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The first Superintendent of
the city schools was S. W. King, who was
appointed in 1873. He was succeeded by T. M.
Crawford, in 1878, who served until the
appointment of Miss Ella C. Sabin, in 1888.
The growth of Portland during the past few
years is perhaps as clearly indexed by the
growth of the common schools as by any other
means. From the time the public school
system had attained sufficient importance to
be placed under the control of .a city
superintendent, the number of pupils who
have received instruction at the public
schools, has increased from year to year.
The following table will show the number of
pupils enrolled each year since that time:
Year Ending
Number
Year Ending
Number
June
Registered
June
Registered
1874
1600
1882
3130
1875
1700
1883
3483
1876
1870
1884
3864
1877
2085
1885
3978
1878
2332
1886
4066
1879
2447
1887
4132
1880
2513
1888
4289
1881
2894
1889
4562
The gain in the total number
of pupils registered since 1874, a period of
fifteen years, has been 2,962, which is a
total gain of nearly 200 per cent. in
considerably less than a score of years. It
will also be seen that the number registered
in 1889, above that of the previous year, is
greater than it has been any year since
1884, showing that the growth of the schools
has corresponded to the increase in
population, and the material prosperity of
the city.
While the material resources of the city
have been developed, its commercial
interests carefully consulted and its
transportation facilities largely increased,
the education of its future citizens has not
been neglected. During the last ten years
more than $1,000,000 have been expended by
the taxpayers of the city in the cause of
popular education. In 1880 the sum of $43,
862.03 was paid out for maintenance of
schools; in 1881, $68,589.07; 1882,
$118,-105.56; 1883, $160,097.92; 1884,
$150,150.42; 1885, $128,551.07; 1886,
$129,362.20; 1887, $94,765.07; 1888,
$139,593.02; 1889, $135,347.51, and for 1890
it is estimated that $154,530.00 will be
required. These large sums have been
judiciously used and have made possible a
system of free schools such as affords
pupils an opportunity for a good practical
education not surpassed by any city in the
land.
Under the laws of Oregon the public schools
of Portland are not under municipal control,
the city government having nothing whatever
to do with the city schools. The school
district is a separate corporation, although
the territorial limits of the district are
identical with those of the city. All
matters pertaining to the schools are
primarily decided, not by the general voters
but by the taxpayers, and women as well as
men have a vote here. The schools are under
the management of a board of five directors,
chosen by the taxpayers, one being elected
each year to serve five years. The amount of
money to support the schools is raised by
such tax on the property of the school
district as may be voted at the annual
meeting of taxpayers held in March.
The district has been most fortunate in the
selection of its school officers. Since the
organization of the free school system, the
board of directors has been composed of
Portland's most progressive and public
spirited citizens who have generously
devoted their time and attention to the
cause of popular education. A complete list
of those who have served the city in this
capacity since the organization of the
district, in 1856, is herewith appended, it
being eminently fit that the names of these
laborers in behalf of the public weal should
be preserved:
John Wilson, James Steel, Wm.
Wadhams, N. Versteeg, P. Wasserman
Win. Church, Jr.
1884
John Wilson, C. H. Dodd, Wm. Wadhams,
N. Versteeg, P. Wasserman
Wm. Church, Jr.
1885
John Wilson, C. H. Dodd, D. P.
Thompson, N. Versteeg, P. Wasserman
T. T. Struble
1886
John Wilson, C. H. Dodd, D. P.
Thompson, G H. Durham,P. Wasserman
T. T. Struble
1887
John Wilson, C H. Dodd, D. P.
Thompson, G. H. Durham, W. M. Ladd
Fred A. Daly
1888
L. Therkelson, C. H. Dodd, D. P.
Thompson, G. H. Durham,W. M. Ladd
H. S. Allen
1889
L. Therkelson, M. C. George, D. P.
Thompson, G. H. Durham, W. M. Ladd
H. S. Allen
Besides the public schools
mentioned in the foregoing, Portland offers
many advantages in the way of private and
special schools for those who prefer them.
Among the first of the private schools which
assumed any magnitude was the Portland
Academy and Female Institute, which was
opened in 1850, by Mr. Buchanan. In 1852, C.
S. Kingsley and wife assumed its control and
managed it for several years. It was located
on Seventh street between Columbia and
Jefferson streets. In 1862, Rev. D. E. Blain
was principal and Miss S. A. Cornell,
preceptor's, at which time there were
seventy-five pupils in attendance. Two years
later, O. S. Frambes became principal; Mrs.
S. E. Frambes, preceptress, and J. G.
Deardorf and Miss Mary McGee, assistant
teachers. For some years after it maintained
a high rank as an educational institution,
but the growth and development of the public
school system finally usurped the field and
it ceased to exist in 1878.
St. Mary's Academy, the oldest private
school in Portland, was founded, in 1859, by
the Sisters of the Most Holy Names of Jesus
and Mary, from Montreal, Canada, who at the
same time established a convent of their
order. They opened a day and boarding school
in a small wooden building on Fourth street,
between Mill and Market streets. The school
has had a prosperous career, and a large
three-story brick building has recently been
completed at a cost of $40,000 to meet the
demand of the rapidly growing patronage it
enjoys. At present twenty teachers are
employed in instructing the 250 pupils who
are receiving their education at this
institution. All of the common English
branches are taught, besides Latin, German
and French. Rev. Mother Mary Justina is
provincial superior and Sister Mary Patrick
is directress of studies.
It would be almost impossible to give even a
list of the numerous private schools which,
for a time, flourished in Portland. Among
the earliest, not before mentioned, were
those conducted by Rev. P. Machen, J.
McBride and J. H. Stinson. For a time the
congregation of Beth Israel maintained a
Hebrew school, on the corner of Fifth and
Oak streets. It was under the supervision of
Rev. Dr. Eckman as principal and Rev. H.
Bories and Geo. F. Boynton, teachers. The
directors were: H. F. Bloch, N. Werthermer
and S. Blumauer.
Among the most successful of the private
schools of Portland is the Bishop Scott
Academy, which owes its origin to the
Protestant Episcopal church. As far back as
the year 1854, a long time ago in this
country, a committee was appointed by Bishop
Thomas F. Scott, to secure property for a
school, to be conducted under the auspices
of the Portland Episcopal Church, in the
then Territory of Oregon. The site selected
was a tract of land near Oswego. Trinity
school was finally opened in the spring of
1856, with Mr. Bernard Cornelius as
principal. It had a precarious existence for
a number of years, sometimes being closed
for a year at a time, and closed permanently
in 1865. Such names as the Rev. Mr. Fackler,
the Rev. John W. Sellwood, and Mr.
Hodgkinson are to be found on the records of
the school, as having been in charge at
various times. After the arrival of Bishop
Morris upon his field of labor, in June,
1869, he took steps to establish a school
for boys in the then jurisdiction of Oregon
and Washington. He chose Portland as the
site of the institution, which he named-in
honor of his predecessor-The Bishop Scott
Grammar and Divinity School. The very first
money ever received by Bishop Morris for
this purpose came from some little boys at
the Ury School, Pennsylvania. They saved
their spending money during Lent, and sent
an offering of $50 to the Bishop of Oregon,
for a school for boys. One of those little
benefactors, now a busy man, recently
visited Portland, and manifested a warm
interest in the academy which he had aided,
as a child. Two double blocks in the
pleasantest part of the city were next given
for school purposes by Captain Flanders and
Mrs. Caroline Couch; and the corner stone of
the Bishop Scott Grammar School was laid on
the 5th of July, 1870, by Bishop Morris,
assisted by several of the clergy. The
grounds at that time were away out in the
woods in the western part of the city, and
it required great faith in the development
of the country and the town to establish a
school at that time and place. With
indomitable perseverance, however, it was
built and opened for business on September
6, 1870, under Prof. Chas. H. Allen. The
chapel of the school was named St.
Timothy's. The property at Oswego was sold
for about $5,000, and held as the beginning
of an endowment for the Bishop Scott Grammar
School. The school was successful from the
very beginning under the wise management of
Prof. Allen. It continued with varying
success until it was overcome by misfortune
in the burning of the building on November
8, 1877. A large amount of church property
was destroyed and the school received a
severe set back. With his remarkable energy,
however, Bishop Morris set to work
immediately towards re-building the
institution, and the corner stone of the
present building was laid June 6, 1878.
School was re-opened September 3d, of that
year, under the charge of Dr. J. W. Hill as
head master, who has been at his post up to
the present writing. In 1887, the armory was
built and military discipline was
introduced; the name of the school changed
to Bishop Scott Academy, the whole school
re-organized and the institution entered
upon a new era of usefulness. During 1888
and 1889, about $15,000 were expended on
permanent improvements on the school
property, consisting of a wing on the north
side, practically more than doubling the
capacity of the institution. For a number of
years past the school has been on a
substantial basis and has met with all the
success its friends could wish for. It has
grown to be an institution in the broadest
sense of the word. The course of study is
varied to meet the requirements of any class
of students. The history of the school is
closely interwoven with that of very many
families. Its graduates and former pupils
are now to be found all over our Northwest.
The influence for good that it has upon the
young of the Northwest is beyond
calculation. Its present success is, very
gratifying to all interested in the cause of
Christian education.
St. Helen's Hall, a school for girls, was
founded by the Rt. Rev. B. Wistar Morris, D.
D., the present bishop of Oregon.
Immediately upon his election as missionary
bishop in 1868, he conceived the plan of
establishing a girl's school of a high
order, in which religious and secular
education should go hand in hand. In this
undertaking he sought and obtained the
co-operation of the sisters of his wife, the
Misses Rodney, of Delaware, all graduates of
St Mary's Hall, Burlington, N. J., and
teachers of reputation in the east.
Bishop Morris soon bought from Mrs. Scott,
the widow of his predecessor, a desirable
site for the girl's school near the Plaza.
The funds necessary for this purchase were
furnished by Mr. John D. Wolfe, of New York,
a noble churchman, who did the like for many
other church schools in our country.
** G. W.
Murray resigned in September, 1877. E.
Arnold was appointed his successor. Mr.
Arnold died in February, 1878, and D. W.
Williams was appointed to the vacancy. Mr.
Williams was regularly elected the first
time in April, 1878..r Charles Hodge died
March 30, 1883. James Steel was elected to
the vacancy at a special election, Apr. 24,
1883. Of the thirty-three persons, including
the present board, who have served as school
directors during these thirty-three years,
the following are dead: Wm. Weatherford,
Josiah Failing, Alexander Campbell, John. H.
Couch, J. D. Holman, Thos. J. Holmes, A. L.
Lovejoy, J. A. Chapman, John G. Glenn and
Charles Hodge. Prior to April, 1863 the
entire board was elected annually. In
October, 1862, the school law was amended,
making a term of a director three years. In
October, 1882, an act was passed
constituting cities of 10,000 inhabitants
one school district--increasing the number
of directors to five and extending the term
to five years. In 1878 the time for holding
school elections was changed from April to
March.
