Rhoads School was completed in 1872 on the west side of Sheldon Road, now called Sloughhouse Road, two miles south of Jackson Road. It replaced the first Rhoads School, which had been located on the north side near the levee of the Cosumnes River next to the Rhoads southwest property line. The school was authorized by Jared Dixon Sheldon to provide schooling for area children and was said to have been named for John Pierce Rhoads, a member of the Donner rescue parties. It ceased operation in 1867 for unknown reasons, and its funds and students were transferred to Union School in the next district south during the interim. New school funds were raised by subscription within the district. It operated until June 1949, when the Rhoads, Michigan Bar, Stonehouse, and Wilson districts combined to form the Cosumnes River Union School District. It was moved to its present site on May 19, 1976.