USA > Wisconsin > Jefferson County > The history of Jefferson county, Wisconsin, containing biographical sketches > Part 22
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THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM.
In 1869 the legislature passed a law authorizing towns to adopt by vote the "township sys- tem of school government." Under this system each town becomes one school district, and the several school districts already existing become sub-districts. Each sub-district elects a clerk, and these clerks constitute a body corporate under the name of the " board of school directors," and are invested with the title and custody of all school houses, school-house sites, and other prop- erty belonging to the sub-districts, with power to control them for the best interests of the schools of the town. The law provides for an executive committee to execute the orders of the
147
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.
board, employ teachers, etc., and for a secretary to record proceedings of the board, have imme- diate charge and supervision of the schools, and perform other specified duties. But few towns have as yet made trial of this system, although it is in successful operation in Pensylvania, Mas- sachusetts, and some other states, and where fully and fairly tried in our own, has proved entirely satisfactory. It is the general belief of our enlightened educational men that the plan has such merits as ought to secure its voluntary adoption by the people of the state.
FREE HIGH SCHOOLS.
In 1875 the legislature enacted that any town, incorporated village, or city, may establish and maintain not more than two free high schools, and provided for an annual appropriation of not to exceed $25,000, to refund one-half of the actual cost of instruction in such schools, but no school to draw in any one year more than $500. At the session of 1877 the benefits of the act were extended to such high schools already established as shall show by a proper report that they have conformed to the requirements of the law. If towns decline to establish such a school, one or more adjoining districts in the same have the privilege of doing so. The law has met with much favor. For the school year ending August 31, 1876 (the first year in which it was in operation), twenty such schools reported, and to these the sum of $7,466.50 was paid, being an average of $373.32 per school. It is expected that twice this number will report for the second year. The high school law was primarily designed to bring to rural neighborhoods the two-fold advantages of (1) a higher instruction than the common district schools afford, and (2) a better class of teachers for these schools. It was anticipated, however, from the first that the immediate results of the law would be chiefly the improvement of existing graded schools in the larger villages and in cities. Experience may be said to have already confirmed both antici- pations.
SCHOOL OFFICERS.
The school officers of Wisconsin are, a state superintendent of public instruction, sixty-four county superintendents, twenty-eight city superintendents, and a school board in each district, consisting of a director, treasurer, and clerk. The state and county superintendents hold office two years, the district officers three years. In each independent city there is a board of educa- tion, and the larger cities have each a city superintendent, who in some cases is also principal of the high school. He is appointed for one year. The county board of supervisors determine, within certain limits, the amount of money to be raised annually in each town and ward of their county for school purposes, levy an additional amount for the salary of the county superintend- ents, inay authorize a special school tax, and may under certain circumstances determine that there shall be two superintendents for their county. The town board of supervisors have authority to form and alter school districts, to issue notice for first meeting, to form union districts for high school purposes, and appoint first boards for the same, to locate and establish school-house sites under certain circumstances, to extinguish districts that have neglected to maintain school for two years, and to dispose of the property of the same. The district clerks report annually to the town clerks, the town clerks to the county superintendents, and the county and city superintend- ents to the state superintendent, who in turn makes an annual report to the governor.
STATE TEACHERS' CERTIFICATES.
The state superintendent is authorized by law "to issue state certificates of high grade to teachers of eminent qualifications." Two grades of these are given, one unlimited, and the other good for five years. The examination is conducted by a board of three examiners, appointed annually by the state superintendent, and acting under rules and regulations prescribed by him.
148
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
TEACHERS' ASSOCIATIONS.
Besides the Wisconsin State Teachers' Association, holding its annual session in the summer and a semi-annual or " executive " session in the winter, there are, in several parts of the state, county or district associations, holding stated meetings. The number of such associations is annually increasing.
LIBRARIES.
The utility of public libraries as a part of the means of popular enlightenment, was early recognized in this state. The constitution, as set forth in 1848, required that a portion of the income of the school fund should be applied to the " purchase of suitable libraries and appa- ratus " for the common schools. The same year the legislature of the state, at its first session, enacted that as soon as this income should amount to $60,000 a year (afterwards changed to $30,000), each town superintendent might devote one tenth of the portion of this income received by his town annually, to town library purposes, the libraries thus formed to be distributed among the districts, in sections, and in rotation, once in three months. Districts were also empowered to raise money for library books. The operation of this discretionary and voluntary system was not successful. In ten years (1858) only about one third of the districts (1,121) had libraries, embracing in all but 38,755 volumes, and the state superintendent, Hon. Lyman C. Draper, urged upon the legislature a better system, of "town libraries," and a state tax for their creation and maintenance. In 1857, the legislature enacted that ten per cent. of the yearly income of the school fund should be applied to the purchase of town school libraries, and that an annual tax of one tenth of one mill should be levied for the same purpose. The law was left incomplete, how- ever, and in 1862, before the system had been perfected, the exigencies of the civil war led to the repeal of the law, and the library fund which had accumulated from the ten per cent. of the school fund income, and from the library tax, amounting in all to $88,784.78, was transferred to the general fund. This may be considered a debt to the educational interests of the state that should be repaid. Meanwhile the single district library system languishes and yearly grows weaker. The re-enacting of a town library system, in which local effort and expenditure shall be stimulated and supplemented by state aid, has been urged upon the legislature by the present state superintendent, and will, it is hoped, be secured, at no distant day, as a part of a complete town system of schools and of public education.
LIST OF STATE SUPERINTENDENTS.
The act creating the office was passed at the first session of the state legislature, in 1848. The incumbents up to the present time have been as follows :
NAME OF INCUMBENT.
DURATION OF INCUMBENCY.
Hon. E. Root
Three years-1849-50-51.
Hon. A. P. Ladd
Two years-1852-53.
Hon. H. A. Wright*
One year and five months-1854-55-
Hon. A. C. Barry
Two years and seven months-1855-56-57.
Hon. L. C. Draper
Two years-1858-59.
Hon. J. L. Pickardt
. Three years and nine months-1860-61-02-63.
Hon. J. G. McMynn
Four years and three months-1863-64-65-66-67.
Hon. A. J. Craig; Two years and six months-1868-69-70.
Hon. Samuel Fallows
Three years and six months -- 1870-71-72-73.
Hon. Edward Searing
Four years-1874-75-76-77.
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EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.
SKETCHES OF COLLEGES IN WISCONSIN.
Beloit College was founded in 1847, at Beloit, under the auspices of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches of Wisconsin and northern Illinois. In 1848, Rev. Joseph Emerson and Rev. J. J. Bushnell were appointed professors, and in 1849, Rev. A. L. Chapin was appointed president, and has continued such until the present time. The institution has had a steady growth, has maintained a high standard of scholarship and done excellent work, both in its pre- paratory and college departments. Two hundred and thirty-six young men have graduated. Its lands and buildings are valued at $78,000, and its endowments and funds amount to about $122,000.
Lawrence University, at Appleton, under the patronage of the Methodist church, was organized as a college in 1850, having been an "institute " or academy for three years previous, under the Rev. W. H. Sampson. The first president was Rev. Edward Cook; the second, R. Z. Mason; the present one is the Rev. George M. Steele, D. D. It is open to both sexes, and has graduated 130 young men, and 68 young women. It still maintains a preparatory depart- ment. It has been an institution of great benefit in a new region of country, in the northeastern part of the state. Receiving a liberal donation at the outset from the Hon. Amos A. Lawrence, of Boston, it has land and buildings valued at $47,000, at Appleton, and funds and endowments amounting to $60,000.
Milton College, an institution under the care of the Seventh Day Baptists, was opened as a college in 1867, having been conducted as an academy since 1844. Rev. W. C. Whitford, the president, was for many years the principal of the academy The institution has done much valuable work, particularly in preparing teachers for our public schools. The college has gradu- ated 38 young men and women, having previously graduated 93 academic students. It has lands, buildings and endowments to the amount of about $50,000.
Ripon College, which was known till 1864 as Brockway College, was organized in 1853, at Ripon, and is supported by the Congregational church. Since its re-organization, in 1863, it has graduated 77 students (of both sexes) in the college courses, and has always maintained a large and flourishing preparatory department. Under its present efficient head, the Rev. E. H. Mer- rell, A. M., it is meeting with continued success. Its property amounts to about $125,000.
Racine College was founded by the Episcopal Church, at Racine, in 1852, under the Rev. Roswell Park, D. D., as its first President. It was for a long time under the efficient administra- tion of Rev. James De Koven, D. D., now deceased, who was succeeded by Rev. D. Stevens Parker. It maintains a large boys' school also, and a preparatory department. It was designed, in part, to train young men for the Nashotah Theological Seminary. It has property, including five buildings, to the amount of about $180,000, and has graduated ninety-nine young men. Its principal work, in which it has had great success, is that of a boys' school, modeled somewhat after the English schools.
The Seminary of St. Francis of Sales, an ecclesiastical school, was established at St. Fran- cis Station, near Milwaukee, chiefly by the combined efforts of two learned and zealous priests, the Rev. Michael Heiss, now bishop of La Crosse, and the Rev. Joseph Salzmann. It was opened in January, 1856, with Rev. M. Heiss as rector, and with 25 students. Rev. Joseph : alzmann was rector from September, 1868, to the time of his death, January 17, 1874, since which time Rev. C. Wapelhorst has held the rectorship. The latter is now assisted by twelve professors, and the students number 267, of whom 105 are theologians, 31 students of philosophy, and the rest classical students.
Pio Nono College is a Roman Catholic institution, at St. Francis Station, in the immediate neighborhood of the Seminary of St. Francis: It was founded in 1871, by Rev. Joseph Salzmann,
* Died, May 29. IS45. + Resigned, October 1, 1863. # Died, Jn'y 3. 1550.
150
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
who was the first rector. He was succeeded in 1874 by the present rector, Rev. Thomas Brue- ner, who is assisted by a corps of seven professors. Besides the college proper, there is a nor- mal department, in which, in addition to the education that qualifies for teaching in common and higher schools, particular attention is given to church music. There is also, under the same management, but in an adjoining building, an institution for the instruction of the deaf and dumb. The pupils in the latter, both boys and girls, numbering about 30, are taught to speak by sounds, and it is said with the best success.
An institution was organized in 1865, at Prairie du Chien. under the name of Prairie du Chien College, and under the care of J. T. Lovewell, as principal. In the course of two or three years it passed into the hands of the Roman Catholic church, and is now known as St. John's ·College. It has so far performed principally preparatory work.
Sinsinawa Mound College, a Roman Catholic institution, was founded in 1848, through the labors of Father Mazzuchelli, but after doing a successful work, was closed in 1863, and in 1867 the St. Clara academy was opened in the same buildings.
The Northwestern University, which is under the Lutheran church, was organized in 1865, at Watertown, under Rev. August F. Ernst, as president. It has graduated 21 young men, and has a preparatory department. Its property is valued at $50,000.
Galesville University was organized in 1859, under the patronage of the Methodist church at Galesville, in the northwest part of the state. The first president was the Rev. Samuel Fal- lows, since state superintendent. It has graduated ten young men and eight young women, its work hitherto having been mostly preparatory. It is now under the patronage of the Presby- terian denomination, with J. W. McLaury, A. M., as president. It has property valued at $30,000, and an endowment of about $50,000.
Carroll College was established at Waukesha, by the Presbyterian church, in 1846. Prof. J. W. Sterling, now of the state university, taught its primary classes that year. Under President John A. Savage, D.D., with an able corps of professors, it took a high rank and graduated classes ; but for several years past it has confined its work principally to academic studies. Under W. L. Rankin, A. M., the present principal, the school is doing good service.
Wayland University was established as a college, by the Baptists, at Beaver Dam, in 1854, but never performed much college work. For three years past, it has been working under a new charter as an academy and preparatory school, and is now known as Wayland Institute.
In 1841, the Protestant Episcopal church established a mission in the wilds of Waukesha county, and, at an early day, steps were taken to establish in connection therewith an institution of learning. This was incorporated in 1847, by the name of Nashotah House. In 1852 the classical school was located at Racine, and Nashotah House became distinctively a theological seminary. It has an endowment of one professorship, the faculty and students being otherwise sustained by voluntary contributions. It has a faculty of five professors, with Rev. A. D. Cole, D.D., as president, buildings pleasantly situated, and has graduated 185 theological students.
FEMALE COLLEGES.
Two institutions have been known under this designation. The Milwaukee Female College was founded in 1852, and ably conducted for several years, under the principalship of Miss Mary Mortimer, now deceased. It furnished an advanced grade of secondary instruction. The Wis- consin Female College, located at Fox Lake, was first incorporated in 1855, and re-organized in 1863. It has never reached a collegiate course, is now known as Fox Lake Seminary, and admits both sexes. Rev. A. O. Wright, A. M., is the present principal.
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AGRICULTURE.
ACADEMIES AND SEMINARIES.
The following institutions of academic grade, are now in operation : Albion Academy ; Benton Academy; Big Foot Academy; Elroy Seminary; Fox Lake Seminary ; two German and English academies in Milwaukee; Janesville Academy; Kemper Hall, Kenosha; Lake Geneva Seminary, Geneva; Lakeside Seminary, Oconomowoc; Marshall Academy, Marshall; Merrill Institute, Fond du Lac; Milwaukee Academy ; Racine Academy; River Falls Institute ; Rochester Seminary; St. Catherine's Academy, Racine; St. Clara Academy; Sinsinawa Mound ; St. Mary's Institute, Milwaukee ; Sharon Academy; and Wayland Institute, Beaver Dam. Similar institutions formerly in operation but suspended or merged in other institu- tions, were : Allen's Grove Academy ; Appleton Collegiate Institute ; Baraboo Collegiate Insti- tute; Beloit Female Seminary ; Beloit Seminary ; Brunson Institute, Mount Hope ; Evansville Sem- inary ; Janesville Academy (merged in the high school); Kilbourn Institute; Lancaster Institute; Milton Academy ; Platteville Academy; Southport Academy (Kenosha); Waterloo Academy; Waukesha Seminary; Wesleyan Seminary, Eau Claire; and Patch Grove Academy. The most important of these were the Milton and Platteville Academies, the former merged in Mil- ton College, the latter in the Platteville Normal School. Of the others, several were superseded by the establishment of public high schools in the same localities.
COMMERCIAL SCHOOLS.
Schools of this character, aiming to furnish what is called a business education, exist in Mil- waukee, Janesville, Madison, LaCrosse, Green Bay, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac. The oldest and largest is in Milwaukee, under the care of Prof. R. C. Spencer, and enrolls from two to three hundred students annually.
AGRICULTURE.
BY W. W. DANIELLS, M.S., PROF. OF CHEMISTRY AND AGRICULTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN.
The trend of the earliest industries of a country, is the result of the circumstances under which those industries are developed. The attention of pioneers is confined to supplying the immediate wants of food, shelter, and clothing. Hence, the firstsettlers of a country are farm- ers, miners, trappers, or fishermen, according as they can most readily secure the means of pres- ent sustenance for themselves and their families. In the early history of Wisconsin this law is well exemplified. The southern part of the state, consisting of alternations of prairie and tim- ber, was first settled by farmers. As the country has developed, wealth accumulated, and means of transportation have been furnished, farming has ceased to be the sole interest. Manufactories have been built along the rivers, and the mining industry of the southwestern part of the state has grown to one of considerable importance. The shore of Lake Michigan was first mainly settled tled by fishermen, but the later growth of agriculture and manufactures has nearly overshadowed the fishing interest ; as has the production of lumber, in the north half of the state, eclipsed the trapping and fur interests of the first settlers. That the most important industry of Wisconsin is farming, may be seen from the following statistics of the occupation of the people as given by the United States census. Out of each one hundred inhabitants, of all occupations, 68 were
162
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
farmers, in 1840; 52 in 1850; 54 in 1860; 55 in 1870. The rapid growth of the agriculture of the state is illustrated by the increase in the number of acres of improved land in farms, and in the value of farms and of farm implements and machinery, as shown by the following table, com- piled from the United States census :
ACRES IMPROVED LAND IN FARMS.
YEAR.
TOTAL ..
TO EACH INHAB.
VALUE OF FARMS, INCLUDING IMPROV- ED AND UNIMPROV- ED LANDS.
VALUE OF FARM IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINERY.
IS50
1,045,499
3.4
IS60
3.746,167
4.8
IS70
5.899.343
5.6
$ 28,528,563 131,117.164 300,414,064
$ 1,641,568 5,758,847 14.239,364
Farming, at the present time, is almost entirely confined to the south half of the state, the northern half being still largely covered by forests. A notable exception to this statement is found in the counties on the western border, which are well settled by farmers much farther north. The surface of the agricultural portion of the state is for the most part gently undulating, afford- ing ready drainage, without being so abruptly broken as to render cultivation difficult. The soil is varied in character, and mostly very fertile. The southern portion of the state consists of undulating prairies of variable size-the largest being Rock prairie-alternating with oak openings. The prairies have the rich alluvial soil so characteristic of the western prairies, and are easily worked. The soil of the "openings " land is usually a sandy loam, readily tilled, fertile, but not as "strong " as soils having more clay. The proportion of timber to prairie increases passing north from the southern boundary of the state, and forests of maple, basswood and elm, replace, to some extent, the oak lands. In these localities, the soil is more clayey, is strong and fertile, not as easily tilled, and not as quickly exhausted as are the more sandy soils of the oak lands. In that portion of the state known geologically as the "driftless" region, the soil is invariably good where the surface rock is limestone. In some of the valleys, however, where the lime-rock has been removed by erosion, leaving the underlying sandstone as the surface rock, the soil is sandy and unproductive, except in those localities where a large amount of alluvial matter has been deposited by the streams. The soils of the pine lands of the north of the state, are generally sandy and but slightly fertile. However, where pine is replaced by maple, oak, birch, elm and basswood, the soil is "heavier " and very fertile, even to the shores of Lake Superior.
The same natural conditions that make Wisconsin an agricultural state, determined that during its earlier years the main interest should be grain-growing. The fertile prairies covering large portions of the southern part of the state had but to be plowed and sowed with grain to produce an abundant yield. From the raising of cereals the pioneer farmer could get the quickest returns for his labor. Hence in 1850, two years after its admission to the Union, Wis- consin was the ninth state in order in the production of wheat, while in 1860 this rank was raised to third, Illinois and Indiana only raising more. The true rank of the state is not shown by these figures. Were the number of inhabitants and the number of acres of land in actual culti- vation taken into account in the comparison, the state would stand still higher in rank than is here indicated. There is the same struggle for existence, and the same desire for gain the world over, and hence the various phases of development of the same industry in different civilized countries is mainly the result of the widely varying economical conditions imposed upon that industry. Land is thoroughly cultivated in Europe, not because the Europeans have any inherent love for good cultivation, but because there land is scarce and costly, while labor is superabundant and cheap. In America, on the other hand, and especially in the newer states,
153
AGRICULTURE.
land is abundant and cheap, while labor is scarce and costly. In its productive industries each country is alike economical in the use of the costly element in production, and more lavish in the use of that which is cheaper. Each is alike economically wise in following such a course, when it is not carried to too great extremes. With each the end sought is the greatest return for the expenditure of a given amount of capital. In accordance with this law of economy, the early agriculture of Wisconsin was mere land-skimming. Good cultivation of the soil was never thought of. The same land was planted successively to one crop, as long as it yielded enough to pay for cultivation. The economical principle above stated was carried to an extreme. Farm- ing as then practiced was a quick method of land exhaustion. It was always taking out of the purse, and never putting in. No attention was paid to sustaining the soil's fertility. The only aim was to secure the largest crop for the smallest outlay of capital, without regard to the future. Manures were never used, and such as unavoidably accumulated was regarded as a great nuis- ance, often rendering necessary the removal of stables and outbuildings. Straw-stacks were
invariably burned as the most convenient means of disposing of them. Wheat, the principal product, brought a low price, often not more than fifty cents a bushel, and had to be marketed by teams at some point from which it could be carried by water, as this was, at an early day, the only means of transportation. On account of the sparse settlement of the country, roads were poor, and the farmer, after raising and threshing his wheat, had to spend, with a team, from two to five days, marketing the few bushels that a team could draw. So that the farmer had every obstacle to contend with except cheap and very fertile land, that with the poorest of cultivation gave a comparatively abundant yield of grain. Better tillage, accompanied with the use of manures and other fertilizers, would not, upon the virgin soils, have added sufficiently to the yield to pay the cost of applying them. Hence, to the first farmers of the state, poor farming was the only profitable farming, and consequently the only good farming, an agriculturo-economical paradox from which there was no escape. Notwithstanding the fact that farmers could economi- cally follow no other system than that of land-exhaustion, as described, such a course was none the less injurious to the state, as it was undermining its foundation of future wealth, by destroy- ing the fertility of the soil, that upon which the permanent wealth and prosperity of every agri- cultural community is first dependent. Besides this evil, and together with it, came the habit of loose and slovenly farming acquired by pioneers, which continued after the conditions making that method a necessity had passed away. With the rapid growth of the northwest came better home markets and increased facilities for transportation to foreign markets, bringing with them higher prices for all products of the farm. As a consequence of these better conditions, land in farms in the state increased rapidly in value, from $9.58 per acre in 1850, to $16.61 in 1860, an increase of 62 per cent., while the total number of acres in farms increased during the same time from 2,976,658 acres to 7,893,587 acres, or 265 per cent. With this increase in the value of land, and the higher prices paid for grain, should have come an improved system of hus- bandry which would prevent the soil from deteriorating in fertility. This could have been accomplished either by returning to the soil, in manures and fertilizers, those ingredients of which it was being rapidly drained by continued grain-growing, or by the adoption of a system of mixed husbandry, which should include the raising of stock and a judicious rotation of crops. Such a system is sure to come. Indeed, it is now slowly coming. Great progress upon the earlier methods of farming have already been made. But so radical and thorough a change in the habits of any class of people as that from the farming of pioneers to a rational method that will preserve the soil's fertility and pay for the labor it demands, requires many years for its full accomplishment. It will not even keep pace with changes in those economical conditions which
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