USA > Missouri > Cooper County > History of Cooper County, Missouri > Part 23
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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
brick store house known as the Cannon & Zollinger store house, was not built until about the year 1856.
The Masonic lodge, called Pleasant Grove Lodge No. 142, A. F. and A. M., was established on the 15th day of July, A. D., 1854, A. L. 5854. The dispensation was granted by the M. W. G. M., of Missouri, L. S. Cornwell, on the 6th day of November, 1854. This dispensation was granted to the following named persons: Wm. E. Combs, Harrison Homan, S. H. Saund- ers, Wm. Devine, Tarleton E. Cox, Strawther O'Rourke, Moses B. Small, Aaron Hup, Wm. A. Reed, Wm. R. Butler, Robt. M. Taylor, and George W. Embree. The charter was granted May 31, 1855, and signed by L. S. Cornwell, G. M., Oscar F. Potter, D. G. M .; J. W. Chenoweth, D. G. E .; Henry Van Odell, J. G. W. The first officers were as follows: S H. Saund- ers, W. M .; Aaron Hupp, S. W .; H. Homan, J. W .; R. M. Taylor, treasurer; W. R. Butler, secretary ; George W. Embree, S. D .; Strother O'Rourk, J. W., and R. J. Buchanan, tyler.
The Odd Fellows lodge was established in October, 1856, under the name of the Otterville Lodge No. 102, I. O. O. F.
The first officers were as follows: W. G. Wear, N. G .; H. A. B. Johnston, V. G .; Samuel M. Homan, secretary, and John S. Johnston, treasurer.
The present Cumberland Presbyterian church was built by Milton Starke, in the year 1857.
The old Presbyterian church was built by John D. Strain, in 1866, and is now owned by the Baptists.
The Mehtodists and Christian churches were built about the same time, in the year 1872. The former was built by M. C. White, and the latter by T. C. Cranmer and T. M. Travillian. They are both neat brick buildings, and an ornament to our village.
The public school building was erected in 1869, costing $6,000.
The Pacific railroad was completed to Otterville from St. Louis in 1860, and this place for a short time became the terminus. Whilst the road remained here, and in fact for a long time previous, Otterville com- manded quite a brisk trade, presenting a very active and business-like appearance, and, indeed, for a time it flourished like a "green bay tree." But it was not destined to enjoy this prosperity long. The railroad com- pany soon pulled up its stakes and transferred its terminus to the then insignificant village of Sedalia, which, at that time, being in its infancy,
248
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
had scarcely been christened; but, though young, it rose like magic from the bosom of the beautiful prairie, and in a few years Sedalia became the county seat of one of the richest counties in the state, and a great railroad centre, while truth compels me to say that Otterville sank back into its original obscurity.
The town of Otterville was incorporated by an act of the Legislature of Missouri, on the 16th day of Feb., 1857.
About the year 1860, for a short period, a considerable wholesale business was done here. Among the wholesale establishments were the following: W. G. Wear and Son; Cloney, Crawford & Co., from Jefferson City ; Clark & Reed; Concannon; The Robert Brothers; Lohman & Co., etc., etc.
About this time the Mansion house was built by a man named Pork, the Embree house by George Embree and Chris. Harlan. The latter was quite a large hotel near the depot, and was afterwards moved to Sedalia by George R. Smith, and about the same time several houses were moved by different parties to that place. There was, after this time, a consider- able business done in a retail way around the old public square. Among the most prominent merchants here were W. G. Wear & Son, and Cannon & Zollinger, who carried on a large and profitable trade for many years.
But having already extended these notes far beyond what I had first anticipated, I am admonished to close them rather abruptly, lest they become wearisome. They were prepared at a very short notice, and might have been made more interesting had sufficient time been given the writer to arrange them with some regard to order.
I hope that due allowances will be made by an appreciative public for this defect in this hastily-written memorandum.
In conclusion, I will take occasion to say, that one hundred years ago, where we meet now to rejoice together at the happy coming of our first centennial, this part of Cooper County, nay, even Cooper County itself, was a howling wilderness. The hungry wolf and bear; the elk and the antelope; the wild deer and the buffalo roamed about undisturbed, save by the feeble arrows of the red man.
Today, through the little village of Otterville, within a very few yards of this spot, a double band of iron, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, connects San Francisco with the city of New York. Over these lines of metal rails ponderous trains are almost continuously passing to and fro, freighted with innumerable articles of the rich merchandise of
240
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
the east; the varied productions of the west; the teas and silks of China; the silver of Arizona, and the gold of California.
Otterville contains at this time about four hundred population. It has three general stores, one hardware and grocery store, two drug stores, one confectionery, one furniture store, two blacksmith shops, one saloon, two hotels, four churches, one school."
The town of Otterville at this time has a population of 500. It has two banks with a capital stock of $30,000, a good system of schools with an enrollment of 160 and eight teachers. It has five churches, electric lights system, twelve stores, one hotel, lumber yard, one newspaper, two blacksmith shops, and one elevator company. While Otterville has not grown rapidly in population, it is and has been substantial through the years and its population is made up of an excellent citizenship.
The inauguration of rural delivery has a tendency to decrease the number of postoffices and there are not so many in Cooper County now as there were several years ago. The following are a list of the postoffices as they exist today: Boonville, Billingsville, Blackwater, Bunceton, Clif- ton City, Lamine, Otterville, Overton, Pilot Grove, Pleasant Green, Prairie Home, Speed, Vermont, Wooldridge.
CHAPTER XVI.
SCHOOLS.
PIONEER SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS, FIRST SCHOOLS IN COOPER COUNTY-DAVIS SCHOOL-COOPER COUNTY SCHOOLS-BOONVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS-SCHOOL DIRECTORS-SUPERINTENDENTS-FACULTY-SUMMER SCHOOL-CATHOLIC SCHOOL-COOPER COUNTY INSTITUTE-OTTERVILLE ACADEMY-McGUIRE SEMINARY-KEMPER MILITARY SCHOOL-PILOT GROVE COLLEGIATE INSTI- TUTE.
The history of the schools of Cooper County would be the history of its people. For whenever and wherever Americans have been thrown together there has invariably been a school established. The first schools of Cooper County were rude, crude affairs, with dirt floors and split log benches. And the teachers were picturesque characters who were pos- sessed with more cunning than brains, and preferred this easy method of eking out a precarious existence to one of hardship and toil incident to the work in the frontier country. The teacher "boarded out" among the families he served and received as wage often as much as ten or fifteen dollars per month which was collected as tuition. All schools prior to the year 1839 were strictly private affairs, since it was not until this year that any adequate provision was made by the state for the establishment of public schools. At this time the common school fund, the county school fund, and the township school fund were constituted, by legislative enactment, and the money derived from the sale of the sixteenth section to be invested and the proceeds be used for the advancement of the public schools of the state was again reaffirmed.
The first school in the present limits of Cooper County was taught by John Savage in the year 1813, about one mile east of Boonville, on Lilly's Branch. There were fifteen pupils, as follows: Benjamin, Delany and
251
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
William Bolin, Hiram and William Savage, Hess and William Warden, John and William Yarnall, John and William Jolly, Joseph and William Scott, John and William Rupe. John and William seem to have been choice names for boys in this early day, and unless girls were named John and William they were evidently in the minority at this time or else their education was neglected. The pupils sat upon one log in the open air and the teacher upon another log facing his pupils. The tuition was one dol- lar per month, payable in anything the settler had that was worth one dollar. This school continued only one month. Fear of an attack by the Indians who commenced a series of depredations about this time caused the settlers to keep their children under the protecting walls of the fort. During the period from 1813 to 1820 Judge Abiel Leonard, William H. Moore, Dr. Edward Lawton looked after the education of the boys and girls of the early settlers of Boonville. The first school house in Boonville was a brick building located near the residence of Dr. M. McCoy.
In the early schools of Cooper County the subjects taught were read- ing, writing, arithmetic, geography and English grammar, their import- ance indicated by the order in which they are enumerated.
As the population increased and the desire for more and better facil- ities for education became general, the academy grew up in answer to the demand for "higher education". The academy that flourished in Mis- souri from 1820 to 1890 was an outgrowth of the old English grammar school that very early put in its appearance in New England embellished with the ideas that permeated the "Aristocratic" private schools of the south prior to the Civil War, notably those that flourished in Virginia and Kentucky.
Among the early schools of Cooper County outside of Boonville was a subscription school taught by Henry Severns. It met in an old log house which was located across the road from where the home of Mr. R. S. Roe, of the Bell Air neighborhood, is now located. This school was main- tained during the early forties, and prospered until the public school of Bell Air was established. It is asserted, on good authority, that Prof. Severns' salary was sixty-five dollars, but whether this means for the month or for the year I have found it impossible to ascertain.
The following history of the Davis school is typical of many schools in Cooper County.
Davis School .- By D. R. Culley .- "Prior to the close of the Civil War no public school organization existed as we now have it in this district.
The people in this and adjoining territory had emigrated largely
252
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
from the states of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, bringing with them the educational plans that prevailed in those states.
A teacher desiring a school would canvass a neighborhood and have the parents subscribe so many pupils for a specified term at so much per month. Hence, schools were then known in the country as subscription schools.
About the year 1854 the Baptists erected a church building about a mile southwest of the present school building and some two miles east of Vermont. It was built in the southeast corner of the farm now owned and occupied by W. H. H. Rowles and family. This was known as Hope- well Baptist Church and was used for both church and school purposes. It was a typical building of those days. It was built of hewed walnut logs and was about twenty feet square; there was a small window in the mid- dle of the east wall and one in the west wall; batten doors were in the middle of the north and south sides ; a high, home made pulpit in the west end, and home made benches fronting west. It was here that the resi- dents of the community and those for miles around congregated once a. month, in large numbers, to get the news as well as to hear the preacher. Whole families were present and the good ladies served dinners that could not be surpassed anywhere.
During the year 1859, the citizens erected a good, modern building about three-quarters of a mile to the west and a mile east of Vermont. This was known as Vermont Academy. D. R. Culley was employed as. teacher for a term of ten months at a salary of $60.00 per month.
This was probably the first time a teacher was employed in this dis- trict at a fixed salary. This school continued for five years when condi- tions growing out of the Civil War caused many families to move else- where and the community as known prior to 1860 was almost entirely broken up.
In the fall of the year 1858, D. R. Culley opened a school in the church building and it was intended to serve the purpose of an academy as well as to meet the demands of what would now be termed the graded course in our district schools. The term continued for ten months. The larger boys attended for the full term and were not taken out of school as now, to assist with the farm work. It was also observed that the pupils were more advanced in years than now. There were no grades. If a pupil could make two grades during the term well and good, and many of the.
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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
pupils did this; no pupil was held back on account of the weakness or slowness of others.
The first year of school closed with oral examinations and an address by Prof. John W. Sutherland of Boonville.
Pupils from other counties came here and boarded with families near by. Young men walked a distance of four or five miles and of those now living are our best and most prominent citizens. The late Rev. A. E. Rogers, D. D., attended this school for three years and he often remarked, that it was here that he received the best training that which was of the most worth in after life.
Rev. Rockwell Smith, D. D., for many years a missionary to Brazil, was an unusually bright young man who began his literary career here. Those who in after life became bankers, civil officers, financiers, the best of farmers and the best and most useful citizens as well, received their early school training here.
After the close of the Civil War, the regular organization of what is now termed our public school system as observed in our district schools, took place."
A subscription school was maintained before the war, in the Green- wood district, in a small house erected by Mrs. William Guyer for a Meth- odist church. It was used as school and church both until it burned sev- cral years later. Pisgah was formerly a part of the Greenwood district. About 1887 an effort was made to divide the district. The Pisgah people insisted that they did not want to send their children to Greenwood because the children carried ticks, and the Greenwood vicinity came back at them with the argument that the Pisgah children had fleas. The fight between the factions became so heated that in the latter part of the year 1887 the district was divided. This shows the length to which neighborhood quar- rels may be carried.
There were enumerated in the Cooper County schools for the year ending June 30, 1918, 4,307 white children and 741 colored, a grand total of 5,048. The enrollment shows a total of 3,802 white pupils and 651 colored. These pupils attended school 439,673 days, and there was spent on them during the year $100,230, of which $71,921.51 was spent for teachers' wages, $16,176.32 for incidentals, and $12,132.17 for building purposes.
The assessed valuation of taxable property was $11,556,679 and the
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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
average levy for school purposes was 57 cents on $100 valuation. In the spring of 1918 there were 203 pupils finishing the common school course of study, and there were all told throughout the county 141 teachers in the public schools, teaching in 76 districts. The average salary of these teachers was $67 per month.
Although Missouri ranks thirty-second in the matter of education and although little progress has been made in the rural schools in the state as a whole, Cooper County, however, has made marked progress in the building up of a system of up-to-date school with modern buildings and competent teachers.
It has been said that should a Rip Van Winkle wake up in a modern barn he would realize that he had slept 150 years, but should his waking take place in the average Missouri rural school he would turn over to finish his nap. Be this as it may, Cooper County is fast forging to the front among the counties of Missouri in the matter of efficient rural schools and when this spirit of improvement and progress permeates the whole of its citizenship, Cooper County schools through the generosity of its people and because of their pride in the boys and girls, will be made the best possible, and the rural community will offer to its children the same advantages now enjoyed by the city children.
COOPER COUNTY SCHOOLS 1918-19.
No. of District
Name of District
Average Daily
Attendance
District Clerk
P. O. Address
1 Overton
15
40,083 Chas. Windsor
Overton
2 Woodland
32
109,438 B. J. Boillott
Boonville R. D.
3 Bluffton 12
96,976 J. B. Hickam
Boonville R. F. D.
4 Westwood 9
52,589 H. E. Fuser Boonville R. F. D.
5 Clear Spring 17
108,200 A. H. Moehle Boonville R. F. D.
6 Locust Grove _. 33
125,200 J. H. Turley
Lamine
7 Pleasant Grove_ 18 160,275 G. R. Kelly
Blackwater
8 Oakwood
2 91,275 E. R. Schuster Blackwater
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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
9 Oakwood No. 2_ 21 105,625 Jesse Kincheloe Blackwater
10 Willow Grove .... 15 97,400 J. Roy Jeffress Blackwater
11 Sappington 000 8,575 Noland Taylor Nelson
12 Cotton Patch 18 109,678 C. W. Racy Nelson
13 Shackleford 15 39,227 Chas. Mclaughlin Nelson
14 Buffalo Prairie_ 16 100,875 Louis N. Hoff Pilot Grove
15 Franklin 9 48,073 W. B. Kella Blackwater
16 Peninsula 15 57,438 A. H. Alley Blackwater
17 Becker
19
44,550 A. H. Hartman
Pilot Grove
18 Chouteau 36 68,225 H. E. Brownfield Pilot Grove
19 Simmons 12 71,600 A. W. Tally Pilot Grove
20 Prairie View 22
109,875 L. M. Immele Boonville R. F. D.
21 Hickory Grove_ 21 83,946 M. C. Johnmeyer. _Boonville R. F. D.
22 Billingsville 13 126,700 A. S. Chamberlain __ Boonville R. F. D.
23 Mt. Sinai
7
119,810 M. R. Sloan Boonville R. F. D.
24 Stony Point 9
68,524 W. A. Whitehurse Speed R. F. D.
25 Concord 18 111,450 Clark E. Bower Boonville R. F. D.
26 Crab Orchard. 19 122,006 J. P. Keiser Boonville R. F. D.
27 Hail Ridge 15 88,460 T. B. Robertson Boonville R. F. D.
28 Pleasant Valley
12
42,361 L. M. Swarner
Boonville R. F. D.
29 Fair View
17
62,287 Theo. Lebbing
Boonville R. F. D.
30 Oak Grove 28
91,963 T. H. Swanstone.
Boonville R. F. D.
31 Highland 16
105,164 Clay Groom
Boonville R. F. D.
32 Lowland 13
44,683 Lee Eager Woolridge
104,780 F. B. Hopkins
Woolridge
35 Liberty 17 116,925 H. H. Warmbrodt Woolridge
42 Washington 23 115,558 E. L. Shirley Boonville R. F. D.
44 Lone Grove 5
183,613 Walter Toellner
Bunceton R. F. D.
45 Lone Elm 14 160,125 F. H. Muntzel Boonville R. F. D.
46 Independence 15
60,610 Geo. Chamberlin.
Boonville R. F. D.
47 Palestine 43
111,318 Wm. Walje Speed
48 Bell Air 32
191,575 Chas. P. Mitzel Bunceton
49 Mt. Nebo 18 136,205 R. E. Downing
Pilot Grove
50 Cottonwood 18
53,576 John Dwyer Pilot Grove
51 Oakland 13
97,225 H. J. Meyer Boonville R. F. D.
52 Mt. Vernon 14 65,125 E. E. Tavenner. Pilot Grove R. F. D.
53 Harriston 11 83,775 W. A. Straub Pleasant Green
54 Pleasant Green_ 33
89,500 J. S. Parrish Pleasant Green
55 Reinhardt 15 70,750 Frank Clevorn Pleasant Green
34 Woolridge 64
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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
56 Oakland 10
81,862 P. G. Meisenheimer __ Pleasant Green
57 Vollmer
14 93,455 Frank Vollmer Pleasant Green
104 Lamine 36 28,650 G. H. Bidstrup Beaman
59 Clifton City. 42 113,963 J. E. Potter, Jr Clifton City
62 Rockland 20 30,126 G. W. Tomlinson Bunceton
63 Oak Hill 22 76,408 S. L. Willis Pleasant Green
64 Lebanon 27
51,972 C. I. Thomas Bunceton
65 Mt. Zion 18 72,500 A. A. Strickfadden_Otterville R. F. D.
66 West Fork 7
106,375 J. S. Funkhouser Bunceton
67 Bethlehem 20
134,941 D. C. Grove Otterville
68 Gillroy 19
108,794 R. E. Hutchison. Syracuse R. F. D.
69 Glendale 21 98,925 Elmer Fry Tipton R. F. D.
70 Franklin 000
132,986 F. C. Betteridge Bunceton
71 Davis
15
139,850 Ben M. Draffen Bunceton R. F. D.
72 Baxter 27
73,688 A. N. Pedego Tipton R. F. D.
73 Dick's Mill 28
29,313 J. B. Hodges Bunceton R. F. D.
74 Keener 15
34,539 F. D. Williams
Clarksburg
78 Whitlinger 15
30,638 Luther Moore
Clarksburg
79 Felder
23
46,482 E. J. Roedel
Jamestown R. F. D.
80 Martin
000
8,150 A. F. Zey California R. F. D.
81 Mt. Pleasant 15
31,677 Wm. Hess Clarksburg
82 Gill
15
35,988 J. A. Birdsong
Clarksburg
84 Excelsior 000
24,600 Stephen H. Martin
Tipton
85 Lone Elm 15
41,550 P. J. Knipp Tipton
441,172 A. L. Gochenour
Byberry
(2) Consolidated 195
378,490 J. L. Spillers Otterville
(3) Consolidated 150
459,366 Wm. H. Byler Prairie Home
Boonville 556
2,255,613 Wm. Mittlebach
Boonville
Bunceton 176
457,820 G. H. Meeker
Bunceton
Pilot Grove 108 358,700 Otto Kistenmacher Pilot Grove
Blackwater 111 302,605 C. Q. Shouse Blackwater
24,675 L. J. Stephens Clarksburg
87 Byberry 15
(1) Consolidated 98
509,387 T. W. Howard Bunceton
83 Cross Roads 000
The Public Schools of Boonville .- The Missouri Legislature during its session passed March 12, 1867 an act authorizing cities, towns, and vil- lages to organize for school purposes. On the 29th of the same month the following notice was issued:
---
R. F. WYAN'S RESIDENCE
--
MAIN STREET, BOONEVILLE
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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
"The undersigned resident free holders of the city of Boonville re- quest an election of the qualified voters of said city at the mayor's office on Tuesday, April 9, 1867, to determine whether they will accept the pro- visions of an act authorizing any city, town or village to organize for school purposes, with special privileges, approved March 16, 1867; and organize said city in accordance therewith .- C. W. Sombart, H. L. Wallace John Bernard, Thos. Plant, J. L. Stephens, Nicholas Walz, Stephen Weber, J. P. Neef, Jacob Zimmer, E. Roeschel, J. F. Gmelich, John Fetzer.
The election was held April 9, 1867, at which 30 votes were cast, 29 for and one against organization for school purposes. On the 23d of the same month the following citizens were elected to constitute the Board of Education: Jos. L. Stephens, Jos. A. Eppstein, C. W. Sonbart, John Bernard, H. A. Hutchison, Franklin Swap.
The schools were opened Sep. 23, 1867, with Joseph C. Mason, prin- cipal, and Mrs. Clara Atkinson, Mrs. Mary E. Schaefer, and Miss M. E. McKee, assistants in the school for white children, and S. G. Bundy and wife teachers in that for colored pupils.
A building 22x60 feet and located on Sixth street was purchased of C. H. Allison for $5,250, and used as a school for white children.
The enrollment during the first year was as follows: White chil- dren, 377; colored, 199; a total of 576. But the average attendance of white children was only 207, and of the colored only 77-making a total average attendance of only 284. It is interesting to note that the enum- eration at this time was 1,302.
Two wings were added to the original building in 1870, which con- stitute the north and south wings of the building at the present time. In 1896 the original center of the building was torn down and a new center erected.
The high school from this time on developed rapidly and soon out- grew the cramped quarters afforded at the Central school. So a special election was held March 2, 1914 and $65,000 voted for the erection of a modern high school building, 587 votes being cast for and 219 against the bond issues. The new building was completed Sept. 1, 1915 at a cost (including furniture and equipment) of about $85,000 and is recognized as one of the finest in the state. The building was named "The Laura Speed Elliott High School" in honor of and as a memorial to the deceased wife of Col. Jno. S. Elliott who presented to the Board of Education and through them to the citizens of Boonville the site on which the building stands.
(17)
258
HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
The lot was valued at $10,000 and is an ideal location for such a building.
The Laura Speed Elliott High School building consists of 25 rooms including auditorium, gymnasium, library, cooking room, sewing room, commercial department, laboratories, class rooms and offices. It has modern heating, ventilating and lighting systems, and is used by various organizations as a community center.
Following the modern trend in education, Boonville is adapting the curriculum of her schools to meet the twentieth century demands. Courses that have been added in recent years are agriculture, bookkeeping, type- writing, stenography, cooking, sewing, general science, teacher-training, Spanish, French and vocational home economics.
The trend in education is away from the strictly classical course to the more practical, but none the less cultural, semi-vocational course, which has for its aim the making of better citizens, better able to take their place in the complex modern society and earn an honest living. If the school does not develop better men and women, a higher type of citizen, out of the material it takes in, then it is a failure.
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