Schoolhouse #2

At the end of E Street in Jacksonville lies Bigham Knoll, the original 7-acre campus that was once home to Jackson County School District #1. 

In 1867, when the County’s first public school was deemed inadequate, the school district directors acquired this property and converted an existing two room house into a school building until local builders could erect a new 2-story frame and “weather boarded” schoolhouse.  Students paid $5 per quarter in tuition until 1875, when the school levy was increased enough to do away with the tuition tax. 

A year later, the increased school enrollment necessitated enlargement of the building and an addition was completed “sufficiently large to accommodate all the pupils of the district.”  This building served 3 generations of students for 36 years until it was destroyed by fire on January 25, 1903.