of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 27-29
THE FIRST SCHOOL BUILDING AT DUBUQUE. Dubuque saw within its limits the first school building erected in the state of Iowa, which was built by J. J. Langworthy and a few other miners in the fall of 1833. When it was completed, George Cabbage was employed as teacher during the winter of 1833-4 and thirty-five pupils answered to his roll call. Barrett Whittemore taught the school term and had twenty-five pupils in attendance. Mrs. Caroline Dexter commenced teaching in Dubuque in March, 1836. She was the first female teacher there, and probably the first in Iowa. In 1839 Thomas H. Benton, Jr., afterwards for ten years superintendent of public instruction, opened an English and classical school in Dubuque. The first tax for the support of schools at Dubuque was levied in 1840. A commodious log schoolhouse was built at Burlington in 1834, and was one of the first buildings erected in that settlement. A Mr. Johnson taught the first school in the winter of 1834-5. In Scott county, in the winter of 1835-6, Simon Crazen taught a fourteen months' term of school in the house of J. B. Chamberlin. In Muscatine county, the first term of school was taught by George Baumgardner in the spring of 1837. In 1839 a log schoolhouse was erected in Muscatine, which served for a long time as schoolhouse, meeting house and public hall. The first school in Davenport was taught in 1838. In Fairfield Miss Clarissa Sawyer, James F. Chambers and Mrs. Reed taught school in 1839.
Johnson county was an entire wilderness when Iowa City was located as the capital of the territory of Iowa in May, 1839. The first sale of lots took place August 18, 1839, and before January 1, 1840, about twenty families had settled in the town. During the same year Jesse Berry opened a school in a small frame building he had erected on what is now known as College street.
In Monroe county the first settlement was made in 1843, by John R. Gray, about two miles from the present site of Eddyville, and in the summer of 1844 a log schoolhouse was built by Gray and others, and the first school was opened by Miss Uriana Adams. About a year after the first cabin was built in Oskaloosa, a log schoolhouse was built, in which school was opened by Samuel W. Caldwell, in 1844.
At Fort Des Moines, now the capital of the state, the first school was taught by Lewis Whitten, clerk of the district court, in the winter of 1846-7, in one of the rooms on "Coon Row," built for barracks.
The first school in Pottawattamie county was opened by George Green, a Mormon, at Council Point, prior to 1849, and until about 1854 nearly all the teachers in that vicinity were Mormons.
The first school in Decorah was taught in 1855 by Cyrus C. Carpenter, since governor of the state. During the first twenty years of the history of Iowa the log schoolhouse prevailed, and in 1861 there were eight hundred and ninety-three of these primitive structures in use for school purposes in the state. Since that time they have been gradually disappearing. In 1865 there were 796; in 1870, 336; in 1875, 121; and today there is probably not a vestige of one remaining.
In 1846, the year of Iowa's admission as a state, there were 20,000 pupils in schools, out of 100,000 inhabitants. About 400 school districts had been organized. In 1850 there were 1,200 and in 1857 the number had increased to 3,265. The system of graded schools was inaugurated in 1849 and now schools in which more than one teacher is employed, are universally graded. Teachers' institutes were organized early in the history of the state. The first official mention of them occurrs in the annual report of Hon. Thomas H. Benton, Jr., made December 2, 1850, who said: "An institution of this character was organized a few years ago, composed of the teachers of the mineral regions of Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. An association of teachers has also been formed in the county of Henry, and an effort was made October last to organize a regular institue in the county of Jones."
Funds for the support of public schools are derived in various ways. The sixteenth section of every congressional township was set apart by the general government for school purposes, being one-thirty-sixth part of all the lands in the state. The minimum price of all these lands was fixed at $1.25 per acre. Congress also made an additional donation to the state of 500,000 acres and an appropriation of five per cent on all the sales of public lands to the school fund. The state gives to this fund the proceeds of the sales of all lands which escheat to it, the proceeds of all fines, for the violation of liquor and criminal laws. The money derived from these sources constitutes the permanent school fund of the state, which cannot be diverted to any other purpose. The penalties collected by the courts in fines and for forfeitures go to the school fund in the counties according to their request, and the counties loan the money to individuals for long terms at eight per cent interest, on security of lands valued at three times the value of the loan, exclusive of all buildings and improvements thereon. The interest on these loans is paid into the state treasury and becomes the available school fund of the state. The counties are responsible to the state for all money so loaned and the state is likewise responsible to the school fund for all money transferred to the counties. The interest on these loans is apportioned by the state auditor semiannually to the several counties of the state, in proportion to the number of persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years. The counties also levy a tax for school purposes, which is apportioned to the several district townships in the same way. A district tax is also levied for the same purpose. The money arising from these several sources constitutes the support of the public schools and is sufficient to enable every sub-district in the state to afford from six to nine months school each year. The burden of district taxation is thus lightened and the efficiency of the schools is increased. The taxes levied for the support of the schools are self imposed. Under the admirable school laws of the state no taxes can be legally assessed or collected for the erection of schoolhouses until they have been ordered by the election of a school district at a school meeting legally called. The teachers' and contingent funds are determined by the board of directors under certain legal instructions. These boards are elected annually. The only exception to this method of levying taxes for school purposes is the county tax, which is determined by the county board of supervisors. In each county a teachers' institute is held annually under the direction of the county superintendent, the state distributing annually a sum of money to each of these institutes.
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