Bentonville resident Jerry Jones was a student at Morning Star Schoolhouse when he was in the first grade, just before the school closed in 1948. He remembers his teacher taught first through sixth grade all in the same classroom, with about 30 children total.

“I probably learned more in first grade than I ever did later on,” he said. 

Jones was one of several residents who shared their experiences with the historic schoolhouse on Feb. 27 at a public workshop held at the Bentonville Community Center. The event was part of an effort to gather community input on future programming for the Morning Star Schoolhouse building, which is no longer in use, and its surrounding greenspace. 

The 7-acre property at the corner of Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard and Morningstar Road is now owned by the Walton Family Foundation. The foundation proposed a partnership with the city of Bentonville to transform the land and building into a community space — similar to its use once the school closed. 

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