple Grove instructional aide who also attended the school in the 1960s. "There were always deer looking into the windows of the school, and one time a teacher fell asleep, so we all went for a two-hour hike around the woods."
Maple Grove has been a Ferlan family tradition for most of the past century. All nine of her brothers and sisters attended Maple Grove. So did her husband and all of their 10 children. So did her father-in-law, who also drove the school bus.
Original heating: A woodstove that held 4-foot logs
First teacher: Miss Ida Goudy from Woodburn, who taught all eight grades
Second classroom added: 1927
First school bus: A GMC Suburban, purchased in 1953
Annual enrollment:
19 to 80
Sources: Community members, former studentsThat tradition ended Thursday, the last day of classes for Ferlan's granddaughter, Natalie Litchfield, a second-grader. Molalla River School District officials say they can no longer justify operating such a remote school that serves so few students – 18 in a combined first-second grade and 17 in a combined third through fifth grade.
The fifth-graders will move up to Molalla River Middle School, and the rest of Maple Grove's students will transfer to Rural Dell Elementary. The future of the schoolhouse is unclear, but the structure is somewhat protected by its listing on the Clackamas County Register of Historic Buildings.
Maple Grove opened as a one room schoolhouse in 1887. One of the school's first directors was a Civil War veteran, Capt. J.G. Blakeny.
School records tell of the days when the school could afford to keep students only a few months at a time. When more money came in, the school would reopen.
On Thursday, 123 years after the school opened, students gathered in the gym for a final awards ceremony. They filled just two short rows.
Teacher Peg Moore addressed her first- and second-graders. She told her students how special they were and handed each one a certificate of achievement and list of characteristics that made them unique. The gym filled with
View full sizeTeacher Mike Clarke receives a hug from Maple Grove fourth-grader Libby Byrne as she accepts a certificate for her classwork during the past year. Now that the school is closing, Clarke plans to retire.Maple Grove has been a Ferlan family tradition for most of the past century. All nine of her brothers and sisters attended Maple Grove. So did her husband and all of their 10 children. So did her father-in-law, who also drove the school bus.
Maple Grove Elementary
Opened: 1887, as a one-room schoolhouse Original heating: A woodstove that held 4-foot logs
First teacher: Miss Ida Goudy from Woodburn, who taught all eight grades
Second classroom added: 1927
First school bus: A GMC Suburban, purchased in 1953
Annual enrollment:
19 to 80
Sources: Community members, former students
The fifth-graders will move up to Molalla River Middle School, and the rest of Maple Grove's students will transfer to Rural Dell Elementary. The future of the schoolhouse is unclear, but the structure is somewhat protected by its listing on the Clackamas County Register of Historic Buildings.
Maple Grove opened as a one room schoolhouse in 1887. One of the school's first directors was a Civil War veteran, Capt. J.G. Blakeny.
School records tell of the days when the school could afford to keep students only a few months at a time. When more money came in, the school would reopen.
On Thursday, 123 years after the school opened, students gathered in the gym for a final awards ceremony. They filled just two short rows.
Teacher Peg Moore addressed her first- and second-graders. She told her students how special they were and handed each one a certificate of achievement and list of characteristics that made them unique. The gym filled with