USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > The history of Buchanan County, Missouri > Part 53
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH.
It was evident that more and better school accommodations must be provided. No intelligent and efficient system of grading could be established by the Superintendent with the kind of buildings and lim- ited number of rooms at his disposal. The buildings were altogether inadequate to the accommodation of the children already here, and the population of the city was rapidly increasing. It was plain that the Board must build school houses, and to enable it to do so and also to give it the means to operate the schools efficiently, it must have author- ity to increase the rate of taxation. At a meeting of the Board, held November 15, 1865, Judge P. Bliss, afterwards one of the Supreme Judges of the State, then a member of the Board, proposed several im- portant amendments to the charter, among others one increasing the rate of taxation from one-fifth to one-half of one per cent. The amend- ments were adopted, and Judge Bliss was appointed a committee to for- ward them to our Representative in the Legislature with a petition for their adoption.
On the third day of March, 1866, the President convened the Board at the request of Judge Bliss, to hear and take action on his report. He stated that the act amending the charter had passed the lower house, but had twice been defeated in the Senate, and as the proposed amend- ments were, some of them, of vital importance to the efficiency of the school system of the city, he suggested that the Superintendent, Mr. Neely, be sent to Jefferson City as the representative of the Board, with instructions to use every exertion to secure the passage of the act. At a meeting of the Board, held March 3Ist, 1866, Superintendent Neely reported that in accordance with his instructions, he had visited Jeffer- son City, and had succeeded, with the aid of the Representative from the county and the Senator from the district, in securing the passage of the desired amendments to the charter. The Board had already sold the property on Third and Charles Streets to Mr. John P. Fink, for the sum of twelve thousand dollars, and now, with the prospective increase in its revenue through the amendment of the charter, it was in a condition to begin the work of school extension. Accordingly, in 1866, the Board erected two commodious and handsome school houses, one on the cor- ner of Tenth and Edmond Streets, and one on the corner of Twelfth and Olive Streets. The price of labor and building materials was very high at that time, and the cost of building and furnishing these two houses, exclusive of the cost of the ground, was $36,071.50. The price paid for the ground on the corner of Tenth and Edmond Streets, 120 by 140 feet, was $1,500, and the grading cost $500.84. The sum paid for the lots on Twelfth and Olive streets, 135 by 140 feet, was $800, and it cost to grade them $441.70. Both houses were built on the same plan and were alike in every respect. Their architecture, while neat, is plain and simple, and they are well and substantially built. In all the houses
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built by the Board since the reorganization of the schools in 1864, this same wise policy has been pursued, to build plain but neat and conven- ient houses, without extravagant ornamentation, of moderate dimensions, none of them over two stories in height, and located to accommodate> as well as may be, the scattered population of the city.
The building on the corner of Tenth and Edmond Streets was designed for a central high school, and is known as the St. Joseph High School. It was opened for the reception of pupils in 1866. Its first principal was John S. Crosby, Esq., under whose able management the school soon acquired great reputation, ranking second to no similar institution in the West. Mr. Crosby remained at its head till the fall of 1877, a period of eleven years, when he resigned to enter into a law part- nership with ex-Governor Woodson. The present principal, Mr. William D. Rusk was appointed his successor. He was an old pupil of Mr. Crosby, and a graduate of the High School, of the class of 1868. He had also been a teacher in the High School for several years. Under his judi- cious and energetic administration the school has retained the prestige it acquired, and enjoys a fine reputation both at home and abroad.
The house built in the same year on the corner of Twelfth and Olive Streets was designed for a grammar and primary school, and was named the Everett School.
In 1867, the Board built a school house for the colored children, a frame building, one story, 28 by 40 feet, on the corner of Fourth and Michel Streets. This school had formerly been taught in the colored Baptist church, on Francis Street.
No more school houses were built till 1869, but as the schools con- tinued to be crowded, and many children could not gain admittance, the Board rented rooms wherever they could be found at all suitable for school purposes.
At a meeting of the Board, held March 3rd, 1868, the following reso- lution was adopted : .
Resolved, That the St. Joseph Board of Public Schools, feeling the need of additional school buildings, and for the purpose of securing the necessary means therefor, and also for paying an indebtedness previously incurred in the erection of school houses, do hereby authorize and direct the President and Financial Committee of the Board to at once procure the issuing of bonds to the amount of forty thousand dollars, of the denominations of one thousand and five hundred dollars, with interest coupons attached ; interest payable semi-annually, at the Bank of Com- merce, in the city of New York, at the rate of ten per cent. per annum. It is further ordered that the said committee shall take the necessary steps towards negotiating said bonds at not less than ninety cents for every dollar.
In accordance with the above, the President of the Board, Hon. Samuel Hays, had the bonds prepared, and chiefly through the exer-
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tions of Wm. M. Wyeth, Esq., the chairman of the finance committee, they were all sold to parties in the east, netting the Board thirty-six thousand dollars in cash.
With this money, the Board liquidated an indebtedness that had been incurred in building the High and Everett school houses, and pur- chased the grounds and built two school houses.
A piece of ground 200 by 140 feet was bought on Fifth and Pouline Streets, for the sum of twenty-two hundred dollars. The sum of eleven hundred and forty-five dollars and forty-three cents was paid for grading these lots. A brick building containing six school rooms and a recita- tion room, was erected on this ground. The building is two stories in height and is in the shape of the letter T, with a projection in front, form- ing a tower surmounted by a French roof. Its cost, including furniture, and excluding the sum paid for the lots and their grading, was $11,658. It was named the Washington School.
The other house was built on a piece of ground comprising thirty-six lots, or an entire block, fronting on Highly Street and extending from Eighteenth to Nineteenth Streets. The block is bounded on the north by Beattie Street, on the east by Nineteenth Street, on the south by Highly Street and on the west by Eighteenth Street, and is a magnificent piece of ground. The price paid for it was eighteen hundred dollars, and it required no grading. On this site a house was built, similar in plan and design to the Washington School, the main difference being that the rear wing. was omitted, so that it contains only four school rooms and a recitation room. The rear wing can be added at any time. The cost of this property, including the furniture, and exclusive of the price of the lots, was $9,928.
It received the name of Webster School.
The Board had now, up to 1869, built and furnished five school buildings, four of them being substantial and handsome brick edifices, and one a neat frame building. Rented buildings were also occupied wherever they could be obtained, yet the increase in the population of the city, and the popularity of the schools were such, that the cry of insufficient school accommodations was heard as frequently, and the complaints at the Superintendent's office, of parents who had applied in vain for the admission of their children, were as numerous as at any former period.
In his annual report for the year ending July 31, 1870, Superintend- ent Neely called the attention of the Board to localities where schools were most needed, and continued as follows :
From this brief statement you perceive that two new school houses, besides additions to buildings now in use, will soon became a necessity that cannot longer be postponed.
It is evident to any one who will take the trouble to examine, that
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you cannot depend upon the school tax, as limited by your charter, to pro- vide the means for the current expenses of the schools and to erect a sufficient number of school buildings to meet the wants of our growing population. I see but one way to meet the difficulty, and that is to issue bonds running a specified number of years to an amount sufficient to build the needed houses. This seems to be not only practical but right, for it is but simple justice that those who come after us and share with us in their use, should also share with us the expense of erecting them. These houses, if built, will be used by the people of the next generation as well as by us. The people of to-day have paid for most of the houses already built ; they will also pay the interest on the bonds that may be issued for the erection of the proposed houses. The bonds themselves, when they mature, will be paid by the people of the next generation. The natural deterioration of the buildings will be more than counter- balanced by the increased value of the lots.
Early in the year 1871, the Board decided to issue bonds to the amount of forty thousand dollars, to enable them, first, to pay off a float- . ing indebtedness incurred in erecting school houses ; next, to build a new school house in the southern part of the city and an addition to the Everett School ; next, to build walks, stone walls and make other needed improvements on the grounds and premises of houses already built, and finally, to remodel to some extent, and adapt to public school use, a. school building on the corner of Tenth and Felix Streets, which the Board had this year bought, on time, for the sum of $8,500 from the "St. Joseph Deutsche Vereins Schule." This valuable property is situa- ted on ground on the corner of Tenth and Felix Streets, fronting 120 feet on Felix Street and running back 140 feet to an alley. The build- ing is of brick, and at the time of its purchase had two school rooms on the first floor, divided by a hall, and one large room occupying the whole of the second floor.
The association that built and owned it had maintained a school in it for some time, but finding its support somewhat onerous, and wishing to incorporate it into the public school system, they deeded it to the Board for the sum mentioned above, with certain provisos and conditions attached, the most important of which are as follows :
The "party of the second part," by which is meant the Board of Public Schools, is to keep on the property conveyed, or its results, a German-Eng- lish school, in which instruction in the German and English languages shall be given in equal proportions in all departments of instruction, to meet the demands of the pupils from the whole city for such instruction, according to the capacity thereof.
No teacher to be employed to give instruction in the German lan- guage in the German-English School, until he or she shall have adduced satisfactory proof in writing, by persons other than the applicant, that he or she has received a thorough German education, and that German is the language principally spoken in his or her family, and that of his or her parents, said proof to be and remain open to inspection.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH.
All pupils applying to be received into the German-English School in the same manner and upon the same conditions as into the other public schools of the City of St. Joseph, and so instructed as to qualify them to enter from this school "what is commonly called the High School."
No sectarian or religious instruction to be given in the school.
The Board to erect, within two years from the first of September, 1871, an addition of two rooms to the building then on the premises, and to complete the entire building according to the original plan, if the wants of the school require and the resources of the Board admit of it.
Before this property could be at all fit for use as a public school, it was necessary for the Board to expend on it the sum of $1,765.69. Among other things, the lot had to be graded, a stone wall to be built, the large room on the second floor to be converted into two rooms, with a hall between, and stairs to be built leading to the second story, the only means of communication up stairs heretofore having been by means of rough, temporary steps on the outside. The desks in the building were common and uncomfortable, and were replaced with new ones at a cost of $496.
The bonds issued in February, 1871, were sold at ninety cents on the dollar, and were taken, nearly all of them, by the citizens of St. Joseph. They netted the Board $36,000. Two thousand two hundred and sixty-one dollars and sixty-nine cents of this sum, as has been seen, were applied to making the German-English School ready for use, and for furnishing it.
A piece of ground, 130 by 160 feet, was purchased in the southern part of the city, on the corner of Scott and Twelfth Streets, for the sum of $1,100. On this site, the Board built a brick school house 33 by 70 feet, two stories high and basement, with projection in front, 4 by 16 feet. The basement contained playrooms for use of the pupils in bad weather. School rooms, four in number, two on each floor, each 27 by 30 feet, with six windows to each room. The cost of this building, includ- ing furniture, and excluding price of ground, was $9,719.45. This school was named the Neely School.
In the same year, 1871, the Board built an addition of two rooms to the Everett School, making it a six-room building. A stone wall was also built around the premises, at a cost of $544.50. The total cost of the addition and other improvements at Everett School was $6,182.52.
In July, 1871, a terrific tornado passed over a portion of the city of St. Joseph, which unroofed the Webster School, blew down a portion of the unfinished walls of the Everett addition, in process of construction, and completely demolished the Colored School house, which had to be entirely re-built, at a cost of $1, 100.
The repairing of these damages occasioned by the storm, and the repairs and improvements at the other school houses absorbed some
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH.
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$3,500 of the amount realized from the sale of the bonds, and, in addi- tion, the Board paid an indebtedness of $11,054.16, contracted in build- ing in former years.
In 1871, the number of pupils in the schools had increased to 2,415, and there were in the employ of the Board thirty-nine teachers. Besides the buildings owned by the Board, six rented buildings were occupied. The expenses of operating the schools had of necessity become heavy, and in addition to the current expenses, provision had to be made annu- ally for the payment of interest on the bonds issued, and for the interest on the notes given for the purchase of the German-English School prop- erty, amounting in all to $8,850 yearly. The amended charter gave the Board the power to levy a tax of only one-half of one per cent. for all purposes. It soon became apparent that this tax was insufficient to operate the schools, and pay the interest on the indebtedness of the Board. At a meeting of the Board, held November 23, 1871, on motion of Mr. Charles F. Ernst, himself and Superintendent Neely were appointed a committee to prepare a bill amending the charter of the Board so as to give that body the power to levy a tax not to exceed one per cent. in any one year, and to present the bill to the member of the Legislature from St. Joseph, with the request that he would endeavor to secure its passage. At a meeting, held January 9, 1872, the committee reported that they had discharged their duty, and that the bill had been intro- duced into the House and referred to a committee. As some opposition to its passage was being developed, the Board thought it best to send a committee to Jefferson City to aid the Representative in getting it through. President Floyd appointed on that committee Messrs. George Lyon and J. J. Wyatt. Mr. Lyon went to Jefferson, and reported to the Board, April 4, 1872, that he had been unable to secure the passage of the amendment giving the Board power to levy one per cent., but that he had succeeded, with the aid of the Re resentative, in getting a bill through which would authorize the Board .o levy a tax of seven-tenths of one per cent. each year. This was satisfactory to the Board, as it was sufficient to meet the regular expenses of the schools and pay the inter- est on the debt.
In 1873, as required by the contract of the Board with the German School Association, an addition of two rooms two stories in height, was built to the German-English School, making that a six-room building, with a recitation room at one end of the hall on the second floor. This was built at the contract price of $3,500, furniture not included.
The Board continued to levy a tax of seven mills from 1872 till 1876 In October, 1875, the State of Missouri adopted a new constitution, which restricted the rate of taxation for school purposes in cities to four mills, unless a majority of the taxpayers voting at an election called for the purpose, should vote for a higher rate of taxation. The constitution
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH.
gave to School Boards the right to levy a tax sufficient to pay the inter- est on any valid indebtedness existing at the time of the adoption of the- constitution, and also the right to levy a tax to create a sinking fund to. pay the principal when due.
There was no provision in the constitution by which the Board could submit to the people the question of an increase of tax, and when the Legislature met and passed an act enabling the Board to hold such an. election, it was too late to make it available for the exigencies of 1877. Only a four mills tax could be levied, and, as a consequence, the schools. were continued in session that year only nine months, instead of ten as heretofore.
At an election, held April 24th, 1877, the people voted, by a large. majority, to increase the rate of taxation for general school purposes, to. five mills, and the County Court ordered a five mill levy. But in 1878, when the Board again asked for a levy of five mills, the court refused to. make the levy, on the ground that the increase voted by the people in 1877 was for that year only. The proposition submitted to the people- very distinctly stated that the vote was for or against "annual increase in the rate of taxation" and the ballots were so printed, but the County Court judges were wiser than Webster or Worcester, and insisted that the tax voted was for 1877 only. The Board at once applied for a writ of mandamus to compel the court to levy the tax voted by the people, and judgment was rendered in the Circuit Court in favor of the Board. Through some neglect the judgment was not entered on record, and it became necessary to go into trial again, but a decision has not yet been reached. Consequently, since 1878, only a four mills tax has been levied. This diminution of the revenues of the Board compelled a reduction in the salaries of the teachers and all other employes. which were already sufficiently low, and prevented the introduction and adoption of many and. important contemplated improvements.
A history of the St. Joseph public schools would be incomplete which failed to relate the efforts of the Board to maintain, unimpaired its credit. by meeting promptly the interest on its bonded indebtedness. The writer cannot do this better than by quoting briefly from the annual. reports of Superintendent Neely for the year ending July 31st, 1878, and for the year ending July 31st, 1880.
In his report for the first named year, the Superintendent says : "The bonds of the Board were issued in good faith, in strict conformity with law, as was supposed, and after advising with some of the ablest lawyers in the city. Successive County Courts, from year to year, have levied a tax to pay the interest on these bonds, and lately a tax to create a sinking fund to pay the principal. No question as to their validity had ever been raised, the amount realized from their sale had been invested in commodious and comfortable school buildings, the use of which our citi --
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zens have been enjoying for years, and our School Board was just in the midst of successful negotiations with the holders of the bonds-many of them our own citizens-for refunding them at six per cent., when the County Court, the same court that had levied a tax the year before to pay the interest and create a sinking fund, made the discovery that the bonds were illegal, and refused to levy any further tax for the payment of either principal or interest.
" The Board has done all it thought advisable to establish the valid- ity of the bonds and secure the means for their payment. It employed ex-Governors Hall and Woodson to examine the whole matter carefully, and give their opinion in writing as to the legality of the bonds. These eminent jurists, after a careful and exhaustive examination of the law under which the bonds were issued, expressed their opinion in writing in terms most positive and decided, that the Board was fully authorized to issue the bonds, that all the forms of law had been observed, and that they are valid and must be paid. A committee of the Board presented this opinion of Messrs, Woodson and Hall to the County Court, and requested the members of that body to give it their careful attention. The court still persists in its refusal to levy the tax, and it now devolves upon the holders of the bonds to take the legal measures necessary to protect their interests and their just claims."
In his report for the year ending July 31, 1881, Superintendent Neely uses the following language :
"For the purpose of building school houses, of paying an indebted- ness incurred in the erection of the High and Everett School buildings, and for making needed improvements on the grounds and premises of school property, the Board in 1868 and 1871, issued bonds to the amount of $80,000, bearing ten per cent. interest. These bonds were sold at 90 cents, the Board realizing from their sale $72,000. In 1871, the Board purchased from the German School Association, the property on the cor- ner of Tenth and Felix Streets, for the sum of $8,500. As this purchase was made on time, the debt of the Board was increased to $88,500, and it became necessary to provide each year for the payment of $8,850 for interest, in addition to meeting the current expenses of the schools. This interest was paid promptly out of the general fund every six months, until 1876, when the new constitution of the state reduced the rate of tax that could be levied for the general fund from seven mills to four.
Boards of Education, were, however, authorized to make an estimate for a special or separate tax sufficient to pay the annual interest on their indebtedness, and also for a tax, not to exceed two-fifths of one per cent., to constitute a sinking fund, to be used only for the payment of the prin- cipal of the debt. The County Court made the levy for the payment of the interest in 1876 and 1877, and also in 1877 levied one mill to create a.
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sinking fund ; after which it made the discovery that the bonds were illegal, and refused to levy another tax for the payment of either princi- pal or interest.
From the avails of the tax levied in 1877, to constitute a sinking fund, the Board has paid $7,460, thus reducing its indebtednesss to $81,040. To this, of course, .must be added the interest, which has been constantly accruing since the refusal of the court, in 1878, to levy a tax for its payment, only a few coupons having been paid since that time from the small receipts from the delinquent taxes of 1876 and 1877.
On the failure of the Board to pay the interest, certain holders of the bonds brought suit against the Board in the United States Court to test the question which the County Court had raised as to the validity of the bonds. The Board gave public notice of the suit, and author- ized any person desiring to contest the validity of the bonds to appear and defend the suit in the name of the Board. The County Court employed counsel, who appeared and set up as a defense the want of power in the Board to issue the bonds. The question was argued, and judgment given sustaining the validity of the bonds. The County Court, however, still refused to make a levy to pay the interest. The Board then petitioned the Circuit Court of Buchanan County for a writ of mandamus to compel the County Court to make a levy to pay the interest due, and also a levy of one mill additional for general purposes, the latter having been authorized by a vote of the tax payers of the dis- trict, in 1877, and levied for one year. The object of this suit was to remove any scruples the County Court might have on account of the "Cottey bill," which prohibited the levy of any tax to pay interest on bonds without an order of the Circuit Court of the County, and also to test the question whether the extra mill tax, voted by the district, was to be levied from year to year, if the Board found it necessary, or whether it applied to but a single year, as the County Court claimed, refusing to levy it after that year. It transpired, however, during the progress of the suit, that the County Court intended to appeal from any adverse decisions in the Circuit Court to the Supreme Court of the State, where a final decision would not be reached for years, and the attorneys of the Board, Messrs. Woodson & Crosby, not desiring to increase the obstacles in the way of the bondholders collecting their judgments, dis- missed that part of the suit relating to the bonds, but obtained judgment for a peremptory writ commanding the levy of the extra mill, from which decision the County Court has signified its intention to appeal. The holders of judgments in the United States Court have sued out writs of mandamus commanding the County Court to make a levy for their payment. The court has the cases under advisement, the only point raised being whether mandamus will lie against the County Court, the judgment being against the School Board.
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