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CHAPTER XXXVI

MANCHESTER EDUCATIONAL AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS

The first schools taught in this county were practically private ones, as the parents of pupils paid a stated amount of money for their tuition. First, a room, or part of a one-room cabin, was given over to the teacher and the children under her and this arrangement obtained, until time and means warranted the erection of a building for school purposes. Almost without any exception, the first schoolhouses were built of logs, and all the conveniences, if any, were in harmony with the crude structure. As the settlers increased in numbers and accumulated from the products of the farms sufficient funds, better buildings were put up, the law provided for free schools, districts were inaugurated, teachers were paid from a fund, raised by taxation, and in the villages and towns independent districts were created.

Like sister counties all over the state, the County of Delaware is generously provided with schools, and good buildings for them. Each township has a generous share of these institutions of learning as the following show: Adams, 7; Bremen, 9; Coffin's Grove, 9; Colony, 8; Delaware, 5; Delhi, 7; Hazel Green, 9; Honey Creek, 10; Milo, 9; North Fork, 9; Oneida, 7; Prairie, 8; South Fork, 9; Union, 8. Rural independent districts have been established and named, to-wit: White Oak Grove, Colony Township; Fountain Spring, Harris, Malvern, Oak Grove, Pleasant Grove, Ridgeville, Spring Vale and Sunnyside, Elk Township; Butterfield, Compton, Fairplay, Forestville, Pleasant Hill, Pleasant Valley and Sheldon, Richland Township; and joint districts of Lowell and Edgewood, making 114 sub-districts in the county. And then, there are the town and village schools at Colesburg, Delaware, Delhi, Dundee, Earlville, Greeley, Hopkinton, Manchester and Ryan. Added to these must be the excellent parochial schools, of which there are several, of the Catholic and Lutheran people. It is not very strange to relate, when one considers the small wage tendered instructors in the schools, that the ratio of female teachers to males is preponderatively in favor of the women. There are but sixteen male teachers in all Delaware County; on the other hand, 216 females are employed. The average compensation per month for males is $82.18; females, $42.38. The great discrepancy between the two classes of instructors is largely accounted for in that the higher positions in the high and graded schools of the towns and villages are filled with men, who demand salaries that will, in a measure, be commensurate with their ability. The largest salary drawn by an instructor. in the public schools of the county is $122.22 per month, paid the principal of the Hopkinton High School; Manchester pays her principal $108.89. The smallest wage is $26.67, received by the teacher assigned to the Harris School in Elk Township. There are 4,272 children on the school rolls of the county,

each one of which costs the sum of $2.67 per month for mental pabulum. They have been provided with schoolhouses to the grand value of $172,545 and number 146. Apparatus installed in many of them cost approximately $13,615; books in their libraries total in number 11,968.

The first schoolhouse built in Manchester was a small frame, and stood on the site of the present handsome Butler Street School. This building was erected in 1856, the citizens of the place having voted at a school meeting, held on the 20th day of May, to build a schoolhouse by taxation. But the building was not paid for that way. Judge Dyer, founder of the town and a publicspirited man, prevailed in having the work done by subscription and gave $200 of the sum necessary out of his own pocket. The building was well worth its cost. Not only were the children given the rudiments of an education therein, but its homely walls often echoed the eloquent expounding of the gospel by a "circuit rider," or later the much prized resident preacher. Lyceums, spelling schools, singing schools, political meetings and various entertainments obtained in the little brown building and for ten years it performed its duties satisfactorily to all comers.

Previous to the erection of the first school building, in the winter of 1855-6, Miss Eliza Sellens taught a private, or subscription school, in an unfinished building belonging to A. R. Loomis, which stood near the corner of Fayette and Tama streets. School was opened in the winter of 1856-7 in the building provided and John O. Burrington was the first pedagogue to be placed in charge as an instructor of Manchester's youths.

To meet increasing demands for more space and better facilities by the citizens of Manchester having families, the question of building a large schoolhouse became a topic of importance as early as the year 1862. The situation needed immediate and careful consideration and to this end the electors of the City School District passed upon the propriety and recommended the levying of a tax of 5 mills for building a schoolhouse. In furtherance of this purpose the board of directors, having been instructed to borrow a sum of money not to exceed $3,000, considered the purchase of "six lots" where the schoolhouse stood.

While these arrangements were perfecting, A. T. Loring and Joel Bailey, of the board, in November, 1864, procured additional rooms in the Methodist Church for the overflow pupils, who could not be accommodated at the schoolhouse, agreeing to pay for them at the rate of $200 per year.

A committee of the board was appointed January 30, 1865, to "procure a sufficient amount of rock to make seventy-five cord, with what has already been contracted for. February 3d, it was ordered that the board proceed to erect the walls and enclose a building for school purposes principally after the plan of Mr. Dunham. February 20th, William Cattron, C. Paxson and J. Bailey were appointed a committee to purchase Lots 10, 13, 268, 269 and 270, of Mr. Ruggles, at a price not to exceed nine hundred and fifty dollars, and on the 30th the committee reported the purchase of the lots for $900. March 6, 1866, C. Paxson, A. T. Loring and E. R. Congar were appointed by the board to make a rough estimate for a new schoolhouse to present to the electors on the second Monday."

The proposition to build a schoolhouse and raise $10,000 therefor was placed before the electorate of Manchester, March 12, 1866, and the poll showed an almost unanimous vote in favor of the improvement. There were 171 votes cast at this election and only three of them were on the wrong side. When the result was a fixed fact, there having been no anxiety on that point, the board, on the 26th day of March, appointed H. M. Congar, Charles Paxson and A. T. Loring a committee to secure and submit a plan for the school building. The committee reported on the 6th of April that the structure should be built of brick and three stories in height. II. M. Congar, A. F. Townsend and Charles Paxson were made the building committee and N. Ruggles, superintendent. Work on construction began on the 20th of July, 1866, and the building was completed in August, 1867.

The first brick school building erected in Manchester is still standing, although additions and other changes give it a different aspect from the original. It was dedicated with appropriate exercises, August 30, 1867, Rev. A. K. Johnson delivering the invocation. Music by a glee club, speeches and the report of the building committee followed. Judge A. S. Blair, in a short address, then delivered the keys of the building to Jonathan Piper, who had been elected principal, the first to be dignified with the title in Manchester. School opened in this building September 2, 1867. Beside the principal were R. Kissick, assistant principal, Lo A. Borton, Elma R. Annis, Miss Stancliffe, Miss Clark and M. A. Loomis.

Manchester continued to increase in population and by the year 1875 the school authorities again were at their wits end to devise means for the care and accommodation of the many children who needed providing for. The Butler Street School was not adequate and, accordingly, the board awarded a contract for the construction of a frame building located north of the brick for $1,150. The building was put up and used for some time.

Some time in the '70s a two-story frame school building was erected on section 8. This school is in the school district but about one-quarter of a mile from the northern boundary of the corporate limits of Manchester.

The original high-school building was erected in 1890, and at a special election previously held, bonds to the amount of $8,000 were provided for the purpose by a majority vote of 123. Lots were purchased of Nixon Denton, constituting a whole block and situate between Liberty and Gay streets, for the site. In 1912 the building was enlarged and remodeled, at a cost of approximately thirty thousand dollars, and stands today one of the chief ornaments of the city.

The West Side School Building, a two-story frame, was erected in 1883, at an outlay of $1,078. School was opened there in the fall of that year and since then two instructors have been in attendance.

The brick building on Butler Street, known as the Central School, was remodeled and enlarged by the addition of two wings in 1904-5, at a cost of about fifteen thousand dollars.

In the year 1901, a frame building and two lots were purchased of John Hruby, corner of Tama and Howard Streets, and used by the kindergarten for some years. The little ones were then transferred to the Central School Build

ing. The frame school building that stood on the grounds of the Central School was sold for $272.50, removed to another locality, and is now doing duty as a residence.

The high school has a corps of ten teachers, including the principal. Certain of the rooms are visited by a supervisor of music and an instructor in penmanship. At the Central School are nine teachers; the West Side School has two, and the North Manchester School, which was erected in 1870, has two.

EARLY SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS' INSTITUTES

By R. M. Marvin

I came to Iowa with my father's family and located three miles west of Monticello, in April, 1855. The country was very new and was mostly a vast prairie, with small areas of timber along the stream, which was frequently found. The settlements were mostly confined to the prairie bordering the timber, or in the timber. We did not then expect to live to see the vast prairies settled up. Deer and wolves roamed at will over the plains and through the timber, unless some settler chanced to try his flint lock or trusty rifle to bring them down. Wild turkeys were plentiful in the timber and frequently visited the cornfields for choice, delicious food. Rabbits, quails and grouse were in great abundance and were the principal meat food for many settlers during the winter. Grist mills were few and far distant, so that many farmers resorted to hand mills to grind corn into samp, which was used as a substitute for flour, particularly during the winters when the roads were almost impassable. Rattlesnakes were very common on the prairies and in the timber. It was not an uncommon occurrence for farmers to be bitten by them when gathering their grain or hay.

It was an every day occurrence to see a train of "prairie schooners' (emigrant wagons) slowly winding its way across the vast plains, going to some part of this new, growing country, which has become the great granary of the West. In those early days schoolhouses were found in every settlement which skirted the timber. The "schoolhouse on the hill," or tucked away in some protected spot in the timber was always in evidence. These schoolhouses were also used for churches and Sunday school on Sundays, where there was usually a good attendance. Church buildings were unknown except in the large towns, which were few. Each school district was independent and had three directors who examined their teachers. The examinations were confined to the "three Rs" and spelling. If an applicant passed, he was told to go to work at an agreed salary. Teachers were expected to board around and build the fires. When a term of school was closed, the teacher was required to make a report of the attendance of each pupil to the secretary of the board, when he would receive an order for his pay, which he took to the president of the board for his signature. He then was obliged to present it to the county treasurer and receive his money. The winter schools were usually taught by male teachers, and the summer schools by ladies. Wages for the winter term was from twenty to thirty dollars a month, and for summer from fifteen to twenty dollars per month.

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