USA > Missouri > Clinton County > The History of Clinton County, Missouri : containing a history of the County, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens, Clinton County in the late war, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men etc > Part 7
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772,700
26,700
714,100
Michigan
333,800
4,300
416,900
Indiana
688,800
61,200
439,200
Illinois
1,100,000
138,000
702,400
Wisconsin
384,400
8,700
477,300
Minnesota
247,300
7,000
278 900
Iowa
770,700
43,400
676,200
Missouri
627,300
191,900
516,200
Kansas
265,000
50,000
321,900
Nebraska
157,200
13,600
127,600
California
173,000
25,700
459,600
Oregon
109,700
3,500
112,400
Nevada, Colorado, and Territories
250,000
25,700
423 600
It will be seen from the above table that Missouri is the fifth state in the number of horses ; fifth in number of milch cows, and the lead- ing state in number of mules, having 11,700 more than Texas, which produces the next largest number. Of oxen and cattle Missouri pro- duced in 1879, 1,632,000, which was more than any other state pro- duced excepting Texas, which had 4,800,000. In 1879, Missouri raised 2,817,600 hogs, which was more than any other state produced excepting Iowa. The number of sheep was 1,296,400. The number of hogs packed in 1879 by the different states is as follows :
STATES,
NO.
STATES.
NO.
Ohio .
932,878
Missouri
965,839
Indiana
622,321
Wisconsin
472, 108
Illinois
3,214,896
Kentucky .
212,412
Iowa .
569,763
63
HISTORY OF MISSOU .
Average weight per head for each state :
STATES.
POUNDS.
STATES.
POUNDS.
Ohio
210.47
Missouri .
213.32
Indiana
193.80
Wisconsin
220 81
Illinois
225.71
Kentucky
. 210.11
Iowa
211.98
From the above, it will be seen that Missouri annually packs more hogs than any other state, except Illinois, and that she ranks third in the average weight.
We see no reason why Missouri should not be the foremost stock- raising state of the Union. In addition to the enormous yield of corn and oats upon which the stock is largely dependent, the climate is well adapted to their growth and health. Water is not only inexhaustible, but everywhere convenient. The ranges for stock are boundless, afford- ing for nine months of the year, excellent pasturage of nutritious wild grasses, which grow in great luxuriance upon her thousand prairies.
Cotton is grown successfully in many counties of the southeastern portions of the state, especially in Stoddard, Scott, Pemiscott, Butler, New Madrid, Lawrence and Mississippi.
Sweet potatoes are produced in abundance and are not only sure but profitable.
Broom corn, sorghum, castor beans, white beans, peas and hops, thrive well, and all kinds of garden vegetables are produced in great abundance and are found in the markets during all seasons of the year. Fruits of every variety, including the apple, pear, peach, cherries, apricots and nectarines are cultivated with great success, as are also the straw- berry, gooseberry, currant, raspberry and blackberry.
The grape has not been produced with that success that was at first anticipated, yet the yield of wine for the year 1879 was nearly half a million gallons. Grapes do well in Kansas, and we see no reason why they should not be as surely and profitably grown in a similar climate and soil in Missouri, and particularly in many of the counties north and east of the Missouri River.
RAILROADS.
Twenty-nine years ago the neigh of the "iron horse" was heard for the first time within the broad domain of Missouri. His coming pres- aged the dawn of a brighter and grander era in the history of the state. Her fertile prairies and more prolific valleys would soon be of easy access to the oncoming tide of immigration, and the ores and minerals of her hills and mountains would be developed and utilized in her manufactur- ing and industrial enterprises.
Additional facilities would be opened to the marts of trade and commerce; transportation from the interior of the state would be secured;
64
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
a fresh impetus would be given to the growth of her towns and cities, and new hopes and inspirations would be imparted to all her people. (
Since 1852, the initial period of railroad building in Missouri, between four and five thousand miles of track have been laid ; additional roads are now being constructed and many others in contemplation. The state is already supplied with railroads which thread her surface in all directions, bringing her remotest districts into close connection with St. Louis, that great centre of western railroads and inland commerce. These roads have a capital stock aggregating more than one hundred millions of dollars, and a funded debt of about the same amount.
The lines of railroads which are operated in the state are the fol- lowing :
Missouri Pacific-chartered May 10th, 1850; the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad, which is a consolidation of the Arkansas Branch ; the Cairo, Arkansas & Texas Railroad ; the Cairo & Fulton Railroad ; the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railway ; the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway ; the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Rail- road ; the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad ; the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad ; the Illinois, Missouri & Texas Railroad ; the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad ; the Keokuk & Kansas City Railway Company ; the St. Louis, Salem & Little Rock Railroad Com- pany ; the Missouri & Western ; the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern ; the St. Louis, Hannibal & Keokuk Railroad; the Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railway ; the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad ; the Chi- cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway ; the Burlington & Southwestern Railroad; the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and the St. Joseph & Des Moines.
MANUFACTURES.
The natural resources of Missouri especially fit her for a great man- ufacturing state. She is rich in soil ; rich in all the elements which sup- ply the furnace, the machine shop and the planing mill; rich in the mul- titude and variety of her gigantic forests; rich in her marble, stone and granite quarries ; rich in her mines of iron, coal, lead and zinc; rich in strong arms and willing hands to apply the force ; rich in water power and river navigation ; and rich in her numerous and well built railroads, whose numberless engines thunder along their multiplied trackways.
Missouri contains over fourteen thousand manufacturing establish- ments, 1,965 of which are using steam and give employment to 80,000 hands. The capital employed is about $100,000,000, the material annu- ally used and worked up amounts to over $150,000,000 and the value of the products put upon the markets $250,000,000, while the wages paid are more than $40,000,000,
65
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
The leading manufacturing counties of the state are St. Louis, Jack- son, Buchanan, St. Charles, Marion, Franklin, Green, Lafayette, Platte, Cape Girardeau and Boone. Three-fourths, however, of the manufactur- ing is donc in St. Louis, which is now about the second manufacturing city of the Union. Flouring mills produce annually about $38,194,000 ; carpentering, $18,763,000 ; meat-packing, $16,769,000 ; tobacco, $12,496,- 000; iron and castings, $12,000,000; liquors, $11,245,000; clothing, 10,022,000 ; lumber, $8,652,000 ; bagging and bags, $6,914,000, and many other smaller industries in proportion.
GREAT BRIDGE AT ST. LOUIS.
Of the many public improvements which do honor to the state and reflect great credit upon the genius of their projectors, we have space only to mention the great bridge at St. Louis.
This truly wonderful structure is built of tubular steel, the total length of which, with its approaches, is 6,277 feet, at a cost of nearly $8,000,000. The bridge spans the Mississippi from the Illinois to the Missouri shore, and has separate railroad tracks, roadways and foot paths. In durability, architectural beauty and practical utility, there is, perhaps, no similar piece of workmanship that opproximates it.
The structure of Darius upon the Bosphorus ; of Xerxes upon the Hellespont ; of Cæsar upon the Rhine; and Trajan upon the Danube, famous in ancient history, were built for military purposes, that over them might pass invading armies with their munitions of war, to destroy commerce, to lay in waste the provinces, and to slaughter the people.
But the erection of this was for a higher and nobler purpose. Over it are coming the trade and merchandise of the opulent East, and thence are passing the untold riches of the West. Over it are crowding legions of men, armed not with the weapons of war, but the implements of peace and industry ; men who are skilled in all the arts of agriculture, of manufacture and of mining; men who will hasten the day when St. Louis shall rank in population and importance second to no city on the continent, and when Missouri shall proudly fill the measure of greatness, to which she is naturally so justly entitled.
66
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
CHAPTER XI.
EDUCATION.
PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM-PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF MISSOURI-LINCOLN INSTITUTE- OFFICERS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM-CERTIFICATES OF TEACHERS-UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-SCHOOLS-COLLEGES -INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING - LOCATION- LIBRARIES - NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS: NO OF SCHOOL CHILDREN - AMOUNT EXPENDED-VALUE OF GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS -. "THE PRESS."
The first constitution of Missouri provided that " one school or more shall be established in each township, as soon as practicable and neces- sary, where the poor shall be taught gratis."
It will be seen that even at that early day (1820), the framers of the constitution made provision for at least a primary education for the poorest and the humblest, taking it for granted that those who were able would avail themselves of educational advantages which were not gratuitous.
The establishment of the public school system in its essential feat- ures was not perfected until 1839, during the administration of Governor Boggs, and since that period the system has slowly grown into favor, not only in Missouri, but throughout the United States. The idea of a free or public school for all classes was not at first a popular one, espe- cially among those who had the means to patronize private institutions of learning. In upholding and maintaining public schools, the oppo- nents of the system felt that they were not only compromising their own standing among their more wealthy neighbors, but that they were to some extent bringing opprobrium upon their children. Entertaining such prejudices they naturally thought that the training received in pub- lic schools could not be otherwise than defective, hence many years of probation passed before the popular mind was prepared to appreciate the benefits and blessings which spring from these institutions.
Every year only adds to their popularity, and commends them the more earnestly to the fostering care of our State and National Legisla- tures, and to the esteem and favor of all classes of our people.
We can hardly conceive of two grander and more potent promoters of civilization than the free school and the free press. They would indeed seem to constitute all that was necessary to the attainment of the happiness and intellectual growth of the republic, and all that was necessary to broaden, to liberalize, and to instruct.
67
HISTORY OF MISSOURL
" Tis education forms the common mind ; * *
For noble youth there is nothing so meet As learning is, to know the good from ill ; To know the tongues, and perfectly indite, And of the laws to have a perfect skill, Things to reform as right and justice will, For honor is ordained for no cause But to see right maintained by the laws.
All the states of the Union have in practical operation the public school system, governed in the main by similar laws, and not differing materially in the manner and methods by which they are taught, but none have a wiser, a more liberal and comprehensive machinery of instruction than Missouri. Her school laws since 1839 have undergone many changes, and always for the better, keeping pace with the most enlightened and advanced theories of the most experienced educators of the land. But not until 1875, when the new constitution was adopted, did the present admirable system of public instruction go into effect
Provisions were made not only for white, but for children of African descent, and are a part of the organic law, not subject to the caprices of unfriendly legislatures, or the whims of political parties. The Lincoln Institute, located at Jefferson City, for the education of colored teachers, receives an annual appropriation from the General Assembly.
For the support of the public schools, in addition to the annual income derived from the public school fund, which is set apart by law, not less than twenty-five per cent. of the state revenue, exclusive of the interest and sinking fund, is annually applied to this purpose.
The officers having in charge the public school interests are the State Board of Education, the State Superintendent, County Superin- tendent, County Clerk and Treasurer, Board of Directors, City and Town School Board and teacher. The State Board of Education is composed of the State Superintendent. the Governor, Secretary of State and the Attorney General, the executive officer of this board being the State Superintendent, who is chosen by the people every four years. His duties are numerous. He renders decisions concerning the local appli- cation of school law ; keeps a record of all the school funds and annually distributes the same to the counties ; supervises the work of county school officers ; delivers lectures; visits schools ; distributes educational information ; grants certificates of higher qualifications and makes an annual report to the General Assembly of the condition of the schools.
The County Superintendents are also elected by the people for two ycars. Their work is to examine teachers, to distribute blanks and make reports. County clerks receive estimates from the local directors and extend them upon the tax-books. In addition to this they keep the general records of the county and township school funds, and return an
68
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
annual report of the financial condition of the schools of their county to the State Superintendent. School taxes are gathered with other taxes by the county collector. The custodian of the school funds belonging to the schools of the counties is the county treasurer, except in counties adopting the township organization, in which case the township trustee discharges these duties.
Districts organized under the special law for cities and towns are governed by a board of six directors, two of whom are selected annually on the second Saturday in September, and hold their office for three years.
One director is elected to serve for three years in each school dis- trict at the annual meeting. These directors may levy a tax not exceed- ing forty per cent. on the one hundred dollars valuation, provided such annual rates for school purposes may be increased in districts formed of cities and towns, to an amount not to exceed one dollar on the hundred dollars valuation ; and in other districts to an amount not to exceed sixty-five cents on the one hundred dollars valuation, on the condition that a majority of the voters who are tax payers, voting at an election held to decide the question, vote for said increase. For the purpose of erecting public buildings in school districts, the rates of taxation thus limited, may be increased when the rate of such increase and the pur- pose for which it is intended shall have been submitted to a vote of the people, and two-thirds of the qualified voters of such school district vot- ing at such election shall vote therefor.
Local directors may direct the management of the school in respect to the choice of teachers and other details, but in the discharge of all important business such as the erection of a school house or the exten- sion of a term of school beyond the constitutional period, they simply execute the will of the people. The clerk of this board may be a director. He keeps a record of the names of all the children and youth in the district between the ages of five and twenty-one; records all busi- ness proceedings of the district, and reports to the annual meeting, to .the County Clerk and County Superintendents.
Teachers must hold a certificate from the State Superintendent or County Commissioner of the county where they teach. State certificates are granted upon personal written examinations in the common branches, together with the natural sciences and higher mathematics. The holder of such certificate may teach in any of the public schools of the state without further examination. Certificates granted by County Commis- sioners are of two classes, with two grades in each class. Those issued for a longer term than one year belong to the first class, and are suscep- tible of two grades, differing both as to length of time and attainments. Those issued for one year may represent two grades, marked by qualifi- cation alone. The township school fund arises from a grant of land by
69
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
the general government, consisting of section sixteen in each Congres- sional township. The annual income of the township fund is appropri- ated to the various townships, according to their respective proprietary claims. The support from the permanent funds is supplemented by direct taxation laid upon the taxable property of each district. The greatest limit of taxation for the current expenses is one per cent .; the tax permitted for school house building cannot exceed the same amount.
Among the institutions of learning, and ranking, perhaps, the first in importance, is the State University, located at Columbia, Boone County. When the state was admitted into the Union, Congress granted to it one entire township of land (46,080 acres) for the support of a "Seminary of Learning." The lands secured for this purpose are among the best and most valuable in the state. These lands were put upon. the market in 1832 and brought $75,000, which amount was invested in the stock of the old Bank of the State of Missouri, where it remained and increased by accumulation to the sum of $100,000. In 1839, by an act of the General Assembly, five commissioners were appointed to select a site for the State University, the site to contain at least fifty acres of land in a compact form, within two miles of the county seat of Cole, Cooper, Howard, Boone, Callaway or Saline. Bids were let among the counties named, and the county of Boone having subscribed the sum of $117,921, some $18.000 more than any other county, the State Univer- sity was located in that county, and on the 4th of July, 1840, the corner- stone was laid with imposing ceremonies.
The present annual income of the university is nearly $65,000. There are still unsold about 200,000 acres of land from the grant of 1862. The donations to the institutions connected therewith amount to nearly $400,000. This university, with its different departments, is opened to both male and female, and both sexes enjoy alike its rights and privileges. Among the professional schools, which form a part of the university, are the Normal, or College of Instruction in Teaching ; the Agricultural and Mechanical College; the School of Mines and Metallurgy ; the College of Law ; the Medical College, and . Department of Analytical and Applied Chemistry. Other departments are contemplated and will be added as necessity requires.
The following will show the names and locations of the schools and institutions of the state as reported by the Commissioner of Education in 1875.
UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES.
Christian University Canton. St. Vincent's College . Cape Girardeau.
University of Missouri Columbia.
Central College Fayette.
70
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
Westminster College Fulton.
Lewis College. . Glasgow.
Pritchett School Institute. . Glasgow.
Lincoln College. Greenwood.
Hannibal College Hannibal.
Woodland College Independence.
Thayer College . Kidder.
LaGrange College. LaGrange.
William Jewell College. . Liberty.
Baptist College Louisiana.
St. Joseph College St. Josoph.
College of Christian Brothers. St. Louis.
St. Louis University. St. Louis.
Washington University St. Louis.
Drury College .. Springfield.
Central Wesleyan College. Warrenton.
FOR SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION OF WOMEN.
St. Joseph Female Seminary St. Joseph.
Christian College Columbia.
Stephens' College. Columbia.
Howard College. Fayette.
Independence Female College. Independence.
Central Female College
Lexington.
Clay Seminary Liberty.
Ingleside Female College .. . Palmyra.
Linden Wood College for Young Ladies. St. Charles.
Mary Institute (Washington University) St. Louis.
St. Louis Seminary. St. Louis.
Ursuline Academy St. Louis.
FOR SECONDARY INSTRUCTION.
Arcadia College . Arcadia.
St. Vincent's Academy . Cape Girardeau.
Chillicothe Academy Chillicothe.
. Grand River College. Edinburgh.
Marionville College Institute. Marionville.
Palmyra Seminary Palmyra.
St. Paul's College. . Palmyra.
Van Rensselaer Academy Rensselaer.
Shelby High School. Shelbyville.
Stewartsville Male and Female Seminary. Stewartsville.
SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE ..
Mo, Agricultural and Mechanical College (University of Mo.). Columbia. Schools of Mines and Metallurgy (Universy of Missouri) ... Rolla. Polytechnic Institute (Washington University) St. Louis.
71
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY.
St. Vincent's College (Theological Department) Cape Girardeau Westminster College (Theological School) .. .Fulton Vardeman School of Theology (William Jewell College) .Liberty
Concordia College. St. Louis
SCHOOLS OF LAW.
Law School of the University of Missouri . Columbia Law School of the Washington University. St. Louis
SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE.
Medical College, University of Missouri Columbia
College of Physicians and Surgeons. . St. Joseph
Kansas City College of Physicians and Surgeons. Kansas City Hospital Medical College St. Joseph
Missouri Medical College St. Louis
Northwestern Medical College. St. Joseph
St. Louis Medical College St. Louis
Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri. St. Louis
Mo. School of Midwifery and Diseases of Women and Children, St. Louis Missouri Central College St. Louis
St. Louis College of Pharmacy. St. Louis
LARGEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
NAME
LOCATION. VOLUMES.
St. Vincent's College.
Cape Girardeau. . 5,500
Southeast Missouri State Normal School
. Cape Girardeau. 1,225
University of Missouri
. Columbia 10,000
Athenian Society
Columbia
1,200
Union Literary Society
Columbia
1,200
Law College.
Columbia 1,000
Westminster College.
Fulton
5,000
Lewis College ..
Glasgow 3,000
Mercantile Library
Hannibal. 2,219
Library Association
Independence 1,100
Fruitland Normal Institute
Jackson .
1,000
State Library
Jefferson City 13,000
Fetterman's Circulating Library
Kansas City
1,300
Law Library ..
Kansas City
3,000
Whittemore's Circulating Library
Kansas City
1,000
North Missouri State Normal School
Kirksville
1,050
William Jewell College.
Liberty 4,000
St. Paul's College Palmyra.
2,000
Missouri Schools of Mines and Metallurgy
Rolla.
2,478
St. Charles Catholic Library
St. Charles
1,716
Carl Fuelling's Library
St. Joseph. 6,000
Law Library
.St. Joseph. 2,000
Public School Library
St. Joseph. 2,500
72
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
Woolworth & Colt's Circulating Library .St. Joseph. 4,000
Academy of Science St. Louis
2,744
Academy of Visitation
St. Louis.
4,000
College of the Christian Brothers St. Louis
22,000
Deutsche Institute
St. Louis
1,000
German Evang. Lutheran, Concordia College. . St. Louis.
4,800
Law Library Association
St. Louis
8,000
Missouri Medical College.
St. Louis.
1,000
Mrs. Cuthbert's Seminary (Young Ladies)
. . St. Louis 1,500
Odd Fellows Library .
St. Louis. 4,000
Public School Library .
St. Louis. 40,097
St. Louis Medical College ..
St. Louis.
1,100
St. Louis Mercantile Library
St. Louis.
45,000
St. Louis Seminary
St. Louis.
2,000
St. Louis Turn Verein
St. Louis
2,000
St. Louis University.
St. Louis.
17,000
St. Louis University Libraries.
.St. Louis. 8,000
Ursuline Academy.
.St. Louis.
2,000
Washington University
St. Louis
4,500
St. Louis Law School.
St. Louis.
3,000
Young Men's Sodality
St. Louis.
1,327
Library Association.
Sedalia
1,500
Public School Library
.Sedalia
1,015
Drury College
Springfield
2,000
IN 1880.
Newspapers and periodicals 481
CHARITIES.
State Asylum for Deaf and Dumb. . Fulton.
St. Bridget's Institution for Deaf and Dumb. St. Louis.
Institution for the Education of the Blind St. Louis.
State Asylum for Insane. Fulton.
State Asylum for the Insane.
.St. Joseph.
NORMAL SCHOOLS.
Normal Institute .. Bolivar.
Southeast Missouri State Normal School Cape Girardeau.
Normal School (University of Missouri) Columbia.
Fruitland Normal Institute.
Jackson.
Lincoln Institute (for colored).
Jefferson City.
City Normal School .
St. Louis.
Missouri State Normal School.
Warrensburg.
IN 1878.
Estimated value of school property $1,321,30Ç
Total receipts for public schools. 4,207,617
Total expenditures. 2,406, 1 39
73
HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
NUMBER OF TEACHERS.
Male teachers, 6,239 ; average monthly pay. $36.36
Female teachers, 5,060 ; average monthly pay. 21.09
NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS.
The fact that Missouri supports and maintains four hundred and seventy-one newspapers and periodicals shows that her inhabitants are not only a reading and reflecting people, but that they appreciate "The Press," and its wonderful influence as an educator. The poet has well said :
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