The Wildwood Dance Hall was established in the late 19^th century at the Burnett homestead where Sharps Creek met the Row River.

According to Mike Thoele in his book Bohemia, The Life and Times of an Oregon Timber Venture, the place could attract a hundred couples on a Saturday night.  It was locally known as the Bucket of Blood because of the dozens of fights in the parking lot. Teeth were regularly found there in Sunday mornings.  Moonshine was readily available during prohibition.  All told the Bucket provided entertainment for the locals for over 50 years.

A bunch of Culp Creek gals heading out for a night on the town? Nope, this particular Wildwood Dance Hall was in New Jersey.

In the early days of Dorena some of the women in town organized the Happy Circle Sewing Club.    The club met twice a month to sew, mend and quilt. It gave the members a chance to get out of the house and visit and have fun.  The grocery store building in town became vacant so the club members put on plays to raise the funds to buy the building.  The Happy Circle ladies rented out their building to the Grange for 50 cents a month.  The community often held dances there, too.  Almost everyone in town came to kick up their heels and as one attendee stated “the rafters jumped!”

In the same spirit the Row River Sunshine Club has been meeting in the valley for over 50 years.  They craft, bake, help residents in distress and generally keep the sense of community alive on the river.

They can be reached at PO Box 124, Dorena, OR  97434.

A photo of the Mother’s Tea at Culp Creek School

A couple of ladies from Star. One didn’t mess with the up river girls back then.

The original Dorena School District was formed in 1891.  In 1896  James Kirk and his wife Sarah sold the District the land for the school.  It is not clear exactly when the school was built, but one early student remembered the one-room schoolhouse being used before 1900.  This building later became the woodshed when the new classrooms were built. The first year for which there are records was the 1903-04 school year.  There were 36 children in grades 1 through 7, and only one teacher for all of them.  School was in session for just 14 weeks a year. By 1906 the session lasted 36 weeks. In 1907 two more teachers were hired because new classrooms had been constructed.  By this time there were 51 children enrolled.

Dorena School 1911

In 1914 a separate addition was added for the High School students.  In 1936 the High School had its last graduating class.  From then on High School students were bussed to Cottage Grove, as they are today.  1936 was a year of many changes as that is when the Star School closed, sending its students to Dorena.

Dorena School

Dorena School 1914

Dorena High School

Dorena School 1930s

The old Dorena School was closed in 1946 to make way for the new reservoir.  A new school was built up the road that still serves as Dorena School today.

Dorena School

The town of Dorena was originally located where Rat Creek met the Row River.  In 1947 the town buildings were moved or dismantled to make way for the Dorena Reservoir after the Army Corps of Engineers built a dam on the Row River.  The Post Office and School were moved about 6 miles up river where they can still be found today.   A cluster of houses were moved down river near where the old Mountain View School stood.  A new grange building was built at the site of the current grange.

Here are some views of a little town, long gone.

The vast archives of the Dorena Historical Society (okay, a cardboard box in my closet) contain many old Row River Valley School pictures.

Here are some rough and tumble Culp Creek School kids.  Looks like the 1940s based on the cool baggy blue jeans on the girls. Culp Creek School survives today as Childs Way Academy.

Culp Creek School kids

The kiddies of Wildwood School were an impish group. The story goes that the teacher here wore a clock around his neck to tell him when class was over.  The older kids convinced a little girl to sit on his lap and sneakily turn the minute hand ahead so that they could get out of school sooner.  Unfortunately she turned the hand the wrong way and they had to suffer through extra class time.

Wildwood School

An old and wrinkled copy of a photo of the Disston School Student Body around 1914.  This was the furthest school up the valley.  The gym survives as an outbuilding on private property.

Photos and the history of the Dorena School will be on another post.

There was also a school at Star.

Star School Attendance Roster 1909

There was a Doolittle School for a time up on Rat Creek.

Doolittle School