Elkhart County, Indiana - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 16 of those read), 1905

Education

Culture's hand Has scattered verdure o'er the land. And smiles and fragrance rule serene Where barren wilds usurped the scene. And such is man ; a soil which breeds Or sweetest flowers or vilest weeds ; Flowers lovely as the morning's light, Weeds deadly as the aconite. Just as his heart is trained to bear The poisonous weed or flow'ret fair.

Ill America the intrcidiiction of schools is not far behind the settlement lit the country. The first constitution of Indiana, adopted in 1816, ])rovi(le(l for education. Yet in an early day the cause advanced sloAvly. The first constitution made provision for the appointment of superintendent of school sections to take charge of and lease the school lands in the townships. In 1824 the general assembly passed an act to incorporate congressional townships and provide for public schools therein. Tlie act lirovided for the election in each, congressional township of three persons of the to\\nship to act as school trustees, to whom the control of the school lands and sciiools g^enerally was given ; and for the building of schoolhouses. Every able-bodied person in each school district who was liver twenty-line }'ears of age must work one da)' in each week, or else pay thirty-seven and one-half cents in lieu of a day's work, until the schoolhouse was iauilt. .Vlmost every session of the legislature witnessed some addition tn or modification of the school law. Provision was made for the appointment of school examiners, but the examinations might be private, and the examiners were quite irresponsible. Under such circumstances it could not be expected that competent teachers be employed. Often the most trivial riuestions were asked a teacher, and this was called an examination. In many instances there was no examination at all - the teacher was simply asked to teach. However, it must be said that there was generally an endeavor nn the part of the trustees to do the right thing; the fact is that, generally, cmnpetent teachers were not to be had. The nriqinal scheme of educatimi embraced the district schools, the state university, and the county academy as intermediate between the two and as a preparatory school to the latter. In some instances county academies were built and a few Ijecame famous and gave to the state some of her strongest men. But those institutions were sold and the proceeds added to the permanent school fund of the state. In the records of the hoard of justices and commissioners during the early years of this county there are frequent references toi the " seminary fund " and to the trustees of that fund, but no disposition of these moneys was ever made for the purpose originally intended, and they were doubtless later turned into the general school fund.

From the days when schools were dependent upon local taxation to the present the Indiana school system presents a stoiy of wonderful progress. In 1S40 one-seventh of the adult population of Indiana could not read nor write, and many of those whO' could were densely ignorant. In education Indiana stood sixteenth among twenty-three states; in 1850 she was twent3'-third among twenty-six states. Now, though twentyfourth in area, she is first in her invested school fund, fifth in population and number of schools, sixth in churches, seventh in wealth, and the most typically American state of the Union. Her population and development furnish data which form an index to the history which the country has already written. Nowhere else in the United States, except in West \^irginia and JMissouri, which in other respects are less characteristic of the nation, is so large a percentage of the population native born. More than ninety per cent of the inhabitants of Indiana are American by birth, while in the states north of it more than ten per cent are foreign, and in the states to the south the same proportion of the negro race obtains.

By 1850 union schools had been established in a number of counties; that is, several school districts would unite and combine their funds and forces and establish a union school at some center convenient to all, this type being a forerunner of the present township high school. But just alxiut this time a new state constitution was formed, and under it the legislature of 1852 enacted a liberal school law which embodied principles of practical excellence : and from that time, notwithstanding the selfishness of a few retro-actionists, and the stupidity of certain courts, the educational affairs of the state have progressed wonderfullv.

The present generation has no conception of the state of education in general and the conditions of schoolhouses and methods of instruction which prevailed in the pioneer epoch of this county. It is the boast, indeed, of the American people that the church and the school have been almost coexistent with settlement itself. And yet it seems true that education has not formed a part of the vanguard of our ci\'ilization : its institutions have always lagged hehind the general level nf culture and im- ])rovcment. To illustrate: The schoolhciuses and their general surrounding, of the present as also in the past, with certain most notable exceptions in every count}', have never shown the same evidences of taste, refinement and physical ccjmfort that the average nf homes in the same community have displayed. The average country schoolhouse of to-day is at best a drear and uncmith sort of place, lacking in those exterior surroundings which elevate the character, and the interior having nothing of the homelike charm to which most of the children are accustomed. Should the child pass five hours of the day, for at least half the davs of the year and for a large part of the formative years of his life, in an atmosphere less congenial, in surroundings less inviting than his or her own home should he? After all, have we so much to boast of in our temples of learning "? But our forefathers, as well as the present generation, Iniilt no doubt ,'iccoi'ding to the best wisdom given them, and those who would seek flaws in their work should remeiuber that criticism is easier than action.

For the benefit of those who have ahva}-s attended schools conducted along comparatively modern lines and equipped with the ordinary comforts and conveniences of the present, this history should afford some brief and more or less complete picture of the places of learning such as our fathers attended, during what we have so often referred to as the pioneer epoch. It is surprising, on studying the records, to find how many districts and townships in this county and this part of the state built ^choo'houses at almost identicall}- the same time, without anv communic.'ition with eacli other or purpose of concerted action. There was great unanimity of sijirit in this respect. The schoolhouses were rude structures. The accommodations were not good. Stoves and such heating a|)paratus as are now used were unknown. A mud-and-stick chimnc}- in one end of the building with earthen hearth and fireplace wide and, deep tfi receixe a six-foot back log and smaller wood to match, served for warming purposes in winter and a sort of conservatory in summer. For windows a part of a log was sawed out in two sides of the building and the space filled with a light of glass; or, if that was not to be had, with greased paper or cloth. If a spelling match or other meeting was held in the schoolroom in the evening, the old tallow dips were brought into requisition. Everything was rude and plain.

Yet (lut cif just such schoolhouses came some of the greatest men of America and of the world, a long list of whose names might be given. The teachers were jiut t<i great inconvenience in "boarding aroimd." They had to "bunk with the children": or, where a spare room was afforded, the teacher was cheerfully informed how many and what members of the family had " died in that beil " : and when in winter he got into a bed that perhaps had not been slept in for six months, he thought, as his teeth chattered and his frame shook for a few moments, he was in a fair way to add to the number. Yet from just such experiences came some of the airiest educators of the state and nation. Environment is something-; but if it is true that the individual mind is from the environment, it is a larger, stronger and deeper truth that the environment is from the collective or social mind, of which the individual forms a part. All told, one age is much like another, and it is neither wise nor safe to decry the past.

Among the excellent papers which have been read before the Elkhart Countv Historical Society was one written by Mrs. Chauncey Hascall, describing the schools of sixty years ago.

" In the winters of 1839-40 and 1840-41," in the words of Mrs. Hascall, " 1 taught .school in the next district west from Cioshen. I received twelve dollars a month, which was considered at that time a high salary for a woman. Of course it was the typical log schoolhouse, which the young i>eople of the present day have ' read of,' and the older ones hold in affectionate remembrance. The writing desks were shelves attaclied to the logs on the sides of the room, and the seats were long benches without backs, with a second row of the same kind, but lower, for the smaller scholars. A fire in a big box stove in the center of the room was kept in a roaring condition by the boys, who were glad of the opportunity of getting a change oi \vjs\tum and a breatli of fresh air. The patrons of the school were mostly Pennsylvania Dutch and spoke their own language in home and neigiiborhood intercourses: consecjuently English was almost a foreign language ^o many of the scholars.

"The Stouders, Studebakers, Gripes, Ulerys and Mannings I remember most distinctly among the scholars, as I boarded with each of their families a month, instead of taking, as was the custom, the rounds of the district. It was an experiment having the winter school taught by a ' schoolma'am,' and the trustees thought I might have some trouble governing it, but I had verx- little. The girls and boys were model children, and must have been well trained at home. Those who are livins'

" John and David Studehaker. Levi Ulery and Jacob CHne were the oldest pupils and were nearly grown men. All the older resiilents will remember Dave Studebaker, whose residence was in Goshen many years and who died here esteemed and regretted. I think there were almost thirty scholars in the school, among them the Bartness boys.

" The small scholars of that day, with their home-made garments, home-made from the shearing of the sheep to the last stitch in the clothes, made after the same pattern as their fathers' and mothers' apparel, would make a striking contrast to the little people of to-day, with their large collars and knee pants of the toys, and the furbelows and fancy dress ' fixings ' of the girls.

" The three R's were the principal branches taught, in fact the only ones. Grammar was an unknown study in the liackwoods. One or two little ' Mannings ' may have studied geography. There were different classes in reading and spelling, and the monotonous rc:)und was only varied by an occasional call to help solve some problem in subtraction or long division. In arithmetic each studied by himself and could ' go ahead ' as fast as he pleased without being kept back by slower ones in the clas=.

" Of course not one of the scholars could have passed a ' high school ' examination, but the young farmers could ' reckon up ' the value of their farm produce, read the Bible and weekly newspaper, properly sign all legal documents and spell lietter than half the high school graduates.

" There were none of the modern aids to teachers : even blacktoards were not in use in the country schools of that day. There were no normal schools for instruction in the art of teaching", no county or township institutes where teachers could meet and discuss the new ideas advanced in educational lines."

To widen our conception of the contrast between educational opjwrtunities as they were in the pioneer epoch and are now in the year 1905, we quote another Elkhart countv educator. Professor E. B. Myers, who, in- a paper read before the Historical Society in January, 1900, says :

" ]\Ty first admission to one of the ' log seminaries ' of Elkhart county was in December, 1846. This spacious, well furnished seat of learning stood in Y'ork township, alx)ut two miles west of the village of Vistula. It was built of logs hewn on both sides, the cracks chinked and daubed

Avith clay (there was no lime for schoolhouses at that time), a horizontal window on each of the four sides and a stove in the center. This was an aristocratic schoolhouse; it had a floor made of boards, not your rough puncheons so common elsewhere, but nice inch-boards laid loosely on the rough-hewn sleepers. The boards were not nailed down, I suppose for two reasons : lirst, because in those days nails were scarce and co.--.t money; second, anything that fell on the floor was pretty apt to go through one of the many wide cracks and could be recovered only by taking up one or more of the boards.

" The desks of this schoolhouse were marvels of mechanical skill. Two-inch auger holes \\ere bored in the log walls, and large oak or hickory pins driven in, and upon these were laid toards. which were then called ' writing desks.' The seats were made of slabs, two legs in each and one in the middle to keep them from sagging when overcrowded. During writing time the pupils all sat with their faces to the wall and the teacher marched around looking over their shoulder, criticising or commanding as the occasion required. There were no shelves under these desks for books, liut what few we had were piled up on the writing desks and around the corners, wherever convenient.

" When not writing or ciphering we were expected to sit facing the center of the room, and could then rest our weary backs against the edge of the board that was called tb.e desk. In front of this and nearer the stove on each side of the room was placed a slab seat for the little folks who did not write. On these benches the little ones were compelled to sit by the hour, swinging their feet and waiting for their turn to lie called up by the teacher to ' say their letters ' or spell their ' a, b, ab's.' Books or busy work for beginners were not thought of.

" If a child learned his letters the first term he was supposed to be making satisfactory progress. Especially was this true if it was a winter term when the larger pupils were supposed to lie entitled to the greater part of the time and attention of the teacher. The range of studies was not ver)- wide. A grammar was not seen in that school till some years afterward. ' It wasn't worth nothing but to learn folks to talk proper," and so was summarily discarded. A year later I took to the school a copy of Olney's g-eography and atlas which my oldest sister had used in Chicago. This atlas was very instructive to me in the wav of local geography. All that the northern part of the map of Indiana contained was the word ' Pottawatamies,' printed in large letters diagonally across the page. The book undoubtedly saw the light long before

1 did. As I was the only pupil in the class I was always at the head. The recitations of those days were unique. The first class in the morning was the reading, the highest first and so on to the a, b, c's. Then followed the writing and the recess. After recess came more work for the little folks, the lowest first, and closing the forenoon session with the ' first class in spelling," which was always an important event in the each half-day session.

" There were no recitati(ins in arithmetic. As the work consisted wholly in ' doing sums." and as there was no such thing as conformity of text books, especially in arithmetic, each person worked away at his own sweet will. Such a thing as an explanation of a subject or principle was not thought of, much less considered necessary. If we couldn"t do the sums we asked the teacher to show us how% but the showing how answered for that case only and gave us but little or no strength to cope with future similar difficulties.

" In those days blackboards and dictionaries were unknown in the ordinary country school. The teacher was supposed to know everything and freely gave of his or her knowledge. The teachers of those days never hesitated at the pronunciation of a long word, biit spelled it through and gave us the pronunciation, which was law and gospel to us."

" The first school I attended in Indiana was at W'aterford in the winter of 1838. The schoolhouse was a new frame affair and had been ])ainted a gorgeous red William Baker was the teacher. He was a man of .superior education for those days, but lacked the adaptability for a teacher. Attention was principally given to the primary classes; to spelling and arithmetic, neither grammar nor reading being taught. I suggested to the teacher the advisability of a class in reading, but he could not see the use of it: then staterl thai if I desired to read he would hear me. Accordingh' I stood u]i alone and read from old English reader, while the scholars listened. \t tlie conclusion, the teacher remarked that he did not think he could teach me anything in reading, and that was t!ie last that I heard i)f the matter. This cimission was quite general in the schools of that day, and it has shown in later years as tire scholars of those days are very poor readers, but fine spellers.'"

Among the early special institutions of learning in the countv was one at Middlelxu'y. An advertisement in the Goshen Democrat in November, 1847, informs the public that the " Middlebury Seminarv," under tlie direction nf the Misses Casey, would be opened for young iadies and gentlemen on- \o\-ember i8. and offered a thorough course of English, instruction at reasonable rates. Such private institutions no doubt furnished educational opjiortunities to many boys and girls of ibis count\ , tioni tliat early day to the present time, and ]Hiblic education, which in the last centur\- was so materially supplemented by private enterprise, is not vet so comiilete and comprehensive as to entirely displace a school conducted by nidi\iduals or certain societies.

The school svstem of b'lkhart county has for many years Ijeen under the general direction of Superintendent George W. Ellis, who is a practical educator of broad exjjerience and has the confidence of the people and the teaching force alike. The schools of both town and country ha\e been maintained at the high standards e\"erywhere jirevailing in Indiana, and, although there is room for unlimited progress in the future, the present excellence of b'lkbart county educational facilities must be a matter of satisfaction to all her citizens.

The county superintendent, who is general supervisor of the county system of education, is responsible for the condition of the county schools, directs their finances, selects sites and superintends construction of buildings, conducts teachers' institutes and the teachers" examinations, and issues certificates, and discharges niimerous other functions connected with the administration of the county's schools.

The officer next in importance to the county superintendent is the township trustee, whose duties in each township make his power practically co-ordinate with the city toards of education. Indeed, the township trustee is one of the most important officers in the educational system. His duties and responsibilities ai"e such as to require a man of foremost ability and influence, one who is honest, intelligent, well educated, possessed of good judgment and broad sympathies, progressive. It is the general opinion that, on the whole, men of such prominence and wdrth in community affairs have been entrusted with this office in the se\eral townships of Elkhart county.

Uniortunatel}- the statistics of education in this county have not been full}' preserved during the past, and certain interesting comparisons between different periods cannot, on this account, be made. We reserve the account of the schools of Elkhart and Goshen for later consideration, and the schools of the smaller centers receive mention in the chapter devoted to that subject, and conclude this general survev bv giving the

Goshen and Elkhart prairie have been so closely identified throughout their history that a description of the life and afifairs of one naturally merges into that of the other. The rudiments of education were taught on Elkhart prairie almost coincident with the first settlements. The first .schoolhoust in the county is said to have stood on Wilkenson's Lane, on the prairie, and the school was held by a Mr. Potts. Among! the families represented in that school were the Friers, Sparklins, Blairs, Thompsons. 'The second schoolhouse was on the school section that lies a mile south of Goshen. It was a log house, with greased paper for windows, and was heated by a large open fire-place. Captain Beane taught in a log schoolhouse on the prairie during the earlv thirties.

Goshen'S New High-School

Some of the scholars at that time were John, Robert and Elislia Irwin : Wilham and Joseph Weddel ; John and David Weybright ; Daniel, David and John Durr; Ira and Amos Jackson; Daniel Steward and others. T. G. Harris, a well known pioneer, taught school, in 1836, in a building that had neither a nail nor a pane of glass.

In the years immediately succeeding the platting of the county seat at Goshen the children of many of its residents no doubt attended one or the other of the schools already established on the prairie, but at a very early year school began to be regularly held in Goshen.

In 1832 Samuel T. Young began teaching the first school in a log house at the corner of Washington and Sixth streets, on the site of the present First Baptist church. After teaching there for several years he left for another log building located on the corner of Fifth and Jefferson streets. Here he was followed l>y several men, among whom were John Sevey, a Mr. Massey and Thomas G. Harris. In 1834 the first Methodist church was built in Goshen, on a lot adjoining the present Episcopal church property. It is still in existence and forms a part of the residence occupied by Mrs. T. B. Starr. In 1837 this church was used for school purposes, and thereafter during a number of years. Messrs. Green, Campbell, Lane and others taught there for longer or shorter periods. In 1837 Mr. H. W. Bissell came to Goshen and taught in this same church. Mr. Bissell was for twelve years, beginning with 1838. one of the school examiners of Elkhart county. In 1840 Nelson Prentiss began teaching in a building on Clinton street, opposite court square ; the building was afterward moved to Pike street and used for a Mission Sunday school. A log house on West Washington street and another on Fifth street, where the residence of J. M. Dale now stands, were used by different persons for conducting schools. Among the teachers in those buildings were Mr. Gray, Mr. Weed, Abner Stilson and George Taylor, who afterwards was elected to congress from Brooklyn, N. Y.

The first schoolhouse was l>uilt by subscription in 1841, on lot No. 54, where the Episcopal rectory now stands. It was a frame structure 20 X 30 feet, and was used for school purposes until the corporation built its first schoolhouse in 1857 on ]Madison street, on what had lieen the county fair grounds. This building was sold in 1857 to John S. ]'"reeman, and thereafter resold to the Swedenborgian Society. After use as a church for a number of years, it was purchased by the late Jesse Fuson and converted into a residence.

]\lelvin B. Hascall and others wielded the birch. In writing to the IhiHy Times in 1891, Al. B. Hascall said; "In October. 1842, I commenced teaching-, having been called from my home in western New \nvk for that ]>urpose. I'^orty ti_) hft}- pupils was abtjut the average number enrolled. The books used were not uniform, but every scholar brought what he happened to have; if he had none, he came without, but \Vel3ster"s Elementary Spelling Book, Daboll's .\rithnietic, English. Reader and Kirkham's Grammar were in the lead."

l^'rom 1841 to 1857 a number of pri\-ate schools were started. The general plan was to go from house to house, secure the jiromise of inipils, locate (piarters and begin work. .Vmong them ( ieorge W. Weyburn. who came to Go.shen in 1853 and opened the Empire School in the basement of the then First Methodist church, is prominent. He was unusually successful and counted among his pupils, during his four vears of work in that school, many of the older citizens of (ioshen. He had associated with him at different times Miss Martha Stancliff, Miss Valencia Watrous and others. In March, 185S, the school was closed because of the com])letion of the new public school building.

The real de\'elopment of the schools began with the erection of the building above referred to. The lot was ])urchased at a cost of $r,ooo of John S. Freeman, who took, as part payment, the school property on Si.xtr, street: the building, begun in the fall of 1856, was a four-room brick structure and cost without furnishings $11,000.

The growth of the city from i860 to 1870 necessitated buildinglarger quarters. In 1862 a frame building on ^^'est I'ike street was rented for a period of three }ears, and in 1865 was rented for three years more. In 1868 the Pike street school was built at a cost of $2,500. It was a one-room ]>rick structure 25 x 40 feet, and. after lieing used for si.xteen years, w-as replaced by the present building at a cost of $9,000. The first building on the X(.irth h'ifth street school site was a four-room frame structure erected in 1862. It was replaced In- a brick building in 1882, which contains si.x rooms. .\n adflitional f(jur-ri lon-i building on the same site was built in 1895.

In (.869 it was found necessary to provide school room in the south i)art of town. The board purchased the site and built the main portion of the South iMt'tb street building at a cost of $5,000. Alx)ut ten years later two additions, containing four rooms, were built, so that the building had altogether seven school rooms. In 1905 the entire heating and

During the summer of 1874 a four-room addition was made to the high school building at a cost of $4,500. On the evening of January 18. 1875, the entire building" with its contents was burned to the ground. Temporary provision was made in churches and halls for the pupils, and steps were at once taken for rel)uii(ling. The new building was an eightroom structure, containing in addition to the eight school rooms, the superintendent's office and two recitation rooms. It was completed and occupied in the fall of 1875, .and cost without furnishing $JO,ooo.

When the limits of the city were extended to incKide wdiat is now known as luist (ioshen and West (njshen, the townshiji schools located therein Ijecame a jiart of the city school system. The West (ioshen building thus received is a neat one-story brick, contains one school room and the usual hall and cloak rooms. The old East Goshen building wa.s built of wood and was in rather poor condition. In i8g8 the board of education erected the present building, and one may safely say that there is not a more convenient or Ijetter arranged one-room Iniilding in the state of Indiana. Its cost was about $4,000.

In 1895 the demand for more school room for the grades and better cjuarters for the rapidly growing high school became so urgent that plans laid for the erection of an up-to-date high school building. The splendidly e(|uipped building that resulted joins the old high school building on the front so that the two buildings are to all intents and purposes one.

Educational progress in Goshen has been rajiid within the ])ast ten years. The accommodations which were thought ample at the time the remodeled high school w-as completed soon proved inadequate to meet the demands. This was mainly due to the phenomenal growth of the high school, the enrollment here in 1903 reaching 325. Under the remarkable guidance of the principal. Miss Lillian E. Michael, of Ohio University, the high school had not only experienced this growth from an enrollment of 150, but was recognized by the leading universities of the country as tx:ing a model and efficient school. Indeed, so well and favorably known had this department become that the school authorities were enabled to take a long step in advance and afiford to the youth of the city an educational institution which in every way should be a model of effectiveness. In the fall of 1902 the movement for a new building began, plans were matured and in the following spring building began

The formal occupation of the various apartments for school work took place in the fall of 1904. The school board having direction of afifairs at this lime consisted of Frank Kelly, president; George B. Slate, secretar}- ; Haines Egbert, treasurer.

Goshen, in thus furnishing its boys and girls the opportunities of a poor man's college," has taken rank among cities as the pioneer in furjn'shing this most advanced ground in practical and theoretical education. The Goshen high school is the first embodiment of what is known as the " six year high school plan," whereby the pupils, after completing the wiirk which has so long constituted the regular high school curriculum, may, further, without leaving home environments, enjoy training of college grade for two years. This extra work does not increase the expense to the general public. State Superintendent of Public Instruction F. .\. Cotton says in his report for 1904 : " This type of school at Goslien, where one of the very best buildings in the state has been constructed and equipped, proxides two years of post-graduate work and has arrangements with some of the strongest colleges and universities in the country whereby students who have completed the work are given junior standing. In addition to the regular high school work the Goshen school is relating itself to community interests through the study of science, including biology, chemistry, physics and agriculture. The buildings are well equipped with shops where pupils of the seventh and eighth grades and high school work with their hands. This school is a splendid example of what an industrial school should attempt to accomplish.'" The eyes of educators all over the country are turned to this institution begun under such auspicious circumstances and attendefl so far -with such success.

" The six years' work offered is the result of a real demand rather than an experiment. During the past years a considerable number of students returned, the year following graduation, to do work in the undergraduate courses. These pupils felt the need of a more extended schooling, but many of them were unalile to meet the expense necessarv to a course in college. Also a number of parents kept their children at home the year toUowing graduation because they thought them too young' to lie sent away from home. During the \-ear out of school the Ijoys usually found work whose immediate rewards in dollars and cents seemed greater than the remoter rewards of learning: and the girls developed other ambitions. The plan of extending the course was projected

Elkhart City Schools

The ways and means for meeting the extra expense incurred in the addition of two years' work to the curriculum is obtained partly by charging an individual tuition fee of $30. This is large enough to avoid extra taxes."

The plans of Superintendent Hedgepeth, covering the fields of manual training, domestic science, departmental instruction and co-ordinate development of the mental, moral and physical sides of the child life, have received the commendation not only of the educators of the state, county and cit} . but of the practical men of affairs who are most directly interested in the city's educational facilities.

no definite and relial)le intorniation as U. wlien the first school was taught, or where ur ij}- whom. It has Ijeen stated that E. M. Chamljerlain taught the Ih-st school in 1830. This seems hardly credihle when we think that the t(nvn had then l;een in existence some five ur six years and that already a cDUsideralde aftlnx of settlers IkkI reached the village. Xo (Joubt the school children of that intervening period had some amount of instruction at a definite place and with more <ir less regular sessions. At the .same time it is true that the great educational progress so marked in the city had its practical inception during the later thirties, and at that lime the ))ioneer period \vas largely ])assed and those in charge hegan laving the foundations of the system which we ma\- \ iew with admiration at the present.

Se\er.al \ears ago 'Sir. Y). W. Thomas, now heginning his twen.tieth vear ;is superintendent of the l^lkhart schools, wrote for publication in the l^lkbart IJaily Truth a com])rebensive article on the history of the public scho(jls of his city, and as, coming from such an authority, its statements nnist stand as authentic, we herewith quote, with the author's jiermis.'^ioii, the jirincipal jiortion of that historical survey as affording the best insight into the development of the I*".lkhart cit}- scbo(ils.

"The first schoolhouse, a one-room, one-stor_\ frame building, was erected in i83<S on. the east side of Second street, between Jackson and ^^'ashington. In 1844 this building burned and a three-story structure at the corner of Main and Jefiferson streets - then known as ' Tammany Hall.' afterw'ards the ' Beehive,' now demolished - was used for school purposes until 1848, when another one-story, frame building was erected on the original site on Second street.

" This building in 185 1 was con\erted into ;i dwelling house, and ^7 years after\yard was remo\'ed to a part of the city where its en\'ironments are more congenial, but it is still used as a home.

" Among those who, in tliis early day, wieldetl the birchen scepter may be named E. Al. Chamberlain, Sabrina Burbank, X. F. Broderick, Rolrmd r.)e\or, (iuy Johnson, i\fr. A^'ales, Air. Bearup]i. R. T. Bozgess, A. C. Case and R. Mclllrath. It is now im])ossible to determine the order or length of time which these persons served as teachers, but it is reasonaijfy certain that E. M. Chamlierlain ("afterwards judge and memlier of congress) taught the first ' pay school ' in what is no\v the city of Elkhart, and that X. F. Broderick (a man noted for his goodness of both bead and hern-t). taught the first district school in the first schoolhouse, in 183S.

" In 184T. a fdur-riKMii frame Iniilding was erected at the corner of Hip,h and Second streets, on the site of the present Central school huildino-. and this in tnrn was destroyed liy fire in 18(17.

" Air. Chas. J. Conn, thongh not teaching- continnonsl_\- (hn'ing this time, was the leadmg' edncational genius. He was a man of wonderfully r|uick perception and magnetic jiower, and his methods of instruction were original and ])eculiar. He conducted his school on the ' highpressiu'e sxsteni," taking the pupil in his school who had the greatest ability as his standard and judging all others by it. He imitated no one and no one could imitate him - methods fairly successful with him, with anv one else would have proved a dismal failure - he never got in any ruts nor permitted his pupils to do so. He would stop the clock, turn it backward or forward, change the order of the program, the time and methods of recitation, anything to keep his pupils on the qui vive.

As an illustration, one of his recitations in grammar which has been tlius described may be gi\'en. The pupils in three or four dififerent grades are arranged about the rooni. who, facing inward, form a square, the teacher in the center. Tlie pupils are divided into sections of nine (more or less according to convenience), and each in turn is given something to recite, a definition, a rule, the analysis of a sentence, or the parsing of a word, and so on to the end of the class. At a given signal all began. Amid this ' confusion worse confounded ' Mr. Conn stands unmoved, making a correction here, a suggestion there, or assigning a new part yonder, with a celerity and accuracy that to the uninitiated is trulv astonishing. j\Ir. Conn's school lators closed in 1867.

" In 1855. the Bodley brothers, who then had charge of the schools. having found a lady in the person of Mrs. A. E. Babli who could teacli algebra, literature and French, threw the town into a state of agitation by offering her a position as a teacher at a salary- of $30 per month. The idea of giving a woman any kind of a position by which she could make Si. 50 a day was a jiiece of extrava,gar,ce scarcely to be tolerated - but then it is the unexpected that happens, and the world moves nevertheless. Thus ]i(ipularized. Mrs. Eabb taught with success for a time in the public schools, and afterward for several years conducted a ]irivate school of her own.

" Mrs. Margaret Stevens, one of the four who composed the corps of teachers in i86t, taught in tlie first primary department of the public schools from that date until 1884. exce])t the four vears from 1876 to t88o. .Mthough for the most part she was required to make ' brick without ?lraw," and althougli her room was always crowded, sometimes mimhering- 1J5 pupils, she filled this important and arduous position faithfully au'l well. Perhaps no one has ever taught in Elkhart who is remcnliered more kindly than she. ?ilany of her pupils, now grown to manhciod an<l womanhiKid. and who yet hear the impress of her kind heart and gentle manners, say, ' Well done, gcod and faithful teacher.'

" After the destruction of the old schoolhouse in 1867, it was determined to erect a huilding worthy of the name and commensurate with the needs of the enterprising little town. Accordingly in 1868 was completed a four-story brick huilding at a cost of $45,000. School opened in this building September 5. with the following corps of instructors: Valois Butler, Miss Nellie Smith, Mrs. A. M. Clark, Miss M. A. Bonnell, Miss Rainy, Miss Ostrander and Miss Mary Hawley. Of these. Miss Bonnell began teaching under Mr. Conn in 1866 and taught consecutively for 16 years. Miss Hawdey commenced teaching in 1868 and is now ( iQOO) completing her thirl\-seci:ind ye:\v id" continuous service in the school rc;iom.

The people were justl\- proud of their ne\\' building, hut scjme bewailed such extravagance and claimed much assurance that the time would ne\'er come wlien there \\ould he children enough in Elkhart to fill the rooms thus provided. However, in 1873, only five years later, it was found necessar\- to pro\ide more room, and a four-room, two-story brick building was erected in the fourth ward at a cost of $10,000. In 1875 '^ similar structure was erected in the fifth ward. In 1877 John Weston deeded to the city eight lots in northwest Elkhart, with the proviso that a certain described schoolhouse should be erected thereon within ;i year. In compliance with this agreement a two-story brick (known as the Weston building), containing two school rooms and a recitation room, v\as erected in 1878 ;it a cost of $5,000. In the following year ( 1879 ) a sinu'lar huilding (the Beardsley) was constructed in northeast Fdkhart. In 1875 lots were purchased and a one-story frame was put U)) in Iiast I'^lkhart, but the accommodations were soon found to be inadequate and in 1883 a two-story brick building was erected at a cost of $5,500, the two lower rooms only being completed. In the same vear the Christian church on Middlebur}- street Avas bought for $1,400 and a school opened.

"With all these additions there was a demand for more room and better accommodations, especially for the high school. To meet this need, in 1884 the school board erected an eight-room high school building on High street, adjoining the Central hnilchng on the west ; and then the fourth story, in the now old building which included the high school room, was abandoned. In the then new building the high school and recitation rooms were on the first floor, the upper grammar grades on the second, and the library, museum and superintendent's office in the room connecting the old and the new building. The entire cost of this structure, including the furniture and the steam-heating apparatus for both buildings, amounted to about $25,000.

" In the years 1886 and 1887 two rooms were added to the fourth ward buikling and two to the fifth ward. Two rooms in East Elkhart were finished and furnished and the Middlebury street schoolhouse remodeled and oue room added, the aggregate cost of these improvements being about $12,000. From a sanitary point of view the improvements in 1887 and 1888 are of the greatest importance.

" It having come to the knowledge of the school authorities that there was an abundance of pure, fresh air and sunshine going to waste in Elkhart, it was determined to utilize a portion of it for the benefit of the school children. Accordingly arrangements were made and carried into effect for the proper heating, lighting and ventilating of the ward buildings. In the accomplishment of this object, the rooms were reseated, new heaters purchased, direct radiation from stoves cut off, and fresh and foul air flues ]:)rovided ; the blackboards were repaired and new ones made where needed, the schools were furnished with numbertables, form-models and beads, reading charts, maps and globes, supplementary readers, dictionaries and other books for teachers' desks ; some chemical and physical apparatus, quite a number of specimens for the museum, about $500 worth of books for the library, and a very fine telescope purchased from Prof. H. L. Smith, of Hobart College, Geneva, Xew York, were added. The cost of these much needed improvements and supplies for the time indicated aggregated about $3,000.

" In 1890 tw^o rooms were added to the Beardsley building, at a cost of $3,500, and in 1891 a two-room building was erected at the corner of Cleveland avenue and South Seventh street, at a cost of $5,000.

Tiic dark and poorly ventilated rooms in the Central school building, the crowded condition of all the rooms and especially that of the high school, rendered it imperative that more and better facilities be supplied. To meet this deiiiand, in January, 1893, the new high school building was completed at a cost of' $36,000. This is a two-story stone structure, located at the corner of Pigeon and Vistula streets. The high school assemlily room, \vitli a seating capacity of 200, and four commodious recitation rooms, furnished with single desks, occupy the second floor. On the first floor are four recitation rooms, the superintendent's office and a hl^-arv room, ccintaining more than 5,000 vohimes, selected with especial reference to the needs of students in the high school and the grammar grades.

Besides, a chemical laljnratnr\ and hiological and physical science rooms liave been fitted up \\ith all the modern improvements and the necessary appliances for the teaching of chemistry, physics, physiology, zoology and botany, according tn the latest and most appro\-ed methods of teaching these subjects.

Du.ring i8q-| four rooms were added to the Weston building, and the nthers ihonjughly reno\-ated, thus making a good six-room building, practically new. It is supplied with water, wire hat-racks, llush closets, and the Hess system of heating and ventilating, the whole constituting t'lir the money expended the nmst ciin\enient and the best arranged school building in the city. It cost, completed and furnished, $10,000. Five \ears later the over-crowded condition of the schools rendered it imperative that more room should be pro\-ided. Accordingly at the recpiest of the school board and b}- the unanimous vote of the city council bonds were issued and extensive additions tn the fourth and fifth ward buildings were made, and improvements in way of closets, heating and ventilating apparatus in the other Iniildings anmuntiug in the aggregate to more than $20,000."

The nmst recent atlditinn to the school architecture of Elkhart is the new .Middleliur}- schiidl, replacing the old frame building shown in the illusti'atiiin. This school, which was to be ready for occupancy by the o])cning of the fall term of 1905, contains four rooms, is built of brick at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars, and in equijiment rmd general ]dan is the most perfect of the graded schools of the city.

The condition of the schools in 1905 is a matter for congratulation on the part of all concerned. \\'hile the only important change made in recent years in the school curriculum has been the addition of a commercial course to the high .school, every department of the educational work has felt the stimulus of present-day progress, and in the personnel of instructors, in the character of work accomplished, and the general atmospliere of intelligence, there has Ijeen constant improvement. The high school, with its four years' course, its faculty of ten reg'ular instructors, under Principal S. B. McCracken, is doing work of such character as to obtain affiliation with the University of Chicago, the University of [Michigan and Northwestern University.

The tot;d \alue of the school property of Elkhart in 1904 is placed at $204,000. and the amount devoted to education is: from tuition, $39,613.41 : from special school re\-enue, $25,892.24, making a total of $65,505.65. The a\-erage cost upon the city to furnish a pupil the benefits of the high school course is $31.14.

A (io<hen cducation.al institution v.liose order of merit is high and whose intlucnce has liccn directed not alone tO' training the mind but also to fitting men and women for the higher ideals of life is Goshen College, which is situated in a very desirable neighborhood in the southern part of the citv. The college is the outgrowth of the Elkhart Institute. The latter, founded in 1895, was opened in the G. A. R. liall in the city o£ Elkhart. Before the end of the first year the Elkhart Institute Association was organized and at once began to solicit funds to erect a suitable building on Prairie street, Elkhart. The building was completed and formally dedicated in February, 1895. In 1898 the Association was incorporated under the laws of the state of Indiana. At that time the management was under the control of a board of nine directors. As the school grew and its interests expanded it was found that a wider representation was needed, and accordingly, at the annual meeting in 1901, the constitution was amended and the number of members on the board of directors increased to twenty-fi\e. At this annual meeting a committee was appointed to receive propositions from different localities to provide larger grounds and more buildings, as it was evident that the growth of the school would soon make it necessary to increase the accommodations. It was the aim of this committee to decide on such a location as would not only supply present needs, but which would provide for the future growth of the institution.

Such a location was found just south of the city limits ui the city of Goshen, Indiana. Suitable grounds were purchased and a college building and a ladies' dormitory were erected. The school was opened in the rooms of the dormitory Septemlier 29, 1903. The college building was dedicated January 8, 1904.

The main building is a commodious four-story structure, built of brick, at a cost of $25,000. It contains modern recitation rooms, a chapel hall with a seating capacity of seven hundred, gymnasium, bath room, dressing rooms, laboratories, offices, library, reading room, commercial room.s and model school. All rooms are well lighted and supplied with modern conveniences.

The ladies" dormitory is a three-story building with kitchen, dining hall and laundry on the first floor; matron's room, music room and students' rooms on the second floor, and students' rooms on the third floor. It provides a home for the girls where they find comfortable rooms and quiet surroundings. Both buildings are heated with steam from one plant and lighted with gas.