USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > History of Hendricks County, Indiana, together with sketches of its cities, villages and towns, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 9
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HISTORY OF HENDRICKS COUNTY.
work of education must still go on, and make perhaps greater changes than those from the time when
"The sacred seer with scientific truth In Grecian temples taught the attentive youth, With ceasless change, how restless atoms pass From life to life, a transmigrating mass,"
to that of to-day, when men's thoughts are directed to the inves- tigation of what they see around them.
THE SCHOOLS OF HENDRICKS COUNTY. BY T. R. GILLELAND. L
If the different conditions of society in different countries, and the different parts of the same country, and of different individ- nals in the same community are the result of chance, then the study of history can do no good and can only have for its object the mere gratification of idle curiosity.
But if these are not the result of chance, then the events and facts of history, whether they concern individuals, communities or nations, must be the consequence of antecedent causes and are the developments of time, depending upon a fixed law.
This being true, we are able, through a knowledge of the past, to provide, in a degree, for the contingencies of the future. Therefore a clear insight into the past is the best view we can get of the future.
Herein is the value of history, which should be known, because whatsoever happened aforetime happened for our instruction.
During the last generation the leading conflict was one of muscle ; during the next, it will be a conflict of thought.
The early pioneers of Hendricks County laid wisely and well the foundation upon which future society was to be builded. They fully realized that in such a country as this their scattered numbers would by natural growthi and immigration soon become a teeming population, and that by their strong arms and strong faith in the future, this howling wilderness would ere long be changed into a fruitful field of harvest, and that their struggles with'nature's obstacles for the benefit of posterity would bring to their chil- dren wealth and leisure, which must canse them to forsake the simple lives and frugal habits of their fathers and mothers, and live far different lives, and engage in very different pursuits and avocations, in which without education and moral training they could never be successful. They also believed and acted upon the
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idea that the most valuable entailment which any people can leave to posterity is intelligence and virtne.
No better class of emigrants ever peopled a new country than those who made the first settlement in Hendricks County in the year 1820.
Of the early schools and school-houses many interesting remi- niseences are told. Beech was the educational timber of the times; out, of the trunks were built the school-houses, and limbs in the hands of the teachers furnished the unanswerable argument in most cases of discipline, and served to brighten the ideas and quicken the thoughts of dull pupils of both sexes. The houses were the log cabins, sometimes without floors ; a huge fire-place in one end of the house in which was kept a burning log heap supplied the heat. The windows were made by sawing out a leg from one side of the house and placing in the opening a ruce · sash ; oiled paper was used in the windows as a substitute for glass. The writing desks were made of slabs and laid upon pir s driven in the walls of the lint. The seats were made of puncheon, backless, with legs so long that a child's feet were never per- mitted to touch the floor. The teacher's emblem of wrath, when not in use, lay upon two pins in the wall near the teacher's chair. The teacher was usually master of the situation in everything; except the subjects which he was required to teach, and many venturesome youth came to grief for reaching a little beyond th ? teacher's ken in the scholastic field.
In the summer of 1823, less than three years from the time the first ripe ear of corn was gathered by civilized hand in Hendricks County, two school-hoases had been built, one of them in Liberty Township, half a mile south of Cartersburg, and the other .o1. Thomas Lockhart's land in Guilford Township, and William Hin- ton (the writer's uncle) and Abijah Pinson were engaged. in the work to which Hendricks County owes her greatness. In this way. in every neighborhood, the earliest settlers made the best possible provision for the education of their children, and every winter in the rude log cabin, with its greased paper windows, its dirt or split puncheon floor, its rough hewn benches, and its huge log- heap fire, the pioneer teacher had his flock of eager learners around him.
And, looking back from this period to that time it seems, from what we know they accomplished, that greater efforts very nearly made up for their want of educational facilities.
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A day's work in school then was not five hours, but from sun-up till sun-down. Right or wrong, it is impossible to make an old man sce that greater progress was not made by pupils under this old regime than at present.
From that day until this, with the development of the country, the moral and educational interests have moved onward, until to- day it may be said that our school system is the greatest success of any public enterprise.
The schools ran along on Tabout the same pod-auger style which prevailed from the beginning until about 1870, when there was an awakening and a looking up which burst into a blaze of enthusi- asm in '73, when the county superintendeney was instituted. At that time imperfect classification was all the organization which it was thought possible to accomplish in the district schools. But abont four of our teachers had ever received normal training, and these but a term or two. Gradation and a course of study had not been dreamed about. These two things and normal-trained teach- ers and their selection by the officials and not by the rabble were the four beacon lights which our most efficient County Superin- tendent, J. A. C. Dobson, believed in and worked for during his ten years of service, and I feel that I may say he has been justified by his faith through his works.
A higher course of study has been adopted by the county board for pupils who have completed the common-school course.
Graduation from the common-school course has been so much encouraged and materially increased by the skillful manipulation of A. E. Rogers, the present Superintendent, that last year there were seventy graduates.
The last log school-house disappeared from Hendricks County more than twenty years ago.
There are in the county 108 school buildings, or three more than one for every four square miles.
Of these buildings fifty-four are brick and the others are frame; some of them are elegant buildings; all can be made comfortable in any kind of weather. The number of sittings are sufficient for the accommodation of every child in the county at one time. In the fifty-four brick honses are eighty-nine rooms, accommodating 4,000 of 7,082 children of the county.
Included in the number of schools are sixteen graded schools which furnish employment for fifty-four teachers.
The whole number of teachers employed In 1884-'35. 147
Number of male teachers. 85
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HISTORY OF HENDRICKS COUNTY.
Number of female teachers.
02
Enumeration 1884. 7,082
Enrolled in the schools 1883-'84. 5,836
Average daily attendance. 4,375
Average number to each teacher.
31
Per cent. of enrollment on enumeration
83
Per cent. of attendance on enrollment.
73
Amount expended for special purposes 1883-'84 $57,621.15
Amount expended for tuition purposes 36,682.71
Total expenditures . 94,303.86
Trustees' valuation of school property. 151,400.00
Average daily wages per teacher 1881-'85. 2.36
In addition to the facilities for instruction in the public schools we have located at Danville the Central Normal College and Com- mercial Institute, which was organized September, 1876, with only forty-cight students in attendance. Of these, thirty had been students under the same teachers in other institutions. From the first, the school has steadily improved in numbers and increased its facilities, until it is now one of the popular schools of the country.
We have, also, Central Academy, located at Plainfield, an insti- tution of great promise, which furnishes such literary instruction as is generally given in High Schools of our cities, joined, how- ever, with a larger amount of Christian teaching than is common in such schools.
What of all this ? Much every way. When I try to think back through the sixty-two years of Hendricks County's school history, review.my own brief experience, the trials, failures and successes, memory becomes crowded with incidents that tell of mutations, progress, development. We see our county rising from infancy to manhood. Our fathers looked forward to a grand culmination of all the appliances embraced in their wise system. The log cabin has passed away, and the frame or brick building has taken its place.
The old, rickety and rough bench, without a back, has given place to the elegant desk and settee. Instead of the untidy school- room, with its puncheon floor and miserable furnishings, we now have the tasteful edifice, supplied with all the educational appli- ances that utility and educational economy can furnish. Old things have passed away, and all things have become new. The county is rising in strength and power, and will make no backward move. Her rich soil, her wealth, her railways, her newspapers, her cen- tral commercial position in the industries and exchange of the State, her industry and prosperity, all tell what her future must be. May her sons and daughters be worthy of their sires. If so
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much has been done in sixty-two'years, what may we expect at her hundredth anniversary-in 1923 ?
Men and nations are as they are taught. As a people elevate and sustain their educators, so will their educators be found, in turn, the great instrumentality which brings them intelligence, freedom, prosperity and peace, and in the end trne honor and glory.
THE CENTRAL NORMAL COLLEGE,
located at Danville, is not only the pride of Hendricks County but in the front rank of the leading educational institutions of the State. This school was organized by Professors Darst and Harper, at Ladoga, Montgomery County, in the autumn of 1876, with forty- eight pupils in attendance. The outlook was not such as to inspire confidence and a hope of permanent success at this time, but the founders, being young men of energy and ability, began to push the work with such vigor that the community was forced to acknowl- edge the power which was rising in their midst. One by one the lovers of learning turned from their various employments to find a home within the college walls.
At the elose of the first year twelve persous, having completed the course prescribed by the institution, received the degree of B. S. Several of these graduates have become distinguished as edu- cators in this and other States. One of the number, Miss A. Kate Huron, has since been a member of the faculty, and has not only added much to the success and prosperity of the school, but has enrolled her name among those of the most prominent teachers of the State. Near the close of the year, Prof. Darst having resigned, Prof. Harper called to his aid the genial and scholarly Frank P. Adams, of Kentucky, afterward the loved and honored President of the institution.
The second year opened up with an increased attendance, and everything bid fair for a most prosperous year. So rapid was tlie growth during the second and third terins that it became evident that unless the accommodations were increased it would be impos- sible to fulfill the promises made in the circulars and catalogues, and the development of the school must be checked in its very infancy.
Realizing the condition of affairs toward which they were drift- ing the faculty and citizens went to work with a will to raise a suf- ficient amount by voluntary contribution to erect an addition to
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CENTRAL NORMAL COLLEGE.
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the building then occupied by the school. The people of the town and surrounding country were generally interested in the enter- prise and many donated liberally, but some, thinking, no doubt, that they could enjoy the benefits without bearing the burdens, withheld their means, and the result was that on the 10th of May, 1878, the institution with 175 students, library and apparatus, was removed to more commodious quarters in the pleasant little city of Danville. The citizens threw open their homes to the students and did all in their power to aid and encourage the faculty, yet the work was arduous and it was with great difficulty that the school was enabled to move on without a break in its work.
Soon after the removal, and just as the institution was beginning to take root in its new field, Prof. Harper was succeeded in the presideney by Prof. F. P. Adams. The new president had already ingratiated himself into the hearts of his associates, and had won the confidence and esteem of both students and citizens; conse- quently they were ready and willing to assist him in the great work which he had so reluctantly undertaken. But with all this it was an Herculean task to bring harmony out of chaos, and to reinstate a structure which seemed tottering in its foundation.
Prof. Adams entered upon his duties fully realizing the difficul- ties which stood in the way of success, but throwing his whole life and soul into the enterprise he was not only enabled to meet the demands made upon him, but to purchase the Danville Seminary building constructed a few years before by the Methodist Episcopal church at a cost of $30,000. The use of the building had been fur- nished the school free of charge, but the transfer of ownership enabled the president to make many needed improvements. Once more the bow of promise shed its benign rays upon the institution. But clouds were gathering in the distance and before the year had closed Prof. M. T. Travers, a young man of ability and fine social qualities, was compelled by failing health to relinquish his position, never again to be permitted to resume the work which he had so well begun. In him the school lost a true friend and a faithful, earnest worker.
The commencement exercises were unusually interesting and the graduates young ladies and gentlemen of refinement and ability. The first classic elass, consisting of three members, viz., S. M. Cut- ler, W. T. Eddingfield and S. E. Thomas, received the honors of the institution with the degree of A. B.
After the usual vacation activities were resumed and continued .
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without interruption until spring. Students came pouring in from every direction. The president saw that his teaching force must be increased and immediately called to hiis aid three men of wide reputation and acknowledged ability, viz .: Dr. Joseph Tingley, for twenty years a teacher in Asbury (now De Pauw) University; Prof. Alex. C. Hopkins, formerly State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Prof. John A. Steele, for many years a teacher in the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio. The school now seemed to take on new life, and few institutions of learning have marched to the front with more rapid strides or maintained their positions with a more determined purpose than did the Cen- tral Normal College under so able a corps of instructors.
The two years following were eventful only in that they sent from the door of the college hundreds of young men and women with higher ideas of life than had ever occupied their ininds before.
During all this time Prof. Adams had worked with untiring zeal to strengthen and build up the various departments of the school. But disease had begun its work and was fast staying the hand - which had labored with such unselfish devotion for the cause of education. On the 25th of November, 1882, at the early age of thirty years, he closed the book of life, and was laid to rest in the east cemetery near where his noblest work was done. A beautiful monnment marks the place of his silent abode but a more endur- ing one is reared in the memory of those who mourn his untimely death. No one presumed to take his place, but acting in accord- ance with the unanimous wish of the faculty, his bereaved com- panion took upon herself the name which he had worn.
The new president was not ignorant concerning the affairs of the school, and having at her side Prof. Steele, who had previously been appointed Vice-President, she performed her duty with credit to herself and satisfaction to those under her employ. The major part of the work, it is true, was intrusted to Prof. Steele, a man of rare ability both as a teacher and a business manager. He being well acquainted with the plans of the late president, suc- ceeded in carrying them out so perfectly that there was neither jar nor discord.
Two more years of valnabl > work were given to the public. The school building was improved and its capacity increased by fitting up some of the rooms which had not been in use, and partitioning others. The president erected for herself a beautiful and commo- dious dwelling just opposite the college; also a large dormitory
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for rooming and boarding students. Many new and valuable books were added to the library, and snch apparatus as was needed from time to time. Notwithstanding all these expenditures and many oth- ers, the resources were ample to meet them, and the credit of the in- stitution was never shaken, even for a moment. But this high degree of prosperity was not reached without effort. Everybody connected with the school worked faithfully for the advancement of its interests. Especially was this trne of Prof. Steele who, not being disposed to shirk responsibility, confined himself too closely to his desk and thus laid the foundation of the disease which was soon to step between him and his most cherished profession. His friends admonished him to desist from his work, and, if possible, regain his failing health. But he was so deeply impressed with the grandeur and magnitude of the work in which he was engaged that selfish thoughts had little power to turn him from his course. It was late in the autumn when he reluctantly consented to leave Danville for a time, in order t at he might enjoy the advantages of a more genial clime. Having selected Jacksonville, Fla., he re- mained at that place for a few wee . l u finding the atmosphere too humid for pulmonary diseases, he repaired to Thomasville, Ga. Here he remained with his brother until the opening of spring. As soon as the weather would permit, he turned his face home- ward, fully realizing that his days on earth were few. On the 27th day of March he a rived at Danville, greatly emaciated, and in fee- ble health, but his joy at being once more in the midst of interested and loving friends knew no bound 3.
During his absence, the wants of the school were not neglected. Every teacher was at bis post working carnestly for the advance- ment of his classes. The students were considerate and kind, and the utmost harmony prevailed. On Tuesday morning, May 5, while the school was assembled in the chapel to attend their accus- tomed exercises, and while the music of an hundred voices wafted on the balmy breath of spring, was floating in at the open door of his chamber, Prof. Steele sle t the sleep of death.
His near rela ves and friends accompanied by two members of the faculty, bore his lifeless body to the old cemetery near Coalton, Ohio, and with many tears and many flowers they laid it tenderly away beside the sacr dust of her who gave her life for his.
. It seems but little less than marvelons that any institution of learning, independentof endowment of any kind, and unsupported by the State, could not only support itself, but could even grow
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and prosper under such calamities. Nevertheless it is true that the present year (1885), has brought the largest returns of any in the history to the school, and at no time has there been more uni- versal satisfaction on the part of those in attendance.
Free from debt or incumbrance of any kind, supported by thou- sands of enterprising young ladies and gentlemen throughout this and other States, honored and respected at home and abroad, frec from sectarianisin and bigotry of every kind, located in one of the most charming, moral and healthiful towns in the State, supplied with an execllent library and apparatus, and above and beyond all a faculty of enterprising, progressive and efficient teachers, the Cen- tral Normal College stands a living monument of those who have given the best efforts of their lives. for its advancement, and a true exponent of independent thought, personal responsibility and Christian civilization.
FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS, President of the Central Normal College .- Born, lived, died-the common biography of the mill- ions. These three chapters of common history have borrowed lustre from the personality of him who moved among us, with high aims, to such a noble end. He was first cradled in his mother's arms Nov. 16, 1852. She, one of nature's true gentle- women, stamped upon this coin the name which gave it commercial value-Frank. Had she left him unnamed until an appellation must be carved upon his tombstone she could not have chosen another more descriptive of his character.
His life until fourteen differed little from that of other farmer boys, marked only by an earnest desire to secure an education. He went to Lebanon-that place of blessed memory to so many men and women of our times. He was taken sick before long, when he came to Danville to claim the hospitality of his uncle, G. W. Wayland. When his health was restored sufficiently he placed himself under the tuition of Prof. Gilmore, then principal of the Danville Academy. Soon he was called home to the death-bed of his sister. This was the fall of 1867. He then went to Hamilton County, Ohio, where he taught his first school. He returned to Lebanon where he pursued his studies until 1871 when he gradu- ated in the scientific course. While he was yet upon the rostrum from which his oration had been delivered, Mrs. Roberts secured him to work with her in the Normal School at Catlettsberg, Ky. He stayed with her until her marriage, when he succeeded her in the management of the school. His connection with this institu-
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tion lasted three years, at the expiration of which time he engaged to teach with Prof. H. N. Carver, of Medina, Ohio, while he pur- sued his classical studies. Having worked on an average of seven- teen hours a day in class and study, he completed his course in 1875.
After graduation he returned to Kentucky and found employ- ment as principal of a graded school in Independence, the capital of his native county. Here he remained two years, assisted dur- ing the first by Miss Ora Wilson, who, the 17th of December, in the second year, became his wife.
That teaching should be his life-work was now an established fact, and he was seeking a place of more extended usefulness when his uncle, G. W. Wayland, proposed that he should correspond with Prof. W. F. Harper, of Ladoga, who was then in need of a good man. Few letters were exchanged until Prof. Harper enthu- siastically informed us, -" Ihave the man. Yon will all like him. He is Frank P. Adams, of Kentucky. He will be with us for short session."
Saturday evening, June 30, 1877, a crowd, which a heavy sum- mer shower could not disperse, was collected on the college campus. The people had come to follow the band to :reet the Eastern train which bore to them the new professor. Everybody was interested. The students had planned this reception, but teachers and hun- dreds of the good citizens mingled in the concourse and formed the procession to the depot and thence to the Baptist church, where was met the new man whose life was then consecrated to the service of the institution.
Thus he was welcomed to the school in the beginning of its exist- ence. In reply to the welcome tendered him, he said: " My hap- piness is more than I ean bear. I have been trying to think what I ever did to call forth such a demonstration as you have accorded me. A sense of my own weakness is the most distinct impres- sion of my mind. But as I thank you for this reception, I also promise you my best efforts, my heartiest endeavors, the most de- termined energy of my life." How well this pledge was kept throughout the eventful years, let the fraternal feclings of his as- sociate teachers and the hearts of his loving students testify. His familiar mingling with them strengthened the bond of friendship which had been scaled with the first warm grasp of his hand.
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