Roesland Elementary School

What is now known as Roesland Elementary School has served this community for over 150 years. It's origins stretch back to the years after the Civil War, when a small community called Red Clover grew around the old Shawnee Methodist Indian Mission. There a one-room school house called the Shawnee Mission School was built on the site of today's St. Agnes Church in Roeland Park, Ks. As the population of the area grew, the school was moved to its current location in 1914 on land purchased from the Roe family, hence the new name Roesland School. The new Roesland School District built a modern 8-room school, which has been torn down and rebuilt several times since.

After the Civil War, the former buildings of the Shawnee Methodist Indian Mission became the center of a small community called Red Clover. The original mission buildings were turned into stores, a blacksmith shop and private residences. New arrivals built a few homes nearby. In 1983, School District 92 was organized to serve the northeast corner of Johnson County including modern day Westwood, Westwood Hills, Fairway, Mission Hills and Roeland Park. The residents of this area were a mix of new settlers and remnants of the Shawnee Indians, who did not choose to relocate to Oklahoma. These residents built a small one room schoolhouse on the site of today's St. Agnes Catholic Church. It would serve this community for the next 40 years.

In 1909, William Strang platted the townsite of Southridge to the west of Red Clover. Southridge sat on Strang's Kansas-Missouri Interurban Railroad, AKA the Strang Line, and he began an aggressive campaign to attract people from Kansas City, Mo. to move to the new town. The population of the area began to grow around Southridge as well as the community of Washita, just east of Southridge. In 1913, the trustees of School District 92 decided to move the school to Southridge. Voters approved a $6000 bond to build a modern 8-room schoolhouse at what is today 4900 Parish Dr., on land the district purchased from farmer John Roe. Hence they named the new school Roesland.

The new school, while primitive by today's standards, was a huge improvement over the previous one-room schoolhouse. The different grade levels now had their own rooms. The district dug a well for the school and provided gas lighting. Each room had a wood stove for heat. Such "modern" amenities as a globe, a flag pole and a phonograph were also provided for the students. The school sat on the Strang Line and students, parents and teachers from outlying areas of the district were able to take the trolley to school. The school became a meeting place for the community and residents would gather here for school board and PTA meetings as well as special "phonograph" concerts.

As the area's population increased over the years, the school district has repeatedly added on to Roesland or torn it down to build a bigger school. In 1926, just 12 years after it was built, the original school was demolished and the district built a new school. In 1939, that building was renovated and an addition constructed. The district added another addition in 1948. In 1979, the district tore down and rebuilt half of the school. This school was completely demolished in 2006 and the current school opened in 2008 and serves about 350 students from Roeland Park.

"Roe'sland has purchased a $65 phongraph." Olathe News (Olathe, Ks.) September 16th, 1915. .7.

"New School at Southridge." Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) June 9th, 1913. .

Scott, John R.. Roe'ling Thru the Years in Roeland Park, Kansas. Roeland Park, Ks. self published, 1996.

Sederstrom, Jill. "County school districts in a building mode." Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) June 21st, 2008. .4.