Clermont Public School, also known as Larrabee School, is a historic building located in

Clermont, Iowa Clermont is a city in Fayette County, Iowa, United States. The population was 586 at the 2020 census. Clermont is home to Montauk, the mansion of former Iowa governor William Larrabee, along with much historic architecture. Scenes for the movie ...

, United States. The school was named for its patron, William Larrabee, who was the twelfth

Governor of Iowa A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. Larrabee himself had been a teacher in

Allamakee County, Iowa Allamakee County () is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,061. Its county seat is Waukon. History Allamakee County was formed on February 20, 1847. The derivation of the name is ...

. During his time in the

Iowa Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly, United States. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, . ...

and as governor he championed education reform. He used as one of his campaign slogans: "A schoolhouse on every hill and no saloons in the valley." with Larrabee and his wife Anna studied school buildings for a number of years, and were involved in planning this building. They hired

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

architect Charles A. Dieman to design the structure. R.A. Wallace, a contractor from Cedar Rapids, was responsible for its construction. The building was over-engineered as Larrabee insisted that the strength of everything be doubled. The bricks were produced, and the

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

was quarried, locally. It is a two-story Neoclassical building that features a classical portico, brick

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s with

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

capitals, and two arched

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

s on the

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

. Larrabee died while the building was under construction, and his wife,

Anna Matilda Larrabee Anna Matilda Larrabee (, Appelman; August 13, 1842 – December 30, 1931) was an American social leader. Married to Iowa List of governors of Iowa, Governor William Larrabee (Iowa politician), William Larrabee, she served as the First lady, First ...

, took over supervising its construction. From 1913 to 1924, it housed all grades until a high school was built. It remained as an elementary school until 1990 when the city of Clermont acquired the building for use as a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

and

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1995.

References

School buildings completed in 1913 Defunct schools in Iowa Neoclassical architecture in Iowa Buildings and structures in Fayette County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Fayette County, Iowa School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa 1913 establishments in Iowa {{Iowa-school-stub