Bay County, Michigan - Chapter 13, 1905

Chapter 13

Bay City, East Side. - The progress and enlightment of any community, State or nation can best be judged by its schools. And in the light of that standard Bay County has from the first taken a creditable place in the educational field, and in 1905 Bay City ranks foremost among the cities of its size in that great field of endeavor in the United States. Unlike many other frontier settlements, Bay County's earliest pioneers were mostly people of education, and among them were citizens of more than ordinary culture and refinement. Hence some of the earliest public acts here pertained to the creation and the support of schools.

The first school district was organized in April, 1842, and the first school was held in the Bonnel house, a one-story frame building, 14 by 20 feet in dimensions, located on the river front near the foot of Columbus avenue. Miss Clark taught from June i to September I, 1842, her class consisting of Daniel Marsac, Margaret Campbell, Emily Campbell, Perry and Philenda Olmstead, Richard Trombley and P. L., H. B. and Esther Rogers. Thomas

Rogers was moderator. Judge Sydney S. Campbell, director, and Cromwell Barney, assessor. Capt. David Smith assumed charge January I, 1843, 2^ scholars, of whom William R. McCormick, John Churchfield and Israel and Dan Marsac were more than 21 years old proving that the pioneers believed their children were never too old to learn.

On January 7, 1845, the new school house, one-story, 21 by 26 feet in size, was completed near the foot of Washington avenue, and Harry Campbell, the joker of early folk-lore here, taught the young idea how to shoot. The district extended for more than three miles along the river front, and the children had to trudge man}' weary miles morning and evening. Miss A. E. Robinson taught in 1847-48, for a salary of $1.50 per week and "boarding 'round 1" In season, teacher and pupils paddled to school in Indian canoes.

By 1854 the township of Hampton required better school facilities for 160 children of school age then enrolled and the Adams street school was built to seat 300 pupils. This answered the purposes of the East Side until 1865. This Adams street school of the Second Ward was then enlarged to accommodate 500 pupils. In 1884 the writer attended this school then crowded to its capacity. Miss Holmes being principal and Miss Lucy Bertch, Miss Babo, Miss Newkirk and Miss Rutledge,

In 1866 another school was opened on Mc- Kinley avenue and Adams street, seating 120, with every place filled. That year the Farragut School property was bought for High School purposes at a cost of $4,400, and the Sherman School property cost $2,800.

The union School District of Bay City was incorporated March 20, 1867. In 1868 George Campbell built the Farragut School for $67,350, the first session being held in April, 1869. Additions had to be made that year to all the existing schools, and Prof. D. C. Scoville became superintendent. The schools were graded, thoroughly disciplined and organized. In 1874 Prof. I. W. Morley became superintendent, and for nearly 20 years superintended the growing school system.

Just 30 years ago, in 1875, there were sixschool buildings, with 35 teachers and 3,800 school children. In 1882 the present High School building was started on Madison avenue and nth street, and despite many additions is quite inadequate for the use of Greater Bay City in 1905. In 1885 there were nine schools, 51 teachers and 6,650 pupils. The teachers' salaries amounted to over $16,000.

In 1877 tlie training school for teachers was organized, the supply before that coming largely from abroad, and by 1S85 over 40 of the local teachers had graduated from the High School, and taught at least one year in the training department.

In 18S3 the school property was valued at $154,548. the bonded intebtedness of $30,000 had been wiped out and the Board of Education of the East Side from that time to this has managed to keep down its bonded indebtedness, in encouraging contrast to the indebtedness of the West Side school district in 1905. In 1883 Professor Morley reported an enrollment of 2,983 pupils, - 1,494 boys and 1,489 girls; 1,712 were from eight to 14 years old. The average daily attendance was 2,056.

The school census of the Union School District of Bay City for the school year ending September 7, 1903, showed a total of 9,488 children of school age; of these, 4,587 were boys and 4,901, girls. The Eighth Ward contained 3,009 children of school age, nearly onethird of the total, while the Ninth Ward showed the smallest number of children, - 322.

Supt. John A. Stewart's report for the year ending June 30, 1903, enumerated 11 school houses, the value of the school property, including the Fitzhugh site, being given as $326,500, without any bonded indebtedness. The amount paid for superintendence and instruction was $60,380.79, while for current expenses, including the amount paid on account of the addition to the Garfield school, there was paid out $26,178.65, making the total cost of the schools $86,559.44. The taxable property of the city for the same period was $11,426,135. The a\-erage attendance for the year was 3,675 while the average of pupils enrolled was 3.768, making the per cent, of attendance 97.52. Of the 121 regular teachers, nine were men and 1 12 women. There were also five special teachers. There were 59 non-resident pupils enrolled.

Receipts

After deducting $2,115 P^'^id on account of construction of the addition to the Garfield school, the total cost of the schools for the year was $8-1.444.44. The above mentioned cash balance of July i, 1903 does not include the $9,000 in the building fund.

The different school buildings on the East Side were built in these years : Farragut, 1868, valued at $40,000; Shemian. 1874. valued at $22,000; Fremont and Whittier, both in 1875, valued at $25,000 and $15,000, respectively; High School, 1881, valued at $75,000; Dolsen, 1883, valued at $40,000; Woodside, 1884, valued at $5,000; Garfield, 1886, valued at $40,000; Lincoln, 1889, valued at $20,000; Washington, 1895, valued at $35,000; High School Annex. 1903. valued at $6,500. All the buildings are of brick and two stories high, except the High School Annex and the Woodside School, which are one-story frame structures. The High School, High School Annex and Dolsen School are heated by steam, while the others are heated by furnace, except the Fremont School, which is heated by furnace and steam. In Bay City's schools there are 87 session rooms and 31 class rooms, with 4.761 sittings.

The public schools of Bay City are organized into three departments of four years each, making 12 years in all. Each year is further subdivided into B and A grades, each grade covering the work of a half year. In addition, there is a sub-primary grade for children who are barely of school age, and for those who at home speak a foreign language. In the subprimary kindergarten methods are largely used. The primary department proper consists of four years as does also the grammar department. Taken together, the eight grades of these two departments constitute what is known as the couimon school course. The school year of 38 weeks is divided into terms or semesters of 19 weeks each. Pupils are regularly promoted at the end of each semester, whenever in the judgment of the superintendent their qualifications entitle them to advancement. A pupil is subject to reclassification at any time, but no one is placed in a lower grade except by the consent of the superintendent. Xo pupil who has been regular in attendance is required to go over the same work more than twice. If at the end of a second semester the pupil is still found deficient, a trial in the next higher class is allowed. During the last week of each of the first four school months in a semester, the teacher records her estimate of the value of each pupil's scholarship, and at the close of the semester an average of these estiinates with the result of the examination, such examination counting only as one estimate, determines the promotion. By consent of the superintendent the examination may be dispensed with and the promotion made to depend fully upon the teacher's estimate.

In four of the schools, branch libraries are in full operation, with books provided from the Public Library. This plan has proved a great success as is plainly evident from the number of books drawn, which are mostly juvenile but also include some for adults. For the year ending March i, 1904, 6,387 volumes were drawn credited as follows : Fremont School, 2,2~^\ Garheld School, 1,878; Sherman School, 1,261 ; Whittier School, 970.

The Bay City High School is in a flourishing condition and forms a fitting climax to the work of the city school system. It is indeed a department of which our citizens may well be proud, furnishing as it does the finishing touches to the education of so many of the graduates of the grammar department and at the same time giving adequate preparation to those who wish to continue their studies at higher institutions of learning. In its ec^uipment it is well prepared to meet all reasonable demands of the present time. The physical laboratory is supplied with apparatus, which has been accumulated gradually from year to year, sufficient to enable the scholars to pursue their investigations under the guidance and direction of the instructor. The chemical laboratory is equally well fitted to give to each student the fullest scope for individual experimentation. The biological laboratory likewise, while on a smaller scale than the other two laboratories, is well fitted for its own special work in the study of botany and zoology. In this department the students are thoroughly trained to the proper use of the microscope, the laboratory being fully supplied with excellent instruments. The school is also equipped with a telescope, an electric stereopticon and with a collection of several hundred specimens of rocks and minerals. The commercial department has grown to be a very popular feature of the institution, excellent instruction being given in bookkeeping, typewriting and stenography and the allied branches. The school has a department of manual training, which is justly popular and a school library has been organized that has proved itself to be a useful feature of the institution. Graduates of the

Bay City High School are entitled to enter the University of Michigan on diploma as well as a number of leading colleges both in the East and in the West. The elective system of courses has been in vogue for some years past. The teachers employed in the High School, 19 in number, are almost without exception college graduates, with an average teaching experience of more than 10 years. Even with the Annex, which became so imperative as a means of relieving the congested condition of the High School, every part is now occupied and the question of additional room will again soon have to be met and settled. Indeed it cannot be many years before a new and modern High School, suited to the needs of a large and growing city, will have to be constructed.

The training school, which within its limitations has so greatly assisted toward infusing into the teachers of the Bay City schools a spirit of love for the work and love for the children, has wrought a complete change in the atmosphere of the school room. In a large measure the feeling of fear has been eliminated from the schools and the feeling of respect for and confidence in the teacher has taken its place. For this change great credit is due the training, which the young teachers receive in this school. For the last 15 years or more, it has been the custom to put teachers of the higher classes in charge of the several rooms and to provide each teacher with an assistant from a lower class. The two teachers in each room hear their classes alternately and while one conducts a recitation the other renders individual assistance to tlie pupils under her special charge. This arrangement enables the teacher \\\\oknows most about the pupils and their work to give such assistance as may be deemed advisable.

an unqualified success and is doing a work that would largely have been neglected but for this school. It may well be considered as complementary and not in opposition to the State institution at Flint. The pupils, with very few exceptions, could hardly have been sent from their homes and must have gone with little or no training, where now they receive the very best that can be given. This school has been hampered by the State departments, both educational and financial, who have read into the law what the supporters of the local institution fail to find, and who have gone out of their way to make seemingly unfriendly rulings.

Bay City, West Side. - Capt. B. F. Pierce gave the land for the first school house on the West Side, then the township of Bangor. It was situated on the high ground, a quarter of a mile from the river bank, where Michigan and Litchfield streets now intersect. The sovereign people of Bangor gathered there to vote in those early days, and the zealous missionary assembled the pioneers within its walls to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation. The village of Banks also established a school in a diminutive shanty about this time, and from 1863 to 1868 school was held in the Town Hall. Salzburg had a little district school of its own, when Wenona bloomed forth on the shaded oak ridge in 1864. James A. Mc- Knight, in 1905 still hale and hearty, was the father of the first permanent school house in \\'enona, negotiating the $10,000 issue of bonds voted for that purpose. George Campbell built the Central School for $9,500, while the school furniture cost $1,200, an extravagant outlay in the minds of many sturdy pioneers, for the sum was a large one according to the standard of those days of self-denial and hard work. Out of 300 enrolled children of school age, 180 attended on January 27, 1868, when A. L. Cummings began his labors as superintendent. In 1868 Banks built a commodious school, which was destroyed by fire in November, 1877, and the present two-story brick school replaced it, at a cost of $8,000.

In 1880 the West Side had three school districts, with the following trustees: First District, Frederick W. Bradfield, moderator; Robert Long, director; Bernard Lourim, assessor ; Second District : Theodore F. Shepard, moderator ; James A. McKnight, director ; Lafeyette Roundsville, assessor ; Spencer O. Fisher, \V. ]\I. Green and J. H. Plum, trustees ; Third District; B. Staudacher, director; Charles Anderson, moderator ; Rudolph Laderach, assessor. The late F. W. Lankenau was superintendent, and among his well-known corps of teachers a quarter of a century ago were Mrs. C. C. Faxon, F. C. Thompson, Affa Weatherby and Mrs. C. A. Thomas. The total number of school children was 2,531.

Since then new schools have been erected as follows: Dennison School, Sixth Ward; Corbin School, Second Ward ; Jenny School, Fourth \\'ard, presided over by Afta Weatherby, a veteran teacher of 1880: Kolb School, Fifth Ward, and Park School. Second Ward, both handsome and substantial twostory brick structures: and Riegel School, Fifth Ward.

The officers of the Board of Education of the West Side for the year 1903-04 were as follows: President, George L. Lusk; vice-president, Jesse W. Coles ; secretary, John M. Roy ; treasurer, William E. Magill. E. D. Palmer was superintendent of the schools. There were seven teachers in the High School, five in Central School, 10 in Trombley School, 10 in Park School, 10 in Kolb School, six in Riegel School, six in Jenny School, four in Dennison School and four in Corbin School ; these with the supervisor of music made up the teaching force of 63 members, of whom seven were men and

Townships and X'illages. - The same commendable spirit that brought the pubhc school system of Bay City to its present high state of perfection brought the little country school to every nook and corner of Bay County, the pioneers usually having a school in operation long before a store or other public utility graced their little settlement.

Portsmouth township had the first school in Bay County, a block-house on the river front, at the foot of Fremont a\'enue, being fitted up about 1838, which school was taught by Judge Albert IMiller. A larger building was erected in 1850, which served as a school and meeting house for many years. The township has three school districts at the present time.

There were four school houses in Hampton township 25 years ago, with Ralph Pratt, superintendent; J. H. Sharpe, school inspector; William Felker, clerk. In 1904 another handsome brick school house was completed on the Center avenue road, whose equipment will compare favorably with that of the best district schools in the country. The children in Essexville attended the little log school house a mile east of the settlement from i860 to 1870, when the village built its own frame school building. This was destroyed by fire in 1879, and was at once replaced with the present substantial two-story lirick school house. A quarter of a century ago, F. N. Turner was principal ; ]\Iiss Jennie Fry and ;\Iiss Mary Felker. teachers ; Joseph Hudson, moderator ; Henry F. Emery, director. In 1905, Walter L. Snyder is principal ; Misses Heminway, Warren. Robison and St. Clair, teachers : William Felker, director ; and A. E. Harris, moderator. There are seven school districts in the township.

The first school in Williams township was established in Charles Bradford's farm-house,, with Mrs. Charles Fitch, teacher. The township has now six school districts, each having its own school.

Frankenlust township, for some years after its settlement in 1848, depended upon its German parochial schools for the advancement in knowledge of its youth, and Amelith had a similar school for some years after 185 1. In the course of time, however, this township also secured its quota of district schools, and in 1905 has two school districts, well supplied with resources and teachers.

The Indian Mission at Kawkawlin, built in 1847, served for some years as school for the early settlers of that vicinity and the more ambitious of the red children of the forest. By 1857 Jftmes Eraser and Frederick A. Kaiser furnished accommodations for the children of the settlement on the Kawkawlin. In 1861 ]\Iiss Carrie Chilson (now Mrs. C. C. Faxon) taught in the primitive little school, which was replaced by a more commodious and modern structure in 1873. In 1885 there were six schools in the township, with an attendance that taxed their capacity. At the present time there are eight school districts.

In 1855 some of the German settlers in the southwestern partion of Monitor township established the first school. In 1885 Monitor township had four schools, with 168 scholars, out of 274 of school age. These schools were also meeting places for worship on the Sabbath for many years. There are now six school districts in the township.

The first school at Pinconning was taught for the children of a few fishermen and Indians in the old mission church at the mouth of the Pinconning River. In 1869 a small frame building became the village school house. A more commodious and modern school building replaced it in 1875, when M. R. Hartwell began his duties, which extended over more than a quarter of a century in the same school. In

1904 the village school was destroyed by fire, and is being replaced this year by a modern stone and brick structure, two-story and basement, capable of seating 250 pupils. At the present date the township has six schools districts.

One of the main objections to the separation of a part of Portsmouth township and setting it up as Merritt township was the division of the Union school District. However, the -Sturdy people of INIerritt township were not long in supplying their neighborhood with good schools, the first one being opened in 1874, and much more centrally located than formerly. At the present time the township has six school districts, with a large attendance and intelligent management. County School Commissioner John B. Laing came from the Merritt schools to his present position in 1903.

The latest organized townships - Garfield, Mount Forest and Gibson, which have, respectively, five, four and six school districts - sustained the record of the earlier organized townships by giving their very first attention to the educational facilities of their communities, in the wilds of the primeval forest. In

According to County School Commissioner J. B. Laing's official data just entered, the attendance in Bay County's district schools for the first quarter of 1905 was 4,101.

On September 5, 1904, the list of legally qualified teachers in Bay County contained 114 names, classified as follows: Life certificates, four; Central Normal School certificates, three; County Normal Training Class certificates, one: approved ist grade certificates, four; 2nd grade certificates, 68; ist year 3rd grade certificates, 16; 2nd year 3rd grade certificates, seven; 3rd year 3rd grade certificates, 10; special teacher in music, one.

The low average of persons of school age still unable to read or write in all Bay County as revealed in the Federal census of 1900 is the best evidence of the good work done for the little red school house in this county, and is the best reward for devoted attention by the earliest settlers and their successors in the line of duty to this day. Intelligence and progress, education and prosperity, are all handmaidens, whose mutual advantages can never be overestimated.

Bay City Public Library. - Near the close of 1869 a number of citizens, under the lead and inspiration of B. E. ^^'arren and Aaron J. Cooke, conceived the idea of a circulating library for Bay City, and on the 4th of December of that year articles of association to that end were filed in the clerk's office. A \-ery energetic organization followed, and during the next two years a sufficient fund had been raised to purchase and maintain a wellselected library of 3,000 volumes, at a cost including the necessary furniture of $5,000. This was accomplished chiefly by the creation of perpetual and life memberships. There was besides a considerable list of annual members.

Under the constitution of Michigan, all fines and penalties for infraction of State laws are set apart for the benefit of the school district libraries. Prior to 1874 no use had been made of this fund in Bay County, and a considerable sum had accumulated in the county treasury. To the greater part of this fund Bay City was entitled on account of its large school population. In addition to this, the city had been required to raise annually by taxation the sum of $200 for library purposes. From these sources there had been placed to the credit of the library fund of Bay City, prior to March 2, 1874, the sum of $2,899.25, which was then subject to the disposal of the Board of Education for library purposes. While such an amount was wholly inadequate to the purchase and maintenance of a considerable and independent public library, it would, if added to what had already been raised and expended by the Library Association, constitute one highly respectable in point of size, and capable of immensely beneficial influence in the cause of public education. The Library Association was first to perceive this, and with characteristic liberality made overtures to the Board of Education looking to a surrender of their library to the puljlic, the only condition exacted in return being that the Board of Education should maintain the library for public use, and add to it by the immediate expenditure of the fund in hand for additional books, and continue to make such additions as fast as means should be placed at its disposal for the purpose. This proposition was received favoraljly by the Board of Education, and was immediatelv carried into effect. At this time a surplus of $500 Avas also given by the Library Association with the condition that it should be used in the purchase of "Americana," for it was early decided by the trustees of the old association to make the "Story of our Country" its specialty.

On March 4, 1874, Mr. Fowler, a member of the Board of Education, reported that "the consolidated library is now open to the public," and moved that the fact be advertised, which was done. By this arrangement the management of the joint library was entrusted to a committee of six : three from the Board of Education, and three of the directors of the association. When the first board of trustees, thus formed, took charge, the library contained 6,005 volumes.

In the year 1877 it appeared to the friends of the Public Library that the interests involved in it were sufficient to justify and recjuire the care of a special board, so an act was secured from the Legislature requiring the Board of Education to appoint six trustees, two of whom were to go out of office annually. By this act the board of trustees became a corporation and vested with all the property and funds of the Public Library. They cannot, however, contract debt without the assent of the Common Council, which at that time was recjuired to raise not less than $200 nor more than $1,200 annually for the library. This requirement has since been changed, and the Council now has authority to appropriate such sums as may be considered necessary and wise. For several years past the sum of $3,000 has been appropriated annually.

The first board of trustees constituted under the act above referred to, entered upon its duties May 26, 1877. The members were : Archibald McDonnell, James Shearer, H. IM. Fitzhugh, James W'atrous, William Daglish and A. J. Cooke. The mayor of the city is ex officio chairman of the board of trustees. The old Association Library was housed in the Court Ilouse temporarily. At the time of the consolidation it was housed in the second story of the Averell Building. From there the hbrary was removed to a building erected especially for it on the south side of Washington avenue, 200 feet from Center avenue. Early in the fall of 1887 the library was removed to the southwest corner of Sixth and Aadms streets, where it was opened to the public on October 12th of that year. In the spring of 1898 it was removed to its present permanent quarters in the City Hall, and was opened to the public on April loth of that year.

Henry Braddock was the first librarian of the old Bay City Library Association. He was succeeded by Mrs. Ferris, who later became Mrs. Benjamin Whipple. She remained in charge of the library until the Public Library was organized in 1877. In June of that year Miss Jennie Gilbert became librarian and held the office until she was succeeded by Miss Julia A. Robinson in 1884. In October, 1888, Mrs. Annie F. Parsons, now the widow of Archibald McDonnell, became librarian and served ten years, being succeeded l^y the present librarian, A. J. Cooke, in August. 1898. Mr. Cooke 'has been identified with the library since the formation of the old association, serving continuously on the board of trustees, of which he is now secretary. The library is greatly indebted to him for his liberal gifts of time, money and books.

In 1876 the library was made a depository of United States and State documents, and from that date has been supplied regulaily with such documents as the law authorizes to be sent to depositories. In 1877-78 with 6,005 vohimes it issued 20,982; in 1901-02 with 21,- 688 volumes, it issued 69,037. The total issue for the first 25 years was 957,362 volumes, an average of 38,299 volumes a year. The largest circulation of any year was in 1902-03 when more than 79,000 volumes were issued. In

1904-05 the librarian required the services of three assistants, the total circulation for that year being 74,344 volumes, with 25,549 volumes in the library. The following gentlemen compose the present board of trustees : Edgar Yi Sharp, president of the Board of Educators, chairman c.v officio; Hon. Chester L. Collins, John A. Stewart, Byron E. Warren, William L Clements, C. B. Curtis and Hon. Hamilton M. Wright.

Sage Public Library. - The idea of providing West Bay City with a free public library and reading room was considered by Henry W. Sage for several years before he gave it definite shape in 1881. In speaking of his purpose to some of the citizens, he emphasized his desire to supply the means whereby young men might gain greater facility in public speaking. The plan in his mind comprehended not only a library and reading room, but a debating school, where young men could learn to think and talk upon their feet. The plans for the building reached West Bay City in April, 1882, and on January 16, 1884, it was dedicated by fitting public exercises held in the Westminster Presbyterian Church. An eloquent oration was delivered by Prof. Moses Coit Tyler, of Cornell University, which has been preserved in the catalogue of the library, together with the presentation address by Mr. Sage and the speech of acceptance by Hon. Spencer O. Fisher, then mayor of the city.

The extreme dimensions of the building are 56 by 90 feet, two and a half stories high. The style is of that bewildering mixture of many styles termed modern architecture. Its beauty is acknowledged by everyone. The front is relieved by an octagon projection containing a niche for the imported terra cotta statue representing literature and science, the projection being finished into a bay window for the reading room in the second story. There is also a square extension of 10 feet near the west side for the vestibule of the Midland street entrance and stairway. The building is of red brick with black and buff brick and Amherst slated and nothing which could add to the beauty or convenience of the structure was omitted. The whole interior is finished in black ash, including the ceilings. The original cost of the building, land, library, furnishings and heating apparatus amounts to a sum not far short of $50,000. The gift of the donor included about 8,000 volumes selected with great care and excellent judgment. There are now on the shelves 28,860 books.

In his presentation speech, Mr. Sage made the following statement regarding the management of the library : 'Tts permanent ex officio trustees will be the ministers of all evangelical churches, resident and in charge of parishes here, the principal of the public school of the Second Ward, the chairman of the board of trustees of School District No. 2, the mayor of the city and five other citizens of the city to be designated by me. These last named to hold their offices for five years, and thereafter vacancies to be filled according to the terms of the act. In pursuance of this act I have appointed as the trustees to be designated by me, S. O. Fisher, T. F. Shepard, E. T. Carrington, J. H. Plum and H. S. Ingersol, and S. O. Fisher, chairman of the board of trustees. This gives you a completely organized establishment prepared for work and use. It is my earnest hope that each and every one of the trustees, and especially the resident ministers, may take an interest in the work allotted to them, and so far as they can to lead the young men of the city to avoid all the less worthy resorts for pleasure and amusement and learn to come here for their own improvement and cultivation. It is for them and for them largely

The library was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, passed March it,. 1883. Of the present board of trustees, the following members are the successors of those appointed by ^Ir. Sage: Hon. Spencer O. Fisher, who has been president of the board continuously since its organization, Hon. Theodore F. Shepard, H. H. Norrington, I. B. Richardson and George L. Lusk. The first librarian was Airs. M. F. Ostrander, who was succeeded in January, 1899, ^y ^liss Phebe Parker, M. B., who is the present incumbent. Under Miss Parker's able direction, the library has reached its present high standard of efficiency. A card index has been installed which is arranged on the dictionary plan, making the resources of the library immediately available to those of the most limited education as well as to scholars familiar with library methods.

The Press

The public press ! What a wonderful agent for progress in any community and any country, where its powers are exerted in the interest of the public good I And in these opening days of the 20th century that power is almost paramoimt in this great country. Public opinion, the beacon-light of our national life and government, has no greater inspiration than the press. Pulpit and forum are no longer the great and preeminent molders of public opinion they once were. For the spoken word is

The remotest corners of our land are now reached by the daily press through the rural free delivery routes, and the townspeople no longer monopolize this field of information and education. This is particularly true in Bay County, where a fine school system has for half a century been busy inculcating a desire for knowledge and information, and where a fine road system makes the delivery of the daily newspaper to the remotest settler a comparatively easy matter.

Yet it was not always thus! About 1885 the writer was a carrier for the Evening Press and Morning Tribune, and his customers in the lower end of Bay City were widely scattered. Apparently few in that section of the booming lumber town read the daily press of that day. But it was no fault of those editions, for they were strictly up-to-date, then as now.

From the time of the first attempt at printing a local paper in 1856, when Hon. James Birney edited the Bay City Press, down to our modern-day dailies, the residents of Bay County ha\-e been exceedingly well served by the local press. To judge by the checkered and strenuous careers of these dispensers of public news, they were always rather ahead of their times and vicinity. The cultured citizens demanded telegraph and news service of a character that the financial support of the frontier community hardly warranted.

The first enduring newspaper was the Press and Times, published by William Bryce from 1859 to 1864, when the Bay City Journal, John Culbert, editor, took its place. In 1871 this ambitious sheet appeared as the first daily, but by February, 1873, it had run its course. Hon. James Birney resuscitated it as the Daily and Weekly Chronicle, the daily section lasting until 1S7.

Hague as United States Minister, his son, Arthur M. Birney, continued the JVeekly Chronicle until 1879, when it was merged with the Tribune.

In 1872 Henry S. Dow, publisher of the first authentic history of Bay City, established the Luinbcrnum's Gazette, which proved a prosperous publication until the lumber industry declined in these parts. It was remo\-ed to Chicago in 1887 and is the oldest lumber journal in the world.

In 1905 the triumvirate which established the Bay City Tribune in 1873, - Chief T. K. Harding of the Fire Department, Aid. Ed. Kroencke, bookbinder, and Griffin Le\\is, job printer, - are still acti\-e in their respective fields of usefulness. Jolm Culbert was the first editor. Later Henry S. Dow purchased the paper, discontinuing the weekly in 1875, and in 1 88 1 a stock company secured control. From that day to this, the Tribune has had the morning field practically to itself, being the official organ of the Republican part}-. In 1904 I. W. Snyder retired from the company, and Editor E. D. Cowles resumed the chair in the editorial sanctum he had occupied some 20 years previous. James C. McCabe is the business manager, W. H. Sheward, Jr., city editor, and J. H. Dunnewind, staff reporter. The Tribune has all the latest equipment in press and typesetting machinery, and its Sunday Tribune is an edition unsurpassed in Michigan. The Tribune was burned out while located in the Rlarston Building on Saginaw 'street in 1878, but in less than two weeks reappeared in a new dress of type.

The evening field has witnessed more numerous changes. The Ez'cniiig Press was established in 1879 by Moran & Hardwick and later purchased by E. T. Bennett. In 1881 D. M. Carey was taken in as editor and part owner, and his crisp reminiscences of his experiences in this busthng lumber town are amusing readers all over the country in 1905. The Press was an independent paper, with a large circulation.

The Frcic Prcssc, an independent German weekly, was started by G. Reuther in 1878, and through many vicissitudes is still active and prosperous under the able management of August Lankenau, with David Koch as city editor.

Then as now, the Democrats have found it difficult to sustain an official organ, for in April, 1881, they put the Morning Call into the field, with Bert Moran as chief typo, Leonard Cline, manager, and C. S. Wilson, city editor. In May of that year, George F. Lewis, a practical and experienced editorial writer, took charge. But three years of hard work merely demonstrated the fact that there was room for only two dailies, and the last Call came, in 1884.

The Signal, a Democratic weekly, existed from 1867 to 1870; the Leader in the same line lasted less than a year, and the JVcekly Observer was established by the late lamented A, McMillan and Ed Forsyth in 1876. In 1878 J. W. Griffith came fresh from the greens of Greenville, I\Iichigan, took charge of the daily, found to his sorrow that running a dairy and running a newspaper were two vastly different propositions, and in 1880 the Observer ceased to observe.

Meanwhile the \\'e3t Side had not been neglected, even if results indicated little appreciation. As early as 1869 E. D. Cowles, the veteran editor of the Tribune in 1905, with Dan P. IMcMullen, now ex-State Senator and postmaster of Cheboygan, started the Weekly Herald, which was moved to Bay City in 1872 and .sold to C, S. Wilson, as the Jl'eekly l^eader, which did not long lead. The JVenona

Herald owned by S. H. Egabroad entered the West Side field in 1872, W. J. Ward purchased it in 1873, and by 1879 he was satisfied there were brighter pastures at Dowagiac, whither he moved the plant. The JVeekly Examiner was started by AI. A. Dowling and Charles R. Stuart, in 1879, and shortly after becoming a daily, in 1881, the plant was wiped out by the big fire, and never replaced. The JVest Bay City Times died an infant of three months in 1886. The Michigan Odd Felleiv, de\'Oted to the interests of that order, was established in 1874 by Dr. Joseph Hooper, Edward Newkirk, and Charles C. Gustin, appeared semi-monthly for nearly four years and then vanished.

As we look over the journalistic graveyard we find the Red Ribbon, 1877; Morning Nezvs, a single sheet, 1877-82; Ec/w, 1878: Penny Post, 1879. The JJ'cst Bay City Times. 1887- 89, laid the foundation for the Bay City Times, which in 1905 is an eloquent evidence of the law of the survival of the fittest ! The N'ational Globe swept in on the Greenback tidal wave in 1880, Colonel Roberts master of ceremonies. In 1882 the Globe died. As we wander down the lane of time we find more tombstones : Boc. a society sheet, 1881 ; Daily World, 1885 ; Daily Star, Knights of Labor organ, began life November 25, 1885, boomed for a while and then sank beneath the horizon. Carrie C. Laing, in 1905 the city encyclopedia of the Evening Times, was one of the luminaries of that Star. The Weekly Sun, 1886, soon struck an eclipse and was seen no more. Catliolic Chronicle. 1882-84: German Journal, 1884; French Souvenir, 1883; L'Enfard N'ational, 1884; such in a few short months was the array of journalistic entries and exits.

was to make some people's lives miserable with sensational matter, and just to prove that certain elements in any community will support the sensational, the Grotdcr growled from 1869 to 1873; ''1"'^ ^875 to 1880, when its stock of invectives and vituperation gave out, and the exasperating growls were heard no more. Bert Moran's Tozi^'ii Talk in after years was an imitation of the same school. The Labor Vindicator, started in 1884 by a fire-eater, named D. C. Blinn, printed highly inflammable matter, suggestive of the anarchistic sheets of later days, and after taking a leading part in the big strike among the sawmill employees, he thought it best to join the big colony in Canada, without awaiting personal "vindication."

From amid all these journalistic flashlights, the one strong, enduring combination of literary ability and sound business management on the evening paper field appears with the Penny Press in 1879, started by Moran & Hardwicke, then taken over by Fred M. Van- Campen and Ed. Forsyth. In 1880 E. T. Bennett, took charge and named it the Evening Press. David M. Carey served on the editorial staff from 1S81 to 1884; while Armstrong & Rasmussen of Chicago bought it in 1886. On January i, 1887, Archibald McMillan began his 15 years of devoted work on the city's leading evening daily, years of usefulness to the community, not soon to be forgotten. He was a veteran of the Civil war and began his newspaper career with the Detroit Free Press, being compositor, reporter and editor in turn ; at his death in 1902 he was the dean of the press here.

In December, 1889, W. H. Gustin, the able and influential editor of the Evening Times in 1905, appears upon the local journalistic field in his first responsible endeavor, in the organization of the Bay City Times, with L. L.

Cline and F. M. VanCampen. In December, 1890 the venerable Archibald McMillan allied himself with the younger daily, and no stronger combination ever existed on the local field of pen and type, than Editor McMillan, and Reporter "Bert" Gustin, as he is popularly known throughout' Michigan. The Bay City Times Publishing Company was organized in 1891, and the Evening Times consolidated with the Evening Press. For the last 14 years, the Times has been the sole local supply of the evening field, as the Tribune is of the morning field. The stockholders in the Bay City Times Publishing Company have changed from time to time, until in 1903 the Scripps syndicate of Detroit bought the splendidly equipped plant. B. M. Wynkoop is now the general manager, George G. Booth, president ; W. Herbert Gustin, managing editor; W. A. Clarke, chief typo; J. D. Jones, pressman; Garrie C. Laing, city editor. Since 1903 the political gy-rations of the Times have ceased, and it is now one of Michigan's leading independent dailies. During the month of ]\Iarch, 1905, the Evening Times had a bona fide paid circulation of 8,- 462 copies daily. Under the able and conscientious editorial management of Mr. Gustin, the Times has become a power for good in the community. And above all, it works unceasingly for the intellectual and material growth and development of the city and county. Much of the success of the consolidation movement is due to its earnest and undeviating support of a union, decreed by Nature but long frustrated by trivialities. Editor Archibald McMillan died in the harness, but his mantle has fallen on able shoulders. One need but peruse its pithy columns, and particularly the untrammeled editorial page, to appreciate the worth of this vigorous independent daily, so dear to many homes in Bay County.

proud and satisfied with its local representatives of the daily press. Both the morning and evening publications have special wire coinniunication with all parts of the globe, and nothing happens in the farthest ends of the earth, that is not promptly served to a discerning and appreciative community. Time and again the local papers have "scooped" the great dailies of Michigan's metropolis, particularly in some of tlie stirring events in the Russo- Japanese campaign in Korea and Manchuria, 1904-05. Naturally the local press has four hours the better of the Detroit dailies, and this difference in wire delivery of news and railroad delivery of newspapers works to the everlasting advantage of equally well-served Associated Press representatives in Bay City. The Tribiuie occupies two floors and basement of the Watson Block, with nicely furnished offices and airy editorial and reporting rooms, while the Evening Times owns and occupies the modern Tiines Building just south, at No. 709 Water street, also two stories and basement. Both plants have all the latest inventions throughout, and the many special editions put out on the main events of the last year have amply demonstrated their ability to meet any emergency. The Times this year inaugurated several innovations, doing away with the Sunday issue, and publishing, instead, three issues daih;, beginning at noon. This latter feature commends itself, especially to the communities tributary to Bay City on the north and west.

Bay City also has several thriving weeklies in addition to the older publications enumerated. The Sugar Beet Culturist, D. T. Cutting, editor, S. O. Burgdorf, manager, and Frank Zagelmeyer, treasurer, has a national reputation for good work done for tlie infant beet sugar industry, and its career dates from the building of the first beet sugar factory in Bay City in 1898. In 1905 we find it branching out, so as to cover the entire field of farm journalism. The success of its publishers is well merited.

The Bay City Democrat is a weekly, owned and published by George Washington, the \-eteran leader of that party, whose cause his publication espouses. He also issues the Industrial Herald, the sole local representative of the labor field, from the joint plant on Ninth street.

Le Patriot, H. A. Beaudin, publisher, is a weekly devoted to the interests of our French fellow-citizens, and under his energetic leadership should regain the prominent place in the specialty field of our cosmopolitan population held by this publication in years past.

The Modern Archer is a monthly publication devoted to the interests of the I\I. A. A., Bay City's promising fraternal insurance society, with headquarters in the Crapo Block.