One-room schools were the norm in the 1850s and into the turn of the century. It could be difficult at times, as the teacher instructed all the children in the school and taught as many as eight grades at a time. The class was usually divided into four groups, each with an upper and lower grade. As early as the 1890s, Eagle realized they needed to build schools for their children. A small school already existed at Green Meadow to the east (off State Highway further east of WinCo), but it quickly became overcrowded. Children from Eagle had to walk, ride horseback, or ride in buggies for nearly three miles to attend school.
At first, the creation of the new school was resisted by some local farmers, who did not want to pay to support it. Nevertheless, the community banded together and built the new, larger one-room school, Enterprise, in Eagle (near downtown, north of Old State Street) and had it ready for classes in 1900. Although most turn-of-the-century schools were one room, they typically grew into four rooms with two grades in each room. By 1915, grade schools of different sizes in the Eagle area included Pleasant View, Linder (Union), Brookside, and Eagle Grade School, a few of which were still in use as late as 1959.
In 1910, a new brick school was constructed on the field above where Eagle Elementary now stands. Between 1910 and 1939, this building housed both elementary and high school students, with the elementary classes on the lower floor and the high school classes on the second. A new high school was built on the lower field in 1939/1940, but Eagle elementary students continued to use the old building until 1959 when the current Eagle Elementary School of the Arts was constructed.
To learn more about Eagle's history, visit the Eagle Historical Museum: Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.
Article by Eagle Historical Museum
Photography by Courtesy of Eagle Museum
Originally published in Boise Lifestyle