USA > Iowa > Boone County > History of Boone County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 42
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
In 1899, the Gospel Tabernacle Church bought a tract of land on the southeast corner of West Second and State streets and held religious services in an old building standing on the ground. In 1900, a part of the present tabernacle, a frame structure, was erected and occupied. The building answered its purpose for some time but the church continued to grow and greater space for the congrega- tion became imperative, so that, in the year 1912, the capacity of the church edifice was doubled, to accommodate its members, which now number 400, with 300 in the Sunday school, the latter requiring fifteen teachers. The church also maintains six out-stations in Boone County, whose pulpits are supplied from the home center. Work of the tabernacle is also in evidence throughout a district covering nine of the central western states.
BIBLE SCHOOL
In connection with the Gospel Tabernacle Church a Bible school was begun in the fall of 1905, with a small class in a cottage which had been purchased on the southeast corner of West Second and State streets, opposite the Tabernacle.
The object of the school is designed to train young men and women for Christian work of various kinds, such as Sunday school work, preaching in neglected communities and new places. The management always anticipates that some of the pupils will become clergymen and others missionaries. Pupils find in this school oppor-
469
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
tunities for education neglected or beyond their reach under earlier conditions, which prepare them for lives of usefulness in the broad field awaiting their efforts. The tuition of the Bible School is so small that this in itself is an attraction to many students who other- wise would have no chance to prepare themselves for a desired voca- tion. In the two years' course of study a comprehensive review of the Bible is a salient feature of the curriculum.
The school steadily increased in popularity, importance and the number of its pupils, until a larger building became a necessity for the accommodation of the institution. To meet the emergency, a brick building, three stories in height, with a basement, containing sixty rooms, including a complete kitchen and dining room, was erected and completed in the year 1913. This became the home for the training of children, which was begun in 1907 in a cottage in the same block, but east of the Tabernacle. This school covers the grade subjects and high-school work. It gives employment to thir- teen teachers. Music and business courses are taught and the ground work for a manual training school has been planned and put into . operation, which will be increased in appliances and branches to be taught by the year 1915. The expense per pupil in this school is $1.50 per week.
OLD FOLKS' HOME
Another worthy and admirable institution connected with the Gospel Tabernacle Church is the Old Folks' Home-a building which forms an annex to the Bible College and first contained ten rooms to accommodate both men and women. This soon grew to be inadequate for its purposes and in 1913 a handsome brick build- ing was built and in midsummer of 1914, finished. The new build- ing contains fifty-six rooms and now has twelve occupants; others are waiting for admission. The maintenance cost of the Home for cach inmate is $3 per week. Those who desire to enter the Home and have the means are permitted to pay a sum in advance to cover the whole period they may desire to remain, be it short or long. The officials of these institutions are Rev. J. Charles Crawford. president of the Biblical College, with W. H. Latham, business man- ager and treasurer ; J. C. Moore, secretary ; Miss Luella E. Yingling, matron; Miss Della Yingling, principal; trustees, Rev. J. Charles Crawford, chairman; William Ades and F. A. Temple.
In connection with the school a correspondence department is maintained, from which a two years' biblical course is taught by mail.
0
470
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
The school and church also publish a paper known as the Western Christian Alliance. The management maintains its own printing plant, which is located in the basement of the college building. The publication of the paper has continued the past four years under the editorship of Rev. J. Charles Crawford, pastor of the church, and president of the biblical college.
Among other churches in the city is the Free Methodist, organ- ized in 1880. It has a membership of thirty-five. The church is located on Clay Street and the pastor is Rev. N. S. Huddle. The Church of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints is presided over by Elder MeBirnie. There are also the African Methodist Church, organized in 1890, on Harrison and Fourth streets; the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran, organized in 1878, at the corner of Seventh and Carroll streets; and the Salvation Army holds regular meet- ings in a brick building on Greene Street, which was erected by the organization in 1913.
٢١
+
FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE IN BOONE
Keeler Street, between Seventh and Eighth
CHAPTER XXXIX
BOONE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
It was the intention when this history of the county reached a definite plan to devote a chapter covering the matters pertaining to the district and graded schools of the county by townships, villages and cities. C. L. Lucas, of Madrid, consenting to prepare the gen- eral history of the various townships, disarranged the primary idea · of treating of the schools, as he undertook, and has very generously accomplished among other things, the preparation of the schools, both rural and urban, throughout the whole county outside of the City of Boone. The scope of this article, therefore, will simply have its limits within the incorporate City of Boone.
The amount of practical knowledge obtained by and under the public-school system forms the chief factor in the problem of ma- terial prosperity and this system is the sheet anchor and one of the chief foundation stones in this great republic. It is claimed for this country that it is a land of social equality, where all have the same chance in the race of life. This boast, in manner, is fortified by the wonderful results of a free people under a republican form of government during a period of a little over a century. The na- tion and the state have taken a large part in establishing not only schools of a primary character, but graded schools, high schools, normal schools, and colleges, and in this regard Iowa has hardly a peer in the great aggregation of states which make up this grand union of commonwealths known to the world as the Republic of the Unites States.
As Iowa stands foremost among her sister states in its educational institutions, so does Boone take a prominent and enviable position as one of the commonwealth's principal cities. The control of the schools here is vested in a board of education composed of five mem- bers, all of whom are selected by the voters of the district and hold office for a term of three years. To this supervising directory is due much credit for the present excellent standing maintained by
471
472
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
the public institutions of learning built and maintained for the edu- cation of the children of its citizens. The board of education em- ploys a superintendent of schools, to whom is entrusted the general supervision of all the schools of the city, their organization, courses of study and management, under whom is a corps of teachers, whose qualifications are of a high standard.
The first school taught in Boone was in a building made of hewed logs, which stood in the southwestern portion of what is now the Fifth Ward of the city, but at the time of its construction the local- ity was in the central part of Boonesboro. On this same site the present Franklin school building was erected about 1895. C. W. Hamilton, who later was for many years in the public service of the county, presided over this primitive school. The building was not only devoted to the education of the children, but also served as a church and courtroom. It also is not going too far to say that church festivals and dances held forth under its hospitable roof, for in those early days public halls were few and far between. Judge J. B. Mont- gomery, who presided over the County Court, was also a local Meth- odist preacher, and was wont to hold religious services in this old log building. And Judge C. J. McFarland, known far and wide as an able jurist and an eccentric in character, held District Court within its walls. It was here that the boys and girls of pioncer fam- ilies were taught the rudiments of an education, later to make and become active and valued citizens. Some of them are still living, but the majority have passed to their long reward.
David Lutz was the first person to make provisions for the teach- ing of a school in Boone, which became a rival town of old Boones- boro when the Northwestern built its depot and laid out a town some little distance from the old county scat. Mr. Lutz built a house on Seventh Street in the summer of 1865, where he taught the first school in this city. This pioneer pedagogue had borrowed the money to put up his house and met his obligations in part by teaching the children of his creditors. He was a man of fine character, but un- fortunately, had but one arm. He and his wife Helen were char- ter members of the Presbyterian Church.
The Montana independent school district was organized in 1866 and changed to Boone in 1871, as the following extract from an old copy of the school records plainly indicates :
"At an election duly called and held by the electors of the in- dependent school district in Montana, Boone County, lowa, held at the office of G. L. Bittenger, in said Montana, on the 11th day of
M
-
OLD GARFIELD SCHOOL, BOONE
GARFIELD SCHOOL. BOONE
473
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
April, A. D., 1866, being the first meeting held in said district for the choice of officers and organization, George L. Bittenger was chosen chairman, and H. Hudson, secretary of such meeting, where- upon the polls were opened, the ballots duly canvassed and the fol- lowing named persons were declared duly elected for the current year to the several offices, as follows: R. D. Coldren, president of said district; A. B. Holcomb, secretary; H. Burlingame, treasurer; C. E. Phipps, J. Q. Wheat, S. M. Pepper, directors."
This board held no meeting of which there is any record until December 10, 1866, at which time there met in Ford's schoolhouse, President Coldren, Secretary Holcomb and directors Wheat and Pepper. President Coldren opened the meeting, at which I. B. Peck was chosen to fill the vacancy caused by the removal from the state of H. Burlingame. At this meeting the directors elected the first school teacher employed for that purpose in Boone. Of this per- formance the minutes record : "The president was instructed to hire Washington Ford to teach a school for said district for the term of three months, commencing on the 10th day of December, 1866, he to find his own school room and his own fuel, at $55."
The board again met on March 30, 1867, when the directors drew lots to determine their tenure of office. It was then declared that C. E. Phipps drew the long term of three years, J. Q. Wheat the term of two years, and S. M. Pepper the one-year term. Di- rector Phipps made the statement that the treasurer's office was again vacant and moved that A. K. Wells be appointed as the successor of I. B. Peck, which was finally acquisced in by unanimous vote of the members present. The next meeting held was on April 1, 1867, and on this occasion the president was instructed to buy the building known as Union Hall, and the lot on which it stood, the price not to exceed $2,000. He was further instructed to fit the building for a district school and to issue twenty-five bonds of the value of $100 each, payable in one year, at ten per cent, and to sell them on favorable terms to raise the needed money for the great undertaking. He was also instructed to re-engage Washington Ford to teach the school, but to reduce his salary to $50 a month.
It may seem rather strange that the early meetings of the school board are mentioned in detail, but they are of such importance as to be deserving of a prominent part in this sketch. So up to a certain period many of the gatherings of the men placed in charge of the educational operations of this school district will have a place here. These men were in earnest and ambitious to show their good Vol. 1-30
474
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
will and interest in the education of the young people of the com- munity, so much so that they would meet in the evening and adjourn to 9 o'clock the next morning.
In May, 1867, President R. D. Coldren was instructed to hire Mrs. Budd as a teacher at $45 a month, and Miss Hattie Schoon- over, at $30 a month, to teach in Union Hall schoolhouse. As far as is now known these were the first women to become instructors in the public schools of Boone, and it is highly probable from the fact that no mention of his name was made at this time, that the pioneer pedagogue, Washington Ford, was left out in the cold. How- ever, shortly thereafter Mr. Ford submitted a bill to the board for services, which amounted to $165, and at about the same time the board instructed the president to purchase a stove and stovepipe, which had remained in the school building from the time it was purchased as Union Hall. The sum of $20 was paid for the heater. In June of the same year a Mr. Cummings was ordered to pay $2 a month ground rent for a barn which stood on the schoolhouse lot, or in default thereof to remove the building forthwith. Whether he paid his rent or removed the barn the record does not show.
At a meeting held by the board on the 2d of September. 1867, contracts entered into between the board and Mrs. Budd, Miss Schoonover, Washington Ford and Miss Nancy Willis, were ap- proved. At this time the school building had four rooms, in each of which the persons just named presided, but Miss Willis did not remain and was succeeded by Miss Lucy Burlingame. At the No- vember meeting of the same year the teachers' salaries were each raised $5 per month, and J. T. Shaw was engaged at $45 a month.
By the early part of 1868 the children had become so numer- ous that more space became necessary to provide room for them. In March of that year the board voted to build three ward school- houses as speedily as possible, each to be in dimensions 24x40 feet, 14 foot posts, on a good brick foundation, and frame studding to be 2x6 feet. A. V. Newton was employed to prepare plans and speci- fications. Room was so scarce before these buildings were erected that the board voted "That the schools be divided so as to give all an equal chance to go to school; that is, boys go in the forenoon, and girls in the afternoon."
Pursuant to request, Mr. Newton presented plans and specifica- tions and a contract was let for the buildings, one feature of which was that the buildings were to be delivered to the board ready for occupancy sixty days from date of the contract. This agreement
HIGH SCHOOL, BOONE
475
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
was entered into by and between the board, A. V. Newton, Charles T. Culver and Messrs. Schoonover and Tomlinson, the considera- tion being $5,000, to be paid in bonds of the district at ninety cents on the dollar. The contract was approved on the 6th of April, 1868, and on the 22d of the same month the board called a special elec- tion to vote on the issuing of bonds of $12,500, to build two brick ward schoolhouses. It appears that the election was declared off because no schoolhouse sites had been secured, whereupon the board bought lots, called for bids, issued bonds and entered into a con- tract with the firm of Cook & Smith, whose bid for the two brick buildings was $7,892. The plan for the frame buildings was dis- carded and a claim for damages by the contractors was settled for $225.
The records of the school board show that on August 22, 1868, the application of N. E. Goldthwait to serve as principal and super- intendent of schools was considered and he was appointed to that responsible position. A week later Miss Angelina Bush was chosen as assistant in the high school, Mrs. Batchelder and Miss Kate Mc- Neal, first primary, Washington Ford and Hattie Schoonover, sec- ond primary, Nancy Willis, assistant grammar. October 26th the board set the date for beginning school as November 9th. Both the first primary teachers had resigned and Miss Alice Simmons and Miss Emma Treadwell were appointed in their stead. On Novem- ber 9th, as provided for, school opened in the new brick buildings, one of which was in the Second Ward and the other in the Fourth. The number of pupils in the Fourth Ward was 203, and in the Second, 227. In 1869, by reason of the board attempting to pare down his salary, Mr. Goldthwait resigned and was succeeded by C. F. Secord. Others who have served in this capacity were : A. M. Chadwick, 1870; S. F. Burgess, 1870-71; C. C. Chamberlin, 1871- 72; N. E. Goldthwait, 1872-73; C. L. Porter, 1873-74; B. F. Hood, 1874-75; N. E. Goldthwait, 1875-76; W. P. Todd, 1876-79; F. W. Hubbard, 1879-82; B. H. Gass, 1882-86; George I. Miller, 1886- 1901 ; J. C. King, 1901-1909; E. C. Meredith, 1909, and the present incumbent.
N. E. Goldthwait was the first superintendent of schools in Boone, and in 1880 the first class was graduated-twelve years after the school's were graded and organized by him. Previous to this time the only public school was simply a common district school. It will have been noticed that Mr. Goldthwait was elected by the board as superintendent of the city schools on three different occasions.
476
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
In the summer of 1870 steps were taken looking toward build- ing schoolhouses in the Third and First Wards. It being necessary to have additional room, Ives Hall was rented at $2 a day for five days in the week. In vacation the janitors moved all the school fur- niture out of the hall and stored it in the freight room to save rent. Verne Halleck's name appears in the record as being the first janitor, and his salary was about eight dollars a month.
In March, 1872, the county superintendent was asked to bring before the board the examination papers of all persons who had ap- plied for positions in the public schools. He complied with the wishes of the directors and the papers were examined by them and referred to a committee which chose the applicants whose papers reached the highest standard of perfection. Among the ones chosen were Misses Mary Bush, Emma Folsom, Lizzie Hull and Charles Tucker. At this same meeting a committee was appointed to call on Mr. Goldthwait to secure his services as superintendent. They were successful, and again Mr. Goldthwait took up the duties de- volving upon the office.
During the winter of 1874 the lots upon which the Third Ward school building stands were bought, and in May of the following year the school lots in the First and Third Wards were enclosed and planted with shade trees.
The first school buildings erected in Boone were the two four- room brick buildings, one located in the Second Ward, and the other in the Fourth Ward. These were erected in 1867 at the contract price of $7,892. In 1878 a four-room brick building was erected in the First Ward. That same year the high-school building was erected in the Third Ward and a west wing added in 1886. The Bryant building was erected in 1892, at a cost of $13,000, and the Franklin in 1893, the contract price being $13,100. In 1901 four rooms were added to the Lowell school in the First Ward, at a cost of $7,500, and the Page school, one of the finest in the city, named in honor of S. R. Page, for many years secretary of the board, was built on South Boone Street, in 1901, at a cost of $14,500. In the year 1913 a beautiful high-school building was erected on Sixth and Crawford, facing the park. Its cost with the lots amounted to about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
The citizens of Boone are proud of their public schools, as well they might be. The buildings are all substantially constructed and afford practically every facility devised by educators of advanced ideas. Teachers employed are required to meet a high standard in
777777 777111
--
PAGE SCHOOL, BOONE
-
-
LOWELL SCHOOL, BOONE
477
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
all the essentials to be taught in the schools and their compensation is on a ratio that is not below that of any city of like proportions in the state. No high school building in lowa surpasses that of Boone's in its chaste and artistic elegancies of architectural design. The interior arrangements are superb and here the advanced pupil meets with every desire in the way of studies and advantages of the mod- ern schools. A graduate from the Boone High School can matricu- late in most, if not all, the colleges of the United States.
CHAPTER XL
THE POSTOFFICE
The history of the Boone postoffice is peculiar in that it relates, in the matter of names, to more than one place. The first office, established in 1850, was located at a point one and one-half miles south of Boonesboro and was given the name of Booneville. Sam- uel H. Bowers, by appointment under the administration of Millard Fillmore, filled the position of postmaster, and had the distinction of being the first person in Boone County to occupy a Federal posi- tion.
The postoffice did not long remain under the designation of Booneville. In 1851 the official effects were removed to Boones- boro, into a log building belonging to Wesley C. Hull, the first house put up in the town. It was built of logs and stood immediately east of the public square. For years this modest double log cabin served the public as a hotel, residence, business house, courthouse, post- office, public hall and a place for general amusements, such as church socials, dances and the like. The office remained here until 1866, when the rival town of Boone developed sufficient strength to wrest the office away from the parent town and establish itself in what eventually developed into the present city of Boone. This consum- mation was not attained, however, without a long and embittered struggle between the two towns for supremacy. Montana, now known as Boone, was made the station of the Chicago & North- western Railroad, and grew to that extent that its people became wearied of traversing the distance of a mile or more to Boonesboro for their mail and arrived at that point in their ambition that they aspired to having a postoffice established in the new town. To this end an effort was made to further their ambition, but Boonesboro combated and fought against the proposition and succeeded. This caused ill feeling between the two communities and acted as a spur to increase the activities of Montana in its determination to have a postoffice. The Montana people finally succeeded in making the
479
480
HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
authorities at Washington believe that there "was an impassable slough" between the two towns and this delusion, backed by the potent influence of sundry expert wire-pullers, secured to Montana its desire.
The first postmaster, occupying the position in Boone, was A. Downing, whose official connection with the office began in March, 1866, and terminated in December of that year. His successor was A. J. Roberts, who remained in the office from December, 1866 to 1870. From then on the following named persons held this respon- sible position: W. H. Adams, 1870-73; J. M. Brainard, 1873-77; N. C. Galpin, it appears, was in the office in 1880 and Dr. Deering, father of the present Dr. A. B. Deering, was the efficient incumbent and served the people of Boone in headquarters established in the building next south of the MeCune shoe store on Story Street.
The first Cleveland administration began in March, 1885, and the appointee of the local postoffice was J. Hornstein, who retained the headquarters in the same building occupied by his predecessor. He was followed by W. B. Means, who was appointed during the administration of Benjamin Harrison.
William Bremmerman, who unfortunately became a defaulter, was appointed during the Cleveland administration in the early 'gos. He removed the office from the west side of Keeler Street, to Story Street and from thence to just north of the present City Trust & Savings Bank. Eventually, the postoffice inspector made his appearance without any warning and found a deficiency in ac- counts to the amount of about three thousand dollars. Mr. Brem- merman was removed and after the office had been placed in the custody of his bondsmen, it was turned over to J. Hornstein, as the custodian and postmaster. William McKinley, the third martyr President of the United States, was inducted into office on the 4th of March, 1897, and it was under his administration that W. B. Means was for the second time appointed postmaster. Mr. Mc- Kinley was shot by an assassin while attending the Buffalo Exposi- tion in September, 1901. His death occurred a few weeks there- after and Theodore Roosevelt, who had been elected on the ticket with him as vice president, automatically became the chief magis- trate of the United States and was sworn into office. Subsequently he reappointed Mr. Means as postmaster of Boone.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.