Mount Ayr's Early Schools: 1856-1914

HAGAN, BROWN, DUNNING, AUSTIN, BEALL, SWAN, WEEKS, DUTH, THOMAS, ROSE, BUCK, ROSS, MOUNT, WILSON, KINSELL, JOHNSON, TURNER, MCGILL, DELAY, STEPHENS, ASKREN, HAMMOND, GALLOWAY, SAVILLE, MERRIELL

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 5/25/2010 at 05:03:10

MOUNT AYR COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Mount Ayr's Early Schools
The first subscription school in Mount Ayr was established during the winter of 1856 with classes being held in Judge James C. HAGAN'S cabin. Classes were held for two months and were taught by Miss BROWN who was compensated at a salary of $4 per month.

NOTE: Subscription schools were funded by a monthly tuition fee which was paid by the parents to the teacher. In exchange the teacher was responsible for securing a place of study and for paying the rent from his/her earnings.

Judge HAGANS and Barton B. DUNNING felt the need of providing a school building for the children of Mount Ayr. Out of their own private means, these two men built a log schoolhouse, 16 feet square, on the lot where the old Christian Church, and later the Catholic Church, would later be located. The log schoolhouse was completed on May 19, 1856. It was on loan to the town until Mount Ayr could afford to purchase it, which occurred on May 4, 1859. During the spring and summer terms of 1856, Miss Jane AUSTIN taught at the school, receiving a salary of $14 per month.

The log school house served the community well, not only as an educational center for the town's children, but for church and Sabbath school, faris, and other community activities. Community and town hall meetings were held in the school until the frame court house was constructed in 1859. Ringgold County's first county fair was held at the new school house.

The fall term of 1856 was delayed because Judge HAGANS had moved into the school house while awaiting the completion of repairs to his own cabin. Once Judge HAGANS moved back into his home, Ith BEALL commenced the winter term which was of three-months duration. Miss Charlotte SWAN, a recent arrival in Mount Ayr, taught the summer term of 1857. Rev. Samuel WEEKS taught the winter term of 1857-58; then Miss SWAN assumed teaching responsibilities for the following summer term.

On June 8th, approximately a week before the end of summer term, a cylcone hit Mount Ayr. The new log court house was blown down. A. G. BEALL'S frame house was lifted off its foundation and taken across the street. Judge HAGANS lost his log cabin. Mr. DUTH lost most of his tinware inventory which had been pounded flat as though it had been hammered, the loss forcing him out of business. However, through all the carnage, the log school house stood untouched.

Mount Ayr lost two of her teachers when Ith BEALL and Charlotte SWAN were married June 17, 1858 and resigned from teaching.

Mr. DUTH, no longer in business, assumed teaching responsibilities for the fall term of 1858 and continued into 1859. D. E. THOMAS who was a strong mathematics instructor taught a few terms in 1860.

By this time, the student population in Mount Ayr had outgrown the confines of the log school house. The battle for a new school building was fought fast and furious. Eventually, it was agreed upon that the town should have a single-roomed framed school building [1861], one that would fulfill the town's needs for the next 20 years. In 1872 a second frame building was erected beside the first one to meet the town's growing needs. Three years later [1875] a four-room brick school house was built on the present-day site of Mount Ayr's school.

The first teacher in the first frame school building was A. G. BEALL. Mr. BEALL had a rostrum built across the front which proved to ba a great no the pupils. A rostrum was not included in the construction of the second frame school building.

Teachers during this time period were Miss Sally SWAN, Mrs. S. M. ROSE, then A. G. BEALL again. Belle BUCK taught for several terms beginning in the spring of 1862. A. G. BEALL resumed teaching responsibilities inthe fall of 1864, and continued in this capacity for two years.

H. H. ROSS was elected as the teacher. During this time the students wished to have a day of vaction on Christmas Day. The directors vetoed the idea as a waste of time. When Mr. ROSS arrived at the school on Christmas Day, he found that the school was locked. He walked away from the school making the older boys believe that they had achieved their goal of getting the day off. An hour later, Mr. ROSS returned to the school, carrying a large basket of apples. The school was unlocked and class resumed as it did on any other day of the year.

J. F. MOUNT, an attorney in Mount Ayr, taught school for several terms, succeeded by William J. BUCK. In 1871, D. E. THOMAS returned to Mount Ayr and taught for one year with an assistant, Lizzie WILSON who was followed by Mrs. Z. T.KINSELL.

Amanda JOHNSON was elected as the teacher for the 2nd frame school building, teaching the winter term of 1872-73. She began the first grading system in Mount Ayr's schools. E. J. TURNER from Afton assumed teaching responsibilities that term, taking over the higher grade classes. Demands on the second frame school building became quite heavy at this time, forcing Mr. TURNER to take his two higher grades into a room on the site where the Mount Ayr Journal was later located.] These two grades would be the equivalent of a high school.] Later Mr. TURNER resigned and went into the newspaper business as editor of the Record News in 1874.

Following Mr. TURNER, Samuel McGILL, Mr. DELAY, Sally SWAN, George STEPHENS, and J. C. ASKREN taught in the frame school house.

Mount Ayr Community School
The four-room brick school building was completed in 1875. On January 1, 1876, Mr. HAMMOND moved into the new building with three teachers: Miss GALLOWAY (who later married J. H. SAVILLE), Miss Julia MERRILL (who later married Samuel BAILEY), and Miss Addie HINES. George A. SLENTZ was elected as the principal in the fall of 1876 and served in this capacity for two years. He later went on to teach in country school, then established his store on the square.

In 1878 the four rooms in the brick school were made independent of one another. Mrs. L. M. ELLINGTON taught the highest grade in 1878, then the following year she was placed in charge of the entire school, the only female to assume such responsibility to this day [1937].

J. A. HILSEBECK was the principal during three months of the fall and winter of 1880; Samuel MAXWELL finished out the term as principal. Samuel left Mount Ayr and was later the head of the biological department at Harvard University.

The first addition to the brick schoolhouse was constructed during the summer of 1881 and the fall term saw six new teachers with E. H. EASTMAN as princiapl and John RICHARDSON as assistant principal. Mr. EASTMAN holds the honor of fathering the higher education courses. Mr. EASTMAN'S work paid off in the spring of 1884 when Miss Lora L. LOUGHLIN became Mount Ayr's first high school graduate.

J. W. WILKERSON, principal of Mount Ayr School from 1886 to 1895, and Adam PICKETT, Mount Ayr principal from 1900 to 1908, were a major influences the school's progression into prominence. The school refused to join the athletic leagues of larger schools so that the students could continue to participate in games with other Ringgold County pupils attending area smaller schools.

When the school building was condemned, a new modern, fire-proof building of two stories with a full basement was built in 1914. It measured 157x 51 feet with an annex measuring 33x72 feet. Included was a gymnasium, and auditorium, electric lights, drinking fountains, a master clock system, and waterworks. A complete high school course was in place: English, Scientific, normal training [for future teachers], and special instruction for cooking, sewing, music, drawing, woodworking, and commercial.

[The south section, built in 1914, was torn down in 1978 and replaced with a new structure.]

An addition to the Mount Ayr High School was made in 1936 to provide a auditorium and gymnasium for the 500+ pupils. The old portion of the school was remodeled at the same time.

SOURCE: LESAN, Mrs. B. M. Early History of Ringgold County: 1844 - 1937 Pp. 39-43. Blair Pub. House. Lamoni IA. 1937.

Compilation by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2010

Ringgold Documents maintained by Tony Mercer.
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