USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois : biographical and pictorial, Volume I > Part 30
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Since 1910, Mr. Hoffman has furnished the inspection blanks to the county superintendent and had him to make the inspection records. These records are sent to the state office and acted upon there. Two more schools were thus standardized in 1911. The first of these was the Robley School in District No. 71, with Miss Nell Head as teacher. This is one of the best equipped schools to be found anywhere and has a board of directors who will keep making the improvements and repairs necessary to retain their diploma.
The other Standard School is in the Miller District, No. 6. Miss Lottie Burdsal was the teacher there, and she and her pupils and the directors all worked hard to meet the requirements for standardizing their school before the close of the term.
This plan is attracting the attention of many of the directors and others interested in rural schools, and plans are being made to standardize several other schools.
HIGH SCHOOLS.
Probably the most noticeable evidence of educational progress in Macoupin County in recent years is the development of the high schools in the cities and villages. Thirty or forty years ago, if the young student wanted to advance in his studies beyond what is now the eighth grade of the common schools, his parents must be able to send him to some academy or college. These colleges were most often private or sectarian schools and were at such a distance as to take the youth away from home at just the age when he most needed the good influences of the home. Most boys and girls could not afford to go at all, and were thus prevented from obtaining anything beyond an elementary education. But now all the cities and most of the villages have high school courses varying in length from one to four years. The better of these courses offer about the same things that made up the college courses a few years ago, and the work
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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
done according to them is of such excellence as to be fully accredited at the Illinois State University. The course of the Carlinville high school for 1910-1I may be taken as a type of the courses in the accredited schools. It is as follows :
FIRST SEMESTER
FIRST YEAR
Required
Periods per week
English I
.5
Algebra I.
.5
Elective
Latin I.
.5
Drawing
.3
Music
. 2
Physical Geography
. 5
SECOND YEAR
Required
English II.
.5
Plane Geometry .5
Elective
Latin II
.5
Ancient History . .5
Zoology
.5
THIRD YEAR
Required
English III.
.5
English History .5
Elective
Latin III.
.5
German I.
.5
Chemistry .5
Algebra II .5
FOURTH YEAR
Required
Physics
.7
Civics
5
Elective
English IV .5
Latin IV . 5
German II. · 5
Commercial Arithmetic 5
SECOND SEMESTER
FIRST YEAR
Periods
Required
per week.
English I.
5
Algebra I.
5
Elective
Latin I.
5
Drawing
· 3
Music
2
Botany
5
SECOND YEAR
Required
English II
.5
Plane Geometry
. 5
Elective
Latin II
. 5
Ancient History
5
Physiology
. 5
THIRD YEAR
Required
English III.
5
American History 5
Elective
Latin III.
.
5
German I.
5
Chemistry
5
Solid Geometry 5
FOURTH YEAR
Required
Physics
.7
Elective
English IV . 5
Latin IV.
. 5
German II. · 5
Political Economy
.5
Book-keeping .5
Trigonometry .5
.
251
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
Sixteen units of work are required for graduation.
A unit of High School work is represented by a year's work in a subject, with five recitations a week.
For a term's work in Drawing, Music, or Rhetoricals a credit of 14 unit is given. In any other branch, a term's work is worth 1/2 unit.
Not more than one unit of rhetorical work will be accepted toward graduation. No pupil will be allowed to take less than 15, nor more than 20 recitations per week, nor to select his work from different years, without permission.
No class will be formed for fewer than five pupils.
A brief outline is here given of the development of some of the high schools, and the pictures of a few of the buildings are given.
High school work was begun in Virden about 1880, and the course has been extended and improved until in 1890 it was accredited by the State University and has remained on the accredited list since. Some of the superintendents who have had charge of this school for two or more years each were as follows: Henry Higgins, Wm. E. Evans, P. M. Silloway, Milo Loveless, F. E. Kennedy, Josiah Main, J. C. Walters, and J. Carl Stine. Supt. Silloway had charge of this school for several years about 1890 and then left to teach in some western state, but returned in 1909 and has again had charge for the last two years. The total number of graduates from this school is two hundred thirty-eight.
Girard began to have high school work in 1890 and was placed on the ac- credited list in 1906. Some of the superintendents who have helped build up this school were E. L. Howett, J. I. Taylor, S. H. Tilden, F. E. Kennedy, Hey- wood Coffield, F. E. Wolfe, and W. F. Grotts. The total number of graduates is one hundred seventy.
Carlinville introduced some high school work into its course in 1885, and extended and improved its course from time to time until it was placed on the accredited list several years ago. It now has four teachers in the high school besides the superintendent. The men at the head of this school have been George Harrington, R. B. Anderson, E. H. Owen, J. E. Wooters, and H. A. Perrin. Some of the high school teachers have been Annie E. Otwell, Agnes Fitzgerald, A. M. Horine, Catherine A. Kelley, Margaret Hubbard, Ida C. Turnbull, and Stella Surman. Altogether about 345 students have graduated from this school.
Gillespie introduced a two year high school course into its system in 1893, and changed it to a four year course in 1905. The superintendents have been Rosa Burke, F. L. Hoehn, A. C. Stice, and George W. Soloman. Eighty-four have received diplomas from this school. Gillespie has had a very rapid growth in the last few years and the board of education has had a difficult problem in providing school facilities for the rapidly increasing number of school children. They built a large grade school building about 1904 and added a high school building and some more grade rooms in 1909 altogether costing about $25,000.00. The Gillespie school building is very conveniently arranged and is one of the most beautiful in this part of the state.
Staunton is another city of phenomenal growth within recent years and has built about $30,000.00 worth of school buildings within the last six years. Brief mention of the high school department was made in a preceding part of this article. It is probably the best equipped high school in the county. The ninth
252
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
grade of work was begun in Staunton in 1894, the tenth grade was added in 1895, the eleventh grade in 1897, and the twelfth grade or fourth year of the high school work was added in 1907, and the course is now fully accredited by the Illinois State University. This development took place under the following superintendents : J. I. Taylor, W. R. Duncan, C. M. Brennen, Robert C. Moore, and Wm. E. Eccles. One hundred five students have graduated from this school and the attendance is constantly increasing. To give an idea of the growth of the schools in some of the cities, we will say that in 1894 there was an enroll- ment of 250 pupils in the Staunton school and they were taught by seven teach- ers, while in 1910 the enrollment was 760 pupils taught by seventeen teachers.
Mt. Olive is a progressive little city and has a very capable corps of teach- ers. The high school work was introduced into this school in 1895, and they have graduated 109 students since that time. Their superintendents have been E. D. Bittner, J. U. Uzzell, E. A. Morgan, R. H. Perrott, and F. L. Hoehn. This city also has had to meet the building problem within recent years and has extended its school grounds and added to its buildings quite extensively.
Bunker Hill was the first city to add work beyond the eighth grade. High school work was begun there in 1878, and the course has been extended and improved from time to time. Some of the superintendents have been W. H. Miller, T. E. Moore, W. C. Hobson, W. G. Baab, C. W. Yerkes, P. M. Hoke, L. T. Shaw, and H. M. Anderson. G. W. Smith of Medora is employed there for the year of 1911-12. Two hundred seven have received diplomas from this school.
Palmyra has a very good three year high school course and will probably soon add another teacher and another year to the course. Their new building has already been mentioned.
Medora has a beautiful and substantial new building and a good two year high school course. They have there the largest and most beautiful school yard in this part of the state. It consists of several acres of natural forest modified by landscape gardening into a thing of art. The school and school grounds are the pride of Medora.
The first school building in Medora was built in 1864, and was replaced in 1905 by the present structure, which cost $12,000. Stroud V. Keller was the first schoolteacher in the old building.
The Medora high school began its more advanced work with the class of 1903 and 1904, and this school has turned out seventy-six graduates. Since 1903 the superintendents have been: G. A. Walker, C. W. Yerkes, A. Dawkins, W. J. Chapman, five years, George Solomon, and G. A. Smith, six years.
Brighton also has an excellent new building and a beautiful yard. Its course consists of three years of high school work.
Some of the other villages in the county doing some creditable work beyond the eighth grade are Scottville, Modesto, Nilwood, Piasa, Shipman, Benld, Ches- terfield, Woodburn, Atwater, Dorchester, Hettick, Plainview, and the two room rural school at Pleasant Hill.
JOHN DENNISON
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
THE STATE UNIVERSITY TROLLEY SCHOOL.
In January, 1911, the officers and teachers of the Illinois State University began to make plans with the county superintendents in the counties traversed by the McKinley electric railroad to "bring the State University to the people." Their plan was to send out several university professors and lecturers on a trolley train through these counties, to have the train stop at certain stations agreed upon in advance, and to have the lecturers address the people at these stations upon live agricultural topics illustrating their lectures with suitable apparatus and products. The county superintendent designated five stops in this county, Gillespie, Clark's Siding, Carlinville, Girard, and Virden, and notified the teachers and pupils near each of these stations to be present at the time ap- pointed for the lectures. The train was run on March 2d according to the schedule agreed upon. Two lectures were given in each of the two cars at each stop, and the school children and their parents attended in such large numbers that it was necessary to have overflow meetings at nearly every stop.
The lectures were on such subjects as Soil Fertility, Helpful and Harmful Birds, Crop Rotation, Dairying, Cattle Feeding, Poultry Raising, Farm Build- ings, etc. The lectures and the exhibits on the cars aroused much discussion among the teachers, pupils, and parents, awakened an interest in the work at the State University, and implanted in the minds of many people a desire for more knowledge of the real science of agriculture.
SOME PRESENT PROBLEMS AND THE FUTURE.
This brief history of our educational system is a story of growth, develop- ment and improvement. But it must not be taken for granted that the entire system is now perfect, that all the complex problems involved in it have been solved, nor that it will require little attention and improvement in the future. New conditions raise new questions, and progress is made only by overcoming difficulties. So new educational problems arise and old ones reappear because of changing ideas of the purposes of education, because of the rapid increase in our foreign population, and because of the concentration of our population in cities and the decrease of population in our rural communities.
One of our present problems might be stated thus, "What should be included in our course of study?" A part of our people claim that we are trying to teach too much and that the course ought to be shortened and simplified; while others are asking for the addition of new subjects. Some insist that manual training and household science be given more attention ; others argue for music, drawing, and physical culture. Some insist upon emphasizing bookkeeping, business arithmetic, and commercial law; others plead for more English, Latin, and literature. Some say that we should have more studies of a strictly ethical nature ; others claim that the proper teaching of any subject by a perfect teacher develops moral character. Many demand more work in the physical sciences ; and probably as many demand more work in sociology and economics. These are but a few of the many things suggested to the school authorities by an earnest people desiring the best education possible for their children. The State
254
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
Course of Study has responded to many of these varying demands until it now includes more than can be mastered by the average teacher. And the time limit will not permit the introduction of all useful subjects into the programs of our schools. "What shall we teach?" will be an open question for some time to come and perhaps forever ..
Many deep students of education claim that it matters little what is taught besides the elements of reading, writing, spelling, and numbers if the teacher is a person of high ideals, good character, and proper methods. This at once introduces the problem of how to keep up the supply of good teachers. Death, matrimony, and change of occupation depletes the ranks of the tried and true teachers each year. Death occurs because it cannot be prevented, marriage under proper circumstances should not be avoided, and change of occupation is often desirable and even necessary because of the better pay in other departments of the world's work. So it is necessary each year to grant certificates to about forty or fifty boys and girls and to send them out to practice the highly important profession of teaching before they have had any special training for it. So the problem of obtaining and keeping a supply of efficient teachers is still a live one.
The large increase in the population of this county during the last twenty years has been altogether in the cities, and the increase in the school population of these cities has been much more rapid than the increase in the assessed valua- tion and therefore more rapid than the available school revenue. The demands of the people for the addition of high school courses in these cities have in- creased the cost of maintaining the schools. Therefore the problem of raising enough money to provide proper school facilities is an acute one in several of our city districts.
The popularity of the high school courses in the cities has spread into the rural districts, and the demands for high school advantages for the country pupils are increasing. Some rural districts have tried the experiment of adding some high school work to their course, but it is found that one teacher has enough to do to teach the work below the high school. When she attempts more, she is compelled to so divide her time and energies as to slight some of the work. Some parents send their children to the city high schools and pay their tuition. But some people live at considerable distance from any city high school, and some can hardly afford the extra expense of tuition, etc., for several chil- dren. At the same time these people feel that their children deserve advantages equal to those of the city children. Therefore, the question of how to provide high school advantages for the country boys and girls is insistantly demanding an answer:
The law provides that township high schools may be established by a vote of the people, but no such school has yet been established in this county, largely because of the rivalry between different parts of townships and the opposition of non-resident land owners and of tax payers without children. Many believe that we have too many rural districts and that consolidation is the solution of several of our problems. But this idea is new and not yet well understood and is opposed by the same influences named above.
The fact that these questions are being discussed shows not only that much is to be accomplished in the future but also that our people are awake to the
255
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
needs of the day in educational affairs. The experience of the past gives us hope and courage,-courage to grapple with the stubborn opposition to prog- ress, and hope that all these questions will be answered in terms of what is best for the children, and through them in terms of what is best for the welfare of our state and the stability of our government.
BLACKBURN UNIVERSITY.
About the year 1835 the Rev. Gideon Blackburn proposed to various benevo- lent persons in Massachusetts and other eastern states the following plan for raising money for the purpose of founding and establishing a theological semi- nary in Illinois :- that they should advance to him money with which he should purchase government lands at $1.25 per acre, that he should convey to them respectively of these lands amounts, which at $2.00 per acre should be equal to the sums advanced; that of the remaining lands he should take one-third to his own use to reimburse him for his trouble and expenses and the other two-thirds should constitute a fund for the funding and establishment of the college; in other words, five-eighths of the lands thus purchased should be conveyed to the persons who advanced the money, and one-eighth to himself, leaving one-fourth to constitute the seminary fund. In the execution of this plan he raised funds with which he purchased over 64,000 acres of land; thus providing a seminary fund of over 16,000 acres. On the 28th day of September, 1837, Dr. Blackburn acknowledged and executed a deed of trust conveying to W. S. Gilman and six other trustees the said lands constituting the seminary fund and some other lands in trust for the purpose of establishing an institution of learning on the principles in the deed specified. The deed directs the trustees to procure from the legislature of Illinois an act of incorporation for the institution, if practicable, to which they shall convey the lands and transfer the funds constituting the fund of the institution and until such act of incorporation shall be procured it author- izes the trustees to sell, mortgage, or lease the said lands and to apply the avails thereof to the funding and up-building of an institution of learning, the object of which shall be to promote the general interest of education and to qualify young men for the office of the gospel ministry by giving them such suitable in- struction in the Holy Scriptures as may enable them to perform the duties of that high and holy vocation acceptably to the world. The deed provides for the appointment of others and additional trustees and for filling vacancies, and pro- vides with considerable detail for the government of the institution and reserves to the grantor the right of visitation. In the deed immediately following the description of the premises conveyed and the habendum, this clause appears : "On the following trust and conditions, that the said southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 21, and the northeast quarter of the northeast quar- ter of section 28, township 10. north of range 7 west, be the site for the perma- nent location of the institution hereinafter mentioned, the said parcels of land having been purchased by the said party of the first part and other funds of the institution for that express purpose."
In August, 1838, Dr. Blackburn died intestate, leaving eight children, his heirs at law, several of whom were infants, and one of whom had died before the
256
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
filing of the original bill in this suit. The trustees sold portions of the land from time to time for the purpose of paying taxes on the residue, etc., but made no attempt to proceed with the erection of the institution.
There was an attempt made to convey these lands to the trustees of the Illi- nois College, at Jacksonville, under a decree issued by the Sangamon circuit court. That decree was entered at the November term, 1854, of said court by Judge David Davis, the judge then presiding. The trustees of the Illinois Col- lege sold a number of acres of these lands and at the December term, 1854, the supreme court of the state of Illinois reversed that decision, ordering the trustees of Illinois College to reconvey to the trustees of Blackburn College the said lands that they had received and the money that they had received for land they had sold, and thus under that decision Blackburn University became rehabilitated with the trust left by the Rev. Gideon Blackburn to be used for the purposes indicated as aforesaid.
To secure the location of the school at Carlinville, the citizens had contributed funds to purchase eighty acres of land at the edge of town as "the site for the permanent location of the institution."
William Weer, Jr., who was a brilliant young lawyer then residing in Carlin- ville, and had married a daugliter of Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton, a daughter of the Rev. Gideon Blackburn, induced Mrs. Hamilton and Grundy H. Blackburn, a son of Gideon Blackburn, to file a cross bill in the case, claiming that as the trust had failed, the lands reverted to the heirs of the Rev. Blackburn. He appeared in the case as their solicitor, being opposed by the distinguished lawyers, Abra- ham Lincoln, who afterwards became president of the United States, and the Hon. David A. Smith, of Jacksonville, Illinois, who were employed by the trustees of the Illinois college as their attorneys. Judge Walter B. Scates rendered the decision of the supreme court holding that the attempted transfer of the lands by the trustees of Blackburn College to the trustees of the Illinois College was an illegal act, without authority and could not be enforced as, under the deed of conveyance made by Dr. Blackburn to the trustees of Blackburn College, the institution was permanently located at Carlinville, Illinois, and could not be removed, thus settling its location at Carlinville for all time to come.
In 1857 a charter was obtained from the state legislature into which the language of Dr. Blackburn's deed of trust was incorporated as far as prac- ticable. This charter exempts all the property of the institution from taxation forever.
In 1858-9 a building was erected at a cost of $12,000, and ten years later it was enlarged and improved at an expense of $35,000.
A preparatory school was opened in 1859, with the Rev. John C. Downer as principal and Professor Jacob Clark as assistant. In 1862 Professor Robert B. Minton became president of the college and served as such until 1871. After- wards he became professor of mathematics and continued with the institution until his death in 1889. He had for years occupied the position of treasurer of the institution, as well as instructor.
In 1864 a full collegiate course of study, classical and scientific, was adopted women being admitted on the same terms as men. The first class was gradu- ated from the college in 1870, consisting of seven members who have taken high
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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
position in the communities in which they live, in the learned professions and in the business occupations of the times. In 1867 a theological department was organized and continued, until the development of theological seminaries in cities within reasonable distance made it no longer necessary.
In 1868, the legislature, at the request of the trustees, changed the name of the institution from Blackburn Theological Seminary to The Blackburn Uni- versity.
In 1871, the Rev. John W. Bailey, D. D., a distinguished scholar and eminent preacher and educator, was chosen president and held that position until 1876. The following year, the Rev. Edwin L. Hurd, D. D., an able minister, a refined and courtly gentleman, who was perhaps one of the ablest instructors that the institution has ever had, was chosen chief executive and continued in the presi- dency until 1891. In that year the Rev. Richard Edwards ex-superintendent of public instruction of Illinois, was made president but was compelled to resign two years later on account of failing health. The Rev. James E. Rogers, Ph. D., D. D., a noted linguist, was called to the presidency and remained at the head of the college until June, 1896, when he resigned to resume the pastorate. Dur- ing the year 1896-7 Professor Walter H. Crowell, an alumnus, was appointed acting president and in 1907, at Professor Crowell's resignation, Professor Walter H. Bradley was appointed acting president and continued as such until 1905, when the Rev. Thomas W. Lingle, Ph. D., was elected president, and was entitled to the credit of obtaining the increase in the endowment fund which assured the future of the college. At his resignation in 1908, Dr. Bradley was again made acting president.
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