Not long ago, the Freeborn County Historical Museum received two small pamphlets based on a pioneer settlement named Towhead. In fact, this particular locality in Oakland Township was one of the first places in the area where people settled back in 1855.

The two pamphlets featured the District 33 school. This place, like most of the county’s rural schools, was actually known by a name and not a number. And for this country school located just to the south of the present community of Oakland, the name was Towhead.

The word towhead can be defined in several ways. According to one dictionary, the word describes “a person having whitish blond hair.” Another dictionary adds that this word is based on “fibers of flax, etc.” However, the use of the word for a Freeborn County community and school can be verified with two more definitions.

An article in the Feb. 4, 1937, issue of the Glenville Progress newspaper said at the time people started to settle in the Tow Head area (their spelling) there was a “a heavy growth of oaks and poplar trees, mostly poplars, and the great amount of tow or cottony substance gave the name to the people and the location.” This statement also explains the origin for the name of Oakland just to the north of Towhead and for the township.

This same article also said the first settlers in Tow Head were from Illinois. Thus, “The children had all white hair — they all have in Illinois..”

Within a a few years several new residents from Norway and Vermont also came to this settlement to establish farms.

The community of Tow Head, or Towhead, never had a store or church building and consisted of a scattering of small farms. However, there was a small school that served as a social center and on several occasions as a church for services by visiting clergy.

Information compiled by Tracy Christensen for her recent book, “The History of Freeborn County Schools,” states District 33 started in 1861. This would make the school one of the earliest of the county’s once numerous rural one-room schools.

“The first term of school was taught by Thomas Parker in the home of George Carpenter and 13 pupils were in attendance. Early in the summer of 1865, a log schoolhouse was erected in the northeastern part of Section 2. This log school was 16 by 24 feet. In 1886 a building was erected which stood until consolidation took place, when the children went to the Oakland School, later to Austin,” is how Christensen explained the history of this educational institution.

The Towhead School ceased to exist in the late 1930s or early 1940s. And with the closing of this school, the name of Towhead just faded away.