An illustrated history of the state of Indiana: being a full and authentic civil and political history of the state from its first exploration down to 1875, Part 18

Author: Goodrich, De Witt C; Tuttle, Charles R. (Charles Richard), b. 1848
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Indianapolis : Richard S. Peale & Co.
Number of Pages: 752


USA > Indiana > An illustrated history of the state of Indiana: being a full and authentic civil and political history of the state from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 18


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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* * We have made copious selections of historical works, deeming the reading of such books both interesting and useful."


Caleb Mills entered upon his term of office as Superinten- dent of Public Instruction at the close of the year 1854. In his report, presented to the legislature in January, 1855, he says: " It is distressing to know that many localities can have no schools, because instructors cannot be obtained; and it is but little mitigation of our grief to be assured by county examiners, that more than half the license could not be legally authorized to teach if a rigid construction of the stat- ute on this point should be pressed." The Superintendent, in


266


HISTORY OF INDIANA.


this report, called loudly for some means by which teachers could be qualified for the important duties of conducting the schools.


In regard to the township libraries, which had previously been established under the new law, Mr. Mills remarked: "There is a peculiar felicity in this provision of the system inasmuch as it will prove, in no slight degree, especially in the rural portions of the commonwealth, an important substi- tute for the living teacher, and answer the purpose of a school of uninterrupted session. These volumes will be like gushing fountains to minds thirsting for knowledge. They will furnish to our youth, and adults of every age and pursuit, intellectual nutriment and mental stimulus. The wearied apprentice, the tired ploughboy, the exhausted clerk, and the secluded domes- tic, will find in them encouragement and solace under all their toils, privations and discouragements." And again, in the same report, in relation to school buildings, he says: " Among the pleasing signs of progress in educational mat. ters, may be named the tasteful and commodious school struc- tures that have been erected, or are now in the process of erection in various parts of the commonwealth. They have risen in all their beauty and symmetry of proportion, not only in the towns, but they have gone up in some of the rural por- tions of the State.


During Mr. Mills' term the public schools were blessed with singular progress; attempts were made to establish graded schools, but these met with much legal opposition, but were, as we shall see, eventually successful. The State Teach- ers' Association was organized with promises of success, and the number and efficiency of teachers were on the increase.


W. C. Larrabee succeeded Mr. Mills as Superintendent, and during his term the school law was subjected to severe legal criticism, but some general progress was made. He was suc- ceeded by Samuel L. Rugg, who, in his report to the legisla- ture of 1860, informs us that there were, at that time, 7,233 school districts within the State; 6,475 primary schools and 73 high schools. The average number of pupils to each school was forty-one. During the same year there were 6,766 teach-


267


EDUCATIONAL - GENERAL FEATURES.


ers employed in the primary schools, of which number 5,294 were males and 1,359 females; sixty-two male and fifty-one female teachers were employed in the high schools. The average compensation of male teachers was one dollar and thirteen cents per day, and of female teachers eighty-six cents per day.


SCHOOL STATISTICS OF 1860.


Whole No. of children between 5 and 21 years of age, 512,478 Increase since previous enumeration 17,449


Males 268,394


Females 244,074


Number of school districts in the State


7,309


Increase within the year


463


No. primary schools taught within the year 6,938


Increase within the year 463


No. of high schools. 78


Increase within the year


5


No. pupils attending primary schools within the year, 297,882


Increase within the year 71,509


No. attending high schools 5,991


Increase within the year 849


Average attendance at each primary school


31


Average attendance at each high school.


102


Male teachers employed in primary schools


5,614


Increase within the year 320


Female teachers employed in primary schools


1,611


Increase within the year 252


Male teachers employed in high school 77


Increase within the year . 15


Female teachers employed in high school 55


Increase within the year. 4


School houses erected within the year 750


Increase over the previous year . 84


Value of school houses erected within the year $324,276


No. of volumes in township libraries 221,523


No. of select schools. 694


No. of pupils attending select schools 11,805


268


HISTORY OF INDIANA.


Mr. Barnabas C. Hobbs, Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion, in his report in 1868, said:


"The General Assembly, in 1865, incorporated into our school law a provision requiring that 'The Bible shall not be excluded from the public schools of the State.' They spoke nobly for their heads and hearts. A sovereign State has given its insignia for the Divine Law. It marks the progress of Christian civilization, and indicates that toleration and mutual confidence have taken the place of jealousy and suspicion. It shows that the teachers of the common schools of our State have reached that standard which indicates large and liberal views; that they are guarded by prudence, and guided by that Christian patriotism which seeks to inculcate those cardinal and catholic principles which teach obedience to God and duty to man. The Bible is the universal law-book of the world, and was given by inspiration of God, with the injunction that it should be taught diligently to the children."


And, in 1870, the same gentleman truthfully said: “Our State has a great future before it. * * *


Industry and thrift are rapidly advancing the happiness and material wealth of the State. But for lasting success the interest of the capitalist and laborer must be blended. The laborer is contented only when he sees a pleasing future for his children. The free schools of the State afford this guarantee. They are alike the friends to both capital and labor."


CHAPTER XXXIII.


EDUCATIONAL - PRESENT FACILITIES.


TN the previous chapter we have traced the common school system of Indiana from its first organization down to 1870. By the statistics and suggestions contained in that chapter it may be seen that the system has been a complete success. It shall be the pleasure of the reader of this chapter


269


EDUCATIONAL --- GENERAL FEATURES.


to contemplate the present advanced condition of the schools and colleges of the State. In speaking of the history of the common schools of Indiana, the late lamented Milton B. Hop- kins, then Superintendent of Public Instruction, in his report of 1872, said: "The fountain of knowledge and learning has


CROSSCUP & WEST.PHILA.


JOHN BROWNFIELD, ESQ. See page 21.


been unsealed alike for all. The children of the poor and the opulent have sat down together at this fountain. The contest in reference to the fundamental principles that lie at the basis of the system has ceased. The enemies of free schools have


270


HISTORY OF INDIANA.


either been converted or have sunk away in sullen silence. The friends of this precious cause can now afford to seize upon a moment's leisure, and review as a matter of history, the origin, conflicts, struggles, reverses and triumphs of the great cause of popular schools." He continued: *


ORIGIN OF FREE SCHOOLS.


" In the year 1526 Martin Luther propounded to the Elector of Saxony the following proposition: 'Government as the natural guardian of all the young has the right to compel the people to support schools.' This proposition he argued thus: ' What is necessary to the well-being of a State, (and he might have added to its existence,) should be supported by those who enjoy the privileges of the State. Now nothing is more necessary than the training of those who are to come after us and bear rule.' Luther's proposition struck the mind of the Elector with all the force of an axiom, and just one year thereafter he invited the great reformer to draw up a plan for free schools, adapted to the exigencies of little Saxony. This Luther did, and in the year 1527 he produced with his own hand what is known as the Saxon Free School System.


"This inaugurated the era of public free schools supported by the State. Hitherto the work of education had been car- ried on exclusively by the church and educational corporations. These educated the few, but left the many untouched. The result was the few did the thinking; the many the serving. Luther's plan opened the door alike to all. The contest thus begun in Germany continued there for several centuries with varied fortune. After Luther's death other friends of popular schools bore the ark of the sacred cause on their shoulders. One by one the German States adopted, in substance, Saxony's system. The light of their example shot across the sea and fell upon Scotland, and the eloquent John Knox was heard in successful advocacy of popular schools in his own country.


"It is the part of candor, however, to confess that there was


* As the State has lost an efficient laborer in the cause of education in the death of Mr. Hopkins, we make a liberal extract from his able report of 1872, which our readers will not fail to appreciate.


271


EDUCATIONAL - PRESENT FACILITIES.


one unfortunate feature connected with these systems. An unholy alliance had been formed between the State and the church; and while the State was asked to provide the revenue for the education of all the children, the church dropped upon her knees and asked permission to execute the system. The privilege was granted, and hence the schools of those times partook largely of the ecclesiastical. The pure waters of science and literature were muddied with the sediment of a dogmatic and speculative theology. The prevailing desire was to make, not the intelligent thinking man or woman, but a blind devotee to the church. For the true model of a free school we have to look to this side of the Atlantic. Here the contest lies between Massachusetts and Hartford, in Connecti- cut. As early as in 1647 Massachusetts made it obligatory upon the inhabitants of every township of fifty householders to provide for the education of all; but the town of Hartford, six years before, in 1641, had established a town school, sup- ported from the public treasury of the city. The crown of this honor, therefore, must be placed upon the head of the city of Hartford. Other New England States early fell into line, and by the time we reach the Revolutionary era free public schools are fixtures in all those States. Luther's proposition that it is the right of government as the natural guardian of the young to compel the people to support schools by taxation, had been a steady and growing principle with these colonies from their earliest settlement. To this same principle and to that same Revolutionary period we must look for the origin of the free schools in Indiana.


"In the year 1780, Congress, realizing what must be the barren condition of the national treasury at the close of the war, commenced prospecting for some fruitful source of reve- nue. And to whom could the people's representative look but to the States themselves. They possessed no divine wand by the touch of which all turns to gold. Virginia, standing in the front of the battle, her patriotic bosom bare to the leaden storm; her giant arm uplifted to give a powerful blow for inde- pendence, was the owner of large possessions lying north of the Ohio, east of the Mississippi, and stretching north to


272


HISTORY OF INDIANA.


Lake Superior, a territory out of which have since been carved five great States, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wis- consin, containing an area of 239,522 square miles, 153,294,080 acres of land, and capable of supporting a population of fifty millions of souls.


"Congress ventured to hint to Virginia that a present of these lands for the benefit of the entire family of States would be very acceptable. A hint was all the patriotic heart of Vir- ginia then needed, and on the first day of March, 1784, through her delegates in Congress, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe, she made the solemn, patri- otic and valuable conveyance.


" Does history afford another instance of patriotism like this, a civil State ceding away, in fee simple, so vast an area of the richest country on earth, without one dollar in compen- sation? Virginia may have committed errors since, but when I remember that from her the people of Indiana have their homes and firesides, I feel like spreading the cloak of universal amnesty upon my shoulders, walking backward, and covering up those errors.


" Next, the surveyor, with chain and compass, passed over this beautiful land, and marked it off into squares of six miles each, called congressional townships, and these again were divided into smaller squares of one mile each, called sections, making thirty-six sections in each township. These were numbered, commencing with the section in the north-east cor- ner, counting westward and eastward, as a boy plows rows of corn, the sixteenth falling near the centre. In 1787 a terri- torial government was established over this country, and in the third article of the ordinance of 1787, the Congress declared that 'religion, morality and knowledge being essen- tial to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.' This was the grain of mustard seed planted by patriotic hands, which has grown into our great educational tree.


" On the nineteenth of April, 1816, Congress invited Indi- ana to meet in convention, adopt a constitution, and take her position among the family of republican States, tendering for


273


EDUCATIONAL - PRESENT FACILITIES.


her free acceptance or rejection the following proposition: 'That the section numbered sixteen, in every township, and, when such section has been sold, granted, or disposed of, other lands, equivalent thereto, and most contiguous to the same, shall be granted to the inhabitants of such township for the use of schools.' Indiana 'chose the good part that shall never be taken from her,' and thus fell heir to about five hun- dred and seventy-six thousand acres of land. This became the corner stone of our system of free public schools."


Let us now turn our attention to the present condition of the glorious system of popular schools in Indiana. First, then, as to the means of support. And just here we strike the great key note that makes the heart of every Indianian bound with patriotism. INDIANA HAS A LARGER SCHOOL FUND, BY TWO MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, THAN ANY OTHER STATE IN THE UNION. The following was, in 1872, the Indiana


COMMON SCHOOL FUND:


Non-negotiable bonds $3,591,316 15


Common school fund 1,666,824 50


Sinking fund, at 8 per cent. 569,139 94


Congressional township fund


2,281,076 69


Value of unsold congressional township lands. .


94,245 00


Saline fund


5,727 66


Bank tax fund


1,744 94


Escheated estates 17,866 55


Sinking fund, last distribution 67,067 72


Sinking fund, undistributed 100,165 92


Swamp land fund 42,418 40


Total $8,437,593 47


These items are all embedded in the constitution, and form the principal of the common school fund, a perpetual fund which may be increased but never diminished. Let us com- pare this fund with the school fund of the other leading States in the Union:


Indiana,


$8,437,593 47 Arkansas 2,000,000 00


18


274


HISTORY OF INDIANA.


Connecticut . 2,809,770 70


Florida 216,335 80


Illinois 6,348,538 32


Iowa 4,274,581 93


Kansas 750,000 00


Kentucky


1,400,270 01


Maine.


289,991 58


Massachusetts 2,210,864 09


Michigan 2,500,214 91


Minnesota 2,471,199 31


Missouri


2,525,252 52


Nevada


29,263 80


New Hampshire


336,745 45


New Jersey 556,483 50


New York.


2,880,017 01


North Carolina 968,242 43


Ohio 6,614,816 50


Rhode Island . 412,685 00


West Virginia 216,761 06


Wisconsin 2,237,414 37


We may add to this that the common school fund of Indi- ana is still increasing.


The next grand feature of the educational facilities of Indi- ana is her numerous and commodious school houses. The school house is the unerring sign of civilization; there is no better exponent of the educational progress of a people than the number and kind of their school houses.


Two provisions have been made by the legislature of Indiana for the erection of these. The first authorizes the school trustees of the townships, incorporated towns and cities, to levy a special tax in their respective corporations, not exceed- ing twenty-five cents on each one hundred dollars' worth of taxable property, and fifty cents on each poll in any one year ; the second authorizes the trustees of incorporated towns, and the city councils of incorporated cities to issue bonds to the extent of thirty thousand dollars.


Under the operations of these two provisions of the law, school houses have sprung up in all parts of the State.


275


EDUCATIONAL - PRESENT FACILITIES.


Wherever the traveler passes through the rural districts, the neat frame or substantial brick greets him with a smile of cheerfulness, and as he enters the towns and cities of the State they arise before him in commanding proportions. Among the cities a commendable spirit of rivalry is at work. The following statement will show the progress in the number and cost of the school houses for each of the last nine years pre ceding 1875:


Year.


Stone.


Brick.


Frame.


Log.


Total.


Total valuation.


1865


65


440


5770


1128


7403


$3,827,173 00


1866


78


506


6145


1096


8231


4,515,734 00


1867


71


554


6672


1063


8360


5,078,356 00


1868


74


592


6906


831


8403


5,828,501 00


1869


76


655


7207


723


8661


6,577,258 33


1870


83


725


7436


583


8827


7,282,639 30


1871


125


834


7517


513


8989


7,381,839 73


1872


88


877


7586


547


9080


9,199,480 15


1873


1874


12,000,000 00


The more recent amendments of the school law provides for County Superintendents, and for a high standard of qualifica- tion of teachers.


Having observed some of the general features of the educa- tional facilities of Indiana, we would naturally turn to notice the universities, colleges, normal and high schools, and other special educational agencies. A full history and description of these being included in the history of the town or city in which they are located, and presented in another part of this volume, renders superfluous any mention of them in this con- nection. Readers are referred to the contents and indexes to find special features desired. The following table, however, will show the number and class of special educational institu tions that are noticed at length elsewhere:


EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS.


SCHOOLS.


TEACHERS.


PUPILS.


INCOME - ENDING JUNE 1, 1870.


Classes and Kinds.


Number.


Male.


Female


Male.


Female.


From En- dowment.


From Tax- ation and Public Funds.


From other sources, including tuition


All Classes


9,073


6,678


4,974


237,664 228,189


226,813 217,887


$2,126,502 2,002,052


$322,389


Public


8,871


6,402


4,640


Normal


1


3


3


49


54 )


High


69


106


123


5,228


4,845


2,002,052


61,547


Grammar, and Graded Common


371


171


558


17,578


18,751 194,237


Classical, Professional and Technical


50


184


141


4,936


3,401


50,620


118,250


197,641


Universities


6


66


1,428


239


32,800


17,700


17,050


Colleges_


16


115


28


2,431


671


48,520


17,700


96,030


Academies


16


26


99


1,305


2,275


1,000


8,050


64,940


Law Schools


1


2


51


*


Medical Colleges


1


5


43


2,500


Theological Colleges.


2


3


43


*


Commercial Colleges.


71


15


782


33


24,831


School for the Blind


1


3


4


43


57


32,500


For the Deaf and Dumb


1


8


5


143


129


60,000


Of Art and Music


4


4


5


34


218


8,720


Day and Boarding Schools


124


58


143


2,802


3,494


47,427


Parochial and Charity Schools


28


34


50


1,737


2,031


6,200


15,774


1


1


I


8,430


6,122


3,956


205,334


Ungraded, Common.


1


1


1


1


* Income included in date of Universities.


276


HISTORY OF INDIANA.


-


$50,620


61,547


TON.A.B


DANIEL


.L.D


WALTER.R.


0 İGH


REV.T.A.WYLIE D.D.


L.LD


RICHARD


WEN


COL. JAMES THOMPSON.U.S.A


278


HISTORY OF INDIANA.


Connected with the educational institutions of the State are the libraries, prominent among which are the "township libraries," or common school libraries. In our table which follows, giving the statistics of libraries in the State, we have classed the " township libraries," as school libraries. These were established under the school law of 1852. By this law each township in the State-nearly one thousand - was sup- plied with a very complete library. The selection of books for each of these libraries contemplates the literary wants of all classes, youth and adult, and is intended to gratify the tastes of every calling and pursuit of life. The merchant and the farmer, the mechanic and the physician, the lawyer and the preacher, all find something to amuse, entertain and instruct in these collections. These libraries furnish rich materials for the discipline of the mental and the culture of the moral powers. They are well calculated to refine the taste, chasten yet gratify the imagination, inculcate virtue, rebuke vice, foster temperance, strengthen patriotism, encour- age enterprise, confirm and establish whatever is lovely and of .good report in character and praiseworthy in action. Is it any wonder that, with these splendid libraries, added to the other superior educational facilities of the State the people of Indiana have already attained a high standard of literary, moral and religious culture :


STATISTICS OF LIBRARIES FROM 1850 TO 1870.


1870.


1860.


1850.


Kinds and classes.


No.


.Volumes.


No.


Volumes.


No.


Vols.


All classes, public and private Libraries, other than private_ State libraries.


5,301


1,125,553


1,123


467,062


151


68,403


2,333


647,894


341


198,490


58


46,238


1


16,147


1


12,000


Town, city, etc


70


47,164


Court and law


92


10,308


School, college, etc


1,006


323,391


534


7


10,500


Sabbath school


1,075


204,629


247


202,916 65,456


85


11,265


Church


87


24,356


1


200


1


400


Circulating


20


8,294


Private


2,998


497,659


279


EDUCATIONAL - PRESENT FACILITIES.


RELIGIOUS.


" Knowledge is power," because wherever education prevails there will always be found a high moral and religious culture. In the State of Indiana, as may be seen by the following sta- tistical table, if compared with a similar showing of other States, there are a larger number of churches, in proportion to the population, than in any other State in the Union with but a single exception- that of Massachusetts. The largest religious denomination in the State is that of the Methodists, which has a membership of considerably more than double , that of any other religious society. The Methodists have one thousand six hundred churches in the State at this writing, as shown by the returns of the compilers of this work, which gives them an increase of over two hundred churches in four years, or fifty churches a year. By referring to the following table it will be seen that the increase has been above this ratio for the last twenty years. The value of Methodist church property in the State in 1874 was nearly four millions of dol- lars, or more than three times as great as that of any other church society in the State.


Next to the Methodists, in point of numbers and wealth, are the Baptists; third in order, in this regard, are the Chris- tians; and fourth, the Roman Catholics. The following table will be interesting:


STATISTICS OF CHURCHES.


1870.


1860.


1850.


Churches.


Sittings.


Property.


Churches.


Sittings.


Property.


Churches.


Sittings.


Property.


Baptist, regular


552


135,575


$1,047,625


474


164,710


$ 430,510


428


138,783


$ 212,735


Baptist, other.


68


16,800


89,700


27


9,900


25,350


13


4,050


4,745


Christian


455


122,775


810,875


347


125,600


270,515


187


65,341


89,790


Congregational


18


4,800


119,900


11


5,250


42,600


2


1,400


8,000


Episcopal, Protestant


49


10,300


492,500


29


10,350


117,800


24


7,300


74,000


Evangelical Association Friends


81


29,500


263,800


93


41,330


111,650


89


44,915


60,355


Jewish


5


1,900


113,000


2


450


8,000


Lutheran


195


62,285


619,600


150


46,384


237,000


63


19,050


37,425


Methodist.


1,403


346,125


3,291,427


1,256


432,160


1,345,935


778


266,372


492,560


Miscellaneous


2


472


730


Moravian


2


650


5,000


1


400


3,500


57


18,250


21,600


Mormon


New Jerusalem


1


100


4,000


Presbyterian, regular


333


116,560


2,006,550


275


104,195


266,435


282


105,582


326,520


Presbyterian, other


42


12,400


71,500


53


21,070


72,850


3


1,300


1,650


Dutch Reformed.


2


500


8,200


6


1,500


7,850


5


1,275


1,800


German Reformed


34


8,880


97,300


9


3,800


26,600


5


1,150


3,500


Roman Catholic.


204


86,830


2,511,700


127


57,960


665,025


63


25,115


167,725


Shaker.


Spiritualist


1


1


250


600


United Brethren in Christ


184


33,975


188,000


Universalist


18


6,300


73,400


28


9,130


37,850


15


5,050


17,800


Unknown, local missions


Unknown, Union


4


1,200


3,000


44


13,022


35,804


15


4,000


8,050


1


.


-


.


280


HISTORY OF INDIANA.


47


10,925


124,600


.


Second Advent.


Unitarian


1


CHAPTER XXXIV.


BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS.


THERE is no State in the Union, not even Old Massachu- setts, which can boast a better or more humane system of benevolent institutions. Indiana has ever been mindful of the poor, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the friendless, the orphan, and the fallen. All have their institutions. These have ever been well supported by charitable donations from individuals, and by liberal appropriations from the State.




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