USA > Michigan > Bay County > History of Bay County, Michigan, and representative citizens > Part 39
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Frankenlust township, for some years after its settlement in 1848, depended upon its German parochial schools for the advancement in knowledge of its youth, and Amelith had a similar school for some years after 1851. In the course of time, however, this township also secured its quota of district schools, and in 1905 has two school districts, well supplied with resources and teachers.
The Indian Mission at Kawkawlin, built in 1847, served for some years as school for the early settlers of that vicinity and the more ambitious of the red children of the forest. By 1857 James Fraser and Frederick A. Kaiser furnished accommodations for the children of the settlement on the Kawkawlin. In 1861 Miss Carrie Chilson (now Mrs. C. C. Faxon) taught in the primitive little school, which was replaced by a more commodious and modern structure in 1873. In 1885 there were six schools in the township, with an attendance that taxed their capacity. At the present time there are eight school districts.
In 1855 some of the German settlers in the southwestern partion of Monitor township established the first school. In 1885 Monitor township had four schools, with 168 scholars, out of 274 of school age. These schools were also meeting places for worship on the Sabbath for many years. There are now six school districts in the township.
Beaver township, which now has six schools, had three schools 25 years ago, with
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145 scholars, and the little red school houses were used for Sunday-schools and for preach- ing on the Sabbath.
The first school at Pinconning was taught for the children of a few fishermen and Indians in the old mission church at the mouth of the Pinconning River. In 1869 a small frame building became the village school house. A more commodious and modern school building replaced it in 1875, when M. R. Hartwell be- gan his duties, which extended over more than a quarter of a century in the same school. In 1904 the village school was destroyed by fire, and is being replaced this year by a modern stone and brick structure, two-story and base- ment, capable of seating 250 pupils. At the present date the township has six schools dis- tricts.
One of the main objections to the separa- tion of a part of Portsmouth township and set- ting it up as Merritt township was the division of the Union school District. However, the sturdy people of Merritt township were not long in supplying their neighborhood with good schools, the first one being opened in 1874, and much more centrally located than formerly. At the present time the township has six school districts, with a large attendance and intelligent management. County School Commissioner John B. Laing came from the Merritt schools to his present position in 1903.
Fraser township is divided into five school districts, each having ample school facilities.
The latest organized townships-Garfield, Mount Forest and Gibson, which have, re- spectively, five, four and six school districts- sustained the record of the earlier organized townships by giving their very first attention to the educational facilities of their communi- ties, in the wilds of the primeval forest. In 1905 each has well-organized and thoroughly equipped district schools.
According to County School Commissioner J. B. Laing's official data just entered, the at- tendance in Bay County's district schools for the first quarter of 1905 was 4,101.
On September 5, 1904, the list of legally qualified teachers in Bay County contained 114 names, classified as follows: Life certificates, four ; Central Normal School certificates, three ; County Normal Training Class certificates, one; approved Ist grade certificates, four ; 2nd grade certificates, 68; Ist year 3rd grade cer- tificates, 16; 2nd year 3rd grade certificates, seven; 3rd year 3rd grade certificates, 10; special teacher in music, one.
The low average of persons of school age still unable to read or write in all Bay County as revealed in the Federal census of 1900 is the best evidence of the good work done for the little red school house in this county, and is the best reward for devoted attention by the earliest settlers and their successors in the line of duty to this day. Intelligence and progress, education and prosperity, are all handmaidens, whose mutual advantages can never be over- estimated.
LIBRARIES.
BAY CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY .- Near the close of 1869 a number of citizens, under the lead and inspiration of B. E. Warren and Aaron J. Cooke, conceived the idea of a circu- lating library for Bay City, and on the 4th of December of that year articles of association to that end were filed in the clerk's office. A very energetic organization followed, and dur- ing the next two years a sufficient fund had been raised to purchase and maintain a well- selected library of 3,000 volumes, at a cost in- cluding the necessary furniture of $5,000. This was accomplished chiefly by the creation of perpetual and life memberships. There was besides a considerable list of annual members,
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whose fees helped to swell the funds of the as- sociation. Of course under this plan access to the books was confined to paying members.
Under the constitution of Michigan, all fines and penalties for infraction of State laws are set apart for the benefit of the school dis- trict libraries. Prior to 1874 no use had been made of this fund in Bay County, and a con- siderable sum had accumulated in the county treasury. To the greater part of this fund Bay City was entitled on account of its large school population. In addition to this, the city had been required to raise annually by taxation the sum of $200 for library purposes. From these sources there had been placed to the credit of the library fund of Bay City, prior to March 2, 1874, the sum of $2,899.25, which was then subject to the disposal of the Board of Educa- tion for library purposes. While such an amount was wholly inadequate to the purchase and maintenance of a considerable and inde- pendent public library, it would, if added to what had already been raised and expended by the Library Association, constitute one highly respectable in point of size, and capable of im- mensely beneficial influence in the cause of public education. The Library Association was first to perceive this, and with characteristic liberality made overtures to the Board of Edu- cation looking to a surrender of their library to the public, the only condition exacted in return being that the Board of Education should maintain the library for public use, and add to it by the immediate expenditure of the fund in hand for additional books, and continue to make such additions as fast as means should be placed at its disposal for the purpose. This proposition was received favorably by the Board of Education, and was immediately car- ried into effect. At this time a surplus of $500 was also given by the Library Association with the condition that it should be used in the pur-
chase of "Americana," for it was early decided by the trustees of the old association to make the "Story of our Country" its specialty.
On March 4, 1874, Mr. Fowler, a member of the Board of Education, reported that "the consolidated library is now open to the public," and moved that the fact be advertised, which was done. By this arrangement the manage- ment of the joint library was entrusted to a committee of six: three from the Board of Education, and three of the directors of the association. When the first board of trustees, thus formed, took charge, the library contained 6,005 volumes.
In the year 1877 it appeared to the friends of the Public Library that the interests involved in it were sufficient to justify and require the care of a special board, so an act was secured from the Legislature requiring the Board of Education to appoint six trustees, two of whom were to go out of office annually. By this act the board of trustees became a corporation and vested with all the property and funds of the Public Library. They cannot, however, con- tract debt without the assent of the Common Council, which at that time was required to raise not less than $200 nor more than $1,200 annually for the library. This requirement has since been changed, and the Council now has authority to appropriate such sums as may be considered necessary and wise. For several years past the sum of $3,000 has been appro- priated annually.
The first board of trustees constituted under the act above referred to, entered upon its du- ties May 26, 1877. The members were : Archi- bald McDonnell, James Shearer, H. M. Fitz- hugh, James Watrous, William Daglish and A. J. Cooke. The mayor of the city is ex officio chairman of the board of trustees. The old Association Library was housed in the Court House temporarily. At the time of the
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consolidation it was housed in the second story of the Averell Building. From there the li- brary was removed to a building erected especially for it on the south side of Washing- ton avenue, 200 feet from Center avenue. Early in the fall of 1887 the library was re- moved to the southwest corner of Sixth and Aadms streets, where it was opened to the pub- lic on October 12th of that year. In the spring of 1898 it was removed to its present perman- ent quarters in the City Hall, and was opened to the public on April 10th of that year.
Henry Braddock was the first librarian of the old Bay City Library Association. He was succeeded by Mrs. Ferris, who later became Mrs. Benjamin Whipple. She remained in charge of the library until the Public Library was organized in 1877. In June of that year Miss Jennie Gilbert became librarian and held the office until she was succeeded by Miss Julia A. Robinson in 1884. In October, 1888, Mrs. Annie F. Parsons, now the widow of Archibald McDonnell, became librarian and served ten years, being succeeded by the present librarian, A. J. Cooke, in August, 1898. Mr. Cooke has been identified with the library since the formation of the old association, serving con- tinuously on the board of trustees, of which he is now secretary. The library is greatly in- debted to him for his liberal gifts of time, money and books.
In 1876 the library was made a depository of United States and State documents, and from that date has been supplied regularly with such documents as the law authorizes to be sent to depositories. In 1877-78 with 6,005 volumes it issued 20,982 ; in 1901-02 with 21,- 688 volumes, it issued 69,037. The total issue for the first 25 years was 957,362 volumes, an average of 38,299 volumes a year. The largest circulation of any year was in 1902-03 when more than 79,000 volumes were issued. In
1904-05 the librarian required the services of three assistants, the total circulation for that year being 74,344 volumes, with 25,549 vol- umes in the library. The following gentlemen compose the present board of trustees: Edgar Mí. Sharp, president of the Board of Educators, chairman ex officio; Hon. Chester L. Collins, John A. Stewart, Byron E. Warren, William L. Clements, C. B. Curtis and Hon. Hamilton M. Wright.
SAGE PUBLIC LIBRARY .- The idea of pro- viding West Bay City with a free public library and reading room was considered by Henry W. Sage for several years before he gave it definite shape in 1881. In speaking of his purpose to some of the citizens, he emphasized his desire to supply the means whereby young men might gain greater facility in public speaking. The plan in his mind comprehended not only a library and reading room, but a debating school, where young men could learn to think and talk upon their feet. The plans for the building reached West Bay City in April, 1882, and on January 16, 1884, it was dedicated by fitting public exercises held in the Westminster Presbyterian Church. An eloquent oration was delivered by Prof. Moses Coit Tyler, of Cornell University, which has been preserved in the catalogue of the library, together with the presentation address by Mr. Sage and the speech of acceptance by Hon. Spencer O. Fisher, then mayor of the city.
The extreme dimensions of the building are 56 by 90 feet, two and a half stories high. The style is of that bewildering mixture of many styles termed modern architecture. Its beauty is acknowledged by everyone. The front is relieved by an octagon projection con- taining a niche for the imported terra cotta statue representing literature and science, the projection being finished into a bay window for the reading room in the second story. There
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KOLB PUBLIC SCHOOL, Bay City, W. S.
BAY CITY HIGH SCHOOL, Bay City, W. S.
PARK PUBLIC SCHOOL, Bay City, W. S.
SAGE LIBRARY, Bay City, W. S.
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is also a square extension of 10 feet near the west side for the vestibule of the Midland street entrance and stairway. The building is of red brick with black and buff brick and Amherst blue stone trimmings. The gothic roof is slated and nothing which could add to the beauty or convenience of the structure was omitted. The whole interior is finished in black ash, including the ceilings. The original cost of the building, land, library, furnishings and heating apparatus amounts to a sum not far short of $50,000. The gift of the donor included about 8,000 volumes selected with great care and excellent judgment. There are now on the shelves 28,860 books.
In his presentation speech, Mr. Sage made the following statement regarding the manage- ment of the library : "Its permanent ex officio trustees will be the ministers of all evangelical churches, resident and in charge of parishes here, the principal of the public school of the Second Ward, the chairman of the board of trustees of School District No. 2, the mayor of the city and five other citizens of the city to be designated by me. These last named to hold their offices for five years, and thereafter vacancies to be filled according to the terms of the act. In pursuance of this act I have ap- pointed as the trustees to be designated by me, S. O. Fisher, T. F. Shepard, E. T. Carrington, J. H. Plum and H. S. Ingersol, and S. O. Fisher, chairman of the board of trustees. This gives you a completely organized es- tablishment prepared for work and use. It is my earnest hope that each and every one of the trustees, and especially the resident ministers, may take an interest in the work allotted to them, and so far as they can to lead the young men of the city to avoid all the less worthy re- sorts for pleasure and amusement and learn to come here for their own improvement and cul- tivation. It is for them and for them largely
that this gift is made, that they may obtain knowledge, and through it wisdom, and the power which belongs to both."
The library was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, passed March 13, 1883. Of the present board of trustees, the following members are the successors of those appointed by Mr. Sage: Hon. Spencer O. Fisher, who has been president of the board continuously since its organization, Hon. Theodore F. Shep- ard, H. H. Norrington, I. B. Richardson and George L. Lusk. The first librarian was Mrs. M. F. Ostrander, who was succeeded in Jan- uary, 1899, by Miss Phebe Parker, M. B., who is the present incumbent. Under Miss Parker's able direction, the library has reached its pres- ent high standard of efficiency. A card index has been installed which is arranged on the dictionary plan, making the resources of the library immediately available to those of the most limited education as well as to scholars familiar with library methods.
THE PRESS.
If we have whispered Truth, Whisper no longer ; Speak as the tempest does, Sterner and stronger; . Still be the tones of Truth, Louder and firmer !
-Whittier.
The public press! What a wonderful agent for progress in any community and any coun- try, where its powers are exerted in the inter- est of the public good! And in these opening days of the 20th century that power is almost paramount in this great country. Public opin- ion, the beacon-light of our national life and government, has no greater inspiration than the press. Pulpit and forum are no longer the great and preeminent molders of public opin- ion they once were. For the spoken word is
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heard, its echo lingers for a moment and then dies away, but the dictum of pen and type lives on forever.
The remotest corners of our land are now reached by the daily press through the rural free delivery routes, and the townspeople no longer monopolize this field of information and education. This is particularly true in Bay County, where a fine school system has for half a century been busy inculcating a desire for knowledge and information, and where a fine road system makes the delivery of the daily newspaper to the remotest settler a com- paratively easy matter.
Yet it was not always thus! About 1885 the writer was a carrier for the Evening Press and Morning Tribune, and his customers in the lower end of Bay City were widely scat- tered. Apparently few in that section of the booming lumber town read the daily press of that day. But it was no fault of those editions, for they were strictly up-to-date, then as now.
From the time of the first attempt at print- ing a local paper in 1856, when Hon. James Birney edited the Bay City Press, down to our modern-day dailies, the residents of Bay County have been exceedingly well served by the local press. To judge by the checkered and strenuous careers of these dispensers of pub- lic news, they were always rather ahead of their times and vicinity. The cultured citizens demanded telegraph and news service of a character that the financial support of the frontier community hardly warranted.
The first enduring newspaper was the Press and Times, published by William Bryce from 1859 to 1864, when the Bay City Journal, John Culbert, editor, took its place. In 1871 this ambitious sheet appeared as the first daily, but by February, 1873, it had run its course. Hon. James Birney resuscitated it as the Daily and Weekly Chronicle, the daily section lasting un-
til 1875. When Judge Birney went to The Hague as United States Minister, his son, Ar- thur M. Birney, continued the Weekly Chron- icle until 1879, when it was merged with the Tribunc.
In 1872 Henry S. Dow, publisher of the first authentic history of Bay City, established the Lumberman's Gasette, which proved a prosperous publication until the lumber indus- try declined in these parts. It was removed to Chicago in 1887 and is the oldest lumber jour- nal in the world.
In 1905 the triumvirate which established the Bay City Tribune in 1873,-Chief T. K. Harding of the Fire Department, Ald. Ed. Kroencke, bookbinder, and Griffin Lewis, job printer,-are still active in their respective fields of usefulness. John Culbert was the first editor. Later Henry S. Dow purchased the paper, discontinuing the weekly in 1875, and in 1881 a stock company secured control. From that day to this, the Tribune has had the morning field practically to itself, being the official organ of the Republican party. In 1904 I. W. Snyder retired from the company, and Editor E. D. Cowles resumed the chair in the editorial sanctum he had occupied some 20 years previous. James C. McCabe is the busi- ness manager, WV. H. Sheward, Jr., city edi- tor, and J. H. Dunnewind, staff reporter. The Tribune has all the latest equipment in press and typesetting machinery, and its Sunday Tri- bune is an edition unsurpassed in Michigan. The Tribune was burned out while located in the Marston Building on Saginaw street in 1878, but in less than two weeks reappeared in a new dress of type.
The evening field has witnessed more numerous changes. The Evening Press was established in 1879 by Moran & Hardwick and later purchased by E. T. Bennett. In 1881 D. M. Carey was taken in as editor and part
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owner, and his crisp reminiscences of his ex- periences in this bustling lumber town are amusing readers all over the country in 1905. The Press was an independent paper, with a large circulation.
The Freic Presse, an independent German weekly, was started by G. Reuther in 1878, and through many vicissitudes is still active and prosperous under the able management of August Lankenau, with David Koch as city editor.
Then as now, the Democrats have found it difficult to sustain an official organ, for in April, 1881, they put the Morning Call into the field, with Bert Moran as chief typo, Leonard Cline, manager, and C. S. Wilson, city editor. In May of that year, George F. Lewis, a prac- tical and experienced editorial writer, took charge. But three years of hard work merely demonstrated the fact that there was room for only two dailies, and the last Call came, in 1884.
The Signal, a Democratic weekly, existed from 1867 to 1870; the Leader in the same line lasted less than a year, and the Weekly Observer was established by the late lamented A. McMillan and Ed Forsyth in 1876. In 1878 J. W. Griffith came fresh from the greens of Greenville, Michigan, took charge of the daily, found to his sorrow that running a dairy and running a newspaper were two vastly dif- ferent propositions, and in 1880 the Observer ceased to observe.
Meanwhile the West Side had not been neglected, even if results indicated little appre- ciation. As early as 1869 E. D. Cowles, the veteran editor of the Tribune in 1905, with Dan P. McMullen, now ex-State Senator and postmaster of Cheboygan, started the Weekly Herald, which was moved to Bay City in 1872 and sold to C. S. Wilson, as the Weekly Leader, which did not long lead. The Wenona
Herald owned by S. H. Egabroad entered the West Side field in 1872, W. J. Ward pur- chased it in 1873, and by 1879 he was satisfied there were brighter pastures at Dowagiac, whither he moved the plant. The Weekly E.r- aminer was started by M. A. Dowling and Charles R. Stuart, in 1879, and shortly after becoming a daily, in 1881, the plant was wiped out by the big fire, and never replaced. The West Bay City Times died an infant of three months in 1886. The Michigan Odd Fellow, devoted to the interests of that order, was es- tablished in 1874 by Dr. Joseph Hooper, Ed- ward Newkirk, and Charles C. Gustin, ap- peared semi-monthly for nearly four years and then vanished.
As we look over the journalistic graveyard we find the Red Ribbon, 1877; Morning News, a single sheet, 1877-82; Echo, 1878; Penny Post, 1879. The West Bay City Times, 1887- 89, laid the foundation for the Bay City Times, which in 1905 is an eloquent evidence of the law of the survival of the fittest ! The National Globe swept in on the Greenback tidal wave in 1880, Colonel Roberts master of ceremonies. In 1882 the Globe died. As we wander down the lane of time we find more tombstones : Bos, a society sheet, 1881 ; Daily World, 1885 ; Daily Star, Knights of Labor organ, began life November 25, 1885, boomed for a while and then sank beneath the horizon. Garrie C. Laing, in 1905 the city encyclopedia of the Evening Times, was one of the luminaries of that Star. The Weekly Sun, 1886, soon struck an eclipse and was seen no more. Catholic Chronicle, 1882-84; German Journal, 1884; French Souvenir, 1883; L'Entard National, 1884 ; such in a few short months was the ar- ray of journalistic entries and exits.
Some of the older pioneers recall, with something of a shudder, Dan. R. Curry's Weekly Growler, whose chief mission in life
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was to make some people's lives miserable with sensational matter, and just to prove that cer- tain elements in any community will support the sensational, the Growler growled from 1869 to 1873; and from 1875 to 1880, when its stock of invectives and vituperation gave out, and the exasperating growls were heard no more. Bert Moran's Town Talk in after years was an imitation of the same school. The Labor Vindicator, started in 1884 by a fire-eater, named D. C. Blinn, printed highly inflammable matter, suggestive of the an- archistic sheets of later days, and after taking a leading part in the big strike among the saw- mill employees, he thought it best to join the big colony in Canada, without awaiting per- sonal "vindication."
From amid all these journalistic flash- lights, the one strong, enduring combination of literary ability and sound business manage- ment on the evening paper field appears with the Penny Press in 1879, started by Moran & Hardwicke, then taken over by Fred M. Van- Campen and Ed. Forsyth. In 1880 E. T. Ben- nett, took charge and named it the Evening Press. David M. Carey served on the editorial staff from 1881 to 1884; while Armstrong & Rasmussen of Chicago bought it in 1886. On January 1, 1887, Archibald McMillan began his 15 years of devoted work on the city's lead- ing evening daily, years of usefulness to the community, not soon to be forgotten. He was a veteran of the Civil war and began his news- paper career with the Detroit Free Press, being compositor, reporter and editor in turn; at his death in 1902 he was the dean of the press here.
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