Winona County, Minnesota
CHAPTER FORTY: WINONA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Pages 405-422From the book
"History of Wabasha County"
Published in 1884
Concerning Wabasha and Winona Counties in Minnesota
As introductory to the history of the public schools of the city of Winona, as they have existed wince the organization of the "board of education of the city of Winona," April 19, 1861, some mention is necessary to be made of the early educational work of the territory now included within the city limits. The first attempt at school teaching that was ever made in this region was in the summer of 1852, by Miss Angelia Gere, a young girl of fourteen or fifteen years of age, who collected a few small children in the shanty of Mrs. Goddard (known through all this region for the past twenty-five years as Aunt Catharine Smith). As nearly as the memory of old residents can fix such matters, this school was only continued for a few weeks, the instruction was of the most primitive kind, and the number of little ones eight or ten. The following summer, 1853, Mrs. E. B. Hamilton opened a school in her own little house at the lower end of the prairie. This school had been in session about two or three weeks when it was abruptly closed by the death of the teacher, who was killed by a stroke of lightning, June 19.
In the fall of 1854 a private school was opened by Miss Willis, long since married and settled in Chatfield, and this was the first school, that really deserved the name, opened on the prairie. Miss Willis was followed in 1854 by Miss Hettie Houck, now Mrs. W. H. Stevens, of this city, who taught a subscription school in a building belonging to Aunt Catharine Smith, on the corner of Front and Franklin streets. The number of pupils in this school was about twenty-five; the teacher was engaged at a regular salary; no tuition fee was demanded; the funds were provided by voluntary subscription, and the school is really entitled to the name of the first public school of Winona.
During the winter of 1854-5 a school was opened by Mr. Henry Bolcom, in a small building on Second street, afterward known as Wagner's saloon. This school was supported largely in the same manner as that of Miss Houck's, the school-tax for the district never having been collected. The pupils in attendance during the winter term numbered about thirty.
In the summer of 1855 Miss Almeida Trutchell, subsequently Mrs. David Smith, taught school in the embryo city. The following winter, 1855-6, Geo. C. Buckman, now of Waseca, Minnesota, wielded the birch. Mr. H. C. Bolcom, who had been attending term at Oberlin College, Ohio, having returned to Winona, was employed as teacher during the winter of 1856-7, and his work in that line closed with the closing of the spring term. The original school district No. 2 had been divided in the spring of 1854, prior to which time there was but one school district on the prairie. No. 14, the new district, comprised that part of the town plat west of Lafayette street; but for particulars concerning these matters, see history of Winona county schools. In the fall of 1857 a union, by mutual agreement of the two districts, was effected, and the trustees of the separate districts became informally the board of the quasi united one. These trustees were for No. 2, Col. H. C. Johnson, Andrew Smith and H. C. Bolcom; for No. 14, Dr. J. D. Ford, Dr. A. S. Ferris and John Iams. Rev. Geo. C. Tanner was employed as principal for the union or grammar school, as it was called; commenced his work November 17, 1757, and before the close of the winter four schools were in operation. The teachers of these schools were: Rev. Tanner, his wife, Miss Wealthy Tucker, who taught the primary, in what is now ward 1 of the city, and John Sherman, who taught in the lower part of the city. Of the early Winona schools, from 1856 to 1860, at which time his services were transferred to the normal schools, Dr. Ford was the mainstay, and pages might be written concerning the straits into which the board were often driven to maintain the schools. As an instance, we may note the concert held in the L. D. Smith building, with Dr. Ford and his daughter and W. S. Drew as principal flugel-men. The proceeds were applied to the purchase of a terrestrial globe, the first article of school apparatus purchased for the Winona public schools. This globe, which should have been preserved as a relic, was burned in the fire of July 5, 1862. Rev. Tanner was succeeded in the fall of 1858 by Mrs. A. W. Thomas, who was his assistant during the latter part of his schoolwork here.
There was a constant increase in the work of the schools from this time forward. In the fall of 1859 Mr. V. J. Walker was employed as principal, and his work continued long after the city schools were established upon a solid foundation. In this work his wife, a most excellent teacher, was associated with him, and their influence in the young life of the city and its schools cannot be told in words. For the eighteen months elapsing from the time of Mr. Walker's assuming charge of the schools until they were turned over to the city board of education at its organization, no record survives. The final report of the districts to that board are lost, and all we know is by the memories reviving twenty-four years of eventful history, in which so much relating to those early times has passed into forgetfulness that it is impossible to reproduce it even approximately. We only know that the schools had no permanent abiding places, that accommodations were difficult to be found and good quarters impossible to be received, money scarce and times hard, yet out of all the schools emerged tried as by fire, to approve the wisdom of their early management.
By special act of Minnesota state legislature, approved March 7, 1861, under the title "An act for the establishment and better regulation of the common schools of the city of Winona," all the school districts and parts of school districts within the corporate limits of the city of Winona were consolidated to form one district, the regulation and management of which was committed to a "board of education," for the creation and government of which the special act above cited made provision. By the terms of this act it was ordered that at the time of holding the regular charter election in the city, one school director in each ward should be elected, who, in order to qualify, should take a prescribed oath of office, and that the directors thus chosen, together with the principal of the State Normal School at Winona, should form the city board of education. It was plainly the intention of the act, as indicated by its wording, to make all resident members of the normal school board ex officio members of the city board of education , but this intention was defeated by the omission of a material word in the engrossing of the act. Thus the school board of the city at its organization was constituted with but four members, one each from the three wards of the city, and the principal of the state Normal School at Winona. The special provisions of this act of March 7, 1861, it is not necessary to make further allusion to, as it was superseded by the act of legislature approved March 8, 1862, which latter act it was declared should be construed as of a public nature and subversive of the act of the previous year. By the terms of the new act the election of two school directors from each ward was provided for, the terms of office of such directors fixed at two years, and the directors thus chosen to constitute the "city board of education, " thus effectually severing all connection with the normal school authorities in the management of the public schools of the city. By the act of March, 1862, provision was also made for the election of a superintendent for the city schools; members of the board of education were debarred from receiving compensation for their services as such; annual reports were required to be made to the county auditor and to the state superintendent of schools, and the board of education was invested with the onerous duty of providing the best possible educational facilities for the children and youth of a growing city. To preserve the homogeneousness of the educational work throughout the state, the board of education was made amenable (as far as practically applicable) to the general school law of the state, and to the rules established by the state superintendent of public instruction. There was one provision of this act destined in the course of events to become a fruitful source of contention between the common council of the city and the city board of education, and for this reason, if no other, it must be specially noted. This was the clause by which the city council was empowered to pass upon the annual estimates for school expenses presented by the board of education, and to accept or reject the same in whole or in part as they deemed best. The city treasurer was made the custodian of all school funds paid in under the tax levies ordered by the council or otherwise derived, and require under penalty to keep the same separate and distinct from all other funds in his hands. The act also provided for equitable payment of all judgment liens against the board without issuing execution against the school property of the city.
At the time the act of the legislature creating the "board of education of the city of Winona" became operative, March 7, 1861, the city was divided into three wards, and at the charter election in April of that year the several wards elected members of the board of education as follows: First ward, Thomas Simpson; second ward, Richard Jackson; third ward, John Keyes; and these gentlemen, with Prof. John Ogden, principal of the State Normal School at Winona, were the original board of education for the city of Winona. The "board" met April 13, 1861, for organization and elected Thomas Simpson president and John Keyes clerk; Prof. John Ogden was made superintendent of city schools, and the "board of education of the city of Winona" became a fixed institution.
Concerning these gentlemen, who twenty-two years ago composed the first board of education of this city, it may not be amiss to state that Prof. Ogden left the city in December, 1861, and is now in charge of a private normal school at Fayette, Ohio. Thomas Simpson is still a resident of the city, in active professional life, and president of the State Normal School board. Richard Jackson was several years in business in this city and died here early in 1875. John Keyes, justly entitled to the honor so generally accorded him as "father of the Winona public schools," died on the old Keyes homestead in the eastern part of the city, December 2, 1876, at which time he had been a resident of Winona a little over twenty-three years. The informal union of the two school districts within the city limits, and their harmonious working for nearly four years prior to their legal consolidation, were very largely owing to the disinterestedness, good judgment and abiding interest in educational matters displayed by Mr. Keyes. His work by no means ended with the formation of the school board. As clerk of that board during the first seven years of its existence, during which time the high school building was erected, he became so much an integral part of the public school administration of the city during that early formative period, that his influence in the educational life of the city can scarcely be overrated. Appropriate resolutions bearing testimony to his valuable services as an officer and member of the city school board were spread upon the records of that body, and the memory of his labors will long survive his generation.
The great fire of July 5, 1861 (to which reference is so frequently made in this work) destroyed the records of the board of education, including the records of the schools which had preceded the organization of the board. It is therefore impossible to give any authentic statement concerning the condition of the schools at the time they passed under the control of the board of education. A general statement made by Mr. Keyes, as secretary of the board, shortly after the fire, appears among the records. From this we learn that April 13, 1861, the board of education , on assuming charge of public school matters in Winona, found themselves in possession, by transfer from the old school districts numbers two and fourteen, of some old school furniture, one terrestrial globe, one set of outline maps, some rented rooms in various parts of the city, some indebtedness, no school buildings or sites in fee, or money. The sum of $285 was subsequently paid to settle the accounts of one of the old districts, and it is only a reasonable probability, from information obtained, that the board expended about $500 in settling the affairs of the old districts. The public schools as then existing, April 13, 1861, were one grammar school, or high school, as it was called, of which V. J. Walker was principal, and five primary schools scattered through the various wards of the city, occupying such buildings as could be the most cheaply rented for that purpose. The systematic grading of the schools was immediately undertaken by the board and the entire schoolwork of the city reorganized. The schools as thus established were one high school, one grammar school, three secondary and four primary schools. The estimate made for the ensuing three months' expenses, at the expiration of which the school year as equally established would close, was $1,000. This estimate was approved by the council and the schools opened as organized under the new arrangement. A report of the schoolwork for the fractional year ending August 31, 1861, gives the following figures: Number of children of school age in the district, 772; number of children enrolled in the schools, 382; average attendance, 252. The total expenditures for the three school months were $932.68, itemized as follows: Teachers' salaries $703, repairs and furniture $151.64, rents $73.04, fuel $5.
The estimated expenses of the schools from September, 1861, to close of the spring term of 1862 were $2,175, which added to the amount previously levied, $1,000, gives a total of $3,157, to carry on the nine schools of the city from April, 1861, to the close of the school year, August 31, 1862. The work of grading the schools undertaken and partially accomplished the previous year was now completed. The number of schools remained as previously established and the several rooms occupied by them prior to the fire of July 5, 1862, were: primary ~ (1) Kenosha Ale House; (2) Hancock's building, upstairs; (3) Hubbard's Hall, second story; (4) Mrs. J. S. Hamilton's building, in the third ward. Secondary ~ (1) South room Hancock's building; (2) Cooper's, then Hancock building; (3) Hubbard's Hall, first floor. Grammar school was held on the first floor of the Hancock building, north room until April, when it was removed to the brick schoolroom on Front street.
The high school was first in the Hancock building, then in the "brick schoolroom," and from thence removed to the city building when the grammar school took possession of the brick room on Front street. The rentals for the year were $293, exclusive of the Hancock building, the use of which had been generously donated to the school board by the proprietors.
The election for members of the school board in 1862 was under the act of legislature, approved March 8 of that year, requiring the return of two members from each ward. The members of the board as thus constituted were: first wad ~ Thomas Simpson; W. S. Drew, who did not qualify, and the board filled the vacancy by electing E. Worthington; second ward ~ T. B. Welch, R. D. Cone; third ward ~ F. Kroeger, John Keyes.
On the third Monday in April, as required by law, the board met and organized, with Thomas Simpson president and John Keyes clerk. The Rev. David Burt was elected superintendent of schools for the city, his compensation for services fixed at $100 per annum, and a like amount voted the clerk as salary. The estimated expenses for carrying on the schools for the year beginning September 1, 1862, are not given in full, but the tax levy submitted to the council for approval was for $2,945. The whole amount expended certainly doubled that sum. The public moneys of 1858 for districts numbers two and fourteen aggregated $1,130, and at this time, 1862, there was not only a marked increase in the number of school age within the district, but also in the ratio of appropriation to each individual. The wages paid teachers by the board at this time were as follows: principal of high school, per month, $55; teacher of grammar school, per month, $35; secondary school, per month, $22.50; primary school, per month, $20.
The necessity of establishing the schools in permanent quarters had long been apparent to the friends of education in the city, and the question of building schoolhouses as the state of the treasury would permit from time to time was freely agitated. At some meeting of the board prior to July 5, 1862, a resolution to build a schoolhouse in ward No. 3 was adopted. Lots 5 and 6 in block 15, Hamilton's addition to the city of Winona, were purchased and the contract let for building a ward schoolhouse, at a cost, including lots, of $1,760. As we do not intend to follow the history of the several schools through their temporary quarters to their final establishment in their present permanent homes, we state here that this first purchase of two lots in block 15 was subsequently followed by the purchase of the entire block, and upon it in 1876 the preset Washington school building was erected, as will be more particularly noted hereafter. It was at this juncture, close of spring term of 1862, that the fir, before mentioned, swept away the brick schoolroom on Front street, and destroyed (among scores of others) the office of secretary John Keyes, obliterating every vestige of record concerning the school work of the city, from the opening of Miss Angelia Gere's nursery school in 1852 to the latest minute of the board of education made in June, 1862. * * *
The first meeting after the fire was held June 9, 1862, in the office of the secretary, and vigorous efforts made to provide accommodations for the schools to be opened the ensuing term. These efforts were eminently successful, and the work of the schools was systematically resumed at the opening of the school year. The school report for the year then ended, August 31, 1862, showed no change in the census returns of children of school age within the district from those presented for the previous year, but the enrollment had increased from 382 in 1861 to 419 in 1862. A reduction had in the meantime been made in the number of schools sustained by the board, one of the secondary grade having been discontinued. In October of this year the clerk of the board, as required by law, took the census of children of school age, upon which census returns the division of public moneys to the schools throughout the state was based, and reported an increase of 188 over the census of 1861-2. No special change is to be noted in the schoolwork for the year ending August 31, 1863. The number of schools remained unchanged, and the old officers of the board were continued at the head of affairs, as was also the superintendent. Though no special changes occurred in the school work the board itself was making progress. The school building in ward three was completed as per contract some time in December, 1862, and on January 1, 1863, this, the first school building erected for school purposes by the school authorities of Winona, was dedicated to the uses for which it was constructed. Thomas Simpson, as president of the board of education, presided at the opening exercises, and delivered an appropriate address, the manuscript of which lies before us as we write. Action was taken this year in the matter of purchasing school sites in wards numbers two and three; the salaries of clerk and superintendent were raised to $150 each per annum; the clerk was instructed to advertise for contracts for a school building in the first ward; the Stearn's schoolhouse, in the second ward, was purchased at a cost of $415, exclusive of ground rent, which was fixed at $10 per annum; lots 1 and 2 in block 119, original plat of Winona, were purchased, and contract closed with Mr. Conrad Bohn to erect a school building upon them at a cost, including fencing, of $2,200. This contract was entered into August 22, 1863, and with this action of the board closed the transactions of that school year. The building on block 15, Hamilton's addition(as also the one now under contract by Mr. Bohn), was a two-story frame, arranged for the accommodation of two schools, one on each floor. The building in the first ward, when completed, was occupied for school purposes by the board, and so continued until the erection of the Madison school building in 1875; since then the old house known as the Jefferson school building has been provisionally turned over to the city council bor the use of the fire department.
The census returns for the new school year 1863-4 showed a material increase in the number of children in the city, 1,221 being the number reported by the clerk. The increased number of children demanded increased accommodations, and the school of secondary grade, discontinued in 1862-3, was reopened, making the whole number of schools under the care of the board ten. January 15, 1864, Mr. Burt resigned his office as superintendent of Winona public schools, and Dr. F. H. Staples, a practicing physician of the city, was elected to fill the vacancy. Dr,. Staples discharged the duties of superintendent until September 4, 1865, when he resigned, and was succeeded by Prof. WV. J. Walker, who taught the Union Grammar School of the city from the fall of 1859 until the organization of the city school board, when he was elected principal of the high school, April, 1861. Mr. Walker continued to perform his double duties as high school principal and superintendent of city schools until the close of the school year in 1869, at which time he closed a very success ful term of ten years as principal of public schools in Winona.
By the charter election of 1864 a change was made in the membership of the board of education, and upon the organization of the board L. B. Tefft was elected president; secretary Keyes still in office. The estimates for the year opening September 1, 1864, were for one high school, one grammar school, four secondary schools, six primary schools, all of which were opened with the exception of one secondary, the total number being eleven schools. To provide for maintaining these during a school year of ten months the estimated tax required was $21,000, $5,000 of that amount to apply to a fund for the erection of a suitable central school building, which the necessities of the schools demanded and the wisdom of the board was forecasting. The salaries of teachers at this time had somewhat appreciated. Wages were per month, high school, $65; grammar school, $35; secondaries, $25; primaries, $22.
The officers of the board were not changed in the spring of 1865, and the school registers bore the names of 806 pupils, the actual enrollment for that year. The estimated expenses for the year opening September 1, 1865, were $16,500. The actual tax levy was $9,632.78, with an item of $5,000 for central school fund. At the close of school year, August 31, 1865, the city owned three wooden buildings, the total valuation of which, including furniture, was $5,000, the buildings accommodating five of the eleven schools maintained by the board.
The school year 1865-66 was an eventful one. The board had previously selected block 37 of the original town plot, as the site of the proposed central building, and acquired title to several of the lots thereon. The work of receiving possession of the entire block was pushed vigorously, and on May 15, 1866, title was perfected and the block secured. Bids for the erection of a suitable central school building had been advertised for in the meantime, and contracts awarded to Conrad Bohn, of this city, three days prior to perfecting title. The contract price of structure was $36,700, the whole costing with furnaces and furniture about $52,000. Ground was immediately broken, walls erected and roof put on that season, and the building was completed and accepted by the board September 7, 1867, named by them the High School, and the afternoon of September 13th set apart for its formal dedication, which was accordingly done, Hon. Mark Dunnell, of this state, delivering the dedicatory address. This building is decidedly an ornament to the city, a monument to the public spirit of the citizens, and a credit to the board of education under whose administration it was erected. The block on which it stands is in the very heart of the best residence portion of the city. The building faces north, the main entrance being on Broadway, with side entrances on Walnut and Market streets. It is a substantial, ornate structure, built of brick and stone, rising three full stories above the basement, in which are the furnaces and fuel rooms. The extreme length from east to west if 96 feet; from north to south, 82 feet; height of main walls, 32 feet; of gables, 48 feet; of main ventilating shaft, 72 feet; of minor ventilating turrets, 66 feet; with a tower rising 94 feet from the water-table to the finial.
The basement is nine feet between floors, the first and second stories each thirteen feet and the third story, in which is the assembly room, fifteen feet. A hall eight feet wide running the extreme length of the building, with double doors at each end, affords ample means for entrance and exit. The staircases are four and one-half feet each, and the rooms are fuly provided with cloak closets. There are four recitation rooms, each 28 x 34 feet on the main floor, and also on the second. The north half of the third story is the high school room proper, the space on the south side being divided into recitation rooms for high school classes. The building is occupied by the following schools: one high school with three recitation rooms, two grammar schools, three secondary schools lettered A, B, C, [and] four primary schools.
The city superintendent's office is in the tower on the main floor, a comfortable room 12 x 12, supplied with a small reference library and connected with the city telephone exchange.
The school census, taken in the fall of 1866, showed 1,952 children of school age within the city, an increase of 741 in three years. The census of 1867 showed a further increase 229, making a total of 2,181 for the latter year.
Henry Stevens became president of the board at the annual meeting in April, 1866, secretary Keyes still retaining office. At this meeting the salary of clerk was raised to $250 per annum, as was also that of the superintendent.
No change was made in the officers of the board at their annual meeting in 1867. When the schools opened in September of that year the salary of high school principal was fixed at $1,300, and the wages of female teachers $40 per month.
At the annual spring election in 1868, secretary Keyes was not returned and the board organized with H. D. Huff, president, and John Ball, sec5retary. The following year, 1859, Mr. Ball gave place to J. M. Sheardown, who held the office of clerk to the "beard" until his resignation in December, 1871. At the annual meeting in this year, 1869, the salaries of clerk and superintendent were raised to $300 each per annum. At the close of this school year a new departure was taken and the office of superintendent of schools separated from the principalship of the high school. This position was offered to Prof. Varney, at a salary of $1,500 per annum, but he declined the offer, and the office was not filled until October 4, 1869, when the officers of the school board were authorized to employ Prof. W. P. Hood, which was done as ordered. The new superintendent entered immediately upon his work and continued in office until the close of the spring term in 1871.
At the annual meeting in 1870 Gen. C. H. Berry, at present the senior member of the Winona county bar, was elected president of the city school board, and held that position by successive re-elections until he retired from the board in 1878. During these years the beautiful ward schoolhouses in the east and west ends of the city were constructed at an aggregate cost of $60,000, and the educational work of the city advanced at every point.
June 20, 1871, Prof. F. M. Dodge was elected city superintendent of schools, and his salary fixed at $1,500 per annum. December 15, 1871, Mr. M. Maverick was elected to the clerkship of the board of education, made vacant by the resignation of J. M. Sheardown, and held that office until the election of Dr. J. M. Cole, at the annual meeting in 1875. December 18, 1871, the board adopted resolutions recommending the erection of a good three-story brick building in the first ward, and memorializing the city council to procure such legislation as would authorize the issue of $15,000 of school bonds.
The report of the clerk, made October 1, 1872, showed an increase in the number of schools, census enumeration, enrollment in schools, expenditures, etc., the figures being as follows: One high school, four grammar schools, seven secondary schools, nine primary; 2,427 children of school age, an actual enrollment of 1,414 on the school registers. The total receipts from all sources were shown by the financial statement in August to aggregate $25, 336.68. The schools were maintained during a school year of ten months, and 22 teachers employed; average wages of teachers, gentlemen, $100 per month; ladies, $44 per month.
The reports made in 1984 show receipts for the year ending August 31, $42,987; disbursements, $28,987; children of school age in the city, 3,098; children enrolled in the schools, 1,339.
The annual election in 1875 placed Dr. Cole, as before said, at the clerk's desk, a position held by him for six years, during which he rendered valuable aid to the educational work of the city. During this school year the Madison school building was completed at a cost of about $32,000, and in the annual report of the clerk, made August, 1876, the following exhibit appears:
Houses owned by the board, four (two brick and two frame); values of school sites, $25,000; values of buildings, $106,060; value of buildings erected during the year, $31,306; seating capacity of buildings, 1,478; receipts for the year, $60,891.28; disbursements for the year, $44,926.40; teachers' wages, $15,420; average wages, gentlemen, $120 per month; average wages, ladies, $50 per month.
The Washington school building a facsimile of the Madison building, was accepted at the hands of the contractor November 17, 1876, and the schools in the eastern part of the city transferred to their new quarters January 1, 1877. The purchase of block 15, Hamilton's addition, upon which the Washington building was erected, has already been noted. This block on which the Madison school building stands is the one adjoining that on which the old Jefferson schoolhouse was built in 1863. This new block, No. 118, was purchased by the board December 21, 1869, as the site of the prospective school building for the first ward. A description of the Madison building will answer for both, as one is almost the perfect facsimile of the other. The building is a fine three- story brick, stone basement and trimmings, with mansard roof. The extreme length from east to west is 80 feet; from north to south, 77 feet. The main walls rise 30 feet above the water-table, and the gables 45 feet. The tower is 80 feet high, and height of the several stories as follows: Basement, containing furnaces, fuel and storage room, 8 1/2 feet to joists overhead; first and second stories, each 13 feet; third story, 12 feet. Each floor is divided into four recitation rooms, each 25 x 30 feet, provided with cloakrooms, all the modern appliances for comfort and convenience, and each room seated to accommodate from 40 to 56 pupils, according to grade. The several floors have each a main hall running the extreme length of the building from east to west, with a cross hall. The main halls are 8 feet wide, and the cross halls 6 feet 8 inches in the clear. The building fronts north on Wabasha street, upon which is the main entrance, with side entrances on Dakota and Olmsted streets. Free exit is afforded form the halls on the main floor, in three directions, by spacious doors and stairways, and there are two staircases, each four feet in the clear, leading from the upper stories. The Madison school building is provided with four wood-furnaces, and the Washington school with five. These buildings, with their twelve school-rooms each, and the high-school building with its nine school (and three recitation) rooms, make comfortable provision for thirty-three schools, thirty-two of them now running and, under the able management of superintendent McNaughton, doing efficient work. These three school buildings, each occupying a full block in well-chosen locations, with their ample walks, growing shade-trees, tasteful architectural appearance, and thoroughly furnished rooms, are a just occasion of city pride, the value of sites, buildings and improvements falling little short of $175,000.
Early in 1877 the board of education recorded its emphatic disapproval of the attempt made in the state legislature to create a "state text-book committee," and dispatched one of their members, Dr. J. B. McGaughey, to St. Paul to express to the legislature the sentiments of the Winona board of education. The obnoxious measure became a law, but Winona schools were exempted from its provisions. The annual meeting in 1877 made no changes in the officers of the board. The reports of the clerk not only showed encouraging progress in school matters, but also a growing liberality on the part of the board in fixing teachers' wages, which were established as follows:
In the spring of 1878 Dr. J. B. McGaughey became president of the board; Prof Dodge was followed by Prof. Irwin Shepard as city superintendent of schools; the financial exhibit showed receipts in excess of &60,000, expenditures a little over $45,000. There was a hitch in the city council over the authorization of the tax levy required by law, and clerk Cole reported his ability to carry the schools through the school year with the aid of a temporary loan, which was accordingly done, no school tax being levied for that year. In 1879 Dr. T. A. Pierce was elected president of the board, Prof. Shepard was followed by Prof. W. F. Phelps as city superintendent of schools, and the enrollment for the year showed a decrease of about 150 over the enrollment of 1877. This fact was due to the opening of several parochial schools in the city.
Matters were in statu quo during 1880, but in 1881 Dr. Cole retired from the clerkship of the board, after six years' consecutive service, and was followed by W. J. Whipple, who held that office two years. Dr. Pierce continued at the head of the board, and in the fall Prof. J. W. McHaughton, the present superintendent of schools, assumed educational control.
The annual meeting in 1882 was principally noted for the protracted contest for president, in which an adjournment was had to the following evening, after 130 ballots were cast. At the adjourned meeting Dr. J. B. McGaughey was elected president of the board upon the 187th ballot.
The election held the evening of April 20, 1883, continued Dr. McGaughey in the chair, and elected Arthur Beyerstedt clerk of the board. A summary of the schools as now existing and controlled by city superintendent McNaughton is in brief as follows:
High School Building ~ One high school, of which Thomas L. Heaton, graduate of Michigan State University, class of 1880, is principal. His assistants are Mr. J. J. Helmer, Misses J. Mitchell and Frances Elmer. One grammar school; three secondary schools, A, B, C; four primary schools. Total schools in high school building, 9; total enrollment, 564; number of regular teachers, 12. The curriculum of the high school is appended:
| Class | Term | Time | Required For All Courses | Required For All Courses | Third Study For Classical | Third Study For Scientific | Third Study For Business Course |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 1 | 4 mo. | Algebra Com. | English Composition | Latin | German | Com. Arithmetic |
| D | 2 | 3 mo. | Geometry | Zoology | Latin | German | Essentials of English Grammar |
| D | 3 | 3 mo. | Geometry | Botany | Latin | German | Civil Government |
| C | 1 | 4 mo. | Geometry | Physiology | Caesar | Lessing | Bookkeeping |
| C | 2 | 3 mo. | Physical Geography | Physics | Caesar | Lessing | Industrial Drawing |
| C | 3 | 3 mo. | Physical Geography | Physics | Caesar | Lessing | - |
| B | 1 | 4 mo. | Chemistry | General History | Virgil | Schiller | - |
| B | 2 | 3 mo. | Chemistry | General History | Virgil | Schiller | - |
| B | 3 | _ mo. | - | Geology | Virgil | Schiller | - |
| A | 1 | 4 mo. | Rhetoric | Geology | Cicero | Goethe | - |
| A | 2 | 3 mo. | English Literature | Mental Science | Cicero | Goethe | - |
| A | 3 | 3 mo. | English Literature | Political Economy | Cicero | Goethe | - |
Madison School ~ One grammar department, in [the] charge of Miss Mary Youmans; three secondary schools; eight prinary schools. Total enrollment, 623; total schools, 12.
The entire educational force or the city comprises, for its public schools, 1 superintendent, 35 regular and 2 special teachers, the schools under their charge having a total enrollment of 1, 823 scholars. This enrollment is about the smae as that of 1877, to which is to be added the 700 pupils enrolled in the parochial schools. There has, however, been a most gratifying improvement in the average daily attendance, the reports showing tan increase of 300 in the average attendance of to- day over that of 1877, under the same nominal enrollment. There is no longer a school census taken, and the number of children between the ages of 5 and 21 in the city cannot be given. The estimate is made of about 4,000; but if the proportion of enrollment to total number of school age was maintained now as in years past, the number would be considerably in excess of 5,000.
The work of the parochial school appears in connetion with the history of the various parishes by which they are maintained.
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