Jacobus Elementary
In the early days of Dallastown Schools there was an old elementary school called Jacobus Elementary. Actually there were two, the first one was in Jacobus where York Road meets Main Street, the Goodwill Fire Company and Peoples Bank currently stand where the school once was. The second was not even called Jacobus Elementary, It was Springfield Consolidated School, but it was in Jacobus.
"It was built before I was born, so I can't answer that, but I imagine it was built around 1920." says Erwin Shearer on the first two room school house. "Homer Geiselmen was the elementary teacher, he taught the first four grades, and Mr. Boyer had the other four grades. They were the only teachers that ever taught at Jacobus elementary...They taught Aritmetic, Grammar, English, History, no Science, Geography, Spelling, Reading, and no Health," Mr. Shearer remembered. When asked about the length of the school year Mr. Shearer replied, "I think it was one hundred and sixty days. We were always done around the middle of April. We didn't have much of a Christmas Vacation, just one or two days. That's the reason we got out so early." "Homer Geiselmen used to hit you with a pointer if you didn't listen, so by the time you got to Mr. Boyer you were usually pretty tame," Mr. Shearer said on discipline.
When asked why the school stopped being so used Mr. Shearer answered, "Consolidation, the school district consolidated. There were a bunch of little schools in the area and then they consolidated and closed up all the little school." "I think it was called Springfield Consolidated school, that's what was written on the side of the building." said Patty Weidner on the second Jacobus school. Kathleen Shearer said it was located "Right out there on Main Street where Kid's Country is."
Mrs. Weidner remembers her old teachers, "Homer Geiselmen for the first and second grade, Lois Anderson was my third and fourth grade teacher, Atreeba Heithcoat was my fifth and sixth grade teacher, and Harry Boyer was my seventh and eighth grade teacher. Out teacher taught two grades. It (the school) went to eighth grade." "We had Arithmetic, probably Geography, History, English, those are the main ones I remember. I can't think of a specific class in science, But I'm sure we had some, because it's pretty well covered," Mrs. Weidner said when asked what classes were offered. When asked if the school served lunch Mrs. Shearer replied,"Not at first but after a while they built the school out of Loganville, they would come in with a school bus and take them up there to eat for a while. They took them up there and served out of the cafeteria for a while." "A nurse would come in every so often, But I think she had a few schools. She wasn't strictly at our school, she would come in at times," recalled Mrs. Weidner.
When Mrs. Shearer was asked if they had any after school activities she replied, "I don't think so. I think all they had was baseball in the summertime on the ball diamond. I don't think they had any activities. I don't know, but I don't think they did any thing after school. It's been fifty years, I've forgotten." Mrs. Weidner remembered May Day, "I can remember that we went over to the ball diamond, you see the ball diamond was across from the school yard. We always had a queen, and we had games. I can remember getting a blue ribbon, they always gave us ribbons for different things that we won, like I have a blue ribbon for being the best girl's basebal throw for control. It was things like that. I think we had relay races, I'm not sure what else, but we always got a ribbon."
When Mrs. Shearer was asked why the school closed down she said, "Because they had to have a larger school. And when they built that out there they still had them in this school for a while, and they came in and got them in Kids' Country School and then hauled them out to the cafeteria for a while 'til they closed the school down."
In conclusion, you can see how schools have changed over the years. The schools have gone from a two room school house to a large building which includes many classrooms, a gymnasium, a cafeteria, and offices. Teachers have gone from teaching four grades, to teaching two grades, to teaching a fragment of one grade. This is the result of consolidation to make learning more efficient.
