USA > Indiana > Porter County > History of Porter County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests > Part 8
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"Resolved, That on account of the local interests involved in the abandoning the completion of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad, it is a duty of every property holder in this county to use every exertion to expedite the work so far as his means will admit.
"Resolved, That it is now in our power to insure the completion of the road at an early day if we come up with our purses and energies united.
"Resolved, That the reception by the Board of Directors and the · entertaining of any proposal to abandon the direct route is injurious to the interests of the road and the acceptance of such proposals would be a breach of faith which we would condemn as unworthy the character of gentlemen and managers of a corporationu of such extent and influence as the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chieago Railroad Company.
"Resolved, That as a large amount of the money necessary to build
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
the road has already been expended, and but a comparatively small amount needed to complete the work, it should prompt us to take action lest the influences operating against us take from us the advantages we are about to receive. We will therefore use our influence and ad- vance our means to keep the work moving on the present route."
T. A. E. Campbell, S. C. Haas, J. N. Skinner, Myron Powell, Philip Hall and George Earl were appointed a committee to canvass Porter and Lake counties and the southern part of Laporte for money to prepare the road bed for laying the track. Not long after the Valparaiso meet- ing the work was suspended "for want of funds," but the contractors were given the privilege of continuing the work, provided they would take the honds of the company at seventy-five cents on the dollar. The committee used the funds collected and subscribed to take the bonds and the work went on according to the original plans. The track was com- · pleted to Valparaiso about the first of October, 1858, and was finished to Chicago a year or so later. Valparaiso now had a railroad.
In the meantime railroad lines were projected from Joliet to Laporte and from Logansport to Chicago, to pass through Valparaiso. The former was never built and the latter passes through the southern part of the county as the Logansport division of the Pennsylvania system.
The Peninsular railroad reached Valparaiso in 1874. It soon passed into the hands of the Chicago & Port Huron Railroad Company and not long afterward became a part of the Grand Trunk system. The road was completed to Chicago in 1875. About the time this road was being built through Porter county the Baltimore & Ohio also came through the county. This road enters the county on the cast near the northeast cor- ner of Washington township and runs northwest until it erosses the western boundary about two miles south of Lake Michigan. Some trouble occurred when this line reached the Michigan Central at Cris- man in the fall of 1874. The Michigan Central disputed the right of the new road to cross its right of way and stationed a number of men there to prevent the Baltimore & Ohio from putting in a crossing. The latter company hurried a foree of armed men to the scene and for a little while
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
it looked as though civil war was imminent. In the end common sense prevailed and the matter was amicably adjusted.
In 1881 the New York, Chicago & St. Louis line was completed through the county to Chicago. This road is popularly known as the "Nickel Plate," which name it is said to have received from the follow- ing incident : The road was built by Calvin Brice, at that time the head of the Lake Erie system, and, as soon as it was completed, he offered it for sale to the Vanderbilt interests. When asked to name his price he sng- gested a figure that to Mr. Vanderbilt seemed exorbitant and he replied : "Why, Brice, I wouldn't give that for your old road if it was nickel plated." However, Brice held the whip hand, the road was threaten- ing to become a dangerous competitor to the Vanderbilt lines, and in the end Mr. Vanderbilt purchased at the original figure. Mr. Brice then told the story, and since that time the road has been known as the Nickel Plate. It crosses the county from southeast to northwest through Val- paraiso and Wheeler.
Not long after the building of the Nickel Plate came the Chicago & Erie, which enters the county about three miles north of the southeast corner and runs northwest into Lake county. The principal stations on this road in Porter county are Kouts, where it crosses the Panhandle, Boone Grove and Hurlburt.
The Wabash railway (formerly the Montpelier & Chicago) enters the county from the east near Clear Lake, runs northwest to Morris, thence west via Crocker and McCool, and crosses the western boundary a short distance south of the Baltimore & Ohio.
About the beginning of the present century. the Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisville (now the Chesapeake & Ohio) was built through the county parallel to and about four miles north of the Erie. Malden and Beatrice are the leading Porter county stations on this road
In addition to these main lines the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern enters the county on the west, about a mile north of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago, and runs northeast to Chesterton; a branch of the Pere Mar- quette system runs from Chesterton northeast into Laporte county; the
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
Chicago & Eastern Illinois crosses the extreme southeast corner, and a branch of the New York Central lines has been extended to Dune Park. Then there are the Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend and the Val- paraiso & Northern electric lines, the former running almost parallel to the Michigan Central across the county, and the latter running from Valparaiso to Chesterton, where it connects with a line running to Mich- igan City. Other electric lines are under construction or contemplated. These numerous steam and electric roads furnish excellent transporta- tion facilities to all seetions of the county.
The following table, compiled from the county auditor's report, shows the valuation of railroad property at the close of the year 1911 :
Center township $ 701,650
City of Valparaiso 308,640
Union township 850,220
Washington township 888,960
Jackson township 484,660
Liberty township 328,530
. Portage township
1,407,690
Westehester township
946,350
Chesterton
191,270
. Town of Porter
296,190
Pleasant township
828,530
Porter township
214,000
Boone township
570,460
Hebron
36,760
Morgan township
176,720
Pine township
669,730
Total $8,900,360
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CHAPTER V
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
EARLY SCHOOLS IN THE SEVERAL TOWNSHIPS-FIRST TEACIIERS-COMMIS- SIONER'S REPORT-DESCRIPTION OF THE EARLY SCHOOL HOUSE-COUNTY SEMINARY-UNION SCHOOL-METIIODIST MALE AND FEMALE COLLEGE- VALPARAISO COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE-VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY-FIRST FACULTY -- FINANCIAL AID-ITS PRESENT STATUS-COST TO STUDENTS- ITS LIBRARY-WHAT M'CLURE'S MAGAZINE SAYS OF IT-CATHOLIC PA- ROCHIAL SCHOOLS - LUTIIERAN SCHOOLS - TEACHERS' INSTITUTES -- COUNTY TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION-SCHOOL STATISTICS FOR 1911-12- THE PRESS-EVOLUTION OF NEWSPAPERS-THE NEWSPAPERS OF TO-DAY -PUBLIC LIBRARIES-LIBRARIES IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
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Joseph Bailly, the first white settler in Porter county, located upon the Calumet river in 1822. At that time no schools had been established within convenient reach of his cabin in the wilderness, and as soon as his daughters were old enough to attend school they were taken to a Catholie institution in the East, where they received an education far superior to that of most girls born as they were upon the frontier of civilization. Probably the first sehool in Porter county was taught at the dwelling of Jesse Morgan in the winter of 1833-34, but the name of the teacher ean- not be ascertained. About that time there were a number of adven- turers wandering through the frontier region, and as some of these men possessed a fair education they were in the habit of stopping at some plaee upon the approach of winter and organizing a school. When
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
spring eame they would continue their journey, and in time their names would be forgotten. More than likely it was one of these migratory pedagogues who taught the school at Mr. Morgan's.
In 1834 a subscription school was taught in what is now Morgan township by Miss Orilla Stoddard, but the exact location of the sehool house-a log structure 12 by 14 feet-is a matter of some dispute. It was located on the Morgan prairie, convenient to the homes of Morris Witham, Henry Adams, William Billings and John Keller, who were patrons of the school.
The first school in Center township was taught in the summer of 1835 by Miss Mary Hammond. The school house was located in seetion 7, not far from the road now leading to Flint lake and Chesterton, and about a mile north of the fair grounds. The following winter a school was taught by the same teacher in Washington township, in a log house erected for the purpose by A. V. Bartholomew. Four families only were represented and the term lasted for three months.
In 1836, about a year after the organization of the county was com- pleted, Ruel Starr, school commissioner, made the following report as to the condition of the school fund :
RECEIPTS
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From B. Saylor, collector of state revenue, $ 8.55 Sale of Seetion 16, Town 35, Range 5. 360.85
. From money loaned. 205.00
From State revenue. 1.08
From surplus revenue. 27.77
Surplus revenue from Seneca Ball, commissioner 224.40
From sale of Seetion 16, Town 35, Range 6. 91.78
From sale of Seetion 16, Town 36, Range 5. 24.20
From Treasurer of State, poll tax for 1836. 35.50
Total receipts $979.13
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
DISBURSEMENTS
Paid Isaac Morgan interest $205.00
Loaned interest money. 360.85
Notice of sale in Michigan City Gazette 2.50
For books. 11.50
Money loaned. 68.99
Paid John McConnell interest 144.67
Paid John McConnell surplus revenue
30.06
Paid John McConnell State revenue
1.14
Paid Gazette for notice of sale. 28.67
2.25
Paid Phineas Hall surplus revenue
Paid Phineas IIall State revenue
1.06
Michigan City Gazette, notice of sale. 2.25
Total disbursements. $858.94
According to this report, there was, at the time it was rendered, a balance of $120.09 in the hands of the commissioner. It will be noticed that in the disbursements there is no mention of money expended for the erection or repair of school houses, or for the payment of teachers' salaries, a plain indication that up to this time no publie schools had been established. Some of the carly public records relating to the public schools cannot be found, and from those that can be obtained it is prac- tically impossible to form any definite idea as to when and where the first school districts in the county were established, or who were the first : teachers. About the time Mr. Starr made the above report, the first school in Liberty township was opened in a little log house in the Zane settlement, Mrs. Sophia Dye being the teacher. She had about fifteen pupils enrolled and received a salary of two dollars a week, raised by subscription. There is a tradition that a school was taught in Union township in 1836, in a log cabin near the place known as the "Hoosier Nest," but some say the school was not taught there until the following year.
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
In Boone township a log school house was built in 1837 and school was taught there that year. About the same time the first school was taught in Valparaiso by a man named Masters. It was in a small building which Dr. Sencea Ball had erected in the rear of his residence, and which was subsequently used by him for a wood house. A Miss Eldred, who was a sister of Ruel Starr's wife, Harry E. Ball and Sylvester W. Smith also taught school in this little building before it was abandoned for school purposes.
The year 1838 was one of considerable activity in the educational affairs of Porter county. Schools were maintained in all the neighbor- hoods where they had previously been established. A log school house, about 16 by 18 feet, was built in Jackson township, a mile and a half east of Jackson Center, and Jane Jones taught the first term there, re- ceiving a salary of one dollar a week. Prior to this, however, a subserip- tion school had been taught in this township in a private dwelling on seetion 26, about a mile and a half southeast of Clear Lake. In Pleasant township a log school house was erected on section 13, township 33, range 6, about a mile and a half west of the present town of Kouts. The house was built by the cooperative labor of the citizens and at the first term in the fall of that year eleven scholars were enrolled.
Two school houses were built in Portage township in 1840; one on see- . tion 20, township 36, range 6, and the other in the southwestern part of the township. About this time, or a little later, Rev. James C. Brown opened a private school for young ladies on Jefferson strect between Michigan and Franklin streets. This school was successively taught by Mr. Brown, Rev. H. M. Blackburn and S. L. Bartholomew, when it was discontinued for lack of adequate support. During the deeade from 1840 to 1850 a number of new schools were established in various parts of the county, the publie sehool fund became available, and the begin- ning of a publie school system was inaugurated. The first school houses were nearly all log buildings along the sides of which one log was left out and the openings thuus formed were covered with oiled paper in lieu of window glass to admit the light. Window glass in those days was a
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
luxury too great to be considered in the construction of the district school houses. A huge fireplace at one end furnished heat to the school room, the seats were usually formed of split saplings in which holes were bored with a large anger and pins inserted to forin the legs, the desks were wide boards supported on pins driven into the logs and ran along the sides of the room. Here the pupils went at "writing time" to follow the copy written by the teacher at the head of a sheet of foolscap paper, and goose quill pens were frequently used. The three R's -. "Readin', Ritin' and Rithimetic"-constituted the usual course of study, and the pupil who reached the "Rule of Three" in the last named braneh was considered a fine mathematician. Yet it is quite 'probable that these early educational facilities were more appreciated and better utilized by the boys and girls than are the splendid opportunities by the graded school system of the present day.
In February, 1838, the Indiana legislature passed an act providing for the establishment and maintenance of county seminaries throughout the state, such institutions to receive their support through the appropri- ation of certain fines and penalties for the violation of law. The law made it the duty of the county commissioners to appoint trustees, who were to have general powers in the founding and control of such semi- naries. Trustees were accordingly appointed in Porter county in the fall of 1838 "'to receive and eare for the county seminary fund until a sufficient amount had been accumulated for the establishment of such an institution." More than ten years passed by before the trustees felt justified in the attempt to found a seminary in the county. By 1849 the fund amounted to a little over $2,000, and the first steps were taken toward building a seminary, but a change in the board of trustees and some other causes delayed the matter until 1851, when a lot was pur- chased in Outlot No. 1, on the corner of Jefferson and Monroe streets, and a building erected thereon, the cost of lot and building being about $2,300. The seminary was a frame building, two stories in height, with three rooms above and two rooms on the ground floor. School opened in this building in the fall of 1851, with Ashley M. Pieree as principal
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
and Miss Eliza J. Forsyth as assistant. The upper story only was used, the rooms on the first floor not having been finished in time for the open- ing of the school. The enrollment was about 120. By the enactment of a new school law in 1839 the county seminary law was repealed and the county commissioners were required to sell the county seminaries. Pur- suant to the new law, the commissioners of Porter county advertised the building and grounds for sale on the fourth Monday of July, 1853, one- tenth of the purchase price to be paid down and the balance to be paid in nine equal annual installments, the proceeds to go into the publie school fund. On the day of sale the property was purchased by the school trustees of Valparaiso for $1,200, and the name of the institution was changed to the "Union School of Valparaiso."
The first term under the new regime opened on October 31, 1853. A short time before the opening of the school the trustees announced that · the repairing and fitting up of the building had absorbed all the public funds, but that "as soon and as often as sufficient funds shall have accumulated, a three months' school will be supported entirely by those funds and made entirely free of charge to all." The school was divided into three grades. In the first grade the course of study consisted of oral instruction from the Bible, the English alphabet, reading in the first reader, spelling words of one and two syllables, oral arithmetie, oral geography, writing on slates and blackboards. In this grade Miss Fifield was the teacher. The course of study in the second grade embraced read- ing from the Bible and the first and second readers, orthography, mental arithmetic, practical arithmetic as far as the rule of three, geography, English grammar (commenced), penmanship, physiology for children, and Miss Marietta Skinner was employed as teacher. In the third grade the course of study was more advanced and comprehensive, in- eluding the Bible and rhetorical reading, orthography, universal geog- raphy, history, arithmetie, grammar, natural, mental and moral philos- ophy, chemistry, rhetoric, astronomy, physiology, mathematics, Latin, Greek, composition, declamation, ete. Ashley L. Pieree was at the head of the third grade and was also principal of the entire school. The tuition
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
in the first grade was $1.50 per quarter, in the second grade, $2.00, and in the third, $2.50, payable in advance. School was taught in this building for three terms, but on March 19, 1857, the institution was totally destroyed by fire.
Within a twelvemonth after the burning of the Union school building, the Methodist church started a movement for the establishment of a
OLD COLLEGE BUILDING
school, and in the spring of 1859 work was commenced on the Val- paraiso Male and Female College. The building was completed in time for the school to open on September 21, 1859, under the presidency of Rev. C. N. Sims, with 157 students in attendance. Associated with Mr. Sims were F. D. Carley, Mrs. Loomis, Mrs. Hall and Miss Moore as in- struetors. During the Civil war the institution experienced some hard times, but after the close of hostilities there was a revival of interest and
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
in 1867 the east wing was added to the building. Then, after four years of fluctuating fortunes, the college was abandoned in 1871. The old eol- lege building now forms part of the equipment of Valparaiso University.
Not long after the Male and Female College was projected by the Methodists, the Presbyterians bought a lot and organized the Valparaiso Collegiate Institute, the first term of which opened on April 16, 1861, with Rev. S. C. Logan as principal and II. A. Newell as assistant. This institution continued in existence until shortly after the Civil war, the building and grounds were sold to the city. The Central Sehool now occupies the site of the old Collegiate Institute. The present graded school system in the city of Valparaiso was organized in 1871.
Valparaiso University, one of the most widely known educational institutions in the United States, had its inception in 1873, when HI. B. Brown purchased the building formerly ovenpied by the Methodist Male and Female College and opened the Northern Indiana Normal School. Mr. Brown, who is still at the head of the institution, is a native of Mount Vernon, Ohio, and was educated principally in his native state. The first term of the Northern Indiana Normal School opened on September 16, 1873, with thirty-five students in attendance. Associated with Mr. Brown were M. E. Bogarte, Ida Hutchinson and Mantie E. Baldwin as instructors, and B. F. Perrine had charge of the boarding department. A recent announcement of the university states that in the beginning it was the object of the founders "to establish a sehool where rich and poor would have an equal chance; where work, not wealth, would be the standard; in faet, where all would have the advantages of the high- priced schools at an expense within the reach of those having the most modest means. In order to accomplish this it was necessary: 1. That the instruction should be of the highest order. 2. That, in order to save time, the school should be in session the entire year. 3. That every- thing that would in any way detract from actual school work should be eliminated. 4. That the work should be thoroughly practical. 5. That the equipment should be complete. 6. That students should be permitted
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
to enter at any time, seleet their studies and advance as rapidly as they might be able. 7. That the expenses should be the very lowest."
When Mr. Brown opened this school in 1873, it was his ambition to establish an institution that would rank among the best of its kind in the eountry, but it is quite probable that the university of 1912 is far greater in scope and importance than he anticipated forty years before. The thirty-five students enrolled in 1873 have grown to nearly 6,000, and the four instructors to a faculty of nearly 200 members. It is said that when the attendance reaelied 200, Mr. Brown remarked to a friend in Valparaiso that he had hopes the number would be increased to 1,000 within a few years, but that he did not expect it ever to go much beyond that. At the time the school was organized, the old college building stood upon a "commons," some distance from the main part of the city. The rapid inerease in the number of students as the school increased in popu- larity made it a matter of considerable difficulty to find quarters for them. Rooms were taken in private residenees, often at inconvenient distances from the school and even these accommodations were soon found to be inadequate. This led to the erection of the dormitories and boarding halls. The Valparaiso Messenger for April 13, 1882, noted that there were then nine new buildings going up on College Hill. During this period of development, Mr. Brown at times suffered the severest financial embarrassment. Attendanee increased more rapidly than did the rev- enues of the school, making necessary the erection of new buildings and the purchase of new apparatus in order to maintain the high standard adopted at the start. Under the provisions of a state law, the county of Porter came to his relief to the amount of $10,000, and the city of Valparaiso bought from him the college buildings for $12,000, giving him the privilege of redeeming them within ten years, withont payment of interest. It is needless to say that the buildings were redeemed. With the $22,000 received from the city and county in this manner the financial stress was relieved and the school placed upon a secure footing.
Of the twenty-nine departments the most important are probably the preparatory, teachers', scientific, liberal arts, engineering, modern
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
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SCIENCE BUILDING
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
language, law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, commercial, kindergarten, fine arts and manual training. There are also departments in literature, shorthand and typewriting, elocution, oratory and physical culture, music, and a review department for those familiar with subjects and merely wish to "brighten up." With the exception of the medical and dental departments, the entire university is at Valparaiso. The medical and dental departments are located in Chicago, because better clinical facilities can be obtained for such schools in a large city. The law de- partment was added in 1879, the commercial department in 1882, the school of pharmacy in 1893, the medical school in 1902, and the last de- partment to be established is that of dentistry. The addition of new de- partments and the constant increase in the number of students made it advisable to change the institution to a university. This was done about 1907, and the institution, regularly charted as a university, confers upon its graduates the usual degrees.
In a few respects the Valparaiso University differs from other schools of its class in the country. First is the entire absence of Greek-letter fraternities, hence the rivalry between the fraternity man and the "bar- barian" that so frequently proves a source of annoyance in other schools is here eliminated. Second, Valparaiso does not engage in athletic con- tests with other universities. Among the students of the institution athletics are encouraged and there are frequent games of base or foot ball between teams belonging to different departments, but athletics have never been permitted to interfere with the class work of the students. Third, the low cost of living among the students of the university. In the dormitories and dining halls belonging to the school, one may find a comfortable room and board for from $1.75 to $2.75 per week, and the management advertises tuition, room and board for one year of forty-eight weeks at a cost not to exceed 141.60. This low cost of living comes through the system of buying food products in large quantities directly from the producers or wholesalers, for cash, reducing the waste to u minimum, and employing student help as much as possible in such occupations as waiters, etc. Literary societies take the place of frater-
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