1. Bland School, District No. 41 was one of the early schools in the Lebanon area. The last school building was located at the corner of Missouri 5 and East Bland Road (where Champion Express is now located). According to Bland historian Ann Stratton du Pont, beginning in 1872, the children of that neighborhood attended the little school near the junction of what is now Missouri 32 and Missouri 5. At first, the district was Subdistrict 5 of District 34-16, but soon became District 5-34-16. Sometime before 1885, the children of District 5-34-16 began attending a larger but still one-room school house near Lebanon. That school was Bland, named for the United States Representative Richard Parks Bland, first elected to Congress in 1872. Until 1895, students of Bland School came from Lebanon’s south, southeast, and some adjoining rural areas. In 1895 state law changed district lines, resulting in the Bland school house no longer being within its own district. Ten years later voters of the district voted to build a new school house in the Bland District. Built in 1907, the building was very plain with three windows facing east and three facing west. In 1955, a modern kitchen and lunchroom was built. This photo was taken in 1955.
Bland School closed in May 1965, as a result of consolidation with Lebanon public schools. The students then attended Maplecrest School near the location where the school was held before 1885 through the school year of 1904-1905.
2. The earliest known photo of 1900-1901 school year when it was located on what is now Vance Road, across from what is now Maple Lane. James O’Hearne was the teacher. Students identified are Robert Charles Stratton, Louise Stratton, Mary Stone, Nettie Holman, Roe and Saunders girls, Annie Hess, Leon Booten, John Bland.
3. Bland School 1925.
4. Bland School 1930-31. Identified in the photo are Fredrick Moore, Lyle Jones, Phil Hogan, Clara Francis Walstrom, Stacia Hogan, Marie Seay, Virginia Moore, Clarence Seay Jr., Joe Hogan, Dennis Smith, Howard Jones, Gladys Seay, Arminta Pearson, John Frank, Michael Hogan, and Richard Moore. The teacher is Lula McClure.
5. Bland School in March 1948. First row from left, Jim Burtin, John Carr, Jackie Anderson, Dick Carr, Stanley Brackett, Jack Davis, Jackie McAllister; second row, Paula Burtin, Wilma Stewart, Dorothy Lou Patton, Betty Vaughn, Carolyn Wrinkle, Wanda Stewart, Beverley Meents, Twila Pender; third row, Vannie Admire, teacher; Anna Louise Stratton, Frieda Jean Atkinson, Patsy Stewart, Norma Lee Humphries, Jim McAllister, George Ed Carr, Jerry Price, Elmer Brackett, Ronald Anderson.
6. Bland School in 1955. Lucy Masters was the last teacher at Bland when the school closed in 1965. First row (top), from left, Lucy Masters, teacher; Neil Nevils, Jean Ellen Viele, David Loring, Duane Viele, Rosemary Lucas; second row, Sherry Stansbarger, David McKinney, unidentified, Cathy Stansbarger, Eddie Tyre, Jeanie Gillham, Beth Vernon, grandson of Mrs. Masters; third row, Sandy Scott, Jimmy Sutton, Terry Tyre; fourth row, Vivian Viele, Howard Meents, J.D. O’Dell, Dee Vincent, Billy Vincent, unidentified, Mark Armstrong, Keith Johnson; fifth row, Twylia Nevils, Greg Tyre, Darrell McKinney, Janice Viele, Debbie Pitts.
7. Bland School between 1912 and 1914 when Harvey Hill was teacher.
8. Bland School — 1925-26 school year. First row, from left, Maxine Porter, Helen Stewart, Ethel Stewart, Kenneth Hageman, Dennis Smith, John Frank, and the Frank family dog Shep; second row, Pansy Vance, Nellie Hageman, Nancy Frank, Geneva Vance, Anna Frank, Effie Stephens, teacher; Ivory Williams, Max Zelsman, Frank Humphreys, and Tom Frank.
Photos courtesy of Ann (Stratton) du Pont of Klamath Falls, Ore.
