The original Minneha School District was formed in February 1883 when a small frame building was constructed on what is now the northeast corner of Central and Webb.
In February of 1918 the schoolhouse burned down. It was replaced by a red brick building that served the community until 1949.
In October of 1949, a new building at 701 N. Webb Road opened. The building was considered one of the most advanced rural school buildings in Kansas offering an auditorium, dining room, library and even four fluorescent lit classrooms
Minneha School operated as an elementary school until 1952, when the second addition was completed. It became a grade school and junior high school. The Minneha south building was completed in 1955.
The school’s website says Minneha is the Pawnee word for happy waters. I spent quite a bit of time online trying to verify that fact. The word Minnehaha is often thought to stand for laughing waters. But the name ‘Minnehaha’ comes from the Dakota language. It can be broken into two separate words, ‘mni’ meaning ‘water’ and ‘haha’ meaning ‘waterfall’ and when put together, ‘mnihaha’ means ‘water waterfall’.
Minnehaha was a Native American woman documented in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1855 epic poem “The Song of Hiawatha”. And for those of you fans of Minneapolis, Minnesota like my friend Nikki, you’ll know that a popular park in the city is called Minnehaha Park and is home to the Minnehaha Falls which would mean ‘water waterfall falls’?
There are nearly 200 recognized Native American languages, so of course, I could be wrong.
Back to the school in Wichita, in 1965, the Minneha District was added to the Wichita School District. Minneha’s junior high students were transferred Coleman Junior High the following year. The former junior high building was turned into part of the elementary school.
On July 13, 1998, the Board of Education approved a name change for Minneha. Minneha Elementary was changed to Minneha Core Knowledge Magnet.
Thanks to a major bond project, Minneha received a two and half million-dollar addition in 2003. The new addition connected the north and south buildings.
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