Kimmel School History

Kimmel School, or district 88, stands in section 20 of Creal Springs Township. The school was organized in 1869; the year after the Kimmel family came to the neighborhood from Hancock County, Illinois. There were seventeen children in Joseph Kimmel’s family, so a school was one of his first thoughts. He gave the land, part of the farm in section 20 that he bought when he arrived. All the Kimmel children studied at their home school, and two of the boys taught there. These teachers were Jack and Eli Kimmel, while W. H. Kimmel taught at Free Silver School nearby.

One of the Kimmel sons was still living at Creal Springs in 1939, aged eighty. He is E. M. Kimmel.

Cora Kimmel, a daughter of the family, became the wife of William Halbert Chamness (1866-1938) who grew up and lived out his days in the Chamnesstown School neighborhood. Their son is Dr. Clyde J. Chamness of Elkville.

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(Extracted from Pioneer Folks and Places, Barbara Barr Hubbs, 1939 which is on sale at the Williamson County Museum)