USA > Indiana > Gibson County > History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 14
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At present both high and college students attend. The courses are diversified and meet the requirements of all. The elementary, or preparatory courses, lead to the regular classical courses of a college. A corps of twelve
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OAKLAND CITY COLLEGE.
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professors ably perform the duties of the school. The president is W. P. Dearing. About seventy students are enrolled.
VARIOUS SCHOOLS AT PRINCETON.
The schools of Princeton may be classed as follows: The pre-seminary period, 1812 to 1829; the seminary period, 1829 to 1860; the private schools and academies ; the Princeton Female High School ; the graded school period, 1860 to the present date.
Between 1807 and 1814 there were a number of families settled in what is now Princeton, but it is doubtful whether any schools had been taught be- fore 1812. The first of which there seems to be any authentic account was one held in a vacated log cabin, with puncheon floor and a fire-place extend- ing almost across the end of the building. The chimney was made of sticks and clay. A space was hewn out between two logs extending along one side, over which greased paper was fastened to admit light to the interior. The great door swung on wooden hinges, in the middle, on one side of the build- ing. This house stood on the south bank of the little creek near Main street in the south part of town. The first teacher was Adley Donald, who began teaching in 1812, before the city was laid out and before the second war with Great Britain had been fought. The second teacher was David Buck, in the same building.
In the winter of 1814-15 Rev. Hickman, Presbyterian, taught a private school in the second story of a log house built for a store-house by Willis C. Osborn in 1814. It was the first store-house erected in Princeton and stood on the corner west of the southwest part of the courthouse square, and about where the Farmer's Bank now stands.
In 1817 a log house was built especially for school purposes, near the site of the present United Presbyterian church. This was used until 1820. There the teachers were: Solomon D. King. John Coursely, Matthew Cun- ningham and William Chittenden.
For the next nine years the schools were taught in the old Covenanter church, on the east side of Prince street between Broadway and Water streets. Mention has been made of the teachers here below. But very little can be learned of the schools of Princeton for the years between 1820 and 1829.
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THE SEMINARY PERIOD.
On December 31, 1818, an act was passed by the General Assembly of the state entitled, "An Act for the Encouragement of Religion and Learning." This act made provision for the establishment of a seminary of learning in each county seat, the proceeds for its maintenance to be obtained by the sale of school lands and the rental of the same. In August, 1829, the sixteenth section (school section) in each congressional township was sold for school purposes. The seminary was intended to be both a common school and a preparatory school for higher institutions of learning. All pupils of the county were entitled to attend and to have a part of their tuition paid from the school fund.
At the meeting of the county commissioners' court in May, 1819, Alex- ander Devin, William Prince and Robert Evans were appointed trustees, "to be styled a Board of Trustees of the Princeton Academy." These men for some reason did not seem to have acted and in 1822 the county authorities appointed another set, consisting of Alexander Devin, Robert Milburn and Samuel Hall. The court at this time authorized County Agent Robert Stock- well to convey to the said trustees a title to lot No. I, in the second survey of Princeton. This lot had been deeded to Gibson county for school purposes in 1818 by Robert Evans, who had entered the land in the east part of Princeton.
Delay after delay occurred, and finally a school building was erected on the above lot. A private subscription was raised to the amount of six hun- dred and eight dollars, composed of some cash, but mostly in merchandise, produce and labor. The building, a two-story brick, thirty by sixty feet, was not finished until 1829, three years after provision had been made for its erection. It should be stated that this building stood on the same ground where now stands the high school building. The lot then contained many fine old forest trees.
The old seminary building was located near the middle of the western side of the block, facing what is now Seminary street, and was just in front of the present new high school building. It contained originally five un- plastered rooms, a hall, running east and west divided the north from the two south rooms on the first floor. A stairway led from the hall to the two upper rooms in the second story. The two south rooms on the first floor were used as living rooms by some of the teachers. The upper north room was the only one used for school purposes for many years. About 1847, how-
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ever, the school sessions were moved from the upper north room to the lower north room and the southwest lower room was also used as a study room. There were two windows on each side of the hallway facing west, in both the upper and lower rooms. There were also two upper and lower windows on the north and the east side and no windows at all on the south side of the building. There was a fire-place about the middle of the north wall in the upper and lower rooms. The teacher's desk was on the south side of the room. The east side of the room was a favorite place for the boys to sit. A race track existed at that time from the northeast corner of the grounds for a quarter of a mile north and as races took place frequently the boys were very desirous of getting a choice seat where they could watch the sport. There were holes of generous dimensions in the foundation of the building for the passage of air and hogs running loose in those days would occasionally retire to the shady retreat and, fighting for the coolest spot, would lift up their voices to the discomforture of the master in the rooms above who was hearing the "a-b abs" or the "rule of three." Mrs. J. T. Duncan relates that as late as 1868 the hogs would occasionally run into the hall-way in an effort to get out of the rain or the inclement weather.
There were few school equipments in those early days. The pupils used slates and slate pencils, but nobody but the master used a lead pencil. Metal pens were an unknown quantity. The farm yard produced the material for the pens, the goose quill being used for that purpose. The pupils were taught the art of making a pen by the master, who posed as a connoisseur in that art. Mrs. Youngman, who in 1914 is in her eighty-sixth year, and who has spent her entire life here, relates how the boys and girls used to catch the geese which ran at will in that day, and enter into a contest to see who could pick the most quills for pen purposes.
The proverbial dunce-block was in evidence in the old seminary, and many of the older residents of Princeton used to frequently occupy it. School desks were not known then, as they are today. The puncheon benches had no backs.
Calvin Butler was chosen the first principal and Andrew Erskin, assistant teacher. The salaries were not large and were not in cash, but usually in produce which they had to barter away as best they could. Rev. Hiram A. Hunter, a finely educated man, was to receive a salary of two hundred and fifty or three hundred dollars in money, "provided that amount could be realized." This sort of a teacher's contract would hardly suffice in this cen- tury. He taught from 1832 to 1834, when came Thomas Hornbrook.
In 1842 the rates of tuition were one dollar and fifty cents per quarter
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or six dollars a year From the school fund was drawn one hundred dollars and the balance, two hundred dollars, was made up by subscription. In 1846 the number enumerated of school age was two hundred and twenty- seven; of these, one hundred and thirteen were boys and one hundred and fourteen girls. Of the boys enumerated, only forty-two attended school. It is no wonder that in 1848 there were thirty thousand voters in Indiana who could not read or write, if this condition obtained throughout the state.
On December 12, 1853, J. F. Bird became principal of the old seminary. In 1854 it was announced that those who cared to board themselves could do so. They were given rooms in the seminary for this purpose. It was during the second session that year that the term "Princeton Graded School" was first used, and probably the term had never been used in connection with any school system prior to that date.
Prior to 1854 girls were practically excluded from attending this school and great was the agitation as to educating boys and girls together. The community was evenly divided on this question, and for all those years the parents had to provide for the separate schooling of their daughters in Prince- ton. The Clarion of January 16, 1847, waxed eloquent along this line and said: "Shall the more beautiful pillars of our intellectual and moral fabric be passed by as unworthy of notice? It is believed that a female qualified can impart female education to a better advantage than a male. There is a sweet- ness of temper, a comely female deportment, accompanying their instruction, peculiar to themselves. They need not Morse's telegraphic code to convey in- telligence, but the invisible attractive bond of tenderness and love, which they peculiarly seem to possess."
Elijah Lilleston, in 1854, was the first instructor to teach the two sexes together in the old seminary.
There were four hundred scholars attending school in Princeton in 1859 when the town had a population of 1,589.
A recent school history, a part of an official report, gives the following as having taught from 1829 to 1860 during this "seminary period." The recalling of these names will touch many a tender chord in memory's realm, hence the list and dates are here appended : 1829, Calvin Butler, Andrew Erskin, assistant ; 1830-32, Calvin Butler ; 1832-33, Hiram A. Hunter ; 1833- 34, Hiram A. Hunter; 1834-35, Thomas Hornbrook; 1835-36, William Rowe; 1836-37, John J. McClerkin; 1837-39, Rev. H. H. Patten and wife; 1839-42, William J. Bryden ; 1842-43. William Stockwell; 1843-44, Doctor Smith; 1844-45, Mr. Collins, Dr. J. C. Patten, assistant ; 1845-46, Wasson Stormont ; 1846-47, Harvey Munford, Mr. Nesbit, assistant; 1847-48, John
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J. McClerkin, Hugh McKelvy, assistant ; 1848-49, Harvey Munford, Beza Archer, assistant : 1849-50, W. A. Wandell; 1850-51, R. G. Elliott ; 1851-52, Dr. Nathaniel Allen; 1852, Aeneas McPhee; 1852-53, C. P. Coykendall; 1853-54, J. F. Bird; 1854, J. F. Bird, John Orr; 1854, October 31, Elijah Lilleston ; 1855, Anderson F. Ely, John Orr; 1855, June, John Orr; 1856, May, Albra Waldron, eleven weeks; 1856-57, August, J. F. Bird; 1857-59, J. F. Bird: 1859 (spring and summer terms), J. F. Bird, principal, Miss Margaret Fentress, primary department ; 1860, D. Eckley Hunter and graded systein of schools.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES.
The first private school in Princeton was taught by Rev. Hickman in 1814-15. In 1820 Rev. John Kell taught one and in 1823 William Chitten- den taught another at his own residence. Other private terms were taught by Mrs. Berbeck, 1832; Mrs. Emily Harrington, 1835: Mrs. John Ewing, 1836; John Wright, in the winter of 1835-36; Tandy B. Montgomery, in the winter of 1836-37. The second term taught by Montgomery was held in a log cabin near a spring and the scholars used to slake their thirst from this spring by means of a gourd dipper. "No lickin', no larnin' " was his motto and he practiced what he preached almost daily. In 1837 Mrs. Galloway had a private school for girls, as did also Miss Mary Foster. In 1842-3-4 the Misses Sue and Lou Walling taught private schools. In 1850 John N. Evans taught and was very successful. Mrs. McKelvey taught in 1852 and 1853.
Other private institutions here were the short-lived "Misses and Young Ladies" school; the "Princeton Female Seminary"; the "Female College"; the "Princeton Female Institute," which were all attended. at various dates, on account of the decision that none but boys should be allowed to attend the old seminary, which gives one today the idea that boys and men were counted far superior to the gentler sex in those good old days prior to 1850.
THE PRINCETON FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL.
Still another institution must be treated in this connection-the Female High School, as first designated. This was organized in April, 1855, with Henry T. Morton as principal and Mrs. M. W. Paxton and Mrs. M. M. Mor- ton as assistants. The school was held in a room under Temperance Hall, where now stands the Odd Fellows building. Mr. Morton decided to erect a building and have it ready for school in the autumn of 1855. He failed, but in the spring following he had it completed. The building was at first known
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as the "New Seminary building," but the style of the school itself was known as the "Girls High School Seminary." In September, 1856, both boys and girls were admitted, after which it was known as the "Male and Female Aca- demy." The building was a two-story, five-room structure, located on the east side of West street, between Emerson and Chestnut. It was warmed by hot air and finely ventilated. It was seated with Boston school chairs and desks. The school was well supplied with maps, charts and globes, also chemi- cal apparatus and a cabinet for geological specimens and a good library. The whole was counted among the best equipments in Indiana. Board, washing, light and fuel were estimated to cost fifty dollars per term, while the tuition was twenty-five dollars additional. It had a normal department, doing fine work for those intending to become teachers. In 1856-57 the total attendance was one hundred and forty-three. In the fall of 1858 it changed hands, after which Messrs. Henderson & Brown were proprietors. A year later they sold to Brown & Sturgis, who conducted it until 1860, when, on account of too small attendance and the Civil war cloud, its doors were closed. It was, however, opened again in 1862 by a few citizens who refused to donate to- ward the maintenance of the public school in the old seminary building. On August 31, 1863, the building was purchased by William Kurtz, acting for the school trustees of the city of Princeton. It thus became a part of the public school property of the city, and there the intermediate department of the public schools was kept until the completion of the new school building in January, 1871, on the site of the old seminary. Seth Ward bought the acad- emy building in 1870 and it was remodeled for residence purposes. This was the parting of the ways-the old private and subscriptions schools were abandoned forever and the new era of a sane, sensible and universal public school system was ushered in.
THE GRADED SCHOOL PERIOD.
These schools were organized under the newly formed laws of Indiana by D. Eckley Hunter in 1860. They were divided into primary, intermediate and academic departments. The schools were, for some time, kept in the old seminary building, in the Odd Fellows building and in the basement of the Methodist church. The salaries of the teachers were as follows: Principal of academic department, fifty dollars; intermediate grades, thirty-two dollars ; primary grades, twenty dollars. Miss Harmon received twelve dollars per month as an assistant. The first day's enrollment was two hundred and sixty, and reached three hundred and eleven by September 11, 1860. For the first
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ten years subscriptions had to be raised in order to maintain these "public" schools, after which date the tax levy covered the expense. The first principal of these schools, Professor Hunter, was a son of Rev. Hiram Hunter, who had taught in the "Old Seminary" in 1832. He was a fine scholar and an excellent educator ; served until 1863. Professor Hunter was engaged in edu- cational work elsewhere for a few years, and in 1865 he returned to Prince- ton and again became superintendent of the schools here. At this time the higher grades of the school were in the former Morton academy. In 1866 Professor Hunter again left Princeton to become principal of the preparatory department in the Indiana State University. In 1871 he was again recalled and became superintendent of the Princeton graded schools, now all com- fortably provided for in the new school building on Seminary hill. Here he remained until 1874, and during this term of service the schools were for the first time thoroughly organized under the graded system. The first graduates of the high school were in 1872, under Professor Hunter's administration.
The superintendents of the Princeton schools have been as follows, since 1871, when the entirely free system began: D. Eckley Hunter, 1871-74; A. J. Snoke, 1874-1890; F. B. Dresslar, 1890-91; C. N. Peak, 1891-1903 : Harold Barnes, 1903-10; M. D. Webb, 1910 to the coming of the present superintendent, James W. Stott.
PRESENT CONDITIONS.
The fiftieh annual report of the Princeton public schools, published in 1910, gave many interesting historic facts, including the following items :
Among the innovations in schools was the introduction of Thanksgiving offerings by the pupils, first established in the schools here in 1903. All kinds of useful articles and cash are annually brought by the pupils who can afford it and donated at the Thanksgiving season to aid, comfort and cheer the less fortunate children of the town. Medicines and pay for treatment for poor children was thus provided for. While the sums are usually small, they show a true spirit and teach the children to be benevolent and thoughtful for their fellow creatures.
The subject of caring for the teeth of pupils in public schools was first introduced in Indiana at Princeton in 1906, when the first special effort was made along this line and since 1908 general inspection of the pupils' teeth have been made. About the same date was introduced medical inspection of the schools, and this has averted disease and in some cases cured many chil- dren of ailments that would sooner or later have been serious.
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Sanitary drinking fountains were introduced here in 1908 and have worked out great good to the pupils and teachers.
The playgrounds about Princeton school houses are excellent. The teachers and pupils spend their intermissions, in good weather, on these grounds, where swings, teeter-boards, bars and other appliances are found in large numbers. The lawns about the school grounds are kept in a tasty, beautiful condition since 1903, when this subject was first taken up and de- veloped. Lectures were given and the proceeds went toward improving the grounds. The saying, "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever," applies to these modern school grounds.
The new electric clock, purchased and installed by the board in 1910, at the Lowell school building, has proven a splendid improvement. This clock controls the ringing of the bells for all recitations and intermissions in the high school as well as at some other departments. Fire alarms are also sounded by this clock. Fire drills are in constant use in the schools now.
Ten years ago-1903-there was a corps of thirty-three teachers. In 1910 it had increased to forty-one. The average salary of all teachers per month, grades and high schools combined, in 1903 was fifty-six dollars; of grades separately it was almost forty-six dollars; of high school separately, sixty-six dollars and fifty cents. In 1910 it had increased to seventy-two dollars and ninety-eight cents and sixty-eight dollars and seventy-nine cents respectively.
In 1903 the Lincoln high school for colored children was provided. The building is a two-room addition to the Race Street colored school building. In 1910 the total enrollment'in the colored school was one hundred and eighty, but it rapidly increased and a two-story frame building was leased. There are now six colored teachers.
HIGH SCHOOL ENROLLMENT SINCE 1872.
The subjoined shows the enrollment in the Princeton high school, by years, also the number of graduates in total : 1872, 34; 1873, 48; 1874, 40; 1875, 54; 1876, 49; 1877, 56; 1878, 43; 1879, 45 ; 1880, 47; 1881, 46; 1882, 42; 1883, 38; 1884, 34; 1885, 49; 1886, 49; 1887, 50; 1888, 54; 1889, 53; 1890, 64; 1891, 65 ; 1892, 68; 1893, 56; 1894, 60; 1895, 88; 1896, 80; 1897, 94; 1898, 94 : 1899, 128; 1900, 139; 1901, 158; 1902, 181; 1903, 149; 1904, 185; 1905, 202: 1906, 180; 1907, 148; 1908, 159; 1909, 187; 1910, 197: 19II, 186; 1912, 221 ; 1913, 234; 1914, 265. The number of graduates of the high school since 1872, including the class of 1914, is as follows: Boys,
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239; girls, 361 ; total, 610. Since the establishment of the colored high school there have been 15 graduates from that department.
The schools of 1913 are: The high school, Lowell school, Irving school, Franklin school, Lincoln school (colored), Prince Street school (colored).
The new high school building, completed in 1913, is among the finest in this section of the state. It cost sixty thousand dollars, aside from the grounds, which have been owned many years by the town. The old sem- inary once occupied these grounds, as has before been noted.
CHAPTER XI.
CHURCHES OF GIBSON COUNTY.
The pioneers in Gibson county were made up largely of a God-fearing band. This county was no exception to most counties in southern Indiana, in that the church and school house went hand in hand with the general settlement and more perfect development of the country. Many of the early records of theses pioneer organizations have long since passed from view and have crumbled with the ever-collecting dusts of time. The best that can be accomplished in way of setting forth the religious societies, their origin and location, is to pick from such writings as have been culled over and used by previous historians, so far as the first history of such churches are concerned.
METHODISM IN GIBSON COUNTY.
The first Methodist Episcopal society in this county was that formed in 18II at Patoka, with Rev. Benjamin Edge as minister. The conference minutes show that Rev. John Scripps was stationed at that point in 1815. About that date a congregation was perfected at what is now Princeton. The first preaching services were held in a grove near town, and at times, when weather prevented out-of-door meetings, the homes of settlers were the meeting places. It was not until 1825 that the Methodists at Patoka enjoyed the privilege of holding services in a school house. They had no church building until 1852. Among the early "circuit riders" were Revs John Scripps, Thomas King, Thomas Davis, Charles Slocum, John Wallace, Daniel McHenry, Elias Stone, James L. Thompson, Ebenezer T. Webster, William Medford, Richard Hargrove. Enoch' Woods and Elijah Whitten. The first Methodist church was erected in Princeton in 1838. Judge Elisha Embree was one of the subscribers and an ardent worker in the church up to the date of his death. In relating the history of this church the good judge once remarked: "We have been driven from private houses to the jail and from there to the court house, and I propose now that we build a house of our own." Methodisni from an early date prospered and today its churches are scattered everywhere over the thickly settled county. The
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church at Princeton was organized about 1815, and the first church was erected in 1838. The second was a brick edifice on the site of the present building, which was erected in 1896; the second church was burned in 1893. The present church stands on the corner of Emerson and West streets. The present value of this church is twenty-five thousand dollars; the value placed on the parsonage is four thousand dollars. The membership of this society in September, 1913, was five hundred and fifty-nine. The present pastor is Rev. C. C. Edwards, who is now in his fifth year as pastor and is an able, enthusiastic Methodist.
In Gibson county there are now-1913-the following Methodist churches: Princeton, with a membership in the First church of five hun- dred and fifty-nine; Gibson Street church, in Princeton; Fort Branch has a membership of about three hundred; Francisco, a membership of one hun- dred and fifty-two; Oakland City, a membership of three hundred and forty- three; Owensville has a membership of two hundred and ninety-three; Patoka, a membership of one hundred and eight; others are at Hazelton, two near Patoka (same charge) ; at Wheeling, Mt. Olivet, Hight's Chapel, Cunningham Chapel, Blythe Chapel, Forsythe, near Oakland City, and Antioch, on the Owensville circuit.
The Methodist church at Patoka was organized in 1851, and now has a membership of one hundred and eight. Its church building was erected in 1851 at a cost of one thousand five hundred dollars. The present pastor, Rev. E. F. Shake, came in 1911 and is doing a good work in the church to which the conference sent him.
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