Cooper County, Missouri - Chapter 16: Schools, 1919

Chapter 16: Schools

The history of the schools of Cooper County would be the history of its people. For whenever and wherever Americans have been thrown together there has invariably been a school established. The first schools of Cooper County were rude, crude affairs, with dirt floors and split log benches. And the teachers were picturesque characters who were possessed with more cunning than brains, and preferred this easy method of eking out a precarious existence to one of hardship and toil incident to the work in the frontier country. The teacher "boarded out" among the families lie served and received as wage often as much as ten or fifteen dollars per month which was collected as tuition. All schools prior to the year 1839 were strictly private affairs, since it was not until this year that any adequate provision was made by the state for the establishment of public schools. At this time the common school fund, the county school fund, and the township school fund were constituted, by legislative enactment, and the money derived from the sale of the sixteenth section to be invested and the proceeds be used for the advancement of the public schools of the state was again reaffirmed.

The first school in the present limits of Cooper County was taught by John Savage in the year 1813, about one mile east of Boonville, on Lilly's Branch. There were fifteen pupils, as follows: Benjamin, Delany and

William Bolin, Hiram and William Savage, Hess and William Warden, John and William Yarnall, John and William Jolly, Joseph and William Scott, John and William Rup'e. John and William seem to have been choice names for boys in this early day, and unless girls were named John and William they were evidently in the minority at this time or else their education was neglected. The pupils sat upon one log in the open air and the teacher upon another log facing his pupils. The tuition was one dollar per month, payable in anything the settler had that was worth one dollar. This school continued only one month. Fear of an attack by the Indians who commenced a series of depredations about this time caused the settlers to keep their children under the protecting walls of the fort. During the period from 1813 to 1820 Judge Abiel Leonard, William H. Moore, Dr. Edward Lawton looked after the education of the boys and girls of the early settlers of Boonville. The first school house in Boonville was a brick building located near the residence of Dr. M. McCoy.

In the early schools of Cooper County the subjects taught were reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and English grammar, their importance indicated by the order in which they are enumerated.

As the population increased and the desire for more and better facilities for education became general, the academy grew up in answer to the demand for "higher education". The academy that flourished in Missouri from 1820 to 1890 was an outgrowth of the old English grammar school that very early put in its appearance in New England embellished with the ideas that permeated the "Aristocratic" private schools of the south prior to the Civil War, notably those that flourished in Virginia and Kentucky.

Among the early schools of Cooper County outside of Boonville was a subscription school taught by Henry Severns. It met in an old log house which was located across the road from whei-e the home of Mr. R. S. Roe, of the Bell Air neighborhood, is now located. This school was maintained during the early forties, and prospered until the public school of Bell Air was established. It is asserted, on good authority, that Prof. Severns' salary was sixty-five dollars, but whether this means for the month or for the year I have found it impossible to ascertain.

Davis School. - By D. R. Culley. - "Prior to the close of the Civil War no public school organization existed as we now have it in this district.

A teacher desiring a school would canvass a neighborhood and have the parents subscribe so many pupils for a specified term at so much per month. Hence, schools were then known in the country as subscription schools.

About the year 1854 the Baptists erected a church building about a mile southwest of the present school building and some two miles east of Vermont. It was built in the southeast corner of the farm now owned and occupied by W. H. H. Rowles and family. This was known as Hopewell Baptist Church and was used for both church and school purposes. It was a typical building of those days. It was built of hewed walnut logs and was about twenty feet square; there was a small window in the middle of the east wall and one in the west wall; batten doors were in the middle of the north and south sides ; a high, home made pulpit in the west end, and home made benches fronting west. It was here that the residents of the community and those for miles around congregated once a month, in large numbers, to get the news as well as to hear the preacher. Whole families were present and the good ladies served dinners that could not be surpassed anywhere.

During the year 1859, the citizens erected a good, modern building about three-quarters of a mile to the west and a mile east of Vermont. This was known as Vermont Academy. D. R. Culley was employed as teacher for a term of ten months at a salary of $60.00 per month.

This was probably the first time a teacher was employed in this district at a fixed salary. This school continued for five years when conditions growing out of the Civil War caused many families to move elsewhere and the community as known prior to 1860 was almost entirely broken up.

In the fall of the year 1858, D. R. Culley opened a school in the church building and it was intended to serve the purpose of an academy as well as to meet the demands of what would now be termed the graded course in our district schools. The term continued for ten months. The larger boys attended for the full term and were not taken out of school as now, to assist with the farm work. It was also observed that the pupils were more advanced in years than now. There were no grades. If a pupil could make two grades during the term well and good, and many of the

Pupils from other counties came here and boarded with families near by. Young men walked a distance of four or five miles and of those now living are our best and most prominent citizens. The late Rev. A. E. Rogers, D. D., attended this school for three years and he often remarked, that it was here that he received the best training that which was of the most worth in after life.

Rev. Rockwell Smith, D. D., for many years a missionary to Brazil, was an unusually bright young man who began his literary career here. Those who in after life became bankers, civil officers, financiers, the best of farmers and the best and most useful citizens as well, received their early school training here.

After the close of the Civil War, the regular organization of what is now termed our public school system as observed in our district schools, took place."

A subscription school was maintained before the war, in the Greenwood district, in a small house erected by Mrs. William Guyer for a Methodist church. It was used as school and church both until it burned several years later. Pisgah was formerly a part of the Greenwood district. About 1887 an effort was made to divide the district. The Pisgah people insisted that they did not want to send their children to Greenwood because the children carried ticks, and the Greenwood vicinity came back at them with the argument that the Pisgah children had fleas. The fight between the factions became so heated that in the latter part of the year 1887 the district was divided. This shows the length to which neighborhood quarrels may be carried.

There were enumerated in the Cooper County schools for the year ending June 30, 1918, 4,307 white children and 741 colored, a grand total of 5,048. The enrollment shows a total of 3,802 white pupils and 651 colored. These pupils attended school 439,673 days, and there was spent on them during the year $100,230, of which $71,921.51 was spent for teachers' wages, $16,176.32 for incidentals, and $12,132.17 for building purposes.

average levy for school purposes was 57 cents on $100 valuation. In the spring of 1918 there were 203 pupils finishing the common school course of study, and there were all told throughout the county 141 teachers in the public schools, teaching in 76 districts. The average salary of these teachers was $67 per month.

Although Missouri ranks thirty-second in the matter of education and although little progress has been made in the rural schools in the state as a whole, Cooper County, however, has made marked progress in the building up of a system of up-to-date school with modern buildings and competent teachers.

It has been said that should a Rip Van Winkle wake up in a modern barn he would realize that he had slept 150 years, but should his waking take place in the average Missouri rural school he would turn over to finish his nap. Be this as it may. Cooper County is fast forging to the front among the counties of Missouri in the matter of efficient rural schools and when this spirit of improvement and progress permeates the whole of its citizenship, Cooper County schools through the generosity of its people and because of their pride in the boys and girls, will be made the best possible, and the rural community will offer to its children the same advantages now enjoyed by the city children.

The Public Schools of Boonville. - The Missouri Legislature during its session passed March 12, 1867 an act authorizing cities, towns, and villages to organize for school purposes. On the 29th of the same month the following notice was issued:

R. F. W Van'S Resident E. Main Street. Hooxeyieee

"The undersigned resident free holders of the city of Boonville request an election of the qualified voters of said city at the mayor's office on Tuesday, April 9, 1867, to determine whether they will accept the provisions of an act authorizing any city, town or village to organize for school purposes, with special privileges, approved March 16, 1867 ; and organize said city in accordance therewith. - C. W. Sombart, H. L. Wallace John Bernard, Thos. Plant, J. L. Stephens, Nicholas Walz, Stephen Weber, J. P. Neef, Jacob Zimmer, E. Roeschel, J. F. Gmelich, John Fetzer.

The election was held April 9, 1867, at which 30 votes were cast, 29 for and one against organization for school purposes. On the 23d of the same month the following citizens were elected to constitute the Board of Education: Jos. L. Stephens, Jos. A. Eppstein, C. W. Sonbart, John Bernard, H. A. Hutchison, Franklin Swap.

The schools were opened Sep. 23, 1867, with Joseph C. Mason, principal, and Mrs. Clara Atkinson, Mrs. Mary E. Schaefer, and Miss M. E. McKee, assistants in the school for white children, and S. G. Bundy and wife teachers in that for colored pupils.

The enrollment during the first year was as follows: White children, 377 ; colored, 199 ; a total of 576. But the average attendance of white children was only 207, and of the colored only 77 - making a total average attendance of only 284. It is interesting to note that the enumeration at this time was 1,302.

Two wings were added to the original building in 1870, which constitute the north and south wings of the building at the present time. In 1896 the original center of the building was torn down and a new center erected.

The high school from this time on developed rapidly and soon outgrew the cramped quarters afforded at the Central school. So a special election was held March 2, 1914 and $65,000 voted for the erection of a modern high school building, 587 votes being cast for and 219 against the bond issues. The new building was completed Sept. 1, 1915 at a cost (including furniture and equipment) of about $85,000 and is recognized as one of the finest in the state. The building was named "The Laura Speed Elliott High School" in honor of and as a memorial to the deceased wife of Col. Jno. S. Elliott who presented to the Board of Education and through them to the citizens of Boonville the site on which the building stands. (17)

The Laura Speed Elliott High School building consists of 25 rooms including auditorium, gymnasium, library, cooking room, sewing room, commercial department, laboratories, class rooms and offices. It has modern heating, ventilating and lighting systems, and is used by various organizations as a community center.

Following the modern trend in education, Boonville is adapting the curriculum of her schools to meet the twentieth century demands. Courses that have been added in recent years are agriculture, bookkeeping, typewriting, stenography, cooking, sewing, general science, teacher-training, Spanish, French and vocational home economics.

The trend in education is away from the strictly classical course to the more practical, but none the less cultural, semi-vocational course, which has for its aim the making of better citizens, better able to take their place in the complex modern society and earn an honest living. If the school does not develop better men and women, a higher type of citizen, out of the material it takes in, then it is a failure.

Modern education looks to the development of a healthy body along with a trained mind. Too often in the past we have ignored the health of the child in our endeavor to educate him, as a result the present generation is only about sixty per cent, efficient physically. A large share of the blame for this condition must be assumed by the schools.

Statistics obtained by the army in the recent draft show that practically one-third of the young men were physically inferior and that seventy-five per cent, of this inferiority could have been overcome had the right training been administered at the proper time. The schools, therefore, must wake up to the necessity for adequate physical training, which is of even more importance than mental training. Because the first requisite for a sound mind is a sound body. Mental development at the expense of physical well-being is not only undesirable but nonsensical. Physical training in the school need not interfere with mental training but should rather supplement it. The universal criticism of athletics in the past has been that it is administered to the five per cent, rather than the hundred per cent. In the modern school the health of the pupil is of first considei-ation and each is given the training best calculated to fit him for a vigorous, healthy, successful life.

which we are justly proud. It may be of interest to review the list of citizens who have served on the Board of Education, and the superintendents who have come and gone.

The high school enrollment during the past year was 204. This is a 15 per cent, increase over the year previous. Sixty-four of these pupils were from the rural districts.

There were enumerated in the Boonville school district May 1, 1919, 795 white children and 194 colored - a total of 989, and the total enrollment during the school year was 728.

Sumner School, Boonville. - The Sumner school for colored children was established in 1868 and has been open continuously since that time at the corner of Fourth and Spruce streets.

The following statistics that are taken from the 1910 census of the United States will give some idea of the effectiveness of the work of this school.

The census of 1910 gives the colored population of Boonville, 910. The number of illiterate is given as 124, which shows that illiteracy among the colored people in our city has been reduced from 100 per cent, in 1869 to less than 12 per cent in 1910.

Following the same line of investigation, the Boonville colored people compare favorably with those of the other cities and towns of the state.

The motto of the school is "Grow or Go," and every one is so busy that the loafer or laggard so inbibes the spirit of work from the atmosphere surrounding him, that sooner or later he takes up the work with a hearty good will.

All children old enough to help the family and themselves are encouraged to work outside of school hours, because it is found that the child who is kept busy makes a better scholar than the loafer or idler. In other words, it is more of a help than a handicap to be forced to work.

The Sumner High School was established in 1884. The first pupil graduated in 1886. This pupil afterwards attended Oberlin College and is now one of the prominent teachers in the state. Since this time some thirty-eight classes have finished the two-year high school course.

More than 50 per cent, have gone to the higher institutions of learning, where they finished courses in medicine, law, pharmacy, nurse-training, teaching, theology, engineering, commercial business course, etc. But one of the greatest benefits has been received by the rank and file of the race, as shown by the improved conditions of the colored people of our city.

The number of taxpayers has increased from none in 1869 to 161 at present; besides, the colored people own two good churches, two parsonages and one lodge hall valued at $5,000.

A new six-room building, modern in every respect, was completed in 1916. Courses in cooking, sewing and manual training have been added to the curriculum.

Catholic Parochial School, Boonville, 1848. - The Catholic church was built in Boonville in the year 1848, and the school was started soon thereafter. It is an elementary school teaching only the first eight grades of school work. Examinations are given twice each year by the priest. There are at the present time two teachers and one housekeeper in charge of the school, and they have sixty-seven pupils enrolled.

Cooper County Institute, 1863. - The Cooper County Institute was established at Boonville in 1863, by the Reverend X. X. Buckner, a Baptist minister. It was sold in 1865 to Q. W. Marston who had charge of it until the year 1868. It was discontinued from 1868 to 1870 at which time Professor Anthony Haynes took charge and. moved it to a suite of rooms over the Stephen's Opera House. Later it was moved to the building now known as the Quinly apartments. In addition to the conducting of a successful day school Professor Haynes had a boarding department which proved very popular to the people of Cooper County who were at a distance from Boonville and out of touch with educational advantages. The school was maintained until the year 1877 when Professor Haynes was forced to give up his chosen work on account of ill health.

Prairie Home Institute was founded at Prairie Home in 1865 by Rev. A. H. Misseline. In the fall of 1869 it was sold to the public school district by Washington A. Johnston. In May, 1871, it was converted into a co-educational boarding school. The building with its contents was destroyed by fire in 1874. A new building was substituted for the old and school reopened April, 1875, and continued until 1880. After 1880 the school had a precarious existence, being alternately opened and closed, and was finally forced to close altogether a few years later.

The Otterville Academy was organized in the year 1891. Prof. Wm. Curlin was employed as the first principal. He stayed with the school two years. The school closed in 1907.

McGuire Seminary was established in Boonville, Mo., in 1892, by Mrs. Julia McGuire. This was a very select school for young ladies and offered an exceedingly fine course in music. Mrs. McGuire died in 1902. Mrs. Roller took charge of the school and attempted to keep it up to its former high standard of excellence and enrollment, and she succeeded until 1905, when discouraged because of the lack of interest that was manifest in private schools and academies, generally, at this time, it was closed.

Kemper Military Schools. - This large enterprise and distinguished school, like all other affairs worthy of growth and development, had a small and humble beginning. In 1844, Professor F. T. Kemper located in Boonville and started a private school which in the course of years became known as the Kemper Family School. This school opened with but five students, only one of whom, D. C. Mack, was a Boonville boy. The school was conducted in a humble frame building that stood on the corner of Morgan and Spring streets, on the present site of the Citizen's Trust Company building. A little frame house situated a little farther west was the residence of the school family and another small house served as an office to piece out the scanty accommodations.

Mr. Kemper did all the instructing himself and by the end of the year the enrollment of students had increased to 35 and a portion of the second story of the building now known as the Green Hotel was secured for the school. The next year a location for a permanent home for the school was secured where it and its famed successor, the Kemper Military School, has ever since remained. Professor Kemper was a ripe scholai% an elegant gentleman, and possessed of a strong personality which he impressed upon his pupils. During the years the Kemper Family School became noted for its discipline and thoroughness. Soon after founding the school, Kemper associated with himself the brothers Tyre C. and James B. Harris. This association, however, continued but a short time. In the early history of the school there were also associated with Kemper, James and John Chandler, William and Roberdeau Allison and J. A. Quarrels; and again during the Civil War the school was under the joint management of Mr. Kemper and Edwin Taylor, brother of Mrs. Kemper. During the years from 1867 to 1868, Mr. R. Allison was associated in the management. It was in the year 1867 that T. A. Johnston, now the superintendent of the Kemper Military School, entered this family school as a student and continued thus until 1871 when he entered the State University of Missouri where in 1872 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, later receiving the degree of Master of Arts, and at once returned to Boonville and became associate principal of the Kemper Family School. The management of the school was thus continued until the death of Professor Kemper in 1881. The school then passed to the management and control of T. A. Johnston and continued under this management to prosper with an ever widening patronage. Yet its growth was not phenomenal as has been that of the Kemper Military School. From 1865 until 1890, 50 was the average enrollment. Col. T. A. Johnston with a far sighted vision realized the changing conditions, and gradually converted the institution into what now is known throughout the length and breadth of the land as the "Kemper Military School." It was not until 1904 that the enrollment of 100 was reached, and in 1909, 150 students appeared at Kemper while in 1916 saw an enrollment of 217 ; and this year, 1919, a total enrollment of 527. The Kemper Military School represents an investment of half a million dollars. It occupies 30 acres of ground and has five modern barracks, two study halls, an auditorium that will seat 500, a gymnasium, library, manuel training and machine shops and employs 29 teachers and officers. For the last five years it has been among the 10 Honor Military Schools of the United States and this year ranks second among the 10, and is the first in rank of the military schools west of the Mississippi River.

The Pilot Grove Collegiate Institute is but a memory, dear to the students and instructors who once occupied and spent pleasant and instructive days within its walls. This institution had its beginning in the establishment of a private school by the Rev. Geo. Eichelberger, in 1878 in a two story frame building located where are now the residences of J. A. Thompson and R. A. Harriman, in the city of Pilot Grove, Missouri. In 1879, Prof. Charles Newton Johnson organized a company and purchased this building from Mr. Eichelberger. He had associated with him his mother, Mrs. C. B. Johnson, and the school flourished from the beginning. It was chartered in 1881 as the Pilot Grove Collegiate Institute and during this year he had also associated with him W. F. Johnson, the author of this volume. Prof. Chas. N. Johnson died in the summer of 1882. The management of the school then fell into the hands of Prof. Chas. B. Johnson (the father of C. N. and W. F. Johnson) and W. F. Johnson and under this management it was continued until 1887, or 1888 increasing in enrollment year by year.

At this time Prof. Chas. Foster and D. L. Roe purchased and became the proprietors of the school and conducted the same for several years when Prof. Foster retired and Prof. Roe continued the management. Prof. Roe was eventually succeeded by Prof. Taylor and he in turn by Prof. Buckmeister who conducted a private school in the college building for two or three years when he gave up teaching. The property has been

This school drew its patronage not only from many counties in the state but from other states especially Kentucky and Tennessee and had pupils from a distance varying1 from sixty-five to eighty and an enrollment in all averaging from 150 to 175 pupils.