Early Olmsted County Schools

THE ''Organic Act of the Territory of Minnesota," approved March 3, 1849, and also the act authorizing a state government, approved February 27, 1857, set apart sections numbered 16 and 36 in every township of public lands for the use of schools.

 

SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

The school code of the Territory of Minnesota, passed at the second session of the legislative assembly, commencing January 1, 1851, made it the duty of the board of county commissioners for each county to divide such portion of their county as was inhabited into school districts.

At the second session of the board, which was held at Rochester, September 13, 1855, petitions having been received requesting action under the above law, two districts were set off. 

No. 1, now generally known as the Coffin district, was formed of territory in the southwestern part of Elmira and the southeastern portion of Orion. It must have contained a goodly number of families, as there were sixty-two persons between four and twenty-one years of age who drew public money in January, 1857.

District No. 2 was made to include twenty-four sections, a small empire, having the thriving village of Oronoco for a metropolis. Thirty-six pupils were enumerated by the district clerk in December, 1856.

District No. 3 was formed on the first of October following. It included nearly nine sections in the southwestern part of the township of Pleasant Grove, and John Collins' claim seems to have been near the center of population. The district was altered in July, 1856, and that portion of the territory in which the village is now situated retained the original number. When the independent district was organized, a. few years later, "No. 3" lost its identity.

No. 4 came next in order at the same session. The village of Marion was, and now is, near the geographical center of the district. It then ranked next to Rochester in the number of persons entitled to public money.

The year 1855 closed with only four districts formed in the county, and it is quite probable that some of this small number were not yet fully organized. Early in January, 1856, six more were added to the list. No. 5, now known as the Center Grove district, No. 6, known as Stone's Corners, or the Clason district, and No. 7, including territory in Dover and Quincy, in the Stevenson neighborhood, were formed on the 9th.

No. 8, including the village of Rochester, and the Hull district, No. 9, were formed on the 10th. At the close of the year the number of districts had reached thirty-five. The work of formation continued in this way until 1860, when it was taken from the commissioners and given to the town superintendent of schools. His authority was very brief, for the legislature of 1861 made every township in the state a school district and required the town board of supervisors to form sub-districts. This law was repealed the following winter, and districts have since been formed and altered by the county board.

The present school law provides lor three classes of districts, as follows:

First,—Common school districts, including all districts not embraced in either of the two following classes.

Second,—Independent school districts, including districts organized under section 94 of the school code.

Third,—Special school districts, including all districts organized wholly or in part under any special law of the state.

The report of Supt. Spring lor the year ending August 31, 1882, shows that the county has one hundred and thirty districts of the first class, one of the second and three of the third. The special districts are Rochester, Oronoco and Chatfield, joint. There are also seven joint common school districts, not included in the above.

The independent district of Pleasant Grove was organized June 5, 1865. It originally included the whole township. The people of the northern portion did not feel satisfied, and the legislature of 1867 enacted a law setting aside the action by which the district was established, and giving the people south of the river the privilege of voting on the question of reorganization. A majority favoring the measure, the district, which now includes about two-thirds of the territory of the township, was divided into six sub-districts, with a director in each who looks after local affairs. The board of directors has the entire control of the schools. It may also inspect the teachers employed or delegate that power to the country superintendent, and may appoint a district superintendent to visit the schools, report to the state superintendent, and perform such other duties as may be required by the board. Mrs. Lizzie Logan, who taught for many years, served in that capacity for some time. Hon. R. D. Hathaway and Richard Russell were among those who did most to organize the schools under this law. They hoped to establish a graded system with an excellent high school, where all the advanced pupils of the district could receive a good education. Their expectations have not been fully realized. There are six schoolhouses in the district, five of which are brick and one stone. The total value of these is put at $4,000. The house at the Grove has two rooms, and the higher department of the school is now taught by W. R. Bennett; the lower, by Mary Holmes.

 The town of Dover organized under the independent school law in the spring of 1866. There was so much friction in the working of the plan that the people besought the legislature to resolve the district into its "original elements." This was done in the winter of 1868, and the county commissioners subdivided the town, for the second time, in the spring of that year.

 

SCHOOL OFFICERS.

Under the law ot 1851 the officers of each school district were three trustees and a clerk. They had the entire management of the school, and were required to inspect teachers whom they employed, as to "their moral character and ability to teach." The district clerk reported the number of persons between four and twenty-one, and the number of months school had been taught by a qualified instructor, to the board of county commissioners. This report was a very simple affair; the two items given above covering the whole ground. He was also required to collect all taxes assessed by the trustees, and pay over the same, less live per cent commission.

This law continued in force until 1860. The voters in each township were then required to elect a town superintendent of schools. It was made the duty of this officer to form districts, to examine teachers, to visit the schools twice each term, to enroll all persons of school age, and report the same, with other items, to the county auditor. The reports for that year are very unsatisfactory, and the law seems to have been almost a dead letter. The district officers were not set aside at this time; they were shorn of some of their authority, and were expected to co-operate with the superintendent.

As stated elsewhere, the legislature of 1861 made a radical change in the school law. What is known as the "township system" was adopted. Each town was made a district and the board of supervisors became its officers. They were required to divide their district into convenient sub-districts, to appoint a superintendent, and the general management of the schools was placed in their hands. Each sub-district chose its own officers, who were to superintend the erection of school buildings, have charge of furniture, apparatus and other local matters, subordinate to the town board. The superintendent was "to visit every school one day each term, to examine its condition and management." If found necessary, he was to direct the school exercises; he was also to examine teachers and make such reports as were required by the state superintendent. The town clerk was to take an enumeration of all persons between five and twenty-one. and report the number to the auditor, together with such other school statistics as the law specified.

NAMES OF TOWN SUPERINTENDENTS FOR 1860 AND 1861

 

Cascade - Jesse Fairchild, P. N. Cobb, E. F. Steele.
Dover - Alanson Richards, Simeon Harding.
Elmira - R. G. Ketcham.
Eyota - James L. Hodges, Emerson Hodges.
Farmington - Edward Evans.
Haverhill - Edward Palmer, R. H. Talbot, M. A. Burkank.
High Forest - Thos. Armstrong.
Kalmar - Benj. McDowell.
Marion - Thomas W. Phelps.
New Haven - John Kilroy, Russell Williams, H. Douglas.
Orion - Richard S. Russell, J. T. Hancock.
Oronoco - Hector Galloway, Wm. M. Pearce.
Pleasant Grove - D. W. Prentice.
Quincy - Jotham Holland, John G. Laird.
Rochester - L. O. Benjamin.

Rock Dell - W. A. Barnes, J. P. Mead.
Salem - Sanford Niles.
Viola - R. F. Cunningham.

The above list is not fully satisfactory. Some towns made no report, others have preserved no records, and the memory of the oldest inhabitant is sometimes sadly at fault.

This system of school management lasted but a single year. The law was repealed in the winter of 1862, but the superintendents were continued in office until September. The new law authorized the appointment of an examiner for each of the commissioner districts, who was to hold public examinations at stated periods, license teachers, visit schools, revoke certificates for cause, etc.

On the 2d of September, 1862, the county commissioners appointed the following persons :

District No. 1, O. O. Baldwin; No. 2, Sanford Niles: No. 3, Thos. W. Phelps; No. 4, R. F. Cunningham; No. 5, Russell Williams. These gentlemen entered upon their duties at once, and served lor three years, when their term of office expired. O. E.Wheeler then took the place of Mr. Cunningham, and Cyrus Curtis that of Mr. Phelps, the examiners for the other district being re-appointed.

In the winter of 1864 the commissioners of the several counties of the state were authorized to appoint a county superintendent of schools in lieu of district examiners. Several counties made that choice and came under the superintendencey system during the year. Olmsted delayed until October 16, 1865, when Sanford Niles, of Salem, was appointed on trial. He held his position until January, 1877, being unanimously reappointed at the close of each term until January, 1876, when a majority of the commissioners chose M. G. Spring. The legislature of that year made the office elective in Olmsted and several other counties, and continued the old superintendents until after the November election. Mr. Spring received 2,294 votes, and Mr. Niles, 2,133. In the fall before Mr. Spring's first term closed he received a nomination from both parties and was re-elected without opposition. He ran on the democrat ticket in 1880, and was elected over Rev. G. L. M. Gjertson, republican, by a majority of 752. There were three candidates before the people in November, 1882. The vote stood as follows: Fayette L. Cook, republican, 1,743; Horace Witherstine, democrat, 903; M. G. Spring, independent, 667. Mr. Cook, having been elected, entered on the duties of his office early in December.

Since the township system was abolished each common-school district elects three trustees to manage its affairs. In 1876 a law was passed allowing women to vote for school officers, and they are now eligible to any office pertaining solely to schools. Several ladies have been elected each year, and twelve are now serving on school boards.

Our history may be divided into four periods. The first extended from 1855 to 1860, during which time there was no general supervision; the second covered the two years of supervision by town superintendents; the third continued from 1862 to October, 1865, when the work of supervision was performed by district examiners; the fourth, extending from 1865 to date, is the period of general supervision by a county superintendent.

Source:

The History of Winona and Olmsted Counties, 1883

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