USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania : from its first beginnings to the present time, including chapters of newly-discovered early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume V > Part 15
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As to township schools, the best description is perhaps that which Mrs. M. L. T. Hartman contributed to Johnson's "Historical Record." In an inter- esting article she describes early school conditions in Huntington Township. "In the settlement of Huntington," she writes, "were young men and women competent for teachers on their arrival; and, therefore, here at least, their rude log cabins had hardly more than been built before they built schoolhouse cabins as comfortable as the best of the houses, and the supposition is that desks and seats made of planed boards were in use as early as 1800." Mrs. Hartman's "first recollection of a schoolroom was in 1822, in the old school- house nearly opposite the site of the Harveyville church, and then the desks seemed to be old, but were made of planed boards and were comfortable-the house, a frame, one-story, 20x24; the writing desks built along each wall. A large wood stove occupied the center and the teacher's desk was movable. The door was near one corner, and opened into an ante-room for hats and wraps. A respectful bow admitted a boy and a courtesy a girl. .... Many of the children came more than a mile, some more than two miles. All were instructed in spelling, reading, and writing. Grammar and history were taught to any who wished to study them, or were well advanced in the others. Noah Webster's 'Easy Standard of Pronunciation' and the dictionary were our spelling books. John Rogers' 'Primer,' the 'English Reader,' 'Columbia Ora- tor' and 'American Preceptor' were all used as reading books. Daboll's, Ben-
HAZLETON HIGH SCHOOL
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net's and Pike's were the arithmetics. Lindley Murray's 'Grammar' was generally used until superseded by Kirkham's about 1835.
School conditions were probably much alike in all well-settled townships of that period. It will not be necessary, in this general chapter, to follow closely the separate school history of individual townships. for in most of the town- ship reviews, that make up Chapter LVII, something has been written regard- ing the pioneer schools. John Jenkins was teaching school in Pittston in 1781. Plymouth built two schoolhouses soon after the Revolution. Nanticoke was using a schoolhouse of logs in 1820; Dallas built a hewn-log schoolhouse in 1816; Exeter had a log schoolhouse before 1800, and long before had had a school maintained by township tax. In Plains a schoolhouse of round logs was built in 1818. In Newport township was a schoolhouse as early as 1803. In 1837, Hazleton erected a village hall, to serve all communal purposes- school, church, social and governmental. Although all townships did not at once build schoolhouses, a schoolroom was no doubt soon provided wherever there were children of school age in sufficient number.
When the Common School Law went into operation in 1834, only three townships of Luzerne County voted in the negative on the measure : and these three "non-accepting" school districts conducted schools, at township expense, equal in every respect to those of other townships wherein the Common School Law was in operation. This free school measure called "for a levy on all taxable property and inhabitants; provided that townships, boroughs and wards should be school districts and that schools should be maintained at public expense, the supervision of schools in each district being entrusted to a board of six school directors to be elected." The Secretary of the Common- wealth had general supervision of education, but in each county two inspectors of common schools were to be appointed by the Court of Quarter Sessions.
This system continued almost unchanged until 1857. when the Department of Public Instruction was separated from the Department of State. Act of April 18, 1857, provided for the appointment of a State Superintendent of Common School. The way to this change in State control of education had been paved by Act of May 24, 1854, which created the office of county super- intendent, the latter an elective office. In 1873. the title of the State office was changed to "Superintendent of Public Instruction," and. inferentially, the office of county superintendent then automatically became that of "Public Instruction," not of "Common Schools." In 1862, boroughs were permitted to have their own superintendents. In 1868, an act was passed which, by 1870, swept into the common school system all the so-called "non-accepting" school districts. Thereafter, all operated under the Free School Law of 1834, as amended. Township high schools were established, or authorized, in 1884.
Progress was steady, but led inexorably to compulsory education. During the 'eighties and 'nineties, this "spectre" of the free school system was fought as bitterly as had been Thaddeus Stevens' Free School Law of 1834. In Bradsby's "History of Luzerne County" (1892), the historian gives his own opinion on the subject in discussing the question : "Do schools educate?":
Is it possible we are deceiving the rising generation on a subject so vital to them as their education? Let us hope not. But it must be confessed that this demand by the rank and file of educators for compulsory schools is very near a fatal admission.
This much we may now know: if it is imperative that we have compulsory free schools, then inevitably the State must furnish lavatories, fine-toothed combs, and decent clothing for those compelled to attend. When these are supplied, and this should be done promptly and ungrudgingly, then these newly-fashioned children cannot go to school and become Solomons on empty stomachs.
However, compulsory education was the inevitable way that expansion of a system of free schools would take. Acts were passed in 1895, 1897, and 1901 ; and the State has not yet been called upon to clothe the children of the poor
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that they might be fit to sit beside their richer schoolmates. Until compul- sory education became the law of the land, it hardly seems likely that the free schools can have been as commonly used as they should have been. When Mr. Frank P. Hopper became the superintendent of Luzerne County schools, in 1899, the county employed only seven hundred teachers. In 1925, when Mr. Hopper resigned the office of county superintendent, the number of teachers under his jurisdiction had increased to 1,935. On this basis, the school enrollment should have almost trebled in the quarter century.
The districts now under the supervision of the county superintendent are as follows :
District
No. of Teachers
District
No. of Teachers
Hanover Twp.
1.4I
Nescopeck Boro.
12
Plains Twp.
130
Salem Twp.
12
Duryea Boro.
82
Butler Twp.
II
Larksville Boro.
90
Lehman Twp.
IC
Edwardsville Boro.
59
Warrior Run Boro.
10
Jenkins Twp.
55
Dallas Twp.
9
Forty Fort Boro.
5I
Ross Twp.
9
Parsons Boro.
46
White Haven Boro.
9
Freeland Boro.
45
Fairmount Twp.
8
Wilkes-Barre Twp.
45
Sugar Loaf Twp.
8
Swoyersville Boro.
43
Fairview Twp.
7
Foster Twp.
41
Hunlock Twp.
7
Exeter Boro.
36
Dorrance Twp.
6
Luzerne Boro.
35
Laurel Run Boro.
6
Pittston Twp.
35
Yatesville Boro.
6
Plymouth Twp.
34
Courtdale Boro.
5
West Hazleton Boro.
32
Dallas Boro.
5
Wyoming Boro.
31
Hollenback Twp.
5
Avoca Boro.
30
Jackson Twp.
5
Miners Mills Boro.
26
Laflin Boro.
5
Kingston Twp.
24
Wright Twp.
5
Sugar Notch
22
Exeter Twp.
4
Dupont Boro.
2I
Franklin Twp.
4
Conyngham Twp.
20
Nescopeck Twp.
4
Hughestown Boro.
19
Slocum Twp.
4
Shickshinny Boro.
19
Jeddo Boro.
3
Pringle Boro.
18
Bear Creek Twp.
2
West Wyoming Boro.
16
Conyngham Boro.
2
Black Creek Twp.
15
Buck Twp.
I
Huntington Twp.
13
New Columbus Boro
I
Lake Twp.
12
Nuangola Boro.
I
Superintendent Hopper was succeeded in 1926 by A. P. Cope, who had been teaching in Luzerne County schools for twenty-two years, at first in his native township, Union, later in Shickshinny, Plymouth Township, Wyoming Seminary, followed by sixteen years as principal and superintendent of Ashley public schools. The associate county superintendents are: C. F. Dengler, Shickshinny ; H. E. Heller, Wapwallopen ; Z. R. Howell, Trucksville; P. T. Kane, Parsons ; and T. A. Wakefield, Drums.
Several of the larger borough and city school districts are of independent status, and, therefore, should be added to the county school statistics. The public schools of the city of Wilkes-Barre used a corps of 480 teachers during the school year 1926-27, Hazleton had 256, Nanticoke about 150, Pittston City IIO, Kingston Borough 135, Hazle Township 90, Plymouth Borough 85, West Pittston 52, and Ashley 43 teachers in 1926. This brings the total for the county to almost 3,000-a greater number, probably, than there were inhabi- tants in the Wyoming Valley at the close of the Revolution. As late as 1864 Wilkes-Barre, which now has 480 teachers, had only 187 scholars in its com- mon schools.
The borough then had three schoolhouses, all one-story structures. The
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teaching staff probably did not exceed ten. I11 1865, when George B. Kulp, Daniel L. Rhone and George D. Miles were school directors, the Washington School Building was erected. In 1866, the school directors were: George B. Kulp ; Henry M. Hoyt, who became Governor of Pennsylvania, in 1879, and Henry W. Palmer, who became Attorney-General in Governor Hoyt's admin- istration. These three worthy citizens built the Frank Schoolhouse, of twelve rooms, in 1869, and continued in direction of the school affairs of Wilkes- Barre until 1871, when the borough was promoted to city class.
As a city, Wilkes-Barre had enlarged boundaries, absorbing part of Wilkes- Barre Township, as well as the whole of the borough. For school purposes also, the remainder of Wilkes-Barre Township was included in three inde- pendent school districts provided for by the Act of Incorporation .of the City of Wilkes-Barre, May 4, 1871. The new school districts were: The First District, consisting of city wards 1, 2, 3, 6, and 9, and the remaining north portion of the township ; the Second District, consisting of city wards 13, 14. and 15, and the remaining south portion of Wilkes-Barre Township ; the Third District, consisting of city wards 4, 5. 7, 8, 10, 11, and 12. The Third District had a board of seven directors, and the other six each-nineteen directors in all to manage the schools to which probably not more than a thousand pupils went.
The Third District was the wealthiest, and thus was able to conduct bet- ter schools. Ere long, therefore, the other school districts of the city sought to effect a consolidation, or at least to equalize the facilities available to all school children of the city. Dr. William G. Weaver, Edward Mackin and H. G. Reichard, directors of the First District, were especially active agitators. So also were Directors Michael Lynch and John A. Flynn, of the Second Dis- trict. The newspapers also took up the agitation, but many years passed before legal action was taken. In 1889 two acts were passed by the State Legislature, both designed to meet the same end. Act of May 23, 1889, would provide only a single school district for any borough thereafter raised to the status of a city of the third class. The law also permitted any existing city of the third class to become a single school district. Each ward was to have representation on the school board. The other act, that of May 31, 1889, was more direct. It repealed that section of the Wilkes-Barre city charter which provided for the establishment of three school districts, and consolidated the schools of the fifteen wards of the city, but excluded the township portions that had been put into school districts One and Two in 1871. The consolida- tion was to go into effect on the first Monday in June, 1890.
Considerable confusion, as to directorates resulted. Each ward elected a director to a board of fifteen, as provided for in the Act of May 23. But the existing directors of the three districts, acting on legal advice, considered that the Act of May 23. 1889, was superseded, so far as Wilkes-Barre was con- cerned, by the Act of May 31, 1889. Consequently, they nominated two can- didates from each of the three boards to represent the city at large in forming a consolidated school board of six members. However, the school district which had most to lose by the consolidation-District No. 3-refused to recognize either the board of fifteen or the board of six. Therefore, although the board of six took general charge of school affairs, at least, in Districts I and 2, on June 2, 1890, their authority was not recognized by the Third Dis- trict even after Judge Rice, in July, 1890, had issued writs of quo warranto against the board of fifteen and the board of the Third District, and ruled that the Act of May 31, 1890, had placed control of school affairs in the city of Wilkes-Barre in the hands of a board of six. On January 5, 1891, however, Judge Rice's decision was upheld by the Supreme Court, and this ruling ended all resistance to the authority of the board of six.
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The six directors were: Dr. W. G. Weaver and Edward Mackin, of the First District : Walter H. Franks and Henry A. Reid, of the Second District; Dr. G. W. Guthrie and S. J. Strauss, of the Third District. Dr. Weaver, who has been called the "Father of Consolidation," continued as a school director until his death in 1908; Edward Mackin was a director until 1897; Dr. Guth- rie, who was the first president of the consolidated school board, remained a school director until his death in 1915; Hon. S. J. Strauss was a member until 1895; Walter H. Franks was the first secretary and district superintendent of the Consolidated School District, but died suddenly before the authority of the board of six had been fully recognized : Henry A. Reid was director only for the first year. For the few unexpired months of Secretary Franks' year of office Mr. J. B. Woodward acted, and in February, 1891, Thomas F. Ilart was elected, vice Franks. In the reorganization of the board in June, 1891, Dr. W. G. Weaver became president: Thomas F. Hart secretary; Bernard Long treasurer, and James J. Lenahan secretary.
The board of six lost no time in equalizing the educational facilities of the three old school districts. The deficiencies of the old First and Second dis- tricts were substantially removed by the erection of two new schoolhouses- the North Main Street and Hazle Street buildings. On August 24. 1891, James M. Coughlin, who had been county superintendent of schools since 1878, was elected city superintendent-to serve until June, 1893. His was an impor- tant pioneer task, and the board did not feel inclined to place the future of the city schools in his hands for long. But he apparently did well, for he was reelected, again and again, serving continuously until 1918, when, of his own accord and because of ill health, he resigned the superintendency. The official records say of Mr. Coughlin and his work: "Mr. Coughlin's was a pioneer task. It was his to organize and systematize the schools. This was so successfully done that the schools of Wilkes-Barre enjoyed an almost Nation-wide repu- tation for their excellent management." Mr. Coughlin's standing as an educa- tor and school executive was recognized by the State, when he was appointed to a commission of four educators to formulate the existing school code.
The new school code was adopted throughout the State in 1911. Under its provisions, Wilkes-Barre was entitled to elect a school board of nine members. The members of the new board, which took office in December, 1911, were : Dr. G. W. Guthrie, Dr. Boyd Dodson, and Richard A. Ward, elected for a term of six years : Miss Mary L. Trescott, Dr. A. G. Fell. and A. E. Burnaford, for four years ; John C. Bell, Dr. E. L. Meyers, and William F. Steinhauer, for two years. Dr. Guthrie was elected president.
Under the new school code it became necessary to appoint annually two school auditors. Those appointed for the school year 1911-12 were Attorneys P. F. O'Neill and Edmund E. Jones.
In 1916, Harry H. Zeiser, who had been head of the Department of Mathe- matics in Wilkes-Barre High School was appointed assistant to the city super- intendent, Mr. Coughlin. He took much of the burden of administration from the drooping shoulders of Mr. Coughlin, and upon the resignation of the lat- ter, in May, 1918, Mr. Zeiser was appointed city superintendent of schools. He still holds that office, and ably administers it.
The directors of the Wilkes-Barre City School District in 1927 are: John H. Jones, president ; Michael Mayock, vice-president; Dr. E. L. Meyers, Louis Frank, George II. Brown, John A. Hourigan, Walter Wilson, Morgan Jones. John Nobel, George Yesko, John Blazejewski, Mrs. Elizabeth Burt, Richard Gill, Stanley Witkowski, Walter J. Williams, Richard Trethaway, George Sutton, Eugene T. Giering, Joseph L. Golden, Elmer E. Edwards, John Gallagher.
The schoolhouses now in use in the Wilkes-Barre District are: The J. M. Coughlin High School ; the G. A. R. High School ; the Carey Avenue School ;
WEST PITTSTON HIGH SCHOOL, ERECTED 1927
97
the Centennial School: the Strauss School; the Conyngham School; the Courtright School; the Custer School; the Dana School; the East End School; the Franklin School, the Grant School : the Hazle School; the Hill School ; the Hillard-Grove School ; the Hoyt School; the Meade School; the North School ; the North Main School; the Palmer School; the Parrish School ; the South Main School; the Union School ; the Weaver School ; the Continuation School. Some of these are old buildings remodelled, but most are modern schoolhouses of large size. The G. A. R. Memorial High School cost about $2,000,000, for site, structure and equipment ; and the Meyers High School Building. now (1927) in course of construction, will cost about as much .*
Wilkes-Barre city schools enrolled 16,238 pupils in the school year 1926- 1927. Wilkes-Barre city high school graduates, of the class of 1927, numbered 398. The corps of teachers-including principals and assistants-of Wilkes- Barre common and high schools in that year numbered 480. Their salaries totaled to $854,055.92. The total cost of conducting Wilkes-Barre city schools during the school year 1926-27 was $1.571,329.76. Approximate cost per pupil, based on current expenditures for the year 1926-27 was $76; approximate cost, based on total expenditures for that year, was $97.
In addition, Wilkes-Barre has seven well-attended parochial schools and three private schools. The preparatory schools have been referred to in the general Wilkes-Barre narrative, the Wilkes-Barre Academy somewhat exten- sively in Chapter XXXVIII, and the Wilkes-Barre Institute in Chapter XLIII. In Chapter XXXVIII, also, will be found the story of the most famous educational institution of the Wyoming Valley-the Wyoming Seminary.
The Catholic institutions, the parochial, preparatory and collegiate schools, conform well with the State school code, and at the same time the parochial schools provide added religious instruction which the church thinks its chil- dren should have. In Wilkes-Barre, in 1878, a boarding and day school for young girls was founded by the Sisters of Christian Charity, who emigrated from Germany to America in 1873. This, substantially, is the origin of the Mallinckrodt Convent, on South and Meade streets, and the St. Ann's Acad- emy. In October, 1875, a school for boys and girls was organized in the St. Mary's Convent on Canal Street. Out of this effort of fifty years ago has grown St. Mary's High School. At Dallas is the College Misericordia, a resi- dential and day college for women. Chartered by the State of Pennsylvania, the courses of the college are standard, leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, which the college is empowered to grant.
One of the most helpful features of the county school system is the teachers' institute. More than 2,000 teachers in Luzerne County schools gather in con- ference, with the county superintendent, at the beginning of each school year. This is the outgrowth of the gathering annually, from the year 1867, at the State capital, of teachers from all parts of the State. They met to exchange ideas as to public instruction, and to have laid before them the current plan of school procedure. The county teachers' institute weeks have like purposes.
In 1920, according to United States Census Bureau statistics, there were in Luzerne County 73,901 children under seven years of age. Some of these would have begun their schooling, inasmuch as the public schools accept chil- dren six years old, and place them in the first grade. Where there is a kin- dergarten department. the child's schooling begins at five years. However, the Federal school statistics begin with children of seven years. In Luzerne County, in 1920, there were 66,490 children aged from 7 to 13 years, inclusive.
*Those who seek further information regarding the Wilkes-Barre school buildings will find ample historical data in the Triennial Report of the Wilkes-Barre City School District for 1920-22. There, on pages 68-71, have been separately spread the individual histories of the schoolhouses.
W .- B .- 7
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Of these, 62,720, or 96%, were attending school. Of the 15,847 children 14 and 15 years old, 11,008, or 69.5%, were attending school. Of the 16,080 children 16 and 17 years old, 4,073, or 25.3%, were attending school. Of the 20,150 inhabitants who were between the ages of 18 and 20 years, in 1920, 1,867. or 9.3%, were still attending school.
It is, therefore, obvious that public education has long since passed the period in which parents of the wage-earning class were wont to believe that three or four years of schooling were quite enough for their sons, who would be called upon to use more muscle than brain in their manhood labors. Many of the older residents of the Wyoming Valley closed their schooling when only nine or ten years old, to work for wages in the mine breakers; but the greatest aspiration of many mine workers of today is to help their sons and daughters through a college course. So is America progressing.
CHAPTER LV. MERCANTILE INTERESTS.
In all probability white men traded in, or with the Indians of, the Wyom- ing region prior to the coming of the Connecticut settlers. The intrepid fur traders of New York and of southern Pennsylvania were penetrating far beyond the frontier of civilization long before the settlement of the Wyoming region began. And a reflection of it is seen in settlement history. It is recorded that John Jacob Astor, one of the most successful fur traders, was in the Wyom- ing Valley in 1775. Matthias Hollenback was his guide to Niagara in that year, also his partner in fur trading, over at least that route. Mr. Hollenback, after that trip, planned further trading over the route. Previous to the Battle of Wyoming, in 1778, Hollenback kept a store on South Main Street, just below the corner of Northampton Street, Wilkes-Barre. After the return of the settlers to the devastated region, Hollenback reopened his store. and it was used until about 1820, when the business was removed to a brick store built by George M. Hollenback. "Mr. (Matthias) Hollenback was the first regular merchant in Wilkes-Barre, and one of only two merchants in Westmore- land in 1781." He traded up the Susquehanna River, and had trading posts at Wysox, Tioga, and Niagara, succeeding Mr. Astor as owner of a large trading station at Niagara in 1783.
After the close of the Revolutionary War. storekeepers increased in num- ber in the Wyoming Valley. One of the first to open was Lord Butler, whose store was on the corner of River and Northampton streets. It was continued until 1820. About the same time John P. Schott opened a store on River Street, between Butler's and South Street. As early as 1795, and perhaps earlier, Thomas Wright and Thomas Duane conducted a store business, in partnership, "on the corner of the Public Square and North Main Street." In 1801 it was removed to Pittston Ferry. In 1800 Rossett and Doyle opened "quite an establishment" on the corner of River and Market streets, and ran the business for three or four years. They were succeeded by Jacob and Joseph L. Sinton, these Quaker merchants removing in 1816 to the corner of Franklin and Market streets, where for some years they conducted a general store business which was the largest in town. Upon the site of their store the Wyoming Bank was eventually built. Reference to Sinton's store is made in Chapter LI. An Irish emigrant, named Allen Jack, "opened a store on South Main Street in the residence of Dr. M. Covell," in 1803, and there con- tinued in business until his death, in 1814. In 1815, Matthias Hollenback admitted, as partner, Ziba Bennett, who came from Elmira, New York. Ben- nett went into business for himself, on North Main Street, in 1826, and for more than sixty years was a merchant in Luzerne County. He conducted his Wilkes-Barre store business until his death, in 1878.
"These were the principal storekeepers of that early period, when the goods were brought from Philadelphia to Harrisburg by wagons and shipped in Durham boats up the Susquehanna to Wilkes-Barre."
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