USA > Indiana > A History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922 > Part 17
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
mentioned that the treasurer was directed to negotiate a note for $1,- 020.50, running four months, at the Evansville Branch Bank, or else- where, and apply the proceeds to the payment of the subscription, that being $2 each on five hundred shares. In August, 1849, James T. Walker was authorized to vote the stock-500 shares-at the election of directors and was instructed to vote for Samuel Hall and James Boswell, of Gibson county, and James Lockhart, John Ingle, Jr., John S. Hopkins, James G. Jones, John Hewson, Samuel Orr and Michael P. Jones, of Vanderburgh. At the next election Mr. Walker voted as proxy 2,000 shares, this time for the same gentlemen, except that the name of Willard Carpenter was substituted for that of Mr. Boswell.
To pay the remainder due on its subscription, the county, in Decem- ber, 1849, issued $99,000 in six per cent 10-25 year bonds, which were delivered to Samuel Hall, president of the road, in return for a certifi- cate for 2,000 shares of stock. The bonds were issued in small de- nominations, the interest was payable in Evansville, and they were in- artistically executed. These facts interfered with their sale, and later they were exchanged for a new issue, in large denominations, with coupons payable in New York, and having an appearance that might, at least not offend the fastidious taste of eastern bond buyers. Even in those days securities were judged somewhat by their looks. The people were taxed to pay the interest on these bonds. In June 1854, the county auditor was authorized to issue certificates of payment of taxes levied in 1850, '51, '52 and '53 to each tax payer. These were presented at the company's office and a sort of scrip was issued for them. When a sufficient amount of this was accumulated (perhaps $50 worth) railroad stock was issued to the tax-payer, who thus be- came a part owner of the road. The company soon found that the people were getting too much stock, and stopped transactions of that character. The county held its stock for many years, drawing divi- dends. In 1875, Philip Decker proposed to buy the shares held by the county, and a sale was actually made on April 19, of that year, to Mr. Decker for Arnold E. Schraeder, $36,000 being the amount of the pur- chase money. Robert D. Richardson of the circuit court secured an injunction against the county commissioners, preventing the sale. In the following June Messrs. Decker, Schraeder, W. R. McKeen and John E. Martin returned the stock and received back their money. On June 30, 1881, the stock was offered at public auction by Auditor Will Warren, and was sold to David J. Mackey for $150,000.
The city of Evansville, as well as the county of Vanderburgh, aided in the construction of this pioneer road by subscribing for $100,- 000 of its stock, which in 1881 was sold to D. J. Mackey for $150,000.
The road was completed and put in operation in 1853. Its name was first the Evansville & Illinois, was later changed to the Evansville & Crawfordsville, still later to the Evansville & Terre Haute, and is now the Chicago & Eastern Illinois. Its first president was Samuel Hall of Princeton, an able man, at one time judge of the circuit court of this district, the essence of honor, and a broad man of affairs. His successor to the presidency was John Ingle, Jr., one of the most acute
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thinkers and able business managers ever known to this city. He attained an exalted position as a lawyer, was recognized as an effic- ient executive officer, upright and honorable in every transaction, and in all respects a highly useful citizen. He maintained control of the road almost up to the time of his death, and then gave way to John E. Martin, who was a worthy successor. Mr. Martin's connection with the road terminated when D. J. Mackey assumed control.
Under the guidance of Willard Carpenter, an effort was made, soon after the completion of the Evansville & Illinois Railroad, to construct a road to Indianapolis under the name of the Evansville, Indianapolis & Cleveland Straight Line Railroad Company. Early reverses retarded the scheme for many years. Right of way was granted through the county poor farm in 1854. In 1869 the county commissioners re- fused to order an election granting aid to the road, and thereafter many years elapsed without anything being done further with the pro- ject. Then one R. G. Hervey, of Terre Haute, secured the old fran- chise and persuaded the city to grant aid to the amount of $300,000, an amount which was never paid because the road was not constructed as promised. This $300,000 was later compromised by the city issuing bonds for $196,000 to pay Evansville's debt to the road. After the con- struction of the road was well advanced Mr. Hervey sold his interests to D. J. Mackey, who completed the line as the Evansville & Indian- apolis road to Terre Haute.
In 1879, the Local Trade Railroad Company, with Robert A. Hill as its president, proposed the construction of a system of roads center- ing in Evansville by which the trade of the surrounding country could be brought to this city. The city voted financial support to the pro- ject in the sum of $65.000 with the 'stipulation that the work be com- pleted by January 1, 1881, but since this condition was not complied with, the bonds were destroyed. The company then pushed the con- struction of the Peoria. Decatur & Evansville Railroad as a part of its system, and upon agreeing to construct the road and maintain its shops in this city, Evansville subscribed $125,000 of its stock. Al- though a building for shops was erected, these shops were not main- tained, and the city took up its bonds in 1881, sold them for $125,000, and the road became a part of the Mackey system.
In 1870 Evansville and Vanderburgh County subscribed respec- tively $150,000 and $121,000 of stock in the Evansville, Carmi and Paducah Railroad Company, and when that road was consolidated with the St. Louis and Southeastern Railroad Company these amounts of stock were doubled, bonds for the stock being given to the consoli- dated road in 1873. The city had already subscribed $300,000 for the Evansville, Henderson & Nashville Railroad. By the consolidation of these various lines the name of Evansville was omitted from the name of the road working a great injustice to the people of the city which had done so much toward financing them. For a time, after the pro- test of the city, the name St. Louis, Evansville & Nashville, appeared on the cars but "Evansville" was soon dropped. The consolidation made the $600,000 of Evansville's stock practically worthless, because
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the western division was bonded for $1,500,000 and the southern divi- sion for $1,100,000. The road went into the hands of receivers in 1874, and then became the property of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company. In 1885, a railroad bridge 3,686 feet in length was built across the Ohio river at Henderson, the Louisville & Nash- ville road owning a controlling interest.
The Lake Erie, Evansville & Southwestern constructed its road from this city to Boonville, met with reverses, and became the prop- erty of the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis Railroad Company by which it was extended to Huntingburgh, Indiana to connect with the main line from Louisville to St. Louis.
The Ohio Valley Road, now a part of the Illinois Central system, connects this city with Nashville via Princeton and Paducah, Kentucky.
There is no doubt that many railroad projects were foisted upon the public as pure stock selling schemes, and the people of this city suffered no little financial loss at the hands of some promoters, but out of it all has come the superb railroad system by which Evansville has been brought into close communion with the entire country. The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway (Big Four) has a road from this city to Mr. Carmel, Illinois, connecting at that point with the main line of the road from Chicago to Cairo. The Evans- ville, Indianapolis & Terre Haute road successor to the old E. & I., runs from this city to Terre Haute by way of Oakland City, Washing- ton and Worthington, and thence to Indianapolis. The Louisville & Nashville places Evansville on the main line between St. Louis and Nashville. The Southern Railway system gives Evansville a con- nection with Louisville via Boonville, Huntingburg and New Albany, while the Louisville, Henderson & St. Louis Railway gives a like con- nection, although the latter road lies on the Kentucky side of the Ohio river from Henderson to Louisville. The Peoria and Evansville divi- sion of the Illinois Central system gives Evansville communication with the northwest as far as Peoria by way of Mattoon, Illinois, and the same system gives service to Chicago from this city by way of Mat- toon. The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad is the principal rail- road to the north, and connects Evansville with Chicago.
Interurbans. A development of more recent years in rail transpor- tation has been the electric interurban. Designed primarily to give fre- quent and convenient transportation service for passengers and light freight, this type of public utility has met with the success which it deserves. It has the advantage of being able to give convenience to rail travel. Cars are run at frequent intervals, and traction terminals are usually favorably located in the heart of cities. Tariffs charged are usually lower than on steam roads, and the interurban has won great favor with the shopper of the nearby community, because it gives him an opportunity to buy in city markets with only slight trav- eling inconvenience. The electric railroad has done much for the city because it has brought here much of the shopping trade of the nearby centers of population. The Southern Indiana Gas & Electric Company line connects Evansville with Patoka by way of Princeton and inter-
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mediate towns. The Evansville, Suburban & Newburgh road operates in two division, one to Boonville, the other to Newburgh. The Evans- ville & Ohio Valley Railway has three divisions : one to Rockport and Owensboro, one to Mount Vernon, and one to Henderson. There are two traction terminals in Evansville, one located on Fifth street be- tween Main and Locust, used by the Evansville, Suburban & New- burgh ; the other terminal is at the corner of Locust and Second streets' and is used by the other two systems.
EDUCATION
That the problem of educating the youth of the State has been of paramount importance to the commonwealth and has received consti- tutional and legislative consideration from the earliest days of its ex- istence, and even before it was admitted to the Union, is evidenced by the following extracts from laws and the constitution.
The national government has passed an ordinance in 1797 relating to the control and government of territories, and by it one township of land was reserved in each territory for the exclusive purpose of founding a state university. On April 9, 1816, Congress submitted to the people of Indiana on the occasion of its becoming a sovereign state a series of proposals for its government, subject to "their free accept- ance or rejection," of which the fourth in numerical order was "That one entire township, which shall be designated by the President of the United States in addition to the one heretofore reserved for that pur- pose, shall be reserved for the use of a seminary of learning, and vested in the legislature of said state, to be applied solely to the use of such seminary by the said legislature."
The framers of the state constitution were sensible to the values of education, also, and in Section 1 of Article VIII of the instrument specified that "Knowledge and learning generally diffused throughout a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to encourage, by all suit- able means, moral, intellectual, scientific and agricultural improve- ment, and to provide by law for a general and uniform system of common schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and equally open to all." By the state constitution it all became the duty of the legislature to provide by law as soon as possible for the establishment of a general system of education from township schools to a state university.
Congress had suggested to the young state that the two townships of land set aside for the uses of the public instruction be not sold for some years to come in order that the increased value of the land would create a larger educational fund, and by the state constitution no lands granted for the use of schools or seminaries of learning could be sold with the authority of the state prior to the year 1820. It is un- fortunate that the sale of these lands was not forever prohibited, but who could fortell at that early date how valuable they would grow during the course of a century? Were these two townships now the property of the state, the income from rentals and leases would now be so large that the school tax on the people would be materially lessened.
Acting in accordance with the constitution, the legislature, on Jan- uary 9, 1821, appointed a number of the leading men from various counties to be a committee for the drafting of a program for educa-
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tion, from common school to university, which was to be presented to the next session of legislature in the form of a bill.
For the equitable distribution of school funds within the counties, the legislature had passed a law on February 1, 1819, which provided that on the first Mondays of May and November every year the school teachers in every incorporated congressional township were to turn in a certified account of the number of students in their respective schools, and these lists were to govern the treasurer and board of school trustees in the proper apportionment of the educational funds.
For a good many years after its admission to the Union, the state did nothing of a practical nature toward solving the school problems. It built no schools and furnished no money, so that the early settlers had either to build their own school and furnish teachers, or see their children grow up in ignorance. Naturally, they chose to make every possible effort toward educating the youth of the community. There was. however, no wealth, either public or private, in the county then- nearly everyone was poor-and in the erection of school buildings the utmost economy had to be exercised. The usual method was for all the men of a certain locality which was going to build a school to get together and build a combination log meeting house and school. Labor and supplies, and these in small amounts, were all that were neces- sary, and frequently the entire structure would be started and com- pleted in a single day. Crude it undoubtedly was, with its log walls, slab door, puncheon floors and rude desks and benches, but it was a start in the right direction, and many was the eminent man of later years who received his first schooling in the "three R's" in one of these pioneer houses.
The selection of a teacher for the school was the next subject for consideration, and the leading men of the community would cast about for some young man with a smattering of learning. They preferred to get one who could read, write and do simple problems in arithmetic, but such an one was not always to be found, and this standard had often to be lowered. The teacher needed no certificate. All that was necessary was for him to appear before the head men and convince them that he had sufficient book knowledge to enable him to inculcate the first principles of education in the minds of unlettered youth. The pay he received was not only small, but seldom included actual cash, those whose children went to the school sending him some sort of produce to pay the tuition. Schools were few and far between, and, owing to the scarcity of teachers, the terms were short and very irreg- ular, but the pioneer children went to every term.
The earlier development of the schools of Evansville up to the time of the establishment of free schools, a period which includes the famous Safford School, has been most ably and brilliantly traced by Mrs. S. G. Clifford of Evansville, and her enlightening exposition of this sub- ject is here given.
Two contrasting pictures come before my mind as I write-The Pioneer Log Cabin School of 1821, The Stately Standard College just finished in 1922. Between them stretches a hundred years of slow evo-
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lution. Before it is too late, it may well be the duty of the Vander- burgh County Historical Society to trace step by step, the History of Education in our county and our city. Even now original sources of information are few, the reminiscences of former citizens-preserved in the archives of the society, some newspaper clippings and adver- tisements of local histories (often unreliable) and the uncertain mem- ory of three score and ten, still living ; scraps of information here and there may however be pieced together by careful study into a connected though necessarily meagre story. In orderly progression we see the township and village schools, the private academies and seminaries, the free schools, the High School, and the College. Each chapter, a stepping stone to something higher.
The township schools beginning in 1819 have been fully and graphi- cally depicted by J. W. Davidson in a commercial history of Vander- burgh County published in 1889.
Personal reminiscences of former pupils are in the archives of the society, describing the village school of Daniel Chute and the stern rule of "Daddy Knight" but the full history of these schools can prob- ably not now be written.
Distance may lend enchantment to the view and imagination clothe the naked facts with glory, but the effort of our forefathers toward the higher things of life, seems to me a heroic story and I cannot re- sist the temptation to quote a few of the facts as a preface to the spec- ial topic assigned me by the President, which is-the private schools which precede the inauguration of the public school system in 1853.
"In 1818 the Board of Commissioners for the new county of Van- derburgh (just set aside) established a public warehouse, assessors, Superintendents of school sections and overseers for the poor." In the dawn of our history there was created the light of Commerce, Edu- cation and Charity, with which to dispel the gloom of the wilderness. The earliest school was built the following year in 1819 of unhewn logs, the seats, logs on blocks of wood, the floor of dirt. The site was in Perry Township, where the present Orphan Asylum stands. To this country school the sturdy boys of the little settlement of Evans- ville trudged two miles daily for a few months of the year. The teach- er was Thomas Trueman, a sailor of the Revolutionary War, a rude, eccentric individual who gained his sustenance by hunting, trapping and trading. "Trueman's method of punishment was to use the rod across the knees as the pupils sat on the puncheon benches. The buck- skin breeches aprons worn by the pupils helped to mitigate the Ancient Mariner's blows."
There were philanthropists also in those days. "About two miles from the city in Center Township and on the south slope of the hill now Locust Hill Cemetery, half hidden in an apple orchard stood the little brick house of Father Kilblock, an estimable old gentleman, who made his living as an itinerant clock tinker and taught, for the love of it, three or four months in the year. It was the first free school in the county and was kept open until the public school system was estab- lished."
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One reads with amusement the dismissal of one of the early Perry Township school teachers, a well educated eastern man, for introducing a blackboard, which to the conservative trustee was "a device to enable the teacher to escape labor." One morning when the teacher accom- panied by some pupils opened the clapboard door of the school there was found written on the board in a bold hand the following :
"Any man of common sense would throw the blackboard over the fence."
At the end of the term, teacher and blackboard had to go. For in- formation concerning other township schools I refer you to Mr. David- son's able article.
The Pioneer teacher of the city of Evansville was George Thomp- son, who taught in a little log cabin situated near the corner of First and Vine Streets in the year 1921. Soon after this, William Price taught school in the old Baptist Church near Mulberry and First Streets. A picture of this old log house taken just before it was torn down a few years ago is still preserved.
The years 1821 and those which immediately followed were years of commercial disaster and wide spread want. Fevers were prevalent. The little settlement of Evansville comprised about 300 inhabitants, with tax assessment of somewhat over $100. Nothing daunted by dis- couraging circumstances, this little company began that year of 1821 a brick court-house, a brick school house, a church organization ( Pres- byterian) and a newspaper, the Evansville Gazette. Still in the plans of our ancestors, law and order, education, religion and the press ad- vanced hand in hand.
The little red brick school house has been immortalized in song and story. Such an one was built in Evansville in 1821, on the public square at 3rd and Main Streets. It was presided over by Daniel Chute, a graduate of Dartmouth College at a salary of $300 a year. He was small of stature, of deep piety and kindly heart. His portrait which hangs in the Walnut Street Church ( formerly the little Church on the Hill) shows a mild. a sweet, saintly face. Father Chute, as he was called, was a faithful Elder in the Little Church on the Hill and leader of its choir. The story is told that in opening exercise at his school, he prayed standing and with eyes open, a long fishing cane in his hand, that he might strike on the shoulder any mischevious boy, inter- rupting his prayer for the moment with the spiritual ejaculation "Woe be to you John." In 1830 Rev. J. R. Barnes writes "The course of Education was mostly in the hands of good Elder Chute who was for some years the chief if not the only Pedagogue." Mrs. S. G. Evans recalls entering his school with her sister at 5 and 6 years of age. They sat on each knee of the teacher who was also a loved neighbor, while he gave out words from the spelling book, jumping down to take the place of one who missed the word and must therefore go to the bottom of the class.
In 1831 Miss Philura French came to the little Ohio River settle- ment with her brother-in-law, Rev. Calvin Butler, pastor of the the Little Church on the Hill. She taught school in a primitive log cabin
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on the Princeton road for three years until her marriage to Mr. John Shanklin, prominent merchant of the place. One who loved her writes "her interest in the young people and her influence upon them was very remarkable."
In 1849 her oldest son James was the only boy in college ( Bloom- ington) from Evansville and was largely prepared by his mother. She had the honor of starting the first Sabbath School in Evansville in the Little Church which was looked upon as a very doubtful innovation on the sanctity of the Sabbath. About 1842 and for ten years follow- ing there sprang up numerous private schools throughout the Pocket ambitiously called Colleges, Male Academies and Female Seminaries. What little I can gather about such schools, is gleaned from the annual advertisements of the Journal of those years, a full file of which is preserved in the Willard Library, awaiting the modern Aladdin with his filing cabinet to unlock its treasurers. Some effort of the kind was made by Mr. J. W. Davidson during the Centennial year and I have fallen heir to his record on Education. A perusal of the advertise- ments shows these schools to have been of a high order, offering a classical education and cultural studies under well trained teachers. They bear witness also to the intelligence and enterprise of the early inhabitants and show the church to have been a community center and its pastors, leaders secular as well as spiritual.
The following advertisement in the Journal of Nov. 24th 1842 in- dicates the establishment of possibly the first school in Evansville which fitted a student for higher education.
SCHOOL NOTICE New Arrangements.
"The next quarter of the School on the Episcopal lot will com- mence on Monday the 19th of December, under the united instruction of Rev. A. H. Lemon and Mr. Wm. Vaux. Instruction given in Eng- lish studies at $2.50 to $3.50 per quarter. Latin and Greek will be taught at $8.00. N. B. There will be two departments male and fe- male. There will be a deduction in the above rates to all the scholars belonging to the district. Nov. 24, 1842."
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