USA > Iowa > Marion County > History of Marion County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 26
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
equipment of his mine equal to that of any in the Marion County field.
Besides the mining projects already mentioned there are or have been several other mining enterprises in the county. Notable among these are or were the Marion County Coal Company, of Otley; the Wild Rose and Midland Coal companies, of Morgan Valley; the Black Diamond Coal Company, of Dunreath, and the Red Rock Coal and Mining Company. The last named was organized in 1883, eastern capital being interested, and over four thousand acres of land in Red Rock Township was purchased, but the company disbanded without sinking a shaft. It is said that the reason for this course was that the land was purchased without careful prospecting and was afterward found to be practically worthless as a mining proposition. About half the land is still owned by the company or its stockholders in the vicinity of Dunreath. The mines at Morgan Valley have been abandoned for several years and the one at Dun- reath is worked only on a small scale. A volume might be written on the coal industry of Marion County, if all the various phases of the business were treated in detail, but enough has been said to show the importance of the coal field as a commercial factor in the county's history.
MANUFACTURING
Marion has never been much of a manufacturing county, as com- pared with some of the other counties of the state. Necessity com- pelled the establishment of saw and grist mills in the early days, and these were the first manufacturing enterprises. Accounts of many of these early mills have been already given in the chapters on Town- ship History. The first grist mill in Knoxville was built by John M. Jones, about 1860. It was located in the western part of the city and later Mr. Jones added a woolen mill, which did a prosperous busi- ness for several years. In 1875 Mr. Jones sold out to the Lever Brothers and removed to Mahaska County. The woolen mill feature was then abandoned and the flour mill was afterward sold to Martin Cherry, who continued to operate it until some time in the late '8os, when the building was torn down.
Another manufacturing industry of Knoxville in the years gone by was the Baker Barbed Wire Fence Company, which carried on a successful business for some years, when the plant was removed to Des Moines. In 1914 the building was occupied by Seth Way & Com- pany, dealers in hay and grain. At that time the only manufacturing
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concerns of consequence in the city were the three flour mills, operated respectively by Isaac Beebout, E. C. Pringle and the Schimelfinig Brothers; the cement block works of E. C. Pringle, and a similar fac- tory conducted by Leopold Liike.
About three hundred people are employed in the different manu- facturing enterprises of Pella. Foremost among these stands the Pella Stacker Company, which makes stackers, band cutters and threshing machine feeders. The Garden City band cutter is the invention of A. C. Van Houweling, a Pella man, and it is meeting with the approval of threshermen who have given it a trial. The Pella Roller Mills ship large quantities of flour ; tanks for watering live stock are made by the Pella Pipe and Tank Works and sent all over Southern Iowa; the tile factory ships drain tile to all parts of Central and Southern Iowa and to some of the adjoining states; Pella canned goods are well known, as are the Buerkens wagons; the Heeran Furniture Factory employs a number of people, and other factories turn out overalls, cigars, har- ness and ditching machinery.
Vol. 1-17
CHAPTER XV
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
EARLY SCHOOLHOUSES-THEIR FURNITURE-COURSE OF STUDY SPELLING SCHOOLS-FIRST SCHOOLS IN MARION COUNTY-PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM-PERMANENT SCHOOL FUND-SCHOOL REVENUES OF THE COUNTY IN 1914-MODERN BUILDINGS-CENTRAL COLLEGE AT PELLA-THE PRESS- SHORT HISTORIES OF THE COUNTY PAPERS -PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
The boys and girls who enjoy the educational facilities offered by the public schools of Marion County in the year 1914, and per- haps many of their parents, can hardly realize the difficulties that beset the ambitious youth of the pioneer days in the acquisition of an education. At that time there were no public funds for the crec- tion of schoolhouses and paying teachers. The first schoolhouses were built by the cooperation of the settlers. When a sufficient num- ber of settlers had located in a neighborhood to justify the opening of a school they would get together and erect a schoolhouse at some central point, where it would be convenient for the largest number of children. The early temples of learning were invariably con- structed of logs, with clapboard roof and puncheon floor-sometimes the puncheons were lacking-and a great fireplace at one end. If money enough could be obtained, by "taking up a collection," to pur- chase sash and glass a real window would be placed in each side of the schoolhouse. If not, a long section of one of the logs on each side would be left out and the openings covered with oiled paper. mounted on a framework of slender strips of wood. This arrange- ment would admit the light on bright, sunny days fairly well, but in dark, cloudy weather the eyes of the pupils were sorely tested to study their lessons.
The furnishings of the schoolroom were of the most primitive character. No maps or pictures decorated the walls. Seats were made by splitting a tree of some eight or ten inches in diameter in halves, smoothing the split sides with a draw-knife, then boring holes in the half-round sides with a large auger and inserting pins for legs.
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
These legs would stand at an angle that would keep the bench from tipping over. The benches thus formed were of different heights, to accommodate children of different ages. Under the window holes were bored in the wall at a slight angle downward and into these holes were driven stout pins to support a wide board, the top of which would be planed smooth, for a writing desk. Here the pupils could take their turns at writing.
The text books were generally Webster's spelling book, the Eng- lish or McGuffey's readers, Pike's, Daboll's or Ray's arithmetics. If geography was taught Mitchell's or Olney's text books were used, and in some instances a few pupils would study Butler's or Kirk- ham's grammar. Normal schools were then unknown and the teacher of that early day was rarely a graduate of a higher institution of learning. If he showed an ability to read and spell, could write well enough to "set copies" for the pupils to follow, and could "do all the sums" in the arithmetic up to and including the "Rule of Three," as simple proportion was then called, he was considered sufficiently well qualified to teach. In addition to these essentials there was one qualification that could not be overlooked. The teacher must be a man of enough physical strength to enforce discipline and keep the unruly and boisterous boys in order. For this reason women were not often employed as teachers, except in cases where only small children attended the school. At the opening of the term the school- master would bring into the schoolroom a supply of tough switches, which were displayed as a sort of prophylactic, and the pioneer peda- gogue then proceeded on the theory that "to spare the rod was to spoil the child." Not many children were spoiled, as the rod was brought into requisition upon the slightest provocation.
Learning the "A B Cs" was the first thing required of the child. After he could distinguish most of the letters by sight, he was taught to spell simple words. On the theory that no one could read properly until he had learned to spell well, more attention was given to orthog- raphy during the child's early school years than to any other branch of study. As a further encouragement to good spelling contests were frequently held of evenings and in these spelling schools many of the parents participated. Two captains would be selected to "choose up." The choice was decided by tossing a broomstick or cane from one of the captains to the other. Then from the place where it was caught the two would alternately place their hands above each other and the one who held the stick at the top so that there was no hold left for the other gained the right to choose first. It is unnecessary to say that his choice was always the best known speller present, unless he
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
was partial to some pretty girl that he feared to offend by selecting some one else. After the spellers were divided into two equal sides the teacher "gave out" the words alternately from side to side. When one missed a word he took his seat, and thus the match went on until only the victor was left standing. To "spell down" a whole school district was considered quite an achievement.
As soon as the child could spell reasonably well he was given the First Reader and by the time he had reached the Second Reader the writing lessons began. The copy-books of that period were of the "home-made" variety, consisting of a few sheets of foolscap paper covered with a sheet of heavy wrapping paper. The ink, too, was frequently "home-made," a decoction of maple bark and copperas. At the top of the copy-book the teacher would write a line intended to convey a moral lesson as well as to afford an example of penman- ship to be imitated; such as "Evil communications corrupt good manners," or "Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you." As the term of school was hardly ever more than three months, and the same teacher rarely taught two successive terms in the same district, the style of penmanship would change with the advent of every new teacher, and it is a wonder that so many of the young people of that day learned to write as well as they did.
Usually with the Third Reader came the arithmetic. In the pro- nunciation of this word the first letter was often dropped, and the fact that Readin', 'Ritin' and 'Rithmetic were considered the essential elements of a practical education gave rise to the . expression "the three Rs." If one understood "the three Rs" he was regarded as be- ing equipped for handling all ordinary business transactions.
But educational conditions have kept pace with the civic and in- dustrial progress of the county. No longer do the pupils have to sit on backless benches and be subjected to the "one-sided" heat pro- vided by the old fireplace, where some of them would almost roast while others suffered with the cold. The old log schoolhouse has been superseded by the commodious structure of brick or stone, with furnace or steam heat, factory made furniture and other conveniences that were unknown when the first schools were taught in the county. The bundle of "gads" is no longer kept on exhibition as a terror to evil-doers and corporal punishment has been dropped from the list of necessary adjuncts of the district school. Yet, with all its disad- vantages, the old system had its merits. Many men in public life. eminent doctors and lawyers of world-wide reputation, captains of industry, and even presidents of the United States obtained their elementary education in the old log schoolhouse.
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
The first schools taught in Marion County were of the class known as subscription schools-that is, each patron of the school agreed to pay so much for each child for the term. Money was a scarce article and the teacher, when he went around to collect his subscription, was often compelled to take some kind of produce that he could take to a trading house and exchange for goods, or perhaps for cash. An- other way in which the teacher would collect his tuition fees, or at least a part of them, was by "boarding round" among the patrons of the school. Thus, during a term of twelve weeks, the teacher would probably stop with each of twelve families for one week and credit the amount of his board bill upon their subscription.
It is not certain just where the first school was taught in the county. Schools were taught in what are now Clay, Liberty, Lake Prairie, Indiana and Red Rock township in the latter part of the year 1845, only a few months after the county was organized. In the chapters on Township History will be found some account of these early schools, as far as reliable information concerning them could be obtained, and also some statistics showing the condition of the public schools in each township in 1914.
PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
The framers of the Iowa Constitution of 1857 had in view the establishment of a public school system that should be the equal of that of any state in the Union. In that part of Article IX relating to the disposition of school lands, the constitution provides that "The proceeds of all lands that have been, or hereafter may be, granted by the United States to this state, for the support of the schools, which may have been or shall hereafter be sold, or disposed of, and the 500,000 acres of land granted to the new states under an act of Con- gress, distributing the proceeds of the public lands among the sev- eral states of the Union, approved in the year of our Lord, 1841, and all estates of deceased persons who may have died without leaving a will or heir, and also such per cent as has been or may hereafter be granted by Congress, on the sale of lands in this state, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which, together with all rents of the unsold lands, and such other means as the General As- sembly may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of the common schools throughout the state."
The constitution further provided for a board of education to consist of "the lieutenant-governor, who shall be the presiding officer of the board and have the casting vote in case of a tie, and one mem-
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
ber to be selected from each judicial district." This board was au- thorized to "provide for the education of all youths of the state, through a system of common schools, and such schools shall be or- ganized and kept in each school district at least three months in each year. Any district failing, for two consecutive years, to organize and keep up a school, as aforesaid, may be deprived of their portion of the school fund."
Under authority conferred by the constitution, the Legislature in 1865 abolished the old board of education and adopted the present system-a board of nine members, with a finance committee of three members in addition to the regular board.
Another source of school revenue is provided for by the constitu- tion, to-wit: "The money which may have been or shall be paid by persons as an equivalent from exemption from military duty, and the clear proceeds of all fines collected in the several counties for any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied in the several counties in which such money is paid, or fine collected, among the several school districts of said counties, in proportion to the num- ber of youths subject to enumeration in such districts, to the sup- port of the common schools, or the establishment of libraries, as the board of education shall from time to time provide."
Through the operation of these and other wise provisions laid down by the framers of the constitution, supplemented by laws passed by the General Assembly, Iowa has attained a high place in the edu- cational annals of the nation. Pursuant to the laws, the income from the permanent fund, the proceeds of all fines, and "all other moneys subject to the support and maintenance of common schools," are dis- tributed to the school districts in proportion to the number of per- sons between the ages of five and twenty-one years.
From the county superintendent's report for the fiscal year end- ing on June 30, 1914, the following figures showing the status of the Marion County public school fund are taken :
On hand July 1, 1913. $ 56,585.41
Received from district tax 100,250.95
Received from semi-annual apportionment. 9.792.65
Received from tuition . 2,671.92
Received from all other sources. 1,095.23
Total receipts
$170,396.16
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
On the other hand the report shows the following disbursements :
Teachers' salaries $96,153.84
Tuition
1,484.52
Library books
90.29
All other expenditures
864.00
Total disbursements
$98,592.65
This left a balance of $71,803.51 in the treasury to start the new fiscal year. During the school year of 1913-14 the public schools of the county employed 252 teachers, 26 of whom were in the City of Knoxville and 19 in Pella. The number of pupils enrolled was 6,205 and the eighth grade graduates at the close of the term numbered 56. The value of school buildings, exclusive of the grounds upon which they were located, was $225,760-a conservative estimate. The apparatus used in the schoolrooms was valued at $9,192, and there were 9,167 volumes in the various school libraries.
Every year witnesses the erection of new schoolhouses to take the place of the antiquated buildings that have done service for a number of years. In 1914 two fine schoolhouses were built in Perry Township under the supervision of Adam Herweh, president of the township school board. One of these is located at the old Town of Bennington and the other at what is known as the Collins school, in the western part of the township. Both are of modern design and are heated by hot air furnaces. A two-room building was erected in Liberty District, Knoxville Township, near the Andersonville mines, about four miles southeast of the City of Knoxville, and a fine building of two stories and basement was erected in the Town of Tracy. The Tracy school is the first consolidated school to be estab- lished in Marion County. A large number of the pupils attending this school live in the County of Mahaska. Four wagons are employed in conveying the children who live at a distance to and from the school. The basement of the building is fitted up for man- ual training and the teaching of domestic science and the people of Tracy are justly proud of their educational advantages. Late in the year the people of Pella indorsed the proposition to issue bonds to the amount of $48,000 to purchase a site and erect a new high school building by a vote of 750 to 181. In this election both the men and women of the city voted. The vote of the men stood 425 to 145 against, and the women's vote was 325 for to 36 against.
26.
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
CENTRAL COLLEGE
This institution, located at Pella, is incorporated as the "Central University of Iowa," but is popularly known as "Central College," the name adopted by the founders. The following historical state- ment is taken from the college catalogue for the year 1913:
"The Baptists of Iowa, realizing the need of a denominational college for the training of their young people, called in October, 1852, a convention for the consideration of the educational problem. This convention met November roth, at Oskaloosa. Owing to the in- clement weather, a small representation was present. They therefore adjourned to meet again at Pella, in June, 1853. This meeting was one of the most representative gatherings of the Iowa Baptists ever held. Every church had been notified of the event and several months had been allowed that all might give the question careful consideration. When the convention met, full time was given to the deliberation of the various questions before it and much prayer was offered, especially for the direction of Almighty God in selecting the proper location. As a result, the following resolution was unani- mously passed :
"Resolved, That this convention accept the proposed donation of the citizens of Pella and vicinity, and hereby locate our denomina- tional institution at said place.
"A committee of three was then appointed to draft articles of in- corporation and constitution, and to nominate a board of trustees. Immediately after the adjournment of this convention the executive committee of the board thus chosen began to plan for the erection of a suitable college building and to secure the necessary teachers. The following year the preparatory department of the new insti- tution opened with an enrollment of thirty-seven. In 1858 the first freshman class entered and in 1861 there were 220 students, 44 of whom were in the college. At the close of the school in 1862, how- ever, there was not an able bodied man, old enough to bear arms, left in the institution, 123 professors and students having enlisted for the war in the two years."
Rev. E. H. Scarff was appointed to take charge of the school at the beginning and was the first president of the college. The school was conducted in a brick building on Washington Street until 1856, when it was removed to the new college building. Caleb Caldwell, Julia Tallman and C. C. Cory were Mr. Scarff's assistants during this period. In 1857 Prof. A. N. Currier was added to the faculty. At the annual meeting of the board in June, 1858, it was decided to
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
introduce a regular collegiate course and Rev. Elihu Gunn was elected president.
At the close of the war a number of students who had enlisted in the army returned to their classes and the attendance was greatly enlarged. Of the 114 students that entered the army, 26 became com- missioned officers, 17 non-commissioned officers, and 21 were killed in battle.
In June, 1870, at the annual meeting of the board, it was resolved to raise the sum of $10,000 as the beginning of an endowment fund. This amount was secured during the following twelve months and in June, 1871, Rev. Lewis A. Dunn, of Fairfax, Vermont, was elected president of the institution. In his inaugural address, at the open- ing of the college year, President Dunn outlined the policy of the school as follows :
"Among the colleges of the West the Central University of Iowa holds only an humble place, but it is strictly Protestant in its char- acter, purely American in its ideas, and will labor to the extent of its power to inculcate the great fundamental principle of religious toleration and national freedom that lies at the foundation of our republican institutions. Having its home in the Valley of the Des Moines, in the heart of Iowa and near the center of the great valley of the West, in a city called Pella, a name rendered classic by its being the name of the city of refuge to which the Christians fled when Jerusalem was being destroyed, and also the name of the capi- tal of Macedonia, the birthplace of Alexander the Great.
"Occupying such a central position and adorning such a city, it hopes to be true to its position and faithful to its high duty and worthy of the confidence of the public. It will provoke no contro- versy ; lay no obstacle in the way of any other institution of learning, but in its own quiet, unpretending way will seek to do all it may be able, to counteract all influences deleterious to the interests of our country or to the Christian religion, and to build up in this great valley the principle of sound education and correct religious faith."
About the beginning of the present century a movement was started to secure additional funds for the university and in Novem- ber, 1902, the sum of $19,000 was added to the endowment fund and $7,000 placed in the fund for general purposes. Encouraged by this success, the work of raising $100,000 for the university was com- menced in the fall of 1903. In March. 1907, Andrew Carnegie agreed to give $20,000 toward this fund under certain conditions. His pledge was paid in April, 1908, when the college realized its
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JORDAN HALL, CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, PELLA
.
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
first $100,000 of productive endowment. Another $100,000 addi- tion to the endowment fund was completed in 1910.
The college occupies a beautiful campus in the southern part of Pella. In addition to the original college building, the institution now has a science hall, library and chapel, a gymnasium, a building for academic work, and, as the college is open to young people of both sexes, a women's dormitory was completed in 1913. While a majority of the students enrolled at the opening of the college in 1914 were from the State of lowa, there were some from Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado and one from far off California.
Following is a complete list of the faculty for the year 1914-15: John William Bailey, president and professor of biblical literature; John Dillingham Dodson, dean of the college and professor of psy- chology and education; Elizabeth Adeline Graham, dean of women and professor of English language and literature; Anne J. Sorensen, history and political science ; Martha N. Greiner, modern languages ; Alpha G. W. Childs, biology; Ralph D. McIntire, chemistry; George L. Kelley, philosophy and social science; F. M. Phillips, mathematics and physics; Ola E. Huston, classical languages and literature; Marie Reynolds, domestic science; Geraldine Aschen- brenner, mathematics in the academy; Clarence Hansen, Latin and Greek in the academy; Charlotte A. Hussey, expression and Eng- lish in the academy; Fred H. Clifton, director commercial depart- ment; Roy T. Brown, assistant commercial department; George Francis Sadler, director of the conservatory of music and professor of piano and organ; B. Worthington Clayton, voice; Elbert Tay- lor Warren, director of athletics.
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