USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 2
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largely in day dreaming. On the other hand, the habits of activity formed in the streets and alleys are the result of about five hours per day, or double the school time. Says Mr. Wirt: "Society seems to be so organized in cities and towns that the civic care of the child must now take over industrial training and play. But this additional burden need not be assumed by the established school. The child may live a part of his life in the home, may study in school for 21/2 hours a day, and may learn to work in a separate trade school and play in a play- ground park for the five hours of the street and alley time. The character forming influence of the street and alley time will be removed and the wholesome activities substituted without any additional burden on the established school. * It is the conviction of the Gary school management that not only is the wholesome character building of the child inseparably linked with his work and his play, but that for the great majority of children mastery of academic school subjects cannot be separated from work and play. The child must want to know and must be willing to put forth efforts to learn the things the established school has to teach. The child himself is the greatest factor in the
* learning process. He must educate himself. * * If the child is to appreciate the opportunities of the school he must feel the need right now for the things the school is teaching or should teach. To tell him that he will find out and realize in twenty years hence will not do. In the child's play and in his work all sorts of needs for academic school studies can be created. The child cannot do the things that he would like to do or get the things that he would like to have, because he has not mastered the academic school subjects. The child can be bitterly disappointed every day because of his inability and lack of training and can be sent to his teacher of the academic subjects with a vivid, real appreciation of the importance to him of the things the schools have to teach. When the child wants to know and is willing to put forth an effort to learn the things the school should teach, then the teaching process becomes a simple matter. The Gary schools include the workshop and playground along with the study room, not because they wish to sugar-coat the study with sentimental play and work. The study room schools need the work shop and playground to motovize the school studies.
"The school cannot crowd into the study room time of 21% hours a day the work shop and the playground time. The five hours of the street and alley time are sorely needed for the work shop and play- ground activities. Besides, the street and alley time is undoing the good work of the home and school and must by all means be eliminated. The school day in Gary is, therefore, three hours for study, three hours for work and constructive play, and two hours for voluntary sport. The schools in Gary have only half as many study rooms, only half as many school desks as there are children enrolled. While one set of children are in the school seats in the study room learning to read, write and figure from formal drill and text books, another set of children are on the playgrounds, in the gymnasiums. swimming pools, auditoriums, gardens, science laboratories and work shops. But all of the school facilities are occupied all of the time. The pupil capacity of the study room is donbled. The per capita cost of the study room is much higher than the per capita cost of the work shops and playgrounds that are substituted for study rooms. Therefore the total per capita cost of
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the combined study room, work shop and playground school is less than the per capita cost of the established exclusive study room school. Many school plants have auditoriums, work shops and playgrounds added as extras. When the study room teachers are occupied the auditorium, playground and work shop and their several teachers are idle. And just to the extent that these special features of the school plant are used the regular study rooms and regular teachers are idle. The Gary schools eliminate the providing of two or more places and sometimes teachers for each child with only one in use at any time. The child has the study room with the specially trained teacher in charge for the formal drill work with the text books and reading, writing and arithmetic. He also has the work shop and the playground with spe- cially trained teachers in charge. But when any one group of children is using any one school facility, other groups of children are using the remaining facilities. Thus the combined study room, work shop and playground schools are provided at a much lower per capita cost for investment in plant, annual maintenance of the plant and cost for instruction than the usual established exclusive study school. The extra cost to the community of providing separate playground parks and industrial schools is eliminated altogether.
"The school plants are open from 8:20 a. m. to 5:00 p. m. and from 7:00 p. m. to 9:30 p. m. The enrollment for adults for evening activities almost equals the enrollment of children for day school activi- ties. The school plant designed for the study, work and play of children in the day school is also admirably adapted for adult use at night. The unit school plant in Gary accommodates the day nursery, the kinder- garten, the common school grades and the high school in each building. The facilities provided for the older children during the day are de- signed for use of adults at night. These facilities include gymnasiums, swimming pools, science laboratories, auditoriums and large corridors and rooms for receptions, dances, parties, entertainments and club rooms. The following work shops are provided: Carpentry, cabinet- making, steam and gas fitting, plumbing, printing, machine fitting, elec- trical work, foundry, forging, painting, sheet metal work, domestic science and art, laundry, mechanical and architectural drawing, industrial mathematics, etc.
"The unit school plant will accommodate approximately twenty- seven hundred children in day school and the same number at night. Any two school plant units provide a sufficient amount of cheap metal work. machine fitting. foundry work, forging, cabinet work, carpentry, plumbing, steam and gas fitting, printing, painting, electrical work, care of grounds, lunch room, business, laundry. bacteriological work, coal and other testing, to maintain these departments with master workmen as instructors employed for full time in each. The number of students working at one time as apprentices with each master need not exceed six. The productive work of each department more than balances the cost of material and the master's salary. Any trade department that cannot, produce enough to pay the salary of instructor and cost of materials used is not worth much for industrial education. Some eco- nomic pressure must be placed on the department to secure anything like real industrial conditions. The school in doing its own work does not take anything away from workmen. On the contrary, more desirable positions are created for workmen and they receive a larger share of the
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product than they would under commercial conditions. The employers gain by securing from the sehool better trained workmen, which is worth much more to them than the profit on the school work.
"The Gary schools try to give the children an opportunity to do many kinds of work and find out the things for which they are best fitted. We believe that it is just as important for a boy to have a chance to try painting, for instance, and learn that it is not the work for which he is fitted, as it is for other boys who should be painters to have a chance to learn the trade. We do not wish to assume the respon- sibility of vocational guidance, but try to provide an opportunity for intelligent vocational selection.
"Since groups of pupils of all ages are playing, working and study- ing all of the time during the school hours, special provision can be made for exceptional children. A child who is weak physically and not able to play can give the entire school time to the playground, gymnasium. garden and work shops. A child who is weak in arithmetic or any other subject can be given extra time in other classes in arithmetie or the particular subject needing such extra time. Each child can have just the amount of work in each department and the kind of work that he individually needs.
"It is also possible to make any combination of classes in any sub- jects. Fourth and eighth grade pupils, for instance, may be combined in science and shop work and separated in other subjects. When the work in any subject is of such a character that younger children can learn better by working with older children, they have the opportunity. The direet teaching of the instructor is supplemented by the uncon- scious education of living in a world of wholesome play, work and study. The indirect teaching of the older children is of great value to the younger, and the responsibility thus assumed has the highest educa- tional value for the older children. We try to give the children not a playground, not a shop, not a study room, but a life."
WILLIAM A. WIRT. It is a statement of facts, and in no sense rhe- torical exaggeration, that the Gary Public School System is the educa- tional wonder of America. There is probably not a well posted educator in the country who is not to some extent familiar with the facilities and the quality of instruction offered to the rising generation through the Gary schools. The educational service afforded by the Gary publie schools is unsurpassed by those in any of the larger eities and most progressive communities in the United States, and the local system has again and again been a subjeet of description and comment not only in school journals but in the general newspaper press. A deserip- tion and history of the Gary school system is left for other pages of this publication, and this article is a brief sketch of the man whose ideas have been carried out in creating this remarkable center of common education, William A. Wirt. In this connection a brief quotation of a paragraph from a current article is appropriate: "That council was very fortunate in the selection of William A. Wirt for superintendent. At a time when there were no schools in Gary and few children, he was engaged at a salary which none except great eities pay, and was told to create a school system. Mr. Wirt is a man of ideas, energy and executive ability. He took up the great task with earnestness and so effectively that Gary has been for several years a Mecca for educational pilgrims from all parts of the United States."
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William A. Wirt is a native of Indiana, born at Markle in 1874, a son of a farmer, Emanuel Wirt, and Mary (Elick) Wirt. As a boy he spent much of his time on the farm, and attended the public schools at Markle and Bluffton. He is a graduate of DePauw University, where he took his regular academic work and spent one year in post- graduate study. His career as an educator began in 1893, when he became principal of the high school at Redkey, Indiana. He held that position until 1895, and then was superintendent of the school until 1897. Leaving his school work, he continued studies at DePauw Uni- versity during 1897-98, and also taught in the local high school, and then took the superintendency of the Bluffton public schools. Mr. Wirt remained superintendent at Bluffton from 1898 to 1907. He was chosen to superintend the establishment of a complete school system for the new industrial city of Gary, and took charge of the local schools in October, 1906. Since that time he has probably done more creative work as an educator than any school executive in the country. In 1914 he was engaged by the City of New York to act as school advisor from October, 1914, to September, 1915.
Mr. Wirt was married in 1899 to Bertha Ann Koch, of Bluffton, Indiana. Their three children are Franz, aged ten; Sherwood, aged three, and Bertha Eleanore, aged one year. Mr. Wirt has taken thirty- two degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry and belongs to the college frater- nities Beta Theta Pi and Phi Beta Kappa. In politics he is independent, and his church is the Methodist Episcopal. Mr. Wirt is also a director of the First National Bank of Gary, and is president of the Central Building Company.
OTTO HI. DUELKE. For eight years city clerk of Hammond, and now in the office of city treasurer, Mr. Duelke's record as an official has been characterized by fidelity of performance and obliging courtesy to all who have used his office, and he is one of the most popular men in the present city government.
Otto H. Duelke was born at Breslau, Germany, January 8, 1875, a son of Otto and Johanna Duelke. His father was a boot and shoe merchant, and came to America in 1883, and has been a resident of Hammond now for thirty years, being retired from business and enjoy- ing the comforts and prosperity of a long and well-spent career. Otto H. Duelke received his education in the public schools of Hammond, where he has lived since he was eight years of age, and his first busi- ness experience, in earning his own living, was with the Hammond Packing Company, in the butterine department. In 1895 he joined his father in business, and was in various lines until he entered public life. In 1905 Mr. Duelke was elected city clerk of Hammond, was reelected in 1909, and after the close of his second term as city clerk was a successful candidate for the office of city treasurer.
On February 1, 1902, Mr. Duelke married Miss Dina Zervas, a daughter of Christian and Marie Zervas. Their four children are named Herman. William, Erwin, and Emma. The family are members of the Evangelical Church. Mr. Duelke is treasurer of the Saenger- bund-Fidelia of Hammond, and was one of its organizers. He is affil- iated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Independent Order of Foresters, and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.
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FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF HAMMOND. As the largest and oldest financial institution operating under a national charter in the Calumet region, and the second bank organized in the county, the First National Bank of Hammond deserves some individual mention and history in this publication.
It was organized in 1889 with a capital stock of $50,000. Its first president was the late M. M. Towle, Sr., while Frank H. Tuthill filled the place of cashier. The bank opened for business in quarters on Plummer Avenue, near Morton Court, and four years later was moved to the corner of Plummer Avenue and Hohman Street in what was known as Central Block. About that time E. E. Towle succeeded Mr. Tuthill in the office of cashier.
On the death of the late M. M. Towle, in 1901, a reorganization was effected on September 7th of that year, and the present management acquired the majority of stock. The present officials are: A. M. Tur- ner, president; John E. Fitzgerald, vice president; W. C. Belman, cashier; W. F. Mashino and M. M. Towle, Jr., assistant cashiers. The board of directors comprise A. M. Turner, P. W. Meyn, W. C. Belman, John E. Fitzgerald, Frank S. Betz, John M. Beckman and W. G. Paxton.
At the time of the reorganization in 1901 the capital stock still stood at $50,000, while the surplus and undivided profits amounted to $30,000, and deposits were $168,000. In May, 1902, the First National occupied its present location at Hohman Street and Sibley Avenue, in a building 25 by 60 feet. In October, 1907, the banking quarters were enlarged and refitted at an expense of $18,000, all the furnishings being of marble and mahogany.
In February, 1905, an increase of capital was made to $100,000, with surplus of $10,000, this increase being the result of dividends from stock earnings.
The First National on January 2, 1909, bought the assets of the old Commercial Bank, whose business and history thus became merged with the larger organization. At that time Thomas Hammond was president of the Commercial Bank, and after its consolidation with the First National he became vice president of the latter institution, holding that office until his death. On February 7th following this consolida- tion the First National increased its capital to $150,000, with surplus of $100,000. At the present time the capital remains the same, but the surplus, which is one of the chief items in reckoning the strength of any banking institution, amounts to $175,000, besides undivided profits of $25,000. The total assets of the First National Bank are now approximately $2,200,000.
A. MURRAY TURNER. For twenty years, A. Murray Turner has been a name significant of large enterprise and influence, not only in Ham- mond, but in all of Lake County, and the Calumet region. He is presi- dent of the largest bank of the county, was active in the building of the first street railway of Hammond, and its president for a number of years, and he is director, and otherwise officially and financially inter- ested, in many of the best known corporations and business and industrial concerns of the locality. Mr. Turner is the type of business man who is almost instinctively trusted by his fellows, has proved his ability to handle and direct large interests, and belongs to the group of men who
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in Lake County control and uphold the business prosperity of the com- munity.
His is one of the oldest and most prominent families of Lake County. Mr. Turner was born at Crown Point, October 3, 1859, a son of David and Caroline (Bissell) Turner. The family was founded here by grand- father Turner, who was born in the north of Ireland, came to America when a boy, and in 1837 settled in Lake County, where he was one of the pioneer families, and where he lived many years. David Turner was born in Ohio, and after coming to Lake County, in 1837, was for several years the only merchant in the town of Crown Point. From 1858 to 1862 he served as a state senator, and under President Lincoln, held the office of United States assessor until that office was abolished. For a number of years he was president of the First National Bank of Crown Point. His death ocenrred in February, 1890, when seventy-three years old. His wife, who is still living at the age of eighty-eight years, was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, in the western reserve, where her people were pioneers. David Turner and wife had seven children.
A. Murray Turner was educated in the public schools of Crown Point, attended a private school conducted by Mrs. Knight, which was a well known institution in its day, and was also a student in the Valparaiso University. Mr. Turner has had a varied experience, ranging from farm- ing to banking, and while still a young man, was a successful farmer and dealer in livestock. He first came into prominence in local affairs in Lake County, by his election, in 1888, to the office of sheriff, and he served four years, or two terms. At the end of his official service, in 1893, he moved to IIammond, and has since been closely identified with the development of transportation, banking and other affairs in the Calu- met region. He joined the syndicate which first put the Hammond street railway on a sound basis, built the lines known as the Hammond, Whit- ing and East Chicago Electric Railway, and extended the system to connect with the Chicago electric lines. Practically the entire network of urban and interurban transportation, along the lake shore in North- ern Lake County, is the outgrowth of that enterprise in which Mr. Turner took so prominent a part twenty years ago. He served as president of the company until 1900, when the interests were sold to the South Chicago Street Railway Company. In 1900 Mr. Turner bought the electric light plant of Hammond and consolidated it with the gas company, which is now known as the Northern Indiana Gas & Electric Company. In 1901 he took the lead in the reorganization of the First National Bank of Hammond, became its president, and under his direc- tion, this has become one of the soundest and most reliable institutions of Lake County, with the best showing of resources and deposits.
Mr. Turner is a director in the Lake County Savings and Trust Company ; vice president and director in the Champion Potato Maehin- ery Company ; a director in the Lake County Title and Guaranty Com- pany at Crown Point ; a director in Gostlin, Meyn & Company, the oldest real-estate and investment company in Lake County, with a capital of $300,000; and a director in the Frank S. Betz Company.
As is well known, Hammond is a center of democratie strength in polities, and therefore Mr. Turner's defeat as candidate for the office of mayor a few years ago, is in no sense disparaging to his personal standing and popularity. In 1904 he served as delegate to the National Republican Convention which nominated MeKinley and Roosevelt. Mr.
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Turner was prominent in the organization of the Hammond Country Club, and its first president.
On December 31, 1890, Mr. Turner married Miss E. Lillian Black- stone, a daughter of Dr. John K. and Margaret ( Bryant) Blackstone, of Hebron. To this marriage one ehild, Margaret Caroline, was born. Mrs. Turner died in November, 1900. In 1909 he married Mrs. Rose Lotta Brunot, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, who died in March, 1913, leaving two children, John and Rose. Mr. Turner has membership in the Hammond Country Club, in the South Shore Country Club of Chi- cago, the Hamilton Club of Chicago, and the Sea View Golf Club at Atlantic City, New Jersey. As a prominent business man of Hammond, he has always been conspicuous in his leadership, and has on many occa- sions used time and means to promote local enterprise. The location of additional manufacturing concerns in Hammond has been an objeet to which he has given his attention again and again, and every other undertaking for loeal benefit is sure to have his support. Mr. Turner for a number of years was a member of the Hammond School Board, and since its organization has been a member of the public library board, and was one of the building committee which erected the present public library building. While Mr. Turner is not a member of any church, yet he is heartily in sympathy with their work and is a liberal contributor, as will be testified to by many Hammond congregations, and he never loses an opportunity to assist in any enterprise which will contribute to the general uplift of the community, and the young men in particular. 1
DAVID TURNER. Some facts regarding the father of A. M. Turner, the leading banker and business man of Hammond, have already been mentioned. However the career of this splendid Lake County pioneer and early banker deserves some separate memorial and deseription.
David Turner was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, December 17, 1816, the second son and fourth child of Samuel and Jane (Dinwiddie) Turner. His parents were married in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1810, moved to Butler County, Pennsylvania, and then to Ohio, locating in the Western Reserve. In 1837 the family went West, to what was then almost the frontier in Northern Indiana. They located first at Door Village in La Porte County, and then moved to Eagle Creek in Lake County, where they took land from the Government.
David Turner grew up to manhood in Ohio. At that time schools were very crude, but he and his brothers managed to "eipher as far as the rule of three in arithmetic." However, their education was not neg- lected, for every evening with their father as leader they read Black- stone's Commentaries, and on Sunday, if they were not able to attend church, they were expected to listen to one of Erskine's sermons or ten chapters in the Bible. With such a discipline it was little wonder that they became well fitted to take a prominent part in the development of a new country.
Mr. David Turner was married in 1844 to Miss Caroline Bissell of Porter County, Indiana. For his domestic establishment he constructed a log house on a farm near his father's, where he and his wife lived until 1850. Mr. Turner then moved to Crown Point, starting a general store. and also dealt in farm products, which he sent to market overland, by the roads leading through the marshes to the City of Chicago, then a comparatively small town.
DAVID TURNER
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David Turner was elected probate judge and held that office in Lake County until it was abolished. He also served two terms in the Lower House, and one in the Senate, from 1855 to 1863. In the latter year he was appointed to the office of United States collector of internal revenue by President Lincoln and held that position until the office was abolished fifteen years later, except for a few months during 1865, when he was removed by President Johnson. However, as the senate refused to con- firm his successor, he was re-instated.
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