In 1950, 75 years ago, 3,295 school districts were scattered across South Dakota. An overwhelming majority of these were small one-room rural school districts. By 1970, just 20 years later, only 287 districts remained. The one-room schools that dotted the rural landscape had closed, absorbed by city...

A cast of nearly 50 and a production team of nine will take audiences from Kansas to Munchkinland and onto the Emerald City Thursday night, June 19 when the Freeman Area Children’s Choir presents “The Wizard of Oz: Youth Edition” on the Pioneer Hall stage. Tickets may be purchased at the door; doors...

It is the largest and most widely-used building in the freeman community, and how it came to be is remarkable. A story told by Courier Publisher Jeremy Waltner in special partnership with heritage hall museum & archives  Look closely. You’ll recognize the building as Pioneer Hall in what is obviousl...

It is the largest and most widely-used building in the freeman community, and how it came to be is remarkable. A story told by Courier Publisher Jeremy Waltner in special partnership with Heritage Hall Museum & Archives  Part 2 Were it not for circumstances beyond local control, Pioneer Hall would l...

Track and field participants from Freeman Academy/Marion, Freeman Public and Scotland/Menno will be busy this Thursday, Friday & Saturday At 12:50 p.m. on Thursday, May 29, four young men from Freeman High School and four others from Freeman Academy/Marion were scheduled to step foot on the track at...

For about six hours on Saturday, May 17, Freeman’s two schools — collectively but independently — saw memorable moments at graduation ceremonies honoring the Class of 2025 from Freeman Academy and Freeman Public Schools. Seven seniors finished their high school careers at Freeman Academy in a ceremo...

Twenty seniors complete their high school journey Saturday afternoon in a ceremony that included perspective and humor from three students and parting words from their superintendent. According to the graduation boards on display inside the front lobby of the Menno City/School Auditorium, in the las...

Graduation season has arrived and students from Menno High School will be the first to receive their high school diplomas. Commencement will begin at 2:30 p.m. this Saturday, May 10 at the high school gym and will be preceded by the Menno-Olivet Ministerial Association’s baccalaureate that will star...

The Marion School Board voted unanimously Sunday night, April 13 to approve a nine-year, all-sports cooperative with Parker. The meeting had originally been scheduled for Monday, April 14 but was moved because of a conflict with another activity. The Courier was not present at the meeting because th...

A review of the outstanding Schmeckfest musical ‘Jane Eyre’ | BY JEREMY WALTNER Let’s reach into our bag of words and see what we can find. Engaging. Sure, but we can do better. Enthralling. Yes, absolutely. But still not quite right. Mesmerizing. Definitely. But what about … Spellbinding. That’s it...