USA > Indiana > Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900; or, A view of our region through the nineteenth century > Part 25
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It is not supposed in these records of schools to institute any comparison in the particulars brought out in this Report, between Pulaski County and the seven other counties ; but some material is furnished that readers, may compare for themselves.
While the early schools were in rooms that would not be considered comfortable now, it is not wise to infer that no good teaching was done, for among these pioneer teachers were such men as Judge Wil- liam C. Talcott, Judge Hervey Ball, a graduate of Middlebury College, Rev. Norman Warriner, Rev. afterwards Dr. Silas Tucker, Alexander Hamilton, who taught in Porter County, who afterwards became a leading lawyer of Chicago, "a man of high family and fine education," and others, men and women whose names need not be repeated here. Yet the shrewd Miss Rachel B. Carter, Miss Ursula Jackson, and especially Mrs. Harriet Holton may be named, and there were yet other women of no mere back- wood's training. Largely the teacher makes the school, whatever are the appliances or surroundings ; and with all the modern improvements there are yet in our public schools some rather inferior teachers. It is not wise nor altogether generous to decry the past.
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Some have done this to the injury of their own in- terests.
"Say not our age is wiser, if it be
It is the wisdom which the past has given That makes it so."
Nor yet is it well to magnify unreasonably the things of the past. Well does Dr. Horatius Bonar ask :
"Did the long gleam upon the ancient Nile Blaze in a richer radiance to the noon,
When History's old father gazed upon it? Or was the sunshine on the hills of Greece
Purer when Homer sang and Sappho wept? Or was the brow of Lebanon more fair
With whiter snow wreaths when the kings of Tyre
Builded their marble palaces beneath
The mighty shadows of its haughty peaks?
I know not; yet I love to wander back
To this earth's younger days and earlier scenes,
In which there seems to meet both age and youth, The blossom and the fruit, the joy of dawn, And the grave quiet of the solemn eve."
That some of the most noted teachers of the world lived in the long ago past every scholar knows; and that we had some good, very good teachers in our pioneer days, which are not many years back, surely no well-informed person will question, although the walls of the houses were of logs and the window glass only oiled paper. And there were those trained, at least for a time, in those schools, who have done good work in these later years.
Said Senator Miller of New York some years ago, addressing the public school teachers of that Empire
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State : "The future of all legislatures, judiciaries, and executives, is in the keeping of the educational de- partment ; whether they shall wisely provide for the public good, honestly interpret the laws, and faith- fully execute them, depends upon the honesty of the work done by our teachers." "The three hundred thousand teachers, with more than two millions of pupils under their charge, reaching into and taking hold of the heart strings of every family in the land, constitute a power which, when directed toward the achievement of any reform in society or government, cannot be successfully resisted by any opposition or combination of opposing forces."
In these things our children ought to be more thoroughly instructed, obedience to lawful authority, regard for truth, regard for the rights of others.
CHAPTER XXIV.
PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS.
Before the public schools had made much ad- vance out of the early pioneer period, several private schools and academies were commenced and carried on for a few years, furnishing as these did, a more ex- tensive course of study and better substitutes for collegiate education, than could be found in the pub- lic schools.
An early academy was founded at La Porte, called the Lancasterian Academy, Rev. F. P. Cummins, Principal. This academy was opened before 1843, the precise date not found. This school had one evening a grand exhibition, perhaps the most attractive, in its literary exercises that had been given in any of these counties. Two young members of the Cedar Lake Ly- ceum, E. J. Farwell and T. H. Ball rode in one day about fifty miles on horseback, in order to attend it. And their expectations were realized. The academy was not kept up many years, and about 1843 it was merged in the literary department of the La Porte University for which a charter had been obtained in the winter of 1840 and 1841. The law department of this university was organized in 1841, the medical in 1842, and the literary in 1843. None of these de- partments flourished very long. Medical lectures were suspended in 1851, and the building was occu-
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pied afterwards by Prof. Churchman, who started a literary academy for girls which flourished until the building was burned in the winter of 1855. Other and later private schools were kept up for a time by Mrs. Holmes, T. L. Adams, by W. P. Phelon- Technic and Training school,-and some others, but all, except the parochial schools, at length gave place to the public schools.
In Lake County the first academic and boarding school was opened by Mrs. J. A. H. Ball, about 1840. It continued, in some form, for some sixteen years. "It sent six students to colleges and seminaries and fitted many for business and the duties of life." Among the boarders at this school from other counties was Maria Bradley, of La Porte, who became Mrs. J. P. Early ; and she and Elisabeth H. Ball, two of the five girls of City West, were educated for a time to- gether ; and from this school, an informal graduate, the latter went forth to New York City and to south Alabama and there became a successful teacher in the Grove Hill Academy ; and as the wife of Judge Wood -. ard, of Clarke County, accomplished a large and lasting work in Sunday-school, and church, and mis- sion enterprises. In different parts of the land these two City West girls, one a Methodist, one a Baptist, lived not unto themselves.
The next academic and boarding school of the county was commenced by Rev. Wm. Townley about 1848. In this school instrumental music for the first time in the county was taught. This school achieved in its day a good success. It supplied the public schools largely with teachers from the girls of the school. In November. 1852, Mr. Townley stated that he had had nearly five hundred scholars, and that not
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five young men had gone out as teachers. This school closed in 1856, Rev. W. Townley leaving Crown Point for the West.
In 1856 Miss Mary E. Parsons, a graduate of Mount Holyoke Seminary, having taught at Oxford, Ohio, commenced a school at Crown Point, hoping to found another Holyoke school. She accomplished much for the cause of Christian education, but her efforts were terminated by her death at Crown Point, November 14, 1860.
A primary school for children was opened, prob- ably not long after 1860, by Mrs. Sarah J. Robinson, a daughter-in-law of Solon Robinson, and a young widow, one of the best teachers of little children ever in Crown Point, "kind, patient, loving, unselfish, and truly Christian." In July of 1864 she went to Nash- ville in the service of the Christian Commission. She was also at Memphis, Vicksburg, and New Orleans. She returned in September, 1865, to Crown Point, but not to teach. In 1866 she was married to Dr. W. H. Harrison, an army surgeon, and went with hin to Mexico.
The next schools of the county to be mentioned here are a girls' school started by Miss Martha Knight and Miss Kate Knight in 1865; the Crown Point Institute, also commenced in 1865, having a preparatory and collegiate course of study, and in one of its years having about sixty boarding pupils, edu- cating a few hundred young men and young ladies, the property being sold to the town of Crown Point August 1, 1871, for $3,600; and the Tolleston school established by A. Vander Naillen, a French mathe- matician, about 1866, in which was taught civil en-
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gineering, and which was removed to Chicago in December, 1869.
I. In Porter County, at Valparaiso, Rev. J. C. Brown opened a school in the Presbyterian meet- ing-house, probably in 1843. It was a school of ac- ademic grade, and received pupils from outside of the county. How long it continued is not known. In later years the Valparaiso Institute was established which was for some time a flourishing school, having a large, substantial building and good teachers.
The years of its prosperity included probably 1863. As the public schools improved, this, like the schools in La Porte, gave way to the city graded school.
2. The Valparaiso College was opened in the fall of 1859, the Rev. C. N. Sims, A. M., President. His successors were:
"E. H. Stanley, A. M .; B. W. Smith, A. M .; Thomas B. Wood, LL. D .; R. D. Utter, A. M .; and A. Guernsey, D. D." In 1871 the college gave place to the Northern Indiana Normal College, H. B. Brown, founder.
3. The Northern Indiana Normal School and Business College. Valparaiso.
The special announcement for 1900 says: "The school was organized September 16, 1873, with four departments; four instructors, and thirty-five stu- dents; now there are nineteen fully equipped depart- ments, fifty-seven instructors, and an average daily attendance of more than 2,000 students, making this the largest Normal School in the United States."
This school has had a remarkable growth. The school year consists of five terms with ten weeks in each term.
The school was opened in the building of the Val-
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paraiso College. It now has large, costly and fine looking buildings, massive they may well be called, on what is known as College Hill.
Near Rensselaer is the St. Joseph's Catholic Col- lege, a flourishing institution.
Near the college is located the St. Joseph's In- dian Normal School, founded in 1888, as a training school for Indian boys.
PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS.
I. Lutheran Schools in La Porte County :- In Michigan City are two large Lutheran schools, the buildings of brick near to the churches. The churches are large brick edifices nearly opposite each other on the main street of the city. One is called St. Paul's and the other St. John's. In St. Paul's school are four rooms and of pupils 287. Quite an area of ground is in front of the school building and adjoining the church, which in the sun- mer time is a beautiful flower garden.
In the school building of the Church of St. John are three rooms with pupils 220. In La Porte are also two schools. The number officially given for the larger school is 332. Number of pupils at Otis 4; at Tracy 13; at Hanna 21 ; at Westville 15; at Wana- tah 23.
Placing the smaller school in La Porte at 100 and there will be of Lutheran children in the county re- ceiving church teaching-1,015.
In Porter County :- At Valparaiso, pupils 47, at Kouts, 30. Total-77.
In Lake County :- In this county are seven schools. Number of pupils : Whiting, 61 ; Tolleston, 92; North Hammond, 95; Hammond, 235; Hobart, 44; Crown Point, 56; Winfield, 15.
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PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS.
Total in Lake County,-598.
In Starke County :- At North Judson, 53; at Win- ona, 18; Total-71.
In Pulaski County :- At Denham, 22; Medaryville, 6. In Newton County :- At Goodland, 18.
In White County :- At Reynolds, 43.
In Jasper County :- At Fair Oaks, 24, at Kniman, II.
Total in the eight counties,-1,885.
2. In the Catholic schools of La Porte are now about one hundred pupils.
In Michigan City there are probably five or six hundred. In the county perhaps eight hundred. No way has been found for obtaining the exact number.
In Porter County the school at Valparaiso is large, numbering no doubt several hundred.
In Lake County there is a large school at Ham- mond and smaller ones at Crown Point, at St. Johns, at Dyer, and at other places, amounting, in 1890, in eight schools, to 726 pupils.
The number in Lake County at present may be placed at 900.
No way has been found for obtaining any exact estimate of the number of schools or of the pupils in the other counties, but wherever, in those counties, there is a large Roman Catholic church, there is quite sure to be a parochial, Catholic school. The children receive much catechetical instruction. Neither Cath- olic nor Lutheran children are allowed to pass four- teen years of age ignorant of the great doctrines of their churches.
CHAPTER XXV.
LIBRARIES.
Those to be mentioned in this chapter are of four varieties : township libraries, school libraries, circulat- ing libraries, and town or public libraries.
I. A library coming under no one of these vari- eties will first be noticed.
In the summer of 1838 there was formed at Val- paraiso The Porter County Library Association. A library began to be collected which in 1850 contained about 500 books. -
It was neither a public nor a circulating library, for the first by-law adopted was that only members should read the books. In 1855 the books were dis- tributed to the different townships of the county, and, so far as appears, the association was dissolved.
2. The McClure libraries, though coming into no one of the four classes named, also need some mention. From a quite full notice of these given by Mr. Niles in the account of the La Porte Public Library, are taken the following statements: William McClure was "the first president of the Philadelphia Academy of Science, a man of large. means, had travelled widely, was intimate with many scientific men, and had an extensive knowledge of science. He became associated with Robert Owen" at New Har- mony, a village "on the Wabash River in Posey
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LIBRARIES.
County." As Mr. Niles refers for his authority to a "pamphlet prepared by J. P. Dunn of Indianapolis, formerly State Librarian," and as Mr. Dunn says, "The name of William McClure is hardly known in Indiana, outside of Posey County;" and as he also says that "not only have these libraries almost van- ished, but even the memory of them is well nigli gone;" and as he adds that "in many years of in- quiry" no account of the McClure libraries had been found as given to the public until his pamphilet was issued ; it seems appropriate that somewhere in Indi- ana history some of these facts should be preserved, and therefore, considerable space is here given to a somewhat lengthy extract from a historical sketcli "prepared by William Niles."
Robert Owen came to this country in 1823, and he and McClure gathered around them at New Har- mony many men eminent in science, including Joseph Neef, the disciple of Pestalozzi and Schoolcraft, the student of Indian life. Owen's experiment ended in failure, and in 1827 Owen returned to England. Two of his sons, however, remained here and were well known and influential citizens of this State.
McClure, like many others at New Harmony, had a hobby, which in his case, was the amelioration of the condition of the working classes, especially through the agency of working men's institutes. The "New Harmony Working Men's Institute" was established under his influence in 1838. He donated to it an order on a London bookseller for 200 pounds. Its library was afterwards joined to another which McClure had aided, and later the township library was added to this combined library, which still exists and has 7,650 volumes with an annual circulation of 24,000-which is considered very creditable for a village of 1,000 in the benighted pocket. McClure had a curiously assorted lot of possessions, including some thirty
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buildings at New Harmony, and about 10,000 acres of land in the vicinity ; also castles in Spain-or, what is better, over a million reals in Spanish securities ; a house in Alacante on the Mediterranean coast of Spain ; the convent of St. Gines and accompanying es- tate of 10,000 acres in Valencia ; the estate of Carman de Coix in the valley of Murada. He also held mort- gages on property in Virginia, England, France and Spain, and large and curious collections of books, min- erals, copper plates of engravings, etc., etc. The last codicil of his will was executed in the City of Mex- ico in 1840. His will provided that his executors should "donate the sum of $500 out of his other prop- erty in the United States of America to any club or society of laborers who may establish, in any part of the United States, a reading and lecture room with a library of at least 100 volumes." The "laborers" were defined in the will as "the working classes who labor with their hands." Under this will 144 associations received donations in 89 of the 92 counties of this State. As a rule they were not long-lived. They were almost always formed for the purpose of getting the donation. In each case the recipients were re- quired to show that they were "laborers" and that they had complied with the provision for collecting a library of 100 volumes, but these preliminary libraries were usually composed of old books of all sorts, hast- ily gathered together and of little practical value. The Civil War soon took away many of the members- this being one of several causes that were fatal to the entire plan. In most cases the books were finally divided and became the individual property of the members. Only two or three of these libraries are now in existence.
It seems from. Mr. Niles' statement that 144 times $500, or $72,000 went from Mr. McClure's large estate into 89 of our Indiana counties, and surely the northwestern corner of the State is entitled to pre- serve the name and memory of one who gave so much
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for libraries, if in the end it all amounted to so little. That was not the fault of the generous donor.
The Crown Point McClure Library Association commenced putting out books, according to the li- brarian's record, in August, 1857, and the last record of books taken out is dated March 2, 1885. To read- ers in Crown Point and the early settlers in the county, the names of those taking out some of the first books would be of interest, such as D. K. Petti- bone, D. Crumbacker, E. Griffin, R. F. Patrick, J. P. Smith. R. B. Young, John Wheeler, I. O. Dibble, Z. F. Summers, E. M. Cramer, J. G. Hoffman, W. G. McGlashen, H. Pettibone, A. D. Foster, A. All- man, Johnson Wheeler, Wm A. W. Holton. D. Tur- ner, S. D. Clark, J. H. Luther, F. S. Bedell, and many other once well known names of those who are seen here no more; but a longer list of these names must be omitted.
There are many valuable books in this library; nearly all were books of solid worth, and it is of in- terest to those who knew the men to notice the dif- ferent books which each man selected. The last book taken out, March 2, 1885, was taken by Hon. Bart- lett Woods, and no one acquainted with him would be surprised to see that the book was Democracy in America, by M. De Tocqueville.
The last record in regard to this library, as found in the Librarian's book, is dated June 1, 1885, and it states that W. A. Clark and G. L. Vorhees on that day removed the McClure Library, then "comprising 148 volumes," to the library of the Public School of Crown Point. The books were to be used as refer- ence books by the school and the library was to be "still open to the members as before." This stipu-
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lation has been found to be utterly impracticable. The library is practically shut out or shut in from the use of the members of the association. They can- not well visit it in school hours, and it is locked up after school hours.
The following closes that memorandum: "I do hereby vouch for the receipt and proper care and use of the same and shall hold it in charge under the or- ders of the McClure Library Association."
(Signed.)
"GEO L. VORHEES, "Superintendent of Schools."
One of the boys of the high school put the stamp of the school library on the books and seems to have undertaken to remove the McClure stamp. In the latter, which was certainly not honorable, he did not succeed.
The last president of the McClure Association yet resides in Crown Point. If the time should ever come for a town library in Crown Point the 148 Mc- Clure books should go to that library.
3. Of the township libraries provided by the State for the benefit of the children of the public schools and for the entire families connected with the schools, but little mention need be made. Some very appropriate and useful books were put into these libraries, and for a few years they served an excellent purpose, furnishing some good reading matter which many of the families could not then have well secured without some such provision by the State. But finally, as changes came, the township library system was given up.
Then, as the cause of education was generally advancing in the State, and in some parts rapidly, the more enterprising individual schools began to pro-
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LIBRARIES.
vide libraries for themselves. In different ways funds were raised to procure books, and some of the town- ship trustees, under a wise provision of the law con- cerning reference books, would furnish some books for these separate school libraries. In the more advanced counties and townships, nearly every school at this date of 1900 has a library for general read- ing, containing also some reference books. The se- lection of these books may not always be most wisely made, some of the libraries containing quite an amount of what some would call light fiction; but it seems to be quite a general principle that those who secure funds have the right to say how the money raised shall be appropriated. The State does not furnish the money to any great extent, according to the proper working of our school laws, and the State authorities have, therefore, no right to select the libraries. Quite generally the teachers select. A good library in every school district, when properly used, is one great help for self-improvement. While the school library system is not yet all that it is ca- pable of becoming, it is quite an advance on the oppor- tunities for reading that many of the children had in the pioneer days; when only a few had access to any large libraries.
4. Circulating libraries, like all other libraries, depend, for the good they do, upon the character of the books. But their existence and use mark a stage of advancement. There are not many of these in our towns and cities.
For some years, after November 4, 1882, quite a large library of this variety was kept in Crown Point by James H. Ball. This furnished reading matter for many families, but it was finally consumed
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by fire with the building in which it was kept, and efforts since made for such a library have been un- successful. The book of record of the Crown Point Circulating Library has just come to hand and con- tains fifty-nine pages of the names of those reading the books, closing in May, 1886.
5. Town libraries sometimes come early and sometimes later in the growth of a town and city.
From a quite lengthy sketch of the La Porte Library and Natural History Association, prepared by William Niles, Esq., of La Porte, son of Judge J. B. Niles, when the library was "formally transferred to the City of La Porte, April 25, 1897, to become a free public library," the following statements and extracts are taken :
Mr. Niles writes: "In the midst of the absorb- ing struggle for the Union, a generation ago, Rev. C. Noyes, of the Presbyterian church, of La Porte, sought to establish a library and reading room here." He soon secured for this object five hundred dollars, and an organization was perfected. It was soon proposed to unite with the McClure Working Men's Institute, then possessing a library of about seven hundred, "in the main, well selected books." This union was effected before May 11, 1863. That Insti- tute had been organized with about thirty members, workmen in the railroad shops, August 16, 1865.
After various details in regard to the united li- brary association, Mr. Niles states that in 1868 "the natural history collection was begun" by Dr. Hig- day and others. After many changes in regard to management and financial matters, in 1882, a farm, which by the will of Aurora Case, had come into the possession of the association, was sold for fifty-five
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hundred dollars. The association now owned a build- ing and had fifty-three hundred dollars laid aside for future use. Funds also came from the estate of Mrs. Nancy A. Treat amounting to one thousand dollars, and a dwelling house not then to be converted into money, but valued at four thousand dollars, was also go to the library association. It was proposed in June, 1896, to remodel and enlarge the library building and turn the property over to the city. The historical sketch says: "The proposed changes have now been completed and improvements made at a cost of about $5,500. The result is an attractive and commodious building. The present value of the prop- erty now transferred to the city may be estimated at $20,000. With this beginning of a fine public library its permanence and great usefulness can not be doubted."
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