USA > Tennessee > Williamson County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 50
USA > Tennessee > Maury County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 50
USA > Tennessee > Rutherford County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 50
USA > Tennessee > Wilson County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 50
USA > Tennessee > Bedford County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 50
USA > Tennessee > Marshall County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 50
USA > Tennessee > History of Tennessee from the earliest time to the present , together with an historical and a biographical sketch of from twenty-five to thirty counties of east Tennessee, besides a valuable fund of notes, original observations, reminiscences, etc., etc. V. 1 > Part 50
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A certificate of qualification is required of every teacher. Teachers are required to keep a daily register of facts pertaining to their respect- ive schools. Written contracts must be made with teachers, and for like services of male and female teachers like salaries shall be paid. The schools are open to all persons between the ages of six and twenty- one years residing within the school district, and in special cases those residing in different districts, provided that white and colored persons shall not be taught in the same school. Orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, elementary geology of Tennessee, his- tory of the United States and the elementary principles of agriculture are the prescribed branches, while vocal music may also be taught. No other branches are to be introduced except as provided for by local tax- ation, or allowed by special regulations upon the payment of such rates of tuition as may be prescribed.
The district directors are given power to make contracts of consolidation with the trustees, teachers or other authorities of academies, seminaries, colleges or private schools, by which the public schools may be taught in such institutions, provided that the branches of study designated as the studies of public schools shall be taught free of any charge in such
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
consolidated schools. The permanent school fund of the State, as recog- nized by the constitution, was declared to be $1,500,000, to which was added the unpaid interest amounting, January 1, 1873, to $1,012,500. For the entire amount, $2,512,500, a certificate of indebtedness was is- sued, signed by the governor, under the great seal of the State, and de- posited with the comptroller of the treasury. Interest is paid on this amount at the rate of 6 per cent, the payments being made on the 1st of July and the 1st of January each year. To the permanent state fund is added from time to time the proceeds of all escheated property, of all property accruing to the State by forfeiture, of all lands sold and bought in for taxes, of the personal effects of intestates having no kindred en- titled thereto by the laws of distribution, and donations made to the State for the support of public schools, unless otherwise directed by the donors.
The annual school fund is composed of the annual proceeds of the permanent school fund, any money that may come into the state treasury for that purpose from any source whatever, the poll tax of $1 on every male inhabitant of the State subject thereto, and a tax of 1 mill on the dollar's worth of property subject to taxation. This last tax, together with the poll tax, is paid over to the county trustee in the county where collected, and distributed to each school district, according to scholastic population. When the money derived from the school fund and taxes imposed by the State on the counties is not sufficient to keep up a public school for five months in the year in the school districts in the county, the county court may levy an additional tax sufficient for this purpose, or submit the proposition to a vote of the people; and a tax to prolong the schools beyond the five months may also be levied. This tax must be levied on all property, polls and privileges liable to taxation, but shall not exceed the entire State tax. Taxes so levied by the county are col- lected in the same manner as other county taxes, and paid over to the county trustee for distribution. The State treasurer and county trustee are required to keep the school moneys separate from State and county funds. All school moneys in the treasury on the first Monday in October and April of every year, are apportioned by the comptroller among the several counties according to the population. The warrant for the amount due each county is drawn in the favor of the county trustee. The money received by him he is required to report immediately to the county superintendent and to the directors of each school district.
The law further provides for schools in incorporated cities and towns, the boards of mayor and aldermen of which are authorized to levy and collect an additional tax to that imposed by the general provisions of the
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
school law, upon all taxable polls, privileges and property within the cor- porate limits. Where such schools are established authority is given for the appointment of a board of education. The law also requires the governor to appoint a State Board of Education consisting of six mem- bers, holding their office for a term of six years, two retiring each year. The governor is ex officio president of the board. The principal duty of this board is to provide for and manage the State Normal School.
The law went into effect immediately after its passage, and extraordin- ary efforts for the multiplication and elevation of the public schools were made during the succeeding year. John M. Fleming was appointed superintendent of public instruction, and made his first report in Decem- ber, 1874. From this report it is found that in 1873 there were thirty- six counties which levied no property tax, and thirty-two which levied no poll tax. The remaining counties levied a poll tax of from 5 cents to $1, and property tax from 23 to 30 cents. Sixty-five counties levied no privi- lege tax. The tax levies for 1874 were about the same as for the year before. The total amount of school money received by the counties for the year ending August 31, 1874, was $998,459.10, of which $265.951.53 was from the State, $522,453.17 from the counties, $112.636.17 from dis- tricts, and $97,418.23 from other sources. During the same time $34,- 300 was received from the Peabody Fund, and distributed among sixty- two schools. The scholastic population in 1874 numbered 420,884, of which 103,856 were colored. The number of white teachers employed was 4,630, colored 921 .* The average number of months taught during the year for the State was 3.85. The average pay of teachers per month was $33.03.
Thus a State school system was once more inaugurated, and this time with better prospects of success, yet many difficulties and considerable opposition were yet to be overcome. The financial distress of the State rendered retrenchment in the State expenditures a necessity, and many persons friendly to the cause of popular education, in their desire to extricate the State from her difficulties favored the reduction of the appropriation for schools. In 1877 the Legislature went so far as to pass an act abolishing the office of county superintendent and practi- cally abolished that of the state superintendent also. This false step was arrested only by the governor's veto.
The superintendent's report for the year ending August 31, 1880. shows a marked improvement not only in the number of schools. but also in the character of the instruction afforded. The scholastic population at that time numbered 544,862, of whom 290,141 were enrolled in the
*Marion County not reporting.
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
public schools, and 41,068 in private schools. The number of teachers employed was white, 3,506, and colored 1,247. The aggregate receipts from all sources for school purposes amounted to $930,734.33. Out of the ninety-four counties in the State only ten failed to levy a school tax.
The census reports of 1880 present conclusive evidence of increased efficiency in the schools of the State. During the preceding decade the increase in the number of white illiterates was only eleven and four- tenths per cent, while the increase in white population was twenty-one and seven-tenths per cent. This in contrast with the report of 1870 is a gratifying improvement. The following statistics for the year ending August 31, 1885, afford still further proof that the public schools throughout the State are steadily advancing. The scholastic population numbered 609,028, of whom 156,143 were colored; 7,214 teachers taught in 6,605 schools, with an aggregate enrollment of 373,877, and an average daily attendance of 150,502 white, and 41,901 colored pupils. Total amount of school money received, including the balance on hand at the beginning of the year, was $1,30S,839.17. The number of school- houses in the State was 5,066, of which 289 were erected during the year. A great improvement in the character of the houses is noticed. While ten years before a large part of the houses built were logs, out of 289 built in 1880 only fifty-nine were of that kind. The estimated value of school property at that time was $1,375,780.86. The following table shows the average number of days in which the schools were in session for each year since the establishment of the present system:
1874.
77
1880 6S
1875
67 1881 86
1876
71.9 1SS2 73
1877.
1883.
78 1878
77
1884. 78 1879. 69
1885 80
For the past three years the office of superintendent of public in- struction has been filled with marked ability by Thomas H. Paine, who is doing much to sustain and advance the educational interests of the State. Although the condition of the public schools is not entirely sat- isfactory, the progress that has been made during the past ten years has assured their permanency. Heretofore one of the greatest impediments to efficient schools has been the lack of competent teachers, but this ob- stacle is gradually being removed. The normal schools are annually sending out increased numbers of trained teachers, while institutes and associations are doing much to improve those already in the work. It can hardly be expected, however, that the best results will be attained until the school revenue is in some way sufficiently increased to furnish
442
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
the youth of the State an average of more than seventy-five days of school in a year. During the winter of 1SS4-85 an educational exhibit was made at the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition at New Orleans. This department was placed under the direction of Prof. Frank Goodman, of Nashville, who by energy and persistency succeeded in presenting an exhibit which did not suffer in comparison with any other State. All the leading colleges, seminaries and high schools in the State were represented.
In the early part of this chapter the history of Cumberland College was traced to the election of Dr. Priestly as president of the board of trustees in 1810. The exercises of the institution were conducted by him until 1816, when they were suspended and so continued until his re- election for a second term in 1820. The college was then re-opened, but was soon compelled to suspend again on account of the death of Dr. Priestly, which occurred in February, 1821. The institution then re- mained closed until the autumn of 1824, when Dr. Phillip Lindsley, who had just refused the presidency of Princeton College, was prevailed up- on to take charge of it. At that time, of the 240 acres originally granted to the college, only about six remained. This formed the old college . campus and included the site of the present medical college. In 1825 a farm of 120 acres near the college was purchased at $60 per acre. Por- tions of this land were soon after sold for about $17,000, leaving thirty acres. Dr. Lindsley reorganized the institution, and it was opened for the winter session of 1824-25 with thirty-five students. It was his aim and desire to make Nashville the great educational center of the South- west. He planned the building of a university to consist of several colleges, like those of Oxford and Cambridge. Accordingly on November 27, 1826, the Legislature passed an act to incorporate the trustees and offi- cers of Cumberland College under the name of the University of Nash- ville. The following is the preamble to the act:
WHEREAS, it is represented to be the wish of the trustees of Cumberland College to erect several additional halls and colleges besides that heretofore known and still to be known by the name of Cumberland College on their grounds near Nashville, and to estab- lish additional schools thereon, and by a union of the whole to build up a university and thereby to enlarge their sphere of operations and increase their means of usefulness.
This change, however, proved to be only in name, as the university continued with the same departments and under the same organization as the college. The number of students gradually increased until the summer of 1836, when the attendance reached 126. From that time until 1850, when the institution was suspended, the attendance decreased. This was owing in a great measure to the large number of similar insti- tutions which had been established in the State. In an address delivered
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
in 1847, Dr. Lindsley says: "When this college was revived and reor- ganized at the close of 1824, there were no similar institutions in actual. operation within 200 miles of Nashville. There were none in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Middle or West Tennessee. There are now some thirty or more within that distance, and nine within fifty miles of our city."
A report on the university made in 1850 by a committee consisting of L. P. Cheatham, F. B. Fogg, E. H. Ewing, John M. Bass and R. J. Meigs, has the following concerning the attendance: "During the whole of this time (1824-50) the number of students has been larger than that of any other institution in Tennessee, when the following facts are taken into consideration. There is no preparatory school attached to the uni- versity, and the students have usually been members of the college classes proper. Most students when they come to enter the University of Nashville, come to enter the junior class, and usually two-thirds of the whole number of students are members of the junior and senior classes."
The whole number of regular graduates with the degree of Bachelor of Arts from 1813 to 1824 were 18; from 1824 to 1850, 414. The total number of students matriculated in the regular college classes during the latter period was 1,059.
Dr. Lindsley was a thorough scholar, and under his management the college maintained a high standard. "Under its influence grew up a cultivated, liberal community; through its influence and by the efforts of the young men sent forth to engage in and to encourage education, sprang up twenty colleges within fifty miles of Nashville, to divide, dis- tract and compete with the university, and at the same time to accom- plish much good. It was the inevitable conflict of localities which had to demonstrate that every village cannot be a seat of learning. It pre- pared the soil in which great institutions take deep root and flourish- the soil which has developed the public school system and attracted hither Vanderbilt University, the Normal School, and brought here the Fisk, Tennessee Central and Baptist Normal and Theological Colleges to engage in the great work of the elevation of the African race of America."*
The university exercises were suspended in 1850, the old college building being transferred to the medical department, which was then organized. For several years previous the organization of a medical department of the university had been under contemplation. So early as 1843 a committee of the board of trustees reported it advisable to at once establish a medical school. The subject continued to be agitated
*II. M. Doak.
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HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
by medical men, but nothing definite was accomplished until the latter part of 1850, when an address was presented to the trustees of the uni- versity by prominent physicians of Nashville asking privilege to establish a medical department with entire independence of management. This was granted. The board then elected the following corps of instructors: John M. Watson, M. D., obstetrics and diseases of women and children; A. H. Buchanan, M. D., surgery; W. K. Bowling, M. D., institutes and practice of medicine; C. K. Winston, M. D., materia medica and phar- macy; Robert M. Porter, M. D., anatomy and physiology; J. Berrien Lindsley, M. D., chemistry and pharmacy. Winston was chosen presi- dent of the faculty, and Lindsley, dean. A lease of the university build- ing was made for a term of twenty-two years, which has since been twice extended, the last time in 1875, making the lease expire in October, 1905.
The first class, numbering thirty-three, was graduated in February, 1852. The institution immediately took rank with the first medical schools in the United States, both as to the excellence of its training, and the number of students. In 1857 there were 137 graduates, and in 1861, 141. Its alumni in 1880 numbered 2,200. In 1874 the Vanderbilt University adopted the faculty of the medical department of Nashville University with the agreement that students matriculating in the former institution shall be graduated under its auspices, and receive its diploma, while the matriculates of the latter shall be graduated as before.
In 1853-54 a portion of the land still remaining was sold and new buildings were erected a short distance from the old college. In the fall of the latter year the literary department was re-opened with an attend- ance of forty pupils, and three graduates at the end of the year. In 1855 it was united with the Western Military Institute, of which Gen. Bushrod R. Johnson was superintendent. It was conducted on the military plan until the breaking out of the civil war, when the buildings were used as a hospital.
After the close of the war the trustees of the university located the Montgomery Bell Academy in the buildings of the literary department of the university. This school was founded by the bequest of Montgom- ery Bell, a prominent iron manufacturer, who left $20,000 for that pur- pose. "By the will of the founder, gratuitous instruction is given to twenty-five boys, not less than ten nor more than fourteen years of age, 'who are unable to support and educate themselves, and whose parents are unable to do so,' from the counties of Davidson, Dickson, Montgomery and Williamson, Tennessee." The academy continued to occupy a portion of the university building until 1881, when a separate building was
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TENNESSEE UNIVERSITY, KNOXVILLE.
.
445
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
erected for it, to make room for the increasing attendance of the normal college.
1
This latter institution was the re-habilitation in a more vital form of the literary and scientific departments of the university, giving them a larger and more comprehensive sphere in the direction of popular educa- tion in the South. Its establishment was accomplished through the aid granted by the trustees of the Peabody Fund, whose aim it had been from the first to assist the cause of education in the South by providing trained teachers rather than by direct support of schools. It was there- fore determined to establish one or more thoroughly equipped normal colleges. In 1867 Dr. Lewis proposed to give $2,000 to aid a normal school in Tennessee, if one should be established. For various reasons this could not then be accomplished, but $800 and $1,000 was granted to Fisk University and the Lookout Mountain school, respectively, both of which organized normal departments.
In 1873 a bill for the establishment of a State normal school was presented to the Legislature, and passed three readings in the Senate and two in the House, but was defeated for want of time at the close of the session. This bill made provision for supplementing $6,000 annually from the Peabody Fund by an appopriation of an equal amount from the treasury of the State. At the next session of the General Assembly a similar bill was introduced, but it failed in the Senate. A bill without an appropriation clause was then prepared; this became a law in March, 1875. It merely provided for the appointment of a State board of education with authority to establish a normal school or schools, but without any means of accomplishing it. The University of Nashville, however, promptly tendered to the board its buildings, grounds and funds, with the exception of those appropriated to the medical college; which propo- sition the trustees of the Peabody Fund supplemented by an offer of $6,000 a year for two years. These offers were accepted.
With a temporary fund of $1,200 thus secured the normal college was formally opened by the State board of education at the capital Decem- ber 1, 1875, with Eben S. Stearns, LL.D., as president, assisted by a corps of teachers of the highest qualification. Although the school opened late in the season and the project was wholly new to most of the people, no less than fifteen candidates presented themselves for examina- tion, and before the first term of ten weeks had closed forty-seven had been admitted. At the end of the school year the number had increased to sixty. It continued to grow in popularity and flourished beyond ex- pectation. The State, however, failed to make any appropriation for its support.
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446
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
In his report in 1879 Dr. Sears says of the institution: " The. funds on which we relied for its support from the State, and in part, also, from the university, have failed us. Besides, as a part of the college building is still occupied by the Montgomery Bell Academy, which is in charge of the university trustees, the normal college has already out- grown its narrow accommodations, and its numbers are rapidly increasing. Representations of our necessities were made during a visit of three weeks last year, both to the same board of education and to the trustees. of the university, neither of which felt authorized to give any hope of relief. Since that time the Legislature has met and declined to make any appropriation. It has, therefore, become a serious question whether some change, possibly involving a removal, shall not be made, to secure. ample accommodations and better support for the future."
The State of Georgia was desirous of securing the normal college, and made liberal offers to the trustees of the Peabody Fund. Arrangements for the transfer of the institution had been nearly completed, when the trustees of the University of Nashville made the following proposition : To remove the Montgomery Bell Academy and turn over the buildings occupied by it to the normal school; to appropriate $10,000, to be raised by mortgage on the property, or otherwise, and to be expended in im- provements or the purchase of apparatus; and to appropriate the interest on $50,000 of Tennessee bonds held by the university, provided enough be reserved to pay the interest on the $10,000 borrowed. The citizens. of Nashville also raised by subscription a fund of $4,000 as a guarantee that the Legislature of 1881 should make an appropriation for the benefit of the college. These efforts prevented the removal of the institution and secured its permanent location at Nashville.
On April 6, 1881, $10,000 was appropriated for its support by the- General Assembly. It was provided that one pupil for each senatorial district in the State should be admitted upon proper recommendation, and that such pupil shall receive at least $100 per annum for two years out of the funds of the school; $2,500 was at the same time appropri- ated for scholarships for colored students. Two years later this amount was increased to $3,300, and that part of the former act requiring a portion of the annual appropriation to be used in paying scholarships was repealed. The colored students are educated in the normal depart- ments of Fisk University, Roger Williams University, Knoxville College and the Central Tennessee College. The normal school is now known as the Tennessee State Normal College of the University of Nashville, the chancellor of the university being the president of the college. The college buildings, situated in the center of the campus sixteen acres.
447
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
in extent, are among the finest and best appointed in the South. The college proper is a stone structure, having a center building and two wings about 225 feet front and 110 feet depth in the center, and 60 feet depth in each of the wings. The building is two stories high. An ele- gant chancellor's residence was added a few years ago.
Since its organization the institution has been under the direction of Dr. Stearns, who has conducted it with signal ability, and has retained the implicit confidence of all interested in its success. The following is the present faculty: Eben S. Stearns, D.D., LL.D., president; Julia A. Sears, L.I .; Lizzie Bloomstein, L.I .; Benjamin B. Penfield, A.M .; Mary L. Cook, L.I., B.A .; Julia A. Doak, John L. Lampson, A. M .; William C. Day, Ph. D .; John E. Bailey, teacher of vocal music; Mary E. W. Jones, lady director of gymnasium; George H. Hammersley, gentleman director of gymnasium; Hon. William B. Reese, lecturer on common and civil law; Julia A. Sears, librarian.
The first State board of education consisted of Gov. Porter, ex officio president; J. B. Lindsley, secretary: Edwin H. Ewing, Samuel Watson, R. W. Mitchell, L. G. Tarbox and J. J. Reese. The present board is as follows: Gov. William B. Bate, ex officio president; Dr. J. Berrien Lindsley, secretary and treasurer; Hon. W. P. Jones, M. D., Supt. F. M. Smith, Prof. Frank Goodman, Hon. Leon Trousdale, Hon. Thomas H. Paine.
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