USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 > Part 34
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In a communication from the Milwaukee Turn- verein, June 2, 1885, the School Board was urged to re-introduce gymnastic exercises into the pub- lic schools. This communication was referred to a committee and later considered by the board, which finally decided that the principals of the several
schools supervise the practice of calisthenics. In a report to the board, February 7, 1888, Superin- tendent Anderson expressed the opinion that the principals and teachers in the schools were com- petent to conduct such calisthenic exercises as were practicable under the given conditions of the pub- lic schools. He thought it possible that profes- sional training might be given to such teachers as were deficient in the calisthenic movements. The manual of Carl Baetz, director of calisthenics in the public schools of Kansas City, was introduced in 1889. At a meeting of the board, May 5, 1891, the Committee on Industrial and Art Education recommended the German system of calisthenics as presented in the Turnverein school. This sys- tem was adopted and went into operation the fol- lowing September. The instruction was given by four teachers to the four upper grades of the schools and to the class teachers. This branch of physical education and development is still carried on by four special teachers, with the assistance of principals and class teachers, and without any superintendent or general director.
Mr. Lau strongly urged during his administra- tion, the establishing of evening schools for pupils between the ages of fourteen and twenty during the winter months.
In 1873 a standing Committee on Evening Schools was appointed by the board, but as no funds were available to establish such schools the committee was discontinued in 1876. In the an- nual report of Superintendent MacAlister for the years 1875-76 he very strongly urges the board and Common Council to use every effort to provide for this class of schools in the near future. It was not, however, until 1880 that the board was able to meet these recommendations. In Novem- ber of that year five evening schools were opened. These soon became crowded, and the committee in charge was forced to increase the number, so that in December, eleven schools for boys and young men were in progress, with a total enrollment of one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, and an average of one thousand four hundred; and two schools for girls and young women with an average enrollment of one hundred and ninety- five. All pupils above fourteen years of age were admitted. The schools for the season closed in February and their success has been more than was expected. The cost of their mainte- nance, which included the furnishing of all supplies,
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MANUAL TRAINING, NORMAL SCHOOLS AND SPECIAL STUDIES.
including text-books, was at the rate of two dol- lars and sixty cents per pupil on the total enroll- ment, and three dollars and thirty-six cents per pupil on the average attendance. A large portion of those attending the evening schools were young Germans, desirous of perfecting themselves in read- ing, writing and speaking English. The schools were held three evenings in the week from 7:30 to 9:30 P. M. Instruction was given in reading, writ- ing, spelling and arithmetic, and in a few schools in other branches. Principals were paid two dollars and fifty cents per night and assistants two dollars.
In the year following, although not up to the first year in interest and attendance, the evening schools were fairly well supported. Since the rent- ing of books to pupils in the evening schools had become burdensome to teachers and consumed much of their time, it was decmed advisable to discontinue supplying to pupils, and on February 6, 1883, the board so ordered. It would seem that this produced no marked effect upon the total attendance nor upon the regularity of attendance.
Superintendent Anderson in 1891 called atten- tion to the fitful and irregular attendance at the evening schools. When the evening schools were opened ten years previously, books and stationery were furnished free. The charging of a rental, and finally the requiring of the pupil to furnish his books and materials, he says, made no percep- tible difference in regularity of attendance. He attributes the irregularity to the fact that most pupils are engaged in hard, physical labor during the day and are in no fit condition for mental effort in the evening. By inspecting the tables of attendance in the reports of the School Board for the different years, we find the average atten- dance is about one-third of the total enrollment. For the year ending 1881, the whole number enrolled was two thousand and thirty and the average attendance one thousand two hundred and five, and for the year ending 1893, the total enroll- ment was two thousand eight hundred and sixty- nine, and the average attendance was one thousand and ninety-two. Besides irregularity of attend- ance, another defect of the evening schools has always been that of obtaining capable teachers without adding to the labors of day-school teach- ers, and thereby impairing their efficiency in their day-school work.
An evening high school was established as a part of the evening schools in the fall of 18SS,
where instruction in algebra, geometry, book- keeping, arithmetic, drawing, physics and chemis- try was given. History and civil government were also afterward added.
An evening cooking school was maintained during the year ending 1892. Previous to the year 1892 the evening schools commenced gener- ally in October and closed in February. But the falling off was always very great after the holiday vacation, and for the past three years the schools have opened in September and closed in Decem- ber. In the fall of 1892 the length of session was reduced from two hours to an hour and a half for each evening. The schools are generally held three evenings a week. The report of the Com- mittee on Evening Schools for the year ending 1894 says, that the classification of pupils was better by concentrating them in a few schools, and the average attendance on the total enrollment was better, having been forty-three per cent., while for the year 1882 it was only thirty-eight per cent. It is possible that the school sessions and concentrating the work in the fall term may have been factors also in bringing about the in- creased average attendance.
The question of maintaining evening schools free of expense to those who patronize them, is one of the most difficult problems that confronts the school authorities. The city provides qualified teachers, proper appliances and comfortable build- ings, well heated and lighted. A large proportion of those who enter at the beginning of the term drop out before the close of the term. Something unforeseen has intervened to prevent their contin- uance in the school, or they do not get from the work what they had expected. Usually they be- come tired or discouraged, their curiosity has been satisfied and they withdraw. An objection to the evening school has been urged that it encourages parents to remove their children from the day school at an earlier period than they would other- wise, expecting they can repair the loss in the evening school. Beginning with the fall of 1895, the number of evening schools will be reduced to three, one on the East, one on the West and one on the South side of the city. This is a great falling off in the evening school opportunities over previous years, when the number of schools ranged from ten to twenty-five.
In 1880 it was learned that there were sixty deaf mutes in the city, and in the winter of 1887
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.
an effort was made to secure the passage of a law whereby the city could secure an appropriation for their education. The plan was to follow the example of Massachusetts, to appropriate a fixed sum per pupil toward the maintenance of the school. The measure failed to pass the legisla- ture at that time, but was revived the following year. On January 3, 1882, a memorial addressed to the legislature of Wisconsin, and prepared by Commissioner Spencer, was adopted by the School Board, strongly urging the enacting of a law empowering "School boards in incorporated towns and cities of more than four thousand in- habitants to establish and carry on schools for deaf mutes as a part of their public instruction, with state aid not to exceed one hundred dollars per annum for each deaf mute pupil instructed and trained in such school by duly qualified teachers.
Inasmuch as the legislature failed to act in the matter during the session of that year, the School Board again, January, 1883, adopted a memorial to the legislature of Wisconsin to provide for the teaching of deaf mutes throughout the state under the management of school boards, believing this to be the most efficient method of providing in- struction for that class of children. At the next meeting of the board Mr. Paul Binner, teacher of German in the Seventh district, was granted leave of absence for one week, to enable him to present to the school boards of adjacent cities the claims of deaf children to education, in accordance with the provisions of the bill then pending in the state legislature upon that subject.
It was not, however, until the winter of 1885 that this measure passed the legislature. The law then provided for the maintenance of day schools for deaf mutes by any city or village upon application by the proper authorities to the state superintendent. The sum of one hundred dollars for each deaf mute instructed for nine months in the year, was allowed to be appropriated to de- fray the expense of such school. Even before the passage of this act, Mr. Spencer and others urged upon the board the establishing of a day school for the deaf in Milwaukee without state aid. The board was not prepared to undertake this responsibility at that time, and it was left to pri- vate enterprise in the Wisconsin Phonological In- stitute for Deaf Mutes to inaugurate the work. This society, on September of 1883, asked to rent
one of the rooms of the board in the normal school building on Prairie and Seventh streets, and to have the school under the general over- sight of the Superintendent of Schools. This was accorded them, and Professor Paul Binner, who had given the subject of instruction to deaf mutes much study, was made principal, and Miss Wett- stein assistant. The school included eleven pupils for the first term, and they were taught by the oral or German method. A special committee of the board, consisting of H. J. Desmond and Dr. E. W. Bartlett, was appointed to examine the work of the school. They recommended that the passage of the pending bill in the legislature for the estab- lishing of a school for deaf mutes at Milwau- kee be strongly urged by the board, and they took occasion to commend in high terms the school and the praiseworthy work of the institute- "illustrating, as the institute did, how private bene- ficence may supplement the work of the state."
It was in the autumn of 1885 that the public day school for instruction of deaf mutes was opened in Milwaukee, with Mr. Paul Binner prin- cipal. From the report made by Professor Binner to Superintendent Anderson in 1886, we find there were then one hundred and twenty deaf mutes in Milwaukee, of whom seventy were of school age. Thirty-five of these were in the Milwaukee day school for the deaf, eleven in the state institution at Delavan, fourteen in the St. Francis Insti- tution for the deaf and the German Lutheran In- stitution at Norris, Michigan, and ten at home. .
When the day school first started under the auspices of the Wisconsin Phonological Institute in October, 1883, it had eight pupils; in the fol- lowing year two more were added, and when it was accepted by the city in 1885, the number in- creased to twenty-six. All the instruction was given according to the oral method. Their edu- cation was carried on along the same or similar lines of work as the education of other pupils in the public schools. The first two years were especially given to instruction in speech and lip reading. They learn to read, write and spell. The eye is trained by kindergarten work and drawing. There had been difficulty in getting trained teachers to successfully carry on the work in the school for the deaf, and accordingly, at the meetingof the board February 2, 1886, a memorial was addressed to the Normal School Regents, ask- ing that provision be made for preparing teachers
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MANUAL TRAINING, NORMAL SCHOOLS AND SPECIAL STUDIES.
to teach in the day school for the deaf; but the normal schools have never yet seen fit to provide that class of teachers. It was at first thought that one instructor for twelve pupils would be sufficient, but the Committee on Day Schools for Deaf Mutes recommended to the board March 1, 1887, that the appointment of teachers be made one to every ten pupils, and one for five or more pupils over this number. The individual atten- tion necessary for each pupil materially enhances the cost of instruction.
Mr. Binner was granted leave of absence to visit the European schools for teaching the deaf, from September 1 to October 15, 1887, said ab- sence of Mr. Binner to be without salary. He was sent to Europe under the auspices of the Phono- logical Institute and his expenses were defrayed by the institute. In a communication to the board Mr. R. C. Spencer, president of the Wis- consin Phonological Institute, urged the pay- ment of Mr. Binner's salary by the board during his absence in Europe for the months of Septem- ber and October. He stated that the institute had defrayed Mr. Binner's expenses at a cost of five hundred and fifty dollars, and further that the institute had aggregated thirteen thousand dollars in work for the deaf up to March, 1888. At the meeting of the board in April the recom- mendation by Mr. Spencer was approved by the board, and Mr. Binner received his full salary for the month of September and the first half of Oc- tober. During the last half of the year ending August, 1892, he was again given leave of absence on account of ill health, and Miss Annie C. Allen was appointed acting principal during his absence.
For the year ending 1888, Louise Slocum acted as principal in the absence of Mr. Binner, and Fran- ces Wettstein, Mary Marvin and Emma Rogers were assistants. By reference to the accompany- ing table it will be seen that the number of pupils has gradually increased. Since the school was first organized the enrollment and average atten- dance have been as follows :
Total Average Enrolled. Attend.
Total Enrolled.
Average Attend.
1885 - 23 -
11
1890 - 41
33
1886
- 31 - 26
1891 - 35 - 30
1887
- 37
-
-
1892
34
28
1888
43
32
1893
44
34
1889
40 - 33
1894 - -
Instruction is carried on in lines parallel to that
given in the grades of the district schools. By a rule of the board the tuition for non residents was made forty dollars for the first term and thirty dollars for each of the two following terms of the year. Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan and other cities of the state now contemplate establishing schools for the deaf in their respective localities, upon the same basis as the Milwaukee school.
On November 1, 1887, the " Milwaukee Public Cooking School Association," composed of a large number of the leading women of the Seventh ward, petitioned the board for the use of a room or rooms in one of the school buildings for the purpose of giving free instruction to a class of public school pupils in cooking and domestic economy generally. In response to this petition the use of a room in the Seventh district school was granted. The first cooking class met for instruction November 12, 1887, twenty-four pupils being admitted and divided into two classes. The association was granted the use of the room only one day in the week, but subsequently formed classes in the First and Third districts.
By act of the board, September 4, 1888, the Milwaukee Public Cooking School Association was granted permission to use any vacant rooms in the Second ward school for giving lessons in cooking and domestic economy. The school was open every week day from nine to twelve A. M. and one to four P. M., and lessons given, without cost to the city, to such pupils as received a permit from the Superintendent of Schools. On January 8, 1889, the Cooking School Association reported one hundred and forty-seven pupils attending the cooking classes from the various wards of the city. These pupils were divided into ten classes, eachı class getting one lesson a week. In a report to the board on April 8, 1889, on the work of the cooking school, Superintendent Anderson remarks that the instruction is carried on in a scientific manner, and he regards it not only of high value from the standpoint of utility, but also as a means of culture and in the cultivation of moral habits and of habits of neatness, diligence and order. At the same meeting of the board, in accordance withı the recommendation of the special Committee on Cooking Schools, thirteen hundred dollars was appropriated for the purpose of teaching the science of cooking and domestic economy in the public schools. At the following meeting of the board in May, the cooking school was turned over
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.
to the board by the association with all the furni- ture and apparatus connected with it. Miss Polson, whom the association had previously employed, was re-appointed teacher for the balance of the year, and the ladies of the association were invited to supervise and conduct the work as before.
The cooking school was moved to the Second district building, and Miss Emeline Torrey was appointed director of the class for the year ending 1890 at a salary of one thousand and fifty dollars. She remained for two years, but resigned at the beginning of the school year 1891-92. Mrs. Emma Walsh was appointed her successor, and still conducts the cooking classes on the West side in the Second-ward school building. A second cooking school was opened in the Fifth district building in February, 1892, and has since been maintained. Miss Agnes L. Corbett was ap- pointed teacher of the South-side cooking school, and still continues in that position. An evening cooking school was organized in November, 1891, and maintained during the remainder of the school year. Evening classes have been held each season since, under the instruction of Mrs. Walsh and Miss Corbett. Classes in the cooking school are formed from the upper grades of the different district schools. Only those pupils can attend whose class work will permit their absence
from class for one half day in the week, for twenty weeks, to attend the course in cooking. There are fifteen pupils in a section and ten sections a week ; thus permitting one hundred and fifty pupils to complete the course in each cooking school in twenty weeks or one-half year. The num- ber of lessons each girl receives is not sufficient to give her great skill in the art nor profound knowledge of the science, but she does get a be- ginning in both, and, what is still more important, an interest in the subject is awakened in the mind of the child which is likely to continue through life. The labor of preparing the meal becomes a work of art and not a menial employment. In the cooking school every step is directed to a definite practical purpose, and illustrates some general and scientific principle. As cooking is the application of heat to the preparation of food to make it more nutritious, digestible and palatable, the proper use of fuel and heat is first considered.
The idea of the cooking school was first prac- tically carried out in this country by Miss Juliet Carson in New York City, and from there spread rapidly in the West and was taken up by several institutions where young women were educated, and in many places carried on through private enterprise. Mrs. Emma P. Ewing established a cooking school in Chicago in 1881, and soon after it was taken up in Milwaukee.
Adolph Heinecke Milwaukee ,
CHAPTER XXIX.
PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS.
BY AUGUSTUS J. ROGERS.
N the following brief sketch of the private schools of Milwaukee, we may classify them into those that are incorporated and make re- ports to the state superintendent, and those unin- corporated which include the parochial schools. These parochial schools give elementary secular instruction and make religious instruction promi- nent, and are supported by a congregation or con- gregations. There are also denominational schools, where the organic support of the denomination is pledged which yet may not call themselves sectarian. The private schools are frequently of a more or less transient character, and do not feel that responsibility in keeping records that influ- ences public schools. The courses of study too, in their secular instruction, are generally in accord with those in the public schools, and to a consider- able extent are modeled after those adopted in the public schools. Reports of private schools were first obtained and published in the annual report of the School Board for the year ending 1867. The principals of the several schools gathered the statistics of attendance at private schools for that year, and reported a total enroll- ment of six thousand four hundred and twenty- nine, while the census reports gave five thousand two hundred and sixty-seven. There were forty- two schools and one hundred and fifty-one teachers. The cause of this difference in the reports is probably due to the fact that some pupils, reported by the principals of the private schools, attended more than one school and were reported in all the schools they attended. In con- nection with the taking of the annual school census, statistical information was also obtained concern- ing the private schools. This included the name of the school and denomination if a church school, the location of the school, the number of days taught, the name of the principal, the number of pupils and the number of teachers. Commencing with the annual report of the School Board for the year ending 1874, the number of pupils enrolled
between the ages of four and seven, seven and fifteen, and fifteen and twenty were given.
The founder of the first academy in Milwaukee was Professor Amasa Buck. From early youth he had been engaged in educational pursuits, hav- ing been a teacher for nearly forty years. He came to Milwaukee in 1848 and founded the Mil- waukee Collegiate Institute, which was opened at what is now 453 Broadway. It was afterward moved to the place now occupied by the Central Fire Station on Broadway. The institution flour- ished until the death of Professor Buck on the 20th of September, 1852. Professor Buck is mentioned as a man of fine presence, scholarly at- tainments and a very successful teacher.
The Milwaukee Female Seminary was opened September 14, 1848, in a two-story frame building in the middle of the block on Oneida street, be- tween Broadway and Milwaukee streets. It was back of what was then known as the Free Congre- gational Church, which stood upon the site of En- gine House Number 1, on Broadway. Mrs. W. L. Parsons, wife of the pastor of the Free Congrega- tional Church, was its founder and first principal. The object of this enterprise was to establish a permanent institution of high order for young ladies. The course of instruction embraced all subjects beyond the primary schools, and included the higher mathematics, the sciences, philosophy and evidences of Christianity. A boarding de- partment was conducted by the parents of Rev. W. L. Parsons. Here the girls were given "parental supervision over their health, habits and manners." The cost of board was two dollars per week and twenty-five cents for washing.
In 1850 the seminary was removed to more com- modious quarters on the northwest corner of Mil- waukee and Oneida streets, and it was here and at this time that the names of Catherine Beecher and Mary Mortimer were first associated with the institution. Catherine Beecher had for nearly twenty years previous been working out a plan
181
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.
for the education of women, and had gathered eon- tributions in the eastern eities to establish an in- stitution where women could be prepared for the professions and other remunerative employments in life. She came to Milwaukee and became in- terested in the seminary, and the people became interested in her and in her comprehensive plans. The school was incorporated in March, 1851, when it was removed to its new quarters and became known as the " Milwaukee Normal Institute and High School." The list of trustees included I. A. Lapham, J. P. Graves, G. P. Hewitt, J. H. Tweedy, A. Finch, Jr., G. J. Fowler, J. H. VanDyke, W. P. Flanders, Rev. W. L. Parsons and Rev. A. L. Chapin. The teachers included Mrs. L. A. Par- sons, Mary Mortimer, Miss E. B. Warner and Mary J. Newcomb.
Miss Beecher's policy was that the institution should be religious, but non-seetarian. She had a broad idea of what education should be for women. She firmly believed in normal training and wished to have a faculty of teachers equal in authority and each at the head of his department. The first graduating class, two in number, were given di- plomas in the summer of 1851.
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