The waymarked John A. Martin School was built in 1915. It sits vacant and fenced in 2013.
Stealing from an iconions forum post to us for a little background on the school’s namesake (we hope he doesn’t mind): (
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"[John Martin is buried] in the Mt. Vernon Cemetery in Atchison previously. John Martin is buried there who was the colonel of the 8th Kansas - this was the Kansas unit that fought the furthest from home and actually fought with Sherman in lifting the siege at Chattanooga. John Martin was given a brevet Brigadier's commission after the war and became a Governor of the Great State of Kansas..."
Presumably, this pedigree is part of the reason this school was named for him. Additionally, John A. Martin was also one of the first elected school board members in Atchison:
"Under a law approved March 1, 1867, the Atchison city schools were organized June 3, 1867, at which time the first board of education of Atchison was elected, as follows : First ward, Wm. Scoville, Wm. C. Smith; Second ward, M. L. Gaylord, L. R. Elliott: Third ward, John A. Martin, Julius Holthaus; Fourth ward, Geo. W. Gillespie, Jacob Poehler. In the organization of the first board, Wm. Scoville was elected president, John A. Martin, vice-president, and M. L. Gaylord, clerk." Source: Sheffield Ingalls, A History of Atchison County, Kansas, published in 1916. (
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Digging out a little more historical information on this former school, we discovered that the waymarked John A. Martin former school is not the only former school at this site, AND not the only JOHN A. MARTIN former school at this site. We know this because students attended the John A. Martin School in 1903, but the waymarked former John A. Martin School was built in 1915 (see below).
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Atchison schools were segregated. While a new high school (Ingalls Building) was being built in 1903 for white students, these students were dispersed throughout the district into other school buildings. Black students who had been taught in those buildings saw their school renamed when the whites arrived, and they (the black students) were taught in several interim places, such as vacant storefronts and building basements. But black sixth graders went to the John A. Martin School:
"During the two years' waiting for the new Ingalls building (built 1905) the colored pupils from Douglas school were housed in a vacant store at Sixth and Spring streets for one year, and in Lincoln school for part of the second year, and the grades of Ingalls school were housed as follows : Seventh and eighth, banquet room of Odd Fellows Hall; sixth, Martin school; fifth, Pioneer Hall; second, third and fourth, basement of Congregational church; first, basement of Presbyterian church; manual training, in old fire department for the first year, and in a vacant store room till the latter part of December of the second year, when it was moved to the new building." Source: Sheffield Ingalls, A History of Atchison County, Kansas, pg 281.
This first John A. Martin School was built in 1885 as the "North Atchison School." It was renamed for John A. Martin in 1892, and razed in 1915:
"The North Atchison school, Sixth and Division streets, was occupied for school purposes in September, 1885. The lots cost $800 and the building, equipment and retaining walls, $5,381.94. On October 5, 1892, the name of this school was changed to "The John A. Martin School." This building was used till the last of May, 1915.
Immediately after the close of school, May 28, 1915, it was wrecked to make way for the new building now in course of construction. The added ground, secured by condemnation, cost $6,200 and the building, equipment and improvement of grounds will cost, approximately, $56,500. During the year 1915-16 this school is housed in the Ingalls building. The Lincoln school (colored), Eighth and Atchison streets, was originally a three-room, one-story brick building erected in 1871 at a cost of $2,425. The lots cost $750. In 1883, this was changed to a six-room building at a cost of $2,498. This is the only school building in the city not modernized [as of 1916]." Source: Sheffield Ingalls, A History of Atchison County, Kansas, pp 282-283.
Therefore, the waymarked John A. Martin former school is the SECOND John A. Martin former school at this site. :)
In 1934 the Coast and Geodetic Survey monumented benchmark KE0487 Y 281 on the southeast corner of the school building, under the bronze plaque.