The history of the Florence school antedates that of the village itself. In 1884 school district No. 47, embracing the southwest quarter of Shelburne township, was organized, and a school house was built on C. P. Myran's farm, the southwest quarter of section 20, just south of the future village. The teachers of that school were Cora Lowland, Mary Bingham, Amelia Lien, T. H. Owens, Blanch Chapman, Mattie Sanders, Mabel C. Grover and, Ella Pierce. This district became District 78.
District No. 78 was organized in 1893. In the fall of that year a school house was erected in the village at a cost of $750. An early roster of the teachers in district No. 78 is as follows: Dora Anderson, 1893; Mattie C. Snartum, 1894-95; Caroline Thompson, 1896; Mary Davis, 1897; Herbert Dresser, 1898; Sophia Semonsen, 1899; Albert Peterson, 1900-01: Josephine Sundblad, 1902-03: Anjmes Johnson, 1904-05: Rangna Johnson 1906; Elisa Hall, 1907: Martha Ely, 1908-09; Lydia Lundquist, 1910; Edla C. Johnson, 1911-12. In the 1911-1912 school year he members of the school board were A. E. Green, clerk; H. P. Sanden, treasurer; and Anton Hynden, director.
