Knotts (Shiloh)
Shiloh/William A. Knotts Elementary School
70th & Bales
Principal: Myrtle M. Young
Just over 2 acres of land were deeded to the Trustees for school purposes by William McMinn during the Civil War. The one-room school was completed shortly after the Battle of Shiloh and the inhabitants on this locality, being southerners, the school was named Shiloh in commemoration of that battle. For years it stood as a monument to southerner’s sympathies and successive generations passed through its doors.
As the years passed, one room after another was added occasionally to provide for the increase in students until the time of its total destruction by fire in 1912. However, prior to the fire, a mass meeting had been held in the school and Shiloh school was voted into the Kansas City School System. After the school burned, it was relocated to 70th & Bales and later, its name was changed to William A. Knotts. The school is now located at 73rd & Jackson.
William A. Knotts was very active in Civic affairs and served a term as the President of the Kansas City School Board.