The History of the Coy School: A link to the past

About the one room school in northwest Oklahoma

Coy School: A link to the past

By Anthony B Lovelace

 

            It was a beautiful day in northwest Oklahoma; the sun was shining, bringing warmth to the countryside. The only sound was the rustling of the native grass as a gentle breeze passed by on its journey north. A red tailed hawk soared along a tree lined creek its only spectator a long forgotten school house that sits alone on a knoll in the middle of the prairie. The old school house is the only remnant of a community that sprang up on this vast prairie and then disappeared. The only witnesses are the remaining ranchers, and their numbers have dwindled with the passing of time. The coat hangers still wait for those cold mornings when a jacket would be hung with care. The stove still watches over the one room just in case it is ever called to duty. But long gone are the shouts of the children as they whirled around on the merry-go-round and the rattle of the chains on the cistern as a young girl brought up water. Though the piano sits ready to accompany the singing children, her keys remain silent. It has been 52 years since the last students left the tiny school on the hill, but the Coy schoolhouse still stands as a monument to a little town that sprang up and withered away on the Oklahoma prairie.  

The time was 1904; the Cherokee Outlet had been open for settlement just eleven short years, and Oklahoma territory was still three years away from achieving statehood. It was in these, the early years of settlement, that a man and his wife journeyed west from Missouri to seek opportunity. Corey Bothwell and his wife Jennie had headed west in search of a new beginning; that trip brought them to these wide open prairies, an area we now know as Coy. The town of Coy was located northwest of Freedom, Oklahoma, and just south of Comanche County, Kansas, in what used to be the Comanche Cattle Pool.  Mr. Bothwell first opened up a general store in the area providing the daily necessities to area settlers. The general store was located just south and west of the present school house. As with many other small communities that sprang up all over the state, other pioneers soon settled in the community.  J.N. Bowen opened a small store complete with a soda fountain. A blacksmith shop followed ran by a man by the name of Charlie Friend. Coy, not yet having a post office, received mail for the surrounding ranchers through the post office in Lookout, which was established in October of 1901. In 1904 the Bothwells established the Coy post office in their store. This, at the time, was not an uncommon practice, as the proprietor usually reserved a corner of the store to serve as the post office. The Bothwells would keep the post office open until June of 1930 when it was closed and the mail again went to Lookout.

The first Coy school was actually held in a dugout and was run by Cora Elder. Ms. Elder not only taught the children of Coy and the surrounding area, but she also operated a café and boarding house. It is unknown to this author whether café and boarding house endeavours were after her teaching career or during it, with a school year only lasting three months it is quite possible that she could have run these businesses when school was out. The first constructed school house began life in 1905 when the community organized the Bethanian Church of Coy. This church, located approximately one half mile north of the present day site of the school, was built for $462.34 plus $25.00 for the black board, hitching rail, and paint. It remained a church until 1909 when it was sold and became the Coy School.

In 1914 tragedy struck the little school house on the plains as it was engulfed in flames and burned to the ground. True to the pioneer spirit of the men and women that settled this country the school house was rebuilt and open for business in time for the 1915-1916 school year. The second school house was moved sometime in the 1940’s to its present location where it housed students from the surrounding area until 1956. Mary Chase was the last school teacher at Coy, teaching there during the 1955-56 school year. Over the years 47 different individuals would stand in front of the Coy children and teach the young minds of rural northwest Oklahoma at the school. Today the Coy School stands as a reminder of the way life was lived and learned a century ago. And as the sun shines down on the little one room school and the gentle breeze races across the prairie it stands to remind us of a time long gone.