Professor W. L. Peck
Professor W. L. Peck is now engaged in the fourth term of his
able service as superintendent of schools of Allamakee county and
in this connection is giving the benefit of his broad knowledge
and unusual ability to his chosen field of labor, winning for
himself recognition as one of the foremost representatives of
educational interests of Iowa and taking a vital and active part
in the promotion and spread of public education throughout the
state. He was born at Ossian, Winneshiek county, August 25, 1872,
and is a son of James Peck, whose birth occurred in Oswego
county, New York, June 14, 1832. The father grew to manhood in
his native locality and there married Miss Lucinda Borst, also a
native of the Empire state. They moved west to Iowa in 1862 and
located in Winneshiek country, where the father engaged in
farming for a number of years. He later moved into Frankville and
there lived retired until his death, which occurred April 24,
1902. His wife survives him and makes her home with a son in
Frankville.
Professor W. L. Peck was reared in Winneshiek county and acquired
his primary education in the public schools. He later attended
school in Frankville and spent one year at Lenox College, going
from there to the Iowa State Teachers College. After two years in
that institution he turned his attention to teaching, following
this occupation first in the country schools, where his ability
and success won him promotion to the position of principal of the
Frankville schools. He did creditable and progressive work in
that capacity for five years and then eight years in that
responsible office. Upon the expiration of this period he was
elected county superintendent of schools of Allamakee county and
he has served continuously be reelection since that time, his
return of office evidencing the value of his services and their
acceptability to the public at large. A brief glance at the
record of his career shows plainly his preeminence in both the
administrative and more purely scholastic phases of his chosen
work. Under his able management he has succeeded in bringing all
the schools of the county up to a higher standard of efficiency.
This has been accomplished mainly through systematizing the work
and by carrying it forward along practical and progressive lines.
Professor Peck keeps a complete record of every one of the one
hundred and sixty one teachers in the county’s employ and of
every pupil in every school in the county, these latter records
showing not only the standing of the student but the progress he
makes from term to term. Professor Peck pays a visit to each
school once a year, thus keeping in personal touch with the
teachers and pupils and he has initiated many substantial
improvements in the methods of teaching and also in the branches
taught. His methods are at all times practical and he inspires
the teachers under him with much of his own zeal and enthusiasm.
During the course of his identification with the educational
interests of Allamakee county Professor Peck has not confined his
attention to the duties which have devolved upon him in his
responsible position but has also exerted a potent and helpful
influence in promoting general intellectual advancement in this
locality. In 1910 he organized the Farmers Institute, which holds
a session each year, and he also manages the county spelling
contest held annually, when each township sends its most
proficient scholar to represent it. He has inaugurated township
teachers’ meetings and in his office keeps a well selected
professional library for the benefit of his teachers. He has
himself taught summer schools and institutes both in Winneshiek
and Allamakee counties for the past fifteen years and conducts
personally a teachers’ institute in Waukon every year. He
never considers his own education complete but remains always a
close and earnest student, following out exhaustive courses of
study and taking many correspondence courses also. Practically
his entire life since attaining his majority has been given over
to educational work and he has become a recognized leader in this
field.
Professor Peck is a Master Mason and holds membership in the blue
lodge at Frankville, where he joined the order. He stands
preeminent among Iowa educators, for he combines with a broad,
exhaustive and comprehensive knowledge the faculty of imparting
it readily and clearly to others and an executive ability upon
which he has founded his success in the administrative branches
of his work. He gives his political allegiance to the democratic
party but has never been a politician in the usually accepted
sense of the word. He is, however, never neglectful of the duties
of citizenship and his influence has been a tangible force for
good in this community.
-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by
Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich
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