History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 74

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc.
Number of Pages: 649

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I > Part 74

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Principals of High School-J. W. Babcock, 1880-81 ; Lee Monroe, 1881-82; Villa B. Shippy, 1882-83; Miss Frances Chapman, 1883-86; Chas. J. Walsch, 1886-88; Albert Leonard, 1888-93; J. Edward Massie, 1893-98; John L. Hurlbert, 1898; E. E. Scribner, 1898-1900; E. S. Parker, 1900-03; Geo. M. Wiley, 1903-05; Burtie C. Whittaker, 1905-07; Herbert L. Sackett, 1907-08; N. L. Engelhardt, 1909-12; Burton P. Fowler, 1913-16; A. J. Frey, 1916-17 ; H. D. Lighty, 1917 (still serving).

PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF FREDONIA. By William B. Blaisdell, Supt.

The early records of Chautanqua county reveal that as early as 1806, settlers began to locate in the region which later became the village of Fredonia, then all wilderness. Others followed, and as it proved to be a goodly place in which to live, it was not long before there was a community large enough to form churches and provide for the education of the children.

The first school was sustained entirely by voluntary contributions, and the children found their way to this by means of marked trees. The first school house was a little log structure built on the common (now known as Lafayette Park), and stood almost immediately in front of the site on which the village hall now stands. Among the early teachers were: Mrs. Olive Woodcock, Na- thaniel Gray, S. Fitch, Marietta Blodgett, George S. Porter, George Leonard, Geo. \V. Gage, John P. Hall, Hiram Couch, Thomas Adams, Wm. H. Cutler, Betsy Batcheller and Minerva Willoughby.

As the village grew, the old log school house was found too small and a larger building was planned. The good pioneers believing they had planned large enough to accommodate the children of the village for many decades to come, thought it would be economy to build one that would neither rot nor burn, so constructed this of stone, a structure which still stands, formerly the home of Hon. O. W. Johnson, now that of Mr. D. G. Sackett.

Time proved that these pioneers had built well, for in September, 1826, the old Fredonia Private Academy was started, and this relieved the public school of its older i.d more advanced pupils and the stone school house answered all purposes for many years.

In 1848 a new site was obtained at the corner of Center and Barker streets, and a two department wood school house with an assembly room in the center was erected. This was burned in 1853.

Profiting by their own experience and the wisdom shown by those who had erected the stone school house, the patrons of the district built in 1854 a square four- room building of brick, which still stands as part of the present Barker street school building. This answer- ed all purposes till 1867, when the State Normal School was erected. The normal school, in order to form a practice department, took many of the pupils attending the village school as well as all pupils attending district No. 2, the school house that stood in Honghton Park, in that part of the village which is now called West Hill. From this event on till 1894 this building was adequate to accommodate all pupils of the village which attended the public school. By 1894 the public school had grown larger with the growth of the village, and more room had to be provided. Consequently, in the fall of that year (1894) a meeting of the voters of the district was called by the Board of Education, at which it was voted to form a nnion free school district, consisting of districts Nos. 8 and 2, and to build a four- room addition on the front of the school building then in use on Barker street. This addition was com- pleted in 1895, and accommodated all pupils of the village except those attending the normal school, till 1901. About this time some new industries sprang up in the village, and the population began to increase rapidly. The Barker street school building soon became too small, and rooms outside had to be rented. Later it

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PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF FREDONIA

was decided to purchase the large Stoddart residence on Eagle street and convert the same into a school house. Although this building provided several class rooms, it was only a year or two when it was necessary for the Board of Education again to resort to renting other rooms for school purposes and to take steps toward the erection of other school buildings.

The population by this time (1905) had gone above the five thousand mark, and it was decided to employ a superintendent of schools as provided in the education law to administer the affairs of the educational system of the village. For this office William B. Blaisdell, who had had considerable practical experience in both sec- ondary and elementary schools, was chosen. Superin- tendent Blaisdell began his duties in the fall of 1906, and has continued to serve in this capacity since that time.

As previously stated, the immediate school need of the village was school buildings, therefore along with the general organization of the schools under the new superintendent, erection of new school structures was taken up. Several propositions carrying various amounts of money were placed before the people for approval, but were voted down. In the meantime three different buildings were rented for school uses. Finally, during the school year of 1908-09, after several public meetings had been held at which the people committed themselves to the ward school plan, it was voted to erect two more elementary school buildings in different parts of the village, one to be on Eagle street, and the other on Seymour street, in the west part of the city. During the year 1909 these buildings were completed and a building was remodelled for a kindergarten in connec- tion with the new Eagle street school.

These buildings furnished the necessary school room for the school children of the village for only five or six years, when the buildings again became crowded. There became need not only for more well lighted and ventilated class rooms, but rooms for physical training, industrial rooms for both boys and girls, assembly rooms, medical inspection room to meet State laws, also more high school accommodations. Gradually these needs were presented to the people of the village by the local school administrative authorities and in the spring of 1919 the Board of Education decided to pre- sent a school building program to the voters of the district for approval. After considerable deliberation and planning on the part of the board for a number of months, it was decided to ask the voters of the district for an appropriation of $350,000 with which to build a new Junior High School building, and $19,500 with which to purchase a site on which to build it, naming in the proposal the Richmond-Watson-Fuller properties on West Main street, consisting of about ten acres of land for this purpose. Accordingly, a meeting of the school district was called for May 15, 1920, for the purpose of voting upon these propositions. As the day ap- proached on which these questions were to be decided, a very carefully planned campaign was carried out by the school administration for a favorable vote. When the ballots were counted it was found that the appropria- tion for the new school had carried by a vote in the proposition of more than 7 to I. Since the date of the election, an architect has been employed, and detailed plans and specifications have been drafted, bids for the construction of the new building have been advertised for, contracts have been let, and the building is now be- ing erected. In this structure are to be provided rooms for various types of industrial work for boys, these to be fully equipped with the necessary machinery, rooms for household arts work for girls, rooms for continua-

tion school work, rooms for medical inspection and the school nurse, a gymnasium in connection with which will be dressing rooms, shower baths and a special room for the physical director, an auditorium with gallery, school administration rooms, library, study halls, special rooms for commercial work, agriculture and general science, music, drawing, besides all the necessary rooms for regular academic work. This building is to be a modern structure in every way, in which shall be given every line of instruction which may be needed by any pupil of the village. This building is also to stand as a community center for the benefit of all the people of the whole village, adults as well as children. The building is to stand on the high bluff above the Canadaway creek and overlooking the village. In front, on the level ground below the building, is to be a large playground of several acres on which will be the ball ground, tennis courts and school gardens.

Regarding the school work in schools of Fredonia it might be said that progress has always been the foreword and each year some new advanced step has been taken. More than 30 years ago special work in drawing and in music was begun in the schools, and during the past fifteen years, since the organization of the schools under a superintendent, a special teacher and supervisor for each of these subjects has been employed in the schools. Fredonia was one of the pioneer places to start kindergartens in its public schools ; and for near- ly thirty years specially trained kindergarten teachers have been employed to teach in kindergarten depart- ments. These departments have always been held in favor by the people of the district and at present there are three such classes in the public schools of the vil- lage. This kind of training for the children articulates so well with the primary grades that it proves of great advantage to the pupils who have had this schooling.

Another progressive step was taken in the schools when about fifteen years ago elementary sewing was begun, starting with fourth grade children and con- tinuing by progressive steps with the girls in the fifth year through the Junior High School, with the addition of cooking in the later years. Likewise, considerable other handwork relating to various industries in their simple form and correlated with the work of the regular school subjects has been successfully done in the schools for a number of years.

About four years ago home and school garden work was taken up in the schools and found to be of great educational value, helping not only to awaken interest in and to furnish excellent material for "the three R's" subjects, but to give the pupils something to do that is worth while, something that yields interest in agricul- ture and growing crops and income as well ; besides fur- nishing the best of outdoor exercise.

One of the factors in promoting the school garden idea has been the organization of a Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild in the schools, the purpose of which is to inculcate a spirit of generosity in the pupils, to sup- plant selfishness with a spirit of giving, to lead pupils to give of their surplus plants, flowers, fruits and other products to those who are less fortunate than them- selves. This organization was started on the occasion of Arbor day 19II. Then, and each year since, this event has been used as the time for encouraging the starting of planting and sowing. Each year the plant and seed markets of the public school children of Fredonia, always held early in May, have grown in size and importance and have made possible the doing of a great amount of good, including the giving of thousands of bunches of flowers and hundreds of receptacles of fruit and jellies to children's orphanages, hospitals and

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other charitable institutions besides giving a kind of instruction to the pupils far more valuable than any obtained from books.

For the past three years the school garden work has been under the direction of Mr. Milton B. Schafer as garden supervisor, and this department of the public schools has been one of the most helpful and successful features of the schools.

During the school year of 1919-20 an evening school was started under the direction of the superintendent, the chief aim being the Americanization of the foreign born, instructing them in English and citizenship, thus helping them to become good citizens. Classes were formed for both men and women, the latter being in- structed in our ways of cooking. In these classes there were over forty men and twenty-five women, the imme- diate instruction being given by Mrs. Ella S. Barinore, Miss Mabel Housinger and Mrs. McCartey. So suc- cessful was this evening school feature, that it, no doubt, will become a permanent institution in the schools.

During the coming school year a continuation school is being organized by the superintendent to be held Sat-

urday mornings for the benefit of boys and girls who are employed. The instruction in industrial subjects for boys will be given by Prof. John C. Reynolds, instruc- tion in household arts for girls by Miss Clara E. Black- ford of the public school faculty.

On this report mention also should be made of the Home and School Club, organized in 1910. In the work of this club a great deal of interest has been taken by both parents and teachers and all friends of the school. The programs of the club have always been practical and helpful, and the bringing together of parents and teachers has been the means of good which in amount would be hard to measure. Other good results have been gained through parents' days and in holding school exhibits

Board of Education-President, John H. Foster. Members-Dr. N. A. Johnson, Dr. W. L. Babcock, F. Z. Hartzell, Mrs. Ella S. Barmore.

School Principals-Clara M. Flint, Barker street school; Mary M. Hull, Eagle street school; Bertha C. Piehl, Seymour street school. High school principal not yet appointed.

CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION. Compiled by Arthur E. Bestor.

Fifty years ago Chautauqua was a geographical nanie designating a lake, a township, and a county in Western New York; today it is a common noun which has made its way into many lands and languages. The original Assembly, from which all gatherings of like character throughout the world have taken their name, was char- acterized by Theodore Roosevelt on his last visit to Chautauqua as "the most American thing in America." Chautauqua is the oldest summer school in the country, one of the greatest forums in the English-speaking world, one of the most potent agencies in existence for popular education through the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and the originator of many movements which are now carrying on their work under their own name.

The Chautauqua Sunday School Assembly, founded at Fair Point (later called Chautauqua) on Chautauqua Lake, New York, by Lewis Miller ( 1828-99) and John H. Vincent (1832-1920), was designed to provide a broader and more effective training for Sunday school teachers. The Assembly's first program was not only consistently pan-denominational, but it included lectures on other than Biblical and religious themes, as well as many recreative features.

The natural development of the original purpose early led to several broadly educational undertakings. The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, founded in 1878, spread quickly to every State and to several foreign countries ; the School of Languages (1879) was extend- ed to include pedagogical courses in 1880, and under the late William R. Harper ( 1883-95) became a system of fourteen summer schools. For ten years (1886-96) the Chautauqua College of Liberal Arts and School of Theology, under the title of Chautauqua University, conducted correspondence courses in college and the- ological subjects until endowed universities took up this work and relieved Chautauqua of its burdens as a pioneer. In 1888 Chautauqua was a leader, under the late Herbert B. Adams, in adapting English University-

Extension methods to American conditions. In 1898 Chautauqua voluntarily surrendered to the State of New York the power to grant degrees, and in 1902 received a new special charter under the name Chautauqua In- stitution.

The Chautauqua summer session has been gradually lengthened from twelve days to sixty; the daily pro- gram has been steadily strengthened and enriched; the platform has been kept in sympathetic relations with the best things of national life; the home reading course has been more and more nicely adjusted to the needs of Chautauqua readers. The material side of the In- stitution has kept approximate pace with its expanding life and widening constituency.

The Institution began on the first Tuesday of Au- gust, 1874, when a group of earnest people met at Fair Point on Chautauqua Lake to found a Sunday School Assembly. Dr. John H. Vincent had long wanted to establish an institute for training Sunday school teachers. His colleague, Lewis Miller, proposed to take this into the woods. Dr. Vincent feared that the new enterprise would be confused with the camp meeting, which just then was a highly emotional institution. Mr. Miller's counsel prevailed and Chautauqua was chosen. The spot was full of natural charm-a heavily timbered point stretching out into a lovely lake, from which the ground rose in wooded terraces to a rolling countryside. The men and women who responded to the call were devoted Sunday school workers; they were anxious to put their teaching on a higher plane. All the leading denominations were represented at this first assembly.

It is significant that the "Chautauqua Idea" was a logical development of the purpose to make Sunday school instruction more efficient. Bible teachers ought vividly to visualize Oriental lands and ancient life. Therefore there was provided an earth model of Pales- tine 300 feet long, a plaster model of Jerusalem, an Ori- ental house of stucco with residents in costume, a muezzin calling to prayers from a minaret, and a "path- way of Roman history" with a series of labeled posts along Pratt avenue laid out on the scale of a foot to each year of Roman history. Sunday school officers should be familiar with teaching methods, therefore

Note-Detailed information as to important devel- opments in the history of Chautauqua is given by years on pages -

- (i. e .: 1874-Chautauqua Institu- tion, 1920; and Survey of the Seasons, 1874-1920).

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pedagogical courses were given, and instruction in men- tal philosophy. They should be broad in their interests, hence lectures on science, travel, literature, social prob- lems were offered. The esthetic side of life should not be neglected. so music and an art collection were pro- vided. From the outset, entertainments and games were deemed a natural and wholesome feature of the Chau- tauqua summer life.

Bishop Vincent said of that memorable first meeting, "the stars were out, and looked down through trembling leaves upon a goodly well-wrapped company, who sat in the grove, filled with wonder and hope. No electric light brought platform and people face to face that night. The old-fashioned pine fires on rude four-legged stands, like tall tables, covered with earth, burned with unsteady. flickering flame, now and then breaking into temporary brilliancy by the contact of a resinous knot of pine or a vigorous stirring-up by the stick of the rustic fireman who knew how to snuff candles and how to turn light on the crowd of campers-out. The white tents were very beautiful in that evening light."

The Assembly opened with prayer and the reading of the vesper service which has been used at the open- ing of every Assembly since. All the leading Protestant churches were represented. People were present from twenty-five States, and from many parts of the British Empire. Mr. Frank Beard said of that first Assembly : "The first audience met in Miller Park, and sat down on rough benches and stumps, with nothing to rest their backs against except the salubrious atmosphere; and they did not need much else in those days, for the pioneer Chautauquan possessed backbone. That was the day when neither a wet day nor a dry speaker could drive the audience from their seats."

The Assembly was divided into three terms. There were twenty-two lectures on theory and practice in Sun- day school work; seven on Bible history, geography, etc. The Sectional Meetings included nine primary ; six intermediate ; one senior ; one superintendents ; four pastors and superintendents ; eight normal-class and in- stitute-conductors conversazioni; six normal sections ; three teachers' meetings; two model Sunday-school ses- sions; four Bible readings; three praise services; two children's meetings and six sermons.

The Chautauqua platform early gained distinction. During fifty years it has welcomed the famous men and women of America and England. Here Grant was eloquently silent ; here John B. Gough made people forget the dinner hour. It was at Chautauqua that Susan B. Anthony pleaded for woman suffrage long before the leaders of fashion took up the cause. Drum- mond repeated his Lowell lectures at Chautauqua in 1893. Theodore Roosevelt, as a young man, on the first of four visits, gave lectures which he later developed into his volumes on "The Winning of the West." Fair- bairn of Oxford tried to make clear the philosophic issues that Joseph Cook's oratory had clouded. Sir Owen Seaman, now editor of "Punch," visited the United States solely for the purpose of lecturing to Chautauquans on the Greek drama and on Tennyson and Browning. One of the most exciting events of the eighties was a debate on Standard Oil between Wash- ington Gladden and George Gunton. James Bryce, while British Ambassador, gave here one of his scholarly addresses. Noted authors have read from their own works; for example, Riley, Cable, Hopkinson Smith, Thomas Nelson Page. General Lew Wallace read for the first time in public the famous chariot-race scene from "Ben-Hur," but as a wit remarked, "he never got the horses off a walk." It has been the policy of Chau- tauqua to invite to its platform not sensation-mongers

and self-seekers, but men and women who from experi- ence and training are able to speak with sincerity and authority. The Chautauqua programs reflect national life for five decades and record the names of presidents, statesmen, university men, clergymen, leaders of social reform, authors, artists.

Before long the enriched course began to attract other than Sunday school teachers. Within a few years in- struction was provided in languages, history, literature, science, pedagogy. Dr. William R. Harper ( president of the University of Chicago, 1891-1906) came in 1883, and by 1890 a complete system of summer schools had been established. Correspondence teaching was intro- duced and was maintained until endowed universities relieved Chautauqua of this task. Men and women from leading institutions of the country joined the sum- mer staff, and firmly established the reputation of the schools to which many thousands continue to resort. Richard T. Ely and Herbert B. Adams of Johns Hop- kins. A. S. Cook and George B. Adams of Yale, H. E. Van Holst of Chicago, were among those who gave aid at a time when certain journals were declaring that summer study was unwise.

With the founding in 1874 of what is now Chautauqua Institution, there was ostensibly started "a system of popular education" which was supposed to stand in con- trast with the college system of education maintained for the cultured and professional classes. The contrast, however, has always been more apparent than real. In the early years the main issue was a question of opinion as to whether the summer could be turned to academic account, especially in a six-week session. Half the first set of courses at Chautauqua were in the nature of regular college work in ancient and modern languages. The remainder were normal school studies in pedagogy. From the outset came people who gained in these weeks their first view of the "college outlook," or who re- turned for further vistas in which they could not pos- sibly indulge themselves during the school year. In these later days Chautauqua has continued to be popular in a legitimate sense-has even become much more so than at first-but most of the universities and many of the colleges are now unwilling to be outdone.

Largely speaking, the first stage in the Chautauqua summer schools was the oldest fashioned stage of study- for-knowledge courses. The founders started with a School of Languages, and a Teachers' Retreat, which was a school of pedagogy. When they introduced the first lectures on science, the lecturers did all the talking and experimenting and the students listened and watch- ed; and for ten years they stuck to books and abstrac- tions and had a pleasantly exciting time pursuing knowl- edge as it appeared on the printed page and was heard in the fluent periods of the instructor and public lec- turer.

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 74

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc. Number of Pages: 649

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc.
Number of Pages: 649