like an outsider ( going to junior high ),” she said . “ There were a lot of other country kids like me , but they would have went different places . … Just being around that many more people .”
England finds that people who live near the school are protective of it .
“ I think that ’ s one reason why it ’ s never been vandalized ,” she said of the school , which would later serve as a voting precinct . “ There aren ’ t that many people , but there ’ s still people on all four sides of it . A lot of these people that have lived out here have come back to be on their own place .”
However , the time came for both England and Naumann to go to Washington , which has one of the more unique stories among all of Ottumwa ’ s schools . It was built in 1899 , served as a high school for a time until Ottumwa High School was built in 1923 , then was a junior high for years . It was destroyed by a fire in 1990 .
“ I come over the Wapello Street bridge , and I look up , and I honest to God , I still expect Washington to be setting up there on the hill ,” Naumann said of the property , which now houses apartments . “ I saw that building as a building that deserved to be preserved for years and years and years .
“ Yeah , I cried ,” she said . “ I was just devastated . It had been standing up there as a beacon , just like OHS is now . It was such an important part of our community . Buildings are physical examples of the history and make us aware of the past .”
But Naumann longs for the days when neighborhood schools were a part of the community ’ s fabric . Though the north side schools — Eisenhower , Horace Mann , James and Wilson — still provide that to an extent , she believes that the consolidation of schools on the south side has been a detriment .
“ You need that for lower elementary . You need that sense of neighborhood and that sense of belonging , that sense of family ,” she said . “ As they get older , it ’ s fine to bring ( those kids ) in . Learning those social skills is best done in a smaller setting . I think the reaction to Liberty on the south side , and the decision not to build a big north side elementary , shows that people feel that way even now .
“ People in my morning kindergarten went K-12 together , and we went all the way through and have remained friends as long as we ’ ve lived ,” she said . “ That ’ s hard to do .”
Washington Junior High School
In a way , Washington was a key part of the early Ottumwa school landscape , as well as a more recent part . Built in 1899 , it was the first high school in the city , located at 539 W . Fourth St . When the current Ottumwa High School was built 24 years later , Washington became a junior high school and received upgrades in 1955 when two wings were added to the building . It closed at a junior high in 1982 , and students were ushered to Walsh Junior High , near Indian Hills Community College . A fire , deemed to be intentional , destroyed the building in 1990 . The two wings survived and were used by Ottumwa Christian School .
A picture of Washington Junior High School on West Fourth Street in 1969 . The junior high first served as a high school when it was built in 1899 , but was engulfed by a fire in 1990 . The Washington Street Apartments are built on its property . / The Lemberger Collection
Wildwood School
The elementary school on McKinley Avenue on the city ’ s south side opened in 1949 , but the first school year saw a delayed opening because of a strike at a blackboard factory . The school closed in 2014 , but Ottumwa Christian School bought the building from the Ottumwa Community School District for $ 1 in 2016 .
Walsh homecoming queen Candidates
A picture of the Walsh High School homecoming queen candidates in 1967 . Names were not available . The Lemberger Collection
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