Welch Heritage

Little Welsh Schoolhouse on the Prairie - 1906
In 2018 The CSAA Annual Country School Conference was held in Beatrice, Nebraska and hosted in part by the National Park Service at Homestead National Monument. On our Wednesday coach tour of area country schools we had the pleasure of visiting the "Little Welch Schoolhouse." 

With our thanks, CSAA is proud to re-introduce the Pleasant View Schoolhouse to our members and readers, one of our listees on  the CSAA National Schoolhouse Registry! The videos below were submitted as programs in our 2021 VIRTUAL CONFERENCE held during the year of COVID closures. Pleasant View, also known as the "Little Welch Schoolhouse-District #81" displays a fabulous restored advertising curtain, while our hosts take you on an informative tour of the other artifacts in their schoolhouse. BTW...Note the CSAA Registry plaque on the schoolhouse!   

​From the curators in 2021: "We're excited to share the first of our virtual tours of the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Project, featuring the historic District #81 Schoolhouse built in 1906. Board vice president Janey Rudder tells the history of the schoolhouse attended by the children of Welsh and German immigrants. Board president Gwen Colgrove and volunteer Dean Cole, who were among the last students to attend the school before its closure in 1960, recall their memories of growing up in the “Little Welsh Schoolhouse on The Prairie.”

From their website: The Historic District 81 Schoolhouse is a fully furnished 1900-era one-room schoolhouse museum. The interior of the schoolhouse has been restored to its original appearance. Thomas J. and Elizabeth (Rowlands) Humphreys held the first local school in their home until George U. Jones donated the land in 1878 and School District 81 was established, three years before the town of Wymore was established.

The present schoolhouse was built in 1906 and was originally located about two miles south of Wymore at the north end of the Welsh settlement centered on the Bethel Welsh church. This was the first school to be built by the Welsh community for the education of their children. At first, many children only spoke Welsh. Therefore, it was important that teachers come from the Welsh community, and many teachers were recent graduates of Wymore High School. The school was closed in the fall of 1960 and relocated to McCandless Park in 1967. 

​Twice a year volunteers from the Great Plains Welsh Heritage project offer “A Day at Country School” event at the schoolhouse for local 4th graders. Students experience a day of authentic 1929 lessons and learn a little Welsh. They also learn about the history of country schools and the significance of this particular school in the Welsh settlement. The Pleasant View Schoolhouse is open to visitors Memorial Day weekend, Sam Wymore Days in June and on request.

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GREAT PLAINS HERITAGE CENTER