The Rhoads School is a one-room Pioneer School that is now situated in the center of Elk Grove Regional Park. Because of its historic importance and value, it serves two primary functions. As a museum it is open to the public during the year, on the days when special events are occurring in the park, including the Annual Western Festival in May, the Harvest Festival in October. The second function of the Rhoads School is as a Historic Living History Museum for visiting school classes in the Elk Grove and Sacramento areas. In that capacity, the school schedules approximately 75 visits each year that consist of a “day at school in the 1890s”. Each visiting class is taught by a Schoolmarm Docent, who has made a prior visit to the same class at its home school in order to prepare the students for that experience. The Rhoads School’s functions are administered by the Elk Grove Historical Society, through a group of volunteers known as the Rhoads School Board. The Rhoads School was built in 1872 by pioneer families in the areas of Sloughhouse and Cosumnes. It replaced an earlier, short-lived school built in the 1850s near the Cosumnes River. The location proved not only to be subject to flooding but also produced malarial-type illnesses in the children so the school was soon abandoned. Both schools were named for John P. Rhoads, who was an early pioneer and leader in the growing community and one of the rescuers of the ill-fated Donner Party. The present school was built as a community effort. Its financing was by public subscriptions, cake and pickle sales, and a benefit ball with tickets at $3.50 each. Total expenditures were $1,312.60, which included the schoolhouse, outhouse, and some furnishings. Having served the community for more than 70 years, the school was closed in 1946, when the Rhoads, Michigan Bar, Stonehouse, and Wilson School Districts joined and became the Cosumnes River Union School District. The schoolhouse was used sporadically for community functions and religious classes, but suffered from neglect and vandalism. In 1976, as a Bicentennial Year project of the group which became the Elk Grove Historical Society, the Rhoads School was moved from its home on Sloughhouse Road into Elk Grove Park and was restored to the period representing the close of the 19th century. For more information on becoming part of this great program either as a class or docent schoolmarm contact the Elk Grove Historical Society at StagestopHotel@aol.com or call 916-685-8115. You may also email the headmistress directly at franrf@surewest.net.

The docent schoolmarm readies the days lessons before the students arrive.

Students, dressed in period costume, line up to begin their day at the Rhoads School.

Students are at their desks and paying attention the the docent schoolmarm as lessons begin. The day is spent learning the same lessons students did in the late 1800s.

Students enjoy thier lunch in the school yard. As part of the program, parents and students learn what life was like before their visit to the school. Even the lunches they bring are packed as they would have been more than 100 years ago.

Students learn to write with quill pens.

Even the games at recess the children enjoy are the same ones enjoyed by their ancestors in the 1800s. Here some of the students are shooting marbles. They also enjoy rolling wooden hoops.