Photographs and Memories
Rocky Branch School through photographs and shared memories.
Larue, Arkansas · Built about 1905
A living piece of Ozark school history
Rocky Branch School is a classic one-room schoolhouse, carefully preserved by former students and friends, and still welcoming new generations of learners.
Welcome
Nestled in the rolling hills about twelve miles east of Rogers, Rocky Branch School stands as a quiet reminder of rural education in early twentieth-century Arkansas. What began as a simple country schoolhouse has become a cherished landmark—kept alive by the people who once sat at its desks and by the children who still do.
We are the Rocky Branch School Preservation Association. Our purpose is straightforward: protect this historic building, share its story, and keep the doors open for learning.
Our Story
Moved to higher ground, kept for future generations
Rocky Branch School was built about 1905, roughly 1.6 miles north of its present site in the community of La Rue. For decades it served local children of all ages in a single classroom—the heart of a tight-knit rural neighborhood.
In 1962, with the filling of Beaver Lake approaching, former students acted to save the building. At their own expense they moved the schoolhouse to the Loftis–McGinnis Farm, high above the future shoreline. The land near the old Bland family homestead that once surrounded the school now lies beneath the lake.
Today the building continues its dual life: it hosts the annual Bland family reunion and gatherings of former students and their families, and it welcomes school groups for living-history programs. In 1988 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a well-preserved example of a country district schoolhouse.
The Move
Cornerstone of Rocky Branch School
This stone records the school’s original site and its move to higher ground in 1962, before Beaver Lake filled the valley.
