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Ruch Commmunity Prepares for School Building's Golden Anniversary

The Drake School in Ruch, Ore., was one of many one-room schools that dotted the Applegate Valley in the 1800s and early 1900s. The school was constructed in 1876 where the Ruch School stands today.

By 1912 the Drake School had become dilapidated, and the school board received voter approval in 1913 for a bond to finance a new school.  Nellie Collins and her 30 students in grades one through eight moved into the Ruch School in 1914.  It featured a bell in a tower constructed of blocks made on site.  

Two years later a high school was added, but stayed open only two years, in part because so many boys enlisted in World War I. 

Ruch remained a one-teacher school for 20 years until the Sterling School closed and a bus and driver hired to transport its students to Ruch.  The need for more staff and more buildings resulted in the construction of a new Ruch building, formally dedicated on May 16, 1914.

The close-knit Ruch community will gather on May 17, 2014, to celebrate the school’s 100th anniversary.

 

Sources: Black, John, and  Marguerite Black.  Ruch and the Upper Applegate Valley (An Oregon Document). Medford, OR: Webb Research Group, 1989. Print; Smith, Emma J.  “The  Development of Ruch Grade School”.  (1960). 

Luana (Loffer) Corbin graduated from Southern Oregon College, majoring in Elementary Education.  The summer after graduation she was hired to teach at Ruch Elementary, where she taught for 32 years. After retiring, Corbin worked for Lifetouch School Photography and then returned to Ruch as an aide helping with reading instruction and at the library.  More recently, she has volunteered at South Medford High.