Figure 1.--Here we see an impressive little school completed with a bell. It was operated for only 9 childrem all of which would have walked to school. The teacher stands at the right. Only the youngest boy wears knickers, although knickers were standard boys'wear at the time. The portrait would have been taken in the 1910s--note all the hair bows. We think some of the olfer boys are wearinhg overalls undedr their jackets. At the time, about half of Americn children lived in rural areas and attended scjool like this. This was a postcard-back portrait addressed to the sender's sister in Nary, Minneota located on the Burlington Northern Railroad line.. The school was also probanly also in Minnesota. Click on the imzge to read the postcard message.

Most of our rural school images come from the 20th century. We begin to see really large number of rural school portraits (1900s). And this continues into the 1910s and 20s. America was, however, changing. The 1910s was the last decade that a majority of American lived in rural areas. This mean that by the 1920s there were fewer rural school children. And another problem was surfacing. Small rural schools were very expensive to operate. There was not only the expense of maintaining small school buildings all over the state was a drain on resources. And also a teacher was often only teaching a small number of children. Henry Ford provided the answer. And as car ownershjip increased, Americans begn demanding better roads. All of this reduced the isolation of people in rural areas. Ford did not stop with the Model-T Tin Lizzie (1907). Soon there were trucks, tractors, and busses. The internal combustion engine and mass production created an economical means of transporting children to school. States began consolidating small rural schools and bussing the children to large consolidated schools located in small towns. Yellow school busses began appearing all over the contra. This began in the 1920s and had closed many rural schools (1930s). Another factgor was at olay--edcindarfy education. More and more children were begiining to attend high schools. High schools diploma were becoming more and more important. Rural chools coild effecrivly deliver primary-level material. Secondary level material was different. Many sibkects required more specialized teachers. And high schools needed to be situated in at least small towns. Thus bussing was needed for rural children to attend high school wich was becoming standard for modst uouhs (1940s). After World War II (1945), the process was mostly completed by which time most small rural schools had mostly been phased out. A few have been retained, mostly in remote areas of Western states.

Navigate the Related Boys Historical Clothing Style Pages
[Main country page]
[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Lederhosen] [Knee socks] [Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers] [Blazer [School sandals]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Return to the Main U.S. Rural Public School chronology page]
[Return to the Main U.S. Rural Public School page]
[Return to the Main U.S. Public School location page]
[Return to the Main U.S. Public School page]
[Return to the Main National School page]
[Australia] [England] [France] [Germany]
[Ireland] [Italy] [Japan] [New Zealand] [Poland] [Singapore] [Scotland]
[Singapore] [United States]

Navigate the HBC School Section
[Return to the American public school page]
[About Us]
[Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Debate] [Economics] [Garment] [Gender] [Hair] [History] [Home trends] [Literary characters]
[School types] [Significance] [Transport and travel [Uniform regulations] [Year level] [Other topics]
[Images] [Links] [Registration] [Search] [Tools]
[Return to the Historic Boys' School Home]

Created: 9:13 AM 9/9/2026
Last updated: 9:14 AM 9/9/2026