The first school for the children of Hannaford was built in May 1884, on the Merryman land and was located on the southeast corner of Section 6-144-59, which is at the west edge of Hannaford. At present that is a portion of the Louis Larson farm. School was held for short periods during the summer. This building was later moved into Hannaford and eventually converted into a dwelling which is now inhabited by the Reginald Almklov family.
In 1898, a new structure was built as a one-room school and in 1900, it was partitioned into two class rooms. The school terms were extended to nine months during the year instead of the short summer sessions. At this time there was no provision for high school, and students wishing to go beyond the elementary school had to attend high school in Cooperstown. The enrollment in the grades numbered 65 pupils. This building is presently owned by the American Legion.
By 1906, conditions were so crowded that a newspaper campaign in the Hannaford Enterprise was begun to muster support for a new building. The first vote on the project was defeated. It was decided to reorganize the district and include several sections of farm land surrounding Hannaford. Another vote was taken in 1907. This time the building project was passed with only one dissenting vote, but it was not until December that the bonding issue was accepted by the voters.
A St. Paul, Minnesota, architectural firm submitted plans for a cement block building. Mr. Ludwig Hareland was given the contract to construct the building at the present location of the Hannaford School. The total cost of the school was $11,000. It was a two-story building that accommodated grades one through 12.
By 1926, the enrollment had increased to the point where the block building was overcrowded. It was decided to build a two-room wood structure just to the south of the larger building. The cost of this grade building was $6,000.
It contained two rooms with two teachers, each conducting classes for three grades. After the elementary wing was added to the north of the high school building, the wood school was converted into a shop and manual arts department.
The north wing was added to the Hannaford School in 1959, to accommodate the elementary grades which had formerly been housed in the two-room wood structure. More room was needed when the surrounding rural areas were reorganized into the Hannaford School District in 1959. In 1968, another bond issue was passed and the new gym, dining room, and kitchen were added. The gym was badly needed as the students up to this time used the hall built downtown by WPA labor about 1936. The children had to cross the highway to go to gym classes and basketball practice.
In 1979, the brick building housing the high school was burned so badly that it had to be demolished. Partitions were put up in some of the elementary rooms to accommodate the high school classes, but the situation was rather crowded.
In 1984, a two-room addition was added on the southeastern part of the present building. One room was used as a third and fourth grade class room. The other room became a library, computer room and part-time high school class room.
Through the years many dedicated teachers, superintendents, custodians, school board members, bus drivers and cooks have worked untiringly to provide a good education to the youth of the Hannaford community.
The tenure of some of these employees have spanned more than one or two decades.
The loyalty of the patrons and community must not be overlooked. When the oil crisis threatened the school budget with run-away fuel costs, the voters elected overwhelmingly to increase the school levy to keep the school financially sound. It has been a team accomplishment to keep Hannaford an accredited school.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 46