USA > Iowa > Page County > History of Page County, Iowa : also biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county > Part 39
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Music was adopted in 1905, the first supervisor being Miss Rilla Shoe- maker. Drawing and physical culture were adopted in 1906. This brings the school with the exception of industrial work and manual training, in rank with the best in the state, considering the size of the town.
Shenandoah has always been most fortunate in the character of the men who have composed the school board and directed its affairs. They have been men of highest business capacity, interested in the welfare of the schools. Lack of space forbids mentioning all these important directors. In addition to those mentioned elsewhere we would add the names of some who served several years, namely : C. F. Crose, Ed Welch, W. G. Wagner, D. S. Lake, A. S. Lake, John Mentzer, Jacob Bender and A. W. Murphy. The history of the school would not be complete without mentioning A. T. Irwin, for so many years the efficient secretary of the school board.
The entire number of pupils the high school has graduated is something over three hundred. Over two hundred of these have graduated in the last ten years. Of this large number there are many, both men and women, who have been more than ordinarily successful in various lines. No school has ever had a more earnest, capable, faithful and conscientious corps of teachers than has the Shenandoah schools during their entire history.
Among the most important of the able teachers noted for their years of experience in the school are: Miss Mary Steimson, who remained as su- pervisor of penmanship eleven years and declined reelection in 1905: Miss Marley, a teacher and principal in the high school, after remaining ten years also declined reelection in 1905: Mrs. N. C. Bliss ; Miss A. Etta Hall, sixteen years : Miss Kate Irwin, nineteen years; and Miss Lulu Kittle,
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twenty-two years. There are now thirty teachers in the schools, six in the high school, two supervisors, one of music, the other of penmanship and drawing. It has ever been the policy of the school board to retain its good teachers as long as possible and it is this fact which has helped greatly to place and to keep the schools in the front rank.
In 1906 Professor G. A. Brown was elected principal of the high school and has developed that institution to a higher plane. Great credit is due him for the present efficiency of the school.
In the school year of 1906-07, the first Annual was issued by the senior class. It was a very creditable undertaking of the pupils and was replete with matter pertinent to the class and profusely illustrated with portraits of the superintendent, the principal and staff of teachers and also original pen pictures by members of the senior class.
In the winter of 1909 another teacher was added to the high school corps, which increased the staff of teachers to thirty. The enrollment of pupils in the spring of 1909 was one thousand and forty-six, and so many appli- cations for admission to the high school are now coming in as to make the erection of a new high school building an imperative necessity. This mat- ter is now under consideration by the school board.
January 4, 1909, a public kindergarten was inaugurated and made a part of the public school system of Shenandoah. During that year the little tots were taught in the commodious and cheerful basement of the library building. Fifty-one were enrolled for that year. Miss Cora Bunn, of Water- loo, an expert kindergartner and graduate of the Cedar Falls College, was placed in charge of this department and given an able assistant in the person of Miss Carrie Jennings, of Shenandoah.
The present members of the school board are: Denver L. Wilson, president ; John F. Lake, E. H. Mitchell, Edward Birkhimer, W. N. Jordan ; and A. T. Irwin, secretary.
THE WESTERN NORMAL COLLEGE.
There is always something of peculiar and fascinating interest attached to the chapter of events that mark the beginning and organization of every great institution, even when dimmed with years and shrouded in a cloak of mystery, but exceedingly fortunate is the institution whose early his- tory has been written and records preserved.
Such has been the fortune of the Western Normal College, in the matter of its history and records, and its records not only awaken great pride in the citizens of the city and community but reflect great credit upon southwestern Iowa.
In a letter received by the Mayor of Shenandoah, W. P. Ferguson, February 12, 1882, Prof. I. E. Wilson of Bushnell, Illinois, president of the normal school of that place, made inquiry as to the inducements Shen- andoah and community would likely offer for the founding of a normal school in Shenandoah.
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The mayor promptly replied, inquiring what was expected to secure the location of such a school here, and set forth the superior advantages of Shenandoah with its beautiful and unequaled location and high moral and educational tone of its people, as a city preeminently adapted for the site of an institution of learning.
The correspondence which followed disclosed the fact that the institu- tion at Bushnell had been in operation since the fall of 1881, and was under the management of Prof. Wilson, Prof. J. A. Lyons, afterward an instructor in the new college established here in Shenandoah, and now pub- lisher of commercial text books, in Chicago, and Mr. E. P. Farr, who was also later an instructor in the Western Normal College and is at present a very successful attorney in Sioux City, lowa.
The little city of Bushnell could not provide the financial inducements asked for to insure the establishment and building of the school in their midst, and thus President Wilson sought inducements elsewhere. When it became generally known in Shenandoah that the Mayor was in cor- respondence with parties in regard to the establishment of a normal school in Shenandoah, much interest was manifested, and for some weeks thereafter, the mayor's office was of the nature of a public meeting place for discussing the merits and prospects of such an institution of learning.
At a public meeting held in the opera house, the mayor presiding, the correspondence was all read and a public discussion followed. It proved to be the unanimous voice of the meeting that an effort should be made to secure the location of the school. An executive committee consisting of Mayor Ferguson, Z. D. Mathus, G. J. Ross, G. C. Stevens, and C. S. Barr was appointed to enter into negotiations with Prof. Wilson. The committee acted with earnestness and energy, and Mr. Wilson visited Shenandoah in conference with this committee, March 24, 1882. The conference was eminently satisfactory to both parties. The committee was fully convinced of the great benefits to be derived from the establishment of such an institution, and on the other hand Mr. Wilson was fully impressed with the superior advantages and inducements which Shenandoah offered for this school.
A mass meeting at the opera house was called for the next day, March 25th, at which time, after organization of the meeting and Hon. J. H. Castle being chosen chairman, Mr. Wilson explained the character and (lesign of the proposed school, and made the proposition that for a dona- tion of $10,000.00 and suitable grounds, he would remove the school from Bushnell to Shenandoah and erect a college building here; the building to be of brick, four stories high, the main part to be one hundred feet long, and fifty feet wide, and the extension to be forty feet wide, as shown in the cut in the college album, and in accordance with the plans and specifications of an architect at Peoria, Illinois, the estimated cost to be $30,000.00.
This proposition was well received and a College Fund committee was at once appointed to solicit, receive and disburse all subscriptions. The committee consisted of R. B. Crose, P. H. Mentzer, D. S. Priest, T. J.
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Williams, Z. D. Mathus. This action between President Wilson, and the citizens of Shenandoah aroused great excitement and indignation at Bush- nell, and every misrepresentation was made and effort put forth by Bush- nell to thwart the further progress of the enterprise at Shenandoah. These efforts effected delays only. Finally the whole amount was subscribed by the citizens of Shenandoah and community and guaranteed payable on demand in two installments, one-half June 1, 1882, the other half August 1, 1882.
Next after the raising of the money was the important matter of select - ing a location for the new school. Public sentiment at once crystallized about two locations; one in Forest Park, and the other at some point on the hill at or near its present situation. Mr. Wilson, at first favored the park location. Later, however, the residents of east Shenandoah tendered the present location at the expense to them of over $10.000.00, and the offer was accepted. Whatever differences or doubts there might have been at that time, as to the best site, the wisdom of the location is now ad- mitted by all. Plans for the new building went on apace. It was con- structed according to plans and was so far completed on November 14, 1882, as to enable the new school to open on the day advertised.
The opening exercises in the chapel were without program or formality, and in the presence of about forty-seven students and a considerable num- ber of visitors. Some of these students had followed from Bushnell, III- inois. The exercises consisted of the singing of a few familiar songs from the Gospel Hymns, and reading a portion of Scripture, and prayer by Presi- dent Wilson. Next Mr. Wilson followed with a brief statement of the work to be done and the hopes and purposes of the new school. Thus for a time there seemed a realization of Mr. Wilson's high ambition and the successful completion of an exceedingly bold, well-planned, and farsighted undertaking. The school's first faculty was as follows: I. E. Wilson, pres- ident : F. B. Farr, professor of mathematics; L. M. Disney, professor of natural science ; Miss Emma Felton, professor of languages, grammar and history : J. A. Lyons, professor of commercial branches and penmanship ; W. F. Strong, music director ; Miss May Black, instructor in music.
The new school had its financial hardships and early in its history be- came financially involved to its utmost limit.
Wilham M. Croan, January 9, 1884, purchased one-half interest and assumed the position of treasurer and secretary, and a little over a month later purchased the remaining half interest of Mr. I. E. Wilson, thus becon- ing sole proprietor of the school. Mr. Wilson and wife, who had been Miss Emma Felton, professor of languages, retired from the school. The institution was then leased to L. M. Disney and V. P. Wormwood, for a period of one year with the privilege of two years. At the close of the first year, the school's finances were so involved that it could not con- tinue without some reorganization. Almost a score of prominent citizens of the city contributed of their means for the financial relief of the in- stitution and it was started out in the fall of 1885 with a larger and stronger faculty but with an enrollment of only sixty-seven students. This seemed
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a gloomy outlook, but the new president and friends of the school had a strong faith in its ultimate success. Through thorough class-room work, careful individual attention to attending students, and judicious advertising, the school steadily grew until early in the year 1889 it became evident that larger and more commodious quarters were demanded.
In March, 1889, a mass meeting was held at the opera house and after full discussion and conferences, President Croan proposed that a $10,000.00 addition to the building be erected and that if the citizens would subscribe $5,000.00 he would put with it an equal amount. Within ten days the required amount was subscribed through the efforts of D. S. Priest, T. H. Read, and John T. Stewart as committee. The new addition was ready for occupancy November 5, 1889, and completed entirely through- out by the following January.
During the years 1889 and 1890 the attendance grew wonderfully, but on the night of December 2, 1891, the college building and almost all of its contents, were destroyed by fire.
The citizens and trustees of the various funds entering into the original building and its additions, effected a settlement with President Croan and at once set about the raising of a much larger fund to add to the insurance money received from the burning of the old building, and to erect a finely appointed modern college building, as near fire proof as possible, which would constitute a suitable and permanent home for the large school.
The ashes of the old building had hardly grown cold before nearly everybody in Shenandoah who was able to give anything, and many who were not able, and the farmers for miles around, and prominent citizens of different portions of southwestern Iowa, all contributed to the funds for the new building. Nearly $50,000.00 was raised. This fund together with the insurance, erected and furnished the present handsome and com- modious structure. The Board of Trustees chose as president of the insti- tution, to re-open it in the new building, Mr. J. M. Hussey, at that time associate president of the Fremont Normal School, Fremont, Nebraska, who assumed the duties of his office in September, 1893, rechristening the old school in its new home, and has been constantly re-elected by the Board to preside over the work of the school in its unbroken prosperity since that time.
President Croan organized a land syndicate at Lincoln, Nebraska, and established a new school and appropriated the name Western Normal College. Principal O. H. Longwell organized a similar school in the suburbs of Des Moines. Professor J. A. Saylor, formerly professor of science in the school at Shenandoah, floated another real estate specula- tion in a suburb of Lincoln, Nebraska, and established what was known as the Lincoln Normal University. Thus, the school at Shenandoah had these three off-shoots striving hard to divide the patronage that had previously belonged to the Western Normal College at Shenandoah.
President Hussey and the Board of Trustees were not disheartened, but by indefatigable work, wide advertising, and the setting forth of the unusual advantages of the city of Shenandoah as an ideal place for attending school,
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kept the institution steadily growing and increasing in usefulness, al- though the next few years saw both Lincoln, Nebraska, projects fail, and the remnant of students from both institutions return to Shenandoah.
Since the building of the new building, through all this competition and stress of hard times which followed throughout the country, the Western Normal College has met every financial obligation and carly cleared itself entirely from debt, thus allowing every dollar of its income to be used immediately for the students' benefit. and has been famous for its high standard of practical work in all the departments.
In the summer of 1902, after an inspection of the equipments and work of the institution by the State Board of Examiners for Iowa, the college was accredited by the state of Iowa as an "approved training school for teachers for the public school of Iowa."
The institution comprises the following schools and colleges: The Nor- mal School, College of Letters and Science ; the Preparatory School ; the Bus- iness Institute; the Shorthand College; the School of Penmanship; the School of Elocution and Oratory ; the Conservatory of Music; and the Summer School.
The length of the school year is forty-eight weeks and all the above schools and colleges continue in session for that time. The fall opening is the first Tuesday in September each year. Annual commencement exer- cises the last week in July. The rates for tuition are very reasonable, in fact much lower than at most other high-class schools. The students are furnished rooming and boarding accommodations at cost. The scope of patronage each year comes from sixteen to twenty states, and its annual enrollment exceeds eight hundred students. At the present time in its twenty-seventh year, it has more than nine hundred alumni as graduates from its literary and music courses, and more than twice that number as graduates from its commercial and shorthand courses.
A COMPLETE LIST OF THE GENEROUS DONORS WHO CONTRIBUTED THE NEC- ESSARY AMOUNT TO SECURE THE WESTERN NORMAL COLLEGE.
J. Q. Anderson & Brother. $250; Thomas Aikins, $to; Charles Allphin, Sto: J. B. Armstrong, $100: Thomas Action, $10; -- Argus, $100; Charles Aldrich, $25; J. Q. Archer, $25; F. H. Alden, $25; E. H. Ayers. $25 : A. &. C. S. Burr & Company, $500 : F. K. Bailey, $to; George Bogart, $200; W. A. Bradley, $10; Isaiah Beam, $25: Andrew Bowman. $50; Joseph Beardsley, $50: Ira L. Bailey, $25 : Bennet & Mathuss, $500: Burnet & Miller. $100; J. Bender. $100: Brown & West, $100; J. C. Brown, $25; J. Bright, $5: J. C. Brewer, $25. J. C. Brookfelt, Sio: D. S. Campbell, $25: Copson & Gaff, $50; W. C. Cass. $50; Crose Brothers, $500; J. L. Cole. $25 : R. S. Crosby. $10: T. C. Cook, $10; B. W. Carey, $100; George H. Castle, $100; Cotrill, Beard & Hall, $100; M. B. Campbell. $25; A. J. Crane, $25. E. 1). Day, $100: H. P. Duffield & Company. $200: Elliott & Son, $25; N. B. Easton, $25: First National Bank, $500; S. E. Field, $25: W. P. Ferguson, $100: J. Fishbaugh. $100; Fred Friess. $25; T. Finley,
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$10; Samuel Gallup, $25; John Gillespie, $50; George W. Gunnison, $50; William Griffin, $25; John X. Griffith, $200; G. H. Gurney, $25; Daniel Griffin, $10; G. H. Harvey, $10; J. E. Hutson, $5; Hoaglund & Company, $10; A. Hodges, $25 : Giles Hand, $5; James Harris, $20; Amos Hopsley, $50; C. H. Helme & Company, $50; W. S. Hooker, $25; A. L. Henderson, $100; William Hood, $25; Reub Holloway, $25; H. S. Holcomb, $25; M. J. Hester, $25; Eli Hite, $10; Harrel Brothers, $25; J. W. Humphrey, $to; A. J. Hodge, $100; A. T. Irwin, $10; M. C. Johnson, $100; F. M. Johnson, $30; James F. Jackson, $10; Allen Johnson, $100; - Jennings, $25; D. H. Kelsey, $15; J. T. Kemp, $25; C. S. Keena, $100; C. D. Lester, $25; Thomas Lytle, $50; J. D. Laughlin, $50; J. A. Latimer, $25; T. C. Lippitt, $25; A. S. Lake, $100; Laws & McCabe, $100; D. S. Lake, $100; James O'Laghlin, $5; R. W. Morse & Company, $200; T. E. B. Mason, $50; John McCulloch, $50; - McComb, $50: W. C. Mathews, $10; W. G. Mackinson, $20: Joseph Markham, $5: J. F. McGogy, $50; Martin & Son, $50; Mentzer Brothers, $250; A. McCormick, $100; C. V. Mount, $25 : D. D. Miller, $10; Joseph McKee, $25; M. T. Morse, Sto: William McMahill. $50; Peter Nies, $150; - Nordstrom, $25; John Norton, $200: Needham & Mell, $10: William North, $25; Mrs. William North, $25: Peter Nies, $25; James Oppenheimer, $15; W. E. Oviatt, $25; D. S. Priest, $500; J. C. Perry, $25 : G. W. Patterson, $10; Louis Patterson, $25; James A. Patterson, $10; George Palmer & Company, $250: Pace, Wilcox & Company, $100; William Priestman, $25; K. A. Pence, $25: Walter Pratt, $10; A. H. Potter, $10; George A. Quimby, $25 ; Rhodes & Stephen- son, $25 ; Rockafellow Brothers, $15; George Z. Redfield, $4; G. L. Ross, $100; L. D. Spencer, $10; W. N. Shaffer, $10; W. J. Staples, $10: S. Smith, $10; J. C. Swift, $50; J. G. Schneider, $30; O. S. Schultz, $10; R. G. Simons, $25; Thomas Sanderson, $25; J. D. Thomas, $25 ; A. S. Thomas, $25; I .. R. Thorp, $10; Jonathan Uhl, $25; . Vawter & Hagerty, $100; George T. Vaughan, $50; Woodford & Sons, $150; B. M. Webster, $25; Milton Wise, $10; A. H. Warren, $25; A. J. Welty, $200; J. C. Wilson, $100: E. G. Whiting, $100: D. Wingert, $100; A. J. West, $100; T. J. Williams. $100: D. C. Wills. $25; William A. Wagner, $5: Frank White, $50; J. M. Waugh, $too; Il. S. Wolff, $100; S. E. Wilson, $25. The total subscription was $10,539.
SHENANDOAH POST OFFICE.
The Shenandoah Post Office was first presided over by Stephen Spur- lock, who made his headquarters for the distribution of mail in O. S. Rider's store during the winter of 1870-71. Then J. H. Shugart was ap- pointed and held the office for several years in his store. T. J. Warren succeeded Mr. Shugart and erected a building for the office, which was subsequently used as a carpenter shop. A. J. West came next as post- master and he moved the office to a wooden building that then stood on the Opera House corner. While the present Opera House was building, the postoffice shack was moved into the street but subsequently Mr. West took
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up his headquarters in West & Irwin's store when the Opera House was completed. H. P. Duffield was successor to Mr. West, the latter having held the office eight years. Duffield was followed by J. R. Ratekin, an ap- pointee of the first Cleveland administration. He held the office a little over four years and then turned over his responsibilities to Colonel T. N. Pace. Succeeding Pace was G. C. Pierce, who was the appointee of the office under the second Cleveland administration and served until July 1, 1897, when Charles N. Marvin was appointed in his stead and fulfilled the duties of the office until January 5. 1906. On that date the present incum- bent, H. E. Deater, took charge of the office.
At the first session of the sixty-second congress Colonel W. P. Hep- burn, then representative from this district, secured an appropriation of five thousand dollars for a building site for a federal building in Shenan- doah and immediately thereafter began looking around for a suitable loca- tion for a postoffice building. Several sites were offered, among them the triangle formerly occupied by Ben Smith's machine shops and a committee of citizens consisting of George E. Cotrill, George Bogart, David S. Lake and C. J. Bechtol, under the name of the Citizens Committee, offered this triangular piece of ground to the government, agreeing to pay the differ- ence between the appropriation of five thousand dollars and the price asked for it by its owner, which would be a total of nine thousand five hundred dollars. The ground was purchased and the necessary amount of four thousand five hundred and fifty dollars was contributed by the citizens of Shenandoah. The Citizens Committee then asked that condemnation pro- cecdings be instigated and the site condemned and that nine thousand five hundred dollars be paid for the site, which proceedings were finally con- summated. The Citizens Committee went before the people and secured the following subscription list :
George Bogart, $500; George F. Cotril!, $500; D. S. Lake, $500; C. J. Bechtol, $300; Shenandoah National Bank, $200; Swanson Manufacturing Company, $100 : Shenandoah Artificial Ice, Power, Heat & Light Company, $550: Dr. T. L. Puma $; R. E. Anderson $100 E. S. Wch, $100; G. A. Shadle, $125; Edward Birkhimer, $50; J. W. Perkins. $20; J. M. Van Buskirk, $15; J. J. Dunnegan, $25: J. W. Ratekin, $50; Frank An- shutz. $50; Boyd & Quist, $25: Smock Shoe Company, $20; C. C. Polly, $15 : McGlone Brothers, $10: W. E. Ray, $to; C. D. Chapman, $25 ; Clovis & Gage, $25; S. W. Nelson, $to; Gauss & Simons, $25; William Priest- man, $50; Earl Sheets, $20; S. Goldberg & Son, $25: Jackson Drug Com- pany, $25; O. S. Long. $25: J. D. Kline, $25; St. Mary's Congregation, $200 ; George Custer, Sioo: Snider & Gauss, $100: Gibson Brothers, $100; Spooner & Boner, $25: G. B. Biddle, Sto; James J. Doty. $50: J. H. Bishiep. $15; Charles Schick, $10; W. S. Crane, Sto; J. Auracher, $50; H. I. Foskett. $50; J. H. Snook. Sto: J. J. Cardwell, $15; J. A. Snow, $5; J. W. Myers, $25: Jolin F. Lake, Sto: O. B. Stevens, $15: Albert Myers, $5: Sam Clark. $25: J. Swain, Sto: H. F. Shurtz. $50; E. F. Clovis, So; L. H. Mitchell, Sto: C. E. Fliesbach, $15 : W. I. McCulloch, $15; James A. Swallow, $10: John Toft, Sio: C. N. Marvin, $to.
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In 1908 Congressman Colonel W. P. Hepburn secured an appropriation of fifty thousand dollars for a federal building. The plans were drawn for this structure by the government's supervising architect and bids for the construction of the building were advertised for. Several bids were offered but none of them being within the appropriation they were all re- jected and at this writing, the architect is at work revising and scaling down the plans for the building to meet the amount of money appropriated.
This postoffice building will have about one hundred feet frontage on Clarinda avenue. It will be divided into different departments such as the postmaster's office, the money order department, the registry department, the distribution of mail department, and making-up-of-mails department, etc. It will be one story in height, with basement, swing room for the car- riers, rest rooms, etc. The materials used will be brick, terra cotta and stone. It will have glass partitions and tile floor. The aim is to make this structure entirely fire proof.
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