JASPER COUNTY SCHOOLS IN 1870-76

From Superintendent S. J. Moyer's report in 1870, we extract the following: "The State of Iowa boasts of her neat schoolhouses, that dot her beautiful prairies, and Jasper County has a respectable share of these to claim as her own. Within the past two years it has been the desire of all unimproved to accommodate themselves with accessible and convenient schoolhouses, and by an examination of the tax abstract for the coming year we are assured the desire increases and ripens into execution as Jasper County enters upon the new year with an increased school house tax. The statistics show that during the last year (1869-70) there have been erected twenty-eight new school houses."

The official reports for 1877 show that the county then contained 17 district townships; 28 independent districts; 145 sub-districts; un-graded schools, 165; graded schools, 8; school year, seven months and one week, average; number of male teachers, 123; number of female teachers, 244; average male wages, $35.95; female, $29.64; total enrollment, 8,198; average attendance, 4,598; average cost of tuition, per scholar, $1.61; number of frame schoolhouses, 170; brick schoolhouses, 4; log schoolhouses, none. The value of all schoolhouses in the county, at that date, was $170,405. Cash on hand in schoolhouse fund, $6,380; contingent fund, $6,541; teacher's fund, $20,446.

A MODEL SCHOOLHOUSE

Be it said to the credit of the patrons of the Monroe public schools that in 1870 the following was truthfully recorded by the county superintendent of schools of this county: "Those who contemplate building for graded schools and independent districts are respectfully invited to examine the new and beautiful school building lately erected in Monroe, which is far superior to any other in the county in its design and structure and reflects much credit upon the city, the citizens and board that controlled its erection, and upon the community around."

JASPER COUNTY SCHOOLS IN 1910

According to the official report made by the school superintendent in 1910, the following was the statistical condition of the public schools in this county:

SCHOOL TOWNSHIPS

Buena Vista Township, number of pupils enrolled, 246; male teachers, one; female teachers, thirteen; number of sub-districts, nine.

Des Moines Township, number enrolled, 180; male teachers, two; female teachers, sixteen; number of sub-districts, eleven.

Hickory Grove Township, number enrolled, 119; male teachers, one; female teachers, thirteen; number sub-districts, nine.

Independence Township, pupils enrolled, 185; male teachers, one; female teachers, twelve; number of sub-districts, nine.

Kellogg Township, pupils enrolled, 154; male teachers, one; female teachers, fifteen; number of sub-districts, eight.

Lynn Grove Township, pupils enrolled, 207; female teachers, twenty-two; number sub-districts, twelve.

Malaka Township, pupils enrolled, 140; female teachers, fifteen; number of sub-districts, nine.

Mariposa Township, pupils enrolled, 172; female teachers, seventeen; number of sub-districts, nine.

Mound Prairie Township, pupils enrolled, 249; male teachers, two; female teachers, fourteen; number of sub-districts, nine.

Newton Township, pupils enrolled, 136; female teachers, ten; number of sub-districts, nine.

Palo Alto Township, pupils enrolled, 209; female teachers, fifteen; number of sub-districts, eleven.

Poweshiek Township, pupils enrolled 244; female teachers, eighteen; number of sub-districts, eight.

Richland Township, pupils enrolled, 188; male teachers, one; female teachers, sixteen; number of sub-districts, nine.

Rock Creek Township, pupils enrolled, 204; male teachers, five; female teachers, fourteen; number of sub-districts, eight.

Sherman Township, pupils enrolled, 117; female teachers, fourteen; number sub-districts, nine.

Washington Township, pupils enrolled, 131; female teachers, eleven; number sub-districts, nine.

INDEPENDENT VILLAGE, TOWN AND CITY CORPORATIONS

Baxter had five rooms of graded school; one male and fourteen female teachers; enrollment of 140.

Colfax had fourteen rooms of graded school; one male and fourteen female teachers, with an enrollment of 706.

Galesburg had two rooms graded; one male and three female teachers, and an enrollment of 49 pupils.

Greencastle had two graded rooms; two female teachers, and an enrollment of 59 pupils.

Kellogg had five graded rooms; one male and four female teachers, with an enrollment of 156 pupils.

Monroe had seven graded rooms; one male and four female teachers, with an enrollment of 226 pupils.

Newton had twenty-eight graded rooms; two male and twenty-six female teachers, with an enrollment of 1,056 pupils.

Prairie City had six graded rooms; one male and seven female teachers, with an enrollment of 233 pupils.

Reasoner had two graded rooms, two female teachers and an enrollment of thirty-five pupils.

Sully had two graded rooms; one male and one female teacher, with an enrollment of 98 pupils.

Vandalia had two rural schools; three female teachers, and an enrollment of 49 pupils.

RURAL INDEPENDENT CORPORATIONS

No. 1, one male and two female teachers, with an enrollment of 36.
No. 2, Harsh, two female teachers, and 44 enrollment.
No. 3, two female teachers and an enrollment of 19 pupils.
No. 4, one female teacher and an enrollment of 15 pupils.
No. 5, Ashton, three female teachers; 21 pupils enrolled.
No. 6, Oak Grove, three female teachers, and an enrollment of 21 pupils.
No. 7, Valley, one female teacher, and an enrollment of 26 pupils.
No. 8, Indian Creek, three female teachers; 23 pupils enrolled.
No. 9, Green Valley, one female teacher, and an enrollment of 28 pupils.
Andreas, two female teachers, and an enrollment of 15 pupils.
Brown, one female teacher, and an enrollment of 18 pupils.
Dairy Grove, two female teachers, and an enrollment of 17 pupils.
McKinney, one female teacher and eighteen pupils enrolled.
Pleasant View, two females as teachers, and an enrollment of 13 pupils.
Richland, one male and two female teachers; number pupils enrolled, 14.
Rose Hill, one female teacher; number pupils enrolled, 26.
Sand Point, one female teacher; 18 pupils enrolled.
Bellevue, two female teachers; 20 pupils enrolled.
Capitol Prairie, one female teacher, and an enrollment of 15 pupils.
Cottage Grove, one female teacher, and an enrollment of 35 pupils.
Enterprise, one female teacher, and 16 pupils enrolled.
Excelsior, one female teacher, and 16 pupils enrolled.
Fair View, one female teacher, and 16 pupils enrolled.
McGosky, two female teachers, and an enrollment of 16 pupils.
Oak Grove, two female teachers, and an enrollment of 28 pupils.
Pleasant Hill had no school in 1910.
Sunny Point, one female teacher, and 17 pupils enrolled.
Union, one female teacher, and an enrollment of 26 pupils.
Warren Grove, two female teachers, and 17 pupils enrolled.
The average tuition cost of pupils per month in 1910 was $2.55.

OTHER FIGURES

As seen by the county school superintendent's report to the state, bearing the date of June 30, 1910, the following was the standing of schools in the county at that time: Average number of months taught, 8 ½; rural independent districts, 29; independent city, town and village incorporations in the county, 11; school townships, 16; sub-districts, 147; teachers employed - males, 28; females, 348; average compensation per month, for male teachers, $69.13; for females, $43:60; total enrollment in the county, 6,411; total average attendance, 4,490; average tuition per month, $2.55; number of school houses, 191; value of schoolhouses, $336,740; va1ue of all apparatus, $11,105; number of volumes in all school libraries, 9,230; rooms in which the effects of stimulants and narcotics are taught, 244.

On June 30, 1910, there was on hand in the school fund of Jasper County, the sum of $61,829. The schoolhouse fund had on hand at the date just named, $8,845. On the same date there were bonds and interest bearing warrants outstanding in the county, $53,181.

TEACHERS' INSTITUTES

Hardin County had the first teachers' institute in Iowa, under the law, which was created in the winter of I857-8. Jasper was not far behind, for the record shows that on November 1, 1858, an institute was commenced at Newton, lasting for six days. Reduced hotel rates were arranged for at the Phelps House, City Hotel and old Ohio House. Teachers were expected to bring with them a McGuffey's fourth reader, a geography and atlas, an arithmetic and grammar.

The second institute was held in September 1859, and organized by Albert Lufkin, president; A. W. Drew, vice-president; A. L. Swallow, secretary. This session continued for two full weeks and numerous lectures were given, including those delivered by Messrs. Shays, Rev. Joshua Swallow, Rev. T. Merrill, J. R. Mershon, S. F. Cooper, S. N. Lindley and W. D. Moore.

This was the beginning of institutes that have been kept up ever since, with much interest and educational profit. The institute has come to be an occasion, which all reputable teachers long for, and the teacher is now compelled to attend at least a part of the session each year. It is one of the needed auxiliaries to teaching and no up-to-date teacher cares to miss the annual session.

WITTEMBERG MANUAL LABOR COLLEGE
By Ron W. O. McElroy

Advancement in civilization is largely due to the triumph of principles for which men and women, living in advance of their times, contended for years without apparent success. To such persons, the writer of contemporaneous history is not always just. He who writes regarding his own times may accurately record current events, but a later generation can, better than he, understand and appreciate their historical value. It is the duty of the historian not only to present the facts, but to mark their significance, judging men and measures impartially and giving credit to whomsoever it may be due. The reason for the foregoing remark will appear as we proceed.

In the early fifties a dozen or more families settled upon the prairie north of Newton, forming what was afterwards known as the "College Farm" neighborhood. Their number included some exceptionally thoughtful and earnest men and women. On the 18th day of December 1855, some of the more prominent ones assembled at the home of John Carey and there adopted articles of incorporation of the Wittemberg Manual Labor College. At that time Negro slavery was strongly entrenched in the United States under constitutional protection; women were generally barred from college and university, from taking part in public affairs, rarely being permitted even "to speak in church," and were not generally accepted as teachers in public schools; technical education of the industrial classes, schools of agriculture and mechanical arts, and public instruction in manual training and domestic science, were practically unknown; and the general trend of all education was away from manual labor and everything pertaining thereto. It is interesting to notice, in the light of conditions then existing, the distinctive principles of the institution thus founded and the spirit of its founders, as indicated in its articles of incorporation, four of which were as follows:

"Article 3rd. We will endeavor to maintain a school in which a pure morality and evangelical religion shall be taught, guarding against the introduction of both sectarian teaching and sectional influence.

"Art. 4th. As the name of the corporation implies, labor shall be combined with study, invariably, in such manner as the trustees may direct, so that not less than two hours of manual labor each day be required of every teacher and student, unless prevented by sickness or other bodily infirmity.

"Art. 6th. No person of good moral character who is not a slaveholder in practice or principle, shall be denied the privilege of being a shareholder in this institution. None shall be rendered ineligible to office or refused admittance as a student on terms of perfect equality, on account of caste, color or sex.

"Art. 12th. The trustees shall be chosen by ballot at each annual meeting * * * at which time this constitution may be amended * * * except so much of the second, third and fourth articles as embrace the distinctive principles of our organization, to-wit: Pure morality and religion, without sectarianism; manual labor; freedom from distinction on account of caste, color or sex; these features shall remain unalterable."

The first officers of the institution were: Richard Sherer, president; John Carey and John A. Work, vice-presidents; Andrew Failor, secretary; James R. Crawford, treasurer; Rev. Thomas Merrill, general agent; all of whom, with Mrs. Elizabeth Merrill, Mrs. Mary Carey, James McLaughlin, S. A. Thornton, J. P. Beatty and Thomas Vanatta, constituted the board of trustees. A tract of land including the east half of section 3, township 80, range 19, and adjacent lands, comprising more than four hundred acres, in all, was purchased and subsequently platted. Ten acres in the center was reserved for college building, ornamental grounds, etc. Four rectangular tracts, each comprising about sixty acres, were reserved for the purpose of providing thereon the manual labor in agriculture to be performed by students and members of the faculty. Outlying parts of the land platted were divided into residence lots, which were afterwards appraised and sold in order to obtain funds for the erection of a building.

The records of the board of trustees throughout the sixteen or more years of the existence of the institution lie before us as we write. Insufficient support funds, general low prices and low wages, high rates of interest, financial panic, and the disorganizing influence of the Civil War, made the struggle for the maintenance of the school throughout those years very hard. Every meeting of the board was opened with prayer.

On Christmas day, 1855, the board fixed the rates of tuition for a term of twelve weeks, as follows: Three dollars for primary department, four dollars for common English branches and five dollars for the advanced English branches and the languages. At the same time Mr. and Mrs. Merrill were employed as teachers.

In February 1856, the property owned by the institution was valued at $6,781.75. One thousand copies of a circular setting forth the advantages offered by the school and its course of study were ordered printed and distributed. Provisions were made for boarding students. Scholarships were ordered sold, the consideration therefore to be paid in installments. The board adopted a plan for a two-story central building fifty-two feet long and forty feet wide, with end or wing buildings, each thirty feet by forty feet. The building committee was authorized to borrow five thousand dollars for the erection of the building. Those were times of low prices and exorbitantly high rates of interest, and the committee subsequently reported that it could borrow only one thousand dollars.

In November 1856, the board purchased eight acres of timber from Jesse Hammer, paying thirty-three dollars per acre therefore, to provide lumber for the building. The plan of the building was subsequently altered considerably, the wing buildings being omitted. The building finally erected was a large two-story frame building constructed principally of native wood, finished inside with black walnut, the weatherboarding also being of walnut. The floors were oak. The foundation was stone. Its exact cost cannot now be ascertained, but it was probably between six thousand and ten thousand dollars. Prior to its occupancy for educational purposes, the school occupied temporary buildings, one of which was, on and after December 7, 1857, rented to the board of directors of the school district for school purposes, at the rental of two dollars and fifty cents per month. The building was afterwards sold to the district.

On November 24, 1856, a death having occurred in the neighborhood, a burial ground was located upon the lands of the college by a committee of the board of trustees "in view of locating the present grave," and the board adopted a resolution that the grounds be free to all as a place of burial. The burial thus located is within the present Wittemberg cemetery, comprising two acres. On October 20, 1858, the board of trustees adopted a resolution for the transfer of the burying ground to the trustees of the Free Presbyterian church of Wittemberg.

The financial panic of 1857 bore very heavily upon the corporation. The school continued without interruption, but very little progress was made upon the building, On March 4, 1857, the board adopted the following resolution:

"Resolved, 1st. That we recognize in our present embarrassed condition as a board and the causes, which have led to it, the plain teachings of divine providence.

"Resolved, 2nd. That both duty and interest demand that we should go forward in the erection of the college building now under contract.

"Resolved, 3rd. That in order to the accomplishment of this end, we feel that God is now demanding of us the contribution of such a portion of his property now in our hands as will put this enterprise beyond embarrassment."

On September 22, 1857, a public dinner was held at the college, the meat for which cost the institution nine dollars. During the same month, the board arranged with Mr. and Mrs. Merrill to publish The Wittemberg Educator, a monthly journal devoted to the cause of education and the interest of the college in particular, the board furnishing the press, type and room and Mr. and Mrs. Merrill receiving the proceeds of the publication. Sarah Merrill, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Merrill and afterwards wife of Rev. Charles C. Harrah, did the greater part of the work upon the paper. It was subsequently published monthly under the name of The Wittemberg Review. How long the publication continued, does not clearly appear. However, the minutes of the board show that on December 14, 1858, it adopted a resolution making its subsequent meetings private and directed the publication of the resolution in The Wittemberg Review. On June 6, 1859, an order was made by the board giving Mr. Merrill the use of the printing press and twenty dollars worth of type for one year. In November 1859, the board refunded to Mr. Merrill the money spent by him in issuing the first numbers of The Wittemberg Review.

On January 20, 1860, the hoard voted to arrange to open the college school on the first Wednesday of the following May, the tuition alone being the salary of the teachers. At the same meeting Rev. Thomas Merrill was elected president of the college. J. R. Crawford, G. T. Poage and Thomas Merrill were appointed a committee to prepare a course of study, and Mr. Merrill was authorized to publish a circular setting forth the advantages of the school. However, a part of the building was yet unfinished. On June 22, 1861, the board submitted to the Free Presbyterian Church of Wittemberg a proposition to grant to said church the use of the north lower room of the college building for five years for church purposes, provided the church would furnish the materials and provide the labor necessary for the completion of the room in the manner specified in the proposition. The proposition was accepted and the room was used for the purposes designated throughout the full term specified.

On December 15, 1862, the board of trustees invited the Wesleyan Methodist general conference to co-operate in sustaining the college. Ten days later a committee from the conference called upon the board. The conference declined to consider the proposition unless the joint stock system should he abandoned and the institution governed entirely by a close board. All negotiations were dropped. During the next four years, in spite of adverse conditions and influences, the school prospered, the attendance varying from forty to ninety pupils. In November 1866, a committee was appointed to consider and report upon the advisability of transferring all the property of the institution to a responsible person who would agree to maintain the school. Nothing was accomplished in that direction, however, until May 1867, when a contract was made with Rev. S. A. McLean, of Washington County, Pennsylvania, by the terms of which he advanced to the board the sum of two thousand dollars in cash, and agreed to conduct in the college building for four years a school furnishing instruction in all branches taught in first-class academies, the board agreeing to furnish the building in manner specified in the contract, and, at the end of the four years, to pay to McLean the aggregate sum of four thousand and fifteen dollars, the college property to be security for such payment.

From the earliest settlement of the neighborhood until the close of the Civil War, the Free Presbyterian Church maintained a strong organization at Wittemberg. However, when slavery had ceased to exist and the war was closed and the feeling engendered thereby began to disappear, the organization dissolved, one element returning to the Presbyterian Church and the other forming the Congregational Church of Wittemberg. To the church last named, the board of trustees of the college conveyed a building site about December 1, 1867. The Presbyterian Church continued to occupy the college chapel until about 1869.

On May 1, 1868, a committee of the board made written report recommending the execution of a new agreement with S. A. McLean, by the terms of which the greater part of the college property was to be transferred to McLean, he to cancel all claims under the prior agreement and to assume certain debts and to maintain a school in the college building for ten years from and after January 1, 1868, and, at the expiration of the ten years, to be the absolute owner of the property. Other terms and conditions were included in the contract. A resolution authorizing the execution of the agreement was adopted by a divided vote of the trustees. The agreement was executed. Mr. McLean died in the early part of 1869. His daughters, Elizabeth and Anna, conducted the school some years after his death. In the meantime, in an action instituted by a trustee who opposed the execution of the last agreement with Mr. McLean, the district court of Jasper County held the conveyance of the property void and gave Mr. McLean's representatives a lien thereon. The lien was foreclosed, but redemption from the sale was not made and the title to all the property passed to Mr. McLean's heirs.

Another writer remarked about this educational institution that "to complete the building and to pay the debts, Messrs. Merrill, Cary and Crawford pledged one thousand dollars each; Mr. King five hundred dollars; Mr. Failor, two hundred and fifty dollars; Mr. Beatty, one hundred dollars. The money was raised by mortgaging the lands of those named above to parties in the East, and much anxiety was experienced by all of them in raising the money afterward to clear the mortgages.

"This closed the history of the school, which might, otherwise, have enjoyed a wide reputation. However, much good was done here, for many young men found facilities for education here that they might have failed of, and a number of gentlemen now prominent in business affairs and other pursuits owe their education to Wittemburg. The school was quite successful from 1857 to 1865, the usual enrollment of pupils being from fifty to eighty."

It may also be added that, socially, this institution accomplished much good for the early settlers of Jasper County. It also had what were then very new and advanced notions concerning diet. For instance they (the founders) did not eat much meat, but taught that a pure vegetable diet was the proper thing. They used large quantities of graham flour in their cooking. They had other notions, which would not be popular today with the masses, but on the whole those college founders were men and women of large hearts, active brains and great fortitude and integrity of purpose. They certainly left their imprint on the community in which they settled and finally founded Wittemberg College.

Continued on next page