Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1948-04-15
= Montgomery SideHghts :
By ELSIE WHITE HAINEs

So you don't believe the first
school in the county was built with
proceeds of lottery. Well, just
write to Annapolis and ask about
an act of the Assembly of 1906
which authorized a lottery to raise
money for the purchase Of fire
engine and to buy ground and
build a school house in Rockville.
This was first brought to our
attention some years ago (1934)
in a story written for The Evening
Star by John Clagett Proctor, in
which he told of meeting Judge
Robert B. Peter of Rockville,
whom he had not seen since they
graduated from the National Uni
versity Law School in 1898 = Al
years before. He said, "The Judge
knows Rockville like book, was
born there and held a judicial. po-
sition there for many years, and
no doubt many a lawyer will be
reading his decisions century or
more hence" Mr.. Proctor went on
to say that Judge Peter in early
life had attended the Rockville
Academy, (which was erected by
lottery subsequent to 1906 by an
Act of the General Assembly" {.
Later we read in a list of Acts
of the Assembly affecting Mont
gomery County that Upton Beall,
Honore Martin, Lewis Beall,
Thomas Linsted, Thomas P Will
son, Richard Anderson, and Solo
mon Holland were appointed COM
missioners (1806) to raise the sum
of $2,5OO.OO by lottery for. the pur-
pose of purchasing lot, building
a school house, and buying a fire
engine" $2,500.O0 surely went a
long way in those days.
While digging up the foregoing
this weekend, we ran across some
interesting facts about our schools.
The Academy was the first school
of prominence in upper Montgom-
cry, There had been an earlier
school, or seminary for young men,
established near the end of the
Revolutionary War by James
Hunt, a Presbyterian minister,
memorable as the Alma Mater of
the brilliant William Writ.
The first free schools for the
County, establishedsin 1907, were
not popular. There were later acts
of the Assembly of 1889, which
never went into full operation.
The present system went into eff
feet in 1866. The first school COM
missioners, one from each of the
five districts then existing, were:
w. H. Farquhar, l. T. Dessellum,
F. A. Dawson, ]. N. Soper, and
Charles Albert, with R. M. Will
liams, secretary-treasurer.
Even as late as 1880 our grand
fathers could accomplish quite a
bit with a dollar or two. School
statistics for the year ending Sep
TENDER 80, 1880, gives the number
of schools in the county as 83.
Seventy of these were of frame
construction, one brick, II log, and
one stone. Only seven of these had
fenced lots. Seventy-six were re-
ported as having "out-buildings."
Seyenty-eight were listed as hav-
ing Sufficient blackboards" and
good furniture" The number of
pupils for the year was 4,717. OF
course, many of these were "big
boys" who attended only in Winter
when the crops were in.
That year the schools cost $780,
291.41 to operate, or $7.05 per pu-
pill. This included $4,176.96 for
salaries, books, ETC., for colored
schools.
Teachers salaries for the year
amounted TO $24, 486.75, less than
$4,000 per year. Fuel for the
schools was $454.S6 and building
repairs and furniture totaled
$17O.3S. Office rent, furniture,
seal, and fuel for same, was only
$47.22. But they paid their school
board in those days per diem of
school commissioners, in part for