Anglo pioneers in a predominantly German-settled area built the west wing of Waring Schoolhouse in 1891 as the town's first public school. Robert Percival Maxwell Waring, a native of Ireland for whom the town had been named in 1888, gave the land, and citizens volunteered labor, funds, and materials for the building while also paying their children's tuition of $1 to $1.50 per month. The east wing was added in 1903, exterior braces were applied in the 1930s, and the school closed in 1954.