Tusha School, also known as Middle River School, stood just southwest of Winterset.
Andrew and Mary (Clark) Tusha deeded the land to the school district in 1878. Mary Clark was a daughter of Caleb and Ruth (Clanton) Clark who were very early Madison County settlers, arriving in in the spring of 1846. The Middle River School closed in 1939, after serving the nearby families for 60 years.
In 1991, Tusha School was gifted to the Madison County Historical Society by Nelson and Miriam (Simmons) Howell. It was lifted onto a flatbed and moved over two miles from its Lincoln Township home to the Complex. The dilapidated coal shed was restored that same year by an Eagle Scout. An outhouse was added to complete the common configuration of most rural schools.
The school room is furnished with a central pot-bellied stove and a water crock in the corner, just as remembered by students and teachers. Local school classes sometimes visit to see what it was like to study in a rural school.
Andrew Tusha, born in Germany in 1837, and his wife Mary, born near St. Charles in 1847, were two of the earliest European settlers in Madison County. They later moved from their Lincoln Township farm to St. Charles, and finally to New Mexico to be with their daughter, passing in 1924 and 1923, respectively.
Year Built: 1878
Moved to Museum Complex: 1991
Original location: Lincoln Township, southwest of Winterset
