USA > Michigan > Allegan County > A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan > Part 72
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Some of the older citizens recall with pleasure the names of early teachers, among them Orlena Beebe and his spelling school, George Brainard,
HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING, PLAINWELL
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
Mahala Murphy, Edward Phetteplace, a brother of Mrs. Noble Sherwood ; of his sister Sarah, now Mrs. Sarah Thiers, of Mt. Pleasant; Miss Mary Woodhams, now Mrs. W. H. Rouse, of California. The superintendents have been May Wright, E. W. Thompson, N. A. Barrett, W. W. Cole, L. W. Mills, L. E. Ireland from '79 to '91, G. E. Rogers, C. H. Norton, H. C. Daley and E. C. Hambleton. J. W. Hicks. Miss Louise Chamberlain and Miss Lou Kennicott were principals before the high school was organized.
The position of preceptress has been filled by the Misses Chart, Stough- ton, Hall from '78-'91, Mrs. Jennie K. Hill, Harriet Mackenzie, V. Blanche Graham, Adah MI. Spalding and Elsie Cooper.
In the grades many of the home girls have been employed at different times-some of them are still residents-Mesdames Julia Arnold. E. J. Anderson, W. W. Woodhams, F. F. Patterson, Lizzie Gilkey, Frank P. Heath, M. H. Granger and W. E. Forbes. The names of Mrs. Burton and Julia Dibble could not be omitted-neither can one forget the influence of the departed Mattie VanHorn, Mary Hatfield Warrant. Libbie Conine and Dolly Messick Pursel.
Music as a science has been taught since 1891. Miss Briggs was the first teacher, Miss Bingham organized the ladies' quartette, Miss Daisy Soule taught with inspiring zeal, and Miss Lida Sprau continues the work.
In all the years three hundred and twenty have gone out as graduates. The first was a class of five: Charles Hyde, Susie Warrant. Carrie Hatfield Wright, Mattie VanHorn and Mary Hatfield Warrant. In the smallest, class of '74. were Effie Hyde Lewis and Harvey Warrant. The largest class, twenty-nine in number, finished in 1903. Charles Hyde is a practicing physician in Lenawee county, Clemma Woodard Barber was a Bible student and conducted a large correspondence class for several years, Will Hawks is a superintendent of schools, John S. and W. H. Madden are journalists, George Hopkins a judge of probate in Kalamazoo county. and Dwight B. Waldo is president of the State Normal at Kalamazoo. Our citizens may justly be proud of the work accomplished by district No. 2. It has honored representatives in all the walks of life and their success is gratifying.
. There is no more popular social function in Plainwell than the annual meeting of the alumni of the Plainwell high school. The association was organized in 1892.
The school library has grown from six volumes, the remains of the old township library, to more than six hundred volumes. The Plainwell high school stands on the approved lists of the State Normal and the University and graduates are admitted without examination.
PLAINWELL HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI.
1873-Chas. Hyde, Carrie Hatfield Wright, Mary Hatfield Warrant, Mattie VanHorn, Susie Warrant.
1874 Effie Hyde Lewis, Harvey Warrant.
1875-Belle Barrett Lilly, Dollie Mesick. Pursel, Clemma Woodard Barber, Delmer Woodard.
1876-Georgia Bailey Linton, Libbie Hatfield, William Hatfield, Eda McKay Hubbard, David B. McMartin, Emma Seeley Hicks.
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
1877-Laura Chambers Pratt, Ella Griffin Fowle, Mary Keeler Dunham, James Rogers.
1878-George Hopkins, Kittie Monteith McLeod, Addison Pengelly, Arthur Roberts, Jennie Sherman Merriman.
1879-Georgia Bush Madden, Florence Elms, Mabel Hatfield Marsh, Mabel Knapp, Anna Marsh Perkins, Ella Surdam DesAutels, Alva Thompson, Dwight Waldo.
1880-Marion Granger, Will Hawkes, Grace Marsh, Chas. E. Monroe, Cora Shepard Granger, Della Siddall Pierce.
1881-Sophia Linton, John S. Madden, Fred Mesick, Belle Winter Howe.
1882-Annie Brush Flanigan, Alice Buchanan Heath, John Conrad, Cora Hill, Dora Monteith, Kittie Scott Eesley, Mittie Smith Henry.
1883-Elizabeth Conine, Maud Bristol Owen, Louie Copp Hook, Ida Chamberlin Fletcher, Nettie King Williams, Lizzie McMartin Anderson, Lenora McKay Temple, Jessie Roberts Orcutt, Addie Siddall Marshall, Ella Scott Walker, Nettie Sherwood Scott, Claribel Stiff White.
1884-Fred Bliss, Nettie Brown Johnson, Emma Bussard, Clara Car- penter Peschmann, Eddie Farr, Fred Heath, Jennie Lindsey Wells, Maggie Monteith Harper, Mamie Monteith English, Lois Southwick, Mamie Talbot Mesick.
1885-Mary Buxton Bliss, Herbert Brown, Carl Copp, Nora Heath Blackmore, Laura Hill, Ernest Hawkes, Jesse Johnson, Ella Spencer Murray, John Tomlinson, Lillie Woodhams Price.
1886-Jennie Bean Skillman, Nelson Beers, Kate Crispe, Eva Conine Hawkes, Nellie Dunham Porteous, Mattie Fourmbum Crispe, Nannie Gil- more, Alice Hanna Vosburg, Hattie Ives, Alida McAllister Allen, Cleo Tomlinson Garrison, Effie Madden Brown.
1887-Frank Bean, Sarah Beadle Longyear, Ada Curtis Barth, Lilla Donovan Murray, Minnie Eldred Mapes, Myrtie Ferguson Marshall, Bertha Grable Bicknell, Flo Scott Harwood, Ernest Owen, Rowland Lucius Soule. 1888-Mary Chart, Nettie Carruthers Carruthers, Rose Evart, Minnie Handy Hopper, Nettie Scott Keyes, Dee Storms.
1889-Bessie Hopkins, Clair Jackson, Beulah Marshall Ross, Walter Palmer, Bert Platt, Caldwell Price, Daisy E. Soule Hugo, Ray White, Ida Whitcomb Williams, Clark Wheeler.
1890-Lottie Anderson, Inez Chart, Anna English Taylor, Laura Graham, Lora McAllister Earl, Edna Poore Graves.
1891-Thorne Earle, Lottie Cressey, Lalia Cressey Summers, Alla Hoyt Brown, Carl Jones, Della Kahler Spencer, Olive Kronk Moody, Charles Palmer, Ray Schoonmaker, Marshall Warwick.
1892-Sada Bellingham Dunwell, Otis Earl, Alice Hyder Trites, Anna Kahler, Bernice Lewis, Ellis G. Soule.
1893-Marian Brooks Mathers, Ethelyn Clancey McGee, Katherine Eldred Sinclair, Curtis Gilkey, Sada Howard Soule, Edith Johnson, Cora Mussulman, Belle Warrant.
1894-Carrie Anway, Alberta Brown, Phebe Clendenen Chamberlin, Lee Gray, Frank Hitchcock, Harry Irland, Burton Peer, Jennie R. Scales, Edith Wilson Harrington.
1895-L. Carl Anderson, Harold Arnold, William S. Forbes, Bertha
527
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
Howard Cheever, Alice Harroun Wells, Mattie Hill, Grace Harroun McElroy, Lulu Keiser, Cloe Kahler Woodhams, Ethel Wilson Stout, Martha Walton Dart, Grace Walton, Edward Woodhams.
1896-Lee Clancey, William Knorr, Rena Lasher, William Purdy, Lillian Wheater.
1897-Katie Eldred Johnson, Blanche Kreigbaum, Ray Palmer, Eunice Rumery.
1898-May Billings Burchett, Myrtle Clendenen Meister, Charlotte Fenner, Charles Lasher, William H. Madden, Wilbur Chamberlin, Cora Finch, William Jackson, Helen Murphy Fairbanks, Beth Scales.
1899-Bessie Anderson Gilleland, Fred Birchard, George Gilkey, Lillian Harwood, Pearl Hayes Spaeth, Alice Howard, Alfred E. Madden, Laura Thompson, Lura Warner Avery, Edith Whitcomb, Marie Bean Birchard, Harry Crosby, Clare Granger, Adah Hawley, John Hogan, Lucille Irland, Elizabeth Murphy, Grace Travis, Harold Warwick.
1900-Bertha Blakely, Ray Bliss, Bernice DeLano Payne, Rudolph Gilkey, Will Hancock, Charles Jackson, Cora Pell, Maud Stout Harrison, George Thompson, Mildred Wilson Drew, Edward Walton, Lee Bliss, Wirt Cook, John Goldsmith, May Housel, Lee Hubbard, Mina Nelson, Irving Palmer, Gertrude Squier May, Anna Thompson, Pearl Wheater Evans, Charles Woodhams.
1901-Leila Arnold, Evah Brown, Alice Chart, Bert Honeywell, Ernest Hoyt, Grace Minar Freeman, Fred Nelson, Athelia Phillips, Winifred Scales, George Shand, Arthur Brown, Bertha Brest, Marguerite Gilkey, Mabel Hamilton, Della Hooper. Evelyn Neelley, Floy Potter, Minnie Rollins Hall, Alva Stamp.
1902-Maud Armstrong, Louise Bryant, Louise Boville Johnson, Mar- garet Benedict, Guy Bliss, Gertrude Carpenter Stuck, Mary Goss Fritts, Lindsay R. Goss, William Y. Gilkey, Kathryn Granger, Dale Huntley. Lou Ingraham, Henry A. Kelley, Mary Madden Goss, Nina Madden Bullard, Nellie McMartin, Frank J. McMichael, Myrtle Root Pell, Adelaide Stearns, Olin H. Stuck, Cora Theobald, Harry C. Walton, Clarence Walton.
1903-Fern Abrams, Heber Bingham, Olive Brigham, Cleo Brown Jack- son, Thomas Carroll, Frank Campbell. Hoyt Dunwell, Fred Granger, Wil- liam Graham, Roy Heath, Lulu Hitchcock, Cleo Hoyt, Homer Hoyt, Clara Hooper Haas, Hazel Kahler, Charles Kester, Fannie Kester, Starr Lasher, Lala McMartin, Anna Murphy, Verne Shand, Dorothy Thompson, John Walker, Clare Wagner, Beatrice Warrant, Grace Warner, Marcia Warner, Walter Wheater, Glenn Williams.
1904-Edith Boman Scribner, Le Roy Brown, Frank M. Bowman, Clara Belle Emery, Julian Elton Gilkey, Bess C. Hall, Margie Hyder, Ernest Jackson, Clark D. Mason, Marian B. Monroe, Bernard C. Roberts, Myrtice Skinner, Lonzella Theobald, Rubie Williams.
1905-Allen Bingham, Mabel Butler, Clarence Collister, Louise Fisher, Frank Hale, Guy V. Howe, Theda Hooper, Hazel McRoberts, Edith Pat- terson, Mabel Rix, Marion Sherwood, Karl Shultes, Miriam Wheater.
1906-Charles E. Campbell, Fannie E. Deming, Job C. Estes, Ina C. Estes, Catherine O. Goss, Charlotte May Herbert, Ruby L. Hicks, Cleo May Hill, Carolyn May Hicks, Jessie Hollands, Jay E. McCall, Clyde D. McCall, John D. McMartin, Edward R. Negus, Sarah C. Webster, Lois
528
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
Lapham Warrant, Bernice J. Wenham, Bernice C. Warner, Clarence L. White.
SAUGATUCK.
In 1838 there was only one organized district in all the region of Newark township, with forty-two pupils of school age. In that year ninety dollars was raised for building a schoolhouse. In the following year five hundred dollars was appropriated for building a schoolhouse. A private school, attended by five pupils, is mentioned in that year. The first school in the vicinity is said to have been a private school, held near Singapore. By 1840 three districts were organized in the township, of which district No. 2 eventually became limited to comprise the territory of Saugatuck village.
At a school meeting September 3, 1866, it was resolved to grade district No. 2. Bonds to the amount of four thousand dollars were issued to pay for a new schoolhouse. Thus Saugatuck was one of the first villages of the county to have a graded school. The first board of trustees for the graded district were: James G. Williams, moderator; Geo. E. Dunn, director ; Frank B. Stockbridge, assessor, and Samuel Johnson, Warren Cook, H. H. Stimson. Dr. Stimson, the last named, is still living and one of the very oldest residents of the village and vicinity. Clara Stimpson and Mary Porter were hired to teach the first term.
August, 1867, R. Barnard was hired as principal and continued until 1872. His successors have been: W. L. Swan, 1872; W. P. Sutton, 1875 ; G. W. Bellows, 1878: Ida Shotwell, 1881; E. G. Trowbridge, 1882; James Warnock, 1892: E. H. Calhoun, 1896; P. A. Latta, 1897 to the present time. Mr. Latta is one of the strongest, as he is perhaps the oldest of Allegan county's educators. He has been engaged in school work almost continuously for forty years.
The old school building, together with a ward school, was in use for thirty years. In September. 1896, district No. 2 voted a five thousand dollar bond issue, the bonds payable at intervals through eight years. A bid of six thousand two hundred and thirty-two dollars for construction of a two- story brick building was accepted and the school was accepted and has been in use since the summer of 1897.
The following record of graduates of the high school has been taken from the alumni book, there being no list of graduates in the official records of the school officers :
GRADUATES OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, SAUGATUCK.
1878-Maria Newnham, Grace Taylor.
1880-Abbie Wheeler. Jessie House, Anna Griffin.
1886-Minnie Breuckman, Clara Elliott.
1890-John Nies.
1891-Grace Baudle, Josie Simonson, Grace Halverson, Mary Hirner, Josie Goshorn.
1892-Louisa Lundgren, William Baker, William Dole, Belle Smith, William Smith, Mattie Hames, Minnie Reid, Clyde Reid, Myrtle Allen, George Knowles, Rena Ames, Rosina Perry, Cora Hollister, Charles Knowles, Winnie Cummings, James Smead, Lena Randall.
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
1893-Mae Francis, Gilbert Pride, Mae Naughtin, Emma Randall, Archie Pierce, Gertrude Shriver, Ray Nies.
1894-Oscar Wiley, Lanus Swemer, Anna Haut, Mattie Dole, Harry Bird, Susie Tisdale, Mamie Lundgren, Winnie Dole, Nellie Van Leuin, George Pride, Mabel Colf, Lizzie Nysson.
1895-Allan Falconer, Arthur Williams, Carrie Inderbitzin, Ethel Sutton.
1896-Joseph Swemer, Harry Newcomb, John Schumaker, Pearl Phelps, Jason Dick, Bessie Bandle, Bina Annesley, Edith Brown.
1899-Harry Oleson, Murba Greenlees, James Koning, Amelia Shriver, Mattie Simonson, Herman Simonson.
1900-William Tisdale, Edward Winslow. Elsie Vork, Florence Up- dyke. Gussie Barber, Russell Knox, Laura Miller, Charlie Upham, Bessie Newnham, Mae Belle Haywood, Blanche Baudle, Arie Koning, Ethel Baker. Ella Brown, Worth Durham.
1901-Clarence Winslow, Robert Oleson, John Blink, Jennie Veits, Olive Ludwig. Louisa Walz, Mattie Hirner, Marie Upham, Faith Kirby, Ethel Winslow, Lottie Hancock, Mamie Schumaker, Florence Miller, How- ard Coates, Louis Knox, Clarence Halverson.
1902-Jessie Veits. Elsworth Ellis, Eldon Dick, Josephine Walberg, Louise Johns, Anna Oleson, Stella Dailey, Mildred Ireland.
1903-Margaret Coxford. Pearl Heuer, Blanche McGregor, Bessie Wilson, Edith Leland, Eva Lundgren, Julia Shriver, Jennie Vork, Edith Brown, Bessie Riley, Theodore Hoffman, George Bradley, Arthur Reyn- olds.
1904-Frank Wade, Blanche Lamreaux, Bessie Smalley, Fannie Dailey, Marie Walz, Lizzie Schumaker, Pearl Olsen. Adelaide Wade, Julia Mc- Intosh, Anna Garton, Milton Coates, Grace Haberer, Bertha Weed, Mona Jones, Lucina Taylor, Mack Atwater, Eva Haberer. Charles Atwater, Lizzie Dreher.
1905-MacLean Babcock, Lottie Force, Edna Oleson, Maud Johns, Frances Garton, Jessie St. Johns, Gladys Rapalee, Edward Burdick, Edna Link, Mabel Wilson, Mary Randall, Nita Fort, Irene Kingsbury, Frank Johns, Eileen Manning, Myron Heath ,Estelle Heath, Edward Redpath, Ellsworth Lundgren, Anna Burch, Fave Meade, Sarah Tisdale.
1906-Chris. Walz, Dorothy Dailey, Jessie Crow, Cornelia Koning, Alfaretta Smalley, Frank Smith, Charles Gilman, Alta Arends, Leon Chase, Marie Schaberg, Julia Brittian, Helen Erikson, Lizzie Dorman, Lois Helm, Robert Goodwin, Dawn Meade, Dora Wentzel.
FENNVILLE.
In 1898 fractional district No. 2, of Manlius, was organized for high school work. Up to that time the old building west of the village had served as the school home, but in that year a new brick building was erected in the village on the north side of Main street, and the old struc- ture abandoned. The high school has been brought to rank with the schools of the other villages in the county. The principals and graduates from 1898 to the present time are as follows :
1898-W. G. Loomis, Prin .: Floyd Loomis, Millie Turrel, Lee Robin- son, Robert Collins, Gertrude Barry, Calvin Wilcox.
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
1900-C. F. Bacon, Prin .; Bessie Bale, Harry Hutchins, Carrie Hurl- burt, Blanche Billings, Louise Smeed.
1902-L. W. Bacon, Prin .; Leon French, Robert Day, Bul Kibby, Ethel Crane, Roy Fisher, Gertrude Fisher, Laura Young, Gladys Chapman, Grace Thome, Ivy Barber, Zelda Barrow, Ruby Wightman, Anna Owens, Hattie Knowlton.
1903-L. Q. Martin, Prin .; Hattie Truax, Harvey Adams, Leo Swartz, John McCormick ( dead), Isabelle Thome, Lillian Arnold, Carol Walters, Laura Hutchins, Wm. Hoover, Eugene Mann, Oliver Henderson, Everard Leland, Clarissa Hurlburt, Flossy Taylor, Eva Paine, Russell Wightman.
1904-L. Q. Martin, Prin .; Grace McCartney, Nellie Grant, Mary Peterson, Belva McCormick, George Whitney.
1905-L .Q. Martin, Prin .; Chas. Reid, Lee Hutchins, Serene Chase, Mildred Watson, Blanche Stauffer, Tressa Orther, Mary Geske, Belle Sil- cox, Hattie Johnson, Alice Baron.
1906-W. B. Sheehan, Prin .; Florence Mead, Lelah Frye, Fern Green, Alfa Pearle.
BURNIP'S CORNERS.
Burnip's Corners district school was organized in 1856 and the school building, or log house, was erected at Salem Center. In 1876 a new frame building was erected one-quarter of a mile north of Salem Center in what is known as Burnip's Corners. The present two-room brick building was erected at a cost of three thousand dollars in 1886.
The school was organized into a graded school of ten grades in 1886, with Eugene Gregory as first principal. The principals to date are as follows: Eugene Gregory, 1886 to 1887; A. J. Dan, 1887 to 1891; Chas. Bacon, 1891 to 1895; L. B. Plummer, 1895 to 1897; Frank Brown, 1897 to 1898; F. M. Cosner, 1898 to 1900; Malcolm Smith, 1900 to 1903; Ralph Sprague, 1903 to 1904; Ira J. Arehart, 1904 to present time.
The first commencement exercises were held in 1890. There has been a class each year since, with two exceptions, namely, 1894 and 1898. The following is a list of graduates by years :
1890-Minnie D. Binley, Norman L. Bond, Lewis Van Wormer, E. Joy Heck, H. Otis Jones, and Gerrit Masselink.
1891-Eleroy A. Smith, Herman A. Rigterink, Roxy Stauffer, Charles R. Newell, Minnie Hardy, John W. Rigterink.
1892-Henry A. Dibble, Benjamin F. Masselink, and Geo. H. Rig- terink.
1893-Frank Smith, Francis Goodmann, Dirk Lanting, Arthur Wine- gar, Garrit Walcott, Bertha Loew, and Nettie Sebright.
1895-Fred Loew, Theodore Long, May Roberts, Cora Sebright.
1896-Oker Gordon, Flossie Heck, Viola Heasley, Iva Hardy, Floy Sprau.
1897-Norman Buege, Loren Heasley, Carl Green, Perry Fleetwood, Imogene Burt, Henry Rigterink.
1899-George Brower, George R. Newell, Martin Loew.
1900-Harry W. Davis, G. Elmer Smith, L. Maud Brady, Grace A. Brady, Huldah C. Heasley, Lulu M. Newell, William Fleser, Flora H. Raab, Tillie M. Slagle.
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
1901-Maud Strang, Louisa Ritz, Estela Zimmerman, Jennie Long, Ernest Wells.
1902-G. Carl Roberts, Adam A. Sebright, Edythe M. Loomis, Ida M. Newell, H. Faithe Brady, Flossie P. Loew.
1903-Albert A. Riddering, Oscar F. Raab, Arthur A. Buege, Ger- trude I. Heasley, Lulu Cronkhite.
1904-Nellie De Jongh, Leafy Mesick, Gladys Hardy, John Vander Bosch, Claud Sturgis, Maud Enos, Glenn Gordon, Orah Leweke, George Claus, Winifred Bear, Peter Giebe, Lydia Buege, George Davis, Laura Raab, George Ritz.
1905-Bessie Newell, Lemuel Brady, John De Jongh.
1906-Hallie Sprau, Mary L. Beck, G. Ray Sturgis, Clara Baker, Martin Van Duine.
The curriculum comprises ten grades, the number of teachers is two, and number of pupils one hundred ten.
WAYLAND.
The Wayland graded schools have developed, as other such schools in the county, from the district system. When the township was divided into school districts in 1844, district No. 2 was made to contain the entire northwest corner of the township, namely, sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, 18, 19. 20. The log house previously inhabited by Nelson Chambers, located at Cham- bers Corners, within the limits of the present village of Wayland, was con- verted into the first school house. Miss Belinda Eldred (later the wife oi Ebenezer Wilder of Martin; her death occurred July 2, 1905) taught a summer term in 1844, among her twelve scholars being children of Nelson Chambers, Joseph Heydenberk and John Parsons. District No. 3, com- prising a large part of the south side of the township, had much the greater number of school children, in the fall of 1848 having forty-six against six- teen in district No. 2. There were twenty scholars in the latter district in 1850.
The next school house was the little red school house built about 1850. Its size was about sixteen by twenty feet, with desks on either side and long benches made stationary for seats and was capable of seating about twenty scholars. This was at a time when those who sent children to school had to pay their tuition and when the teachers received for their services about three dollars per week and waited for their pay until the end of the term. The teachers made what was called a rate bill or an assessment roll and the parents paid a ratable proportion of the teacher's wages according to the number of children sent to school, and it was the duty of the teacher to make collections. The parents had also to furnish their proportion of wood needed to warm the school house. Among the early teachers were Mary West, Amanda J. Chambers, Margaret Mosher, Augusta K. Harrison (now Augusta K. Hunter), Addie McMartin (now Addie E. Hoyt). After 1862 the following persons were among the teachers: Emily Chambers, William Mason, Otis Parsons, Cornelia Chambers, Mary J. McMartin (now Mary J. Clark), Deborah Parsons, Ida Loomis, Mary Beach, Fannie Cole- man, Minnie Everson, E. W. Pickett, E. S. Linsley, Samuel Hendricks, E. Congdon, George Gable, Ed Gene Arnold and James W. Humphrey. Mr. Humphrey began teaching in the Wayland school in 1877, and it was
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
through his influence that the school was graded, when the new brick school house was first occupied in 1879. This building was burned in 1896 and was replaced during the same year by the one now in use. In 1883 Mr. Humphrey succeeded in establishing a Normal class which lasted as long as he had charge of the school. When he began teaching there were only three teachers employed, but before he finished his work there were five. He left here after ten years' successful work to take a position in Hope Col- lege at Holland. The teachers associated with him were Ellen Clark, Elva Clark, Jettie Buskirk, Ellen M. Carner, Nettie Conrad, Hattie Wallbrecht, Estella Rathburn, Metta Rawson, Libbie Sooy, Mary Hayes, Lucy Avery, Franc Smith and Jessie Hoyt.
The principals following Mr. Humphrey were A. C. Roberts, William McNamara, E. M. Vroman (for nine years), W. G. Glazier, and Charles W. Appleton, since 1902.
The present school building is a fine two-story brick structure with a large basement. It is steam heated, well lighted, ventilated and furnished. Besides the high school, intermediate and primary rooms there is a large recitation room, laboratory and bookkeeping room. The physical laboratory contains about $400 worth of apparatus, most of which has been added through the efforts of the present superintendent.
During the past year the enrollment has been about two hundred and forty, of which one hundred and twenty were in the high room, with about twenty-five per cent non-resident pupils. Last year the twelfth grade was added to the curriculum. The school is now on the approved list of Normal schools of the state and it is hoped to place it on the University list in the near future.
CHAPTER X.
BANKS.
As elsewhere related, Allegan county had its experiences with "wild- cat" banking during the years immediately following the erection of Michi- gan as a state and the unbridled period of speculation and promotion of the late thirties. Allegan county also had rather more than its share of these speculative enterprises, the most prominent centers of which were at Otsego, Allegan and Singapore. Almost a natural accompaniment of such an under- taking as the building up of a village on a capitalistic basis was a bank pat- terned after the kind then so prevalent throughout the country.
The Allegan bank was established in the fall of 1837, with Alexander L. Ely as president and Hovey K. Clarke as cashier. Some of the bills of this institution arc still to be found about the county, being nothing more than promises to pay based on the personal credit of the stockholders and on the highly-inflated real estate values of the Allegan company. Owing to some fortunate circumstances the Allegan bank notes had rather more prestige abroad than those of many of these banks, and for a time they passed more or less current among the eastern communities. But the in- evitable crash followed within a year or so, and the institution passed out of history. Mention has elsewhere been made of the similar institution founded at Singapore about the same time, which shared the general fate.
The oldest bank in Allegan county is the Allegan State Savings bank, the name being the Allegan City bank until recently, when it was incor- porated under a state charter. As a private bank its first proprietors, in 1860, were Augustus S. Butler and H. B. Peck. In 1873 a reorganization was effected and the firm of H. M. and H. B. Peck became the owners, and continued so for a number of years. Later the firm of Chaddock and De- Lano became proprietors.
The only National bank in the county is the First National Bank of Allegan, which was organized in June, 1870, six years after the passage of the national banking act. The first board of directors were B. D. Pritchard, T. C. Jenner, W. H. Nickerson, G. B. Robinson, Z. L. Griswold. Gen. B. D. Britchard was president of this institution from its organization until 1905. Ira Chichester was from the first interested in the bank and served for many years as vice president, and since the reorganization in 1905 his son F. I. has controlled the majority of the stock and has been cashier. I. P. Griswold, now president. has been connected with the bank over twenty-five years, as has also Leon Chichester, vice president.
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