USA > Missouri > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Missouri > Part 9
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Captain Foster, Messrs. Beard. Johonnot, Babcock, Reese, Rogers, Shedd, Baldwin, Ridings, Cruce, Cockrell, and Crittenden are no longer living. They have gone to their reward, and "their good works do follow them." Captain Fike, John W. Brown, H. T. Clark, and Maj. E. A. Nickerson are still living in Warrensburg. Col. W. H. Blodgett lives in St. Louis.
May the future years be successful and prosperous for the State Normal School at Warrensburg, as well as for the beautiful city of that name, is the earnest wish and hope of the writer.
How the Normal School Opened .- (By Mrs. Sarah J. Williams.) [Editor's Note: Mrs. Williams, with her husband, N. Martin Williams, came to Johnson county in 1869. Her husband was promi- nent in the newspaper field and politics of that time. Mrs. Williams, of unusual natural ability, became especially conversant with public affairs. She was matron of the normal school from 1882 to 1886, and librarian and reference teacher from 1882 to 1897.]
April 27, 1871, the normal school was finally located at Warrens- burg. Warrensburg received the news late one evening. The church bells were rung all night, bands played, bonfires were lighted, and people, hundreds of them, beat tinpans or anything they could find to beat that would make a noise. Fourteen days after this the school was
145
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
opened in the Foster public school building, May 10, 1870. The grounds upon which this building stands was also given by M. U. Foster, so let us always remember that, whatever his faults, Warrensburg is eternally indebted to him for its educational progress. Miss Sally Land, afterwards Mrs. Isaac Markward, paid $250 for the first incidental ticket. There were forty students in attendance the first day. George P. Beard was the president the first year. James Johonnot was elected the next year and served for three years.
During the second year occurred the great grasshopper invasion of this part of the state and almost broke up the school. Professor Johonnot, out of his own purse, and with private help, established club rooms and cheap eating places to help the enterprise along. John the Baptist was said to have relished locusts, and the school gave a grass- hopper soup supper at fifty cents a plate in the old Eads Hotel, where Cohn's store now stands. The grasshopper soup was made by pulling the legs off the hoppers and breaking the feet off at the knee, using only the hams of the hoppers for the soup. Roasted grasshoppers were also served. The proceeds of this supper went to help the students in the school until later in the summer the hoppers took their flight and good crops were raised.
Professor Johonnot was in many respects a remarkable man. He brought the best methods of the East and organized the entire workings of the school, building for it a sure foundation.
In June, 1872, the school moved into the new building, with only the lower floor finished, the rest not being completed for ten years. In 1875, George L. Osborne was elected president. He came as a Chris- tian gentleman, an experienced educator, and won success where few could have succeeded. He was president twenty-four years, and to him belongs the honor of making the best normal school in the state.
On Tuesday, May 16, 1871, the grounds for the building were sur- veyed and work soon began. August 16, 1871, the corner stone of the first building was laid. The occasion was celebrated with a big meeting, four bands, a long procession and impressive ceremonies. Among the speakers were William T. Harris, afterward United States superin- tendent of Education, and Norman J. Coleman, afterward the first secre- tary of agriculture, both Missourians.
The first faculty consisted of George P. Beard, president; E. A. Angel and Miss Lucy Jane Maltby, instructors. Capt. H. C. Fike.
I.16
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
now living, was treasurer of the first board of regents. On June 22, 1871. Beard was re-elected for the ensuing year, 1871-72. Among the early teachers from 1872 to 1876 were Mrs. Mary V. Neet, Capt. W. F. Bahlman and Miss Ida M. Carhart, all now living. During the first ten years the school labored under great difficulties.
The appropriations made by the Legislature were inadequate for the completion and proper equipment of the building and for the employ- ment of the needed teachers for a number of years. Yet in spite of these conditions, the attendance was good and steadily increased. The average attendance has been as follows: 1871 to 1881, three hundred and eighty-one : 1881 to 1891, five hundred and forty-two: 1891 to 1901, eight hundred and sixty-five; 1901 to 1911, one thousand four hundred sixty : 1915-1916, one thousand eight hundred forty-eight. The faculty has grown from three members, in 1871, to fifty-three, and has constantly increased in standard of scholarship and ability. It is now a member of the North Central Association of Colleges in the United States, and gives the degree of Bachelor of Pedagogy for four years' college work, which is recognized as the equivalent of the Bachelor's degrees of Chi- cago, Wisconsin, and the other colleges in the association.
Seventy-two hundred and fifty men and women have been licensed by the normal to teach in the public schools of Missouri. Of this num- ber. forty-one hundred and seventy-three have received their regents' certificate, a two-years' license to teach in Missouri. Twenty-nine hun- dred and eight have received diplomas, which give a life license to teach in the public schools of Missouri, and one hundred and sixty-nine have received the rural school certificate.
The presidents of the school have been George P. Beard, 1871-72: James Johonnot, 1872-75: George L. Osborne, 1875-98: George H. Howe, 1898-1901: E. B. Craighead, 1901-04: James E. Ament, 1904-06: W. J. Hawkins, 1906-1915; E. L. Hendricks, 1915. to present.
In June. 1872, the first story of the main building was ready for occupancy. However, the building as at first planned was completed in 1881. In 1885 and 1886 a wing was erected south of the center of the main building and connected with it by a corridor. Appropriations were made in 1895 for a Science building, in 1903 for a gymnasium and a new heating plant with a second story for the manual training department, and in 1907 for a training school building. The gymnasium and training school were built of Warrensburg sandstone.
I47
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
The Normal School Since the Fire .- On March 6. 1915, occurred an event that showed what the normal school was really made of. Early that morning every building was destroyed by fire, except the gym- nasium and power plant. The following clipping from the "Normal Student" of March 9, 1918, on the third anniversary of the fire, tells what happened :
"The enrollment of the normal school at this time was about 650. This mass of people, young men and women, just as we are, were here for educational purposes and had no buildings to shelter them. What were they to do?
"Bills were strewn throughout the town. Daily editions of news- papers were gotten out to arouse everybody. There were great mass meetings held for students, faculty, men and women and conferences of business and professional men of the city. A board of regents' meet- ing was called and held on the shortest of notice.
"At these various meetings it was decided not to let the loss of buildings hinder or in anyway interfere with the progress of anyone concerned. Arrangements were made for all classes by Monday morn- ing at the beginning of the first hour and the fire was only Saturday morning.
"Some predicted that the majority of students would leave and go home in a day or two, that Warrensburg would be dead, and that some other town would raise a subscription toward the rebuilding of the buildings and get them there. They predicted that everything in general would lose its pep. These were the pessimists, a very small percentage.
"The optimists who were large in number were the ones who did things. A student mass meeting was held at 2:30 p. m. the same day of the fire at which the students made resolutions to the effect that they were willing to help do their part, that they were not discouraged. and they sympathized with the faculty, board of regents and people of Warrensburg. They recognized that the buildings did not make the school and that they were a small part of it. The students did help. They did their part conscientiously and energetically in keeping Normal No. 2 and Warrensburg alive. That is the reason the cause was won and that we students are here now."
The Legislature then in session and its successor appropriated
148
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
$305,000 at once for new buildings, and work began at once. The Training School building was rebuilt at once at a cost of $53,964.61. It is of stone and concrete throughout, has forced ventilation, hard- wood floors, slate blackboards, and sanitary drinking fountains on each floor.
Science Hall was completed July 20, 1916, at a cost of $69.120.24. This building, like the new training school building, represents the best that is known to modern school architecture in construction, heat- ing, lighting and ventilation. It is devoted to agriculture, physical and biological science and home economics. The main, or Administration building, was ready for the opening of the school year, 1917-18. It is built of Carthage limestone and Warrensburg sandstone, at a cost of $168.042.72. The entire building is equipped with a modern combined heating and ventilating system. This building is occupied by the administrative offices, the Academic Department and the Library. The literary societies also have commodious quarters here.
The Revised Statutes of 1899 declare the normal schools to be established to fit young men and young women to be 'competent teachers in the public schools of the state' (elementary schools and high schools). The dominant interest centers in that training which the school affords to those preparing to be teachers. This school is especially organized for a professional work in its departments of psychology, pedagogy and the training school.
"Academic and technical preparations must of a necessity, proceed along with or before professional instruction. The academic instruction of a normal school must be exact, though broad. The student of normal school is thoroughly grounded in the subjects he is to teach, and more, his course must extend beyond the public school subjects, to give the broader outlook for sources of material and clearer insight into methods and means of investigation."
The course of study when the school was first established was: Natural science, mathematics, elocution, vocal music, instrumental music, didactics. The latter was given by President Beard and consti- tuted the professional course and was outlined in detail as follows:
Methods of Culture-Classification of mental powers; nature and office of each faculty : laws of development and discipline ; methods of cultivating each faculty ; normal science ; methods of cultivating our moral nature : domestic and social culture.
149
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
Methods of Instruction-Principles of instruction ; forms of instruc- tion; classification of knowledge; order of studying the branches ; methods of teaching; history of methods and biography of educators.
School Management-Preparatory work ; school organization; class management ; school government ; school authorities; science of govern- ment and Missouri school laws; school hygiene; teachers' institutes.
Training School .- The training school, first designated as "Model Department," and commonly called "practice school," first embraced in Warrensburg public schools and was under Prof. J. J. Campbell, for many years the beloved head of the English department. This did not prove satisfactory and was discontinued, a training school in connection with the normal established and it also discontinued, and the school finally established in 1881-82.
Summer School .- The summer school was organized in 1896, as a sort of private enterprise until 1901, when an appropriation was made for it. Since then, it has grown until now its enrollment much exceeds that of any other period of the year. It is composed of the highest class students, chiefly teachers of experience taking advanced work. In 1916-17, there were 300 students taking senior college work.
The present departments of the school are grouped as two, the Academic and Department of Technical Subjects. The following is a complete list of the subjects in each department with the amount of college courses given under them, measured in hours. A course of five hours means a course in which five hours of lecture or class-room instruc- tion is given for a period of half a school year. After a student has graduated from a first-class high school, 120 hours of such college work is required in the leading universities and in the normal for the Bache- lor's degree : 60 hours is required for the diploma, conferring life-time license to teach in the Missouri public schools :
Academic Department.
Agriculture, physiography and geography 321/2 hours
Biology
20
hours
Chemistry, physiology and hygiene.
20
hours
Economics 221/2 hours
Education
421/2 hours
English
80
hours
French
221/2 hours
German
3834 hours
1
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
History
50
hours
Latin
35
hours
Mathematics
321/2 hours
Physics
221/2 hours
Training school
45
hours
Total
46334 hours
Department of Technical Subjects.
Commerce
2314 hours
Fine arts
321/2 hours
Home economics
371/2 hours
Industrial arts
5114 hours
Music
4334 hours
Physical education
121/2 hours
1
F
Total 20034 hours
The Agricultural Department emphasizes the raising of dairy stock, hogs and poultry. This department is well equipped in the class room and on the farm. There is close co-operation with the State College of Agriculture in carrying on co-operative demonstration plats of alfalfa, corn, wheat, oats, forage crops for hogs and ornamental and fruit planting.
The normal demonstration farm, which is located within a short distance from the campus, consists of thirty-six acres, which are owned by the state, besides sixty acres which the state rents. This farm is well adapted to experimental and demonstration work and it is fairly equipped with farm machinery for crop production. The general fields are used to illustrate the methods of crop production that should exist in the vicinity of Warrensburg.
CHAPTER XI .- COUNTY FINANCES.
CONSERVATIVE MANAGEMENT-UNSETTLED CONDITIONS DUE TO CIVIL WAR- SMALL EXPENDITURES AND REVENUE IN EARLY DAYS-DEBTS DUE JOHN- SON COUNTY - INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT FUND-BONDS -COURT HOUSE - COUNTY HOME-COUNTY REVENUE-DISBURSEMENTS-SPECIAL ACCOUNTS -VALUATIONS AND TAX RATES.
Johnson county bears the unusual and satisfactory distinction of not only being free from indebtedness but has a very satisfactory bal- ance to its credit.
The management of the finances of Johnson county since its or- ganization in 1835 has, in the main, been conservative, economical and businesslike. The only exception has been during and just after the Civil War.
During the war public finance was unsettled and after the war and extending to the panic of 1873, there seems to have been mismanage- ment or carelessness or both. By 1873 the county had a total indebted- ness of $304,500, no easy burden. From 1873 to 1876 mortgages on over one hundred farms had been foreclosed in the county. Then the county officials elected at that time introduced rigid economy and con- servatism and this policy has been pursued ever since. The chief com- plaint in recent years has been that the county has spent too little. However, the county courts have fairly represented the people and if they have been too conservative it is because we, the people who elected them, have as a whole been the same way.
When the county was organized in 1835 there were few settlers and the amount of the county's business seems to us startlingly small. There were no public improvements, nothing to spend public money for and no salaried officers to speak of. The first tax assessment of which we have any record was July 16. 1835. The first salary paid to a public official in this county was at the special term of court in 1835, when John H. Townsend, clerk of court, received his salary which amounted to $32.38! At the same term of court John Beatty received $14.81 for books, etc., furnished the court.
At the September term of court, 1835. the county received its first revenue which consisted of $6.50 of state tax on deeds and $5 from P. L.
152
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
Hudgins for a grocer's license. John Carmichael was the first county assessor. He did his work in thirty-two days, for which he received $48. Richard Hancock was the tax collector for the year 1835. At his final settlement for that year he paid over to the county $376.85 in full of all taxes collected by him, including merchants' and grocers' licenses. His commission for collecting the same amounted to $32.81. P. L. Hudgins, the first county treasurer received $10 as his salary for the year 1835, and $20 as commissioner of school lands and $6 for ex- penses for printing.
Twenty years after the organization of the county we find the fol- lowing general statement of funds, revenues and expenditures of John- son county for the fiscal year ending with the May term of court in 1855:
Balance on hand on settlement, $222.84; paid in by collector since, $3,240.08, total, $3,462.92; by amount paid warrants. $2,545.27; by amount jury scrips, $266.90, total, $2,802.17; balance in treasury, $660.75.
Debts Due Johnson County .- Due on tax book of 1854, $1.726.00; principal due John Price's bond, $1,203.76; interest due on same till May 10, 1855, $112.22; cash now in treasury, $660.75, total. $3,701.73; outstanding warrants, May 17, 1855, $316.55; principal due internal im- provement fund, $1,000.00; interest on same May 10, 1855, $415.00, total, $1,731.55; amount in favor of county, $1,970.18.
Internal Improvement Fund .- To amount bonds in treasury, May 17, 1855, $328.82; to amount interest on bonds to May 12. 1855. $89.80; to cash in treasury, May 12, 1855, $690.21; add debt due by Johnson county, $1,000.00; interest on same, $415.00; total amount of fund, $2,523.83. Thus it will be seen that even in twenty years from the county's creation its total business was less than 2 per cent. of what it is today.
The county officers were paid as follows in 1855: Treasurer, $1.500 plus one-half per cent. of school funds handled by him; prosecuting attorney. $750 plus fees ; county clerk, $1,500; circuit clerk, fees ; county clerk deputy, $750; county judges, $3 a day each : sheriff, fees : probate judge, fees ; coroner, fees ; recorder, fees ; surveyor, fees; collector, fees ; constables, fees ; school commissioner. fees.
Bonds .- While Johnson county has been progressive in the way of promoting and encouraging public enterprises it has not suffered by the infliction of bonded indebtedness to the extent that many counties of the West have. The county voted $50.000 in 6 per cent. bonds in 1851 to build
$ 1
JOHNSON COUNTY HOME, NEAR WARRENSBURG, MISSOURI.
153
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
the Pacific railroad, to be expended in Johnson county on the line of the railroad to aid in its construction. In addition the citizens of the county subscribed to about $50,000 of the railroad bonds to insure the building of the road through Johnson county instead of by way of the river route. Madison township voted $60,000 bonds to the capital stock of the St. Louis and Santa Fe Railroad when that road was constructed west from Holden in 1869.
In 1870 Warrensburg voted $100,000 bonds for the construction of a railroad from Warrensburg to Marshall. Before the entire amount of subscriptions for building the road was obtained this $100,000 was used for grading the road northeast from Warrensburg for a distance of thirteen miles. It was then found that the rest of the money neces- sary for the completion of the road could not be raised. Thus the $100,000 already invested was lost and the railroad was never built, like many other railless railroads of the early days. There was considerable litigation over these bonds which extended over a period of years, but the matter was finally compromised.
Court House .- No bonds were ever voted for the erection of any of the county buildings. The first court house was completed at Old Town Warrensburg, 1842. The county clerk's office was built there in 1837. The old court house building at Old Town was too small to accom- modate the offices of the various county officials and separate buildings were erected for that purpose. When the court house was removed to New Town the citizens of Warrensburg donated a frame building to the county which served as the court house until 1894, when it was de- stroyed by fire.
The present court house was completed in 1896 at a cost of $50,000 to the taxpayers of the county, although the buildings really cost $500 to $1,000 more. The difference was paid by about one hundred of the leading citizens of Warrensburg, who had long urged the erection of the kind of building that the county now has and gave their personal bonds as a guarantee that it would not cost over $50,000. The county paid the $50,000 by slightly raising the county tax levy for three suc- cessive years and by the time the building was completed it was prac- tically paid for. This is said to have been an unusual procedure in the erection of a public building of this size.
County Home .- The Johnson County Home is two miles east of Warrensburg and consists of eighty-four acres. This is one of the ideal
154
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
county homes in the state and here the less fortunate members of society are well cared for through their remaining years. The home is supplied with city water, steam heat and electric light. A chapel is provided for religious services and a library, which was presented by Mr. Young of Chilhowee, is at the disposal of the inmates who are inclined to take advantage of the opportunity thus afforded. The white inmates and the negroes are in separate departments and eat their meals separately. At the time of this writing (1917) there are twenty- five inmates in this home, nineteen of whom are white and six colored.
The Tenth Biennial Report of the State Board of Charities and Corrections of Missouri gives the following concise statement of the conditions found at the Johnson County Home, under date of February 28, 1916: "Building, a large, two-story brick, well planned and beanti- fully located, only a short distance from Warrensburg. Modern in all respects. Institution has library for those who care to read. Man- agement, institution was scrupulously clean. Management is excellent in every department." The institution is under the management of K. G. Tempel.
The following is the statement of the finances of Johnson county for the fiscal year ending January 31. 1918:
County Revenue .- Total receipts. $151.141.23 ; total disbursements, $86,585.10; balance, $64.556.13.
Disbursements .- Miscellaneous. $15.384.03 : county officials, salaries city, $17,432.60; expense of county officials, $579.08; court house ex- pense. $1.433.90: county jail repairs, prisoners' board, medical care and supplies, $1,501.82 ; county home, salary, labor, insurance, etc, $4,384.27 : county wards, outdoor relief. $830.00; bridges, $10.027.38: printing and stationery, $1,485.68; insane, including care in state hospitals for the insane, $6,905.15; fuel, lights and water. $2,289.72: election, $86.50; in- quests, $162.12: grand juries, $242.30: grand jury witnesses. $113.70; petit juries, $1,299.55; criminal cases. 790.31: Missouri reformatory. $50.33: school for deaf, $62.54: road improvement. $4.592.00: concrete culverts, $16,815.87 : county special road work. $18,947.97.
Special Accounts .-
Account
Received
Disbursed
Common road
$12.617.70
$11.655.46
Balance $962.24
Roads and bridges
73,202.56
38.992.92
34.209.64
Inter-countyseat fund
2,766.01
1,362.40
1.403.61
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
State criminal costs
1.473.71
544.81
928.90
County criminal costs
1.048.46
669.26
379.20
Witness fees
313.05
51.85
261.20
Unclaimed creditors' funds
121.24
County foreign insurance tax
3,020.18
3,020.18
County school fund, principal
4.100.64
3,892.61
208.33
County school fund, interest
ยท 6,383.82
3,747.73
2,636.09
Swamp land fund, principal
11,869.46
9,311.71
2,557.75
Swamp land fund, interest
5.598.19
2,920.45
2,667.74
Township school fund, principal
4,387.93
3,245.68
1,142.25
Township school fund, interest_
1.931.24
1,073.28
857.96
The total amounts in the school funds, which are loaned by the county at 5 per cent. interest and the income turned over to the schools, are :
County school funds, $56,006.81: swamp land funds, $57.147.85; township school funds, $22,000.29; total. $135,154.95.
Valuations and Tax Rates .- Comparative valuations and tax rates for the county are as follow :
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