FootNote
The new kid on the block, FootNote is known for digitizing historical
documents... many of which are genealogical gems. With naturalizations,
city directories, war records, newspapers, town records, etc... this new
kid is quickly being recognized as an alternative to Ancestry.
While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
First Schools in Portland
and their Conductors-Early Advocates of Free
Schools -Growth and Development of the
System-Central School-Park School-Harrison
Street School-Atkinson School-High
School--Couch and Failing Schools-Course of
Study Pursued in Public Schools-Plan and
System of Management--Names of Teachers-City
School Officers from 1.856 to 1890-Portland
Academy and Female Institute-St. Mary's
Academy-Bishop Scott Academy- St. Helen's
Hall-St. Michael's College-Independent
German School-International Academy-Medical
Colleges-Business Colleges.
The first school of any kind
in Portland was opened in the fall of 1847,
by Dr. Ralph Wilcox, one of the very first
settlers of the city, whose connections with
the pioneer days has elsewhere been referred
to. His school was conducted in a house
erected by Mr. McNemee at the foot of Taylor
street. It had a very brief existence, but
several who are still living in Portland
were pupils in this primitive hall of
learning.
In February, 1848, Thomas Carter and family
reached Portland. In April or May of that
year Miss Julia Carter (Mrs. Joseph S.
Smith), opened a school in a log cabin on
the corner of Second and Stark streets. She
taught but one quarter, and most of her
pupils had previously attended Dr. Wilcox's
school.
In the winter of 1848 and '49, Aaron J. Hyde
taught a school in what was for years known
as the " Cooper Shop." This cooper shop was
the only public hall in the town for some
time. It was located on the west side of
First street, between Morrison and Yamhill
streets, on a lot which it was commonly
reported a former owner had bought for the
consideration of " two pups." Mr. Hyde
served in the Mexican war; came to
California in the. spring of 1847, thence to
Oregon; married a Miss Whitley, of Polk
County, settled on a donation land claim
about four miles southwest of Linn County,
where he died in 1859.
Previous to the passage of the act
organizing the Territory of Oregon, August
13, 1848, Congress had reserved the
sixteenth section of each township for
educational purposes. In framing the act for
the creation of Oregon Territory, Hon. J,
Quinn Thornton added the thirty-sixth
section. This departure from the precedent
in this regard provoked much opposition in
Congress, but by the persistent labors of
Mr. Thornton, and other liberal minded
legislators, this munificent addition to our
educational resources was secured. Not only
have the public schools of Oregon received
the benefits of this wise enactment, but
those of every State and Territory since
organized have been thus endowed.
Rev. George H. Atkinson was among the first
to agitate the subject of free schools in
Oregon after the establishment of the
territorial government, and to him our city
and county schools are greatly indebted. He
came to Oregon especially charged with the
educational interest of the Territory,
arriving in Portland in June, 1848. He
brought with him a quantity of school books
of the latest and best authors, and
afterwards imported a large supply. For many
years a resident of Portland he was ever
active in behalf of her educational
interests, and in recognition of his
services, it has recently been decided to
bestow his name on one of the public
schools.
Rev. Horace Lyman, late of the Pacific
University, followed Mr. Hyde as a school
teacher in Portland. He opened a school late
in December, 1849, in a frame structure
built by Col. Wm. King for church and school
purposes. It was located on the west side of
First street, second door north of Oak.. On
this building was placed a bell which now
hangs in the steeple of the Taylor Street M.
E. Church. Dr. Lyman taught three months and
had about forty scholars.
In April, 1850, Cyrus A. Reed opened a
school in the "school house." He taught for
three months and had an average of sixty-two
pupils.
The next teacher was Delos Jefferson, now a
fanner of Marion county. He began in August,
1850 and continued for three months.
Following Mr. Jefferson came Rev. N. Doane,
then as now, a minister of the M. E. Church.
He taught nine months, beginning about
December 1, 1850.
All of the schools so far mentioned, were
private, and sustained by tuition fees. Ten
dollars per quarter for pupils was the usual
rate, with the exception of Mr. Doane's
school. The latter received some pecuniary
assistance from the M. E. Missionary Fund.
The establishment of a public free school,
had however been discussed. Rev. H. Lyman,
Anthony L. Davis,1
Col. Wm. King and others, made strenuous and
continued efforts to organize a school
district under the territorial law. In the
midst of much opposition on the part of
those who had no children of their own to
educate, and of others who had personal
interests in building up private and
denominational schools, success was finally
attained, but the precise date when an
organization was perfected we have been
unable to learn. The first evidence that an
organization had been completed, is
furnished in the Oregonian of December 6,
1851, when a "Free School" is advertised.
The board of directors consisted of Anthony
L. Davis, Alonzo Leland and Reuben P. Boise.
This board announced that John T, Outhouse
would begin a school in the school house,
next door to the "City Hotel" on Monday,
December 15, 1851. " Books to be used :
Sander's Reader, Goodrich's Geography,
Thompson's Arithmetic and Bullion's
Grammar."
Mr. Outhouse, then about twenty-two years of
age, a native of New Brunswick, taught
continuously, with the usual vacations,
until March, 1853. He is now living at
Union, Oregon, and is still engaged in
teaching. He began with twenty scholars, and
so large had his school become in the fall
of 1852, that an assistant was deemed
necessary. He was paid, most of the time, at
the rate of $100 per month from the county
school fund, Portland, at this time, paying
two-thirds of his salary.
Among the arrivals in Portland, in
September, 1852, was a young woman from
Massachusetts-Miss Abigal M. Clark (Mrs.
Byron P. Cardwell). Miss Clarke taught a few
weeks in the Portland Acadamy and Female
Seminary, then in its second year and under
the management of a Mr. Buchanan. This
engagement was not congenial and she soon
after accepted an offer to enter the public
schools.
From an editorial in the Oregonian,
November 20, 1852, it appears that "at a
recent meeting (first Friday of November),
the citizens voted $1,600 to support a free
school."
A notice a few days later, signed by Anthony
L. Davis, Benj. Stark and A. Leland,
announces the opening of a school on Monday,
December 6, 1852. Mr. Outhouse is named as
teacher in the "school house," and Miss A.
M. Clarke, as teacher of the primary classes
on First street, between Taylor and Salmon,
where she had an average daily attendance of
over ninety pupils.
After Mr. Outhouse closed his work, Miss
Clarke continued opening her school in the
same house, near Taylor street, March, 1853.
She taught until midsummer of the same year,
and then accepted a position in an academy
at Oregon City, then under the care of E. D.
Shattuck, now Circuit Judge and residing at
Portland.
With the labors of Miss Clarke, the regular
work of the free schools seems to have been
for a time discontinued. Private schools
were opening and closing every few weeks.
The "academy" was flourishing under Rev. C.
S. Kingsley. General apathy in reference to
public schools prevailed. Over a year
elapsed after the closing of Miss Clark's
term before any movement was made toward
reviving the free schools. The newspapers
made no mention of the regular annual
meeting in November, 1853. August 11, 1854,
Col. J. M. Keeler, then county
superintendent, announces that he is ready
to organize school districts.
During the fall of 1854, Thomas Frazar began
the agitation of the school question. He had
printed, at his own expense, notices for a
school meeting. He posted these notices, and
after failing five times in succession to
secure a quorum to do business, he succeeded
in the sixth attempt, and as a result, there
appeared in the Oregonian of December
7, 1854, the following "call:"
"We, the undersigned, legal voters of the
Portland school district, deeming it
important that district officers should be
appointed and our public schools
re-organized, hereby annex our names to a
call for a special meeting of the legal
voters in this district to convene at the
school house on First street, on Monday
evening, December 18, 1854, at half past six
o'clock, then and there to elect, 1-A
chairman and secretary of said meeting; 2-A
board of three school directors; 3-A
district clerk; and to transact such other
business, etc. Thomas Frazar, Josiah
Failing, H. W. Corbett, W. S. Ladd, P.
Raleigh, L. Limerick, D. Abrams, T. N. Lakin,
A. D. Shelby, Anthony L. Davis."
At this meeting Thomas Frazar, W. S. Ladd
and Shubrick Norris were elected a board of
directors.
In December, 1855, Multnomah county was
organized, and in January, following, L.
Limerick was appointed county school
superintendent. Horace Lyman and J. M.
Keeler, had previously served as county
superintendents when this city was included
in Washington county.
It is quite probable that L. Limerick taught
the first school under this organization.
Prior to this time, it appears that the city
had been divided into two districts, with
Morrison street as the line-north was
district No. 1 and south, district No. 2.
The board in the south district consisted of
Wm. Patton, Col. Win. King and E. M. Burton.
When this organization was effected it is
impossible to ascertain. It had, however, a
legal existence during the incumbency of L.
Limerick as county superintendent, as a
description of its metes and bounds is found
in Mr. Limerick's writing. In the fall of
1855, J. M. Keeler, just from Forest
Grove-Tualatin Academy-taught the district
school in this district, in the two-story
house still standing on the southeast corner
of Jefferson and Second streets. He
continued here for six months and in April,
1856, the district was again merged into No.
1.
July 7, 1855, Messrs. Frazar, Ladd and
Norris advertised for a "competent person to
take charge of the Public school in District
No. 1. A young lawyer, Mr. Sylvester
Pennoyer, had lately arrived in Portland. He
had gone from New York to Puget Sound to
practice law. Becoming discouraged with the
prospect, he sold his library and started
for home. He saw the advertisement and at
once sought an interview with Mr. Frazar.
The result was that he was employed and
taught for six months in the "School House."
This, we believe, ended Mr. Pennoyer's
career as a pedagogue. He subsequently
embarked in business; has been a successful
merchant; a prominent figure in politics and
at present is Governor of Oregon. For over
two years after the close of Mr. Pennoyer's
school, no record has been found that gives
any definite information concerning the
public schools of the city.. No one seems to
have been directly employed by the board to
teach until school was opened, May 17, 1858,
in the New Central School.
Central School
After
the consolidation of the two districts, in
1856, Col. J. M. Keeler became a zealous
advocate of the immediate erection of a
suitable school building. At a meeting of
the taxpayers, May 12, 1856, to discuss this
project, J. Failing, H. W. Davis, Wm. Beck,
S. Coffin and A. M. Starr were appointed a
committee to ascertain the cost of different
sites for school grounds. The committee
reported in favor of the James Field's
block, No. 179, (where the Portland Hotel
now stands), which was purchased at a cost
of $1,000. On this site a school house known
as Central School was erected, at a cost of
about $6,000. Here school was first opened
May 17, 1858, with L. L. Terwilliger,
principal and Mrs. Mary J. Hensill and Owen
Connelly, assistants. Up to July 23d of that
year, two hundred and eighty pupils had been
enrolled. Of this number but two resided
west of Seventh street. Mr. Terwilliger was
principal for two and a quarter years;
August, 1860, Rev. George C. Chandler, one
year; July 22, 1861, G. F. Boynton, nine
months; April 30, 1862, O. S. Frambes, one
year; March 23, 1863, John McBride, nine
months; January 11, 1864, E. P. Bebee, one
and a half years; August, 1865, O. S.
Frambes, three years; September, 1868, J. W.
Johnson, nine months (transferred to High
School April 26, 1869); April, 1869, R. K.
Warren, two and a quarter years; September,
1871, J. M. Williamson, three years;
September, 1874, A. J. Anderson, two years;
September, 1876, T. H. Crawford one year;
September, 1877, S. W. King, three years;
September, 1880, C. W. Roby, five years. In
1883 the board of directors sold the block
upon which the Central School stood to the
Northern Pacific Terminal Company for
$75,000 on the guarantee that a hotel should
be built upon the block within a reasonable
time. According to the terms of the sale the
school building was to remain the property
of the district, but was to be removed from
the grounds. This was done a short time
thereafter, the building being moved to a
block immediately north of the old site,
owned by Hon. P. A. Marquam, and was here
occupied for school purposes until the close
of the school year in 1885, when the Park
school building was sufficiently enlarged to
accommodate all the scholars in the
district.
Park School
In 1878 the city had grown to such
proportions that an additional school became
necessary. At the annual meeting of the
taxpayers, Charles Hodge, Lloyd Brooke and
Frank Dekum were appointed a committee to
select a site. This committee recommended
the purchase of block 223, known as the
Harker Block, for the sum of $12,000. The
report was adopted and the board of
directors were authorized to purchase the
land and proceed with the erection of a
building. It was completed in the fall of
1879, and, including an additional room in
the basement for a High School Laboratory,
its total cost to date is $31,000. It is a
twelve-room, two story wooden building with
basement. It was first occupied by the High
School and eight classes of the Harrison
Street School, which were temporarily
accommodated while the new Harrison Street
School was being erected.
In September, 1885, the Park School was
opened as a regular grammar and primary
school, with C. W. Roby as principal. Mr.
Roby soon after resigned to accept the
position of postmaster of Portland, and was
succeeded by Mr. Frank Rigler, who remained
until 1889, when T. H. Crawford. became
principal. Twelve assistant teachers are
employed.
1 Anthony L. Davis, one of
the earliest and most zealous advocates of
Portland's free school system, came from
Fort Leavenworth, Indiana, to Portland, in
1850. He served a term in the State
Legislature of Indiana and soon after his
arrival in Port-land was elected a Justice
of the Peace, serving in that capacity for
several years. He was a man of high
character and held in much esteem. He died
in Portland in 1866.
