Adair County, Missouri - Chapter 10: The Public Schools, 1911

Chapter 10: The Public Schools

The constitution of Missouri under which the state was admitted into the Union in 1821, provided that one school or more should he established in each township as soon as it should be practicable or necessary. This was in line with the provision of the act of Congre» which in authorizing the Missouri Territory to form a constitution and state government had stipulated that the sixteenth section of lan-i in each township should be devoted to the support of public school*.

Nothing seems to have been done by the State Legislature concerning public education until January 17, 1825. At that time an act was passed which provided that each Congressional township should form a school district and that the educational affairs of this district should be under the control of the county court. How much was dour in carrying out the provisions of this law cannot be said.

On January 20, 1833, the Legislature authorized the Governor to appoint a committee of three who should prepare a system of "common primary school instruction." The suggestions of this committee wero never taken up by the Legislature.

In the session of 1834-35 an act was passed to regulate the sale of the sixteenth sections and to provide for organizing, regulating, ami perpetuating common schools. Among other things it provided that each school district must support a school at least six months of each year. Because, however, of its imperfections and impracticability this law was repealed by 1839. Meanwhile an act had been passed in 1837 which created a school fund for the state. According to thi* measure the Governor was required to invest the principal and interest of the Saline fund and whatever money the state should receive from the United States in some safe stock to be known as the "Common School Fund." Whenever this fund should amount to $500,000 tli»- profits from it were to be used in paying teachers.

It was not until 1S39 that anything like adequate legislation had been passed on the educational system of the state. Inasmuch a> Adair County was created two years after this law was passed and whatever was done towards organizing t he public school system wit Inn the county in its early years was done according to the provisions of this law of 1839, it is in order to give its provisions in some detail.

The chief local unit in the system was the Congressional township. The officials of this school township was a Township Commissioner of Schools, not less than two nor more than four Inspectors of Schools, a Township Clerk, and a Hoard of Township Directors which was composed of the Commissioner and the Inspectors. The Commissioner and Inspectors were elective, the Clerk was appointed by the Board of Di rectors. The Commissioner received, apportioned and expended the school fund, and aided the Inspectors in inspecting the schools. He served for two years. The Inspectors examined teachers and granted certificates, visited all the schools in the township at least once a year and advised with the teachers and trustees. They were elected for one year. The Board of Directors divided the township into school districts, apportioned the school moneys among the districts, and made reports to the County Clerk.

The number of school districts in every school township was determined by the township voters at the first township meeting after the organization of the township for school purposes. The officers of the school district were three trustees, a clerk ami a collector. The number of trustees was afterwards changed to one, and then back again to three. These trustees were elected by the voters of the district for one year. They provided for the school building, employed the teachers and authorized the expenditure of school moneys.

On turning from the law as it existed when the county was created to the schools of the county during the forties, we find that township 01, range 13 was declared by the Adair County on May 8, 1813 to be School Township No. I of this county. This seems to be the first action taken by the county court relative to the provisions of the law of 1839. At the same time the sheriff was ordered to expose for sale the sixteenth action of township 61, range 13, the proceeds of which would be used for the school of School Township No. I. Moreover, the court appointed two inspectors and a commissioner for this school township. The names <>f the inspectors can not be made out from the scorched records of the county court. The commissioner was Levy Lansberry. This school township was in the extreme southeastern part of the county.

It appears, however, that this school township was not actually organized until 1844 or perhaps even later, for in February, 1844, the county court re-ordered the organization of this school township ami again appointed a commissioner and two inspectors. Moreover, the County Treasurer's report made in August of that same year declares that no schools had been organized as yet. In the course of time tf count}' court ordered the formation of other school townships, hi there is nothing to indicate whether the order was complied with ; once and schools put into operation or not.

However, the sixteenth sections in the Congressional town>hi| were from time to time ordered sold at $1.25 per acre, ami the fum realized from the sales were set apart separately for each town>h with the provision that only the interest accruing was to he used the townships respectively for school purposes. It is not known jit when the sales were completed; they were still going on in 1H.V> an 1850. It is quite likely that most of the sections were sold out by th: time, as the entering of government lands in the county was practical] completed by then. Nor is it known just how much was received tmi these sales originally. Rut as the township school funds have remain, practically the same from the beginning, it is possible to approxiin.it pretty closely the amounts originally received from the sale hystudyin the annual financial statements of the county. From the statcinei made in 1908 the following tabulation regarding the township s<-ix« funds has been made. It shows just what each township has in the wa of funds which are today bearing interest :

The great difference between the amounts received in the differ, n townships for the same amount of land is due largely to the differ* n< in the quality of the land in the various townships.

That the educational system was progressing very slowly durin the first ten years or more after the county was created, is shown h the fact that in 1852 there were only six schools in the county and th average school term was only three months. As far as is known in record of the schools themselves up to that year has survived. We an compelled to depend upon tradition for any information conecrniin them, and that is likely to be wrong in many of its details. Accordim to one tradition, the first school in the county was taught by Manuel Pat terson in 1833. The first school in Benton township is said to have been taught by Nathaniel Taylor. Among his pupils were Noah Adkins. Josiah Rogers, William Taylor, and John Owenby. According to another tradition, a lawyer named Brower opened up a school in 1N&-39 in the vicinity of what was afterwards known as Kirksville. In 1S4 1-4*2 there were said to have been just three schools in the county, :tiul all of them were subscription schools: Taylor's school in Benton township: Harris* school in Liberty township, and Miss Louisa Clemen's M-hool near Ringo's Point. We cannot tell whether these schools were maintained by public or private funds, but it would not be at all hazardous to say that if they received any support from public funds at all. that was not sufficient to keep them going. In the very earliest -lays "subscription" or private schools were the only kind in existence, ami even when public support began to be given it was. as had been -aid, not sufficient to maintain the schools without extra private help. Kven as late as 1807 the so called public schools in Kirksville were largely private schools.

As for buildings, the earliest schools were "kept" in private school houses, log houses usually. In November, 1843, the county court ordered that the people of Kirksville be allowed to use the court house for <<-hool purposes on condition that the business of the county should not he interfered with, and up to at least the war, the court house was used off and on for school purposes. In December, 185o\ the court i^ued an order permitting S. Sherman to maintain a school in the court r<«>m until June 1. provided he would give bond to repair all damage hat should be done to the furniture.

In 1855 the State Legislature made a radical change in the local >«-Ihn»1 organization. The chief local division was now the county, at the head of which was the County Commissioner elected every two y*ar>. He ap|>ortioned the various school moneys, inspected schools, - xamined teachers and granted certificates. The next local division l«'lnw the county was the school township. Kvery Congressional township was constituted a school district unless the voters chose to divide it into subdistricts not exceeding four in number. Each district wa> under three trustees who employed teachers and levied taxes.

At the time when this law was passed there were only six school buildings in the county. The six teachers were all men, their average >alary being 81 3.00 per month. Out of 1037 children of school age only lti8 were enrolled in these six schools.

number of teachers to thirty-eight, five of whom were women. The percentage of attendance had also increased, for out of an enumeration of 2913, 1152 were enrolled in school.

It is fitting that a letter which Supt. J. M. Greenwood of the Kansas City Public Schools wrote to the author in reply to some inquiries, should be inserted here. It tells a great deal concerning the way schoolwere organized and conducted just prior to the war. It is as follows.

"Replying to your letter concerning the school houses in Salt River and Wilson Townships in the early history of Adair County. I will go back to the situation in the autumn of 1852 when my parents moved to Adair County. At that time Salt River formed a part of Wilson Township. In 1852 there was a log school house on my father's farm about four hundred yards west of the old homestead. This house wa> built by a few families living on Timbered Branch and the South Fork of Timbered Branch. School had been taught in it two or three winter terms each by Mr. Hackley Allred, the father of Mr. Enoch Allred, and by a Mr. Robert Jennings. It was the first school house in what is now Salt River Township. The families whose children attended were the Earharts, Pershings, Alfreds, Smiths, Halsteads, Rodcbaughs, and Jennings. No school was held in it after. my father bought the farm. In fact, the nearest was the Maxey school house on Salt River seven miles down the river in the Felts neighborhood.

''In December, 1854, a school meeting was held at my grandfather's house, now the Sangster farm, on Timbered Branch, to organize a School District. The men present were my grandfather, Peyton Foster, Abram Earhart, Squire John Smith, Edmund Greenwood any father), Dow Kincaid, Hackley Allred, and J. D. Foster, later the Colonel of the 22nd Regiment of Missouri Volunteers. Because I could write a pretty fair hand, 1 acted as secretary. The meeting was called to order and the school district was organized, and the men present contributed lumber, work, and money to build the school house, but the work was not undertaken till after harvest the next fall. My grandfather deeded an acre of ground on the public road about three hundred yards northwest of his brick-house, as the school site. The little frame building was built by my uncle, Capt. H. B. Foster, then a young man.

"The Trustees elected were Uncle John Smith. Abram Earhart. and Edmund Greenwood. In the fall of 1855, the directors waited for some school teacher to come along to take the school. There wen1 eleven pupils of school age in the district including myself. One young man did pass through, but he could teach only Latin and Algebra, so the Trustees did not hire him. Matters went on till December when

Uncle John Smith and Mr. Earhart, - father having no part in the business, - hired me at fifteen dollars a month to teach a three months' x'hool. I have the certificate issued to me by Robert Thompson, but there is no English grammar in it. Father bought a little box stove at Kirksville, and left it in the school house. My mother's youngest brother, James M. Foster, Jake Earhart, and myself set the stove up, built a flue for the chimney, made a little walnut blackboard, but had no paint put on it. The benches were thick planks with wooden legs. Thi> school house was weather boarded and stood in the middle of the hickory grove. It was called the "Foster School House." School opened on Wednesday, I think the 5th of December; there were nine iwjys and two little girls. The following Saturday night and Sunday a heavy snow fell, and none but the boys attended the remainder of the term.

"A year before this date, Squire William Brashears, Thomas and John Thrasher, George Conkle. Robert Propst, Meshack Long and his father. Adam Ix>ng. Dorman Holiday, William Watson, Jamison Vise, ami (ieorge W. Chamberlain, built the "Brashears School House" on Hoe Branch, al>out a quarter of a mile west of "Squire Brashears' Home- >tr.nl." Mr. (Ieorge W. Chamberlain taught the first school in that --hool house during the winter of 1854-55, and I went to that school 2') days.

"A young man by the name of William Ewing from Lewis County, taught the school there the same winter that I tried to teach the little -hool in the "Foster School."

"The next August, Squire Brashears, Richard Brashears' father, Thomas Thrasher, and Mr. George Conkle, believing I had succeeded in my first school, hired me to teach a subscription school in their school house. 1 U'gan in August, 1850, and closed in November. For my work of three months, I received $o9.20, a part of which was paid by state during the following winter.

"The next year the people living further down on Hog Branch, and u family or two on Deer Branch (Squire Smith having sold out his claim on Timbered Branch to Henry ( Jarlock, and then living on Deer Branch), '>r;{jiiiized a school district and built a school house near Mr. Conkle's residence, now in the town of Brashear. This was called the "Thrasher School House," and also the "White School House." because it was painted white. It was plastered inside, and it was the first plastered school house in that part of the county.

the month of August, 1857, I taught a "Singing Geography Cla>>-" of ten days at the "White School House," and all the young folks for milearound attended. It was a horseback school.

"During the winter of 1858-9, Mr. George Conklc, Mr. John Thrasher, and Uncle John Smith, hired me to teach a four months' school at the "White School House." The spring being wet and backward. I gave one week free, teaching 85 days instead of 80 days. The Ixjvs and girls wanted me to do it, and I taught, or tried to teach, for the love ami the fun of it. During this period and for a year thereafter, I wa> endeavoring to regain my health which had been impaired by too severe study and too little exercise. I received $30 a month.

"During the spring and summer following, 1 taught a three month:* term in our home district, and during the following winter I taught another term of four months. I received 830 a month. The trustee were Mr. Samuel Merrill, Mr. Abram Earhart, and Mr. Henry Garlock. The Foster School house caught fire a year or two later and burned The School District was divided and a new school house erected north of the Earhart residence about a mile distant, and it was there the last time I passed through that neighborhood. In all the schools except the first one. I had from 40 to 70 pupils every day, unless the severity uf the weather kept the little ones at home, so rapidly did the country settle up."

From 1801 to 1865 all the public schools in the county were practically suspended on account of the war. In the report to the State Superintendent concerning the schools of the county in 1805 w»- find them to be in as good condition as could be expected after four years of disorganization. Out of an enumeration of 13,037, 2.574 werv enrolled, and there were 71 teachers in the county. 37 of whom were women. Rut in many districts it was difficult to find enough men wh<» were willing to serve as school directors. Teachers were often unah!*' to find any one who was willing to assume the responsibility of employing teachers. Because of the refusal of directors to serve, many districtwere completely disorganized.

From 1805 to 1875 vigorous efforts were made throughout the state to unify the school system. Laws were enacted to provide for county supervision and for uniform township and district taxation. During this period the present small school district was made permanent, ami the system of State Normal Schools was established.

The establishment of Normal Schools had an important connection with the schools of Adair County. In letters from the County Superintendents of the county the importance of the First District Normal

at Kirksville in training the teachers of the county is constantly emphasized. This training was something badly needed for in the earlier years they had been very inadequately prepared for their work, one reason for which was undoubtedly the meagre salaries they got.

By 1872 there were 74 school districts in the county, and at least that many schools in operation. There was also said to be one High School which had been in existence since 1808, but just where it was located, what it was, and how it was conducted are questions which the records will not solve.

In 1874 a new school law was passed by which in manner at least the County Superintendent's office was abolished. Instead, the office of County Commissioner was created. Visitation of schools was abolished, and about all that was left for the County Commissioner to do was to examine teachers, grant certificates, and make reports to the State Superintendent. He was elected every two years.

The township board of trustees was also abolished at this time. Each school district was made a separate unit, and the clerk of what was formerly the sub-district was left to make the reports to the school officers of the county. With the exception of a change in the term of the local directorship from one to three years, the governing board of each school district remained the same as before.

There are at present (1911) eighty school districts in the county. They were all renumbered last year by the county court in accordance with a law passed in 1909 requiring all the county courts to follow a uniform system of numbering.

Each district, with five exceptions, has a Board of Directors composed of three members elected for three years, one member retiring every year. Kirksville, Novinger, Brashear. Connelsville. and Wilmathville have Boards of six members, two retiring each year. The clerk is elected by the Board, and may be one of their own members, or he may be outside of the Board.

The size of the school district depends on the action taken by the people who organize it or those who later may wish to alter it. The districts in the western part of the county are practically all of them three miles square, but those in the eastern part are smaller and are of different sizes. There has been little tendency towards district consolidation, but there is need for it in several instances. There are eight districts where the average attendance is less than eight ; there are twenty-three districts with less then twenty pupils, and twenty-six with less than thirty pupils. Moreover, there are a few districts where the assessed valuation is so low that the school terms art- only five or six months. These conditions argue strongly in favor of consolidation at once.

Several special activities connected with the schools of the count y should perhaps be mentioned here. About 1870 a great deal of inters began to be taken in the county institute. These institutes were held in Kirksville, and the members of the Normal School Facultv weroften secured as instructors. The importance of these institutes continued to be emphasized down to 1903 when they were abolished by law and the county teachers' association and the approved summer school were instituted in its place.

In the nineties the importance of school libraries began to receive attention in this count}' as well as in other counties. As late as 1894. however, Adair County could not be included in a list of counties having library facilities equal to those in the lead.

In 1899 a library law was passed by the State Legislature requiring that school boards should provide school libraries by spending annually not less than five cents per child enumerated in the district for library purposes. In 1901 another law was passed creating a State Library Board of five members. The effect of this new interest in school libraries, while not so great as it seems it should have been, has increased the library facilities of all the counties some. In 1899 there were only 192 volumes in all the school libraries of Adair County. In 1908 there were 5851. Only two schools are at present without a library. Tliiincrease in the library facilities means a great deal in the greater efficiency of school work.

The last important development made in the school system of Adair County was the adoption of the county supervision in 1905. An effort had been made in 1888 to get the people to vote to have the County Commissioner devote all his time to the supervision of the schools in the county, but the proposition was overwhelmingly defeated at the polls. In 1905, however, it was carried by a good majority, and \V. J. Banning was elected County Superintendent. In 1909, a law was passed compelling all the counties to have county supervision.

All the schools of this county except Kirksville have been since 1905, under the supervision of the County Superintendent. They are following approximately the same course at the same time. On finishing the eighth grade the pupil is given a county diploma and an entrance certificate to any high school in the state. Annual graduating exercises are held in Kirksville during the summer. The classes have numbered over one hundred in the past two years. In 1909, out of the graduating class of 11 fifty per cent went on with their work in a high school or normal school.

eighty-five school buildings containing one hundred and twenty-five rooms. In the last few years a noticeable improvement has taken place in the school buildings. In addition to the erection of large and more substantial buildings in Kirksville and the smaller towns and villages, there have been built better country school houses. There are at present five country school houses built after the model designed by President John R. Kirk; four of these are according to his original plan, and one, the Bryant School House, is according to the Model Rural School House on the Normal School campus, except for the basement. Even those built in recent years which were not patterned after the Kirk plan, are usually better than those built thirty years or more ago. Nearly every school building has pictures on the walls, its walls painted and papered, blinds at the windows, and individual drinking cups. Some buildings are heated with furnaces, others by jacketed stoves. In many places the single modern desks are to be found.

Not only has there been an improvement in buildings but there has been an increase in the enrollment and an increase in the percentage of the enumeration enrolled. In 1868 only one-half of the enumeration were enrolled. In recent years about five-sixths of the enumeration have been enrolled. The following tabulation reveals the situation in the county, including Kirksville, for the last eight years:

The following statistics furnished by County Superintendent Sippie show how the enumeration and enrollment for 1910-11 in certain school districts compare:

School Enumeration Exroli.Vfv

The marked increase in the percentage of the enumeration enrolls in 1006 is due in part to the decrease in the enumeration and in part t the enforcement of the truancy law which went into effect that year The year 1910-11 is marked, however, by a drop in the percentage the enumeration enrolled.

There are between 125 and 150 different teachers employed duriiK the school year. Of the 125 teaching in December, 1910, only one h;i*i never had any training beyond the eighth grade. Usually the teacher* of the county have from one to five years of high school and collep work and many have had additional college work. Of the 125 teaching in the winter term of 1910-11, 30 were men and 95 were women.

The salaries of the teachers have increased some since the war In 1909 the average salary of the Adair County teacher was $42.50 p*r month, but it is a noticeable fact that throughout the history of th« county t he salaries of the teachers have been lower than those of a number of other counties in the state.

We have no records from which to relate the history of the first -rhools in Kirksville. The town was laid out in 1841, and inasmuch as t was the county seat and centrally located, it began to grow from the iirst. But how much was done towards getting the school system organized prior to the outbreak of the war can not be said. It is known that Prof. \Y. P. Nason opened up a school in town in the fall of 1857 and maintained it until the spring of 1860. He first used a rented building, but in 1858 he erected a building of his own on the corner of Florence and Buchanan streets, and conducted his school in that. His school was supported in part by whatever public revenues existed for public education in the town, but chiefly by tuition fees. The enrollment was as high as 130 at one time, and two or three assistants were always employed. In the fall of 1860 Prof. Nason rented his building to the Kirksville Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church for the use of the Cumberland Academy which the Presbytery had already organized. A special building was then in process of construction for this academy. The excitement throughout the county m 1860- ol put an end to the Cumberland Academy as a school, and during that year the work on the building was also suspended. Prof. Nason resumed his teaching in Kirksville in his own building in 1861-62. He then left the county and did not return until the spring of 1865. when he remained for six months conducting a spring and summer school. He left again but returned in the fall of 18(H) and maintained a school that year in the Free Will Baptist church which stood where the present M. E. Church, South, stands.

As has been said, Prof. Njison's schools were supported in part by public funds and in part by tuition fees. Whether the schools that were maintained here from 1862 to 1866 while he was out of the county, were supported by public funds too cannot be said. A Mrs. Bryson conducted a school in 1865-66, and it may be she received some public support.

From all the evidences at hand it seems that the public school system began to take its present shape in Kirksville in 1867. The school directors elected in March, 1867 were (). H. Becman. J. M. Smith, J. B. Brewington, A. D. Risdon, W. H. Freeman and J. (i. .Jamison. In 1867-68 the public schools were conducted in the Free Will Baptist ehurch and the Mercer building, with D. T. Truitt, Miss Harris and Miss Lewis as teachers. It may be noted here that in September, 1807, President J. Baldwin opened up his North Missouri Normal School in Kirksville, with Prof. Nason as one of his faculty. Although students of all ages were admitted in this Normal School and thou private schools were also maintained, the public schools continued go on. Among those who conducted private schools after 1807 w< Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Bryson in 1867. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mercer 1808, and others on into the seventies.

In 1869 the public schools of Kirksville began to give evident of new life. In August of that year work began on the const ructi of a two story brick building of four rooms which cost when complei $6,000. This stood on the site of the present Washington School bui ing. This meant that the inconvenience of ill-adapted rented bui ings would be done away with for a while at least. But in a few ye: complaint was being made that it was not large enough to accomiiKHk the students, and the Board was compelled to rent various buildim some of them dwelling houses, in different parts of the town in order l)i all the children might be accommodated. The Wilcox, Hooper a Tuttle buildings were used at different times. The Hooper buildi was more generally known as the 4 'cheese factory," and the school it was known as the Benton school. This building stood on First <tr< south of Normal avenue, and was used to accommodate the studei in the southern part of town. It is still standing and has been ma over into a dwelling. At onetime the negro church building was u-< for which the Board agreed to pay off the indebtedness uj)on it. these arrangements were made pending the time when new school bui! ings could be erected by the town.

By 1882 agitation was begun in favor of building more >eli< buildings, and on May 6 a proposition was submitted to the people issue bonds to the amount of $25,000 to erect a school building. T proposition failed to carry.

In April, 1883 the matter was submitted again but in a different for The people were asked to express themselves as to levying a tax fur t purpose of purchasing a building site and also, as to which they p f erred, one or two new buildings. The vote on the tax levy for a - was 70 for and 226 against; that on one school house, 167 for and I against: that on two school houses, [)\) for and 141 against. Matt* were made almost immediately worse bv the destruction bv tire of t Ivie building which stootl on the corner of Franklin and Illinois stree on April 20. This building which had formerly stood on the east si of the square, had been used, after having been removed, as the p inary school building. Agitation was at once renewed and several rnf meetings were held to get the expressions of opinions of the citi/ei Finally in June another proposition to issue bonds for $25,000 to ere two buildings, a central school building costing $25,000, and a buildiu in the southern part of town costing $5,000, was submitted, and thi» too, was lost by a vote of 128 for and 279 against.

It was not until 1887 that the matter was brought up again. Mameetings were held at the Masonic Hall during February and Mar« :i. and a proposition to issue bonds for $21,000 was submitted. The plati contemplated putting $15,000 in a central school building, §2,500 in :. north ward building, $2,500 in a south ward building, and SI. (NX) in :» building for negroes. The proposition failed to carry by ii very sliuhvote. It now became evident that the only objection to the* pro|*>-ition was in the way the buildings were to be erected, so another propor - tion to expend $25,000 for two buildings which should be about the <u\u>- in cost, was submitted and carried in May by a vote of 383 to 93.

The Board removed the building built in 1869 on the site of the pn>- ent Washington Building and erected the latter. At the same time it erected the present Benton Building. P. M. Smith had the contract for erecting them both at a cost of $20,880. The schools did not ojx-n until November that year, and even then only the Washington building was ready for use. Pending the completion of the other, the basement of the Mercantile College building was used. When they were completed they were both alike and the pride of the town.

The enrollment in the schools, however, increased so rapidly i? soon became again necessary to rent more rooms until new buildingcould be provided. Some of the primary grades were moved to thr upper floor of the building now used by the Kirksville Holler Mills ami in 1897 the High School was moved from the Washington building U* the old Mercantile College building, the present Harrington theatn

In 1898 an effort was made to provide for another building. .\ proposition was submitted to the people to issue $12,000 in bonds tr erect two new ward school buildings. This was defeated by a vote ot 329 for and 40(> against. The next year another proposition was submitted which provided for $35,000 to erect a building in the second wani and also a High School building. This proposition carried on Apri 4 by a vote of 1023 for and 228 against,

In June, 1899, the contract was let for both buildings for the sum <>: $20,185, an unusually low price. The rest of the money realized front the bonds was used in buying the two blocks of land on which the* houses were built, and school equipment. The second ward buildin? was given the name of Willard School, and was first occupied in January. 1900, but it was not fully completed until later. The High School building was occupied in 1900 also.

Besides the four buildings for white children there is also one I negroes called the Lincoln School. The first mention that has been foui of a school for negroes was in 1874-75. Mrs. A. D. Risdon was seeur to teach it. As a usual thing a negro man has since been secured to that. The contract was let for the erection of a building in June. 1S< An addition was put on in 1890.

At the present time (1911) there is pressing need for more r«>oi especially in the grades, and it is only a question of time when new Imil ings will have to be provided for.

One of the signs of the popularity and efficiency of a public sera, is in the increase in the enrollment and average daily attendance. T first definite report we have of the Kirksville School shows a decide: deplorable condition. This report is for the year ending October 31. 1 s» the year in which the first brick public school building was begun. Aceor ing to it the enrollment was 494, but the average daily attendance \\ only 04, or only 12 per cent. No explanations are available for th condition.

Hut tilings began to mend very shortly. In the printed report Principal Selden Sturgis for the year 1870-71 he reported 427 enroll and an average daily attendance of 209. or a little less than 50 per cer In the next annual report he was happy to state that while the enro ment was 401, 20 less than the year before, the average daily attendan had increased until it was 54 per cent of the enrollment. He explai that if the school term had not been so long, eight months, the avera daily attendance would have been greater, as the students dropped «» in large numbers during the last month. This complaint on the py of the students about eight months being too long sounds odd to tlm who are now accustomed to even longer terms with no sense of fatiei

Principal Sturgis complained in his reports of the irregularity attendance, the failure to be prompt, and the lack of systematic gradii of the pupils. For years after him his successors made similar cm plaints about irregular attendance and lack of promptness. He w able in his time to begin the systematic classification of the pupils ai thus raise the school above the level of the ungraded country sera* but his successors had long to deal with the other problems.

The work done by the schools was not extensive at first. I'j) i 1871-72 there were only four grades taught, though there is no douW but that certain pupils were given more advanced work when th>- wanted it. In 1871-72 the fifth grade was added. It is impossible t<- say just when other grades were added, but by 1883-84 there were eight grades. By 1893-04 High School work was being done, but it was n*»; until 1897-98 that this was made a four year course.

The length of the school term has been increased from four monthin 1809 to nine months. It was eight months for a long time. In 1ST 1 - 72 it was eight months, but it cannot be said that it remained that lot.: continuously until the nine months' term was inaugurated. It wa* 1900 before that was done.

The corps of teachers has been increased gradually from two or three, as it was in 1807. to thirty-one. It is impossible to state the increase year by year, but it is known that there was ten in 1879. t welkin 1887, nineteen in 1895, and thirty-one in 1911. Of these thirty-one twenty-four are in the grades and seven in the High School.

In 1900 a Supervisor of Music and Art was added to the t caelum: force of the schools, and a teacher in domestic science is contemplate in the near future for the high school and the upper grades of the want schools.

The High School was first organized in the Washington School. The first mention made of it in the available records of the KirksvilK' School District is in the minutes of a Board meeting for April 28. \S*Xl when W. R. Laughlin was elected Principal of the High School at a salary of $50 per month. It is more than likely that some high?eln. work had been done before that, and that this was just the first >t« towards the formal organization of the work beyond the eighth gnu

Owing to the crowded condition of the schools, the High Sch< was moved in 1897 to the Mercantile College building, which lias sin been remodeled into the Harrington theatre. Here it remained im it was installed in the present High School building in 1899-1900.

The teaching force of the High School was at first not over two three. When W. R. Laughlin was elected Principal of the High Sch" for 1893-94, it may be he was the entire High School faculty. From ti;i to time additions have been made until at present there are seven timers giving practically all their time to High School instruction. \\\ this increase in the teaching force it has been possible to organize depar ments and maintain them with some efficiency. The present depar ments are History, English. Sciences. Languages, and Mathemat:* Manual Training. Art and Music are also taught.

Novinc.eh. - The public school of Xovinger has grown up with tli town out of a country school that existed in that vicinity before lh»r was a town. According to some of the older citizens of the town.ti first school house in that vicinity was a log structure of one room whir stood where the Midland church now stands. The teacher was RoUi MeAlister, a full-blooded Irishman. It is said that the second seh<>< house was a frame building of one room which stood on the topnioheight of Pennyroyal Hill. Chester Brown of Pennsylvania ' kr; school" in it. The third one was built at the foot of this hill, and Roh- 1 Dolan was the teacher for a while at least.

It is not possible to state whether the first school was a private >< public school. It may have been supported partly by public fund and partly by private funds. It is more than likely that the secotii one was a public school and there is probably no doubt but that the thin was.

ities were needed, and they were not long in being secured. In 1902 a four room brick building was erected at a cost of S4,00(), but it was burned to the ground within five months after its completion. An eight room brick building was erected immediately on the site of the one burned ami has been in use ever since. It is heated by steam and is fairly modem. It cost $9,000. The funds were not sufficient at the time to erect

Mich a building, but several persons who were vitally interested in the success of the school and saw what its need would shortly be, advanced $3,000 and trusted to the district for a future reimbursement.

In March, 1905, the Xovinger District was made a special district which enabled the voters to make the school levy heavier than in ordinary districts. The Board of Directors was then increased from three to six.

The length of term has been somewhat increased. In 1899 it was -ix months, and in 1904 it was raised to eight months, but in 1905 it was lowered to seven months.

Brashear. - The public school of Brashear is an outgrowth of a country school known as the White School. This was conducted in a school house a short distance of what is now Brashear, which was built in 1857. (). P. Smith is said to have taught the first school in it. J. M. Greenwood, Superintendent of the Kansas City Schools since 1871. taught the school in 1858-59. In a previous section of this chapter a letter from Supt. Greenwood was quoted, giving at length some of thv history of this school and others of that vicinity.

The White School was continued until one was established at Brshcar about 1873 or 1874. The building erected in Brashear was a one-room frame affair, and was used until about 1890, when a two-room frame was built. In 1900 a neat three-room brick was erected at a cost of $4,000.

The Brashear school has shown considerable advancement since the erection of the present building. The course of study has been extended so that some high school work is now being done. The term has been lengthened to eight months. The enrollment now amounts to aboui one hundred.

An effort was made to ascertain who have been Principals from tinbeginning, but the records prior to 1899 are missing, so that the fir-T could not he made up. Prior to 1899 the names of only two Principalhave been found. They are Emma Smith, 1887-88, and M. K. Derfler. 1892-93. The Principals since 1899 are as follows:

Gihhs. - The Gibbs School has grown out of what was known a> the Union School, which was situated about one mile northwest of the present site of Gibbs. near the Union cemetery. A log school buildine was built, there long before the Civil War, and for a number of years a subscription school was conducted in it. The first free public school was opened there in 1807 with an enrollment of about thirty. In that same year a new frame building was erected on a site which is now in the northern part of Gibbs. Some years later another building \va> erected on this same site. Then in 1900 that building was moved to the place where it now stands and another room added to it.

From 1807 to 1900 the school term had not been over seven months, but in 1900 it was raised to eight. The enrollment has been in the neighborhood of 70 ever since 1900. It was 78 in March, 1911.

Coxxelsyille.- The school in this district has an unusual history. During the time of the German communistic colony at Nineveh, the school was located there. After that colony was dissolved the school was removed to the center of the district, which placed it fully one-half mile from any public road. It could be reached only by footpaths through the woods. This building was burned in 1902 and a new one was erected in 1903, west of the former building, so that it is one and one-half miles from the town of Connelsville. This school has been known as the Amick School.

When Connelsville began to grow the need of a school in the town was felt, and for several years an old store building was used. The district was organized as a village school district in 1904 with W. W. Shoop and an assistant as teachers. The next year G. F. Davis was elected as Principal with two assistants. Mr. Davis served until 1901), when J. G. Van Siekel was elected Principal with three assistants.

During the summer of 1909 a modern four-room school building was erected at a cost of $5,500. At present five teachers are employed, and two years of high school work are done. The enrollment in 1910-11