- City:
- Kirkwood, MO
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Schools
- Designer:
- Bonsack & Pearce
Description
Osage Hills School was built in the Osage Hills area which was developed in the early 1900’s. It was wet whereas adjacent Kirkwood was a dry city, with alcohol establishments thriving initially in Osage Hills. The school was built on the location of the former Meramec Highlands dance pavilion.
The school was built by the firm of Bonsack & Pearce with a combination of local funds and federal matching grant funds available as part of the New Deal. The specific New Deal agency could not be identified.
It was used as a school until the late 1960’s. After going through several owners and some renovations, the school currently is occupied by a church which has gone to some lengths to preserve the structure of the original building. Although the gables have been removed from the roof and the windows and doors on the front façade have been altered, the overall building is minimally different.
Source notes
https://www.dnr.mo.gov/shpo/nps-nr/07000462.pdf
www.dnr.mo.gov/shpo/nps-nr/10000551.pdf
Site originally submitted by Charles Swaney on June 26, 2013.
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Joyce Wilde
Nora Yahl
Judith white
David Dix
Gabriel Milner
Sharon Wilchar
Tom Tucker
Tom Scheifler
Greg Matthews
Does anyone remember the other Osage School in the late 1940’s close to the Big Bend entrance to Tree Court, close to the old railroad tunnel?
Elementary school education in Osage Hills began in the 1920’s or possibly earlier in a stone building on the corner of East Glenwood Lane and Barberry La in what is presently the Greenbrier Country club vicinity. My father attended 8th grade there in 1926. A few years later this building proved too small so an overflow class was held in a portion of the old store on the other end of Barberry Lane near the Frisco Station. My father’s youngest brother attended school there in the late 1930’s. This building and store was operated at different times by my husband’s grandfathers, both maternal and paternal.
Sometime after that the next school was built on Glenwood across the Frisco railroad tracks. I attended this school from grade 2 through 6. This last building was a part of the Kirkwood School district. For a time after the districts were realigned, St. Joseph Hospital operated a Children’s Day Care Center and my grandson attended. This was in the 1990’s. It stood vacant for many years. I believe it is presently a church.
My father said he also attended school in the stone building on the corner of East Glenwood and Barberry Lane in 1926. He said it was for only a few months. He was only five (he says he was six, but I can’t make the times/memories match.) He remembers some fathers bringing a block of ice and each child getting chips. It was a big memory. His family had a small property that is now near the corner of Big Bend and Kirkwood Road, but his Uncle lured them to Illinois for work. He came back in 1963 and brought his family.
I remember the old school off of Big Bend Rd. where you had to walk over a bridge with railroad track below. Does that school still exist? Is the building being used for something else?
The building is currently being used as a church.
IAM HAVING A OPEN HOUSE AT THE SCHOOL ON JUNE 25TH 1 TO 3;00 , SO COME BY AND TAKE A TOUR. THANKS KEITH RAWLINGS 314 398-0576
Yes, walked across the bridge ever morning to Osage School from Greenbriar in the mid-fifties (2nd-6th grade). The school had some growing pains in 1955 and the 5th grade was bussed to Robinson just for that year while new construction was being done. Would love to reconnect with classmates.
I attended Osage Hills elementary from 1960 till 1966. It was a wonderful education, and loved rainy days when we’d have gym period in the old stone building, and listen to gym teacher’s 45 rpm records. I got an early listen to her Beatles singles I’ve been racking my brain to remember her name.
I do remember a ceremony dedicating the planting of a tree to honor Miss Hunter, our 2nd grade teacher
The gym teachers name was MRS. BROCKMEYER.
I went to Osage from 1965-1971, she would play those records for us too. Dance class was always to the song “ Jingle Bell Rock” still love that song and fond memories when I here it at Christmas Time.
Miss Hunter was the third and fourth grade teacher in the 1940’s. She was a special friend and we kept in touch until she passed from cancer many years later. She lived on Delmar in the city and took more than one bus to Osage each morning and evening. Such dedication!
I remember miss Hunter and the other teachers at Osage Hills as great. We had a Halloween funhouse each year. It was an idyllic education and all in all I had a wonderful childhood
I attended K-6 at Osage elementary school from 1968 – 73. Back then it was considered safe for a 5 year-old to walk a half-mile to school without adult supervision.
Very fond memories of teachers and classmates.
I called Ms Brockmeyer a “bitch” not even knowing what it meant, but she had called me a little liar so I called her a name too. Went to the principal’s office (Mr. Warren) who was a very gentle, very good man. I attended 1959-1963. Ms Jones in first grade. Ms Johnson (loved her) in second and Ms. Ashley (?) in third grade. I remember an emergency assembly in the gym one afternoon and we were told President Kennedy had been shot. I also remembering passing a “driving” test that gave me permission to ride my bike to school. In response to one of the other comments… I remember the old train tunnel. I lived near there and it was referred to as the Mushroom Cave. The field in front of it — visible from the bridge leading to the school — was used as a satellite site for the 1904 Worlds Fair and people would ride the train from St. Louis. I can also remember sitting in the classroom when they were building I-270 and using dynamite. The windows in the classroom would shake. I also remember us having drills to protect ourselves against atomic blasts during the Cuban missile crisis.