History of the Public Schools of Wyandotte County, Kansas 1844-2006

Stony Point South Elementary School was part of USD 201; attached January of 1967 to the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (USD 500).

There is no picture (that we are aware of for the 1833 Mission in the Stony Point area.)

The picture at left (courtesy of Mr. Jim Converse) is of the Stony Point School, 1869-1913. The school would have been Stony Point at that time (as there were no north and south schools).

The second picture (courtesy of Mrs. Meryle Hotujac) is the school enrollment in 1892. The picture is from Mrs. Merle Hotujac. "5-14-2003, I just found this picture among some papers of Verna's. I'm only guessing, but I believe the dark-haired girl standing to the left of the teacher could be Sadie E. (Grinter) White, my mother. If this is true, her sister, Fannie (Grinter) DeFries should be among the younger ones (two years difference), but I cannot locate her. Background provesit was the old school building and no doubt a picture of the whole school attendance. If Mother wasan 8th Grader, the year would have been about 1892-1893. Meryle Hotujac"

"The third Stony Point School was built in 1913, but the history of the school went back to the starting of the Delaware Mission School in 1833, which had been located just to the south of the 1913 structure. There is no surviving record, but it has long been believed that the mission was open to non-Delaware children as early as when Kansas entered the Union in 1861." (Loren L. Taylor - (President, Wyandotte County Historical Society, Attorney at Law, Local Historian)

School Chronology
Mission School - 1838-1869
New School Building - 1869 (organized as Dist #13 in 1870)
Third School Building - 1913
Fourth School Building - 1981/82

The Annual Register of Indian Affairs Within the Indian (or Western) Territory , published by Isaac McCoy, January 1, 1835, states that the Baptist mission for the Delawares was commenced in 1832. However, entries in McCoy's private journal, owned by the Kansas State Historical Society, indicate that work among the Delawares was not instituted until 1833. McCoy writes, on February 12, 1833: "I have recently conferred with K Lykins, and we have agreed, the Lord willing, to institute preaching and a school among the Delawares." On Feb. 26, 1833, he writes: "On Saturday, Sunday and Monday last Mr. Lykins and Mr. French made a visit to the Delawares, some 13 miles from the Shawanoe mission House, with a view of instituting preaching among them and the establishing of a school among them. They report the prospect as favorable, and Mr. Lykins has written the Board, proposing to hire a school teacher."

(Officers, Wyandott Gazette, 17 July 1873 - James Oliver, B. F. Green and Jno. C. Grinter)

1938-39: A new one-story building was added to the old two-story structure, which was remodeled and a combination gymnasium and auditorium was constructed.

1948: Two more classrooms were added to the upper floor making a total of 8 rooms or one for each grade.

These later additions provided for 12 additional classrooms, lunchroom and office. In 1958, a new building was erected in the north part of the district and was named Stony Point North. In 1966 the enrollment was 685 in Kindergarten through grade 6 at the original Stony Point, then officially designated as Stony Point South Elementary School.

Stony Point South (part of USD 201) was incorporated into the Kansas City, Kansas School District (USD 500) on January 1, 1968.

In 1981-82 a new building (open concept) was added to the campus for use at the beginning of the 1982 school year. The old building was razed at a later date.

2004 - Received a "Great IDEAS" grant (funded/sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Fund) for the 2004-05 school year, which encourages teachers in SLC's (Small Learning Communities) to work together to develop innovative programs and projects to improve student learning. Received $5,000.

All records not available at this time. Judi Webber / 2002-2006– Doug Becker / 2006-2007 - Vercella Sears / 2007 - Lori Cooper

This book can be found at the KCKs Public Library, 625 Minnesota Avenue , Kansas City , KS. The following are excerpts and information taken from various pages within this publication. They are not, nor are they intended to be, all inclusive items of information from the book. We simply hope this will provide you with some online information relative to the early Turner area and the development of the schools. For a more detailed account of the Turner, Kansas area, you are encouraged to read "The Pride of the Golden Bear" - an excellent presentation, which includes historical information about persons and places in the Turner area.

PG. 95: The area and School District #13 west of Muncie has been called "Stony Point" since approximately 1857 when the school was first started for the children of Moses and Anna Grinter, along with a number of other white and Indian children. The boundaries were set for sometime, later Districts #5 and #13 dividing into what was to become District #43 (1891) - developed to shorten the walking distance of the two huge districts. (Note: Stony Point was formally organized as School District #13 circa 1870.)

Pg. 117: "The Community and School of Stony Point cannot be included as extensively as it should in this history because it is not presently a part of the Turner Unified District #202 but during the years of 1870-1890 the Stony Point area is of vital importance - in fact the Town of Muncie is located in the Stony Point School District #13."

Pg. 147: "School Districts #5 (Muncie) and #13 (Stony Point) have been experiencing some problems. The Districts are so large and the distance so far for the children to travel to either school that the feeling is that a new District should be begun in the center section. Another reason for the need for division is the lack of a good bridge over Muncie Creek which children in the western part have to cross. ('Mr. Grover Jacks has special reason to remember his sisters' route to school on what is now 68th Stret. They walked more than a mile through the woods and then crossed a stream on a board. The girls had no difficulty with the home-made bridge, but one day they decided to take young Grover to school - and he fell in.') The two school boards (T. A. Grinter, Director - James F. Grinter, Treasurer - John C. Grinter, Clerk of District #13 Stony Point; and Leonard Herbst, Director - Alexander D. Jacks, Treasurer - David J. Caskey, Clerk of District #5 Muncie) called a general Community meeting with the County Superintendent of Schools for the purpose of this division. The result of this meeting was the organization of District #43 called "New Muncie." The first members of the new Board are: Leonard Herbst, Director - Alexander D. Jacks, Treasurer - James W. Moore, Clerk. (Proposals for a location and plans for a new building were submitted for study and on this date, September 21, 1891 District #43 with the teacher, David R. Day hired at $50 per month to begin January 4, 1892 school can begin. The first classes were held in the very clean interior of the Leonard Herbst barn."

Pg 357: "A major election is being held June 24, 1947 to determine the question of whether or not a Rural Turner High School District #3 shall be established from the territory now within the Boundaries of the District #43 (New Muncie), District #21 (Morris), District #32 (Oak Grove), District #16 (Junction), and the District #8 (Turner) with outlying districts involved. The students and families up to now have been allowed to choose which High School they want to attend such as: Turner, Washington, Wyandotte, Argentine - no matter where they live. It is their responsibility to get to school and on time so that choice of location is theirs. If this election passes, the students within those districts will be required to attend at Turner. The strongest feelings seem to be in the outlying areas of Junction (who may want to attend Rural Argentine High School), and Stony Point (an area which if this passes will be required to attend Rural Washington and will not a choice to go to Turner.) The vote on July 7, 1947 was 161 for and 56 against. On this same date George D. Bell was elected County Superintendent of Schools.

Piper became Rural High District #1, Washington Rural High School District #2, Turner changed from a C.V.S. School to a Rural High School District #3, and Bonner Springs changed from a second class city School to a Rural High School District #4 by this special election. District #3 includes all of elementary school districts #8, 32, 16 and parts of 5, 13, 21, and 43."

Several photos in the picture gallery were taken by William H. Converse, donated by his son, Jim Converse.

We want to say a big thank you to Mrs. Meryle (White) Hotujac, Mrs. Verna (DeFries) Glendening and Mr. William Converse for providing numerous pictures that are in our picture gallery.

Map of Historic Wyandotte
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The History of our Public Schools Wyandotte County, Kansas

The History of our Public Schools
Wyandotte County, Kansas