USA > Iowa > Polk County > The history of Polk County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 62
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The public schools of Iowa are properly and justly termed the best in the Union, and it is universally admitted that in the character of the school buildings, compensation of teachers and in the results obtained, the schools of Des Moines have distanced all competition and they are now with- out a peer. What may be said of the schools of Des Moines, among the graded schools of the State, may truthfully be said of the schools of the county among the district schools of the country.
Polk county educational affairs are in a flourishing condition. The con- trast between the settler's school and the present accommodations has been marked. The puncheon floors and desks and doorless aperture for entrance, have given place to more finished edifices, in some cases elegant ones, pos- sibly not more thoroughly ventilated, but more comfortably so.
The county has now become well supplied with comfortable, commodi- ous school-houses and good schools are being taught in all the townships and towns, sufficiently numerous and convenient for the accommodation of all parts of the county. Educational interests have been considered of the highest importance by the majority of the citizens, and means and efforts
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498
HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
have not been spared to make their public schools a success; and under the efficient management of those who have held the office of superintendent for quite a number of years, the schools and educational interests are at- taining a high standard.
The county teachers believe in the interchange of thought, also in the community of effort, and are making the profession of teaching a study as well as practice. Teachers' institutes are now becoming of regular and fre- quent occurrence, and are well attended by those who take special interest in the work. The superintendent's examination grade is now of such a standard that all applicants do not attain it, and for those who are success- ful, after diligent study and preparation, it shows a much more creditable standing, besides furnishing a more efficient class of teachers.
There has been as great a change in the character and qualifications of the teacher as there has been in the architecture and arrangements of the school-houses. Formerly schools were held at the residences of the settlers or else in cabins whose external appearance and internal arrangement very closely resembled the pioneer cabin; the teacher also very closely resembled the early settler, for, as a rule, he was a settler, that is he devoted a great portion of his time and energy in making rails, grubbing hazel-brush and attending to his stock and crops, while teaching was simply accidental or incidental. Teaching has now become a profession, and, as a rule, the teacher devotes his entire time to that business. We would not be under- stood as saying that both the old-fashioned teacher and school-house were anything but respectable, useful and of good reputation; on the contrary, they were all this; but we would say, that with an increase of wealth and population we have increased facilities for increased needs.
The first schools of the county were held in houses to suit the times. Some idea of those school-houses can be gathered from the following de- scription of a typical one:
It was built of round logs, the space between them chinked and then daubed with mud. About five feet from the west wall on the inside, and about five feet high, another log was placed and running clear across the building. Puncheons were fixed on this log and in the west wall on which the chimney was built. Fuel could then be used of any length not greater than the width of the building, and when it was burned through in the middle the ends were crowded together; in this manner was avoided the necessity of so much wood-chopping. There was no danger of burning the floor, as there was none. The seats were made of stools or benches, constructed by splitting a log, hewing off the splinters from the flat side, and then putting four pegs into it from the round side for legs. The door was made of clap-boards. On either side a piece of one log was cut out, and over the aperture was pasted greased paper which answered for a win- dow. Wooden pins were driven into the log running lengthwise immedi- ately beneath the windows, upon which was laid a board and this consti- tuted the writing desks. The school district in which this wonderful struc- ture stood extended from the east part of the county to the adjoining township line, and from Skunk river on the north as far south as one could see. Since the day of school tax levies the people are a little more definite in defining their subdistricts.
The teacher who taught in this typical school-house located 'in a neigh- boring county to the southwest before the Indian title to the lands in Polk county had expired, and was a typical teacher. He still resides near
499
HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
the scene of his early trials and triumphs, and delights to talk of his schools where there were undoubtedly achieved results of which he may well be: proud. We quote his own language in narrating to the writer the circum- stances which impelled, or rather compelled, him to teach school:
" I left Indiana in 1841, in company with two persons who were neigh- bors; had about two hundred dollars when I started, and we had one team in which we had each an equal interest. While crossing the State of Illi- nois I became sick and was compelled to stop at the house of a former ac- quaintance. My two companions went on, locating in the southeastern part of this State. I did not recover for some time, being sick during the en- tire summer. When I did recover, my money was nearly all gone. So I set out on foot and walked nearly the entire distance from central Illinois to Keokuk county, Iowa, where I arrived early in the summer. I immedi- ately took a claim and set about improving it. I had no team, no money, and, what was worse than all, was again sick. I did not succeed in accom- plishing much, my money was all gone and my neighbors fearing I would become an object of public charity, proposed that I teach school for them. I had not had any experience in teaching, and my qualifications were very limited. They, however, insisted, and I complied. My first school was regarded as quite a success, and during the winter seasons I taught school for many years after. There were no public school funds and scarcely any private funds, and I took for my pay anything, such as potatoes, corn, rails and flax. The following was the article of agreement entered into between the people of the neighborhood and myself for the first school which I taught:
"'Article of agreement made and entered into this 9th day of January, 1846, between R. F. Weller, of the Territory of Iowa, and the undersigned, witnesseth that the said Weller agrees to teach a common school for the term of three months, viz: spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic.
"' The undersigned citizens of the said county, agree to pay said Weller one dollar and fifty cents per scholar; also, to furnish a suitable house and fire-wood, and board said Weller; the above amount may be paid in mak- ing rails at the customary price, one-third to be paid on or before the ex- piration of each month. School to commence when twenty scholars are signed.' "
The first schools of Polk county were, in the main, subscription schools, and the teachers boarded around. The school-houses were erected by the people of the neighborhood, who, upon a given day, turned out and built them, not at a common expense of money, but at an outlay of common energy. Each one came bringing a certain specified number of logs, and the house was soon ready for school. As has already been alluded to, the first school in the county was taught in one of the log buildings, No. 26, originally constituting the "fort," by a certain Miss Davis. We read in the records. of the proceedings of the County Commissioners that Miss Davis was or- dered by this honorable Board to vacate the building in order to make. room for the first District Court, held by Judge Williams, during the fall: of 1846. The second school was taught by Lewis Whitten, afterward clerk of the Board of County Commissioners. This school was taught in one of the government buildings on 'Coon Row, probably the same one in' which Miss Smith taught her school. In the summer of 1847, R. L. Tidrick taught a three months' school; this school was likewise held in one of the government buildings. In the following winter a school was taught
.
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
by a Mr. Davis, and during the summer of 1848 Andrew Stevens taught a three months' term. So we see that from the very first there was regu- larly taught each year a winter and summer term of school. These were all subscription schools, and due to the individual enterprise of the teachers who taught them. The town of Fort Des Moines did not have a regularly or- ganized school district till September 8, 1849. The first school, after the organization of the district, was held in the Methodist church, and was. taught by Byron Rice, who afterward became County Judge. It is said that the school was afterward removed to the court-house, which was not. yet completed. There were no outside doors to the house and the inside. doors were of rough, undressed boards. The room was unplastered, and for heating purposes there was a large box stove in one end of the room,. and in the other end was an old cook stove, which the garrison of the fort. had left behind. The public school fund consisted of about fifty or sixty dollars. The following year Charles L. Anderson taught the public school in the court-house, and Miss Arizona Perkins conducted a select school in the Methodist church. In 1851 the lot on the corner of Ninth and Locust streets, where the Getchell residence was, in later years, erected,. was purchased for one hundred dollars as the site for a public school build- ing. The first tax for the erection of a school building on this lot was levied in 1854, and the house was completed so as to be occupied during the winter of 1856-57. The first school in this building consisted of four departments, J. A. Stickney being principal.
We have, at another place, alluded to the school taught at an early time by Mrs. Bird, and the building which she erected for a school-house, which still stands on the corner of Second and Locust streets.
The first schools taught in the various parts of the county cannot all be- definitely located, nor can the teachers all be mentioned; these were mat- ters not deemed to be of sufficient importance to be preserved, and only such can now be mentioned as are remembered by the old settlers living in the vicinity of the schools. In so far as we can determine, after diligent. and careful investigation, the facts relating to the first schools in the vari- ous parts of the county will be given in connection with the history of the. township in which each was located.
There was no County Superintendent of schools till the year 1858, and although teachers were responsible to certain authorities, there was no ef- fective system of supervision; examinations were very unsatisfactory; there was no inducement for any one to prepare himself for the work of teaching, and if there were some who excelled in their work it was because of the love they had for the occupation and not because of a spirit of emu- lation and a desire to excel.
The new school law, which went into effect in 1858, threw protection around the school fund and shut out of the business of teaching much in- competence and ignorance. While it is a fact that the present high stand- ing of the schools has been reached gradually, and not by sudden move- ment, yet it is likewise true that the most preceptible change for the bet- ter was between the years of 1858 and 1860.
The application of the law of rotation in office, making the tenure of office brief and necessitating frequent changes of superintendents, has done much to impair the efficiency of the office; neither have the persons filling this office always been professional teachers, and not always persons of cul-
501
HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
ture and education. This office, as is too frequently the case with other county offices, has at times been bestowed as a reward for party service to men not all in sympathy with the public school system, and whose training had fitted them for managing a caucus or packing a convention rather than prepared them for organizing schools and stimulating teachers to energetic and thorough work in the school-room. The public schools of Polk county, however, have not suffered more in this particular than the schools of other counties. There have been many superintendents to watch over the educational interest of the county who were men of fine culture and whose whole active lives have been in sympathy with the cause of popular education. If there have been poor superintendents, there have also been some very good ones, and, as a result, the schools of the county are fully up with the times and will compare favorably with those of other counties. The following statistics will show the condition of the schools of the county:
Number of district townships.
13
Number independent districts
55
Number subdistricts
94
Number ungraded schools
144
Number graded schools
75
Average duration in months .
7.55
Number male teachers employed
126
Number female teachers employed .
224
Average monthly compensation, males.
36.50
Average monthly compensation, females
$ 34.68
Number male persons between ages of 5 and 21 years.
6,905
Number female persons between ages of 5 and 21 years.
6,994
Number pupils enrolled in the public schools
10,441
Total average attendance.
6,253
Number frame school-houses
148
Number brick school-houses
11
Value of school-houses
$ 292,527
Value of apparatus.
$ 1,570
Number of volumes in libraries
251
The foregoing statistics are for the year 1879, and the reader will ob- serve that in giving the number of teachers we include all who were em- ployed during the year. During the year 1879 there were three hundred and thirteen applicants for teacher's certificates examined. Out of this number twenty-five were rejected, one hundred and thirty-five received first grade certificates, one hundred and fifty-six received second grade certifi- cates. No third grade certificates are issued in this county, as the supply of teachers holding first and second grade certificates is sufficient for the de- mand.
SCHOOL FINANCES.
School-House Fund.
On hand at last report .. $ 7,104.37
Received from district tax. 20,595.94
Received from other sources 38,656.97
Total debit.
$ 66,157.28
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
Paid for school-houses and sites
$ 9,370.39
Paid for library and apparatus. 10.00
Paid bonds and interest
41,586.82
Paid other purposes
3,172.90
On hand .
12,017.17.
Contingent Fund.
On hand at last report.
6,969.65
Received from district tax.
25,194.28
Received from other sources
1,407.90
Total debit.
$ 33,571.83
Paid for rent and repairs
$ 4,669.90
Paid for fuel.
4,284.48
Paid secretaries and treasurers
2,352.36:
Paid records, etc
367.27
Paid insurance
1,265.81
Paid janitors. .
.
3,672.57
Paid all other purposes.
7,862.81
Teacher's Fund.
On hand last report.
$ 33,693.14
Received from district tax.
60,406.83
Received from semi-annual appportionment
22,589.75
Received from other sources.
1,021.85
Total debit .
$ 118,311.57
Paid teachers
$ 69,874.78
Paid other purposes.
1,512.10
On hand.
46,924.69
The present Superintendent of the schools of the county is J. H. Koons, who is now serving his second term. He is an educator of wide experience and liberal views. Under his direction the teachers of the county have attained a higher grade of scholarship and the schools have gradually be- come more systematized and efficient.
In his last report to the State Superintendent he takes occasion to say that " The outlook for the future is brighter than I have ever seen in this county. . With harmony among the people, enthusiasm with the teachers, and emulation among the scholars, we are looking forward to a year of much fruitfulness."
The County Normal School for the year 1878 was held at the Second Ward public school building, in Des Moines, beginning on the 12th day of August and continuing three weeks. There were two hundred and twenty- three teachers in attendance. J. H. Thompson, for many years the efficient. Superintendent of the West Des Moines Public Schools, but recently deceased, was the conductor. The assistant instructors were T. H. Smith, :W. H. Dixon, J. W. King and Abbie Fowler.
503
HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
The Normal School for the year 1879 was held in Des Moines at the Second Ward public school building, beginning July 14 and continuing three weeks. One hundred and thirty-eight teachers were in attendance. L. T. Weld was the conductor, who was assisted by Prof. T. H. Smith, who for a number of years has been the successful and popular Superintendent of the East Side Schools; also, Miss M. Gray, J. W. King, and E. H. East- man. Lectures were delivered by A. S. Welch, J. Baldwin, and Jonathan Piper.
The Normal for the year 1877 was held at Des Moines, beginning July 16, and continued three weeks. J. H. Thompson was conductor, and there were one hundred and eighty-three teachers in attendance.
In 1876 the Normal began August 21, and continued three weeks. J. H. Thompson was conductor, and there were one hundred and sixty teach- ers in attendance.
CHURCHES.
"You raised these hallowed walls; the desert smiled, And Paradise was opened in the wild."
The first settlement of the county and the organization of the first churches were almost contemporaneous. The plow had scarcely begun to turn the sod when the pioneer preachers began to labor in the new field. In the western country as well as in the Orient and the isles of the sea marched the representatives of the Christian religion in the front ranks of civiliza- tion. Throughout the centuries which compose this era have the Christian missionaries been taught and trained to accompany the first advance of civilization, and such was their advent here. In the rude cabins and huts of the pioneers they proclaimed the same gospel that is preached in the gorgeous palaces that, under the name of churches, decorate the great cities. It was the same gospel, but the surroundings made it appear different, in the effect it produced, at least.
The Christian religion had its rise, and the days of its purest practice, among an humble, simple-minded people, and it is among similar surroundings in modern times that it seems to approach the purity of its source. This is the best shown in the days of pioneer life. It is true, indeed, that in suc- ceeding times the church attains greater wealth and practices a wider be- nevolence. Further, it may be admitted that it gains a firmer discipline and wields a more general influence on society, but it remains true that in pioneer times we find a manifestation of Christianity that we seek in vain at a later time and under contrasted circumstances. The meek and lowly spirit of the Christian faith-the placing of spiritual things above vain pomp and show -- appear more earnest amid the simple life and toil of a pioneer people than it can when surrounded with the splendors of wealth and fashion. But we may take a comparison less wide, and instead of con- trasting the Christian appearances of a great city with that of the pioneers, we may compare that of thirty years ago here in the West with that in the present time of moderately developed wealth and taste for display, and we find much of the same result.
The comparison is, perhaps, superficial to someextent, and does not fully weigh the elements involved, nor analyze them properly. We simply take the broad fact, not to decry the present, but to illustrate the past. So that
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
looking back to the early religious meetings in the log-cabins we may say: " Here was a faith, earnest and simple, like that of the early Christian."
The first religious meetings in the county were held in the cabins of the settlers, with two or three families for a congregation. On pleasant days they would gather outside in the shade of the cabin or under the branches of a tree, and here the Word would be expounded and a song of Zion sung.
It is not our purpose at this place to give a full account of the organiza- tion of all the churches of the county. Such matters of detail will be given in connection with the townships in which each church organization was formed. At this place it is our purpose to speak of the churches in general and more particularly the first organization of the kind in the county.
Mr. Turrell in his reminiscences of Des Moines says the first sermon preached was by Rev. Ezra Rathbun, a Methodist minister, on the occa- sion of a funeral in 1845. In the same year a Methodist church was orga- nized by Rev. Mr. Russell. Mr. Russell was then traveling in what was called the Fort Des Moines mission, including the whole of Polk, Madison, Warren, north half of Marion and the south half of Jasper, Boone and Dal- las counties.
If, as Mr. Turrell says, this mission or circuit was established as early as the fall of 1845, the larger part of the territory embraced by it was unin- habited, and plans for religious effort and enterprise were formed even be- fore the people came. The latter however were not long in coming, and if during the year 1846 Mr. Russell succeeded in making the round of his cir- cuit once a quarter, he must have been zealous and industrious. The writer knows little of Mr. Russell, the first regularly appointed minister of any denomination who preached in Polk county. He was evidently a man of great physical endurance, and possessed, to a certain degree, of the same zeal and enthusiasm which characterized the disciples of old when in obedi- ence to the command of the Master they went into all the world intent on preaching the gospel to every creature.
Of the Rathbuns, more is known, as they resided in the county for many years, and some of their kinsfolk still reside in Des Moines. They were what in the Methodist Church are called local preachers; that is they received no particular appointment from the annual conference; the conference was not responsible for their support. They engaged in certain occupa- tions for the purpose of earning a living, and preached at such places as they could visit without interfering with their regular business, and as fre- quently as duty or inclination seemed to indicate. Ezra Rathbun was a man of much natural ability and was a graduate of some Eastern college; he was a modest and unassuming man, and although not regularly in the work, did much to establish Methodism in this and adjoining counties.
Two other pioneer preachers of this denomination located in Fort Des Moines at a very early day, and with Des Moines as a base of operations, cultivated a vineyard which consisted of all Central Iowa; they were Geo. W. Teas and V. P. Fink.
Teas was something of a character. He had the affectation without the reality of learning, and had not the positiveness of character which usually characterized the early Methodist preachers. At one time he left the Methodists and joined some other denomination, emphasising his departure by the composition of the following couplet :
" Let the news spread from shore to shore,
That George W. Teas is a Methodist no more."
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
It was only a short time until he returned to the fold and then some brother celebrated the event in reciting a poetical effusion as follows :
"Let the news spread from Georgia to Maine,
That George W. Teas is a Methodist again."
In 1850 all Towa composed one annual conference; Polk county and all the surrounding counties was a part of the Iowa City district. Fort Des Moines by this time had become able to sustain a church, and was a station where a minister was located and devoted his whole time to the one congregation. South and southwest was the Three Rivers mission, which extended through Madison, Warren and part of Polk counties. The ap- pointments took their names from the names of the owners of the houses where the meetings were held; they were named as follows :
Linden's, Laverty's, Allcock's, Smiths, Fleming's, Winterset, Indianola and Linn Grove. Rev. Andrew Coleman was presiding elder of the dis- trict, and Rev. George W. Teas had charge of the mission.
In September 1850, Rev. David Worthington was appointed presiding elder, and Rev. V. P. Fink had charge of the mission.
At the session of the Iowa conference in 1851, a new district was formed called Fort Des Moines district, and Rev. James Holden was appointed presiding elder of the new district.
The First Methodist Church organized in Polk county was in Des Moines, and is now known as Fifth Street Church. It was organized in 1845. The members composing the original organization were as follows:
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