USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 47
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ifying fact in connection with the exposition was, that after all expenses were paid there was a handsome balance to be placed to the credit of the association.
The Coliseum building was utilized in July, 1892, for the holding of the People's Party Convention, which nominated Gen- eral Weaver, of Iowa, for the presidency, and General Field, of Virginia, for the vice- presidency of the United States.
While the enterprise has not been a finan- cial success, the people of Omaha have on many occasions found the Coliseum building a very convenient thing to have in the city.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
EDUCATIONAL - DISTRICT AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS - THE PRESENT PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.
To Miss J. Adelaide Goodwill, now Mrs. Allen Root, is to be awarded the distinction of teaching the first school in Omaha. She began a term, July 1, 1855, in a room of the old State House, on Ninth Street, with forty pupils, among whom were: Carrie E. Good- will, Elizabeth Davis, Emma Logan, Maggie Gilmore, Lizzie Jones, Katie Davis, Annie Davis, Enos Johnson, Benjamin Johnson, James Johnson, Ewing Armstrong, Robert Armstrong, C. D. Jones, Willie Gilmore, Justin Davis, James Peterson, Willie Brown, Nancy Peterson, Mary Peterson, Sarah Peterson, Nellie Brown, Emma Peterson, Mary Ryan, James Ryan and James Ferris. This school was successfully conducted by Miss Goodwill until about the middle of December, when she was required to vacate the building, which was then fitted up for the assembling of Nebraska's second legisla- ture, which was convened that month. Mrs. J. P. Manning was also connected with a school established soon after this date.
"Simpson University," for which a site was selected on the high ground just north- west of what is now known as Shinn's Addi- tion, was chartered by the legislature of 1855, with the following named incorpora- tors: Rev. W. II. Good, J. II. Hopkins, W. D. Gage, Charles Elliott, Moses F. Shinn, Thomas H. Benton, Jr., O. B. Selden, Jolın B. Robertson, Mark W. Izard, Thomas B. Cuming, Charles B. Smith, William N. Byers and J. R. Buckingham. In his message to the legislature, two years later, Governor Izard refers to this educational institution as being " permanently located," and adds that " donations of a considerable amount have been received " in aid of the erection of
buildings. February 10, 1857, the legisla- ture memorialized Congress to grant to Simpson University land to the amount of " not less than ten thousand acres." This memorial was, no doubt, consigned to the waste basket when it reached Washington; certain it is the grant was never made and no buildings were erected; and both history and tradition are silent as to what became of the "donations of a considerable amount," which Governor Izard referred to. Possibly the expression was a mere figure of speech indulged in by the governor to round out a period in his message.
The legislature of 1857, by virtue of an act approved February 11th, incorporated another institution of learning, to be located at Saratoga, two miles north of Omaha, the incorporators of which were: Joseph S. Grimes, L. M. Kuhn, George J. Park, B. B. Barkalow. William Hamilton, J. Allen, C. D. Martin, Samuel Gamble, John Hancock, Thomas Officer, William Young Brown, Reuben Gaylord, Thomas M. Chestnut, N. L. Rice, John II. Kellom, N. M. Giltner, Cortland Van Rensselaer, Fenner Ferguson, William L. Plumer, O. F. Parker and LeRoy Tuttle. Mr. Kuhn is the only one of the above named who is now a resident of Omaha. Mr. Officer was at that time, and is yet, a resident of Council Bluffs. This liad the same experience as Simpson Univer- sity, so far as practical results were con- cerned.
October 23, 1857, Mr. John I. Kellom, superintendent of public instruction, pub- lished a card in the Omaha Times, recom- mending J. S. Burt as " a teacher of a select school," and trusted that " the citizens of
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Sh Beals.
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Omaha who had children to educate would give him liberal encouragement to open a good school in the city." Evidently Mr. Kellom's suggestion was not generally heeded, for it is a matter of history that Mr. Burt did not linger long in Omaha, but went out to the rival town of Fontenelle, in 1858, and there taught a term of school in the winter of 1858-9, with Miss Sarah Gay- lord, now Mrs. Sardis Brewster, as his assis- tant.
Early in 1858 it was known that a bishop of the Catholic Church would be sent to Omaha, and the following interesting report was made to the city council by a committee appointed to consider that important event: "In view of the great importance of the location of the Roman Catholic See at this point, the measure of which we can best ap- preciate by reference to Dubuque, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland and numerous other places, which will readily occur to the consideration of the council, your com- mittee feel assured that what at first sight would appear to be great liberality would be justified by the result. In Dubuque alone the expenditures of the church have already reached something more than half a million dollars, resulting in improvements of such a character as to min- ister to the pride and gratification of her citizens. The schools established under the auspices of the church have given her a wide educational celebrity, bringing scholars from all parts of the State, as well as Minne- sota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Of her ten thousand Catholic citizens known for their wealth, sobriety and industry, it cannot be doubted but a large portion have been at- tracted by the same influences your commit- tee are anxious to add to those which have already made Omaha the metropolis of Ne- braska, which influences will follow the settlement of the bishop at this place.
" Your committee beg leave to suggest that it is only by combining all and every influence in our power that we can hope to
make Omaha a great centre of population; that the two great elements, capital and labor, must be induced by every motive we can bring to bear to join hands for our ad- vantage. Your committee is satisfied that immigration and capital will at once follow the announcement by the bishop of his de- termination to settle here, and, believing that the city will be repaid ten-fold for its liberality, they recommend that the city deed to the bishop the following lots: 1 in block 21, 1 in 142, 2 in 172, 7 in 203, 7 in 219, 6 in 25, 3 in 67, 5 in 204, 8 in 219, 4 in 26, 6 in 169, 1 in 173, 3 in 229, 8 in 218, and 2 in 232, out of the lots al- ready offered for sale; or they would suggest that, if this proposition should not suit a majority of the council, the thirteen lots claimed by Mr. Bird, aud now belonging to the city, with eleven of the best lots remaining in the possession of the city, making in all twenty-four lots, shall be deeded to him. The following are the twenty-four: Lot 1 in block 5, 8 in 23, 3 in 216, 1 in 250, 9 in 1803, 1 in 203, 3 in 11, 3 in 114, 1 in 229, 5 in 351, 9 in 1823, 8 in 203, 2 in 21, 4 in 166, 4 in 232, 1 in 163 and 4 in 4."
At a meeting held a few days later the following was adopted:
" Resolved, That there be donated to the Catholic bishop twenty-four of the best lots of those not advertised, or claimed, or called for."
The matter resulted in no lots whatever being deeded by the city, the bishop, James M. O'Gorman, who located here in the spring of 1859, declining to assume any re- sponsibility as to permanent improvements here by the church.
November 10, 1859, witnessed the inau- guration of the public school system of Omaha, as on that day Mr. Howard Kennedy, brought from New York State under con- tract for one year, at a salary of one thous- and dollars, began his school in the old cap- itol building. Messrs. A. D. Jones, J. H.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMANIA.
Kellom and Dr. G. C. Monell composed the district school board. In this building a graded school was then established, with a high school department.
In a report made to the territorial com- missioners of schools, dated January 2, 1861, and signed by Dr. Monell, Jesse Lowe and J. H. Kellom, this language was used: “ One male teacher was employed to teach the higher studies and superintend the subordi- nate teachers in the different schools. One principal and three subordinate departments do not sufficiently accommodate all the scholars. Though the average attendance is about sixty scholars to a teacher, yet eighty or ninety were often present."
The charge for instruction in Latin, Greek, French, German, surveying, chemistry and belles-lettres, was fixed at three dollars per quarter; for the common branches, including philosophy, book-keeping and elementary algebra, the charge was two dollars per quar- ter, one dollar per quarter for small scholars, and double these rates were charged non-res- ident pupils. The territorial and county fund for the support of Omaha schools for the year ending December 31, 1860, was $1,246.50. Licenses and fines added $656.60, making a total of $1,903.10.
The report thus explains the fixing of these rates: " Four subordinate schools are really needed, but even these cannot be sus- tained the coming year without more funds. The value of real estate being generally re- duced at the last assessment, and the reduc- tion of the school tax last winter to one mill on the dollar, instead of two mills as hereto- fore, will reduce our public school fund to about one-fourth or one-third the amount of the last year. This reduced revenue would easily support a single school in this city. Two plans suggest themselves to the direct- ors to supply the deficiency: First-To lay on the city a sufficient tax; and, second- to charge each scholar a moderate tuition." They chose the latter.
" The schools will therefore be conducted
as heretofore, except that a small price will be charged each pupil attending school. This will combine the advantage of free schools to a sufficient extent to secure their permanence, with a charge for tuition so moderate as to be within the reach of all."
Appended to this was a report of the school examiner, George I. Gilbert, as fol- lows: " We, the undersigned examiner, found the following named persons to be of good moral character, and qualified to teach orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and English grammar, and have granted them certificates accordingly, for the term of one year, to-wit: Howard Kennedy, J. J. Monell, Mrs. Isabella Torrey, Miss F. Seymore, Miss Smiley, Edward Kelley, H. Davis, Mrs. Mary P. Rust, Mrs. Nye, Miss A. Hayes and Miss Hamilton."
William E. Harvey was territorial school commissioner at that time, and in his report for 1861 states that there were then 571 children in this district, between the ages of five and twenty-one, of which 456 were at- tending school.
The first territorial school law was passed at the session of 1858-9, and it was under its provisions that Mr. Howard Kennedy was employed to take charge of the schools of Omaha. Edwin Loveland was then a member of the board of directors (the others being A. D. Jones and Dr. Monell), but re- signed soon after, and was succeeded by Jesse Lowe. Messrs. George I. Gilbert and P. W. Hitchcock constituted the examining board. For lack of school buildings the two- story brick structure on Ninth, between Douglas and Farnam, first used as the terri- torial capitol, was used, and in addition there was a small building near the intersec- tion of Thirteenth and Douglas, which was occupied by a primary school. Besides having a general supervision of the educational inter- ests of Omaha, Mr. Kennedy taught a high school department, Mrs. Rust, Mrs. Nye, Mr. and Mrs. Shimonski and Miss Abbie Hayes (now Mrs. Judge Lake) were Mr. Kennedy's
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assistants. The desks and seats for these first schools were made by Mr. H. H. Viss- cher. In April, 1860, there was a fine school exhibition given at the Methodist Church, on Thirteenth Strect, the present site of the Omaha National Bank building.
As late as 1864, according to Mr. B. E. B. Kennedy, an excellent authority on this sub- ject, Omaha owned no school buildings, but depended upon renting quarters. At the date last named the control of the schools was lodged in a board consisting of B. E. B. Kennedy, Esq., Judge George B. Lake and Colonel Lorin Miller.
In 1860-61, Mr. Kellom, then a member of the board of directors, taught several classes in the old State House, Miss Smiley being one of his assistants. Mrs. Torrey taught a school near the old military bridge, probably in her own house, and Miss Sarah Gaylord taught some classes in the basement of the Congregational Church, at the corner of Farnam and Sixteenth Streets, about the same period. In 1861, Mrs. Shimonski, Mrs. J. II. Kellom and Mrs. James W. Van Nos- trand, were occupied in teaching. In April, 1861, Professor S. D. Beals established in the north half of the old State House what was known for several years as the Omaha Iligh School, which was removed that fall to the old Hamilton House, on the south side of Douglas, between Fourteenth and Fif- teenth Streets. The school had then from eighty to ninety pupils. Mrs. J. W. Van
Nostrand was Professor Beals' assistant. In 1862 the school was removed to the First Bap- tist Church and two rooms of an adjoining building called Case's Row, on the north side of Douglas, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth. At this time Mrs. Charles R. Turner was as- sistant teacher, succeeded soon afterwards by Miss Emma Beals. A year later the church building was bought by Professor Beals, and by him removed to the southeast corner of Fifteenth and Capitol Avenue, and here a prosperous career was entered upon and continued for several years, the school
including in its list pupils from Sarpy, Nemaha, Washington, Dodge and Burt Counties. In the first year's register of Professor Beals' school are found the names of Miss Lizzie Davis, now Mrs. IIerman Kountze; Miss Gussie Estabrook, now the wife of Colonel Clowry, of the Western Un- ion Telegraph Company; Miss Emma Leh- mer, now Mrs. W. V. Morse; Miss Laura Lehmer, now Mrs. A. H. Cooley; Miss Helen Ingalls, now Mrs. Flemon Drake; Miss Lizzie Jones, now Mrs. V. M. Mackey; Miss Me- lissa Perkins, now Mrs. Byron Reed; Ralph E. Gaylord; Frederick W. Davis; Jeff. Me- geath; Julius Roeder and Andrew McAus- land. Later on appeared the names of Miss Bertha Isaacs, now Mrs. Frederick A. McCon- nell; Miss Carrie Loveland, now Mrs. A. S. Van Kuran; Miss Frank Crawford, now Mrs. E. K. Valentine; Miss Ella Cole, now Mrs. C. E. Squires; Miss Alzina Scott, now Mrs. Thomas Swobe; Miss Kate McAusland, now Mrs. John R. Manchester; Miss Georgia Hanscom, now Mrs. George E. Pritchett; Miss Jennie Brown, now Mrs. James For- sythe; Archie Powell; Frank Kennard; Thomas Rogers; Alfred Millard; Edward Peck; Robert Livesey and many others, now well-known residents of Omaha.
In 1862 a school was opened on upper Harney Street by Mr. Littlefield and his wife, which school was continued for about a year; and about the same time a German- English school was maintained on Farnam Street, near Tenth, by a German named Wurtz. In the same vicinity Rev. O. C. Duke, an Episcopal clergyman, established a parochial school for boys, which was suc- ceeded by a school on the north side of Dodge Street, between Fourteenth and Fif- teenth Streets, styled the Collegiate Institute, under the charge of Dr. Rippey.
In 1863 a school was taught in a building on Jefferson Square, in which school Miss Celestial Parker, afterwards Mrs. Joel A. Griffin, was one of the teachers. Miss Burke- ley, daughter of Mr. Vincent Burkeley, was
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.
also one of the teachers about that date, her school being in a building on Howard and Eighth Streets. In 1865 the frame structure on Jackson and Eleventh Streets was built; in 1866 another at Burt and Twenty-third was erected; and in 1868 the Pacific Street building was put up at a cost of twenty-three thousand dollars, including the purchase price of the lot. The erection of the Izard Street building, costing thirty-five thousand dollars, followed, and then the Pleasant Street building, which with the lot cost seven thousand dollars. In the meantime the Jefferson Square building had been moved over to Cass Street, where the brick struc- ture now stands, which latter building was put up about 1875, the Dodge Street build- ing being erected about the same time. Mr. B. E. B. Kennedy was a school director con- tinuously from 1863 to 1872; Judge Lake, Colonel Lorin Miller, John Evans and An- drew J. Simpson being associated with him on the board at various times.
By an act of the legislature of 1869, the governor of the State was directed to trans- fer to the City of Omaha for school pur- poses the grounds known as the capitol grounds, and the buildings thereon, and also provided for a board of regents to have the management of the same. The following preamble set forth the reasons for such en- actment:
WHEREAS, The capitol grounds heretofore oc- cupied by the State of Nebraska were originally conveyed to the Territory of Nebraska by said City of Omaha; and
WHEREAS, After the erection of a capitol build- ing thereon had been commenced by the govern- ment of the United States, the appropriation therefor was found to be insufficient; and
WHEREAS, After the suspension of the construc- tion of said buildings, for the reason aforesaid, the people of the said City of Omaha contributed the sum of sixty thousand dollars to complete the same; and
WHEREAS, The State of Nebraska has ceased to use said capitol grounds and buildings for the ob- jects originally contemplated; and
WHEREAS, The said capitol building is now in a condition to require the expenditure of a large
sum of money before the said building can be safely used by the State of Nebraska for any pur- pose; therefore be it enacted, etc.
The bill provided for the deeding by the governor, on or before the first day of April, 1869, bound the city to use said prop- erty for educational purposes only, and pro- hibited the city from conveying, leasing, or in any manner encumbering the property. Alvin Saunders, George W. Frost, Thomas Davis, John H. Kellom, Augustus Kountze and James M. Woolworth were constituted by the bill the board of regents, the first two named to serve for three years, the two next named to serve two years, and the two last named to serve one year, so that two re- gents were to be elected annually, commenc- ing with the municipal election of 1870.
The board thus appointed held its first meeting April 13, 1869, and perfected its or- ganization by electing Alvin Saunders, pres- ident; Augustus Kountze, treasurer; and James W. Van Nostrand, secretary .. Appli- cation was at once made to Governor David Butler for the deed of the capitol square, to which he replied that " the original files of the laws passed at the last session of the leg- islature have been sent away by the secre- tary to have them bound," and that as soon as they were returned he would make the deed asked for. If such conveyence was made by Governor Butler it was mislaid, and never recorded, which fact seems to have been overlooked until the meeting of the legislature of 1889, when application was made to that body for the conveyence au- thorized by its predecessor of twenty years previous. The result was the deed was pre- pared, signed by Governor Thayer, and at once properly placed upon record.
It was at first supposed that the old capi- tol building could be used for high school purposes, and a committee of experts, Jonas Gise, John H. Green, and John D. Jones, was employed to thoroughly examine the structure and report as to its condition. They evidently made a favorable report, for
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on the 4th of May, 1869, Mr. Frost was di- rected by the board to employ an architect at an expense of not exceeding $250, and Secretary Van Nostrand was directed to make a ground plan of the building. G. R. Randall, of Chicago, was employed upon recommendation of Mr. Frost and another inspection of the building was made, Mr. Ran- dall reporting it insecure " in construction and inferior in material." It was then re- solved to remove the old building and put up an entirely new one on plans to be furnished by Mr. Randall. The sum of $20,000 was turned over to the board of regents by the " board of trustees of school district No. 1, of Douglas County "-the Omaha district- and bonds to the amount of $100,000 in aid of the erection of the new building were voted and the work entered upon with com- mendable vigor. Mr. A. C. Dort was em- ployed to superintend the tearing down of the old capitol and removing the material, and as soon as the ground was cleared the laying of the foundations of the handsome building which now graces that magnificent site were commenced. The work was car- ried on with earnestness and zeal, and the building finally completed in the latter part of 1872 at a total cost, including the heat- ing apparatus, of $225,000. During this time changes were made in the board of regents. Thomas Davis resigned and C. W. Burt was elected to fill the vacancy, W. W. Lowe, George B. Lake and Eleazer Wakeley also serving as regents, in addition to those ap- pointed, being elected by the people.
By an act approved June 6, 1871, to take effect January 1, 1872, the board of trustees of school district No. 1, and the board of high school regents were both legislated out of existence, though each "continued busi- ness at the old stand" until the latter part of May, 1872. By the act referred to, the control of the schools of the district named passed into the control of a board of educa- tion, consisting of two members from each ward of the city, which made a total mem-
bership of twelve, one-half of which number were to be elected for a term of one year, and the remainder to serve a term of two years, those elected annually thereafter to serve a term of two years. A small portion of the city was then included in school district No. 2, but was afterward brought under the control of the board of education, so that the entire city was included in one district. The first board elected consisted of Alvin Saunders. Dr. Theodore Baumer, Vincent Burkeley, Adolph Boehne, Charles M. Con- noyer, Flemon Drake, C. W. Hamilton, Jo- seph Redman, James Creighton, John T. Edgar, Thomas F. Hall, and Howard Ken- nedy, and the first meeting was held April 8, 1872. Mr. Edgar was elected president, and Mr. Drake, secretary. Among the first resolutions introduced was one by Mr. Hall, which provided that " there shall be no re- ligious services of any kind or nature per- formed in any of the public schools, and that the reading of the Bible, prayers, sing- ing of hymns or psalms are considered in the category of religious services, and that the superintendent and teachers of the pub- lic schools are hereby directed to conduct the schools so as to prevent the performance of any of the above services." On motion of Mr. Kennedy action upon the resolution was postponed until the adoption of rules and regulations for the schools came before the board for consideration, and the resolu- tion was never voted upon.
Prof. A. F. Nightingale was the first sup- erintendent of public schools elected under the present system, the board of education choosing him for that place at their meeting of June 3, 1872, for the period of one year, fixing his salary at $2,400, and other sala- ries were established as follows: Principal of the high school, $1,800; principals of the graded schools, 81,500; first assistant teach- ers, $750; second assistant teachers, $650; and third assistant teachers, $550. At this time the property, assets and liabilities of the board of trustees of school district No.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.
1 and of the board of regents were turned over to the board of education. Up to that date the total receipts of the board of re- gents amounted to §183,024.48, and their disbursements to $174,852, leaving a balance on hand of $8,172.48, with outstanding obli- gations to the amount of 823,894.76. The first issue of school bonds was dated July 1, 1871; the amount was $100,000, running twenty years and drawing ten per cent interest. The credit of Omaha in eastern money centers was not as well established then as now, and only 896,150 were realized on this issue. The following year an additional amount of $50,000 was voted in aid of schools, but owing to legal defects these bonds were de- stroyed in March, 1873, having been re- placed by another issue of the same amount, bearing date February 15, 1873. The rate of interest on these bonds was also fixed at ten per cent. In 1888 school bonds to the amount of $200,000 were voted, but the rate of interest was reduced to five per cent.
In 1876 the first class was graduated from the high school, and was composed of the following persons: Stacia Crowley, Blanche L. Deuel, Ida M. Goodman, Addie HI. Glad- stone, Fannie E. Wilson, Esther Jacobs, Bertha M. Isaacs, Margaret M. McCague, Nelia Lehmer, Alfred Ramsay, Henry C. Curry. Of these Miss Stacia Crowley and Miss Ida M. Goodman are still connected with the schools in the capacity of teachers. Addie II. Gladstone was married to Mr. D. Gross; Fannie E. Wilson, to Mr. S. F. Woodbridge; Bertha M. Isaacs, to Mr. F. R. McConnell; Nelia Lehmer, to Mr. Richard Carrier, and are all residents of Omaha. Esther Jacobs was married to Mr. A. Rosen- berg, and removed to Schuyler, Neb .; and Margaret McCague, to Rev. Albert M. Gor- don, and resides at Alliance, Neb. Miss Blanche L. Deuel, who was Mr. Harry P. Deuel's daughter, was, at the time of her graduation, quite a talented musician, and was deservedly popular among all classes of people in Omaha. She died within a year
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