By Bessie Sandvol
Little is known of the first schools but we do know that Mrs. Larrabee taught her children and later some of the neighbors' children. The first schoolhouse was a log house built on what is now the Spickler farm and one of the first teachers was Mrs. Hiram D. Warren.
Larrabee School District was organized March 19, 1884 with William H. Larrabee, George Backen and Herbert Smith as school officers. The district consisted of all of Dewey (Florence) township and that part of Larrabee north and east of the James River.
Sometimes the school houses would be moved a mile or two so that children wouldn't have so far to walk. The schools were numbered and named as follows
School No. 1, Backen: located south of what is now Leo Gauderman farm.
School No. 2, Black: located 1/4 mile west of Ervin Topps, it is part of the Lloyd Jensen farm home.
School No. 3, Lowden: On Russell Otto's land 1/2 mile east of what is now Mark Anderson farm
School No. 4, Larrabee: 1/2 mile north of Grace City on what is now Merlin House land.
School No. 5, Simpson: located near what is now the Carl Pewe farm on Section 22‑147‑63. It had a two-acre schoolyard.
The first school census was in 1899 with 24 pupils.
On the 10th of May 1913, a petition signed by 49 of the legal voters in the district was presented to the school board asking that an election be called to vote on the question of bonding the district for $7000 for the purpose of building a consolidated school at Grace City. The election was held and passed on June 3, 1913.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 310