Cuyahoga County, Ohio - Schools and Libraries., 1870

Schools and Libraries.

The First School - Faint Traditions - The First Known School House ir the Village - The Subscription - Sale to the Village - The Academy - Private Schools - The Free School - The First School System - Purchase of the Academy - New School Houses - Plenty of Readers - Uniform Text Books Prescribed - The Seats - Salaries - Establishment of High School - Wide Awake Boys - A Three-story School House - Appointment of a Superintendent - The Old Board - Faithful Members - Superintendent Freese - Annexation of Ohio City - The Schools there - The "Branch High School" - The Board of Education - The System thoroughly established - Annexation of East Cleveland - Consolidation - The New High School - Its Description - Supervising Principals and the Normal School - The Number of Scholars - Teachers and their Salaries - Conclusion.

THE first school within the territory of the present. city of Cleveland was taught by Miss Sarah Doan, daughter of Nathaniel Doan of '' Doan's Corners," in what was then known as the Kingsbury neighborhood, near the present corner of Kinsman street and Woedland Hights avenue, about four miles from Monumental Park. Even now 1: is elose to the western boundary of the city. Though there is no distinct record, it is safe to say that the school-house was built of logs as there was no other kind of buildings in this part of the world.

For several years schools were kept more regularly in Newburg and the Kingsbury neighborhood than at Cleveland proper, whence sickness repelled emigrants so completely that two or three families was considered a-large population. In fact, we can find no mention of a school or school house there until 1814. There is a tradition, as Mr. Freese says, in his '' Early History of Cleveland Public Schools," that a school was taught about 1802 or 1803, when there were but five children, and another that there was one in 1810, when there were fifty-seven inhabitants, and when it would surely seem as if there ought to have been one. It is evident, however, that there were very few schools previous to the war of 1812, or some of the reminiscences on record regarding that period would have mentioned them. The first record of any school in Cleveland village is of one kept by a Mr. Capman in 1814.

The first school-house in the village, of which there is any account, was probably built in 1815, as the late Leonard Case, who came in 1816, mentions it as then existing (in a maruscript left by him), as does also Mr. Moses White. The latter describes it as a little new building, about eighteen feet by twentyeight, with a stone chimney, located where the the Kennard House now stands. It was built by subscription; the following being the contributors, with the amounts subscribed by each: T. and I. Kelley, $20; Stephen S. Dudley, $5; Daniel Kelley, $10; T. and D. Miles, $5; Wm. Trimball, $5; J. Riddall, $5; Walter Bradrock, $2.50; Levi Johnson, _ $10; J. Heather, $5; Horace Perry, $10; John A. Ackley, $5; A. W. Walworth, $5; George Wallace, $5; Jacob Wilkerson, $5; Pliny Mowry, $5; D. C. Henderson, $15; David Long, $15; Samuel William- son, $15; Alonzo Carter, $15; John Dixon, $5; N. H. Merwin, $5; James Root, $5; Joel Nason, $3; Edward McCarney, $5; George: Pease, $5. The total was $198.70, which would build quite a school-house in those days.

After it was erected, however, it was deemed bes that the village should own it, and on the 13th day of January, 1817, the trustees voted to return the subscription money to the donors and receive the title to the school-house. It was not only the school-house but the meeting-house of the village, being occupied as such in winter whenever an occasional minister visited the locality, while the larger but colder courthouse was used for the same purpose in summer. This was the only temple of education in Cleveland for several years. he village gave the use of the house to suecessive teachers, who then managed the schools in their own manner, collecting what fees they could from the parents of the scholars.

In 1821 the citizens of the growing village united in erecting a two-story brick building, termed the Cleveland Academy, located on St. Clair street. It was finished the next year; the Cleveland Herald ot June 6, 1822, mentioning with pride the convenient academy of brick, with its handsomé spire, and its spacious room in the second story for public purposes, which was then nearly completed. Scarcely were the lower rooms finished, when, on the 26th of the same month, a school was opened in it under the Rev. Wm. McLean. The reverend gentlemen taught reading, spelling and writing for $1.75 per term; grammar and geography were included for $2.75 per term, while if there were any young Clevelanders ambitious to study Greek, Latin or the higher mathematics, they or their parents were obliged to disburse $4 per term to secure them that privilege at the Cleveland Academy.

The building was about forty-five feet by twentyfive; the lower story being divided into two school rooms, while the upper one was employed for church meetings, lectures. traveling shows, and all the multifarious uses of a public hall in a frontier village. At a later date, when Cleveland became more populous, the higher department of the school was removed to the upper story. Harvey Rice, Esq., then a young law student, just from the Hust, served as principal for a short time, beginning in 1824. The academy was kept up until about the time of the incorporation of the city of Cleveland in 1836, when it was superseded by the school system then adopted.

As early as 1825 a young ladies' academy was established, which advertised to teach reading, writing, grammar, geography, painting, needlework and embroidgry.

Meanwhile several private schools for young scholars were maintained at different times. attempt was made to buy the academy building in behalf of the corporation but it did not succeed.

est inhabitants. It was called the '' Free School," and probably received some aid from the village authorities, for very soon after the organization of the city government the council voted to employ a teacher and assistant to conduct it until a school system should be organized. In September following, R. 8. Gazlay, principal of the free school, reported that two hundred and twenty-nine children had attended it during the preceding three months, at a cost of one hundred and thirty-one dollars and twelve cents. On the fifth of the succeeding month the council appointed the first board of school managers, consisting of John W. Willey, Anson Haydon and Daniel Worley.

In March, 1837, the board reported that they had kept up the '"'Common Free School" at a cost of $185.77 for the winter quarter. They advised amore liberal allowance for the support of schools, and especially for the erection of school-houses. The second board, appointed in 1837, consisted of Samuel Cowles, Samuel Williamson and Philip Battell.

It was not until July 7, 1837, that any general system of public schools was established in Cleveland. An ordinance was then passed by the council, directing its school committee to lease suitable buildings or rooms for school purposes, the expense not to exceed half the amount which the couneil was authorized to expend annually in building school-houses. The other half, or so much as might be necessary, was directed to be used in buying furniture and apparatus. 'The board of schoo] managers was also authorized to establish in the rooms so obtained such elementary schools as they deemed necessary, to be kept up four months from the 24th of July, to be entirely supported by the city, and therefore to be restricted in expenses to the amount of that part of the city revenue set aside for that purpose.

The board proceeded to organize three school districts, in each of which separate schools for boys and girls were established as soonas possible, under three male and three female teachers. They were maintained a little over four months, at an aggregate cost for tuition of $640.82. During the winter the six schools were retained, and two more added for small children. There were eight hundred and forty names on the rolls, and an average attendance of four hundred and sixty-eight; the cost for that term being $868. 62.

These schools were wholly free, and the authorities of Cleveland seem to have stepped at once from substantial indifference (in their public capacity) regarding educational matters to a complete adoption of the free-school system. The income devoted to school purposes during the year was $2,830, which was sufficient to pay for tuition, rent and fuel.

During the next year the number of schools was increased to eleven, the average attendance being five ° hundred and eighty-eight, as appears by the report of Silas Belden, Henry Sexton and ;Henry H. Dodge, the managers for that year.

The old academy was rented two years by the city for the use of the common schools, and in 1839 was purchased for $6,000. In the spring of that year, also, two lots were purchased, on the recommendation of a committee of which Harvey Rice was chairman, on each of which was erected a two-story brick schoolhouse, forty-five feet square, one on Rockwell and one on Prospect street, each intended to seat two hundred children. Both were finished in 1840. The one on Prospect street was lately occupied by the board of education. These, with the academy building,: would seat comfortably six hundred children, but were compelled for a time to accommodate nearly nine hundred.

Each of these three schools was organized in December, 1840, with a sénior and primary grade, and each of these was subdivided into a boys and girls department. The three principals, who were also the teachers respectively of the boys department in the senior grade were A. N. Gray in the Rockwell street school, Andrew Freese in the prospect street school, and George W. Yates in the St. Clair street, or academy, school. The first had two hundred and seventy scholars under them; the second two hundred and seventy-five, and the third two hundred and forty..

Besides these, there were the Bethel school with two teachers and a hundred and fifty-five scholars; one on the corner of Prospect and Ontario streets, with one teacher and fifty-five pupils, and one on Chestnut street with one teacher and fifty-six pupils.

Mr. Freese published a program of the daily exercises in the Prospect street school in one of the early years of its existence, which shows a multiplicity of "' readers," and of classes conformed to them, which seems almost Indicrous to the modern reader, though the extra labor and perplexity could not have been at all amusing to the teachers. The list embraces classes in the '' English Reader," 'Porter's

Rhetorical Reader," '+ Historical Reader" and " Angell's No. 2 Reader"; also in '"'Smith's Grammar" and '' Kirkham's Grammar." Besides these, Smith's Arithmetic, Smith's Geography and "' Parléy's" History were the principal text books. The only subiects higher than the ordinary English branches were algebra and natural philosophy; there being one class in each,

Soon after, the board of school managers prescribed a uniform list of text books for each grade, but the teachers could divide the schools into such classes as they saw fit.

The furniture of the school room was hardly changed at this time from the most primitive form ever used; consisting of two lines of long seats extending around the room, a short distance from the wall, the rear ones having no backs and the front ones no fronts. The backs of the front row, with their attached shelves, served as desks for the occupants of the benches behind. It was not until 1845 that the twoseated pine desks which are still common in country schools, came into use; each matching with the other,

The City Of Cleveland

- The salaries of the male principals at this period were ten dollars per week; those of the female assistants were five dollars per week - a school week then comprising five and a half days.

rented in various localities to meet the wants of the growing city. In that year Mayor Hoadley in his inaugural address recommended the establishment of a high school, composed of the best scholars of the common schools. The council adopted the recommendation, leased the basement of a church on Prospect street, and made Andrew Freese, principal of the Prospect-street school, principal of the new academic department. It went into operation on the Ist of July 1846, with thirty-four pupils; a number increased during the year to eighty-three.

This ''new-fangled" arvangement, however, was. strongly opposed by many of the citizens, who held that the council had no legal right to establish such a school, and also that it was unjust and inexpedient to. tax people for the maintainance of higher education. A warm discussion was the consequence, both in the council and among the people; but it was settled in favor of the continuance of the high school. A girl's. department of it was also opened in the spring of 1847.

The school was not a very expensive institution at that time; the total annual cost for several years being about nine hundred dollars; of which four hundred constituted the salary of the principal, and two hundred and fifty that of his sole assistant. Another assistant was added in 1852. All the higher English studies were taught there, but the languages weré not: yet made a part of the course.

The boys who went to the high school under Mr. Freese during those early years were an energetic, restless set, many of whom have since made their mark in the world, including Senator John P. Jones, of Nevada, Governor Lucius Fairchild, of Wisconsin, and several others but little less famous. They were ready to overcome almost any obstacle. They gave lectures on chemistry and other subjects, from which they obtained money to buy philosophical apparatus for the school. They bought materials, and themselves laid up a small brick laboratory; they made some of the apparatus they desired with their own hands; they edited and published a monthly called the School Boy for two or three years, and by their pluck and perseverance contributed largely toward breaking down the lingering prejudices against the high school.

On the opening of the new decade in 1850 the necessity of more sehool-room could no longer be denied, and in 1851 the Brownell-street school-house was erected; similar in size and form to the Prospect and

Rockwell-street houses already described. When it was opened for'use in January, 1852, under Principal E. E. White, it was immediately filled to overflowing. The quandary of the board of managers as to how relief should be afforded - whether to put on a third story, erect a new building, or employ some other means - was settled in a very peculiar manner. A high wind blew off the roof of the new school-house. Whether the members of the board looked on this as a providential decision or not, they at once accepted it as literally opening the way out of their difficulty, and directed the addition of a third story before the roof was replaced. Such was the accidental origin of the first three-story brick school-house in Cleveland. This in time became too small for the constantly increasihg number of scholars, and in 1863 it was sold: the school being removed to a newly erected edifice of ample proportions, on the opposite side of the stree- - commonly known as the Bradburn schoolhouse.

The Brownell-street school was followed in 1852 by the Mayflower-street school, which opened in a small wooden building of two rooms on the corner of Orange and Mayflower streets. Three-fourths of the children were Bohemians, who could harldy speak a word of English. The teachers had considerable difficulty at first, but it is said they eventually learned their Bohemians to speak English principally by turning them out to play with the English-speaking scholars - certainly a very pleasant method of instruction. The population in that vicinity increased so rapidly that in 1854 a large three-story brick schoolhouse, capable of seating five hundred pupils, was erected. In 1869 it was enlarged to a capacity of a thousand.

About the time the Brownell and Mayflower-street schools were set in operation, it was determined to havé something better than a basement for the use of the high schoo]. A lot was accordingly purchased on 'Euclid street, on which in 1851 a cheap wooden building was erected for temporary use. It was not vacated, however, until the spring of 1856, when the large three-story brick structure, sixty feet by ninety, occupied by the high school until the present year, was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies.

It was at this period, too, (in 1853) that a superintendent was placed in charge of the schools. Hitherto the work of supervision had been carried on entirely by the board of managers, the members of which received no pay, and merely spared what time they could from the various kinds of active private business in which they were all engaged. George Willey, a prominent lawyer, and Charles Bradburn, an active merchant, both began service as managers in 1841, and both served with few intermissions, until 1859, usually associated with but one or two others. Both gave a very large share of their time to the schools, and they bore a very great part in the work of strengthening and developing the public school system of Cleveland in its infant years. Harvey Kice,

But the time had come when the amount of supervising work to be done made it absolutely essential that some one should be employed especially to do it.

In May, 1853, R. C. Parsons, Esq., introduced into the council an ordinance establishing the office of superintendent of instruction, which was passed on the 1st of June following. The board of managers was.to fill the office, but the council was to fix the salary. Andrew Freese, principal of the high school since its establishment, was at once appointed to the newly created position. The salary voted him by the council was three hundred dollars per year. It should be understood, however, that for awhile he gave only half his time to the work of supervision, and the other half to the high school, of which he still remained principal - receiving his old salary of $1,000 per year. Afterwards, for a year, he gave five hours a day to his supervisory work; still retaining his position and salary in the high school. At length, however, it was found necessary for him to concentrate his whole attention on the work of supervision, and with considerable difficulty the council was persuaded to allow him a salary of $1,300 per year. Mr. Freese held the office eight years, giving to his duties the most enthusiastic energy and the most unwearying attention, and stamping hisimpress deeply upon that great institution, the public school system of Cleveland, with which he was so long connected.

The year after the superintendency was established, Ohio City was annexed to Cleveland. It then had two thousand four hundred and thirty-eight children considered to be of "school age," of whom about eight hundred were registered in the public schools and some two hundred were in church or private schools. The public schools consisted of one on Penn street with a hundred and ninety-five scholars; one at the ''old Universalist church," with a hundred and sixty-two; one at a small brick house on Vermont street, with fifty-four; one at the ''Seminary building," with a hundred and seven; and one at a small wooden school house on church street, with a hundred and eighty-two. The houses on Penn, Vermont and Church streets were owned by the city; the others were leased.

The schools on the West Side were generally ungraded, though there was a central school in the "seminary building" for the higher classes. There were also in process of erection three three-story brick school houses - one each on Pearl, Hicks and Kentucky streets - and these were completed at a cost of $7,000 each in the autumn of 1854, and given over to the management of the authorities of the united city. All the schools above mentioned except the one on Plum street were then transferred to the new school-houses, was transferred to the upper story of the Kentucky street school house. The people on the West Side were desirous that it should be brought to an equality with the East Side High School. As, however, the law under which the system of public instrnetion in Cleveland was organized provided that there should be but one central school, the council, with dubious legality, provided that there should be a branch of it established on the west side of the river. Though called the 'Branch High School," it was entirely independent of its competitor on the other side: its principal being responsible directly to the superintendent of instruction and the board of managers - a lesson in deception and eyasion of the law hardly counterbalanced by the increased convenience of having two high sehools instead of one, or by saving the trouble of having the law changed.

The Hudson street (now the Sterling) school was opened in the spring of 1859, in a small wooden structure which soon became so crowded that a cheap, detached building was speedily erected, and this was subsequently supplemented by the addition ofanother room. All these were finally succeeded by a large, new brick school house, completed in 1868, and then reputed to be the finest in Ohio.

We have thus brought down this condensed history of the public school system of Cleveland to the time when it had, to a great extent, assumed the form it has since retained. In 1859, there was a board of education elected by the people, controlling the schools on both sides of the river, a superintendent intrusted with the immediate management; an East high school anda West high sehool where the more advanced branches, including the languages, were taught, and finally a number of graded common schools, under male principals and female assistants, which, by a pedantic imitation of the name of an altogether different thing, then began to be called " grammar schools."* Moreover, music and drawing had both been introduced into the schools several years before, but were temporarily suspended at that period, on account of the ''hard times" induced by the financial crisis of 1857.

*The appellation of ''grammar school" was given to an institution in England and New England, above the grade of a primary school, in which grammar was the principal subject taught. As soon as a boy was at all advanced in his English grammar he was put into Latin gram - mar, and everything else was made subordinate to the study of language, or "gramimar.'' It is natural that, in the regions mentioned, the old name should be retained, but it is provoking that the same name should have been plagiarized within the last twenty years and applied to a new institution, in which grammar is considered of less consequence than mathematics, and of scarcely more importance than each of several other studies.

During the war for the Union, (in which many of the graduates of the Cleveland schools engaged, and some gave up their lives) notwithstanding the heavy drain upon the resources of the people, the school system was maintained at a high grade, and expanded rapidly in harmony with the constant growth of the city.

In 1867 the village of East Cleveland was annexed to the city of Cleveland. The former had a school system of its own, with a high school, which it was agreed should be retained until half the councilmen from the annexed district should vote for its abolition. In accordance with this agreement three high schools were maintained in Cleveland for over eleven years. Eight years later Newburg was annexed, and it too, had a high school, which became a part of the Cleveland system.

Meanwhile the needs of the Central high school were rapidly outgrowing the accommodations of the building in which it had been domiciled. It was deemed best, instead of increasing its size or )uilding a new one in the same locality, for the use of the same district, to erect one of ample size near the centre of the whole district east of the river. The consent of ''half" the councilmen from the old territory of East Cleveland having been obtained, a resolution to that effect was unanimously adopted by the council on the 2d day of April, 1877. The work was completed in less than a year and a half, the new building being dedicated on tho 3d day of December, 1878.

The point selected was on the west side of Willson avenue (the old line between Cleveland and East Cleveland) near Cedar avenue, an open, healthful, central and most desirable location, although it would seem as if a larger amount of land should have been secured, even if it was necessary to put up with a smaller amount of building.

The general urrangement of the edifice was planned by Andrew J. Rickoff, superintendent of instruction, while the architectural design, selected from those of six competitors, was that of Captain Levi T. Scofield of Cleveland. The extreme length of the building is one hundred and sixty-two feet and the extreme width, including both wings, one hundred and thirtyeight feet eight inches. The hight from the ground to the cornice is seventy-two feet four inches, and to the top of the spire one hundred and sixty-eight feet.

The style of architecture is South German Gothic, of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, while the material is principally of the various kinds of sandstone found in Cuyahoga county and vicinity. There are twenty-five rooms in the building, of which fourteen are school rooms, each thirty-seven by thirty, and sixteen feet high, and one of the others is an assembly room, ninety-four feet by fifty-six, and about thirty-eight feet high. Great care was also paid to the subjects of ventilation and heating, and taken al-

In the year 1868 ''supervising principals" were appointed to take the immediate direction of the teachers in the '"'grammar" and primary schools. The city is now divided into two districts, under the charge of supervising principals; one comprising all east of Erie street, and of Brownell south of the south end of Erie, the other embracing all west of that line, on both sides of the river. This is the most important change which has been made since 1860. The supervising principals do all that principals ordinarily do except teach. They assign scholars to classes, direct the studies and maintain the discipline of the schools - acting on the reports on the teachers. By this means the board of education is enabled to employ ladies as heads of the schools, whose time is employed principally in teaching. A normal school, for the sole purpose of training teachers to take charge of the city schools, was established in 1874. The system is now very complete as to organization, and the schools are well supplied with buildings; so that no important changes in regard to either are likely to be made for many years to come.

We close with a brief account of.the schools as they now are. Of the lower grades there are thirty-eight, with a total registered attendance of twenty-one thousand seven hundred and twenty-one, according to the reports of the present year, as yet unpublished, for which we are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Rickoff, the present superintendent. The number of scholars just mentioned is distributed as follows: Bolton school, 384; Brownell, 1,682; Case, 1,333; Charter Oak, 125; Clark, 251; Crawford, 38; Detroit, 818; Dunham, 68; Eagle, 381; Euclid, 216; Fairmount, 287; Garden, 227; Gordon, 217; Hicks, 833; Independence, 40; Kentucky, 934; Kinsman, 157; Lovejoy, 60; Madison, 153; Marion, 44; Mayflower, 1303; Meyer, 69; North, 630; Orchard, 1482; Outhwaite, 1834; Quincy, 124; Ridge, 42; Rockwell, 1,160; St. Clair, 1,087; South, 161; Sterling, 1,508; Tremont, 1,196; Union Mills, 211; Wade, 973; Walnut, 726; Warren, 772; Woodland, 75; York, 52.

Besides there were sixty-five in the Normal school, seven hundred and forty-seven in the Central high school, and two hundred and eleven in the West high school, making a total in the higher grade schools of one thousand and twenty, and a grand total of twenty-two thousand seven hundred and forty-one.

To give instruction to this great number of children, no less than three hundred and ninety-four teachers are employed; two in the Normal school; seventeen in the Central high school, nine in the West high school, and three hundred and sixty-six in the grammar and primary schools. It should be understood that many of these are special teachers, (in drawing, music and penmanship) who do not give, and are not paid for giving, their whole time.

of the Central high school, $2,400; his first assistant, $1,600; the principal of the West high school, $2,000; his first assistant, $1,500; supervising principals, $2,000; principal in German, $1,500; principal in music, $2,000; principal in drawing, $1,700; principal in penmanship, $1,500; principal of the normal school, $2,100; assistant im normal school, $1,000; principals of the grammar and primary schools, from $1,000 to $750; teachers of German, from $700 to $650; teachers in grammaz and primary schools, from $625 to $400, according to grade of service, experience and merit.

Of all the teachers but thirty-five are males, while three hundred and fifty-nine are females. The present superintendent is Andrew J. Rickoff; the principal of the Central high school is Z. P. Taylor; of the West high school, J. H. Shults; of the normal school, Oliver Arey. The supervising principal of the first district is H. M. James; that of the second district is L. W. Day. The superintendents of instruction since Mr. Freese, who closed his service in 1861, have been L. M. Oviatt, who served two years; Anson Smyth (ex-State commissioner of schools) who served four vears, and the present superintendent, who has been at the head of the department twelve years. The Normal school was four years under the charge Alexander Forbes, and one year under that of Elroy M. Avery (previously, for many years at the head of the East high school).

We have thus given an outline history (we could dono more) of one of the very foremost institutions of Cleveland; one which has contributed very much indeed to its past welfare, and upon which it must depend for its future welfare to a still greater extent as the period of its extraordinary growth necessarily merges into one of more moderate and steady prosperity, as the remarkable facilities for money making becomes somewhat less fruitful, and as the people naturally address themselves with more earnest ness toward the deeper problems and higher enjoyments of life.

The Ursuline Academy

This institution was organized by Bishop Rappe, in August, 1850. The first Ursuline Sisters, four in number, came from Boulogne sur mer, France. In the same year the property on Euclid avenue was purchased, at a cost of $12,000, since which time many changes and improvements heve been made. The present Mother Superior has had charge of the academy since its foundation, with the exception of two intermissions of three years each.

Ia June, 1874, the corporation purchased thirtyseven acres of land on the lake shore, in Euclid, upon which a spacious boarding-school and college is in course of erection. In the academy the Ursuline Sisters conduct a day-school. They also teach in sev-

Catholic churches throughout the city. Of the Catholic schools for boys and girls there are no less than sixteen, viz: Immaculate Conception parish school, St. John's parochial school, St. Augustine's school, St. Bridget's school, St. Columba's academy, St. Columbkill's school, St. Joseph's school, Church of the Holy Family school, St. Malachi's school, St. Mary's school, St. Mary's of the Annunciation school, St. Patrick's school, St. Peter's school, St. Prokop's school, St. Stephen's school. and St. Wenceslaus' school. Besides these there is St. Mary's theological seminary, a flourishing institution for the instruction of candidates for the priesthood.

The Brooks School

A stranger who should chance to be passing the Ontario Street Tabernacle on an exhibition night, and should be attracted by the ringing sound of military command -and the sturdy tramp of time-keeping feet, would perhaps be surprised, on entering the building, to find all this martial clamor emanating from a few score of school-boys, many of them mere children and none having arrived at man's estate. Yet, as he watched the accuracy of their movements with the rifle, observed the energy with which they wheeled their heavy cannon into position, and gazed admiringly on their muscle-straining exercise with the saber, he would be compelled to admit that, though not men, they gave ample promise of being competent to play well their part when the responsibilities of manhood should rest upon them.

Yet the Brooks School, at one of the exhibitions of which we have supposed the stranger to be present, is by no means a military institution, but a classical and English school, whereof martial training is only an adjunct. Its originator was the late Rev. Frederick Brooks, from whom it takes its name, but he did not live to carry his design into effect. His unfinished plans were taken up in 1874, and with such modifications and improvements as' were deemed necessary, were carried out by Mr. John S. White, a graduate of Harvard University, and for three years a master iu the Boston Public Latin School. His success has been of the most pronounced character, not only in securing a numerous attendance, but in maintaining the best discipline and imparting the most thorough instruction. An officer of the United States army is detailed to take charge of the military instruction of the students.

Other Private Schools

There are several other excellent private schools in the city, including the Cleveland Female Seminary, a boarding and day school for young ladies, established in 1854, under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Church; the Cleveland Academy, on Huron street, a day school for young ladies, founded in 1861; Logan Avenue Seminary, and several others.

The Cleveland Library Association

This beneficent society traces its ancestry along a line in which there are several long breaks, to the year 1811, when an attempt was made to establish a small library by an association of seventeen Clevelanders. The war of 1812, and the "' hard times " which followed it, soon caused the overthrow of this well meant institution.

The next effort, of which there is any account, in the way of intellectual improvement, outside of the schools, was the Cleveland Forum, established about 1824, which flourished for several years, being devoted principally to debates. This, too, finally disappeared. In 1833 a lyceum was formed, which gave its efforts entirely to debates until 1835, when it established a reading room, which was sustained by the contributions of the citizens. In 1836 the Young Men's Literary association was organized, which set itself to work in earnest to forma library. Fora time it met. with marked success, collecting more than a thousand volumes and enlisting much interest. But as in the case first named so in this one, the financial disasters of the period blighted its energies, and although it struggled on until 1843, yet it was never able to get firmly rooted in the intellectual soil of the city. In the year last named it was dissolved, and the books were scattered among the members and others.

Once more, in 1845, a similar effort was made by the more enterprising and intellectual young men of Cleveland, who united under the former name of the Young Men's Literary Association, and devoting themselves principally to the collection of a library. This time the .attempt was successful, and amid the general prosperity the youthful institution gained a footing which has only grown firmer with advancing years.

In 1848 it was legally incorporated, with two hundred shares of stock at $10 each, the name being changed to the Cleveland Library Association? It maintained a course of lectures for many years, but these were subordinate to the library, and their profits, often netting from $1,000 to $2,000 per year, were faithfully applied to increase the number of books.

After having for several years occupied a small'room on Superior street, it was.removed in 1851 to the Herald building; again, in 1856, to No. 221 Superior street, and finally in 1862 to the 'Case building." At this place it received a perpetual lease of the rooms it still occupies, from the heirs of Mr. William Case, who had been a warm friend of the institution, and who was understood to have designed those rooms for its use g when planning the block. This relieved it from paying rent, but its resources were still meagre, being derived principally from membership fees of three dollars per year and occasional small donations.

In 1870 the charter of the association was changed so that, instead of being controlled by annually elected trustees, it was to be managed by five direc- tors for life. 'Those first chosen were Samuel Williamson, James Barnett, H. M. Chapin, William Bingham and B. A. Stanard. Soon afterwards Mr. Leonard Case presented the institution with an endowment of $25,000, and in the summer of the Centennial he astonished the trustees and the city by an extraordinary act of munificence - nothing less than the gift to the association of the Case block, in which the library was located, valued at three hundred thonsand dollars, and actually producing an income of near twenty thousand dollars per year!

tion out of danger of want, and has enabled the directors to make large additions to their literary stores. The dues have been reduced to one dollar per year. The room occupied by the association has been filled to its utmost capacity, with over twelve thousand volumes, some of them very rare and valuable works. A competent force of librarians is employed, and is generally kept busy in attending to the wants of the public. Besides those who loan books, numerous readers are constantly at the tables examining books and magazines. In short, there is little doubt that the association has entered on a long career of prosperity and usefulness, which cannot but reflect the highest honor on its munificent friend. From the fact that it is located in the Case building, and from the deep impression made by the gift just mentioned, the institution is commonly called the Case library, though the real name remains as before - the Cleveland Library Association.

The Public Library

The Cleveland Publie Library was originated in 1853, but did not attain very high standing until 1867 when the law authorized the board of education to consolidate the old school libraries and to impose a tax for the support of a single public library. After being located in various rooms, and leasing permanent quarters for several years in the city hall building, it has at length been established in a place admirably suited to its needs. On the removal of the Central high school, in September, 1878, to the new structure of Willson avenue, the old high-school building on Euclid avenue, near Erie street, was refitted and appropriated for the use of the public library, the board of education, and other officials of the schools. The second and third stories are devoted to the use of the library. It contains twenty-six thousand volumes, mostly of a popular character, such as are desirable for circulation among the children of the schools and the citizens generally. About three thousand valuable scientific and historical works, however. have been placed in a room by themselves, from which they are not allowed to be taken, being used only for.reference. It is intended to add five thousand volumes annually to the collection, but the expense of refitting and removing to the new quarters has prevented its being done during the present year. The library is free to all residents of the city, and

The Cleveland Law Library

This institution was founded by the Cleveland Law Library Association in 1871, and is located in the court-house. Since its establishment a law has been passed devoting a part of the fines collected in the police court to its support, and making it free to all members of the bar. It is still, however, under the control of the association. It contains about four thousand volumes, many of them of great antiquity and value.

The Kirtland Society Of Natural Sciunce

This institution was founded and incorporated in the summer of 1869, under the leadership of Dr. Jared Potter Kirtland, from whom it was named. In 1870 it became a department of the Cleveland Library Association. Its museum is in the third story of the 'ase building. Here may be seen finely mounted specimens of beasts, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects from all parts of the country, and some from foreign lands; nearly all donated by eminent citizens of Cleveland. Among these benefactors are William Case, R. K. Winslow, John Fitzpatrick and Dr, Kirtland. Though it lacks the popular interest attaching to the library, yet the museum has many visitors, and cannot but exercise a beneficial influence.

The Cleveland Bar

Samuel Huntington - Alfred Kelley - Reuben Wood - Samuel Cowles - Leonard Case - John W. Willey - A Remarkable Coincidence - Four out of Five still Living - Hard Work - Samuel Starkweather and Samuel Williamson - The admissions of 1835 - Thomas Bolton, Moses Kelly, Henry B. Payne and Hiram V. Willson - Outspoken Language - Franklin T, Backus - Rutfus P. Spalding.

As already mentioned, the bar of Cleveland began its existence with the location at that point of Samuel Huntington, of Connecticut, in the spring of 1801. His practice, however, was of infinitesimal quantity, and it is doubtful whether he had a single case in a court of record, noc because the people were unwilling to trust him, but because there was no business to be transacted. Cleveland, east of the Cuyahoga, (the only portion then settled) being a part of Trumbull county, it was almost sixty miles in a straight line through the woods to the county seat at Warren, and much farther by any practicable route, and the people were far too poor to seek the more expensive kinds of 'legal redress under such difficulties. Mr. Huntington may have occasionally tried a case before a justice

He plunged into polities, however, with such zeal as to occupy his time quite fully, and being, in the spring of 1803, appointed one of the judges of the supreme court of Ohio, he gave up whatever trifling practice he may have had, to devote himself to his judicial duties. He removed from the county before leaving the bench, which he did only to accept the otfice of governor from the people, and consequently his practice in Cleveland, slight as it was, ceased in 1803.

After the removal of Judge Huntington, in 1807, the bar of Cleveland had not even a nominal existence for over three years, unless we make an exception in the case of Stanley Griswold, who, we believe, was a member of the profession, and who located at '' Doan's Corners" in 1808. He remained, however, but two years, and had no practice worth mentioning.

The first Clevelander who became a permanent practitioner was. Alfred Kelley, who had the remarkable experience of being admitted to the bar and appointed prosecuting attorney on the day he became twenty-one years old, which was in November, 1810, a year and a half after Cleveland had been made the seat of justice of Cuyahoga county, and six months after that county had been duly organized by the election and appointment of the necessary officers of justice.

Even Mr. Kelley's practice was' not extensive. Competition is said to be the life of business, and certainly it must be not only lonesome but uuprofitable for a lawyer to practice law alone. Mr. Kelley usually acted as prosecuting attorney in the few criminal cases which were tried in this county; his adroitness was frequently tested in suits before justices of the peace, and occasionally he contested civil actions in courts of record with counsel resident in other counties.

Mr. Kelley was a man of unquestioned ability and great industry, and withal of good personal presence, whose broad forehead covered an ample brain; whose thin, firm lips, betokened an unbending will, and whose clear, blue eye reflected the workings of a candid mind. Possessing the entire confidence of his fellow citizens, he was several times elected to represent them in the legislature, and in 1822 was appointed canal commissioner. After the construction of the canal was begun, in 1825, he devoted himself entirely to that work, and his subsequent career is narrated in the sketch of his life, which is published a little farther on.

The second practitioner came in 1818, a remarkably tall and slender Vermonter, twenty-six years old, six feet three or four inches high, with a keen eye, a sharp face, fair professional knowledge, unbounded energy and great skill in adapting himself to the exigencies of frontier law-practice. This was Reuben Wood, destined to marked prominence as an advocate, asa judge, and finally as governor of the State. With two lawyers in the place business began to grow brisk, and the active young man from the Green Mountains soon showed himself quite able to compete with his earlier rival, or with any one else he was likely to meet in this part of the country. Not, perhaps, so profoundly versed in old book-law as a barrister of the Inner Temple might deem necessary, he had a first-rate: practical knowledge of the law necessary to use before an Ohio jury, and had all his knowledge and all his faculties at perfect command during the trial of a case. In the increasing prosperity of the village and county he speedily made his way into a first-rate practice. His career as a public man is outlined in the sketch published in this work.

Samuel Cowles, who came about 1819, was an entirely different type of man. Thoroughly read in the law, cautious, industrious and reliable, he lacked the dash of Mr. Wood, and failed to make as rapid headway either in public life or as a jury lawyer. He, however, did a large and lucrative business; being one of the safest of counselors, and being implicitly trusted by numerous eastern clients. '' His word was as good as his bond," say those who knew him, and in the long run this perfect reliability of character produced its natural results in the acquisition of some of the best kind of business.

Some people were a little disposed to sneer at him as '' Father Cowles," but '' Father Cowles" kept on the even tenor of his way and met with no small share of success. In 1837 he was appointed a judge of the court of common pleas, and died while holding that office.

Leonard Case, a man of somewhat similar type to Mr. Cowles, who came to Cleveland in 1816, did not attempt to practice law until several years later. In fact, he never did a general business; his legal knowledge being confined principally to the laws relating to land in the State of Ohio. On this subject he was unsurpassed and perhaps unequaled, and, as he was one of the most upright of men, his counsel in regard to the law of real estate was considered of great value. As his property increased, however, he withdrew from the practice of law altogether, attending only to his land business. His long and beneficent career is elsewhere mentioned in this work.

John W. Willey, a native of New Hampshire, and a graduate of Dartmouth College, came to Cleveland in 1822, at the age of twenty-five, and speedily acquired a good practice. More feeble in body, his type of mind was something like that of his competitor, Mr. Wood - prompt, alert, vigorous, ingenious, fairly well yersed in the law, and extremely well versed in human nature. These were the qualities most conducive to rapid success, and Messrs. Wood and Willey were soon noted as good jury lawyers, and for a time almost monopolized that class of business. Mr. Willey was also an active politician, served several years in the legislature, and was finally appointed president judge of this judicial cireuit, and died in that office in 1841.

The only person who is known to have joined the Cleveland bar between 1823 and 1826 was Woolsey Welles, a brother-in law of Alfred Kelley, who was admitted in 1823, but remained only two or three years.

But after the canal was begun and the possibilities of Cleveland began to develop themselves, those who had previously had control of the legal field were not long left to its unchallenged occupancy. And now we come to the most remarkable coincidence we have met with during our labors as a local historian, In the year 1826, fifty-three years ago, five young men, from twenty-one to twenty-six years old, residents of Cleveland, were admitted to the bar. These were Horace Foote, William McConnell, Harvey Rice, John W. Allen and Sherlock J. Andrews. Messrs. MeConnell, Rice and Allen were admitted together by the cireuit court in the summer; Mr. Foote was also admitted in the summer, though separately from the others. My. Andrews went to Columbus in December and obtained admission. Of those five young lawyers, four are now living, and all are residents of Cleveland. Every one of those who made Cleveland his permanent home is still living in that city.

Mr. McConnell, who was a native of Virginia, practiced only a year or two in Cleveland, then returned to Wheeling, in that State, and served awhile as au member of the Virginia legislature, but died there nearly forty years ago. Mr. Foote went to New England soon after being admitted, and remained there until 1836, when he returned to Cleveland, where he has ever since resided.

That four out of five young men, thus thrown together, should survive the vicissitudes of American life until all are nearly eighty years old is very remarkable indeed: that in this changeful western world, and especially on the western side of the Alleghanies, they sheuld all four, after so long a period, be residents of the same city in which, then a feeble village, they resided on their admission to professional life, is something little less than marvelous. Moreover, all the four were natives of New England, and all have met' with marked success in their respective careers. 'Two (Messrs. Allen and Andrews) have been members of congress; Messrs. Andrews and Foote have becn judges. and Mr. Rice was long known as a prominent citizen and a successful man of business. Certainly one must needs be tempted to doubt the prevalent opinion that American life conduces to break down the health and strength of the people.

Cleveland could now be said to have a bar instead of only two or three smart practitioners. Mr. Rice devoted himself more to other labors than to those of the legal profession, and Mr. Foote, as has been said, spent the next ten years at a distance; but Messrs. Allen and Andrews entered at once into the active business of their profession. It is more difficult to speak of the professional acquirements of these than of those who have passed away. Mr. Allen's ability and activity are shown by the fact that in ten years from the time he was admitted to the bar, and while only thirty-four vears of age, he was elected to a seat in the national house of representatives. Judge Andrews' extraordinary powers of labor and endurance are amply evidenced by his continuance in the active

And it was no light labor, even physically, that the lawyers of fifty years ago had to perform. Only two or three sessions of the higher courts were held at Cleveland during the year. Others were held in surrounding counties, and the lawyers frequently had to travel with the courts from one county to another to attend to the business of their widely-scattered constituency. In stage-coaches which bounded with joint-racking severity over the stumps and roots of the forest roads: in sleighs, in which an ample supply of buffalo robes scarcely protected the inmates from frosted ears and noses; often on horseback, making their way through mud of unconscionable depth, the disciples of Blackstone had no easy road to follow in their pursuit of fame and fortune. As Cleveland increased in population, business became more concencentrated, and for the last thirty years it has only been on extraordinary occasions that counsel have been required to go elsewhere to try their cases, and then the ready railway has deprived the journey of all its ancient terrors.

After the large crop of enduring young lawyers admitted in 1826, there were no other admissions of Cleyelanders to the bar until 1831, when there was one. There was at least one accession in the meantime, however, that of Samuel Starkweather, who came in 1827. He was a native of Rhode Island, and a graduate of Brown University, in that State. A man of decided natural ability, he gave himself as much to polities as to law; was collector of customs under Presidents Jackson and Van Buren; was elected mayor of the city in 1844, and was chosen a judge of the common pleas in 1852, serving five years. In 1832 occurred the first admission of one who had been bred from extreme youth at Cleveland. This was Samuel Williamson, who practiced successfully until 1872, (except while county auditor for eight years), and who was especially skillful in the management of complicated cases connected with real estate and with the property of deceased persons.

In 1833 there were two admissions, one of those admitted being John ©. Foote, son of Senator Foote, of Connecticut, whose resolutions - ''Foote's Resolutions ' - gave rise 'o the celebrated debate between Webster and Hayne. Philip Battell, one of the two admitted in 18:4, was a son-in-law of Senator Seymour, of Vermont, an inveterate reader, thoroughly informed on almost every subject, but not so enamored of labor as to address himself seriously to the difficult task of making a place for himself among the hard-working, wide-awake members of the Cleveland bar. He practiced here but a short time, and then returned to Vermont. |

In 1835 the number of Clevelanders admitted rose to seven, the list-being headed by the name of G. W. Lynde, who is still a resident of the city. Flavel W. Bingham, one of the others then admitted, became an active practitioner and a most worthy citizen, and was long a member of the city council. Seth T. Hurd, also one of the admissions of that year, was a peculiar genius, who had many of the elements of a popular orator. He became, in fact, more famous as a stump-speaker than as a lawyer, and after a few years stay in Cleveland went to Washington, Pennsylvania, where he died. Another of the men of 1835 was John Barr, a well read lawyer and a most excellent man, who was police judge of Cleveland several years, and who deserves especial mention in a work of this character on account of the intelligent interest which he took in the history of Northern Ohio, and the labor which he spent in collecting manuscripts bearing on that subject. H. L. Hosmer, likewise admitted in that year, was a student of Hon. J. W. Allen. He soon went west, where he had an active career. He was a few years since chief justice of Montana Territory, and is now a resident of San Francisco, California.

But the most distinguished of the graduates of that year was Thomas Bolton, a native of Cayuga county, New York, and a graduate of Harvard University, who had arrived at Cleveland the year before, and who very speedily took high rank both as a sound lawyer and a brilliant advocate. Such was his ability and popularity that in four years after his admission he was elected prosecuting attorney on the Democratic ticket, although the county usually gave a Whig majority of fifteen hundred. A large full-faced man, with ample forehead, open countenance and frank demeanor, his nature corresponded to his appearance, and his genial disposition attracted as much admiration as his legal ability. For many years the firm of Bolton and Kelly stood in the front rank of the legal talent of Cleveland. Becoming dissatisfied with the tendencies of the Democracy Mr. Bolton joined the then feeble band of free-soilers in 1848, and aided to organize the Republican party in 1855. By them he was elected judge of the common pleas in 1856, and re-elected in 1861; retiring finally from the bench and bar in 1866.

Mr. Bolton's partner, Moses Kelly, a native of Liyingston county, New York, who was admitted two years later, was also a graduate of Harvard, and was a man of extraordinary strength of character, whose stern Scotch-Irish features, surmounting a tall, spare form, were the reflex of the unbending soul beneath. Less facile in accommodating himself to circumstances than is usual with Americans, no one ever doubted his great ability or his unflinching principle. Elected to the legislature by the Whigs, he several times opposed with all his might measures supported by his party, and in nearly every instance the justice and soundness of his course were demonstrated by subsequent events so plainly that those who opposed him were compelled to admit the propriety of his action. While they were seeking a politic course he worked from principle, which is itself the highest policy.

lawyers, was that of Payne & Willson, composed of Henry B. Payne and Hiram V. Willson. These gentlemen, both natives of Madison county, New York, and both graduates of Hamilton College in that county, came to Cleveland in 1833, entered into partnership, and for twelve years pursued a professional career of very remarkable success. For several years they brought two hundred and fifty cases in the court of common pleas annually, and defended nearly twice asmany. Mr. Payne retired from the profession in 1845, on account of il] health; a sketch of his life is given a few pages farther on. Mr. Willson remained in it until 1854, when he was appointed by President Pierce the first judge of the newly created Northern District of Ohio. Though a strong Democrat in politics, he was unflinchingly impartial upon the bench, and upon the outbreak of the rebellion he did not hesitate to take the most decisive stand in favor of the maintainance of the government. In a charge to the grand jury at that period he said:

** Let the motives of the conspirators be what they may, this open, organized and armed resistance of the United States is treason, and those engaged in it justly merit the penalty denounced against traitors."

In January, 1864, when excitement was running high in opposition to the draft, and many of his colleagues were denying its constitutionality, Judge Willson delivered a charge clearly showing its accordance with the Constitution, and the duty of all good citizens to obey the law. Judge Willson died in November, 1866, respected by men of both parties and of all conditions.

Franklin T. Backus, a native of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Yale college, was of a somewhat later period, having been born in 1813 and admitted to the bar from the office of Bolton & Kelly in 1839. He soon became a partner of Jesse P. Bishop, and the firm was maintained for fifteen years. Mr, Backus was a good lawyer and a miost honorable man. His ability was recognized by the public, and he was twice nominated for judge of the the supreme court of the State; failing to be elected only because his party was defeated. Judge Bishop, his partner, is a native of Vermont but is a graduate of Western Reserve College at Hudson in this State, and was one of the very first graduates of that college - we think the first - to be admitted to the Cleveland bar. His success az a lawyer and jurist is well known.

Any notice of the bar of Cleveland would be incomplete which did not mention the veteran, Rufus P. Spalding, who has reached the age of eighty-one years and is still one of the leading minds of the city. Born on the Island of Martha's Vineyard in the State of Massachusetts, he was graduated from Yale college in 1817 and, after admission to the bar, practiced for thirty years in Trumbull, Portage and Summit counties in this State. After three vears' service on the bench of the supreme court, he removed to Cleveland in 1852, and at once took a leading position at the bar of that city. Elected to congress in 1862, he entered that body at the age of sixty-five, and for six consecutive years performed the duties of a representative with a faithfulness which many younger men might well have emulated, and achieving a reputation which very few indeed of his colleagues surpassed. After passing the age of seventy he retired from public life but did not abandon his interest in public affairs, and even yet the voice of the octogenarian lawyer, judge and congressman is occasionally heard in favor of the policy he considered to be sound and the principles he believes to be right.

We have now reached the point where we begin to meet the names of those who are still in the active practice of their profession. In fact, we have already casually mentioned one or two of the oldest of them, but have no intention of attempting to settle the relative merits of the present members of such a very active and belligerent profession. We subjoin a list of those residents of Cleveland and the immediate vicinity who, according to the records of the court, have been admitted to the bar from 1810 to the present time. This does not include accessions from abroad, who formed a large part of the bar, especially in the early days, some of whom have been mentioned, some of whom are still residents here and some of whom have moved away or died, leaving but a faint trace behind.

Residents Of Cleveland And Vicinity Admitted To The Bar

1871. L. A. Willson, Jos. W. Sykora, Wm. Clark, F. H. Bierman, John T. Weh A. L. Renaoehl, Dan'l Stephan, Geo. A. Groot, E. W. Goddard, Wm. A. Wilcox, H. W. Canfield. Sylvester Gardner, Waldemer Otis, W. K. Smith.