USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement to the present time; with Biographical Sketches and Reference to Biographies, Volume I > Part 14
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A company has been recently organized in Logansport for the pur- pose of selling pumps and spraying material to farmers for pruning fruit and shade trees, spraying the same and caring for orchards on the shares and practically instructing horticulturists how to care for orchards and make them productive of good and marketable fruit.
David N. Flory, Sr., of Miami township, was probably the pioneer in grafting and budding the more improved varieties of fruit upon seedling trees, until this process has become quite general and has been the means of greatly improving the quality as well as bringing new varieties into being. The banana-apple originated in this way and has become world famous. To call it a "winter maiden blush" would accurately describe it.
The first small fruit grower in a commercial way was the late J. A. Cantley, of Clinton township, who came from Hendricks county in 1866. He produced a superior berry, marketed them in wooden buckets, but later in trays at a uniform price of twenty cents per quart.
The business of small fruit growing that started in 1866 with one- half acre has developed until hundreds of acres are now occupied with this industry. Crates and boxes are brought by the car load and today fruit is shipped from Cass county to many of the surrounding cities. L. B. Custer was also a pioneer nurseryman and did much to improve and develop the industry.
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES
The first horticultural society in the state was organized in Octo- ber, 1843, at Indianapolis with Henry Ward Beecher as its secretary, but this society had a precarious existence and ceased to exist. In 1860 the Indiana Horticultural Society was organized with Reuben Regan as its first president and William M. Loomis, secretary, and has kept. up its organization to the present time with increasing interest and efficiency.
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CASS COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
The Cass County Horticultural Society was organized in Library hall, Logansport, March 11, 1911, with thirty-five charter members and a present membership of 121, all parts of the county being represented. The officers are: A. E. Flory, president; L. B. Custer, vice-president; Slate Kline, secretary; executive committee, W. P. Martin, Robert Bar- nett and B. F. Campbell. The society has held frequent meetings, which have been addressed by eminent entomologists and professors from Pur- due Agricultural College and December 9, 1911, Ex-Vice-President Fairbanks addressed the meeting. All of these men spoke on scientific and practical subjects of vital interest to the farmer and of special in- terest to the fruit grower, touching on the best varieties of fruit, meth- ods of planting, cultivation, mulching and spraying of trees to kill and prevent the ravages of the San Jose scale and other insect pests, the bane of the modern horticulturist.
The society is an active working body and the interchange of ex- periences among its members with occasional addresses by scientific investigators has had a decided influence among our horticulturists as shown in the better grades and increased output of all kinds of fruits.
DAIRY AND LIVE STOCK' INTERESTS
Cass county is not a distinctively dairy district; our farmers in the development of the county only produced sufficient dairy products for home consumption; but with increased demand for milk and butter, by our growing urban population, our farmers have in recent years begun to develop this industry and there are many dairy farms in different sections of the county supplied with modern dairy machinery for separating the cream and manufacturing butter. It has become a profitable industry and each year finds more of the farmers engaging in the business, and thus diversifying the farm products with mutual advantage to all concerned. Some dairymen separate the cream, utilize the skimmed milk by feeding it to their calves and hogs; others sell the milk to the central dairy, but in either case butter is seldom made by the old method of souring the milk before taking the cream. The old has given way to the new process of separating the cream at once, while the milk is fresh, thus yielding a larger per cent of cream and leaving your skim milk sweet for other purposes. The pioneer milk crock or pan for the gradual rising and separation of the cream, long rows of which could be seen at the spring house, has gone to keep company with the sickle and the flail.
Although Cass is not considered a dairy or live stock county, yet it raises large numbers of cattle, hogs, sheep and horses.
Almost the entire acreage of Cass county is under cultivation, there being only a small proportion of waste land. The agricultural inter- ests are so diversified that the acreage devoted to any one industry is not as large as in some counties where farming is confined to a single staple crop, but this diversity of crops makes our farmers more inde- pendent, as they do not rely on any one product.
STATISTICS
Number of horses in Cass county, 1908 7,615
Number of milch cows in Cass county, 1908 5,228
Number of gallons of milk produced. 2,180,125
Number of beef and stock cattle.
10,805
Number of hogs in Cass county 59,606
Number of sheep in Cass county 16,094
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CHAPTER XI SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION"
SCHOOL FUNDS-LOG SCHOOL HOUSES-PIONEER METHODS-EARLY TEACHERS-TEXT BOOKS-PROGRESS-GRADED SCHOOLS-ARBOR DAY -STATISTICS-COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS-SMITHSON COLLEGE __ BUSINESS COLLEGES-PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS-PRESBYTERIAN ACADEMY.
The Ordinance of 1787 declares that "religion, morality and knowl- edge being necessary to the government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." Thus . the United States government in its organic law encouraged and fos- tered education among its people, and Congress, when it carved the state of Indiana out of the Northwest territory set aside one section of land (usually the sixteenth) in every Congressional township for school pur- poses and this land or the proceeds thereof was given over to three trustees who were elected by the township to manage this fund and up to 1859 each township had three trustees, but in that year the law was changed and since that day we have only one township trustee, but this congressional school fund is still kept intact and separate from other school funds, as the United States supreme court has decided that each township has the exclusive right to, and control over this fund. The aggregate congressional township fund in Indiana amounted, in 1910, to $2,476,297.44. Besides this, Congress gave to the state two entire townships for the use of the State Seminary; also certain unsalable swamp and saline lands and in 1836 distributed to the states the surplus revenues then in the United States treasury, of which Indiana's share was $860,254, of this $573,502.96 went into the permanent school fund.
The state by its constitution and subsequent acts of the legislature has provided a permanent endowment fund, the various sources of which are as follows: congressional township fund, saline fund, county semi- nary fund, delinquent tax fund, bank tax fund, sinking fund, surplus revenue fund, swamp land fund, contingent fund, Michigan road fund, seminary fund.
As previously stated the congressional township fund is handled sep- arately but all the other funds are bunched together and are known as the Common School .Fund.
These funds are gradually increasing year by year and in 1910 the total endowment school fund of the state amounted to $11,208,343.54. The total enumeration for that year was 754,972, giving to each child of school age in the state, $14.84.
Whilst the United States government thus early laid broad and deep . foundations for the education of its people and the state pursued the same policy, and nearly every governor in his message to the legislature has referred to the subject, yet it required many years to develop our
* Complete general review, but schools of each township and city are found in their respective places.
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present grand and efficient system of free schools, where the poorest child or orphan can acquire a liberal education, yea, not only may, but is com- pelled to attend school a certain period. Indeed, education has been the leading topic agitating the public mind of the Hoosier state and we will notice some of the steps and processes in its gradual evolution from the round log school house up to the modern high school, from the dis- trict schoolmaster who taught only the three R's, "Reading," "Riting" and "Rithmetic," up to the modern professor of science, philosophy and belles lettres of today. But few, if any of Cass county's pioneers pos- sessed a higher education. They could read, write and figure a little, and this was all that was of any practical utility in early days. The business of the pioneer was making a home in the impenetrable forest and all else was subordinate to this object. Yet he was not unmindful of educational and spiritual training of his children and early began to arrange for schools but let it be remembered the pioneers were dropped down so to speak in the midst of dense forests, with no roads or means of communica- tion with the outside world, hence their first schoolhouses were built entirely of wood and dirt and were of the crudest form. They were small structures made of round logs or poles covered with clap-boards, weighted down with poles, puncheon floors, door of same material, pinned . together by wooden pins and hung on wooden hinges and fastened with a wooden latch. Nearly the whole of one end of the house was cut out for a fireplace and chimney which were constructed of nigger heads, sticks and mud. Into this fireplace the big boys would roll logs for the fire. A window was made on one side. by cutting out one log and pasting oiled paper over the opening or the district might have the luxury of some 8x10 inch window glass, which would be fastened to the log above and below by sticks and mud or wooden pins. Under this window would be placed the writing desk made of puncheon, smoothed down with ax and later when saw mills were started a slab would be used.
On each side and in front of the fireplace in triangular form would be placed benches for the pupils to sit upon, and while your face would burn, your back would freeze. These benches were made of split timbers smoothed down with an ax and resting on four wooden pins. The benches had no backs nor desks and were all the same height. This afforded the little fellows an opportunity of taking physical exercise while studying their lessons, they swinging their feet almost perpetually, and with as much precision as a regiment of soldiers keep step when on dress parade. There was another bench of similar kind under the writing desk, where the pupils would take turns at writing with a pen made of a goose quill and using poke-berry juice for ink.
This is no fancy picture for many of Cass county's first schoolhouses were of this pattern. There were no conveniences or aids to study; no blackboard, wall maps or charts, in fact, for some years in most of the pioneer country schools, geography was not on the curriculum, only spelling and the three R's as they were usually termed, "Reading," "Rit- ing," "Rithmetic." Text books were scarce and usually one book would answer for several pupils in the same family. There were no grades, and no text books for different years. The first year student in arithmetic . would use the same text book as the twelfth year. A pupil must learn to spell well, before attempting to read. The testament was the only reader in the primitive schools of Cass county. There was no uniformity in books, every school had its own, and no two schools used the same books; in fact, different text books were used by the different scholars in the same school and it made no difference to teacher or pupil, for there were no classes, the teacher hearing and instructing each pupil in his school separately, beginning with the first pupil that came in the morning
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and keeping busy until night with only an intermission at the noon hour. The patrons requiring the teacher to put in full time as does a daily laborer. For many years, even after the days of stoves, the big boys were required to saw or chop the wood and the teacher to come early and build the fire in the mornings. The pioneer teacher was usually exacting and a strict disciplinarian and went on the principle "no lickin" "no larnin" and did not spare the rod on the slightest provocation. The playtime at noon was looked forward to by the scholars as a season of great enjoy- ment. The sports usually indulged in were "bull-pen," "town-ball," "cat," "fox and hounds."
From these primitive schools there has been a gradual development. The law required three trustees to be elected to manage the school lands and the funds arising therefrom. Again three trustees to manage the civil affairs of the township with a clerk and treasurer, the former to receive seventy-five cents per day of actual service. There were conflicts and disagreements between the members of the board; there was but little or no public money ; each district had authority higher than the trustees and built schoolhouses where and when they chose, and employed and dis- charged teachers at their will. There was no uniformity, no standard, no system until after the adoption of the new constitution in 1852. The free school system of Indiana first became practically operative the first Monday in April, 1853, when the township trustees for school purposes were elected, throughout the county and state.
The new law gave them the management of school affairs of the town- ships, but only as directors and subject to the action of the voters; in other words the "referendum." Although there was much confusion and conflict of authority between the board of trustees themselves and also between the trustees and the people, yet system and order began to ap- pear, greatly aided by W. C. Larrabee, the first superintendent of public instruction, under the new law of 1855-6, townships began to be arranged into districts more systematically, schoolhouses erected and better teach- ers employed. It was not, however, until the law of 1859 abolished the board of three township trustees and placed the township affairs in the hands of one trustee that complete order in school matters was perfected. It required, however, some years and numerous amendments to the law and it was not until 1877 that the township trustees assumed full and entire control over the schools of the township. Prior to that the patrons of the districts met in school meetings and selected their teacher and many estrangements and enemies were made by the rival candidates for pedagogic honors.
In the early history of our schools no license was required, any one could teach and the majority of teachers were employed during the winter because they had nothing else to do. 'Improved laws giving the superintendent of public instruction supervision over the public schools and insuring uniformity throughout the state; the county superintend- ent having the same power over the county schools; normal schools for training of teachers and teachers institutes have all had their influence in bringing our schools out of the round pole cabin with its crude methods, and placing them on the highest plane of any schools in Christendom.
Prior to 1859 there was very little public funds and the schools were quite generally maintained by private subscriptions and in the country the teacher boarded around among the scholars. The term was seldor longer than sixty days and never beyond three months.
Marvelous changes have taken place in our schools since 1865; when, even at that late day there were 1,128 log schoolhouses in the state while in 1910, the last report, there were only three in the entire state and
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today we have not one log schoolhouse in Cass county, but we have seventy-five brick and thirty-seven frame or a total of 112 modern school- houses in our county, valued at $558,800. Total number of teachers em- ployed in the county, 225. Total amount expended last year for school purposes, $220,366.10.
The county now has a complete system of graded schools in all the townships under the general supervision of the county superintendent; there being eight grades in the common schools and four in the high school, requiring one year's work to pass through each grade, eight years in the common school and four in the high school.
The following table shows the number of pupils in each grade for the year 1910 as reported by the superintendent of public instructions, also the total enumeration for that year:
Enumeration in Cass county for the year 1910: In the townships, 4,396; in the towns, 571; in Logansport, 4,853; total in Cass county, 9,820.
Enrollment by grades for 1910: First grade, 938; second grade, 851; third grade, 788; fourth grade, 779; fifth grade, 761; sixth grade, 734; seventh grade, 548; eighth grade, 573; total in grades, 5,972. .
High school: First year, 308; second year, 267; third year, 162; fourth year, 103; total enrollment, 6,812.
Number of pupils enrolled in Cass county in 1910 in parochial schools, 690.
Our township schools have been making rapid advancement and doing higher grade work within the last few years, and nine of the out townships have established high schools, to-wit: Adams, Bethle- hem, Boone, Clinton, Deer Creek, Harrison, Jackson, Miami and Tipton townships, leaving only four townships without a high school and these being contiguous to Logansport are easily accommodated in the city school or elsewhere; so that every district in Cass county is now sup- plied with the advantages of the high school, with all the modern con- veniences and equipments that was possessed by our colleges eighty years ago, when our pioneer forbears were fighting Indians and chisel- ing out a hole in the forest in which to erect the first primitive temple of learning in Cass county.
What transformations have occurred 'Tis pleasant for 'us to know Since the first log house was built Over eighty years ago.
The total current expenses for all the high schools in Cass county in 1910 was $21,345.90, or an average of $28.57 for each pupil enrolled. In the non-commissioned high schools the average per pupil was $48.16.
The average wages paid teachers in Cass county in 1910 was $3.27 per day. The highest wages paid in the city was $6.17 per day. The lowest wages paid in the county, $2.74 per day.
Average length of schools in the district, 141 days; average length of schools in the towns, 167 days; average length of schools in Logans- port, 180 days.
Cass county paid to its teachers during the year 1910, $716.60 for every day of school taught. an amount equal to the annual allowance for the county in pioneer days.
CONSOLIDATION
Within the past five years some of the country schools have been consolidated. The smaller district schools have been abandoned and
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the children hauled to the larger central building where they can have advantages of all the grades and usually more efficient teachers, and, where it is claimed a greater interest on the part of the pupil will be excited and maintained, than in the small school. Seven different town- ships in the county have thus abandoned one or more district schools and consolidated them with the larger central school. The total number of district schoolhouses abandoned to date in the county is sixteen and as many wagons are employed to haul the pupils of those districts into the central school, at an average daily cost for each team and driver of $2.50. These seven trustees in as many townships, all give favorable reports as to the working of the system, both as to efficiency and economy and the consolidation of schools is likely to be continued and extended.
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS
The world seems to be progressing and in nothing has it made more progress than in its schools and they are still clamoring for more prac- tical teaching of practical subjects, and today agriculture is taught in 670 schools in Indiana; domestic science in 70, and manual training in 178, and the past year a teacher of manual training has been added. to our Logansport schools and the probability is that ere long all these practical industrial branches will be placed in the curriculum of our public schools. Live and practical subjects seem to dominate the public mind, the conservation of our resources and the best methods of reclaim- ing and restoring the waste, unproductive and exhausted lands and the forests that have been so ruthlessly destroyed should be restored and agriculture made more attractive. To this end one day in each year has become recognized as Arbor day when our schools usually celebrate it with the planting of trees and appropriate ceremonies.
ORIGIN OF ARBOR DAY
The first suggestion of the annual planting of trees by children is attributed to Hon. B. G. Northrop, secretary of the Connecticut board of education, in 1865. In 1876 he offered prizes to the children to stimulate tree planting. The setting aside a day for the annual plant- ing of trees by the state originated with Hon. J. Sterling Morton, secre- tary of agriculture who induced the governor of Nebraska to issue a proclamation appointing a day for tree planting throughout the state. In 1872 Arbor day was made a legal holiday. It is now calculated that 800,000,000 Arbor day trees have been set out in Nebraska alone.
Minnesota's first Arbor day was observed in 1876 and Kansas followed Nebraska's example in 1878. Iowa, Illinois and Michigan passed Arbor day laws in 1881, and Ohio in 1882 and since then Arbor day has been encouraged and recognized by more than forty states.
The first Arbor day in Indiana was held in April, 1884, but the day was not generally observed until October 30, 1896, and since then has been observed regularly on the last Friday in October. (State report, 1900, p. 156.)
With abundant public funds provided by the state, with our present perfected system of graded schools conveniently located in every town- ship, with instruction in industrial and useful arts and a corps of edu- cated and experienced teachers, guided and directed by county and city superintendents who devote their entire time and energies to educa- tional matters, Cass county may well be proud of her public schools which are excelled by none in the state or nation.
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First school teacher in the State of Indiana was M. Rivet, a French missionary, who opened a school in Vincennes, in 1793.
The first school teacher in Cass county was John McKinney, who taught in the Old Seminary, northeast corner of Fourth and Market streets in the spring of 1829.
A short write-up of the local schools will be found in the history of each township and the city of Logansport.
Prior to 1870 there was no county superintendent, but in that year the office was established. There was, however, an examiner part of the time to examine teachers, but the duties were not specifically laid down and the office was mere perfunctory.
LIST OF EXAMINERS AND COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS
Rev. M. M. Post, 1853.
Wm. P. Kouts, March 5, 1856; three years, three months.
Thos. B. Helm, June 17, 1859; eight months.
John F. Dodds, March 14, 1860; one year, two months.
John T. Purcell, June 4, 1861; two months.
John F. Dodds, September 3, 1861; ten months.
`T. B. Helm, July 9, 1862; four years, ten months.
J. C. Brophy, June 12, 1867; two years, seven months.
Peter A. Berry, January 27, 1870; three years, four months.
H. G. Wilson, June 2, 1873; six years.
P. A. Berry, June 2, 1879; four years.
D. D. Fickle, June, 1883-1889. .
. H. A. Searight, June, 1889-1891.
J. H. Gardner, June, 1891-1895.
J. F. Cornell, June, 1895-1899. Robert C. Hillis, June, 1899-1903.
Wm. H. Hass, June, 1903-1911.
A. L. Frantz, June, 1911-1915.
SMITHSON COLLEGE
This institution was an outgrowth on the part of the Indiana State Convention of Universalists to establish within the limits of the state an institution of higher learning, which, while it was in no sense sectarian, yet was to be under the supervision and control of that body. The school was named after Joshua Smithson, of Vevay, Indiana, who be- queathed a portion of his estate in trust for the building and maintain- ing an institution of higher education than the public schools afforded. The state convention was looking around for a location when Mrs. Elizabeth Pollard, widow of Philip Pollard, of Logansport, proposed a donation of $20,000 on condition that the grade of the institution should be a college or university and that it should be located in Logans- port. This proposition was accepted and Mrs. Pollard deeded to the State Universalist Convention of Indiana ten acres of ground, embracing a beautiful site on the hill at the north end of Sycamore street, over- looking the entire city of Logansport. This ground was then estimated to be worth $10,000. Plans were at once adopted for the erection of a commodious four-story brick building; the contract let and the corner stone was laid with appropriate ceremonies on May 9, 1871. The build- ings were completed during the following summer and fall at an outlay of $80,000, and on January 2, 1872, Smithson College was opened for the reception of students, with bright prospects. The course of instruc- tion was excellent and the president and faculty fully equal to the task
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