Lessons beyond the blackboard: How a tiny school built big futures for a rural community

North of Pierre, you’ll find Plainview school, a rustic one-room schoolhouse that brought accessible education

Plainview School was built in the 1920s and was an operating school north of Pierre, South Dakota, until the mid- to late 1980s. (Ariana Schumacher/Agweek)

PIERRE — Old one-room schoolhouses played a fundamental role in bringing education to children in rural communities for generations.

Though the walls of this classroom north of Pierre are crumbling, the memories remain in the minds of those who spent years learning in them.

Jim Schumacher attended first through eighth grades at the Plainview School. His family built the school house in the 1920s, and it functioned as a school until the mid- to late 1980s. It is located 15 miles north of Pierre, in the Peoria Township area.

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