# Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 2/An Historical Survey of Public Education in Eugene, Oregon

AN HISTORICAL SURVEY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN EUGENE, OREGON.
The school history of Eugene possesses several features of great interest to the student of education in Oregon. In the first place it extends over a sufficient period, almost half a century, to make its study significant. Secondly, we find here the influence of two distinct ideas, the private school idea and the public school idea, working side by side for many years; and thirdly, there is traceable the evolution of a dominant public school sentiment which results in unifying the educational effort of the town, and placing it definitely in the highway of progress.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
In Eugene the private school idea had an exceedingly firm hold, owing doubtless to the fact that so large a proportion of the early settlers came from states where public education was not as yet much developed. In fact, too many of these people who were of good families in the southwestern states, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, it seemed a trifle degrading to send their children to a public school, which as so often happened both north and south, was looked upon as a "poor folks" school.
It is not surprising, therefore, to find in Eugene, during the first twenty years of her history, a great number and variety of private schools, ranging all .the way from a college to a kindergarten, or school for very young children, kept by a good woman in her own home. The scope of this paper does not contemplate an extended ​count of the private schools, many of which were excellent institutions of their kind; but a few of them demand a brief notice.
In 1856 the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Oregon established at Eugene the so-called Columbia College. About the time that the first school was kept in the new district schoolhouse on Eleventh Street, this institution on College Hill also opened its doors for the reception of students. Rev. E. P. Henderson, a graduate of the Cumberland Presbyterian College at Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, was its head. Under his direction the school was carried successfully to the conclusion of its third year in spite of the great misfortunes which it suffered. In 1859 Mr. Henderson resigned the principalship, and a Mr. Ryan of Virginia was secured to take his place. But the times were troubled, and in the bitter political struggle of the following year the life of Columbia College was sacrificed.
​Standing as it does at the very beginning of Eugene's educational development, Columbia College has exerted a profound influence upon the later school history of the town. The people here, many of whom had been its students, never forgot in the struggles of latter years that this place had once been an important center of learning. To this fact I believe may be attributed much of the ardor shown a decade and more later in the pursuit of the university object. On the other hand it seems not unlikely that the influence of the college was to retard, temporarily, the development of the public school. It was difficult for people accustomed to patronize the more pretentious institution to be satisfied with the humble district school, while the town was not ready to supply at once the kind of secondary school demanded. In other words, the college had made it impossible, for the time, to concentrate educational effort upon the public school, which might have resulted in gradually extending its scope so as to embrace a high school department.
Instead of such a normal development, which the policy of very many towns in the United States was readily securing at that time, the people of Eugene fell back upon the private school idea. Institutions of every grade, kind and description, rose, flourished or languished, and decayed. There were grammar schools, select schools, academies, high schools, juvenile schools, writing schools, singing schools, even sewing schools. Only one or two had any sort of permanency. It is slanderous, of course, to assert, as a minister of the gospel once did, that whenever a young woman of Eugene wanted a new bonnet, she would advertise to keep a private school; but the libel is at least suggestive of the condition of things here from 1860 to 1872. Some of these private schools were worthy institutions, conducted by able teachers who served the community faithfully in the days when with​out them a good education could not be had. Such was the private high school kept by Bernard Cornelius, whose advertisements appear in the State Republican for the years 1862–1863. Mr. Cornelius wrote several articles for the paper in the form of letters to Governor Gibbs. In one of these, October 18, 1862, he considers the probable influence on education of the proposed Agricultural College. He argues that it ought to fix certain requirements, taking students who have been prepared at other schools, and not become a rival of these schools by bidding for the class of pupils who form their support. The discussion suggests, what is undoubtedly the fact, that the so-called academies, high schools, graded schools, even colleges of that time, took in practically everybody who offered. There was no such system of grading as we now look upon as a matter of course. In fact, there is a close correspondence between these schools and the ungraded New Hampshire academy of the preceding decade.
We obtain a glimpse into the private school of the time from some of the advertisements. Mr. J. S. Gilbert offered to give instruction in "all English branches usually taught in schools and academies.' His charges were: For primary, $4.50; common English, $5.00; higher English, $7.00; bookkeeping, extra, $2.00. At the same time, Mrs. Odell opened a select school in the Cornelius building. Aside from English branches, she offered work in plain and ornamental needle-work. The charges ranged from $5.00 to $7.00. Instrumental music was taught by her for $10. The prices are always for a quarter, unless otherwise stated.
In the fall of 1866 Rev. E. P. Henderson opened what proved to be the most important school of the decade. He was assisted by Mrs. W. H. Odell, a lady ​who is spoken of by all her former pupils as a "fine teacher." She ostensibly had charge of "the female department," but in reality taught both girls and boys in certain subjects, while Mr. Henderson taught certain other subjects to all taking them.
On November 10 the Journal reports seventy-five pupils in attendance, and says that the prosperity of the school "indicates a return of the palmy days when Lane County boys and girls received an education without being shipped to Salem or Portland. Eugene City at one time enjoyed an enviable reputation on account of her educational facilities, and students came from adjoining counties and from distant parts of the state to attend our schools."
At the close of the first term there were one hundred and thirteen names on the roll, and about one hundred in regular attendance. Of this number it was stated about forty were "young men and large boys, many of whom have started in for a two or three years' siege." The next term the attendance fell off "slightly." The following by Professor Henderson may not fully indicate the reason for the decline, but it affords us the best view we have yet had of the internal economy of the private high school of a generation ago. He says: "I desire, by your permission, to correct some false and malicious reports which some unscrupulous persons have put in circulation concerning our school.
"First—I assure the public our school is intended to be a permanent institution, both summer and winter.
"Second—It is open to all grades of students, large and small, male and female.
​"Third—Party politics are not taught in the school, neither directly nor indirectly, and all reports to the contrary are utterly false.
"We have seats and desks for one hundred or more pupils. We have a pair of excellent globes and some twenty-four nice charts for the use of the school in the different departments; we have also several fine maps which we shall soon place in the schoolrooms. Now it is for the citizens of Eugene and the surrounding country to determine whether they will patronize and build up a good permanent school, or whether they will continue to run after something new. 'I speak as unto wise men; judge ye what I say.'" He styles himself "Principal of the Eugene City Graded School."
No one, after reading the above, need be in the dark as to what a "graded school" of that day was. It was simply a mixed school, in which higher studies were taught but which took in everybody. It was, for all its specific excellencies, exactly the kind of school whose presence most seriously cripples the public school, and which, in many of the eastern states was a regular target for the shafts of educational reformers. They argued that the ungraded academy, without entrance requirements, not only thwarted the growth of the public high school, but destroyed the efficiency of the elementary school by withdrawing from it the interest and support of an important class in the community, and also by promoting the tendency to look askance upon it as a "poor school", i. e., poor people's school. The problem was solved in New England by transforming many of the academies into the high school departments of the town systems.
​When we reflect that during the 60's and early 70's there were always several of these private schools in operation in Eugene, it is not surprising that the public school advanced with such slow and painful steps. The lack of unity in educational effort was deplored by the thoughtful, but the true remedy was not applied. Instead of bending every effort to the advancement of the public school, the people were advised to promote unity by supporting one private school as against all other schools. The Journal says, March 9, 1867, "There are at this present time in operation in Eugene City no less than five schools, employing six teachers. The average attendance to all of them is only about one hundred and thirty-five scholars, a little over twenty to each teacher, not too many for half the number of teachers if properly arranged in classes in a well regulated school. It would seem that one or two schools well sustained would accomplish more for pupils and teachers than half a dozen doing only a starving business. The experience of the past should suffice to convince us that the policy of thus scattering our patronage must be fatal to the project of ever building up in our midst a permanent institution of learning." At this time the Journal was earnestly favoring the Henderson school.
This institution closed its first year June 28, 1867. In the fall it resumed, now with Miss Kate Andrew as assistant. On October 31 they had "fifty-nine pupils, ranging from scholars in the sciences to those just beginning with the elementary branches." All the later notices go to confirm the suspicion that the school was not as successful as in the preceding year . When the first term closed in December it had "seventy-five or eighty pupils." The second term is reported as "well attended," and highly successful. But at the close of the year Professor Henderson arranged to take charge of Philomath ​College, in Benton County, in preference to continuing the high school. On his return to Eugene in 1868, he again advertised his school and actually opened it, but with so little encouragement that it was discontinued at the close of the first term.
Thus ended the most pretentious, and in many ways the most successful effort, since the fall of Columbia College, to concentrate the educational effort of the town largely at a point outside of the public school. But we cannot leave this period without making one more quotation, taken from the Journal of January 9, 1869.
"The schools of Eugene are now in a very prosperous condition. Mr. and Mrs. Odell, at the schoolhouse formerly occupied by Professor Henderson, have a large attendance, and the parents and pupils are well pleased. Miss Kate Andrew, at the district schoolhouse, has quite a number of pupils under her charge, who appear to be making good progress. Mrs. Ritchie, who lately came to this place, has opened a school at her residence, on Eleventh Street, and has about twenty scholars. She is spoken of as being a good teacher. Mr. Chapman's school, at the seminary on the butte, has closed for the present. Whether he will resume or some one else take his place, we are not informed. We understand that another school will be opened next Monday with an attendance of about twenty-five scholars. The total number of scholars at all the public schools cannot be far from two hundred."
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL.
At the opening of the year 1869, therefore, the old condition of many schools competing with one another for pupils, still exists. But the town by this time has become so large that mere physical necessity must soon ​lead to some expansion of the public school . Let us now trace, as well as we can with our scanty materials, the course of its history to this point.
In September, 1849, the territorial legislature passed the first general school law providing for a system of common schools. This act was elaborated by the acts of January 31, 1853, and January 12, 1854. Under this revised school law education began in Eugene. The counties of the state were to be districted by the school superintendents, and a tax of two mills levied by the commissioners of each county for the support of the schools. Such tax was to be collected in the same manner as other taxes, and to be distributed among the districts (together with the proceeds of a prospective state fund) in proportion to the number of children between four and twenty-one years.
In 1854 or 1855 (the exact date cannot be determined because all of the early records, both of the school district and of the county superintendent are lost), Eugene was organized as School District No. 4, Lane County. The first school in the village was kept in a small frame house erected by Fielden McMurray upon his farm. The teacher was Miss Sarah Ann Moore. But this was purely private, the teacher being paid in tuition fees. From testimony of persons who were here at that period it is pretty certain that a school was held every year after that. Since the county commissioners levied the two mill tax ​in 1855, and since a school was held in that year, it seems probable that the district was organized by that time.
In April, 1856, the county court passed an order transferring to the directors of the school district two lots (No . 2 and fractional No. 3), in block 21 of the townsite. The conditions were that they pay to the county treasurer $10, and erect a school building on the lots within two years. The building was erected during that summer, and the deed executed September 9.
The teacher who opened the school in the new building was Mr. J. H. Rogers. He was from Connecticut, and was apparently a type of the proverbial "Yankee schoolmaster.' As indicated above, the public school under Mr. Rogers opened about the same time as Columbia College. These two institutions were the types of two distinct, and in a sense, antagonistic educational ideas; their relative pretentiousness marks roughly the relative levels attained by the two ideas at that time. What changes time and the evolutionary process would bring about in this relation was a subject upon which no one at that time thought to speculate. To us, however, it is exactly these changes in the relative positions of the private and public schools as educational agents, which constitute the vital interest of the study. The former we have already traced briefly to the year 1869. As to the public school, Rogers was the teacher for a number of terms, possibly till 1869. He was followed by J. L. Gilbert who likewise remained several years.
During this early time, and indeed till well into the seventies, the support of the school rested almost wholly ​upon the county and the district. The state school fund appears to have contributed very little till 1874. We have no means of knowing how much the district received from the county fund before 1860, but in that year the sum was $440.39. With the salary usually about $75 per month, and the school year six months, this amount would nearly pay the teacher. Probably the rate bill was insignificant at this time.
Some evidence is available as to the character of these early schools. Rogers was a college man and is said to have taught Latin in addition to the common branches. Pupils came to him from the country about, making his school something of a rival to Columbia College. Mr. Gilbert is likewise remembered as a popular, capable schoolmaster, although lacking the scholarly training of his predecessor.
From the year 1862 we are assisted in our researches by files of the various city newspapers. The first teacher whose name we meet with in their columns is Miss Elizabeth Boise. She closed a term of the district school January 28, 1862, and immediately opened a select school for the summer at the same place. This illustrates a general ​custom. The public school was held about six months in the year. Usually there was a term in the spring and another in the fall. During the long intermissions the teacher in charge during the preceding term would be allowed to continue in the building with a private school.
The first notice of a school tax occurs in 1864. At the annual school meeting the directors were authorized "to procure and fit up a suitable building for school purposes of sufficient size to accommodate the children of the district, and were empowered to levy a tax to pay the expenses incident thereto." The vote is suggestive of a wave of public sentiment in Eugene, but it seems not to have been carried into effect, for no action was taken on building until 1869.
For the year 1865 we have the clerk's report. It shows that the district has one hundred and fifty-nine voters, one hundred and ten females and one hundred and twenty-four males over four and under twenty years of age, and that the school has an average attendance of eighty pupils.
For the fiscal year 1866-1867, District No. 4 received $329.94 in coin, and $238.84 in currency.
In 1867, apparently for the first time, we find two teachers employed. They are Mr. R. G. Callison and Miss Kincaid during one term, and Mr. Callison and Miss Emma Reese during the other.
At this time there seems to have been a decided interest in the public school. How far this was stimulated by the rival efforts of Professor Henderson's school, and how far by the rapid increase in population, it would be ​difficult to say. The latter was probably the more potent cause. However that may be, the school meeting of April, 1868, was a very exciting event. The attendance was large and the contest over the choice of director an exceedingly close and sharp one. It is clear that a party was forming in the town which favored the development of the public school as a policy. From this time on we meet with suggestions that indicate strong dissatisfaction with the existing state of things. In the spring term of 1868 "the school was too well attended for the accommodation of so many scholars, or the remuneration of the teachers." "We believe," says the Journal, "that more pupils were put into that school during the last quarter than ever were in attendance there before." The school was taught by Miss Kate Andrew and Miss Leana lies. The attendance during the first week was reported as ranging from one hundred to one hundred and twenty.
Before the election of 1869 the Journal said editorially: "Let all interested in having our schools conducted as they should be come out and elect such men as will carry out the wishes of those who feel an interest in the education of our youth."
The result of the meeting was highly significant. Mr. E. L. Bristow was chosen director. A vote prevailed in favor of levying a five-mill tax "for the purpose of repairing the present building and putting on an addition." This time there was no delay. The directors immediately advertised for bids, and had the ​two wings put onto the building. Here, then, was an opportunity to see what would come of the effort to provide more nearly adequate facilities for the school children of the district. During the winter term following, for the first time, the attendance "was so large as to make it necessary to have three teachers."
We have now traced the school history of Eugene to a point where we are able to observe the drawing together of forces rendering inevitable the rapid development of the public school. The decade opening with 1870 and closing with the year 1878 is to witness the great transformation. For convenience we will subdivide this period as follows: (a) 1870-1872, a period of transition, during which the public school clearly became the most important school in the town; (b) 1872-1874, a period marked by intense educational agitation, owing to the struggle for the university; (c) 1874-1879, in which the Central schoolhouse was built, the school graded, and private schools rendered unnecessary.
THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION.
We have seen that Professor Henderson abandoned his school enterprise in 1869. This did not end the rivalry of private and public schools, but it marks the beginning of the end. Only one other venture of the kind deserves to be recorded, and the importance of this turns largely upon its relations with the public school.
In the fall of 1870 John C. Arnold, a graduate of Willamette University, and Robert Veatch, a graduate of the State Agricultural College, opened a private school in the Skinner Butte Academy. They met with fair success, having an honor roll of twenty-nine names ​at the end of their first term, and forty-eight names at the end of the second term. But on the financial side they were not fully satisfied. Many of the pupils were poor and tuition fees were not rigidly collected.$^{32}$ Accordingly, when the directors of the Eugene school offered Arnold $100 per month as principal of the public school, he accepted; his associate accepting a similar offer from the Cottage Grove school.
The significance of the translation of Arnold from the academy to the public school is very great. In the first place, the discontinuance of the academy shows that the public school had already become formidable. Secondly, Arnold was a man of marked ability as a teacher, and was possessed with a strong ambition to develop a good secondary school. Thirdly, he accepted the principalship on the condition that sufficient help be furnished to enable him to carry forward the work begun at the academy, with certain advanced classes.
Thus, upon the common school of Eugene was superimposed a high school department which greatly altered its character and won for it a respect accorded theretofore only to the best private academies. The good results of the new policy were soon manifest. At the close of the second term in December, the roll of honor, including only such as had been present the greater part of the time, and who received less than five demerits, contained thirty-eight names of pupils in the higher department. This is a goodly beginning for a high school. At the close of the second term, March 22, 1872, there were ​thirty-six who had attended regularly throughout. We will probably not be far wrong in assuming from these facts that fifty or sixty pupils were doing work which .was mainly of high school grade. At all events the high school idea, stimulated by Arnold's connection with the public school, was at this time having a vigorous growth, and out of it, strangely enough, came the movement for the university.
The inception of this movement, connected as it is closely with the public school of the town on one hand, and with the general educational development of the state on the other, deserves to be recounted with some detail.
The public school, as we saw, closed March 22, 1872. The teachers, Messrs. Arnold and Martin, following the time-honored custom, at once advertised a private school for the spring term. In connection with this advertisement appears an article of great interest. The author, who is not one of the teachers, but whose words are clearly "inspired" in the political sense, makes the following points:
* This "Eugene Select School" was founded September 26, 1870, at the Skinner Butte Academy, with only seventeen pupils, and rapidly grew in numbers.
* For the want of a suitable building its progress had not been uniform, and the school had been kept under "varying phases."
* "Still the same classes have been continued all along," and a course in mathematics has been completed. Thus the effort to found a graded school in Eugene has been a success in spite of obstacles.
* He continues: "The people of Eugene must at this time see the importance of erecting a building ​suitable to the carrying on of a graded school and extending the facilities in such a manner that the people of Lane County may know that they have a perpetual school at their county seat, where they may arrange to send their pupils to a model school at home among relatives and friends at a much less expense than must follow their going off to attend boarding school to places of much less notoriety in everything else except the interests of education than Eugene.
"A high school will evidently soon spring up near this place, and the town first securing the building and educational interests will thereby secure incalculable advantages over any rival. The people must either build themselves a high school, or pay tribute to some sectarian denomination; for a school is demanded and must be, in these parts, of such a nature that its pupils may take out their degrees of graduation with all the honors that attend such efforts in other places. Some interest already seems to be manifested in that direction by the citizens of this place, and history will warrant us in saying that, although $40,000 may cause a railroad to veer from its course and come puffing through the town, nothing will improve it like a nourishing high school, with its doors thrown open equally to all.
"The first question asked by immigrants almost invariably is, 'What are your facilities for schooling?' 'Well, we haven't much now, but are going to make some after awhile.' The interrogator understands that too well, so drives along with his family in search of other localities where he may be within reach of a good school."
During the week closing August 17, 1872, the State Teachers' Association held its annual meeting at Eugene. It was attended by a number of notable teachers and friends of education. Among them were Doctor Atkinson and Reverend Mr. Eliot, of Portland, Professor ​Campbell, of the Christian College at Monmouth, Doctor Warren, of Albany, Professors Arnold and Martin, T. G. Hendricks, J. H. D. and E. P. Henderson, of Eugene.
Another visitor at the brick church during this meeting was Mr. B. F. Dorris, one of the directors of the district school, who was especially interested in the establishment of a high school. It seems that a few men, among whom was Mr. Dorris, were attracted by the Baker City plan of securing a high school. That town had gone before the legislature at the. preceding session and gained the right to borrow $10,000 of the school fund with which to erect their building. The directors and teachers of the Eugene school had discussed the plan somewhat, and a meeting to further it was called immediately after the close of the Teachers' Association. At this meeting others were present, notably J. M. Thompson. In the course of the evening, Mr. Dorris remarked that he had heard Professor Campbell say the question of locating the State University would be settled at the approaching session of the legislature. This statement immediately brought Judge Thompson to his feet with the suggestion that Eugene enter the fight for the university instead of trying to borrow money to erect a high school.
From this point the interests of the leaders were absorbed in the university project. The story of that effort—the organization of the Union University Association, the successful work before the legislature, the struggle to raise the promised bonus, the triumphant opening of the institution in the fall of 1876—will be the subject of another chapter in the educational history of Oregon. Here we only wish to point out that the university movement grew out of a high-school agitation, ​and that this was the result of a deep-seated desire on the part of representative citizens to have a school of higher grade within their midst, both on account of its benefit to the town, and because they naturally preferred to educate their sons and daughters at home. It is noteworthy that several of the leaders in the university movement had, twelve years before, been students of Columbia College. The people had not forgotten the advantage and the distinction of having a college in the town, and were therefore the more ready to gird themselves for the effort.
But in all this we must not forget that John C. Arnold had prepared the way by actually establishing a graded school and maintaining it, under great difficulties, for two years. His effort had been skillfully connected with the public school, and served to carry it forward in its development and in the favor of the people. The "higher" department of the public school was simply Arnold's Graded School, kept under. more favorable circumstances. Let us now see what was actually taught in this first public high school of Eugene.
On the twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth of November, at the close of the fall term, a public examination of classes was held at the court house. In the programme, printed in the Journal of November 23, the following are enumerated as subjects in which classes are to be examined:
* Rudiments of Arithmetic and Bookkeeping.
* Geography.
* Grammar.
* Practical Arithmetic.
* Sounds of Letters and Spelling. ​
* Reading.
* Higher Algebra and Olmstead's Philosophy.
* Practical Arithmetic, Fractions.
* Elementary Grammar.
* Practical Arithmetic, Interest.
* Practical Grammar.
* Mental Arithmetic.
* Beginners in Practical Arithmetic.
* Geometry.
* Advanced Grammar.
* Trigonometry and Calculus.
The emphasis placed on mathematics in the above course illustrates the special interest of Arnold, who was extremely fond of that subject and who taught it very successfully.
THE ATTAINMENT OF EDUCATIONAL UNITY.
An important influence in developing the public school after 1872 was the new school law, requiring a tax of three mills for school purposes instead of two as theretofore. About this time, too, the state school fund began to afford appreciable aid. In 1869 the district received $500.62; in 1870, $451.41; in 1871, $447.44; in 1872 the amount rose suddenly to $711.36.
On the fourth of February, 1874, Mr. Callison, as clerk, made the report which constitutes the earliest official document we have in the original. At that time the school was under the charge of Mr. F. H. Grubbs, a graduate of Willamette University. He received $100 per month, one of his lady assistants $50, and the other ​$30. The number of different pupils enrolled during the year was two hundred and ten, and the average attendance one hundred and nine. There were three hundred and ninety-four persons of school age in the district.
The support of the school was as follows:
The schoolhouse was valued at $2,000, and there was no library, maps, charts or apparatus. Two private schools were noted, one of academic grade, with two teachers (Arnold's school), and one of primary grade.
The schoolhouse "needs repairing, not sufficient room to accommodate more than one-third of the pupils of district."
"The most urgent needs are good houses, competent teachers and qualified officers."
At the annual school meeting in April, 1874, a "proposition to levy a tax to support a free school for at least six months in the year and to repair the schoolhouse, was defeated, ninety-eight voting against and only thirty-six for it." This is the first mention of a free school that we meet with. The time for it had not arrived. As to the other feature of the proposed measure it is probable that many opposed it because they were in favor of a wholly new schoolhouse.
From this time forward the question of a new building was the issue in the educational politics of the town. That it was becoming a serious question is indicated in ​the clerk's report referred to. Yet it could not be settled at once. Doubtless the severe strain of the university undertaking tended to postpone action upon it. At any rate it did not come up at the meeting of April, 1875, although a very definite plan of procedure had been published by Mr. Dorris in January. This plan involved, (a) taxing the distring to complete one story of a building to cost about $8,000; (b) employing seven teachers nine months in the year to instruct all the pupils in the district; (c) grading thoroughly. Mr. Callison, in the clerk's report for 1875, says: "We need a good, substantial house, capable of accommodating five hundred pupils, and a well graded school, at least nine months in the year." This statement may be regarded as the platform of the school party during the next three years, or until their policy was adopted.
At the annual meeting of April, 1876, the proposition was overwhelmingly defeated, the vote standing one hundred and one against to eleven in favor. Nothing daunted, its friends prepared for a vigorous canvass before the next meeting. The Guard said editorially (March 31, 1877), "That we need a new schoolhouse, we do not suppose anyone will dispute. The crowded state of the school for the past two years, and the discomfort to which the teachers and scholars have been subjected, are the very best evidence of the fact." The resolution presented at the meeting was, as indicated above, to levy a tax to raise $4,000 to build the frame and finish the first story of an $8,000 building. ​It carried, but by a small margin. The opposition succeeded in getting a special meeting called to reconsider the vote. This time the victory of the school party was decisive.
Work began at once. The building was erected, and in January, 1878, school opened in the Central School House, of which the citizens of Eugene were justly very proud.
Our survey is practically completed. With the erection of the new building and the adoption of the policy of educating all the children of the town in it, old things had passed. There was no longer any need for private schools in Eugene, and they abandoned the field. At last educational interests and educational effort were unified.
JOSEPH SCHAFER.
* ↑ The building was burned to the ground a few days after the school was opened November, 1856; another structure erected to take its place was in turn destroyed before the close of the third year.
* ↑ The board of control being divided on the slavery question, were unable to work harmoniously together. The principal was a strong pro-slavery man. He wrote several articles for the Pacific Herald in which he took occasion to score the anti-slavery party rather vigorously. He signed the communications "Vindex." Mr. H. B. Kincaid, then one of Ryan's students, replied to him in the People's Press over the signature "Anti-Vindex." Ryan, not suspecting Kincaid, and assuming that B. J. Pengra, the editor of the People's Press was himself the author of the replies, made an attack upon the latter with a revolver. After this tragic episode, although he failed to slay his would be victim, this militant schoolmaster fled from the state. The board, in their state of factional disintegration could evolve no positive policy. Therefore, when the People's Press, in October, 1860, propounded the question, "Is Columbia College Dead?" it was stating in this form an accomplished fact.
* ↑ Journal, October 9, 1864.
* ↑ Letter of Callison; interview with R. M. Veatch.
* ↑ Journal, January 5, 1867.
* ↑ See Vermont School Report, 1860, pp. 120-124.
* ↑ Session Laws, Oregon Territory, session of 1850, pp. 66-76.
* ↑ These acts are summarized by Rev. Geo. H. Atkinson in Early History of the Public School System of Oregon, with a General Outline of its Legal Aspects; biennial report of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1876, pp. 7-8.
* ↑ Rev. Robert Robe, now of Brownsville, Linn County, was the first superintendent, and districted the county. He thinks No. 4 was laid out in 1854 or 1855. (Letter from R. Robe.) Here signed on or before September 6, 1855. (Court records, 1852-1860, p. 138.)
* ↑ Interview with Milt. McMurray, a pupil of Miss Moore; and Mrs. Hampton, sister of Miss Sarah Ann Moore.
* ↑ Court records, 1852-1860, pp. 157, 158.
* ↑ Court records, 1852-1860, p. 165.
* ↑ Deed book "A," 216.
* ↑ Letter of Rufus G. Callison, January 22, 1901.
* ↑ Report Superintendent Public Instruction, 1874, p. 5: "Our State School Fund, commonly called, by a kind of pleasant fiction, the 'Irreducible School Fund,' has, until quite recently, contributed very little to the support of the public schools of this state."
* ↑ Superintendent's orders on treasurer for 1860, county clerk's vault.
* ↑ Letters of R. G. Callison; interviews with J. H. McClung and others.
* ↑ The earliest of these files is a volume of The State Republican, complete, January 1, 1862,-April 11, 1868, owned by H. R. Kincaid. Next comes the Oregon State Journal, March, 1864, to date, complete files owned by Mr. Kincaid, the editor. Third, The Eugene Guard, November, 1868, to date. There are two divisions of these files; the earlier portion, from the initial number to the last number of 1875, is now in possession of the University of Oregon, being recently received as a gift from Mrs. George J. Buys, of Walla Walla, Washington. This portion is complete in five volumes. The latter files, January, 1876, to date, are in possession of the present publishers of the Guard, the Messrs. John and Ira Campbell. All of the above have been at the disposition of the writer, the two first-mentioned by the courtesy of Mr. Kincaid, the last by courtesy of the Messrs. Campbell. Mr. Rogers, the schoolmaster, was the editor, I am told, of a paper called The Pacific Herald, published in Eugene in 1860, and perhaps for a year or two prior. A few numbers of this paper are believed to be in existence, but they have not yet been secured. The "Anti-Vindex" articles, referred to in note above as having appeared in The People's Press, are preserved in the form of clippings by Mr. Kincaid.
* ↑ State Republican, June 28, 1862.
* ↑ Journal, April 9 and April 16.
* ↑ Letter of B. G. Callison, January 22, 1901.
* ↑ Journal, February 18, 1865.
* ↑ Letter of Callison.
* ↑ Superintendent's book, boundaries of districts and accounts with district clerks, apparently begun in 1866. These are the earliest records found in the superintendent's office. The clerks' reports are available only from the year 1874.
* ↑ Callison's letter. By the census of 1860 Eugene had a population of one thousand one hundred and eighty-three; in 1870 the number was one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
* ↑ Journal, April 11, 1868.
* ↑ Journal, May 9, 1868.
* ↑ Journal, March 27, 1869.
* ↑ It is almost certain that both wings were built at this time. Callison says: "Both wings of the house were built as late as 1868." This goes to show that the vote of 1864 had been disregarded. It would be interesting to know why. Henderson tried to revive Columbia College in 1864. Was the expectation that this institution or a similar one would take care of a part of the school children the deterring cause?
* ↑ Journal, second number of April, 1869.
* ↑ Journal, February 26, 1870.
* ↑ The dirctors' announcement is significant. The title of "principal," bestowed on Arnold, is, so far as I can learn? the first official use of that title. The school was graded under the primary, intermediate and higher departments. Tuition was fixed at $3.00, $5.00 and $7.00 for these departments. Pupils outside the district were to pay from $7.00 to $10. Mr. Callison remained as assistant, and a third teacher was employed for the primary department.
* ↑ Interview with R. M. Veatch; letter of Callison.
* ↑ Journal, December 9, 1871.
* ↑ Journal, March 22, 1872.
* ↑ Journal, April 20, 1872.
* ↑ Journal and Guard.
* ↑ Interview with B. F. Dorris.
* ↑ Both Judge Thompson and Judge Walton, among the promoters of the university, were educated at Columbia College.
* ↑ Interviews with R. M. Veatch, Mrs. C. S. Williams, Professor Condon, and others. Arnold severed his connection with the public school in 1873, and for a year conducted a private school in a building erected by him for that purpose. But the time for important private schools was past, and his success was not great. In 1874 he took charge of the Pendleton Academy, remaining there for a number of years. During Cleveland's last administration he was Surveyor-General of Oregon, and died in that office.
* ↑ Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 1874 and 1876.
* ↑ Superintendent's account book.
* ↑ Clerk's reports 1874. Kindly placed at the writer's disposal by county superintendent W. M. Miller.
* ↑ This was the school of Miss Ella C. Sabin. She had arrived in Eugene about November, 1873, with her father's family. Her school, held during the winter and spring, was very popular. The family returned to Wisconsin, out Miss Sabin went from Eugene to Portland, where she worked for many years, a portion of the time as city superintendent. In 1891 she returned to Wisconsin where she has won national fame as president of the Milwaukee-Downer College.
* ↑ The old building consisted of a main room, 45×30 feet, erected in 1856; and two wings, each 30×16 feet, added on in 1869. Each of the three parts now forms a dwelling house.
* ↑ Journal, January 9, 1875. He shows that it will pay in dollars and cents to adopt the policy of educating all of the children of the town in the public schools.
* ↑ Journal, April 8, 1876. This vote cannot accurately represent the sentiment of the town. Possibly the school party were caught napping. The legal voting strength, by the school clerk's report for 1876, is two hundred and ninety-five. The one hundred and twelve votes cast, therefore, constitute less than one-half the total vote of the district.
* ↑ Interview with Judge J. J. Walton.
* ↑ Guard, June 2, 9, 16, 23, 1877. It is interesting to note that the presence of the university in Eugene is used as an argument in favor of the building project. "We cannot go before the legislature with very good grace and ask for state aid for the university when we do not show enterprise enough to have a decent, respectable district schoolhouse."
* ↑ While the school was not yet wholly free, it was nearly so. In 1878 the directors asked the patrons to pay a rate of fifty cents per quarter for each pupil. The school was at once thoroughly graded, under the supervision of Prof. T. C. Bell. The attendance leaped at once to almost the full capacity of the new quarters.