Harrison County, Missouri - Chapter 19: Early Schools, 1921

THE LOG SCHOOL HOUSE - "SUBSCRIPTION SCHOOLS" - FIRST SCHOOL IN HARRISON COUNTY - FIRST TEACHERS - EARLY WOMEN TEACHERS - FIRST TEACHERS' MEETINGS - PRIVATE SCHOOLS - PROMINENT EDUCATORS - SCHOOL DISTRICTS ORGANIZED - PRESENT SCHOOLS - THE UNIT DAW - PROGRESS.

As soon as a settlement became strong enough a log school house would be erected and the children sent to school, for the settlers believed in education and in their general talk expressed their knowledge of the great inconvenience of being without it. They looked forward to a time when they beheved this would become a very desirable country, well settled up, and expected that they who were here first and had choice of best lands would be well fixed, and wished their children to be educated and able to maintain their position and dignity. Besides these people had come from where such advantages existed and knew the value of same and did not look for this to remain a new and wild country. No burdensome school tax was laid, each paid his own school bill direct to the teacher - no portion of it was lost, or stolen by dishonest officers.

The early schools which were thus maintained by paying a specified amount per pupil to the teacher thereof by the patrons were commonly known as "subscription schools." The problem of maintaining schools of any efficiency under the pioneer conditions of the early days were difficult. The communities were sparsely settled and famihes lived far apart and therefore the attendents to any one of these subscription schools was very limited and accordingly the teacher's income from this method of livelihood was very limited. The early schools in Harrison County were generally taught by men in small log structures with puncheon or dirt floors and the buildings were furnished with crude benches made of split logs. Great fire places furnished the heat and the omission of a log from the wall admitted light. Books were scarce in these pioneer settlements and at first there was no such thing as a school being equipped with a blackboard. At first there were no slates and paper was so scarce and high priced that it was practically prohibitive. From these small beginnings and under such difficult conditions the public school system of Harrison County has grown through years to its present state of efficiency, until today the public schools of Harrison County will compare favorably with those of any other part of the state.

The first school of Harrison County was taught by Jonas R. Gray in 1846. This was at Bethany and the school was conducted in a hewed log building which was erected for church and school purposes and stood about a quarter of a mile east of the town limits. There is little information obtainable as to the literary or professional qualifications of Jonas R. Gray, who conducted this school, and we are also lacking in data as to who the pupils were and the number in attendance. William Fleming was another teacher who also taught in this building during the fifties. William G. Lewis, who later became a distinguished member of the Harrison County bar and was prominent in the affairs of Harrison County for many years, was a teacher for a short time in the pioneer schools of Bethany and was one of the first thoroughly accomplished educators of the county of whom we have a record. Among the early teachers here were also F. M. Goodpastore, L. T. Morris, Doctor Skinner and Mr. Clendenning, John R. Kirk, who was later state superintendent of schools and president of the Kirksville Normal School, served as principal of the Bethany schools in 1876-77, and later he was employed as superintendent of the Bethany schools. Among the early women teachers of the Harrison County schools were Vashti Palmer, Ruth and Anna Carpenter, Rebecca A. Miller (who taught at old Fairview Church, immortalized by E. W. Howe's "Story of a County Town." Mr. Howe was one of her pupils), Henrietta Springer, Viola Bunch, Esther Miller and Agnes Cochran.

In 1859 the Bethany Star contains the first public notice of a teachers' meeting, which was to be held in Bethany, and is signed by L. T. Morris. The names of Mrs. Eliza Patch and Miss E. J. Harris are among the first recorded in connection with school work. Notice of a select school to be opened in Bethany with "English and ornamental branches taught" is signed by Ella J. Harris. In local papers published from 1860 to 1862 are notices of schools taught by Miss Sally Trimble, Miss Belle Ramer, Mrs. Steward and other women. Upon the completion of a new school building in Bethany in 1871, Prof. R. A. Lovitt is named as principal with Miss

Mary U. Kessler, Mrs. J. Stewart and Mrs. S. C. German as associate teachers. From this time teachers' meetings became more frequent and proved of great value to earnest and ambitious young teachers whose education advantages had been Hmited. Miss Kessler, a woman of culture, well trained in professional lines and of gracious personality, was especially helpful to other young women teachers. Mrs. German, a successful primary teacher who held that position in the Bethany schools for a period of fourteen years, by her experience and advice, was of great assistance to her fellow teachers. Miss Jennie Goodell is also mentioned as a teacher who helped to lay educational foundations in this section. Later Mrs. N. E. Conner, fresh from the State Normal School, began work in Harrison County and for years was a definite factor in the field, conducting classes in the summer schools for teachers and bringing normal school methods to those who were unable to attain them first hand.

The first log school building in the vicinty of Bethany above referred to was destroyed by fire and afterwards a small brick school house of a single apartment was erected in the southern part of the town. On account of the increased attendance this building was found inadequate for school purposes and in 1871 another school building was erected. In the meantime vacant rooms in various parts of the town were secured for school purposes and at one time school was taught in the Christian Church. In 1870 the independent school district of Bethany was organized and the following were the members of the first board of education: H. M. Cuddy, El Hubbard, J. D. Wilson, W. R. Simms, H. D. Dougherty and Thomas D. Neal. In 1871 the following board of directors were elected: H. E. Dougherty, D. S. Alvord, C. J. Blackburn, D. J. Heaston, H. M. Cuddy and John Taggart. The first official act of this board was the reorganization and grading of the schools into four departments, high school, grammar school, intermediate and primary departments.

There are now ten high schools within the borders of Han-ison County .nnd the total number of teachers employed in this county are 196 and the enrolled pupils number 5,292.

At this time also the people of the state are in the throes of the referendum over an act in relation to public schools known as the county unit bill, which some contend will place the schools in the front rank.

The writer will not here state either his opinion or the conflicting views now in discussion, but content himself by declaring that the people even of so great a state as Missouri do not always all keep pace in all great problems at the same time, but all take problems one at a time and step by step until all the progress that may be conceived of has been put in motion and in time arrive at the best.