In 1953 the districts junior high school was condemned. The school year was finished in multiple churches throughout town. A new Junior high was built on the south end of town, named after former president James Garfield. For many years the district operated Lincoln elementary ( built 1923) and McKinley elementary ( built 1955). When the school district built a new senior high school on the west edge of town in 1969, the 1922 High school building became the junior high school, and Garfield junior High became Garfield elementary. In 1992, facing budget cuts and ADA compliance issues, the district voted to close lincoln elementary. The district restructured the grade levels with K-2 at Garfield Elementary, 3-5 at McKinley, 6-8 at the middle school and 9-12 at the Senior High school. By 1996 the school district was struggling with decreasing enrollment, and outdated facilities. The high school was overcrowded with the addition of New Market high school students, and the freshman class to the senior high school. A bond issue to expand Garfield elementary into a Pk-8 facility, and add onto the high school passed overwhelmingly. Students moved into the new facilities in the fall of 1998. The old 1923 middle school was demolished and a new library erected on the site, McKinley elementary became the home of the districts central office and alternative school.
