Haigler School 

The first school in Haigler was a private one financed by J. R. Porter, Harry Dunlap and Mr. Perkins for their own children and the other young people in the community.  The first school district was formed in 1886.  The teacher was Miss Agnes Allen.  They met in a store building until the next year when a 2 story wooden frame building was built in the southwest corner of town about two blocks west of the standpipe.  This building contained 2 rooms on the upper level and a large room on the ground level.  It was used until 1914 when a new brick building was erected.  

There was a time that the wooden frame school was threatened by a prairie fire, but when the children rang the bell over and over, the townspeople rallied with horses, plows, wet sacks and shovels.  The building was saved, but in October 1931, sometime after the new school was occupied in 1914, the frame building mysteriously burned down.

The New brick school was built in 1914 and, according to Mrs. Lee Clegg who wrote an article for the 1976 Haigler Book, "At that time the basement was unfinished and there was no plumbing.  The bell was transferred from the old belfry and placed atop the new building, where it still summons students both reluctant and eager, to the halls of learning."

The gymnasium was added in 1936.  Kindergarten was added in 1954 and in 1955 the Rural Schools were  closed and consolidated with the Haigler School

 

In1959 the building was remodeled and the space between the school and gym was filled with shower rooms and a lunchroom, the basement was finished and a new building added where there was a music room and shop.  At about the same time, the windows were replaced with glass blocks.  In 1963 a metal building was added behind the gymnasium to house Industrial Arts and Music.  The football field was moved to a new location on the west side of town with lights installed and grass seeded.

The last High School Graduation was in May 1986 and in the fall of 1986 high school students and grades 7&8 were bussed to Benkelman, Nebraska to attend Dundy County Stratton combined district.  ​

In 1990 the old school building was demolished and a new building was built in its place. Grades K-6 continued in the Haigler School until May 2013 when attendance dropped to 8 students.  That fall all Haigler school children were bussed to Dundy County Stratton School in Benkelman.

The school was auctioned in the summer of 2013 and was purchased by The Haigler Community Foundation

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