Russett School

The Russett school building was pretty much the center of the community.  In addition to school functions such as ball games, junior/senior plays,  junior/senior banquets, other community events were held here. These ranged from the community Christmas tree to pie suppers held to raise money for war bonds during WWII and funerals held in the gym. 

According to Carrie (Waggoner) Jester the first School in Russett was in 1905, a one room school house  which was also used as the  Baptist Church and they employed one teacher, Miss Julia Wilhite.  This lasted 3 years and in 1908, after Statehood in 1907 they built a 2 story building that employed 3 teachers that taught through the 8th grade.  In 1918 Fred Chapman came to Russett and purchased thousands of acres of land and brought in large families with a lot of kids to work the land and build up the school.  In the early 1900's they voted in bonds and built the Brick school. 

According to Ora Mae (Brown) Boyer, when her family came to Russett in 1929 the school only went to the 10th grade.  Then in 1931 they added the 11th grade and in 1932 they added the 12th grade and so she was in the first graduating class in 1933 to graduate the full 12 years.

In 1961 Russett lost their high school but continued their grade school until later when it too was closed. (Someone please tell me the year the grade school closed)

Please contribute your experiences and photos about the school.