USA > Illinois > Lee County > History of Lee County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 17
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Whole number children of school age, 953; whole number pupils enrolled. 695; whole nuumber male teachers, 1; whole number female teachers, 10; highest salary paid male teacher, $1,500; highest salary paid female teacher, $500; average salary, $455; cost per pupil for tuition, $13.25; entire cost per pupil, including contingent expenses, and interest on value of school property, $22.33; average number pupils belonging, per year, 465; average daily attendance, 429; per cent of attendance, 92; mumber tardi- nesses, 1,395 ; total number days taught, 83,912.
At the time the foregoing report was made, James A. Hawley, John D. Crabtree and Reuben O. Hall were directors. By reason of the fact that numbers of our citizens resided on the north side of the river, in North Dixon, it very soon became apparent that school facilities for the children on that side of the river must be furnished. So early as Dec. 7, 1854, I find an item in the old Tele- graph to the effect that a schoolhouse had been built by the citizens in the usual way, by subscription. This building stood, and in fact is the present house of Amos Bosworth, facing Crawford avenue. Less than four years previous, North Dixon contained but three dwelling houses. At the time of which I write, there were seventy and seats had been provided in the new school building for one hun-
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dred and thirty pupils. Before 1860 this school of two rooms had become crowded and another building for primary scholars had to be erected on the same lot on its north side. In these old schools, the names of the teachers, so far as I can remember, were Miss Campbell, who subsequently married Engene Pinckney, Miss Blood ; the lady who subsequently became Mrs. John V. Thomas, Colonel Wood, who was principal when the war broke out, and John V. Thomas. Of course there were others, but not many.
These schools in turn became crowded and in the antum of 1868-9 a beautiful new two-story and mansard brick school was built, the one still used, and by the side of which still another has been built since. On Jan. 15, 1869, this new building was dedicated with imposing ceremonies. Richard Edward of the State Normal made the address. This building cost the district $20,000. When the schools were opened. the grade system was installed by the principal. John V. Thomas. Following Mr. Thomas as a principal were, Mr. Hague in 1874: JJ. L. Hartwell in 1875; Julius Lloyd in 1877; C. O. Sendder in the fall of 1878.
I have just found the names of the old superintendents of the North Side schools from the beginning: I. H. Williams, 1859; W. S. Wood, N. J. Gilbert. J. A. Flagg and then in 1863, John V. Thomas followed and continued until 1874.
While the early schools so far were denominated public schools, at first they were of a private nature, paid for by private subserip- tion and supported by tuition. Nevertheless they were not what is understood to be private schools of which Dixon had many in its earlier history.
As early as 1855, several enterprising gentlemen sought to give to Dixon the advantages of a first class educational institution. To that end on May 7, 1855. W. W. Harsha, a Presbyterian minister commenced the first term of the Dixon Collegiate Institute in the basement of the Lutheran Church then located on Crawford avenue between Third and Fourth streets.
Following him as teachers in that institution were Ehi C. Smith. Mrs. E. A. Smith, Mrs. C. L. Harsha and Miss Jennie L. Backns.
On July 4, of the year 1855, after securing an endowment for the Dixon Collegiate Institute, of $25,000, the corner-stone was laid with imposing ceremonies. Subscriptions in money, apparatus and lands made by the citizens of Dixon raised the sum to $37.000.
B. F. Taylor of Chicago made the principal address on the occasion. John Stevens and others delivered addresses too on the
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occasion. Not very long ago I unearthed the one made by John Stevens.
In 1857 this institution was incorporated by a special act of the Legislature. But from one cause and another the school did not progress as anticipated, and in 1858, the presbytery abandoned it.
Its construction must have been slow because on Ang. 27, 1857, when Prof. A. M. Gow took hold of it to reorganize it, but two stories and a basement were all that were finished.
On April 18, 1861, the building then completed was purchased by Rev. O. W. Cooley, of Wisconsin, for the purpose of establishing a female seminary in it. Just what he did, I am unable to learn ; but the next notice I find of it is Sept. 8, 1863, when S. G. Lathrop and M. McKendree Tooke, two Methodist ministers opened the Dixon Seminary. For a time this institution under the manage- ment of these two gentlemen, flourished. Large numbers of pupils attended, especially from the farms.
On Nov. 1, 1875, the name of the institution was changed to the Rock River University and O. G. May became president and M. M. Tooke became regent.
But the public school by this time had been brought to such a degree of usefulness that in a small town the small private school could not compete with it and so after a long period of reverses, Mr. Tooke lost the property and title passed to George L. Semmler. After this the building stood empty for a long while and people who desired took up their residence in its rooms without molestation. But after awhile it became rumored that the old building had become unsafe and Mr. Schuler had it demolished.
Architecturally it was a handsome building. Sitting on the brow of a beautiful hill, it was the first building seen from afar. From the car window, it presented a most picturesque appearance. Now the site is the beautiful Bluff Park in which so many beautiful homes have been built.
The last reference I find made to the old Rock River University is on the ending of the year 1880, where the building is spoken of as a five-story brick and stone edifice, on a high eminence in the east part of town, and that the institution had practically settled down to a Preparatory and Military Academy, vet giving instruction in the Normal. Business, Musical and Art departments.
The board of management and instruction were at that time, Jay R. Hinckley, president : Maj. H. O. Chase, military instructor ; W. U. Chamberlain, business manager; Henry M. Douglas, Mrs. Jay R. Hinckley and Miss Lucy Whiton, teachers.
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On July 15, 1857, an attempt was made by Rev. J. W. Downing to establish a Female Seminary under the auspices of the Episcopal Church. A frame house just west of the Illinois Central depot was rented and the school was begun, but like the other efforts to estab- lish a private school the efforts of Mr. Downing failed and after a little while the school was closed never to resume.
In 1880, I find the schools summarized about as follows: The north side building already referred to is 54x63 feet, ground plan. Including basement it is four stories high. The first and second stories, each 13 feet high, are divided into two school rooms, 25x38 feet, with a recitation room for each. The mansard roof is one large room for study 39x48 feet. 16 feet high, having a rostrum in the north end 10x12 feet, with an ante room entering upon it from either side. C. O. Sendder was then principal. In the differ- ent departments there were 180 pupils, not a heavy increase in twenty years.
Miss Welty was the assistant principal: Miss A. Raymond taught the grammar room ; Miss M. Yates taught the intermediate room and Mrs. A. C. Holbrook the primary room.
On the south side in 1880 there were 459 pupils. E. C. Smith was principal and superintendent: Miss Emma Goodrich was assistant and taught high school with fifty pupils. The first gram- mar room was taught by Miss Adelia Pinckney with an attendance of twenty-seven pupils ; Miss Nellie Soule taught second grammar with an attendance of thirty-four.
The first intermediate was taught by Miss Harriet O. Sterling with an attendance of fifty-six pupils; the second intermediate room was taught by Ida Deland with forty-five pupils; the third intermediate was taught by Miss Emna Burnham with forty-nine pupils, and the fourth intermediate was taught by Miss Fannie Murphy, with fifty-seven pupils. The primary department was taught by Miss Amelia MeComsey with fifty-one pupils. On Second street in the old Methodist Church school, Miss A. G. Curtis taught primary department with forty-five pupils. West of the Central Depot on Seventh street Mrs. L. L. Woodworth taught a primary room with forty-seven pupils.
The old Dement town school used before this last named was built, was held in the brick building on the corner immediately across the street, on the northwest corner. The first teacher I can remember teaching there was a Miss Gunn.
In later years, the Truman school in the west end of town and the big new high school building have been built.
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The Catholic Church began in our midst a parochial school in the year 1872, by Rev. Father McDermott. At first it was con- dueted in the old church building, but later under the guidance of Father Foley it was enlarged and removed to the beautiful prop- erty where it stands now.
In the year 1912, the buildings were visited by fire and they were all entirely destroyed. But as if by magie they have been very materially enlarged and now are caring for more pupils than ever.
CHAPTER XIV EDUCATIONAL HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY SCHOOLS
By Prof. L. W. Miller, Superintendent of Schools
On this day of the happy New Year, 1914, the compiler of this department completes his work and submits his manuscript of the work attempted.
A retrospection of the history of education within the borders of Lee county, Illinois, covers a period of about eighty years and records the evolution of a school system of marked efficiency. From the most meager and humble equipment in the homes of pioneers, through the period of the log or slab housing for pupils, to the matted floor of the real " Parlor School." with its standard equip- ment, ave, even further to the larger range of equipment to be found in our "Superior School." on the one side of our considera- tions, and the splendid edifices known as our city high school build- ings, on the other side-all have developed within the span of life accorded to many an individual living today.
Progress has been the keynote of effort, and the pursuit of ideals has ever been actuated by worthiness of motive, each year providing the very best that circumstances permitted-each improved condition being secured by sacrifices commensurate with the ideals attained, and by the cooperative organization of the work of thousands of minds, and the translation of dominant thought into action. Priceless indeed the heritage, to those who now have opportunities, that today stand a mnte, unanswerable argument against the persistent assaults of destructive criticism.
It is well that we pause on this eve of greater, and still greater possibilities, and take inventory. Some of the early history of education in specific school units has been felt secure in the writings of previous historians, and has given way for more of the condi-
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tions permeating the school systems of the present day, and por- tions of certain specific accounts have been compiled by duplication.
Doubtless, errors are here recorded, but conflicts of data have been presented, and revisions of date by specific contributors have been permitted. It is thought that, in the main, this series of records is correct.
The first school opened within the borders of Lee county was that conducted in Father Dixon's home at Dixon's Ferry, during the winter of 1833-34. The building was begun by Joseph Ogee, a French-Indian half-breed and interpreter, who established a ferry at Dixon in the spring of 1828. Father Dixon purchased the ferry in 1830, and completed the house, which probably stood at the northwest corner of First street and Peoria avenue. John K. Robison was the first teacher, being succeeded by a Miss Butler of Bureau county, and here the children of Father Dixon were instructed, others coming from outside homes, as the pioneer town grew. There is a record to the effect that the Dixon children attended school at Buffalo Grove, with the children of O. W. Kellogg, during one winter, and that the Kellogg children attended at Dixon during the following winter-an arrangement made mu- tually advantageous by the heads of these households.
In 1836 the last of the hostile tribes of Indians disappeared from Lee county, leaving the country open to settlement. While Dixon contained but four families at this time, the rapid increase in numbers warranted the erection of the first schoolhouse in 1837. This building was a one-story frame structure, 20x30 feet. It was erected by subscription and stood on lot 1. block 69, not far from the cemetery. It was moved, in 1839, to lot 5, block 17, and was the general assembling place of the (then) village for a mumber of years. Here school opened in the fall of 1837. H. Bieknell being the teacher, and enrolling abont twenty-five pupils. Parents send- ing children to this school contributed to its financial support-the custom of the day.
In 1838 the first schoolhouse in Brooklyn town was erected at Meligin's Grove, near the oldl Chicago stage road. Zachariah Melugin, the landlord of the village inn, became the first teacher,
The organization of Lee county occurred in 1839, and E. R. Mason was the first county superintendent of schools-then known as school commissioner. Into his care was placed the organiza- tion of the ernde beginnings of our school system, and to the work of the private instructor and the teacher in the pioneer school was added the first attempts at a course of study, classification, and
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general school equipment, his log cabin serving the twofold purpose of schoolhouse and tavern for a year preceding the erection of the school building.
Further to the east, in Wyoming town, we find a school build- ing known as "The Little Red Pole Schoolhouse, " not over twelve feet square, and erected expressly for school purposes-perhaps in 1836.
Thus do we find the early beginnings of the establishment of schools-principally along the Indian trails and stage routes. These schools were all necessarily small, and were, in each case, established and maintained entirely by individual contributions, the public school system not having then been established. Thus are recorded the days of "boarding round" by teachers, who often received not to exceed $1.25 per week for their services, and of the time when it often occurred that some pupils were older than their teachers.
The history of an old schoolhouse formerly located about a half mile southeast of the Gap Grove schoolhouse, is very obscure. The building is now a milkhouse on the Howard Martin farm. On the southwest corner of the farm now owned by Joseph Gooch, near the forks of the road, once stood a log house, which some claim as the true historic schoolhouse, the information indicating that fifty pupils were once enrolled here. In 1863 the old church at Gap Grove was transformed into a schoolhouse, situated on the site of the present school building at that place. Later this building was sold for $20, and converted into a barn on the old H. M. Gilbert homestead. The present school building at this point became its successor.
At an early day an "advanced school" was taught by a Mr. Judd, in a log schoolhouse near the John L. Lord homestead, to which many came from a distance on horseback. In 1837 there was a schoolhouse at the Gap, nearly opposite the town hall. In 1838 a small frame school building, which was never finished. in the center of Sugar Grove, was presided over for two winters by W. W. Bethea.
In 1847 a frame schoolhouse was built on or near the site where in 1858 a brick church with basement for school purposes was erected. This old "frame" building may be seen on the Fletcher Seavey homestead. Thus it will be seen that these old landmarks are being preserved by this substantial community, who have erected a tablet along the public highway-a memorial to the first schoolhouse in Palmyra.
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The building erected in 1858 was soon partially rebuilt, to make it more substantial, only to be destroyed by fire later.
The frame building replacing the one destroyed is used for church purposes, and its basement is perhaps the best equipped one-room rural school building in Lee county, made so, largely, by the long period of superior service rendered to this school by its teacher, Mrs. Gertrude E. Russell, who taught twenty-one years consecutively in this school, retiring at the end of the last school year, 1913. Not only one of the ablest and most efficient of Lee county's teachers, but one who commanded the highest salary, $70 per month for nine school months, during the latter years of her incumbency.
As early as 1843, there was a blacksmith shop at Prairieville. while the village was located and platted in 1855. Here we find a two-story brick building erected at a cost of $3,000, some fifty years ago. A soldiers' moment, costing $900 and erected by vol- untary contributions, in 1869, stood on the beautiful school grounds here for many years, only to be removed to the Palmyra cemetery at Sugar Grove several years ago. No other momument to the memory of the soldier dead in Lee county is known to the writer.
The "Brick" schoolhouse in South Dixon, located three miles from Dixon, on the Chicago road, is notable in that it was the cen- ter of great intellectual activity for many years. Built at an early date, E. B. Edson was its first teacher, and at one time its attend- ance reached 120.
The first regular school in Willow Creek was started in one of Israel Shoudy's log houses in 1848. Martha Vandeventer was the first regular teacher, although others had preceded her in an irreg- ular way. In 1849 a frame school building was erected by sub- scription, and while it was being completed, dwellings were used when the weather was too cold for the use of the log cabin. The first board of examiners to pass upon the qualifications of teachers for this school, consisted of John Smith, in grammar and geogra- phy ; H. G. Howlett, in mathematics and reading : and John Colvill, in writing and spelling.
In the summer of 1847 a stone schoolhouse was built on Henne- pin avenue in the city of Dixon, on the site now occupied by Seriv- en's blacksmith shop. Henry T. Noble was one of the early teach- ers. In 1845 there were 149 persons under twenty years of age in the district, and seventy-five of these were enrolled in the public and select schools.
In 1854 the first schoolhouse was built in North Dixon.
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In 1855 the "Dixon Collegiate Institute" was opened in the basement of the Lutheran church, under the auspices of the Rock River Presbytery, under the care of Rev. W. W. Harsha. Later, in the same year, the corner-stone of the institute was laid, in what is now Bluff Park. This school was endowed to the extent of $25,000, with generous contributions in grounds, etc., by Dixon citizens. By special act of the Legislature this institution was incorporated in 1857. The school being discontinued, it later became the home of different private schools, and finally gave way to residences.
The Union schoolhouse was a two-story brick, located on the site of the J. C. Ayres residence on Peoria avenue. It was built in 1855 at a cost of $6,000, and was torn down in 1874. Here the old wooden desks were replaced by the more modern type of fur- nishings.
In 1857 a female seminary was started under the auspices of the Episcopal church, and in 1861 a female seminary was established in the Collegiate Institute building. In 1858, a high school depart- ment was added to the course of study of the public schools. In 1862 E. C. Smith became superintendent of schools. "Dixon Sem- inary" was opened in the Collegiate building in 1863. The Dement town school was built in 1866, and in 1868 the old building in North Dixon was erected at a cost of $20.000, and the next year the "Red Briek" building on the south side was built. The latter cost $30,000. A primary brick structure served a period of usefulness on the North Dixon side, it being erected at a cost of $4,000, and gave way in 1889 to the new high school building, completed the next year, just west, at a cost of $15,500.
The "White Brick" school, on the south side, was completed in 1887, at an initial cost of $5,500, it being enlarged and improved in 1892 at a cost of $17.000. Several years ago this was destroyed by fire and the splendid new edifice known as the Central school became its successor.
In 1902. a kindergarten was established in the North Dixon schools. It has been continued until the present time, and now enrolls seventy children, taught by three teachers. Manual train- ing was introduced into the south side schools during the same year-the same being maintained on an improved basis today. The Truman school in Morrill town, the west end of Dixon, cost $7,000, and was erected in West Dixon during the same year.
This school was named in honor of Frederick A. Truman (now deceased), president of the board of education, and mayor of Vol. T -- 1 3
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Dixon for a long period of years. The Dement town school was named " Woodworth School" at this time, in honor of Mrs. L. L. Woodworth who taught in the same room of this school for thirty- two years. At the same time the south side Red Brick school changed its name to E. C. Smith school, in honor of its former superintendent.
The Northern Illinois Normal School and Dixon Business College began its existence in the Seminary building in 1881, with John C. Flint as president and Jesse B. Dille as principal.
These quarters were occupied but one year, when, upon the completion of the new buildings in West Dixon, the permanent home of this prominent institution of learning was established. Scholarships to the extent of $20,000 were subscribed as an induce- ment to seenre its location in this city, and the college building, proper, and the Ladies' Dormitory were completed when first occupied. The Gentlemen's Dormitory was completed in 1888.
This new school was popular from the very first and grew rapidly under its splendid business management until it registered nearly twelve hundred students ( 1891), with a corps of instructors numbering about forty. Courses in preparatory, teachers, scientific classic, business, music, telegraphy, art, etc., were maintained, this institution chawing students from nearly every section of the United States, as well as from Canada, and enjoying merited popularity as the leading educational center of northern Illinois. This school is today the property of Prof. I. F. Edwards, who for sixteen years occupied the position of county superintendent of schools of Lee county, and is still in operation, with an encouraging attendance.
Steinmann College began its existence in 1882. under the direc- tion of Charles A. Steinmann, who condneted the school success- fully for a number of years. It is located on a beautiful elevation on the banks of Rock river adjoining Assembly Park, on the north. Maj. F. B. Floyd now conduets a military school here, with most gratifying results.
Coppins' Commercial College is located in the heart of the city. and, under the skilled management of W. IT. Coppins, this school ministers to the needs of those desiring work in its lines.
St. Mary's Parochial School was founded in 1897. Its location is in block 7, on Peoria avenne, on a plat of ground 200 by 300 feet. the same having once been a portion of the estate of G. L. Schuler. The course includes primary and grammar grades and the teachers are Sisters of the Dominican Order. The home of this order is at
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Sinsinawa Mound, Wisconsin. This school is prosperous, and has a strong attendance. Work of an excellent order is done.
The following history of the Lee Center Academy is from the pen of Mr. Sherman L. Shaw, whose abilities and residence in this village quality him as the logical authority for his contribution :
During the period between the years of 1850 to 1860, one of the best known schools in this section of the state was the Lee Center Academy.
The location being on one of the best known and most traveled east and west stage roads in northern Illinois, made it easy of access from all points. There were students in attendance from Rockford and Mount Morris, towns that had academies, as well as from other towns and even from outside the borders of the state.
The academy at one time employed four instructors and had an enrollment of about two hundred. i
The people were fortunate in securing some very able instruct- ors during the early days of the school. The one man among all the list that is given most credit for building up the school was Simeon Wright, who afterward became state superintendent of schools.
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