In 1914 a brick school building was built in the northwest side of town, where it stands today.
Dows and Northeast Hamilton also shared a girls basketball team for the 1997–98 season, which finished with a record of 19–4.
The CAL/Dows High School began a wrestling program in 2002, with meets and practices being held at Dows.
This lasted until the CAL/Dows partnership ended and included one year of a shared CAL/Dows/Northeast Hamilton wrestling program being held at Dows.
[citation needed] Dows was a founding member of the North Star Conference and continued membership into the 1950s and early 1960s.
Teams in the early years of the North Star Conference included Boone Valley (Renwick), Corwith-Wesley, Dows, Fertile, Franklin Consolidated (now CAL of Latimer), Goldfield, Kanawha, Klemme, LuVerne, Rockwell, Sheffield, and Ventura.
In the late 1970s, Dows rejoined the North Star Conference, which over the years included Alden, CAL of Latimer (later CAL/Dows), Corwith-Wesley/LuVerne, Dows, Meservey-Thornton, Northeast Hamilton of Blairsburg, Sheffield-Chapin (later SCMT, now West Fork), Southeast Webster-Grand, Twin River Valley of Bode, Ventura, and Woden-Crystal Lake/Titonka.
Clarion–Goldfield–Dows is a member of the North Central Conference, which currently includes Algona, Clarion–Goldfield-Dows, Clear Lake, Hampton-Dumont, Humboldt, Iowa Falls-Alden, St. Edmond Catholic (Fort Dodge), and Webster City.
Starting in 1996 and 1997, discussions were held on the future of the school district due to declining enrollment, which resulted in less funding.
Scenarios were considered by the school board, including a 2-way or 1-way whole grade sharing agreement with CAL (Latimer).
A 1-way whole grade sharing agreement was also considered with Belmond-Klemme, Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg), Clarion-Goldfield, and Alden.
Dows and Northeast Hamilton had a history of sharing programs, including Vocational Agriculture, Industrial Arts, Physics, Golf, and Girls Basketball.
After much discussion it was ultimately it was decided that Clarion–Goldfield would provide the best educational opportunities and stability for the long-term future of Dows area students.
Over time, as those classes graduated a vast majority of the Dows students were attending school in Clarion.
Dows Elementary offered small class sizes that provide individualized attention and an academic program that can compete with any in the state.
The district sold the school building and bus barn to a company wanting to use it to warehouse pioneer seed.