A weekend fire destroyed a historic school house in the eastern Iowa town of Lowden. No one was injured in the 4th of July fire at the old Trinity Lutheran School, which was built in 1920. It was turned into an apartment building when the school closed in 1982.
Charlene Bachmann was the last person to teach in the school. "I really enjoyed teaching here," Bachmann said Sunday as she looked at the charred remains. "The building will be gone but the memories will still be here." Kirk Steinke attended school at Trinity Lutheran and was one of the firefighters responding to the scene. He says it was difficult watching childhood memories go up in flames.
"In a way, it’s gonna be worse now seeing how long it’s going to take to tear it down," Steinke said. "It’s been around a long time." Trinity Lutheran Church Reverand Victor Young says the community can be proud of what took place in the old school. "(People have) very fond memories and are very thankful for the good education they received. A lot of fun things happened here and of course people remember those all of those good times," Young said. "Buildings come and buildings go, but what’s more important is what happened in the building during the years of service."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.