USA > Minnesota > Goodhue County > History of Goodhue County, Minnesota > Part 30
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The greatest number of pupils enrolled in the schools of the county during one year was in 1886, when the total number was 8,127. Since that time it has decreased until in 1908 it was 6,620. The greatest number enrolled in the rural schools seems to have been in 1884, when there was an enrollment of 5,559. The great- est number enrolled in the city schools was in 1903, when it was 3,131. During the earlier period of the history of the county it was a common thing to find a large number of pupils in the common schools from eighteen to twenty-five years of age and over. As educational facilities multiplied and the schools improved things changed so that in 1908 there were only .thirty- eight pupils in the rural schools that were over eighteen years of age. While in the early days few, if any, completed the eighth grade at any age. the average age at which a common school pupil now finishes this grade is fourteen or fifteen years, and the high school course is completed before the age of twenty. This fact, and the fact that the schools are at present between two generations, the first being almost gone and the second beginning to arrive, will explain the decrease in the school popu- lation. All parts of the county were settled about the same time by comparatively young families, and for years almost every family had children to send to school. Now there are five districts with less than ten pupils in each.
During the eighties and nineties the schools of the county developed splendidly along lines of better equipment and organ- ization of work. It was at this time that free text books were introduced and school libraries bought in almost every school of the county. A system of examinations was also introduced, so that it became possible to have common school graduations. Dur- ing this time, too, the method of conducting teachers' examina- tions was made more uniform. All this was accomplished largely through the efforts of Superintendent A. E. Engstrom, who ren- dered the county most efficient service for a period of eighteen years, from 1881 to 1899.
The condition of the schools at the present time may perhaps best be indicated by quoting the county superintendent's annual report for 1908 :
Graded Schools 2.603
Common. Schools 3,347 151
Number of pupils entitled to apportionment.
Number of pupils not entitled to apportionment
219
Total enrollment
2,822
3,798
Average number of days each pupil has attended.
147.5
87.9
Pupils from 5 to 8 years of age.
516
Pupils from 8 to 15 years of age
Pupils from 18 to 21 years of age
274
HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY
Number of male teachers.
9
15
Number of female teachers
84
139
Average monthly salary of male teachers.
$
120.55
$ 40.80
Average monthly salary of female teachers.
55.50
$ 40.13
Teachers who are graduates of a high school.
92
Teachers who are graduates of a normal school.
52
16
Teachers who are graduates of a college.
23
3
Teachers who have taught three years or more in the same school
28
7
Teachers who have taught two years or more in the same school
21
29
Teachers who have taught one year or more in the same school
43
104
Districts loaning text-books free. .
5
149
New schoolhouses
Total number of schoolhouses in the county
10
154
Estimated value of schoolhouses and sites
$176,000.00
$149,875.00
Estimated value of seats and desks.
7,175.00
$ 11,037.00
Estimated value of apparatus.
4,843.00
$ 6,656.00
Number of volumes bought for school libraries
60
997
Number of libraries.
10
143
Total number of books in all libraries
6,710
14,723
Number of trees planted.
186
Total indebtedness of all districts
$ 27,500.00
$ 19,856.00
18
Average length of school for next year, in months
9
6.94
Average number of voters at the annual meetings
34
9
Number of visits by the county superintendent.
13
259
Cash on hand at the beginning of the year.
$ 15,138.01
$ 19,411.76
Apportionment
11,960.77
15,039.61
Special tax
49,785.62
34,791.00
Local one mill tax
4,093.00
8,319.46
Special state aid.
11,200.00
6,388.00
All other sources
2,320.52
11,882.80
Total
$ 94,497.92
$ 95,832.63
Teachers' wages
19,228.58
42,866.21
Fuel and school supplies.
4,916.96
4,981.85
Repairs and improvements
7,993.16
2,833.65
New schoolhouses and sites.
2,961.26
Bonds and interest
2,872.80
3,705.35
Library books
84.32
399.79
Text-books
1.131.77
923.14
Apparatus
122.48
276.57
Transportation of pupils
30.00
All other purposes.
7,964.57
4,017.49
Cash on hand at the end of the year
20,183.28
32,837.32
Total
$ 94,497.92
$ 95,832.63
Average rate of special tax in mills.
12.1
4.2
Average cost for each pupil.
26.33
16.58
Average cost for each day attended.
.18
.19
There are now 165 organized districts in the county. Of these five are city schools with first-class high schools, one is a village school employing three teachers, one employing two teachers, and one a rural school with two teachers. The others are one- room schools. There are seven districts which are joint with other counties and have their school houses outside of Goodhue county. Five schools have an enrollment of less than ten pupils, and fifty have an enrollment of from ten to twenty.
During the year of 1908-09 six districts had nine months of
1
$
Number of districts included. .
275
HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY
school : fifty schools, eight months; thirty-seven schools, seven months; forty schools, six months; and sixteen schools, five months. Compared with the report of twenty-five years ago it will be seen that short term schools are gradually becoming a thing of the past.
We again quote from the annual report of 1908:
"It may be of interest to know what a school would be like that should represent the average of all the rural schools of the county. Such a school would be found in a schoolhouse worth about $1,000, with seats worth about $75 and apparatus worth $45. There would be about one hundred volumes in the library. There would be twenty-five pupils, of whom three would fail to attend forty days. Five of the pupils would be from five to eight years of age and the others would be from eight to eighteen. The school would be in session seven months and the pupils would attend an average of eighty-eight days. The teacher would receive about $40 a month. The district would have a cash on hand of about $130, receive from apportionment $100, from spe- cial tax $220, from one mill tax $55 (showing that the district would have an assessed valuation of about $55,000). It would pay for teacher's wages $280, for fuel $33, repairs $18, library books $2.50, text-books $6, apparatus $2, other purposes $25.
"Years ago it used to be a common thing for schools to employ two or three different teachers during the same year, one for each term. This has changed so that now practically every dis- triet employs the same teacher throughout the year. Out of a total of 154 teachers who taught in the rural schools during the year, 140 stayed the whole time in the same school.
"During the past year the state high school examination was taken in twenty-eight schools and about two hundred credits were obtained. The final county examination was taken in 103 schools and 1,764 papers were sent to the county superintendent. Fifty-eight pupils received common school diplomas as a testi- monial that they have completed the common school branches and are entitled to enter the high school."
During the school year of 1908-09 the final county examina- tion has been taken by about one hundred and twenty schools and the number of graduates will be abont eighty.
Most of the schools are well equipped with those things which are required for efficient work. During the last few years special attention has been given to heating and ventilation, and a large number of distriets have installed heating and ventilating plants in accordance with the suggestions of the state superintendent of publie instruction.
During the present year forty-six schools will meet the
216
HISTORY OF GOODHUE . COUNTY
requirements of the state department for obtaining special state aid, and the list of such schools is growing rapidly.
The educational qualifications of the teachers in the county are unusually good, there being but two or three counties in the state in which there is a larger percentage of the total number of teachers who have a high school or normal school education. and they are counties with exceptional facilities in the matter of high schools.
The teachers' training schools, which are conducted in the county every other summer, do much to increase the efficiency of the teachers. These schools are paid for by the state and con- ducted under the direction of the county superintendent and the conductor appointed by the state department of public instruc- tion. Instruction is given in all branches required for a teacher's certificate. In addition. there are classes in pedagogies, school management, and so forth. These schools are free and a large minber of teachers make use of them.
A Teachers' Library Association was organized in 1902. It now owns a circulating library of about three hundred books on school management and methods of teaching. and has proven of great benefit to the teachers generally.
There are five state high schools in the country, all in a very prosperous condition. Red Wing has five buildings, employs forty-six teachers and has an enrollment of 1.416 pupils. Its high school gives in addition to the customary courses a com- mercial course and a normal course. A manual training depart- ment is maintained and during the present year the city voted $50,000 for a new building to be used largely for this purpose and for domestic economy. Through a special grant from the state a course in elementary agriculture has been added, with experimental work on a plot of land secured for the purpose.
Cannon Falls has one building and employs twelve teachers. The total mumber of pupils is 347. It has lately introduced a department in manual training. During the past year regular courses of lectures on farming and domestic economy were given every week during the winter by instructors from the state agri- cultural school. These lectures were largely attended by the neighboring farmers, as well as by the citizens of the town.
Zumbrota has one building, probably the most modern in construction of any in the county, employs thirteen teachers and has 367 pupils enrolled.
Pine Island has two buildings and employs nine teachers. The enrollment is 236.
Kenyon has one building and employs thirteen teachers, with an enrollment of 420. Here, too, a manual training course has been introduced.
277
HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY
These schools are all well equipped and are doing splendid work. They have kept abreast with the forward movements in the educational world and their courses are gradually being enlarged and adapted so as to make them truly the schools of the people and for the people. A large number of the pupils enrolled in these high schools are country pupils who have completed the work of the rural schools.
The men who have served as county superintendents of schools are J. W. Hancock, II. B. Wilson, J. F. Pingrey. A. E. Engstrom and Julius Boraas.
Those who have been superintendents in the city schools during the last twenty-five years are :
Red Wing-O. W. Whitman (who served nineteen years, from 1870 to 1889). A. W. Rankin. G. O. Brohangh, F. V. Hub- bard, W. F. Kunze, J. L. Silvernale.
Cannon Falls-C. W. Blake, E. K. Cheadle, O. C. Gross. A. M. Locker, A. C. Carlson, H. I. Ilarter and A. W. Newman.
Zumbrota-C. D. Welch. F. A. Weld. G. E. St. John, J. W. Steffens. F. J. Bomberger. C. A. Patchin. L. J. Montgomery, J. T. Fuller.
Pine Island-Otis Gross, E. S. Stevens, A. M. Dresbach, Wil- liam A. Westerson, J. S. Festerson, L. J. Montgomery. H. C. Bell. B. Frank MeComb and H. O. Cady.
Kenyon-P. H. Bradley, A. C. Kingsford, W. II. Hollands, H. G. Blanch and G. V. Kinney.
Parochial schools have been conducted in the various com- munities ever since the county was first settled, and have added much to the upbuilding of its citizenship. There have been and are several types of these schools. Three denominations in Red Wing have maintained schools in which the pupils attend the whole year in place of attending the public schools. A similar school has been conducted at Hay Greek. In these schools instruction is given in the teachings of the church by which the school is maintained and in some or all of the common branches of the public schools. In some, instruction is also given in a foreign language.
In one community two congregations unite and employ a parochial teacher who teaches five months in each congregation. the schoolhouses being owned by the congregations and located near their respective churches. In these schools instruction is given in some of the common branches. Outside of the five months of parochial school the pupils attend the public school.
In some communities congregations have followed the plan of employing a parochial teacher for the entire year and dividing the congregations into four or five districts with one or two months of parochial school in each. Generally the terms of the
278
HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY
public school are so arranged as to allow the pupils of each community to attend both schools. No instruction in the com- mon branches is attempted in these parochial schools, the work being confined to instruction in the teachings and language of the church by which they are maintained. The buildings of the various school districts are generally used also for the denomi- national schools, though in some cases there are buildings erected for that special purpose.
In many places no teacher is employed by the congregations, but each community is allowed to provide the religious instruc- tion of its children in the way it thinks best. In such com- munities the public school is usually maintained during the fall and winter and a private school conducted during one or two months of the summer. Sometimes the same teacher will teach both schools.
In practically all of the churches located in the cities and villages the religious instruction is given through the agency of Sunday schools. The work of these schools has been helped and stimulated in a splendid way by the Goodhue County Sunday School Association, which was organized in 1859, and which celebrated its semi-centennial in Red Wing last June. The three guests of honor at this celebration were Professor Jabez Brooks, the first president of the association. and M. B. Lewis and Louis Johnson, charter members and active workers in the association during its whole history.
The county has been very fortunate in having within its boundaries several private and denominational schools for advanced education. The first one of these schools was Hamline University. under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This school commenced its work in 1854, with Rev. Jabez Brooks as principal, and continued during the next fifteen years. when it was removed to St. Paul. The Red Wing Col- legiate Institute was incorporated in 1870. with the following members of the first board of directors: L. F. Hubbard. C. C. Webster, F. A. Cole, James Lawther, Peter Daniels and W. P. Hood. Two large buildings were erected on College Bluff at a cost of $17,000, the land being donated by Edward Murphy. The school was conducted for about three years. The property was later sold to the Hauges Norwegian Lutheran Synod and has since been used as a college and divinity school for young men. This institution gets its students from all over the Northwest. but many of the young men of the county have also made use of the excellent opportunities which are offered. The Villa Maria is a convent school for girls located near Frontenac. It is in charge of the Ursuline nuns and is doing much for the education of young girls. The Lutheran Ladies' Seminary began its work
279
ILISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY
in the fall of 1893 and has grown to be a very prosperous institu- tion with a large enrollment. Various business colleges have from time to time been conducted in Red Wing and have enjoyed considerable prosperity.
The only state institution located in the county is the State Training School, situated two miles from Red Wing .- Julius Boraas.
Hamline University .- The pioneers in a new country are as a rule men not only of brawn, but also of supreme faith and courage. It is faith that gives them the stamina to battle against. the difficulties and privations of frontier life. By faith, they see great cities where the eye sees nothing but the wigwams of the .savage; great industries where no sound is heard save that of the waterfall; great schools and churches where only the mis- sionary is found seeking to reveal the truth to Nature's children. The early Methodist preachers were no exception to this rule. They believed that the fertile soil of Minnesota would one day furnish sustenance for millions; that mighty cities would be built, and that an empire of boundless resources would develop upon that vast expanse of forest and plain. Accordingly, one of their representatives, the Rev. David Brooks, made his appear- ance at the Territorial Council of Minnesota with a remarkable proposition. It chanced that he went to William Pitt Murray, a man who served the people of his state well for many years.
In a speech delivered at Hamline University, at St. Paul, May 10, 1897, on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Leonidas L. Hamline, Mr. Murray related the incident as follows :
"Early in January. 1854, a clergyman of the Methodist Epis- copal Church from Wisconsin came to me. I being then a mem- ber of the Territorial Council, and handed me a draft of a bill which he desired introduced in the Territorial Legislature. to incorporate the Minnesota Academy, an institution to be under the control of the Wisconsin conference. I said to him that a special charter would be unnecessary. as the winter previous an act had been passed to authorize three or more persons whom might be desirons of forming a corporation for seminary pur- poses, to become a body corporate by complying with certain conditions named in said act. The gentleman seemed quite anxious to have a special act, under the impression that a legis- lative act would give it more character, of which I did not approve. Perhaps as an inspiration, I suggested that it would afford me pleasure to aid in the passage of a university charter,
280
HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY
which I had to name. The idea to him was a novelty. A denomi- national university in a frontier territory, with a population of less than eight thousand people -- they generally without means -and the Methodist Episcopal Church without a membership sufficient to maintain a conference, was a pleasantry the old Veteran of the cross could not appreciate. He being an English- man. born and bred. may have thought of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. with their numerous colleges and halls, and with their large libraries and wealth. A feeder for some college down east, where there was more money and a higher civilization, was his ambition and hope. We did not agree and the bill was returned to him. A day or two after. my associate in the Territorial Council, the Hon. Isaac Van Etten. introduced the bill to incorporate the Minnesota Academy. Having made up my mind that my Methodist brethren either had to have a univer- sity charter or none, I had the bill referred to a special com- mittee, of which I was a member. The other members of the committee were indifferent what became of the bill, whether it was reported back to the council with the recommendation that it pass, or report a substitute authorizing the establishment of ferries, or the laying out of country roads, or the erection of sign boards at cross-roads to indicate the right road for country preachers across the prairies to their various appointments. After having consulted with the Rev. John Kearns, the pastor of the old Market Street Church in the city of St. Paul, the parent and first Methodist Episcopal church in the territory of which the Central Park Methodist Church of St. Paul is the successor, and the Rev. B. F. Hoyt, a pioneer clergyman who resided in St. Paul, both of whom were of the opinion that a university charter would be a good thing and might perhaps be got under way before the end of the century. At all events, it would be a good thing to talk about as indicative of the growth of Methodism in the West, although for a long time it might be found nowhere except on the statutes. I then prepared to draft my bill-substitute for the seminary bill. The name for the uni- versity. I had already determined upon. There were two reasons. I may say, which led to this :
"On a summer evening in 1852 I attended a reception at the Wesleyan Female College, at Cincinnati, Ohio. during commence- ment week. and among the guests was Bishop Leonidas L. Ham- line, to whom I had an introduction. and who soon after asked me to have a seat by his side. We spent nearly the entire even- ing together. He appeared to be interested in the Northwest. especially in the young and frontier territory of Minnesota. He wanted to know all about her settlers. what kind of people were making their homes in her villages and on her prairies : whether
HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY 281
the church from which he had just resigned the high office of bishop was holding its own among the churches of the territory in its missionary and pioneer work. He seemed pleased at what I told him. During the evening his conversation and advice were fatherly : his aim and thought, apparently, to mark out to me the better way, with now and then incidents of his own early life. To me it was interesting and never forgotten. and as we parted I remember so distinctly his cheery words: 'Good night. good night. God bless you.' The memories of that evening, together with a correspondence with him afterwards, led me to have a very great regard for the Bishop. This, coupled with the fact that Bishop Hamline had been one of the most distinguished prelates in the United States-the peer of any in ability and piety-is what gave the institution its name.
"The next question was. where shall the institution of the future be located? The early legislators believed that the suc- eess of an educational institution depended largely upon its prox- imity to navigable streams, for the reason that a large majority of the earlier settlers made their homes near the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers and Lake St. Croix-and for a further reason that students, like freight. are more cheaply transported by water than by land. Therefore the bill provided 'that said uni- versity be located on the Mississippi River. between St. Paul and Lake Pepin.' it being understood that if there was no town worthy of the honor, one could be made. The bill. as reported. or at least substantially so, passed both houses and became a law, March 3, 1854.
"The Bishop was advised of the action of the legislature. and a copy of the act was forwarded to him. This was the first inti- mation that he had that such a scheme was thought of; he felt complimented and intimated in reply that he would do something for his namesake.
"Within a few weeks after the passage of the act. lloyt. Brooks and Bidwell issued a call for a meeting of the incorpora- tion to be held on May 19, in the city of St. Paul. In response to the call, a meeting was held, and the charter accepted, when an adjournment was had until June 12. 1854. When the trustees held their second meeting, more than one village contested for the prize; even St. Paul thought it was a plum worth looking after. The late Major Nathaniel MeLean offered twenty acres of land on Dayton's Bhiff, now known as Suburban Hills, and among the most elevated and beautiful building sites on the Mis- sissippi River, then just outside the corporate limits of the town of St. Paul. Lyman Dayton, Ira Bidwell, William HI. Randall and Lonis Robert also made liberal offers of broad acres and town lots for its location. William Freeborn. one of the trustees,
.
28:
HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY
became very much interested in its location, and, with what he claimed to be a prophetic vision, declared that the little village of Red Wing, with its three hundred inhabitants, and a total valuation of real and personal property for taxation less than $70,000, was in the future to be a city that would rank high in intelligence, wealth and population among the cities of Minne- sota, and demanded that the new university be located there, as a matter of right, claiming that myself and others had so prom- ised. The fact was admitted, and Red Wing became the home of Hamline University."
The first board of trustees was a remarkable set of men. Among them representing the clergy of the Methodist Episcopal were Rev. Chauncey Hobart, Rev. John Kearns, Rev. David Brooks, Rev. Matthew Sorin and Rev. Thomas M. Fullerton. The others were Parker Payne. Ira Bidwell. B. F. Hoyt, Willis A. Gorman, Alexander Ramsey. Samuel C. Thomas, Merritt Allen, Hart Boughton, William Freeborn and W. D. Woodbury.
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