History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 73

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882 > Part 73

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).

Lodusky Everett, now on high,

Maria Bell, above the sky,

Look back to Lower Sandusky.

Miss Nancy Tracy, Ami, too, Who sealed their friendship firm and true, With love of deep indellible hue, Down there in Lower Sandusky.

Nor is this list complete at all

Without Thad and Alvira Ball,

In good old Lower Sandusky;

Dick Beaugrand and Orland C., Belle Nyce and Sweet Alvira P., With Betsey Maynard, full of glee, In that old Lower Sandusky.

Lucinda Cowden, Hawkins Jane,

Beery and Moore, of Hessville fame,

Not far from Lower Sandusky;

Clarissa Meeker, John McNath, Ann Olmsted, often full of laugh, Is now on Governor Foster's staff, Short distance from Sandusky.

Our much-respected Homer E.

Still honors this society,

That comes from Lower Sandusky.

Jim Hadley, seldom out of tune, Miss Harrington, and Tom McCune Who got the mitten one night in June In naughty old Sandusky.

Almira Brainard, Charley Bell,

And more my memory could tell,

Who lived in Lower Sandusky,

But time forbids; I must be brief, For fear I bring you all to grief, And sleep should come to your relief, To dream of Lower Sandusky.

How many things. we think of yet, Those spelling schools we can't forget.

476

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY

In good old Lower Sandusky;

For, after we'd spelled down, you know,

The girls were glad to take a beau,

And walk with only two in a row, Down there in Lower Sandusky.

And this suggests more winter sports, According to our old reports,

In good old Lower Sandusky.

The sleigh ride with its jolly whoa!

The laugh and light fantastic toe,

Till near the morning home we'd go, To jolly old Sandusky.

And by the way, we'd sing our song, And never thought the road too long To jolly old Sandusky.

And as we went they'd hear us sing,

Until we made the welkin ring,

For we were happy as a king, Sleighing to Lower Sandusky.

But joys of youth with us are pass'd,

For youthful pleasures could not last In that old Lower Sandusky;

But we will not begrudge them to

Our children, and their children who

Have lived and loved as we used to, In good old Lower Sandusky.

But Lower Sandusky's pass'd away, And with it, too, our joyous days, That good old Lower Sandusky.

And nearly all our school-mates, too,

Have bid that good old town adieu,

And gone to realms of brighter hue We trust, than Lower Sandusky.

Our teacher, too, has gone to rest, Among the mansions of the blest, Far from old Lower Sandusky.

At last may we, who linger here,

In that bright realm of Heaven appear;

But while we live, we'll still revere Our old home, Lower Sandusky.

Those who were pupils of the old log school-house remember very distinctly the deep ravine that used to run just south of the present High School building, in whose waters, swollen by recent rains, they used to play; also the graves of the British officers near by, and a mound which marked the common burial place of the British soldiers that fell in the battle of Fort Stephenson, over and among which they were accustomed to ramble in their school-day sports. This school-house was

also the church and court-house. In it the teacher taught, the missionary preached, and the judge expounded the law and administered justice.

The studies pursued in the earlier schools were reading, writing, arithmetic, a little grammar, and very little or no geography, Among the text books were Pike's Arith- metic, Murray's Grammar, the introduction to the English Reader, the English Reader, and the sequel to the same, together with Webster's Spelling Book.

The schools were supported entirely by subscription.

The old log school-house stood until the fall of 1834, when it was burned down, as it was considered unsafe for school purposes, a cholera patient having died in it the previous August. In its stead a rough stone building was erected, containing at first one room, and eventually two. This remained until after the organization of the schools on the graded or union school plan, and the erection of the new brick building in 1852-53. The same year a brick school-house was erected on the east side of the river, on Howland street, which continued to be used for school purposes for nearly thirty years, when it was sold to the city council for an engine house.

The stone school-house on the west side of the river and the brick on the east side supplied the school wants for many years, although before 1850 additional buildings were rented on both sides of the river.

During these years many select schools were taught in rented buildings.

Dr. Dio Lewis, who has since obtained a National notoriety, taught school in 1843-44, in the old Exchange building, north of the Kessler hotel. The school was incorporated as the Diocletian Institute. Mr. Lewis not meeting with sufficient encouragement, abandoned the project after about two years' trial.

477

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

Horace E. Clark taught for several years in the public schools.

GRADED SCHOOLS.

In January, 1850, a public meeting of the citizens of Fremont was held at the court- house, for the purpose of taking preliminary steps toward the organization of the schools on the graded or union-school plan, under the State law of 1849. Akron had led the way in the establishment of graded schools, under a special law passed at the instance of that town. Fremont was not slow to improve the opportunity afforded by the general law of 1849, whose passage by the Legislature had been induced by the favorable reception of the Akron experiment. Among the active supporters of such reorganization of the schools were Dr. L. Q. Rawson, Rev. H. Lang, General Buckland, Hon. Homer Everett, Judge James Justice, Sardis Birchard, and Horace E. Clark. The question was submitted to a vote of the people February 2, 1850. The measure met with active opposition, and the election was, perhaps, the most exciting local election in the history of the city, electioneering carriages being brought out to gather in voters as on great political occasions. The measure of reorganization on the graded school plan was carried by a majority of forty-four in a total poll of two hundred and eighteen votes.

The school record from this date, 1850, for a period of twelve years, is unfortunately lost, and we are therefore obliged to depend for information relative to the early organization of the schools very largely upon the memory of men, together with such documents as poll books and the occasional reports of treasurers and teachers found among the papers preserved.

On the 14th of February, 1850, the fol- lowing gentlemen were elected members of the first board of education: Jesse

Olmsted, Rev. H. Lang, Homer Everett, J. B. G. Downs, D. Capper, and J. H. Hafford.

Mr. Olmsted had been an active and even violent opponent of the new departure in the school organization, and had done what he could to defeat the measure. The friends of new organization, as a stroke of policy, determined to elect him a member of the board, of which he was chosen president. He gracefully accepted the situation, and became a warm supporter of the schools.

The first board of education proceeded to take measures for the erection of a new building for the better accommodation of the schools. There were, at this time, five schools-two in the stone school-house, one in the brick on the east side, one in the frame building, still standing just east of the bridge, known in the records as the Bridge school-house, and another in the basement of the old Methodist Episcopal church, the latter two being rented for school purposes.

The new school building, containing four rooms, and costing between six and eight thousand dollars, was not completed so as to be ready, for the schools until the fall of 1853. Three different appropriations were made for the erection of this building, the first being carried with scarcely any opposition, and the last by a small majority only.

It does not appear that any attempt was made to grade or classify the schools for two or three years subsequent to the organization under the law of 1849, probably from the want of suitable accommodations.

The following amounts were paid for tuition for the fall term of three months in 1851: Rev. F. S. White, one hundred and twenty dollars; Horace E. Clark, ninety dollars; Miss R. P. Mitchener, Sarah G. Downs and Elizabeth Ryder,

478

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

forty-five dollars each. F. S. White, before his removal to Fremont, had been a teacher in Cleveland, and an active and warm supporter of Superintendent Frieze in the organization of the schools of that place, contributing articles to the Cleveland Plain Dealer in furtherance of their interests and the interests of the public schools in general. His salary of forty dollars per month was considered by many as extravagant in its character. It was the largest amount that had ever been paid. He only taught one term.

In a report of one of the male teachers, in 1853, we find the statement that three- fourths of the pupils lose, at least, one-sixth of their time, or one hour every day, in consequence of tardiness. Teachers of today, who rightly enough feel that they have cause to complain of the tardiness of their pupils, can gather consolation from this statement of twenty-three years ago.

The schools were first graded when the new school building was occupied, in the fall of 1853. Horace E. Clark, a former teacher in the schools, and at that time a member of the board of education, and county auditor, exercised a general super- vision over the schools during this school year. B. W. Lewis taught in the high school, S. Treat in the west, and J. W. Hiett in the east side grammar schools. There is no report for this year.

The following year, 1854-55, J. W. Hiett acted as principal of the high school, and Superintendent B. W. Lewis and S. Treat having charge of the grammar schools, and Julia Kridler, Helen Morgan and Mary Tichneor being teachers in the primary and secondary schools.

The report of this year, the first general report ever made, shows a total enumeration of eight hundred and sixty-four, a total enrollment of five hundred and ninety-two, and an average daily attendance of

three hundred and twelve, or fifty-three per cent. of the entire enrollment. The salaries paid were forty dollars per month for the high school, thirty-five dollars in the grammar schools, and twenty dollars per month for the lady teachers in the primary and secondary grades.

There were at this time six schools, re- spectively styled the high school, the west side and east side grammar schools, the west side secondary, and the west side and the east side primary schools, four of which occupied the new school building.

The studies pursued in addition to the common branches were, according to the reports, philosophy, physiology and chemistry. In the fall of 1855 George A. Starkweather was employed as superintendent, and his wife as grammar school teacher, at a joint salary of one thousand dollars.

J. B. Loveland taught in the east side grammar school. Mr. Loveland continued an efficient teacher in the grammar and high schools from this time until the year 1864. Mr. Starkweather remained in charge of the school for two years. History, algebra and Latin are reported among the additional studies pursued.

C. C. Woolard, the present principal of one of the Cincinnati schools, succeeded Mr. Starkweather as superintendent in the fall of 1857, holding the position two years, at a salary of eight hundred dollars per year. From their correspondence the board seemed anxious to obtain all the information possible from other towns of the State relative to the management of graded schools. At this time there were eight schools, four in the central building, one on Wood street, two on Howland street, and one on Croghanville hill, three new one-story buildings having been erected about this time. In 1858 it became necessary to rent the Presbyterian session room for the use of the high school.

479

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY

The superintendent complains to the board of the irregular attendance of teachers upon the teachers' meetings. This is the first reference we find, in the history of the schools, to teachers' meetings for professional instruction. They were held on Saturday, and attendance upon them had been rendered obligatory by action of the board.

That this period was not one of perfectly harmonious action and good feeling is evident from the tone of the letter of Don. A. Pease, in which he speaks of the excited state of the public mind in school matters, and rather reluctantly, in consequence thereof, accepts the position of superintendent for the year 1859-60, at a salary of seven hundred dollars.

Mr. Pease discharged the duties of su- perintendent for one year only. No general annual report seems to have been made during all these years, since Superintendent Hiett's report, nor for the three following years, or if made they took no permanent shape and have been lost.

In 1860 the Rev. Dr. Bushnell, resident pastor of the Presbyterian. church, was elected to the position of superintendent of schools at a salary of three hundred dollars per year. Mr. Bushnell was a fine classical and mathematical scholar. His work was exclusively of a supervisory character. He did not teach, and in connection with his school work continued to discharge his ministerial duties. He held the position of superintendent, and ably discharged its duties for a period of three years. During the first year of Mr. Bushnell's administration J. B. Loveland taught in the high school, Mr. Sowers in the west side grammar school, and J. Burgner in the east side grammar or mixed school. In the following year J. Burgner taught in the high school, J. B Loveland in the grammar school, and F. M. Ginn was employed on the east side. Mr. Ginn

remained connected with the schools, an efficient and acceptable grammar school teacher, until the year 1870, when he be- came superintendent of the schools of Clyde, Ohio. In the fall of 1862 G. C. Woolard returned to the schools as principal of the high school, at a salary of five hundred dollars a year; J. B. Loveland continuing in the grammar school at a salary of four hundred and fifty dollars, F. M. Ginn, at three hundred and fifty dollars, and the lady teachers generally receiving two hundred dollars a year. The Presbyterian session room was occupied by the high school, and the basement of the Methodist Episcopal church was rented for a primary school. This was the last year of Mr. Bushnell's superin- tendency. He was endeavoring, we learn, to bring the schools to a course of study which he had marked out for his own guidance, something that had not heretofore been done. His superintendency closed, however, before the work had been thoroughly accomplished.

The following year, 1863-64, Mr. Woolard was first elected principal of the high school, and then clothed with the powers of superintendent, and an assist-ant teacher for the first time employed in the high school. Hitherto the superintendent, with the exception of the Rev. Mr. Bushnell, had been sole principal of the high school, and supervision under such circumstances must necessarily have been of a nominal character. There seems to have been considerable friction during this school year, in the working of the school machinery in the teachers corps, and, as a. natural consequence, between board and teachers.

Toward the close of the year the powers of supervision over the schools on the east side of the river were conferred temporarily on Mr. Ginn.

Two new school buildings were erected

480

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

this year, one on John street and one on Hickory street. It seem to have been the policy of the board, after the erection of the central building, to build one-story structures, with a view almost solely to local accommodations.

This year terminated Mr. Woolard's connection with the schools of Fremont. We are disposed to regard him as a gentle-man of good ability, and possessed of a large fund of valuable information in the theory and practice of teaching, especially in the lower departments.

SUPERINTENDENCY OF W. W. ROSS.

In 1864 W. W. Ross was elected super- intendent, his brother Zachary Ross being employed in the grammar school, both at a joint salary of one thousand one hundred dollars, which was increased to one thousand two hundred dollars at the close of the first term. Miss Kate Patrick was assistant in the high school.

At this time there were ten schools, re- spectively styled high, grammar, inter- mediate, secondary, and primary. Two of these schools occupied rented rooms, entirely unsuited to school purposes. There was no printed course of study, and in fact no definite course of study of any kind, especially in the high school, that was considered as of a binding character.

A course of study was marked out during the first term, covering a period of eleven or twelve years, four years being given to the high school. It received the sanction of the board, and was published for the guidance of teachers and the information of parents.

The high school studies hitherto pursued were, according to the reports, algebra, philosophy, physiology, and history, a very few pupils having occasionally studied geometry, chemistry, and Latin.

The new course of study embraced, in addition to the common branches, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physiology, phys-

ical geography, philosophy, history, book- keeping, botany, chemistry, rhetoric, science of government, natural history, astronomy, geology, logic, mental and moral philosophy, and Latin, the latter being optional.

During the first year the superintendent's time was wholly occupied in teaching, the work of supervision being effected chiefly through teachers' meetings, which were held weekly. During the second and third year about one hour each day was given to the work of supervision. The last term of the year 1864-65, Zachary Ross having resigned, Mr. Ginn was transferred to the west side, as principal of the grammar school, and the east side school became one of secondary and intermediate grade.

At the beginning of this school year, 1865- 66, Miss E. L. Otis, an intermediate teacher, was transferred to the high school, a position she has continued to fill, either as assistant or principal, with marked fidelity and success to the present time.

In June, 1867, Eliza Bushnell graduated from the high school. She was the first graduate.

In May, 1866, the question of appro- priating sixteen thousand dollars for the erection of new school buildings, one on the east and one on the west side of the river, was submitted to the vote of the people. It was carried by a vote of two hundred and seven to one hundred and twenty one. These buildings, one a two-story and the other a three-story structure, were built the following year, and first occupied about January 1, 1868.

An additional teacher was first employed in the high school at the beginning of the school year of 1867-68. This arrangement, which the thenceforward gave, su- perintendent two-thirds of his time for supervision, together with the new school

481

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

buildings, enabled the schools to start on a new and more successful career.

A German-English school was first es- tablished in 1868-69, covering the five lower grades. It has been maintained ever since, having for several years been in charge of Miss E. Augspurber, a teacher of twenty-five years' experience.

None but lady teachers have been em- ployed in the English schools since 1870. Miss G. A. Lawton, the first lady principal of the grammar school, filled the position with rare ability for one year. Her successor, Miss M. E. Wood, has continued to discharge the onerous and responsible duties of grammar school principal from that time to the present, with such ability, energy, and success as few gentlemen could excel. She has been assisted most of the time by Mary Fanning, a faithful and competent teacher.

There has as yet been no conscious loss of power in the schools, either in discipline or in other respects, from the exclusive employment of lady teachers.

In 1873 a new and beautiful two-story primary school building was erected on John street, at a cost of five thousand dollars, and a one-story school-house on John street, and another on Hickory street, were sold by the board. This was a move in the direction of centralization of the schools, rather than their isolation.

In this year, 1873, the schools prepared work for the Vienna Exposition, illustrative of the work of all the grades, for which they received a diploma of merit.

This same year the board of education, for the first time, gave the annual report of the schools a more permanent form, by the publication of a neat little volume of sixty pages, containing the regulations, course of study, and report of the superintendent.

In this report the grades were slightly modified, and their nomenclature changed

from grammar, intermediate, secondary, and primary to grammar and primary, four years being given to each department, the grades being respectively styled A, B, C, and D.

Shortly after, the number of grades in each room was reduced from two to one, as far as the scattered state of the school buildings made it practicable. These changes, which more definitely marked out the work of the lower grades, and determined their boundaries, resulted in immediate improvement in the work of the first six years, and a more general advancement in the annual promotions.

More recently these single-grade schools have been subdivided into two sections, with a view ultimately to have one five months in advance of the other, both to be promoted annually, and the advanced section of the A grammar grade, when promoted to the high school, to have the privilege of completing the course in three years, or of taking up additional studies.

ATTENDANCE, ETC.

1855 1865 1875

Number of pupils enrolled

592 917 950

Average daily attendance

312 482 643

Number of teachers

6 12 18

Number of school-rooms 6

10 14

Number of weeks in session 36 36 40

EXPENDITURES.

1855 1865 1875

Amount paid teachers $1,530 $3,500 $9,385

Total expenditures 5,000 13,000

Value of school property .. 8,000 20,000 50,000

The apparently small increase in the en- rollment of 1875 over 1865 was occasioned by the withdrawal of pupils from the public schools to attend the new denominational schools in the city. The per cent of the total enrollment in average daily attendance has increased from fifty-three per cent in 1855 and 1865 to sixty-eight per cent in 1875.

The management of the schools has grown constantly easier, with exceptional periods, in different schools. There is

482

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

not one case of corporal punishment now where there were five eight years ago.

Suspensions have been rarely resorted to, too rarely, perhaps, for the interests of the schools. The policy has been one of extreme caution in setting a boy adrift, even when there was small prospect of amendment. It is believed there is a general willingness in the community to sustain the teacher's authority, the cases being exceptional where parents seem to regard that the tardiness and irregular attendance of their children is no one's concern but their own, and that their misconduct forfeits none of their school rights.

The recent regulation which puts children or parents to the inconvenience of reporting to the superintendent or board, in case of repeated delinquencies in the matter of regular and punctual attendance, is helping to lessen these evils.

The high school course of study, from the time it was adopted in 1864, has been a four years' course. It has been slightly modified by giving two less terms to algebra in the second year, and substituting arithmetic in its place, and by substituting English literature for moral science in the last year of the course.

The present course is: First year, gram- mar, algebra, physiology and physical geography; second year, algebra, arithmetic, philosophy, history, botany, bookkeeping; third year, geometry, chemistry, rhetoric, zoology and science of government; fourth year, trigonometry, astronomy, English literature, geology, logic and mental science.

Latin may be selected in the place of grammar and history in the first and second years; zoology and mental science in the third and fourth years, or pursued conjointly with all the studies of the last two years.

Two years ago the plan was adopted of giving to the best scholars among the

boys promoted to the high school the privilege of completing the course in three years. This plan has operated admirably, such pupils often proving the very best in the classes to which they have been advanced. The privilege has. not been given to the girls.

The high school has never met with any opposition in this city. No larger audiences assemble than on commencement occasions. It is believed no school is more highly appreciated, or more thoroughly fortified in the affections of the people. Its efficient principal, Miss E. L. Otis, has been continuously connected with the school for a period of ten years. She was assisted for three years by Estelle S. Rawson, a former graduate of the schools, and for the last three years by Miss M. L. Smith, of Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts,. both competent teachers.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 73

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: