This past Friday, students of the Meadow Valley School, several miles southwest of New Glarus, gathered for a reunion in their old school house. Like many other small one-room country schools that dotted the Wisconsin landscape for more than a century, state regulations forced these schools to close and integrate into the larger area public schools in 1962.

Despite having been closed for more than half a century, the ties to these schools remain strong. These schools were much more than just a place for rural children to get an education. They also served as a social center for the surro...