Handbook_Schools_A-G
FULTON COUNTY INDIANA
HANDBOOK
Schools A-G
By
Wendell C. and John B. Tombaugh
Limited Printing
Copy No.____of 6
TOMBAUGH HOUSE
700 Pontiac Street
Rochester, Indiana
46975-1538
2001
This book cannot be reproduced without the express permission of Wendell C. Tombaugh, John B. Tombaugh, their heirs or assigns.
Made in the United States of America.
Fulton County Indiana Handbook
SCHOOLS
* * * * *
AKRON GRADE SCHOOL [Akron, Indiana ]
Located at SE corner of Orchard and Johnston streets.
Two story brick building with basement.
Was originally the Akron High School building.
Beginning school year 1995-96, the school at Akron was used only for elementary grades.
__________
[photo] Akron Grade School, October 23, 1901, Grades 1-2-3, Evah Shafer, Teacher. Back Row: Unknown, unknown, Leota Stevenson, Flossie Personett, Neva Haldeman, Ethel Sausaman, Ruth Waechter, Carl Henderson, Ruth Spiro, unknown, Ruby Hoffman, Leroy Millow, Loa Secor, unknown, Eva Lants, Vera Showalter. Middle Row: Ruth Hartman, Faye Leininger, unknown, [ – – – – ] Burns, Lucile Hoover, Geneva Vickery, Earl Arter, Leah Bunall, Dorothy Karns, Claude Wade, Kathryn Whallon, Ethel Arter, Pearl Bright, unknown. Front Row: Walter Patterson, unknown, John Shireman, Charles Kisler, Orville Hoffman, Herbert Harter, Ernest Lantz, Max Hoffman, Whitney Gast, Dow Patterson, Frances Onstott.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August 1969, No. 1, p. 9]
[photo] Akron 7th and 8th Grades In Front of Rented Adventist Church 1912 or 1913. Back Row: Fred Blackburn – teacher; Loyd Haldeman, Clifford Bright, Mr. Neal – teacher. Second Row: Glen Arter, Ruth Love, Neva Personett, Faye Morrett – teacher, Bessie Hoffman, unknown, Ruby Miller, Helen Rule, Ethel Higgins, Enid Hart, Sylvia Secor. Middle Row: Gladys Stoner, Nina Hoffman, Beatrice Stephenson, Rachel Martin, Marie Gast, Lennie Karns, Nellie Bright, Edith Studebaker, Mary Hire, Sarah Strong, Jessie Leon Carr, Ruth McCullough, Pearl Carpenter, unknown, Mary Rule. Front Row: Clair Moore, Ralph Leininger, Paul Lamoree, Forest Greenwood, Paul Hammond, unknown, Ruel Churchill.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August 1969, No. 1, p. 8]
[photo] Akron Sixth Grade, Fall of 1914 – became the graduating class of 1921. Row 1: Thadeus Kriegbaum, Dever Larue, B. Burroughs, Rex Bender, B. Valentine, Clyde Hoffman, Harley Swihart, Dale Hartman, Reginald Harter, Robert Gast, Hanly Blackburn, Virgil Henderson, Adam Stout, Paul Knight. Row 2: Louise Bowman, Ruth Dillman, Emma Lantz, Zelda Moore, Kathryn Read, Lena Reed, Marie Arter, Ruth (Waechter) Keebler – teacher, Georgia Stoner, Marie Keim, Nondus Pierson, Lorene Waechter, Beulah Blaisdel, Lamoin Hand. Row 3: Vernon Daggy, Charles Dilsaver, Howard Bunn, Harry Arnold, Walter Leininger, Carol Young, Fred Snoke, Carl Shipley, Carrol Hammond, Willis Higgins, Robert Hammond, and George Harper. (Photo: J. Harold Read)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 8]
[photo] The fire escape of the Akron Grade School provided the setting for the 1921 first grade class picture. The teachers are Tural Haldeman and Neva (Haldeman) Kinder. (Photo: Wendell Tombaugh]
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p 47]
[photo] Akron Grade School building in 1927 yearbook, The Golden Haze.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p. 45]
[photo] Akron 4th grade, 1923: Front row: Edward Slaybaugh, Joseph Madeford, George Lautzenhizer, Arthur Martin, Charles Bradway, Gerald Rookstool. Row 2: Robert Cook, Charles Norris, James Clemons, Kenneth Bright, Wayne Girard, Earl Dickerhoff, Robert Sheets, Woodrow Alspaugh, Byron Thompson. Row 3: Mary Lautzenhizer, Selystia Lytle, Julia Day, Freda Perry, Ruth Clemons, Virginia Chapman, Irene Krieg, Elizabeth Waechter, Raymond Krieg. Row 4: Ruth Landis, Helen Keesey, Daniel Smith, Opal Utter, Mary Schaeffer (Shafer), Freda Hatfield, Evelyn Kamp, Helen Reahard, Daniel Secor, Wendell Tombaugh. Row 5: Lucille Stout – teacher, Ernest Bright, Gordon Trout, Mildred Thompson, Marie Stark, Oscar Harmon, Fred Hammond, Virginia Riley, Treva Bechelheimer, Louise Wilhoit, Roy Harmon, Edith Haldeman, Rosie Moore. Back Row: John Raymer – janitor, Devon Moore, Dever Eshelman, Harold Zeibert, Irene Norris, Vera Moore, Gertrude Doub, Earl Kuhn, Edith Daumer. (Photo: Virginia Riley Longenecker)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54 p. 52]
[photo] Akron 5th grade, 1924-25. Front Row: Harry Huppert, Helen Keesey, Marie Stark, Wendell Tombaugh, Ruth Landis, Loren Curry, Lyle Curry, unknown, Kenneth Bright, Edith Haldeman. Row 2: Freda Hatfield, Louise Lamb, Irene Krieg, Gordon Trout, Opal Utter, Daniel Secor, Evelyn Kamp, Joseph Madeford, Raymond Krieg, Earl Dickerhoff, George Lautzenhizer. Row 3: Nelly Onstott – teacher, Edward Slaybaugh, Mildred Thompson, Helen Reahard, Robert Cook, Wayne Gerard, Charles Haldeman, Mary Shafer, Julia Day, Virginia Chapman. Row 4: Seth Carpenter – principal, Bernice Bowen – music teacher, Rosie Moore, Charles Bradway, Mary Lautzenhizer, Robert Sheetz, Byron Thompson, Elizabeth Baum, Virginia Riley, Daniel Smith, Treva Bechelheimer, Elizabeth Waechter. Back Row: John Raymer – janitor, Edith Studebaker – teacher, Fred Hammond, Rosella Reece, Vera Mooroe, Gertrude Doub, Joseph Lantz, Harold Ziebert, Earl Kuhn, Dever Eshelman, Evelyn Showalter. (Photo: Virginia Riley Longenecker)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p. 54]
[photo] Akron 6th grade 1925-26. Front Row: Mildred Thompson, Mary Shafer, Beryl Rader, Evelyn Kamp, Mary Lautzenhizer, Louise Lamb, Harry Huppert, Wendell Tombaugh, Earl Dickerhoff. Row 2: Irene Krieg, Ruth Landis, Joseph Madeford, Daniel Secor, Freda Hatfield, Helen Keesey, Lyle Curry, Kenneth Bright, Henry Hartman, George Lautzenhizer, Robert Sheetz. Row 3: Rosie Moore, Robert Cook, Helen Reahard, Fred Hammond, Earl Kuhn, Daniel Smith, Edward Slaybaugh, Loren Curry, Donivan Meredith, Nelly Onstott – teacher, Bernice Bowen – music teacher. Row 4: Elizabeth Baum, Louise Wilhoit, Charles Bradway, Evelyn Showalter, Byron Thompson, Virginia Riley, Vera Moore, Elizabeth Waechter, Raymond Krieg, Charles Haldeman, Edith Studebaker – teacher. Back Row: Robert Sopher, Joseph Lantz, Russell Kamp, Rosella Reece, Treva Bechelheimer, Annabelle Lamb, Virginia Chapman, Gertrude Doub, Julia Day, Harold Ziebert, John Raymer – janitor, Seth Carpenter – principal. (Photo: Virginia Riley Longenecker)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p. 55]
[photo] Akron school bus drivers – 1920’s. Left to right: John Raymer – janitor, J. R. Miller, Edison Bowen, William Arter, Estil Bryant, Albert Perry,Tommy Shriver, Ellis Riley, Ed Arter, Albert Cox. (Photo: Akron Library)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p. 61]
[photo] Eighth Grade, Akron, 1927-28. Front Row: Daniel Smith, Earl Dickerhoff, Joseph Madeford, Donivan Meredith, Kenneth Bright, Richard Moore, Raymond Krieg, Junior Garritson, Harry Huppert, Daniel Secor, Paul Bowen. Row 2: Harold Bryant, Mary Shafer, Angenetta Spitler, Grace Gallentine, Dorothy Roderick, Charlotte Paxton, Lois Burkett, Irene Smoker, Rosy Moore, Gertrude Doub, Margaret Hammerlin, Mildred Thompson, Lois Strong. Row 3: Russel Kamp, Woodrow Smith, Emerson Shrout, Elizabeth Baum, Evelyn Showalter, Elizabeth Waechter, Ferol Burkett, Helen Keesey, Virginia Riley, Helen Reahard, Julia Day, Annabel Lamb, Opal Utter, Louise Wilhoit, Irene Krieg, Vera Moore, Juanita Cutshaw, Miss Holland – sponsor. Row 4: Byron Thompson, Werner Schulz, Henry Hartman, Fred Stokes, Fred Hammond, Charles Bradway, Charles Haldeman, Edward Slaybaugh, Earl Kuhn, Raymond Shipley, Ray Becket, Leon Kindig, Joseph Lantz. (Photo: The Golden Haze, 1928)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p. 62]
[photo] Akron Junior High Assembly in south wing, The Golden Haze, 1928.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p. 64]
__________
DISTRICT 4 – AKRON SCHOOL
By Velma Bright
Near the close of the Civil War, a two story frame building was erected on Walnut and Whittenberger Streets. This building was used for school purposes about twenty years. The land where the building stood was sold to Moses Sayger by Henry Township in April 1885. Four lots on Maple Street were bought by Henry Township from Elisa Slaybaugh on May 21, 1884. [NOTE: See Akron School, Dist. 4. -WCT]
In 1895 a new brick two story building containing eight rooms was completed. This was built on the site formerly occupied by a four room frame school. This was located on Maple Street. This contained both the grade school and high school students until December 1, 1913 when the new high school building was completed in the north part of Akron on Center Street.
The Adventist Church building which is the present Church of God was rented for a while before the new high school was completed. Seventh and eighth grade classes were held here to relieve crowded conditions at the school.
In 1923 the eighth grade was moved to the high school because of crowded conditions. In 1927 an addition was made to the high school building and the seventh grade was moved into this building. Another addition and remodeling of the building was done in 1950.
In 1949 a new grade school building was built just north of the nigh school building. This was finished and ready for use in January 1950. The old grade building on Maple Street was sold and demolished. An addition was made to the grade school building in 1967.
In 1962 the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation was organized. This was a consolidation of the schools of Akron, Mentone, Beaver Dam, Talma and Burket. This district included Henry Township and Newcastle Township in Fulton County and Franklin and Seward Townships in Kosciusko County.
The present high schools are located at Akron and Mentone; the sixth and seventh grades at Talma and grade schools at Akron, Burket and Mentone. The Beaver Dam School was destroyed by fire in January 1968.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August 1969, No. 1, p. 7]
The Akron Public School closes next Tuesday . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, March 28, 1872]
School Reports [of Rochester Public School showing 472 enrolled, L. Bryan, Supt., and Akron Public School, showing 71 enrolled, E. H. Sickman, Alice Whittenberger, Teachers.]
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, February 13, 1873]
We stand in need very much of a graded school in this Township . . .
[Akron News, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 6, 1873]
Our school at this place has been in progress for two weeks, under the management of Robert Wallace and Miss Maggie Davis. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 20, 1873]
Wm. Beamandorfer and one of his scholars didn’t agree very well last week. They are now trying to settle the dispute by law. [QUERY: Does Mr. Beamandorfer teach in the Akron school, or is it a township school? -WCT]
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, February 19, 1874]
Robert Wallace of the Akron school is preparing for an exhibition to be given at the close of the term. “Ten Nights in a Bar-room” is the popular and favorite drama.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 21, 1874]
Our new school house has a new covering.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, October 29, 1874]
R. C. Wallace, our worthy teacher, left our village today for Warsaw, with the avowed purpose of looking up a location where he may engage in the profession of dentistry. . [Akron News, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 11, 1874]
R. C. Wallace not being able to perfect his business arrangements at Warsaw, wisely concluded to return to Akron and open a dental office. . .
— Our school opened on last Monday, Lawson Noyer, principal.
[Akron News, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 18, 1874]
A. L. Shafer has been elected to teach the next term of the Akron school.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, October 23, 1875]
W. A. Dillon presides at No. 4 [Akron]. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, January 20, 1877]
F. P. Bitters of the Akron graded school was among his friends at Valparaiso this week.
[Rochester, Sentinel, Saturday, December 29, 1877]
As a teacher Prof. Wm. Strong is a success.
Miss Maggie Davis, the able assistant of Principal Bitters, is now boarding at Matthew Yeagley’s.
[Rochester, Sentinel, Saturday, January 12, 1878]
Frank P. Bitters winter term of school expired this week. The primary grade under the direction of Maggie Davis will be continued the short term of two weeks. Frank P. Bitters started for Louisville, Ky., where he will attend a four months course of lectures at the Medical College there.
[Rochester, Sentinel, Saturday, March 2, 1878]
The public school here is being continued for a term of four weeks, under the supervision of Mr. David Knott.
[Rochester, Sentinel, Saturday, March 9, 1878]
The Akron Public School under the directorship of Mr. David Knott, closed last Friday. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, June 29, 1878]
The Akron school which is under the management of a Mr. Ferry from near Bloomingsburg, has an increase of scholars over that of last winter’s number. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 7, 1878]
Akron is to have a fall term of graded school under the superintendency of C. K. Bitters.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, August 30, 1879]
__________
Teachers: Fred Blackburn was principal; Seth Carpenter taught 1923-27; Tural Haldeman and her sister Neva Kinder taught in 1920 and for several years after that; Kathleen (Kate) Morris Jennens, 1939-44 and 1968-78; Thelma Sanders Safford, 1943-44; Jane Hill Henson; Linda Marie Hill
Lester Davis writes the following: “I started to school in 1915 at a small country school four miles southwest of Akron; namely, Prairie Union. It was discontinued four years later, then I went to Akron Grade School. My first grade teacher was Seth Carpenter, second – Pearl Kessling, third and fourth – Neva Cutshall, fifth – Thelma Ball, sixth – my aunt Maune Nye, seventh and eighth – Ruth Waechter. My high school principals in order named were Roy Jones, Dessa Fultz, and S. Earl Rouch. Some of my teachers were Imogene Zartmen, Cecil Kuhn, Ed Comer, Robert Allen, Dale Lichtenwalter, Hubert Dickson. Custodians were John Raymer and Carl Slaybaugh.”
[Davis & Wilhoit Families, Doshia A. Wilhoit Dearmin, Fulton Co Folks, Vol. 2, Willard]
__________
1929-30: Enrol. (1-8) 347. Lloyd Swick, 6; F. Lucille Regenos, 5; Lucy Oliver, 4; Mary Dickey, 3; Carrie Long, 2; Nondus Pearson, 2; Marie E. Zegafuse, 1.
1930-31: Enrol. (1-8) 355. Lloyd Swick, 6; Russell Shipley, 5; Lucy Oliver, 4; Nadine Roe, 3; Hildred Kuhn, 3; Nondus Pearson, 2; Ruth Parker, 1; Vivian Kitterman, 1.
1931-32: Enrol. (108) 272. Lloyd Swick, 6; Russell Shipley, 5; Pauline Poor, 4; Hildred Kuhn, 4; Nadine Roe, 3; Nondus Pearson, 2; Helen Baum, 2; Vivian Kotterman, 1.
1932-33: Enrol. (1-6) 288. Prin. Lloyd Swick, 6; Russell Shipley, 5; Nadine Roe, 5; Pauline Poor, 4; Hildred Kuhn, 3; Phyllis Gaerte, 2; Lena A. Wenger, 1; Nellie G. Huppert, 1; Ruth M. Carlson, Mu., Art.
1933-34: Enrol. (1-6) 269. Prin. Glenn Fox, 6; Russell Shipley, 5; Eva Rowe, 4; Trella Kuhn, 4; Nondus Pearson, 3; Nellie Huppert, 2; Annetta Marsh, 2; Lena Wenger, 1.
1934-35: Enrol. (1-6) 278. Prin. Glenn Fox, 6; Russell Shipley, 5; Trella Kuhn, 4; Doris Arter, 3; Eva Rowe, 3; Annetta Marsh, 2; Lena Wenger, 1; Nellie Huppert, 1.
1935-36: Enrol. (1-6) 261. Prin. Glenn Fox, 5-6; Russell Shipley, 5-6; Trella Kuhn, 4; Eva Rowe, 4; Doris Arter, 3; Annetta Marsh, 2; Nellie Huppert, 2; Lena Wenger, 1.
1936-37: Enrol. (1-6) 239. Prin. A. Glenn Fox, 5-6; Russell L. Shipley, 5-6; Genavee Moore, 5; Trella Kuhn, 4; Doris Arter, 3; Eva Rowe, 3; Thais Greulach, 2; Mary E. Reahard, 1.
1937-38: Enrol. (1-6) 247. Prin. A. Glenn Fox, 5-6; Russell Shipley, 5-6; Genavee Moore, 4; Eva Rowe, 4; Doris Arter, 3; Thais Greulach, 2; Martha Jane Burdge, 1; Reba Maree Woods, Mu., Art.
1938-39: Enrol. (1-6) 233. Prin. Thais Greulach, 2; Russell Shipley, 5-6; Phyllis Keiser, 5-6; Genavee Moore, 5-6; Eva Rowe, 4; Dora Jane Riley, 3; Martha Jane Burdge, 1.
1939-40: Enrol. (1-6) 256. Prin. Thais Greulach, 2; Phyllis Keiser, 5-6; Genavee Moore, 5-6; Russell Shipley, 5-6; Eva Rowe, 4; Kathleen Morris, 3; Dora Jane Riley, 2-3; Martha Burdge, 1.
1940-41: Enrol. (1-6) 221. Prin. Thais Greulach, 2; Russell Shipley, 5-6; Genavee Moore, 5-6; Eva Rowe, 4; Kathleen Morris, 3; Dora Jane Riley, 2-3; Martha Burdge, 1.
1941-42: Enrol. (1-6) 225. Prin. Thais Greulach, 2; Russell Shipley, 5-6; Genavee Moore, 5-6; Eva Rowe, 4; Dora Jane Riley, 3-4; Ethel Heltzel, 1.
1942-43: Enrol (1-6) 243. Prin. Richard Knarr, 6; Frances Gillespie, 5; Genavee Moore, l4-5; Eva Mathiesen, 3-4; Kathleen Morris 3; Gladys Shirey, 2; Ethel Heltzel, 1.
1944-45: Enrol. (1-6) 253. Prin. Edgar Baney, 6; Romona Klopfenstien, 5; Betty Sanders, 4; Betty Showalter, 3; Eva Bevington, 2; Ethel Heltzel, 1; Amy Ramsey, 1; LaDonna Summe, Mu.
1946-47: Enrol. (1-6) 259. Prin. Virginia Rose, 4; Russell Shipley, 6; Eva Mathiesen, 5; Betty Lou Showalter, 3; Lena Swick, 2-3; Eva Bevington, 2; Helen Irelan, 1; LaDonna Rader, Mu.
1948-49: Enrol (1-6) 293. Prin. Virginia Rose, 5; June Merley, 6; Samuel H. Brewer, 4-5; Lena Swick, 4; Betty Lou Showalter, 3; Eva Mathiesen, 2; Retha June Bollinger, 1-2; Helen Irelan, 1; LaDonna Rader, Mu.
1949-50: Enrol. (1-6) 273. Prin. Virginia Rose, 5; June Merley, 6; Helen A. Brewer, 5-6; Retha Bollinger, 5, Mu.; E. Mary Yager, 4; Betty Lou Hodson, 3; Lena Kuhn, 2-3; Eva Mathiesen, 2; Helen Irelan, 1.
1950-51: Enrol. (1-6) 263. Prin. Virginia Rose, 5; Helen A. Brewer, 6; June Merley, 4; Mable Bevington, 3-4; Lena Kuhn, 3; Eva Mathiesen, 2; Helen Irelan, 1; LaDonna Rader, Mu.
1951-52: Enrol. (1-6) 274. Prin. Virginia Rose, 5; Emmett J. Williamson, 6; Mable Bevington, 4-5; June Merley, 4; Lena Kuhn, 3; Eva Mathiesen, 2; Eva Bevington, 1; Helen Jane Irelan, 1; LaDonna Rader, Mu.
1953-54: Enrol. (1-6) 259. Prin. Virginia Rose, 5-6; Ernest E. Becraft, 5-6; Karleton Halladay, 5-6; June Merley, 4; Lena Kuhn, 3; Eva Mathiesen, 2; Helen Irelan, 1; Neva Kinder, 1; Mable Bevington, Art; Onita Johnson, Mu., P.E.
1955-56: Enrol. (1-6) 251. Ernest E. Becraft, 6; Lenora S. Burke, 5; June Merley, 4; Hazel Savage, 3-4; Lena Kuhn, 3; Eva Mathiesen, 2; Helen Irelan, 1; Neva Kinder, 1; Mable Bevington, Art; Onita Johnson, Mu., P.E.; Imogene Mavis, B.
1957-58: Enrol. (1-6) 294. Asst Prin. Albert F. Ginther, 6; Maxine Heltzel, 5-6; Ernest Becraft, 5; Lenora S. Burke, 4; Lena M. Kuhn, 3; Hazel Savage, 2-3; Eva Mathiesen, 2; Helen Irelan, 1; Neva Kinder, 1; Mable Bevington, Art; Mary Howard, Mu., P.E.; Imogene Mavis, B.
1959-60: Enrol. (1-6) 294. Asst. Prin., Morris Alger, 6; Maxine Heltzel, 4-5; Ernest Becraft, 5; Vera Blough, 5; Lenora S. Burke, 4; Hazel Savage, 3; Lena M. Kuhn, 3; Eva Mathiesen, 2; Dona B. Miller, 2; Helen Irelan, 1; Neva Kinder, 1; Mabel Befington, Art; Imogene Mavis, Mu.
1961-62: Enrol. (1-6) 282. Asst. Prin., Morris Alger, 6; Bob DuBois, 6; Ernest Becraft, 5; LaDonna Rader, 5; Lenora S. Burke, 4; Verla Jean Rager, 4; Hazel Savage, 3; Lena M. Kuhn, 3; Dona B. Miller, 2; Tural Haldeman, 2; Neva Kinder, 1; Stella Buck, 1; Theresa Hemphill, Mu., P.E.; Mabel Bevington, Art; Thomas Benbrook, P.#.; Imogene Mavix, Band.
[F.C.H.S. files]
Mary [Reahard] Lukens taught Akron grade 1, 1937-41.
See Akron High School; See Akron School.
AKRON HIGH SCHOOL [Akron, Indiana]
Located N part of town on Center Street.
__________
[photo] Akron High School in 1911. (Photo in FCHS collection donated by Mary Knepper from Esta Large estate, Tiosa.)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 43, p. 60]
[photo] Akron High School Team 1911-12. Front Row: Earl Arter, Frank Dawson Walter Haldeman, Glenn Buck, Roy Miller. Back Row: Knerr Kinder, Walter Swihart – Athletic Assn. treasurer, William Shewman – Coach, Ray Shelton – Athletic Assn. secretary, Asa Whittenberger. (Photo: J. Harold Read)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 12]
[photo] Akron High School Class of 1912. Front Row (faculty): Faye (Morrett-Gast) Sterling, Dessa (Sayger) Fultz, William Neal, Ethel (Shipley) Graham, William Shewman. Women in Staggered Middle Row: Zoa Smith, Ethel Lukens, Sarah Gaerte, Cora Zimmerman, Mary Read, Ethel Bolley, Dawn Read, Mabel Hartman, Hazel Whittenberger, Ariel Clifton, Winifred Case. Back Row: Asa Whittenberger, Roy Miller, Earl Arter, Earl Pressnal, Walter Swihart, Cleotus Smith, Walter Haldeman. (Photo: Akron Library)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 10]
[photo] New Akron [High] School built 1913. (Photo donated to FCHS by Mrs. Damon Miller)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 55]
[photo] Akron High School graduates in 1914. Teachers in back: two unknowns, Dessie Sayger, Mrs. Gast, Roy Jones.
Row 2: Ethel Kuhn, Edna Glasford, Edgar Runkle, Willa Pearson, Max Hoover, Kathleen Kissler, Seth Carpenter, Noble Snyder, Earnest Hunter.
Front row: Ethel Arter, Willis Cook, Faith Thompson, Ner Kinder, Mary Siffert, Kenneth Oliver, Edna Halderman, Forrest Carpenter, Blanche Wade, Ray Shelton. (Photo: Mary Oliver Krouse)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 55]
[photo] Akron Basketball Team 1913-14. Front Row: Forrest Higgins, Ralph Shelton, Kenneth Personett. Back Row: Joseph Wilhoit, Dale Leininger, Roy Jones – coach, Emmet Davis, Glenn Buck. This team and the 1914-15 team, both distinguished themselves in the state tournaments. (Photo: Akron Library)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 11]
[photo] Cloyde W. Leininger 1915-16-17. (We were unable to find his individual basketball picture.) “Gig” would rate as the star forward and all-around athlete, in any consensus of opinions during his years on the Akron teams. (Photo: Cloyde Leininger)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 13]
[photo] Jennings Grube 1916-17 (left). Later known as “Biggie” Grube, he was imported from Kewanna to play center on Akron’s short teams. While in Akron, he lived at the home of his sister, Mrs. Vernon Shipley. (Photo: Cloyde Leininger).
[photo] Harold “Bead” Read 1918-19 (right). Not a great star, but among those present, and it was no problem to find the picture. (Photo: J. H. Read)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 14]
[photo] Class of 1918, Akron High School. Front Row: Ben Rufe, Wendell Godwin, Colfax Rhodes, Harold Read, Dewitt Hosman. Row 2: Ralph Arter, Lloyd Carpenter, Dever Shewman, Nile Lamoree, Andrew Engle, Dwight Whitcomb, Merrill Penry. Row 3: Athel Timbers Helen Stout, Hazel Merley, Lucile Highway, Joanna Miller. Row 4: (faculty) Faye (Gast) Sterling, Grace Whitsell, Ethel (Shipley) Graham. Row 5: (faculty) Russell Lehner, Cecil Kuhn, William Shewman. (Photo: Akron Library)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 9]
[photo] Female Impersonators. Male Chorus line in a play staged by the Akron class of 1918. Left to right: Ruel Churchill, Russell Sparks, Russell Ferree, Clair Moore, Willis Herrold, and William Smith. (Photo: Akron Library)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 18]
[photo] The old Akron High School & Grade Building, taken from the southwest corner; it faced west on Maple Street. The Winona Interurban passed east-0and-west on the south side. (Photo: Akron Library)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 1 – cover]
[photo] Akron school bus drivers in 1920’s. Left to right: John Raymer – janitor. J. R Miller, unidentified, William Arter, unidentified, Estil Bryant, unidentified, Tom Shriver, Ellis Riley, Ed Arter, and Albert Cox. (Photo: Akron Library)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 43, p. 62]
[photo] This is the 1925 graduating class of Akron high school of which Kendall Hosman was a member. This class met in 1975 in Akron to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Of 16 living members, 12 attended the anniversary celebration. One member has died since.
Back row: Joe Day, June Landis Castle, Wilbur Kercher, Kendall Hosman, Forest Grogg, Mabel Keesey Baber, James Rittenhouse, Ronald Engle, John Barr, Opal Burns Hoffman, Francis McCullough, and William Huppert.
Front row: Pauline Bowen Bennett, Constance Haldeman Kercher, Wilma Miller Higgins, Marie Linebaugh Crum, Dessa Sayger Fultz – teacher, superintendent and class sponsor; Mary Leach Duke, Iva Shriver, Lola Calloway, Joanna Day and seated in front, Rex Rader.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 23, p. 26]
[photo] Akron High School, 1927 yearbook, The Golden Haze.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p. 60]
[photo] Akron Senior High School Assembly, The Golden Haze, 1928.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p. 65]
[photo] Akron sophomores in the old gym, 1930. Front Row: Edward Slaybaugh, Emerson Shrout, Raymond Krieg, Daniel Smith, Earl Kuhn, Donivan Meredith, Charles Haldeman, Harold Bryant, Charles Bradway, Earl Dickerhoff. Row 2: Mary Shafer, Louise Wilhoit, Helen Reahard, Angenetta Spitler, Irene Smoker, Mabel Ratliffe, Julia Day, Virginia Riley, Evelyn Showalter, Elizabeth Baum. Row 3: Robert A Royer – teacher, Alma Dixon, Grace Gallentine, Mabel McGee, Virginia Chapman, Dorothy Roderick, Juanita Cutshall, Margaret Hammerel, Helen Riley, Charlotte Paxton, Mildred Thompson, Helen Keesey, Ferol Burkett. Back Row: Everett Pontius, Leon Kindig, Paul Bowen, Daniel Secor, Harry Huppert, Fred Stokes, Fred Hammond, Joseph Madeford, Henry Hartman, LeRoy Saygers, Raymond Shipley, Kenneth Bright. (Photo: Mildred Thompson Fleegle)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p. 66]
[photo] Akron Senior class of 1932. Front Row: Harry Huppert, Paul Bowen, Mildred Thompson, Charlotte Paxton, Ferol Burkett, Mabel McGee, Helen Keesey, Dorothy Roderick, Edward Slaybaugh, Richard Moore. Row 2: Donivan Meredith, Daniel Secor, Juanita Cutshall, Kenneth Bright, Lois Terry, Earl Dickerhoff, Julia Day, Irene Smoker, Louise Wilhoit, Virginia Riley, Raymond Shipley. Row 3: Joseph Madeford, Alma Dixon, Grace Gallatine, Elizabeth Waechter, Charles Haldeman, Maxine Smythe, Raymond Krieg, Helen Reahard, Angenetta Spitler, Leon Kindig, Earl Kuhn. Row 4: Ray Deardorff, Charles Bradway, Henry Hartman, Emerson Schrout, Daniel Smith, Raymond Pontius, Mabel Ratliff, Margaret Hammerell, Helen Riley, Harold Bryant, Fred Hammond. (Photo: Mildred Thompson Fleegle) Graduates not in the picture: Elizabeth Baum and Evelyn Showalter.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p. 68]
[photo] Elizabeth Waechter (right) and the two seniors who do not appear in the preceding class photograph: Elizabeth Baum (left) and Evelyn Showalter (center). Photo: Alma Haupert)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, p. 69]
[photo] Akron 1947 Flyers. Coach Zerra Blickenstaff, “Skund” Bob Rhodes, Kay Hill, “Red” Dean Bammerlin, “Willie” Dwight Groninger, Irvin Pratt, “P.A.” Paul Harper, Ray Pownall, “Bud” Lyle Harris – manager, Dean Gerig, Dick Hill – manager. (Photo: Golden Haze 1947, Akron High School yearbook)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 32, p. 4]
[photo] 1953 Akron Flyers. Front row: Walter Cumberland – manager, Jack Utter, Herschel Walters, Tom Hill, Phillip Pratt, Jerry Pontius, Larry Gearhart – manager. Back row: Prin. Granville Deaton, Jerry Reed, Harry Carlton, Bill Hively, Kenneth Swick, Denny Hoover, Coach Phil McCarter. (Photo: Golden Haze 1953)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 32, p. 5]
__________
A PICTORIAL AND DESCRIPTIVE HISTORY OF AKRON, INDIANA
1836-1936
By Mrs. Ina Brundige
SCHOOLS
The first school house was located west of town, south of state highway 14, about where the Chas. Williams residence is located. Asher Welton donated the land for said purposes, specifying that when not used for a school it should revert to the owner. The patrons of the school built the building of logs. The floor was of split logs as were the benches; legs made of poles supported the benches. This building was also the “meeting house.” Wm. Culver was the first teacher and in the winter of 1838 and 1839 taught a subscription school. Mr. Culver taught the following winter beginning the three months on November 25, 1839. About the year 1840 an organization of patrons elected three district trustees. They were: Joseph Sippy, Josiah Terrell and Gardener Osgood. Mr. Osgood was chosen Clerk and Treasurer.
Said “Board of Education” entered into the following Teachers contract when some public money came to the district to apply on the teachers wages
“Contracted with Lorenzo Welton to teach school for three months at Twelve dollars per month, and be Boarded. Said Welton agrees to keep calendar months.”
“Paid to Lorenzo Welton the March dividend for 1844, thirteen dollars and thirty-five cents and took said Welton’s receipt for same.”
Contracted with Jane Osgood to keep a Summer School at one dollar per week, and Board herself. She is to teach eight hours per day. She kept in all eight weeks. The Trustees of this school district do continue to apply on the summer school, taught by Jane Osgood four dollars of the Public money and hand out of the September dividend. December the 26th, 1844.” – February the 5th, 1844.
The record has the names of thirteen voters. Thirty-three children were of school age.
“Jonathan Beebe was hired to keep a school for three months commencing on the 15th of December. Said Beebe is to keep calendar months and to commence each day at eight and close school at four in the evening, with a suitable intermission at noon and is to board himself. The district is to pay said teachers fourteen dollars per month as follows: The public money that will be on hand when said school is out and the balance in Grain, or Pork, or such other articles as said teacher may want. Each inhabitant to pay in proportion to the no. of scholars that they send to said school, and each scholar is to deliver half cord of 2 ft. stove wood at the school house. December the 8th, 1844
“Jonathan Beebe returned a list of time and an abstract March the 19th, 1845.”
The early day method seems to be crude, nevertheless sincerity of purpose that the children should not grow up illitrate was accomplished, and laid a splendid foundation for greater facilities. The community had many new settlers and by the time a school system was adopted by the state, a township Trustee was elected about the year 1856. James Dawson became township trustee and served twelve years. In the year 1850, a house was built for school purposes. It was a frame building located about where Harley Rogers’ home is.
The specifications of the house and the contract of builders, Whittenberger and Shelt, demonstrated the progress attained by the settlers.
The house was ceiled [sic] with a fine quality of lumber, all hand planed, and it was the school house where several Akron residents received their first educational training. In the spring of 1860 Roselia Scott was teacher. At the noon intermission the boys played on the piles of saw logs. (Everybody was clearing the land, and piles of logs seemed to be everywhere.) A tragedy occurred as one pile of logs commenced to roll, Bill Wilcox was caught by a log and killed instantly. The accident was the first accidental death of children in the settlement and cast a deep sorrow over all.
The school house was 20 feet wide, 24 ft. long, and 9 feet high. More settlers had come to the locality, and the school house was outgrown. The law had provided that a township trustee, instead of district trustee, should supervise the public affairs. Other school cabins had been erected over the township as necessity and convenience prompted. Some public money coming to the township in 1845 and 1846 warranted the undertaking. The amount was not sufficient to meet all expenses but the individuals in the district contributed to the fund.
After the revision of the constitution in 1851, a moderate tax was levied for the support of schools and their benefits were made free to all. This was the beginning of the free school system in Indiana, an important era in the history of public education. The schools improved although the pioneers had greater handicaps to establish meagre educational advantages. They lived to see better opportunities for education than had been anticipated.
Near the close of the Civil War a two story frame building was erected on Walnut and Whittenberger streets. It was a fine building and the patrons were elated to provide such a commodious house. The room upstairs was used frequently for public meetings and elections.
The Anti-Horse Thief Co. met once a month with headquarters in the school building. This organization was one of much importance as horse stealing in the early days was a common occurrence and thoroughly organized by the culprits. Through the Anti-Thief Co. many stolen horses were recovered and the thiefs brought to justice. This building was used for school purposes about twenty years. The increasing number of new families, and the increased number of children of school age necessitated a larger building. By this time the construction of the railroad was the means of developing additional business advantages to the interest of all citizens. A new school building erected accommodated the commissioned high school for a period, as well as the grade school. The wheels of progress continued. Today Akron and Henry township have a consolidated high school as well as two grade buildings; a commissioned high school; a splendid educational system, and automobile hacks to transport the pupils to and from school. A marvelous change from a log building and greased paper window.
PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS
Along the passing years I have heard pioneers mention certain teachers that were long remembered for the work they accomplished.
Harvey Atkinson, John Case, Johnathan Beebe, John Whittenberger, John Ball, A. B. Ball, Henry McCloud, Adam Shriver, and Wm. Walker.
The lady teachers, Roselia Scott, Rebecca McCloud, Lizzie Wishard, Minnie Sheperd, Mollie Burch, Emma Ford, Ella Davison, Dora Davis, Victoria Hakins, all of these were rated as fine instructors. In the present grade building E. A. Gast was of such ability pupils under him have said he should have never left the teaching profession. Miss Ethel Swartz, a primary teacher, possessed unusual ability to impart primary instruction. Many excellent teachers have been in our midst. We honor the work they accomplished. Mrs. Carrie H. Templeton has grown old in the service and is eligible to a teacher’s pension. Mrs. Dessie Fultz will always be remembered by Akronites for her splendid high school instructions. Ralph W. Noyer, a former teacher, is Dean of Ball State Teachers College. I have not made mention of recent teachers. They are yet in the field and the reader is more familiar with their work than the writer.
SCHOOL DAYS
Among those yet living that received early education in Akron and have passed more than three score and ten years are: Dr. F. P. Bitters, M. M. Bitters, Frank H. Terry of Rochester, Dr. S. S. Terry of Alameda, California, E. N. Shelt of Indianapolis, Crume Pegan of Denver, Colorado, Minnie Jackson of Fort Wayne, Odilla Gast, August A. Gast of Hollywood, California, Mrs. Emma Brown of Lafayette, Mrs. Maria Day of Macy, Mrs. Emma Price of New York, Willard Townsend of Richmond, Indiana, Lawson Townsend of Free Soil, Michigan, and Sam C. Noyer of Chicago.
Those yet residing in Akron and vicinity are Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Gast, Mesdames Hattie Kistler, Laura Studebaker, Miss Deborah V. Strong, Kelsey Yeagley, Scott Whittenberger, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Vickrey, Mrs. Lizzie Curtis, Mrs. Ella Noyer, Mrs. Eliza Shafer, Mrs. Brundige and R. N. Gast.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 16, pp 15-16, and 30-32]
MEMORIES OF AKRON SCHOOLS
by Whitney Gast as told to Velma Bright
I went to school at the old school building on South Maple Street in Akron. It’s torn down now. All 12 grades went to this building. The first date I ever remember writing down was 1901 and I was six years old and in the first grade.
There was a big long table downstairs in the school and everyone had a dinner bucket and they placed the buckets on the table. They called it dinner instead of lunch. You would go down there and sit on a bench around the table and eat your lunch. Sometimes when the janitor, Lew Wade, lwasn’t around, someone would take some food out of your bucket.
The toilets were very unsanitary. They had them inside, but of course, flush toilets were unheard of then. Every so often they would burn the refuse in some manner in order to make it more sanitary.The smell was always bad.
The class of 1913 was my class. The new high school was being built that year but the class of 1914 would be the first graduating class of the new school. Dessa Sayger was a teacher at that time and she was determined that we would be the first class to have a class in the new building since we really couldn’t go to school there. One spring day she took the class over to where the new school was being built. On the dirt floor where the gym was being built we got trestles and she hald a class there so we could be the first class to hald class in the new building.
Our graduation was held in the old Opera House (above the present Harris Drug Store).
When basketball first hit Indiana, of course it hit Akron. I must have been in about the 7th grade when it first came to Akron. We played outdoors on the dirt. We took lime and made lines and then when it rained we would have to make new lines again. When it wintered up we didn’t play basketball. My brother, Karl, was on the first basketball team for Akron. He was a senior and they played Athens for the first game Akron ever played. They plaed the game over at Athens. I didn’t get to go because it was too far. At Athens they played in a log wagon shed. There was a slatted corn crib on one side and the spectators stood in the corn crib and watched. The Akron team pleyed in the Palace Garage on a dirt floor and in a room above the present locker plant. They put chicken wire up on one side of the room for the specators to look through and watch the game. They also played in the old Opera House.
One time after the new high school was built, Fred Landis, our Congressman, made a speech at the gym and he said, “If basketball keeps growing in popularity, our President will have to give it a place in his cabinet and appoint someone as Secretary of Basketball.”
Some of my teachers were Eva Shafer, Rose Anderson, Ethel Swartz, Nellie Stevenson, Leslie Busenberg, Roy Jones, Mr. Neal, Dessa Sayger, and Mrs. Dorsett. We had a third grade teacher by the name of Dot Bowen.
There were always two grades in one room in grade school. In high school we always had an assembly every day, then we would march out and each one go to our own rooms for class.
It was always the custom to ring all the bells in town at 12 p.m. as the new year came in. A bunch of kids always rang the school bell. Mr. Neal told them he didn’t want it rung at New Year’s. He had Mr. Wade, the janitor, to pull the rope up into the attic and tie it so it couldn’t be rung. Of course, we boys had to find a window so we could break in and we knew where the ladder was so we got the ladder and then we stood boys on each other’s shoulders and untied the rope and we rang the bell!
Playing hookey was a crime. You were really punished if you skipped school.
Out of our class in 1913 there are five of us left – Russell Shipley, Ruby Dawson, Miriam Shinn at Mentone, Gladys Hall and myself.
The Akron Library has a commencement program for the Akron High School class of 1904. This was the fourth annual commencement so that means they had the first commencement in 1901. For 1904 the baccalaureat was held in the Methodist Church with a sermon by Rev. W. W. Bender. The commencement was held in the Opera House on a Friday evening. The program consisted of the march played by Miss Deborah Strong and Mrs. E. L. Scott, piano solo by Miss Fay Morrett, invocation by Rev. J. H. Wingate, vocal solo by Miss Claudia Stevenson, address by Prof. A. A. Campbell, supt. of schools, Peru (Campbell was born at Leiters Ford); presentation of class by Mrs. Carrie H. Templeton, conferring of dilomas by Arthur Deamer, county supt.; song by the Leininger sisters quartet, and benediction by Rev. A. E. Weyrick. The class had only five students: Blanche Adaline Swihart, Mary Belle Whittenberger, Emma Survilla Miller, Nellie Faye Stevenson, and Homer William Ball. The faculty is listed as J. D. Heighway, principal; Ralph W. Noyer, asst. principal; and Mrs. Carrie H. Templeton, supt. Their motto was Excelsior. Their colors were pink and pale green. Their flower was the red rose, and their jewel was pearl.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 43, pp 59-62]
MEMORIES OF AKRON SCHOOL 1908-19
By J. Harold “Bead” Read
This is not an attempt to write a history of the Akron schools. The request was for my memories of the old school. This places me in a time frame between 1908 and 1919. Included are some memories of Henry Township, Akron, the old school, its teachers and my contemporaries. This Quarterly could not provide space for a complete recitation of all such related material. So the following will probably result in a scant sketch of a few of my pet memories of the old school and its locale.
My “primer” year had been spent in a one-room frame school building in White County, to which we had walked through mud and snow for 1-1/2 miles. When I saw Akron School, an imposing red brick structure on Maple Street, I was duly impressed It was a full two-story structure with a belfry above the main entrance facing west, toward a solid row of ancient soft maple trees. It stood in the center of a full city block, with ample space for playgrounds on all sides.
Any modern evaluation of the playgrounds would rate them “rough”. It appeared that, when the basement was dug at construction, no spoil had been removed. The yard had been well graded and tapered to the streets in all directions. While this resulted in good natural drainage, the resultant surface was a mixture of clay, top soil and rough gravel.
Many games played were extremely physical: basketball, “one-old-cat-bat” and “blackman”. These games were as rough as the playground. How do I rememvber? Residual scar tissue helps. Memories spring unbidden to replay a sequence when I fell on a golf-ball-size rock, breaking my tail bone. This was done in an innocent game of “blackman”, a game played before and after school and at recess.
Some of our games could be rated non-physical. The marble seasons, spring and fall, are well remembered. During these periods, every boy carried some kind of marbles in his pockets. They came in a wide range of qualities: common clays, painted clays, glassies, aggies and even ball bearings. A popular game of “put-and-take” was played around a sand circle. Each player would ante one marble into the pot, then take his turn at flipping his “taw” with his thumb. If he hit a marble, he retrieved his “taw” and took the marble which was hit. If he missed, he lost his “taw” to the post.
Some of us operated change-taking devices. I entered the field in 1910 with two pieces of home-made equipment: (1) a marble box and (2) a marble board. The former was a cigar box with holes of various sizes. The latter was an infant pin-ball machine, with finishing nails driven into a slanting board. These were carefully constructeed and well painted to attract customers. If a customer missed a pay hole, he lost his marbles. If he hit, he was paid in like marbles, in the amount shown at the hole.
In a recent dissertation, a prominent psychologist explained the thinking which lies behind the pay-off setting of modern slot machines. He holds that they are set to achieve systematic thwarting, with occasional success. In those bygone years, I did not know the meanings of any of these high-sounding words; but my machines were constructed, and reconstructed, with the same thought in mind.
Inevitably, such goings on led to arguments, fights, parental objections and school regulations – NO GAMBLING ON SCHOOL PROPERTY! This drove us to the streets and alleys after school hours, away from our concentration of customers. This signalled the decline of an era. Basketball in our 7th grade must have furnished the weaning influence. To my knowledge, none of the marble board crowd was ever impelled toward Las Vegas or Reno. We must have learned early about the fallacies and pit-falls of a nefarious avocation. Our resultant inhibitions may have guided most of us into paths of non-profit pursuits, which were not always planned that way.
At night the “town boys” used the school playground as a center for the game of “go-sheepie-go”. This was a noisy game of mass “hide-and-seek”, which later resulted in town ordinances and involvements with “Pete” Sayger and “Hol” Van Lue, town marshals, after Akron became in incorporated town.
The successful petition for incorporation was circulated in 1911. Prior to this time, Akron had been a populated place in the center of Henry Township. The streets were township roads. The sewers were tile drains to handle surface water on these roads.Their outlets were all into an open ditch which seeped toward Town Lake. There was no central water supply for the town.
It would seem reasonable that this lack of water supply and its necessary sewers would be the first concern of a newly-incorporated town. Instead, Akron’s first interest was paving of the main streets. In the summer of 1912, Mishawaka Street was paved with bricks from the north town limits to the town center. This was followed in the summer of 1913 by brick pavement of Rochester Street from the west to the east town limits. The details of this work remain fresh in my memory because I carried all of the water used, from private wells along the street – drinking water and that used for the hand-mixed cement for the curbs. I moved a large barrel along as the curb-building advanced. In the procedure, I became quite unpoopular along the street because I pumped many wells dry. “Dug” wells were the type of that day, and they just could not stand up under heavy use. This will, no doubt, clarify my interest in town water supply. It definitely supplies the reason for my first labor job. It paid $2.50 per day, with which I bought my clothes to wear to school. (Note: School memory hook-up.)
While the old school had its own well, it furnished water for drinking and hand-washing only.The basement toilets had steel floors. They were “burned out” each evening with mighty blast fires which would rival the Mt. St. Helen eruptions. Memories of the odors replay the evident, inherent fallacies of the “system”. The stench was overpowering – during the day and at “burn-out” time, when the total deposits were cremated. In my memories, the chronology of three events escapes me: (1) the completion of the new high school with its flush toiltes, (2) the arrival of the first resident plumber, and (3) the installation of flush toilets in the old grade building. Regardless of timing, the use of the storm sewers for all purposes was continued for many years. Proper sewers and disposal plants are now in use. The central water supply was accomplished soon after the paving in 1913.
In my time frame, the old building on Maple Street housed all 12 grades from 1908 to 1913. Grades 1 to 8 occupied the first floor. The high school was upstairs. The new high school building in north Akron was activated in the fall of 1913. This left the old building for the use of grades 1 to 8. In the fall of 1913 the grade school expanded to occupy a church building one block west of the original building; but our class of 1919 spent our years 1 to 8 in the old building. We entered high school in the new building in the fall of 1915.
The old school was located near the intersection of the Erie Railroad and the Winona Interurban Railway. The Erie had been constructed as a single track railroad in the 1880’s. It was the shortest rail route between New York and Chicago. During the period 1909-12 we saw the double-tracking of the Erie and the original construction of the Winona Interurban (Electric) from Goshen to Peru.
All of the nexessary earth moving for these projects, was accomplished with dump wagons drawn by teams of mules. The drivers of these teams were known as “mule skinners”. Akron fairly seethed with the members of this rare professional group for two or thee years.
Since the Erie was the shortest rail route, several unrelated “firsts” followed the general direction of its tracks through our community: (1) the first organized transcontinental plane race against time, (2) the first organized transcontinental hike against time, and (3) the first organized transcontinental auto race against time.
(1) The “Vin-Fiz Flyer”, circa 1911, was an early biplane with a pusher engine. It was a Writht Bros. EX machine. The pilot Calbraith P. Rodgers, sat out front, below, surrounded by levers and pedals. His east-to-west trip through Akron was slow, low and successful; but he had worse luck in the canyons of the West. The plane was rebuilt several times. The trip was completed after several months but few of the original parts reached the west coast. Rodgers was paid to introduce “Vin Fiz”, a grape-flavored soft drink.This was 16 years before Charles Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis to Paris.
(2) Payson Weston was the great walker who trod the Erie tracks from New York to Chicago, then west to the Pacific coast. He completed his walk in less time than that required by the “Vin Fiz Flyer”. Roy Landis, an Akron track worker, walked ahead of Weston, carrying the famous man’s straw hat full of crushed ice. Landis kept us 20 feet away from Weston, as we jammed the tracks on both sides.
(3) The transcontinental automobile passed through Akron west-to-east without incident; but it found a resting place in the old sink hole east of the Shewman Corner north of Disko. Two teams of horses pulled it back on the road after a long delay.
These Akron “firsts” may not be mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records, but they were memorable occasions in their time. If school happened to be in session, we were granted long recesses to witness such events.
During those early years, we were fortunate to have excellent elementary teachers: Elva Shaffer, Nellie Onstott, Faye Studebaker and Sadie Hammon. Cecil L. Kuhn taught us in both the 5th and 6th grades. Kuhn and Fred Blackburn both taught classes both the 7th and 8th grades. This was the equivalent of the present junior high, and we were again fortunate to have quality instruction. Kuhn taught history, English and writing. Blackburn, grade principal, gave us math, introductory agriculture and shop. This latter was probably a first in Fulton County – pre-high school manual training. It was an elective, and we started in the 7th grade by building our own work benches, since the program was starting from “scratch”. In the 8th grade, we built and finished library tables, china cabinets, etc. We even mass-produced some selected items on a factory basis. These were all finished with stain and varnish, or paint. Some were sold, with the receipts used to buy materials for future programs.
Our class found these experiences helpful when we went to high school in the fall of 1915, where Roy Jones taught advanced woodworking and mechanical drawing. Cedar chests, walnut and oak cabinets, and picture frames were popular items. Jones also taught us in the production and use of blue prints. He also served as principal and basketball coach.
Coincidental with our transition from the grades to high school, Cecil Kuhn made the same move to become our instructor in history and literature. He had been our teacher, in total or in part, through four consecutive years in the grades. Now, we were to have the advantage of his excellent tutelage for four more years.
While there remains no blot on Cecil Kuhn’s escutcheon as an instructor, a small owl managed to put a “vile paint job” on his blue serge suit. Cecil’s school day always began with the reading of a selected literary jewel, as a morning exercise. He had announced in advance that he would read “The Winter Ogre,” a story about the preying screech owl, on a given day. A farm boy, Waldo Strong, co-operated by bringing a captured owl to school. It was caged in a covered wire wastebasket, hanging from a nail at the top of the blackboard. The owl clung to the wire basket, in an uright position, with its breast aimed toward the class.
As the story developed, the owl’s varying coloration was described. Some feathers are drab gray, others a rich mahogany brown. To show that this was a brown owl, Cecil reached through the basket with his yellow lead pencil, and pulled the breast feathers out between the wires.
Now, this was long before spray paint and aerosol cans were known. This is a “memory sequence” from 1912. It could have been a coincidence; however, it seemed that raising the feathrs triggered an instant release of a great volume of “paint” from the pigeon-size owl. Cecil’s blue serge suit seemed to be the prime target, but a portion of the charge passed over his left shoulder and splashed off the top of a desk in the front row. Back of the desk sat a charming young lady, Mary Hier, clad in a sailor “middy” blouse and matching blue skirt.
I sat close enough to see the results of the “paint job”, but not too close. The colors shaded from white to a lambent, pastel green, and produced evident, contrasting patterns on navy blue cloth.
The customery decorum of the classroom was mutilated. There were guffaws and unseemly catcalls. Only the owl remained silent and unblinking.
The two victims fled to their respective rest rooms; she in tears, and he with both hands covering a crimson, blushing face. Cecil was a mild-mannered man. He returned later, after a hurried “paint removal” job. She declared an emergency holiday and ran to her grandfather’s home. When Cecil returned to the room, he released the owl out the window and it flew away to eternal notoriety.
The “Winter Ogre” proved to be no respecter of persons. Cecil Kuhn was an honorable resident of the community, and a credit to his profession. It became known later that the young lady’s grandfather, Fletcher Stoner, was a first cousin of Warren Gamaliel Harding, 29th President of the United States.
There were other excellent instructors: Dessa (Sayger) Fultz, Ethel (Shipley) Graham, Jesse Tombaugh, Faye (Morrett) Gast, and Kathryn (Kistler) Whallon. But Kuhn was a part of the Class of 1919. He taught us during 8 of our 12 years in the Akron schools. The inspirational value of this one close, extended association no doubt sent many of us on to continued education beyond high school.
After our graduation, Kuhn moved on to South Bend Central High School, where he became a legend instructor in his own time – during the Johnny Wooden era of that school. (Wooden became famous later as basketball coach at U.C.L.A) Kuhn continued his education as he taught. He wrote a history of the Michigan Road, as a thesis for a master’s degree. He was elected president of the Indiana State Teachers Association.
While he was never an athlete, he was always secretary of the Athletic Association at Akron and at South Bend Central. Those who remember Kuhn will recall that he taught the keeping of complete notebooks in every course. In later years, as an examiner for the State Board of Accounts, it was my pleasure to examine his records of the Central Athletic Association. They were monumental in detail and accuracy. I hope it is pardonable if my memories of the Akron School sound like a Cecil Kuhn biography.
Akron High School basketball had its inception on the old dirt and gravel court on the north side of the old building. The time was soon after the turn of the century. It is stated that some of the first indoor games were played in the old Opera House. Our class of 1919 had its first suited team in 1913, in our 7th grade. Our shirts were black and red, and they were also worn in 1914. That year our 8th grade team defeated the Beaver Dam High School team on their own clay court.
The first high school team which I remember was the team of 1911-12 shown here. Most of the players and officers were seniors in the class of 1912. Dawson was a junior. Kinder was a sophomore. Buck was a freshman, and the “sparkplug” of the team. The later three members of the 1912-13 team as shown here. Their games were played on the indoor dirt floor at the south end of the Palace Livery Barn. We “young fry” often hid in the mangers at some convenient time in the afternoon, to avoid payment of the two-bit admission fee. Sometimes the cold waiting period made this a miserable operation. The prize seats were along the edge of the hay mow. We tried to emerge from our hiding places at the right time to claim these choice spots.
Buck’s playing time extended into the first two years in the new high school gymnasium. Here, Glenn put on a show several times during one half of each game. He was short – about 5’5″ – but during that one half of the game, he would climb the south inbound wall and attempt to drop the ball into the basket. There was a stage at the north end of the floor, so he had no wall to climb. This stage is well remembered. In a later year I was shoved into its edge and received two broken ribs. This original gymnasium became a manual training room when a new gymnasium was added on the east side of the building.
Basketball was our only organized sport in those bygone Akron days, and some of our teams left good marks in state circles. Some of the outstanding individuals were Buck, Higgins, Personnet, Dale Leininger and his brother Cloyde “Gig” Leininger.
The request was for “your memories of the Akron School – with pictures”. After 64 years, it becomes difficult to find the right pictures, at the right time, to meet a press deadline. These “memories” are being written in Florida. Most of the pictures are in Indiana, in memory books and table drawers.
Since starting to write these “memories”, I have driven to “Gig” Leininger’s winter home at Dunedin, Fla. I hoped to get his individual picture, to be used with this story. He was definitely the star of his 1915-16-17 teams, probably the all-time greatest in the time frame of my memories of the old school. I was unable to get his individual basketball picture. As a substitute, he has furnished a timely likeness in street clothes.
The individual basketball pictures show a stage in the evolution of suiting, haircuts and the use of elastic knee pads. The latter were considered necessary when dirty floors had wide cracks. Knee infections were common.
The rules of the game in that day tended to result in low scores and difficulties not known today. Every foul brought a foul shot. We kept practice records each week. The man with the best practice record shot all foul shots for the next game. The ball was taken to a center jump after each score. The formality of the center jump, without time out, had a slowing influence. This also brought a demand for at least one tall jumper. Some years we could not find that tall man, and we were forced to import a foreign recruit. Two of such imports were “Biggie” Grube from Kewanna and Jack Engle from Beaver Dam. They were six-footers. We were all 5’8″ or less. For some reason, our climate did not produce the 6’8″ and 6’10” boys in those days.
In the days before the school bus, transportation was the great problem. Prior to 1910 we only played away from home where we could use steam trains or horse power. From 1910 to 1917 we used the steam trains or interurban, or a combination of the two. As I remember, it was the 1917-18 year when Frank Kern buses were first chartered for some short trips. Kern and his sister Ruth drove scheduled runs between Rochester and Akron. We still used the trains and interurban for longer road trips, when we would schedule games away for both Friday and Saturday nights.
One such memorable trip came in 1917 during a flu epidemic. Coach [Jesse L.] Tombaugh could find only five well players to board the interurban that Friday noon. We went south to Chili where we transferred to the steam train for Columbia City.We won the Friday night game, then came back to South Whitley for a Saturday night game in the old makeshift gym located above the “Grip-nut” factory. Prominent among bad features was a steam pipe from floor to ceiling, standing 2-1/2 feet from the west bounday wall. It stood there in the playing area, covered with asbestos held with brass tape. With only two minutes to play in the game, the score was 22 to 25 in our favor. When I attempted to dribble behind the steam pipe, I was hit with a flying tackle and received a badly-sprained ankle. When their offer to furnish a substitute was refused, they removed one man from the floor. The game was finished with eight players. There was no further scoring.
The following year we went to another off-beat road trip to Walton and Bunker Hill. The team was suffering from a rash of individual scholastic ineligibility, climaxing a “holy war” between a new coach and an unduly superior superintendent. With two regular starters, we boarded the interurban car to Peru, to Logansport, then to Walton; but this time we had a full complement of substitutes. We were beaten soundly by a good Walton team. After the game, we were guests at a fine party arranged by Dessa Sayger. She had been our excellent Latin teacher at Akron; but she had moved to Walton. The party left little to be desired; but it lasted too long, when we should be preparing for the “Battle of Bunker Hill”.
The following morning a sleepy team boarded the interurban car for Kokomo, then to Bunker Hill. We stumbled through the game. Near its end, I decided to attempt to dribble the length of the floor, since all passes seemed to fail. Midway I received another openfield tackle which carried me and the tackler into an air shaft under the bleachers. No injury resulted; but the game degenerated into a brawl. We were beaten; and the wild fans wanted to help with a massacre. We escaped a howling mob after the game and tried to catch the last interurban car to Peru. Dever Shewman and I decided to stay the night in Bunker Hill. There was no hotel, but we found a good room and food – without trouble.
We boarded a midmorning car on Sunday, and rejoined the team at the Peru depot. They had slept on benches during the latter part of the night and into the forenoon. “Gig” Leininger says that we never won a “Battle of Bunker Hill” at Bunker Hill. The reverse was usually true when they came to Akron. Those days were like that!
Our 1917-18 and 1918-19 teams always carried a suited dwarf. Rex Bender was not a “Singer Midget” type. He was a little half-size man of good proportions and good “moves”. He did not play in the rough-and-tumble games, but he always gave good demonstrations before games and at intermissions. He was “cute” as a ball handler and spot-shooter. His presence gave our team a travelling-circus flavor, without benefit of elephants.
Rex was among those present when the team attempted the trip to Talma during the blizzard of 1918. The Kern buses were chartered for the trip – girls’ team in one bus, and boys’ team in the other. The storm started at about noon on Friday, with heavy snow and falling temperature, riding a strong northwest wind. The girls’ bus started earlier and arrived to play the game. The boys had no such luck. Their bus stalled in a heavy drift in a small road cut about two miles short of the destination.
This happened directly in front of a small three-room cottage, the home of an aged man and wife. Their quarters were minimal, but their hospitality was something beyond description. The 14-member crew was invited in for what proved to be a five-day rescue mission.
The wind howled and piled snow up around the windows. The temperature fell to minus 28 degrees and stayed that way until the giant drifts over road fences were frozen until they would bear the weight of a horse. The team shoveled tunnels to the barn and to the nearby rick of firewood, which was the fuel for a kitchen range stove and airtight heating stove in the small living room. The host fired both stoves several times during the night and continuously all day. The whole crew of 14 slept in their overcoats on the living room floor around the small sheet metal stove. A game of cards determined the sleeping positions. Winners chose the preferred spots. One night Colfax Rhodes won the spot directly in front of the stove. The crew awoke in the middle of the night with the house full of smoke. Cole’s overcoat was afire. Both front corners of the coat-tail were gone. Colfax and the coat were tossed out into the snow for a cooling-off period. A live coal had rolled out during a firing time.
There was no telephone or other means of communication. The team was truly lost in the storm, but with good people. Three ample meals were served each day. The diet lacked variety, but there was plenty of ham, potatoes, biscuits and gravy. The team gained weight – and a deep regard for their hostess.
On the third day a good neighbor rode a horse across fields and over fences to check the condition of the old couple. He was amazed to find them smothered with guests. He rode back to his telephone and reported the crew’s whereabouts.
On the fifth day, train whistles were heard from the direction of the L.E. & W. right of way, so it was a certainty that the tracks were plowed open. The benefactors were paid for board and room, and also for a piece of furniture which had become a casualty of the siege of “cabin fever”. Boys will be boys, even when lost in a storm. They will tussle, and something must “give”.
Basketball suits were put on with other clothes, and the whole crew mushed its way to the tracks, and on to Rochester. Rex, the short mascot, rode on many sets of willing shoulders until the tracks were reached. The Erie Railroad remained inoperative for two more days. The team accepted hospitality at the homes of friends in Rochester until they could board the train for Akron. The little “road trip” had extended to require more than a week.
[NOTE: Jesse L. Tombaugh, my father, was the coach. He told me that about three days before the team got home, and before their whereabouts was known at Akron, he and one of the boys walked to Athens, then via Erie Railroad to Akron. A telephone call from Emory Scott, who was the first to spot them walking on the tracks, informed Mother of their safe arrival. -WCT]
While we are dealing with memories, it seems only fair and reasonable that we should digress here into eventualities. None of these men in the picture continued as female impersonators:
Dr. Churchill became head of his department at the University of Michigan. He is author of text books on mathematics. He is now retired.
Dr. Sparks practiced dentistry in Bremen and Rochester. He and his wife, Pauline (Whittenberger) Sparks, are enjoying retirement at their home in Lake Worth, Fla., where we have visited on several occasions. They also have a summer home at Lake Manitou.
Dr. Ferree was, to my knowledge, the first Akron school man of my time frame who achieved the rating of multimillionaire. When we visited at his home on Chesapeake Bay in 1977, we were assigned to a four-room wing of his “castle by the sea:. The weather was foul, and his 45-foot yacht was in winter storage at a convenient marina. We discussed our years together in the old Akron school, and three subsequent years when we were waiting tables for our meals at DePauw University. We roomed together at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house. We both transferred and graduated from other schools: he from Butler and I from Northwestern His doctorate came as an honorary degree, when he transferred a block of stock to DePauw improvement fund. “Russ” made great music on his violin, for pleasure and profit. He must have done equally well in his business administration for his corporation in Cleveland. He was a certified public accountant. He died later in the year 1977.
Moore served as an officer in banks at Akron and Claypool. He later worked for the state of Indiana.
Herrold was a successful manufacturer of small household equipment. His factory was at Mishawaks.
Dr. Smith had a long and successful career as a federal veterinarian. His passing was just announced on May 2, 1981.
The years of World War I coincide with our time in High school. The effects of the war on our attitudes, and those of the school, must be included in my memories of the period.
During the presidential campaign of 1916, it was said that Woodrow Wilson had “kept us out of war”. It is probable that no president could continue to keep us out of the global conflict. Be that as it may, our declaration of war followed soon after Wilson’s re-election.
The attitude of the school administration was not pacifistic. School drives were organized for the sale of War Bonds and War Stamps. One teacher wrote a parody verse to be sung to an old tune:
“Rest, there is rest.
But, there’ll be no rest,
In the War Stamp drive,
In the War Stamp drive.”
We all joined in the chorus and did our best to sell stamps. But it was the general advice of the school to “finish your high school before you enlist”. At that time it seemed that the war could last for many years.
We were sophomores when war was declared. Near the end of our junior year, we were offered a rigid option. We could take examinations in all courses. If we could average 95% in all four solids, we could leave school one month early to enter “war work”. Wendell Godwin and I “made the cut” and left school in April to “help win the war”. Others joined the effort when school closed for summer vacation. At age 17 we could not enlist without parental consent. We went all directions, to work where war materials were being produced.
By September 1, four of us were helping build Chevrolet trucks at Flint, Mich. We returned to school to enter our senior year. That same month, those who had reached 18 registered for the last draft and received their numbers.
Two months later, Nile Lamoree and I were in Warsaw on Saturday night. We missed the last interurban car going to Akron and stayed at the hotel. We heard a bombardment during the night. When we left the hotel in the morning, the sidewalk was covered with spent shotgun shells. The awnings above the walk had been riddled. Warsaw, and most of the nation, had celebrated the “false armistice” following a rumor. The true armistice was signed a week later, in an old railway car somewhere in France. The “war to end all wars” was over. Of course, we know now that it did not “turn out” that way.
Many former students including some shown in the basketball picture served in the several branches of service. Several were listed as casualties. Adolph Merley, for whom the local American Legion Post was named, became the first reported local fatality.
Our high school principal-coach, Roy Jones, took leave and did foreign service with the Y.M.C.A. He returned later to teach and coach.
Only one member of our freshman class, Waldo Strong, quit school to enlist. He joined the Marines and served with distinction to the end of the war. He had been a capable, unusual “character” to remember. He and “Dutch” Eber walked more than two miles to school each morning In severe weather, they would arrive with ears frozen hard and white. Before thawing the ears with melted snow, they would stick common pins through them – to mystify a group of “ohing”, “ahing” girls. Many years later, I found Strong at Eugene, Oregon, where he was chief of maintenance on the campus of the University of Oregon. He was president of State Employees Association.
Of necessity, my “Memories of the Akron School” must terminate with the conclusion of an infamous flag fight in the spring of our 1919 senior year. The seniors were pitted against the other three classes. Our flag was a ragged, purple gonfalon whose corsspiece was nailed to the top of a tamarack pole. The pole stood in a vacant lot opposite the superintendent’s office. It was placed there because the superintendent had removed the flag, personally and with officious ceremony, from the flagpole atop the school building. The night fight was a no-decision affair, but we lost our flag the next morning. Bob Gast, a sophomre, arose too early and felled our tamarack pole with his hacksaw. Bob – what happened to our flag?
Regarding Memories and Evantualities:
The attempt was made here to keep these memories in a time frame between the year 1918 and 1919. In some cases, we have strayed into the realm of eventualities, with a recognized feeling of incompetence. So many others of the old school have lived and — achieved.
Earl Arter should have written that large volume on memories and eventualities. He had the memories and knew most of the eventualities. My efforts here bring to mind the plight of the hero of the Johnstown Flood:
This hero died and went to receive his heavenly award. He had always attracted throngs of listeners on earth, when he chose to expound on his heroics in the big flood. So, he tried to get the attention of the heavenly host. He had mild success, but he noticed one old gentleman, in particular, who seemed to ignore his most fluent braggadocio. After a dramatic pause he turned and asked, “Who is this old ‘whiskers’ who refuses to look my way?” The answer came fast, “Oh, that’s Noah.”
Earl (Noah) was missing, but we found some excellent help in the identification of forgotten faces in the old pictures: Velma Bright, Faye (Leininger) Smith, Cloyde “Gig” Leininger, Willis Higgins, Marie (Keim) Craft, Marie and Lamoin Hand, Wayne Morris and Walter “Beany” Waechter.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, pp 3-21]
AKRON SCHOOLS IN THE 1930’s AND 1940’s
By Velma Bright
After 1914 there were only eight grades in the grade building on Maple Street. With the consolidation of the country schools the conditions continually became more crowded and in 1923 the eighth grade was moved to the high school building. In 1927 a new addition was made at the high school building and the seventh grade was taken there too.
The grade building on Maple Street had a large playground. There was a merry-go-round, swings and a May-pole on the grounds. In the spring games of Black Man, Hop Scotch, etc. would be played on the playground. In the winter and on bad days you could play in the basement or in your room. When the bell would ring and you were playing outside, everyone had to line up outside and walk in, in order. Of course, there was usually someone shoving in the back of the line causing those in the middle to be hard pressed.
On Halloween everyone would mask and march all through the rooms before each room had their own party. There were practically no store-bought costumes. Only the false faces were bought at a store. You usually made up your own costume.
There were as many as 50 students in one room in some of the grades. There were no married women teachers and some of the years there were no music or art teachers hired. This was due to the Depression. Funds were very scarce.
It always seemed the rooms were decorated in keeping with the seasons and the trees that the teachers would have in their rooms for Christmas seemed to be decorated elaborately and were very large. Of course, we always had Christmas parties. We always had one week Christmas vacation. School was out in April so the vacations were few. We would go to school on New Year’s Day many times and also on Labor Day. My class graduated on May 1 which was very late for school to be out. The reason we were late was because we were out two weeks in the fall because of the Polio epidemic.
Once in a while, when I was in grade school, the county superintendent, trustee, and high school principal would come to visit. Everyone put on their best behavior and I remember once the teacher asked me to put an arithmetic problem on the board and explain it while they were visiting. I thought I wouldn’t live through it, but I made it quite well.
In high school we had the Sunshine Society for the girls and the Hi-Y for the boys. The girls would usually have a banquet once a year and invite their mothers as guests.
When I was a senior we took an all-day trip to Chicago. We went on the train from Warsaw and saw the stage show “Life With Father”. However, during World War II the senior trips were out, so the class of 1942 until the end of the war didn’t have the privilege of taking a senior trip.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 43, pp 62-63]
AKRON HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1932
By Frederick Hammond and Charles Daniel Smith
(with the assistance of Julia Day Kramer, Alma Dixon Haupert,
and Virginia Riley Longenecker)
“When I saw Akron School, an imposing red brick structure on Maple Street, I was duly impressed. It was a full two-story structure with a belfry above the main entrance facing west, toward a solid row of ancient soft maple trees. It stood in the center of a full city block, with ample space for playgrounds on all sides.”
That was J. Harold “Bead” Read’s memory of the building described in Fulton County Historical Society Quarterly, No. 44. He entered second grade in 1908 and graduated from high school in 1919, one year before we entered the first grade.
The bell first rang for us on Monday morning, Sept. 13, 1920. Some of us farm kids came in horse-drawn hacks. There were 50 of us in the first grade, too many for the one teacher, Tural Haldeman. The principal, Fred Blackburn, put in a distress call to the township trustee, William Morrett, who solved the problem by hiring another teacher, her sister, Neva Kinder, who had taught the 5th grade the year before. The overcrowding was lessened by one pupil when Esther Landis was double promoted to the second grade.
Our first class picture was taken on the steps of the fire escape which was located on the south facade of the building. Since not all members can be identified and since the township trustee’s records have not survived, there is no complete roster of all who started out with us in September, 1920.
Our schoolroom was in the nothwest corner [of the first floor]. When the janitor, Johnny Raymer, rang the bell, we would come trooping in from the playground and go up a short flight of steps into the central hall. The cloakroom was a hall which divided the first from the second grade in the northeast corner of the building.
In the first grade room our desks faced the south wall, along which ran a long blackboard. The windows were on the west wall to our right, and the north wall, to our backs. In the middle of the wall to our backs was a large sandbox, and this was quite an attraction during recess and other breaks from schoolwork, particularly on rainy days.
A few weeks after school began, Warren G. Harding was elected President of the United States, succeeding Woodrow Wilson, during whose presidency all of us were born. Although a World War had taken place during our infancy, we were practically untouched by it, though some of us caught pneuonia during the epidemic of ’18 which killed millions of people around the world. In Akron, almost all members of some families had it, and those who were not sick were hard put to take care of the victims.
In late November occurred an event that many of us will recall, Halloween. It was the custom that the first graders made their own costumes in the classroom and got to parade through all the other grades. One first grader had misplaced his shears and asked the teacher if he could borrow her pair. She turned him down so he could not make a costume and could not, therefore, parade with his classmates.So there he sat dejectedly at his desk while all the others got to march around and show off. Tural Haldeman and Neva Kinder were strict disciplinarians, though kind ones, and we were held to the mark. Throughout our lives, we have remembered, “A pupil without a pencil is like a soldier without a gun” and “Can’t is a sluggard too lazy to work.”
Those of us who had the mumps probably suffered with them in December, when there was an epidemic in Akron.
For several years while we were going to grade school in a large two-story buulding in the center of Akron, many who were to become our classmates later, were still attending one-room schools. These were not inferior to their graded counterparts. In fact, as the one-room schools closed and their students started coming to Akron, they frequently had skills we did not possess. Almost all of them ran circles around us in arithmetic. However, their parents were dissatisfied. In January, 1921, a number of them petitioned the Trustee of Henry Township: “We, the undersigned parents of the Sugar Grove School and others of Henry Township, knowing that it will be only a short time until all people of the county will demand the same opportunities for their children as are enjoyed by the children of the towns and cities, respectfully ask that the Sugar Grove School be converted into a rural consolidated school by building additions to the present building.” The petition was signed by Donald L. Burch, Estel Kindig, Albert Smoker, Frank Smoker, J. A. S. H. Burns, Orville L. Moore, Clarence Shriver, Albert R. Bowen, Benj. B. Powell, Charles Meredith, Milo Bowen, Charles E. Bowen, Jesse Linebrink, T. B. McViloers, David Moore, J. A. Barns, E. B. Mooore, John R. Smith, Abner Churchill, T. J. Riley, S. B. Maby, G. A. Burns, Charles W. McMahan, Clifford V. Wilhoit, A. T. Wilhoit, Odie Keesey, Charles Leader, Henry Yarian, and J. W. Pratt.
However, the solution for which they petitioned was not granted. Instead, an expanded bus system began to bring us new classmates in Akron.
As the one-room schools (including some two and three rooms) began to close down, several teachers found their way into the Akron system: William McHatton from Hauns; Seth Carpenter from Hauns, Sugar Grove, and Prairie Union; Nellie Onstott from Athens and Saygers; Kenneth Oliver from Millark and Bethel; Lloyd Carpenter from Summit; and Ruth Waechter from Praitie Union.
Among others who responded to our request for information about life in a one-room school, Helen Riley Bright replied:
Dear Dan:
This sure shakes up an old lady’s memory, but it’s fun.
I was one who attended a one-room school, “Prills.” There were stoves in the center of the room, always cold. Most of the time, we kept our boots on. There was a cloak room on the east side for the girls and one on the west side for the boys. There was a big blackboard across the north wall and maps that rolled up into a holder like a window blind.The teacher would assign eraser dusting to a different student each day. They would take them outside and clap them together until all the chalkdust was out. We had all eight grades in the school.
There was a wooded area across the road on the south where the fellows would ice skate on a pond. There was also a sugar camp where farmers made maple syrup. Once they started to boil the sugar water, they had to stay by it, stirring all the time, skimming off the foam to keep it from burning, sometimes staying well into the night. When it was done, they put it into fruit jars and divided it among the people who had helped.
We lived in the first farm home west of Prills, just a five minute walk. Most of the time we walked home for lunch but sometimes we carried a dinner pail.
I attended Prills three years. Then they closed the school and bussed us to Athens, where we graduated from the eighth grade. In my first grades at Prills I had as teacher Mary Krom. She kept her horse and buggy in our barn and walked to the school. She was very special to our family. If the weather was too severe for her to drive home (near Rochester) she would stay nights at our house. I also remember that she sometimes took me home with her and let me stay up late. The next day when I got sleepy in school, she would let me take short naps. I was left handed but whenever I tried to write that way, she would put my pencil in my right hand. I thought, “If she wants me to write with my right hand, I will do it.” So I did.
Joy Hammond taught there one year. He was very serious and so we all pretty much attended to business that year. He wasn’t really grouchy but we were more afraid of a man teacher.
Before enrolling for the third grade at Akron, Edward Slaybaugh attended a two-room school four miles east of Silver Lake. He writes:
We lived a mile from school and often walked but on bad days we were served by a hack drawn by a pair of small donkeys and driven by a farmer who was a member of the old order of Dunkards. The hack traveled at a snail’s pace and it was a matter of endurance to tolerate the cold environs of the hack’s interior and the long ride to school which covered several miles of dirt roads, often rutted during the freezing and thawing weather. This driver delighted in unmasking Santa and the Easter Bunny and all the mystique surrounding those speial holidays. He didn’t believe that children should have more than eight years of education because “they would learn too much.”
The brick school housed eight grades with a woman teacher instructing the first four grades and the principal, a man, teaching the upper four grades. Beginning on the right side of the room were the first graders. There was a tall boy who sat in the last seat of the first row. His sage declaration one morning was indelibly written on my memory. He stood up tall by his desk and announced in a loud voice for all to hear, “I’m going to stay in the first grade until I’m an old man and smoke a pipe!” I have often wondered if he did.
It was the custom of the teacher to have each pupil say a verse from the Bible for roll call.When memory failed or faltered “Jesus wept” was the favorite standby but woe to the child who abused it. The teacher’s pointer rapped the pupil’s pate as a swift reminder that he had fallen from grace. Homework for misspelled words consisted of writing each 50 times. Doing that by the light of a fireplace was quite a chore.
Ed Slaybaugh writes, “When it came to ciphering at the blackboard, Don Meredith who came from a one-room school, was a champion. He would get excited and chew his tongue and those of us watching would be breathless in anticipation of the outcome. The suspension in which we were held was unbearable – I can feel it yet. Wow! What a show!”
Harold Bryant gives the following description of education in a one-room school and then coming to town for high school:
Hauns, a brick school located approximately three and a half miles northeast of Akron on the old Ft. Wayne road, contained 32 desks, a pot-bellied stove, the teacher’s desk two cloakrooms, and a large chalkboard. Grace Gallentine and I were in the same grade from 1920 through 1926. Then Hauns was closed and we were transferred to the Akron Consolidated School, where we entered the eighth grade.
I wonder how the modern teacher today would cope with 26 to 32 children in all eight grades at the same time. There were never more than three or four in each grade.While the teacher was participating in one class, the others would be in a study session or working on the blackboard, which extended from one side of the room to the other. There had to be strict discipline. I was instructed at home, that if I received any punishment at school I would receive the same thing again at home. One of the punishments, minor ones – if you were caught whispering or throwing paper wads, you were invited to stay after school and thoroughly clean the blackboard. That was no little job. Another punishment was to carry in wood for the stove to go overnight. The teacher himself fired the stove and allowed no pupils to put wood in because of fear of injury. We had a drilled well on the outside. It had a pump on it, and during the summer months, and even in the winter when it wasn’t frozen up, we could get our water out there during recess. During the winter months we would have to carry the water in buckets inside or it would freeze. And, of course, like all other schools at that time, we didn’t have any inside plumbing, only outside toilets, one for boys and one for girls, complete with grafitti on the walls.
I lived less than one mile from the school, which did not allow me the use of the school bus except on unusually snowy or cold days. Our lunches we brought in a pail. We had peanut butter, jelly, apples, or once in a while some chicken or some pieces of beef or pork, but if you weren’t too enthusiastic with your own food you could trade off with somebody else.
School hours were from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., with a lunch of one hour and a 15 minute break in mid-morning and mid-afteroon. You would go out and play ball or a little game I remember we played called Duck on Daisy, consisting of one person who was the duck, who put his stone on a rock and you would have to knock it off – you would have to stand back several feet to throw and try to get his rock off. We also used to play Andy Over, throwing a soft rubber ball over the school house, never a hard one because we had a slate roof on the school which a hard ball might crack.
The school grounds were enclosed – surrounded by a clump of trees, probably about six or seven acres of them, and it wasn’t any big problem to go out there after school and profess your love for some little girl by cutting your initials on the bark of a tree, and also hers.
In retrospect, one of the greatest fears of my life at the end of seven grades at Hauns was having to bid the old school boodbye forever. I had been one of two or three students in each grade, and I was about to enter the “big time” where there were going to be around 30 students in each class.
The next month (February, 1921) Mrs. P. L. Ferry became Librarian of Carnegie Library, a post she continued to hold throughout all our school years.
In the summer of 1921, the township trustee, Mr. Morrett received instructions from the State Superintendent of Education that all teachers must be paid a minimum of $800 a year. Some trustees, he had learned, were paying as little as $600.
Our second grade teacher was Eva McGlennan. One of our projects for the year was making a rug. We brought clean rags from home and were taught how to twist them together into strands, how to braid, and finally how to sew the braids together into a rug.
One student, caught chewing gum, was sent to the principal’s office. He was a florid-faced man with wavy white hair, and his very name, Fred Blackburn, sent terror into the child’s heart, and he prepared himself for the worst. “Is chewing gum in class right or wrong?” he asked the child. “Wrong,” was the reply. “That’s right,” Mr. Blackburn replied, “so spit it out here in this waste-basket.” That done, he gave the child another stick of gum. “Now just wait until after school is over to start on it,” he admonished.
In 1922, when most of us were nine years old, we proceeded to the third grade in a room on the southwest corner of the first floor. Our teacher was Fern Wilhoit.
Our fourth grade teacher was Lucille Stout and a class photograph (lent by our classmate, Virginia Riley Longenecker, identified by Julia Day Kramer) provides the first complete roster.
One of those in the picture, Daniel Smith, has never forgotten his ninth birthday, shortly after the photographer took it. It fell on a school day in October and he want home as usual on the bus. (The old horsedrawn hack had not survived beyond the first grade). He walked into his house on Route 19, a mile south of town. It was empty, or so he thought. Then with a sudden whoop all the boys in his grade burst out of the bedroom. His mother had engineered this surpirse. There was a weiner roast in the orchard and a fat kid named Harold Zeibert ate nine of them. That was a happy memory.
One of the saddest occurred on December 27, when Marie Stark, one of our classmates, died of influenza. Several of us attended her funeral in the Brethren Church, across the street from the grade school building. Her parents’ grief was something one will never forget.
Kenneth Bright writes some of his memories of grade school:
I remember how small I was when first I went to school. Seems like a hundred years ago. My birthday is January 12 so my parents sent me when I was five years old. I can remember the short pants, shirts, shoes, and little black ties I wore. I was really scared of most of the other pupils because they were so much bigger than me.
I remember the teachers and how strict they were.But we learned so much and still had fun and good times. I especially respected Nellie Onstott. One year when most of the town was sick with scarlet fever, my family caught it and I miised a lot of that school year. Miss Onstott tutored me in the summer and gave me tests helping me to catch up in my studies and pass that grade of school.
The grade school stood in the center of the block. There was an enormous playground space and a slide which looked huge to us little folks. One day the big fat boy, Harld Zeibert’s brother, Glen, fell off the top of the slide and broke his arm. After a few more accidents, the slide was taken down.
Lloyd Camp and George Clark were the fastest runners and Jackie Hammond was the best pole vaulter. Earl Kuhn could jump a long ways and he was a very good basketball player. I remember the many games we played which would seem obsolete to children now.
One day when I was in the third or fourth grade, Fred Blackburn, the principal, came to our classroom. He and the teacher talked. She called me to go with Mr. Blackburn and all the way upstairs I was scared to death. I though, “Boy, this is where I get it.” After staring at me a while, he gave me an all day sucker then sent me back to class, telling me to behave myself.
I remember lots of the teachers.Tural Haldeman, her sister, Neva Kinder, Nellie Onstott, Ruth Waechter, Miss Pearson, Billy McHatton, Seth Carpenter, and his brother, Lloyd. Lloyd had an artificial leg and later on, he and Mary Maby were married. Johnnie Raymer, the janitor, was awfully good to the kids and they all liked him.
From the 5th grade onward, it is difficult to say that we all had the same teacher. The class which had begun with an enrollment of 50 in the first grade, certainly had not shrunk and by the fifth we were again divided, as I recall, with Edyth Studebaker in charge of one section and Nellie Onstott in charge of the other. By this time we were in the southeast and southwest rooms on the second floor. In Edyth Studebaker’s room, our classmate, Joe Lantz, was punished for carving on his desktop with his knife. He was required to sand it clean. Then, to the surprise of all our teachers, we voluntarily sanded our own until they looked as good as Joe’s.
Fred Hammond remembers that he was an accomplice on that escapade. “It seems,” he writes, “that Earl Leininger got in a shipment of G.I. type boots for boys and a dandy little pocket knife in a neat little pocket outside the ankle section of the shoe. We just had to try out the knives. Joe had seen initials on other desks before, and he started his and I thought it looked swell. I remember putting mine in the upper right hand corner in order to not have it interfere with my writing spot. Anyway …. we spent several dozen days sanding our desk tops.
Ed Slaybaugh writes:
We had a strong boy in the fifth grade, Harold Ziebert, I believe, who weighed 175 pounds and we marvelled at his strength, as he could lift up the two-way slide by the center foundations. I can still see his rosy cheeks and his friendly smile!
When in the fifth grade, I used to run a trap line before going to school. One morning as I was resetting a steel trap in a ditch, I encountered a skunk. Smarting and burning, I took off for home where I vainly tried to get rid of the smell. Arriving belatedly at our classroom door, I knocked timidly. The teacher whiffed the scent and took one look at my red eye and sent me back home, one of life’s darker moments. After much scrubbing, powdering and perfuming, I made my way back and this time I was accepted back into civilization.
One of the signs of growing up was to be entrusted with carrying the tubs-full of ashes out of the basement for the janitor, Mr. Raymer. And then later I was paid for sweeping the classroom floors after school. Man, that was living!
Charles Bradway, our class artist, could draw all comic characters, including Jiggs. We would prevail on Charles to draw a favorite face on scraps of wood and then we would color them and cut them out on the bandsaw. These treasured gems made great keepsakes.
In 1923, when we were entering the fourth grade, the fall enrollment was 260 for the entire grade school, a record high, and so the 8th grade, taught by Ruth Waechter, was moved to the high school building. By that time Seth Carpenter had become principal of the remaining seven grades.
During that year, the Akron Mother’s Club and the County Health Board, in spite of some opposition, saw to it that each child was given half a pint of milk each day. What we children did not know was that some of our classmates were suffering from malnourishment and that this was the Mother’s Club way of giving them a better chance. Most of us, who had more than enough of the best food anywhere, had no idea how lucky we were!
We entered the 6th grade in September, 1926 [1925?]. Our classroom was in the northeast quadrant of the second floor and it was separated from the 7th grade classroom (in the northwest quadrant) by floding doors. Our teacher was Lloyd Carpenter.
William McHatton, the new principal of the grade school, reported a new record enrollment of 268. He helped Seth Carpenter, the 7th grade teacher. As 6th graders, our study hall was in the room with the 7th and it was most difficult reading our lessons with a lively class being taught nearby. William McHatton was an import from one of the one-room schoolhouses. He was certainly the last of the old-fashioned teachers who literally kept a birch rod on top of his map case. Justice was sudden, rude, and not always fair. Some of the 7th graders would, during the recess, throw darts made from needles, matches, and paper wings in the ceiling where they stuck. Then they would come loose, fly down, and stick in their desks during the following class period. William McHatton was teaching when he perceived where the darts were coming from. He demanded to know who was the guilty party. Nobody confessed. McHatton perceived guilt in the face of one Don Hart, whom he soundly thrashed on the spot.
When we became 7th graders, Seth Carpenter was the grade school principal and also our teacher, assisted by Effie (Mrs. Albert E.) Scott. Carpenter, like McHatton, was intuitive about his punishments and never asked questions about the cause or the details of the wrong-doing. He kept an oak paddle in the principal’s office. Whenever he used it, the malefactor’s classmates could hear everything, and it was humiliating to have to re-enter the classroom. On one occasion, Carpenter punished a pupil who was being attacked by two of his classmates. He saw what he interpreted as a three-way fight and punished the attackers and attacked impartially.
Fred Hammond recalls that one noon hour three boys, himself included, chased girls up and down the aisles. They liked to hear them squeal as they rounded the U turn at the end of the aisles. For his part in this, Fred got three stinging smacks with a paddle swung by Lloyd Carpenter.
Ed Slaybaugh writes, “An episode in the third grade has lingered in my memory for these 60 years. One fellow student who lived in “Dogtown,” the sawmill district, took a three-cent yellow pencil from someone’s desk. She was discovered with the stolen property and duly branded and stigmatized. Every time I think of her, it is in relation to that unhappy event. I always felt sorry for her.”
Don Meredith once did an almost unthinkable thing by standing up to a teacher. The man accused Don of writing on his attendance sheet. Don told him three times that he didn’t know what paper he was talking about. He told Don that he would jerk a knot in his tail, or some such remark. Don grabbed him by the coat collar behind his neck and held his other clenched fist at waist high level, “No you won’t,” he told the teacher. And there the confrontation ended. Just in time.
If there was a flaw in our early education, it sprung from the idea among some of our men teachers that discipline, in order to be effective, had to be harsh. In more cases than not the pupil instead of recognizing the justice of his punishment, recognized its injustice and all those canings and paddlings producted nothing but resentment toward the adult world which time has done little to abate. Our elders put too blind a trust in the maxim “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” The Fred Blackburns who got us to admit to the error of our ways and gave us sticks of gum and all day suckers as some recompense for the terror we felt while in his office were the true disciplinarians.
We very nearly spent the 7th grade in a new addition to the high school building about half a mile away in the north end of Akron, but it was not finished in time and so we stayed on in the old grade school building.
It had been standard practice at the end of class to leave the room in an orderly fashion. We obeyed the teacher when he said “Turn, stand, pass” and the columns of students peeled out in sequence. For a short period of time students left the building, marching to the beat of a student’s drum, but he blotted his copybook (as they say in England) and the privilege of exercising this power over his fellows was taken away from him.
Yo-Yos were popular, and naturally there were contests to see who could extend them the farthest. Henry Hartman and Donivan Meredith were the stars. They could flip them out 20 or 25 feet and then make them retract to the palms of their hands.
Another whirling toy called the Diabolo was also popular. The whirling part was a large spool with the central cylinder shaved down on a slant from each end to a groove in the middle. A string about thee feet long had wooden handles at each end. The string ran in the groove. By pulling each handle up and down alternately the spindle spun. Two or three boys would flip them back and forth to each other, catching them in mid-air and always on center.
“Bead” Read wrote in his “Memories of Akron School 1908-19” (FCHS Quarterly 44) that any modern evaluation of the playgrounds would rate them rough. “It appeared that, when the basement was dug at construction, no spoil had been removed. The yard had been well graded and tapered to the streets in all directions. While this resulted in good natural drainage, the resultant surface was a mixture of clay, top soil and rough gravel.” This was still the situation when we started school in 1920. The basketball court, which Read mentioned, was still there. In addition, there was a slide, a set of three metal swings, and a Maypole, a metal pole with a swivel at the top from which were suspended hand-held swings at the end of chains. We soon learned how to give one kid a “high flyer.” He would cross his chain back over the chains of all the other swingers. Then they all pulled in the opposite direction with the result that the “high flyer” would travel with considerable velocity, his swing standing almost straight out from the pole. Our teachers never interfered with this very dangerous game. Any pupil who lost his grip on his swing during his rapid flight would have been thrown a considerable distance and on his hitting the ground would have had his skin torn with multiple abrasions on the rough ground, but this never happened.
With the first snowfall, we played a game called Fox & Geese. We marked out a circle perhaps 30 feet in diameter. Inside it were concentric smaller circles connected with the outer ones by “spokes.” There was one fox who tried to capture a goose. Whenever he did that goose became the fox and had to chase the other geese. Invariably we managed to scoop up some snow in our shoes and so throughout the day our feet were enclosed by damp socks inside our damp shoes. During snowy weather we were allowed to bring our sleds. The slide ran northwest from the front door. We would fling ourselves onto our sleds while running at great speed. When the snow was slick, we could glide almost to the corner where the two streets intersected. But the best sliding was done on a weekend, a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, out at Silas’s hill, a half mile south of town. There the slide was four or five times as long as on the school playground.
Another game mentioned by Read was marbles, played in early spring (less often in the fall). Our marbles, like those in Read’s time, came in a wide range of kinds: “common clays, painted clays, glassies, aggies, and even ball bearings. A popular game of ‘put and take’ was played around a sand circle. Each player would ante one marble into the pot, then take his turn at flipping his ‘taw’ with his thumb. If he hit a marble, he retrieved his ‘taw’ and took the marble which was hit. If he missed, he lost his ‘taw’ to the pot.”
That game was being played, exactly as he described it, a decade later. Also dropping marbles into a hole in the lid of a cigar box. The smaller the hole, the larger the number of marbles the owner of the box would “pay” if the dropper successfully hit the hole. Conversely, the larger the hole, the fewer marbles the owner of the box “paid” for the successful drop. Without knowing it, we were learning a basic rule of economics: return is directly proportionate to risk. In Read’s time, playing this brand of marbles was considered gambling and therefore banned from school property, and so the sport was driven into streets and alleys after school hours. By our time, there was still a lively debate as to whether cigar box marbles was gambling, but the principal made no attempt to ban it from the playground. I think that this was a wise decision. The cost of marbles was negligible. Clays came ten for a penny. The educational return was considerable as we roamed the playground scrutinizing various games, looking for a bargain. And as one of our teachers put it, “All life is a gamble including investing in real estate or the stock exchange.”
There were several entertainments each year in which our parents were invited to hear us “speak pieces,” and much conversation on the way home about how well we had done. In October one year there was a Fall Festival in the grade school building. The rooms were decorated with shocks of corn and pumpkins. In one of them an old witch told fortunes. On the sixth grade (east) end of the upstairs room, a stage was erected and there was an “entertainment.” Louise Wilhoit Denny writes, “I can remember some shows we put on in grade school. In one of these, Miss Onstott blackened our faces for a minstrel show which was given at the old opera house above Scott’s Drugstore. In one entertainment you (Dan Smith) were the thin man who could eat no fat and I was the fat lady who could eat no lean.” In high school there was a boys’ quartet.
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
People who happen to be where history is being made rarely are aware of the fact, and they take for granted their good fortunes. How many of us read the Akron News on Sept. 2, 1927, and learned that when we started classes the following Monday morning “it will be with the knowledge that they are attending one of the best-equipped, most up-to-date schools, of any of its size in the state.”
Our class was the first to enter the new Junior High School which replaced the 7th and 8th grades. No longer would any one teacher take charge of an entire grade. Rather, we went from teacher to teacher, room to room, depending on the subjects we were taking — and there was some choice.
A new Community Room had been added to the High School building, primarily a basketball court on a north-south axis with bleachers on the east and west boundaries. At the south end of the court there was a stage for class plays and school assemblies in which students and teachers frequently provided entertainment. The earlier basketball court inside the school building was turned into a manual training room.
The 7th and 8th grades shared a study hall which was in the new addition on an east-west axis on the south side of the High School building.
Also new was S. Earl Rouch who had been engaged as township principal. The Akron News said of him: “He is a man who has taught and understands how schools should be operated. He comes with a high recomend from the school in which he taught last year.”
On Sept. 28, 1927, came further heady news. The Akron News headlined it: SCHOOLS WILL RECEIVE PERMANENT COMMISSION and the story quoted a letter from Mr. Hussey of the State Department of Education, who had inspected theAkron schools and who wrote to the trustee: “Because of the excellent physical equipment in this school and because of the well worked-out organization and curriculum, it is recommended that the school be commissioned on the 6 – 6 basis.” Garland Kline, owner of the Akron News editorialized: “Now it will not be necessary for the eighth grade pupils to take the diploma examinations next Spring. They will be promoted from the 8th grade to the 9th grade by subjects. We are glad we received this high rating by the State Department.”
During the Thanksgiving vacation period in the fall of 1927 the space in front of the high school building between the pavement and the sidewalk was concreted to eliminate mud and provide a place for the hacks to load and unload pupils.
Riding in a schoolbus was an exciting way of getting to school in the morning and getting home again in mid-afternoon. In the morning we were a bit more subdued but on the way home, all hell could break loose. Bus drivers were oblivious to a moderate level of jumping around, screaming, and just general letting off steam and intervened only when serious fights broke out. More than a few times, there was blood on the floor.
When warning of a blizzard reached the superintendent’s office by radio, he called in the buses early to try to stay ahead of the storm. One time the bus did not start out early enough. Everything went smoothly enough through the howling sheets of snow at zero temperature until we came to a stretch where the road was several feet below the surface of the clay banks on either side. The high winds had filled it level with snow which we rammed into before grinding to a halt. Elbert “Cracker” Cox, the driver tried to shovel his way through but the wind filled in as fast as he could remove the snow blocking our way. Several times he backed the bus up and tried to ram his way through but the bus leaned over at a perilous angle, its sides resting on the hardening snowbank. There was a look of desperation on his face as he thought of the possibility that we might all freeze to death. The the older kids and “Cracker” held a conference. Why not, we reasoned, ask “Cracker” to walk back to the nearest farmhouse, the Herendeen’s, and come back for us with a team of horses and a wagon. That was not more than a quarter of a mile away, and so off he set. Sure enough, within half an hour the team and wagon loomed up to our rear and shortly we all were on it, the older kids huddling on the outside of a circle with the younger kids inside. The Herendeens put up all the children for the night except three, who stayed at the Bucher house just across the road.
The next morning our fathers came for us, driving their grain wagons across the tops of the drifts which covered the fences. The air had been so cold that the falling snow had packed so hard that it easily held the weight of horses, wagon, and men.
Riding a school bus could be quite an adventure.
Wendell Godwin assistant principal, during our junior high school year, was a kite enthusiast. And so at noon, the sky over the field to the north of the school was filled with kites on any given spring day. There were a great many of various colors made with the usual cross sticks and rags for a tail but there were a few big innovative box kites made with bamboo. These were too heavy for a light wind and came crashing to earth whenever it died down.
Our teachers, in addition to the assistant principal, Wendell Godwin, were Dale Lichtenwalter, Benjamin L. Rufe, Georgia Stoner, Mary Maby, Esther Teter, Willis Bowen, Hubert Dickson, Ruth Waechter, and Jean Holland.
In the fall of 1928 as we were preparing to enter our freshman year, there were some changes in the teaching staff. Omer M. Mitchell replaced Willis Bowen and Constance Haldeman replaced Jean Hlland as teacher of music and art.
There were extensive changes in textbooks, which meant that students had to buy all new ones instead of getting used ones, the usual practice. On the opening day, school was always let out at noon so that students could get their books.The place we got them was Earl Arter’s Drugstore and one has only to close his eyes to see the crowds that thronged his place of business at that time every year.
The Akron News announced each year with almost monotonous regularity that enrollment records had been set. Altogether there were about 500 students enrolled in grade, Junior High, and High School. Those of us who have gone through life telling their friends: “I went to a small country school in northern Indiana” will be surprised to learn that 4/5 of all the schools in Indiana had a smaller enrollment than ours: we were actually Big Time and didn’t know it.
Freshmen: We moved to the upstairs study hall and elected class officers: Harry Huppert, president; Earl Kuyn, vice-president; Helen Keesey, secretary-treasurer; Constance Haldeman, sponsor.
The sophomore class entertained us the night before Halloween in the gymnasium. The party was a masquerade and the freshmen were initiated. We were blindfolded and had our hands thrust into a bowl of cold spaghetti, which they told us was brains. Refreshments consisted of pumpkin pie, cider, and sandwiches.
Ed Slaybaugh remebers another initiation early on in high school. We masqueraded. We were subjected to electric shocks over the bottom of our feet. All of our shoes were thrown up in the balcony at the north end of the gym, but we considered that the whole evening was a riot of pleasure.
Forty-six members of the freshman and sophomore classes organized a Latin Club, SENATUS POPLIVISQUE ROMANUS (The Senate and the Roman People). Officials were elected and given their Latin names. The purpose of the club was to create interest in the study of Latin and to relate Roman language and customs to our own.
In manual training class a new bandsaw was installed in early December, 1928. The freshman boys were the first to learn how to use it and they were enthusiastic about the curved cuts they could make in wood. The boys set about designing projects which they were unable to undertake before.
A new game, started up during the noon break, gained popularity in the gymnasium, suffleboard. It replaced volley ball.
When we returned to school after Christmas vacation, 1929, most of us were feeling fine again following an epidemic of influenza.
New teachers appointed in August, 1929, the beginning of our sophomore year, were: Russell Stout, biology and history; Robert Royer, English and history; Dorothy Drane, commercial subjects; and Thisbe Elion, Latin and history. Just before school opened, Akron had its first Town Fair, which was a huge success. In September, we elected class officers: Donivan Meredith, president; Earl Kuhn, vice-president; Evelyn Showalter, secretary-treasurer. Faculty sponsor: Robert Royer. We went to Lukens Lake for our annual wiener roast.
In October of this year occurred an event of worldwide significance, a crisis so grave that some bankers jumped out of their skyscraper office windows on Wall Street, a crisis which signalled the beginning of the Great Depression, the Stock Market Crash. We sophomores in Akron High School couldn’t have cared about the news, if we even knew it at all. History in the making is not very interesting to people who are not directly in the midst of it.
An event of far more immediacy occurred on Saturday night, Nov. 9. Doorlocks were sprung at the High School and desks broken into.The damage was estimated at about $50. Trustee Fred Blackburn received a report from the fingerprint expert furnished by the State of Indiana. He stated that all high school students were exonerated from blame for the break-in.
On Feb. 27, 1930, Akron High School was given a good report by the State Department of Education. In March, 1930, Omer Mitchell left as teacher of mathematics for a better job. His replacement was H. C. Travelbee, who taught us geometry.
The Fulton County census released in April, 1930, reveals that during the past ten years, the population of Akron increased from 930 to 931.
The teachers for our junior year were: S. Earl Rouch, principal; Robert Royer, Russell Stout, Anna Rinehart, Willis Bowen, Thisbe Elion, Irene Smith, Ray Deardorff, Kenneth Oliver, Esther Teter, and Hildred Kuhn. Constance Haldeman was in charge of music and art in both the elementary and high school. Carl Slaybaugh was janitor of the high school.
Thousands of people attended the Akron Town FAir in early September, prior to the opening of school, our junior year. New teachers were Anna Rinehart, Irene Smith, and Ray Deardorff, who became our class sponsor. Willis Bowen rejoined the faculty. Class officers elected were Earl Kuhn, president; Charles Bradway, vice-president, and Margaret Hammerel, secretary-treasurer. We had our annual weiner roast in early October.
The following spring (1931) we gave the seniors their farewell banquet at the LaSalle Hotel in South Bend.
In the fall of 1931 we entered the senior class and elected officers: Charles Bradway, president; Earl Kuhn, vice-president; and Margaret Hammerel, secretary-treasurer.
Bus drivers appoointed at the beginning of our senior year:
Route1: Eugene F. Bright; Route 2: Joseph Bowen; Route 3: Don McIntyre; Route 4: Estie Bryant; Route 5: Albert Cox; Route 6: William Lytle; Route 7: John Krieg; Route 8: Ed Arter; Route 9: J. R. Miller; Route 10: Ed Bowen; Route 11: Elmer Keesey; Route 12: Louis F. Merley; Route 13: Donald Bryant; Route 14: Ogle McIntyre.
In our Senior year Miss Carlson taught music.
May I (Dan Smith) go into first person to tell you a story you’ve never heard before? Hugh Barnhart, editor and publisher of the Rochester News-Sentinel invited me to become his Akron “stringer,” a reporter who is paid by the column. Among other events I covered was the speech by Paul V. McNutt at Beaver Dam High School auditorium. He was Dean of the College of Law at Indiana University and was running for governor. But my main income was writing sports, for which I was paid 50 cents a column. Basketball was very big and there were games almost every week. Charles Wells and I promoted busloads of student passengers for the away games for “Cracker” Cox, one of the schoolbus drivers, for which we received a free ride as payment. Therefore I covered every basketball game, away and at home, during my senior year.
Now my confession. I knew absolutely nothing about basketball. The few years I had gone out for it, I had been among the first ones cut from the squad during fall tryouts. So after each game I went down to the restaurant where all the buffs were talking. Unknown to them, I was making notes of what they said. Then to my grandmother’s house, first door west of the library, where I typed the story (I had been allowed to take typing a year early in preparation for my upcoming career in journalism), took it over to Joe Wilhoit’s house, always quite late at night. The next morning he took it with him to Rochester, where he worked, and it ran in the next edition.
If the Akron fans ever bothered to inquire why the sportswriter for the Akron team managed to hit the nail on the head game after game, they could not have known that they were reading their own words.
Fifty cents for a night’s work was not to be sneezed at in 1932.
That winter (1931-32) I also edited the high school newspaper, The Akron Hi Times which was published weekly in the Rochester News-Sentinel. Mr. Rouch, the principal, needed someone to answer the telephone in his office during the last period of the day while he taught a class and he chose me. He was a fruitful source of news stories and before long my staff was filling a full page. We were not paid anything for this.
In January of 1932, Claude Wise, the English teacher who succeeded Robert Royer, formed the Writer’s Club, the main purpose of which was to publish the Akron High School News each week in The Akron News. Therefore, during our senior year, there were two high school newspapers.
The previous October, Earl Kuhn was elected captain of the basketball team.
The winter of 1931-32 the basketball team, formerly called the “Pirates” were renamed the “Flyers” in honor of the airship “Akron.”
Maxine Smyth Powers writes: “My grade school years were in Oklahoma attending the one room type. There were no school hacks there. We walked or furnished our own transportation.
“The one thing that stands out about that year (1931-32) was being able to play basketball on the girls team and we all received a school letter for that year. Also, I think I was the youngest one to graduate by at least a month. Ferol Burkett had been youngest until then.”
The senior class chose as its motto: “Give to the world the beest you have, and the best will come back to you.” Their class flower was the American Beauty rose, and their class colors were blue and silver.
The senior class chose as its class play, “The Smiling Cow,” which was directed by Claude Wise. It was given in the Community Room on a Monday and Tuesday night in early April, 1932. The cast included: Margaret Hammerel, Charles Haldeman, Raymond Shipley, Helen Reahard, Donivan Meredith, Ferol Burkett, Evelyn Showalter, Charles Bradway, Elizabeth Baum, Helen Keesey, Harry Huppert, and Everett Pontius.
The junior-senior banquet was held at the Hotel Indiana in Fort Wayne the night of April 15.
The senior class trip was to Turkey Run and the Shades state parks.
Baccalaureate exercises were held on Sunday evening, April 17, at the Methodist Church. Russell Stout, pastor of the Brethren Church and member of the high school faculty, was the speaker.
Forty-four graduates received their diplomas: Elizabath Baum, Paul Bowen, Charles Bradway, Kenneth Bright, Harld Bryant, Ferol Burkett, Juanita Cutshaw, Julia Day, Earl Dickerhoff, Alma Dixon, Grace Gallantine, Charles Haldeman, Margaret Hammerel, Fred Hammond, Henry Hartman, Harry Huppert, Helen Keesey, Leon Kindig, Raymond Krieg, Earl Kuhn, Joe Madeford, Mabel McGee, Donivan Meredith, Richard Moore, Charlotte Paxton, Everett Pontius, Mabel Ratliff, Helen Reahard, Helen Riley, Virginia Riley, Dorothy Roderick, Daniel Secor, Raymond Shipley, Evelyn Showalter, Emerson Shrout, Edward Slaybaugh, Daniel Smith, Irene Smoker, Maxine Smyth, Angynetta Spitler, Lois Terry, Mildred Thompson, Elizabeth Waechter, and Louise Wilhoit.
Commencement exercises were held on the evening of the last day of school, Friday, April 22, in the Community Room. Dr. Elmer Ward Cole, pastor of the First Christian Church of South Bend, addressed us on the subject, “Mountains and Men.” Evelyn Showalter delivered the valedictory and Daniel Smith the salutatory addresses.
The following Sunday afternoon all members of this class but two gathered on the steps of Dr. W. C. Hosman’s office to have our picture taken.
During this narrative we have several times remarked that people who are present when history is being made are either unaware of the fact or indifferent to it. Only years later, looking back, are they able to see what a remarkable set of events occurred during their lifetime.
When we were small children, it was unusual for families to own an automobile and those of us in the country came to town once a week in a buggy. During the period from the Civil War onwards to the time we were born, the steam engine and farm machinery had increasingly been brought to bear on the harvesting of crops, but otherwise our parents labored on the land much as people had done for thoussands of years. Central heating was not common in farmhouses until we were almost through grade school. They were lighted with kerosene lamps and the firelight through the isinglass of the old Art Garlund stove. Radio appeared when we were in grade school and battery-powered sets allowed us to listen to programs originating all over the country. Then came rural electrification about the time we entered high school. Now milking machines were possible and our mothers got the benefit of many new household appliances. Better roads were built fo the increasing number of motor cars. Gravel gave way to asphalt and concrete, and tires were built that would last more than 100 miles. Almost all of us were seniors before we were old enough to drive automobiles. We all made it to the junior-senior banquet in Fort Wayne without mishap.
A tribute to our teachers! They were the finest. They taught and we learned. Assignments were made with every expectation that they would be done and, by and large, they were. A tribute to our community! They wanted good things for us and saw that we got them.
On the afternoon of Sunday, April 24, 1932, on Dr. Hosman’s office steps, dressed in our best clothes, we stood in rows. When the camera’s shutter clicked, our story ended except for the need to pay one final tribute to our classmates who did not live to read this account of our lives together as schoolchildren: Charles Haldeman, Harry Huppert, Dorothy Roderick, Daniel Secor, Josoeph Madeford, Helen Reahard, Mabel McGer, Charles Bradway, and Earl Kuhn. (The one exception was Earl Kuhn who read the draft of this article with pleasure and who, on the front porch of his house on East Rochester Street the spring of 1983, helped to identify fellow pupils in the class photographs.) [NOTE: Marie Stark died December 27, 1923. -WCT]
Most of us will remember them as they were in the classrooms, in their homes, and on the playgrounds of our childhood, and we share a delight in having known them.
Editor’s note: When Dan Smith brought me this story late in 1983, he said he did not have long to live, so I said I would print this in the very next Quarterly. We regret to report that Dan died Jan. 21, 1984, at age 70. He wrote the Smith and Leininger stories in Fulton County Folks Vol. 1 and 2. He was one of our staunchest supporters and contributed much toward the preserving of Fulton County history. We shall miss him greatly.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 54, pp 45-71]
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R. C. Wallace is principal of the Akron schools.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, December 4, 1873]
The Akron school is under good heading. Lawson Noyer is in command of the post. . [Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, April 30, 1874]
Lawson M. Noyer is teaching the Akron school. Lawson is a good commander in the school room.
[Akron and Vicinity, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 30, 1875]
L. Noyer is the prospective teacher at the Akron school for the spring term.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 8, 1876]
Our school commenced this week under the supervision of L. Noyer. Maggie Davis teaches at Staten and Billy Strong at Miller’s school house.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 22, 1876]
A. L. Shafer will teach school in Akron next winger.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, October 14, 1876]
A. L. Shafer has been engaged as principal of the Akron school.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, November 25, 1876]
L. Shafer, principal and Miss M. Davis, assistant teacher of the Akron school, are giving good satisfaction.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, February 18, 1876]
Billy Strong, the young thoroughbred musician, will shape young ideas in the Akron school house during the coming summer.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 24, 1877]
__________
In 1895 a brick two story building containing eight rooms was completed. This was located on Maple Street. This contained both the grade and high school students until Dec. 1, 1913, when the new high school building was completed in the north part of Akron on Center Street. [The grade school remained in the old building]. In 1962 the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation was organized.
1896-97: E. E. Slick, Prin.
1897-98: A. A. Campbell, Prin.; Jno. Clifton, Asst.
1898-99: A. A. Campbell, Prin.; Mrs. A. A. Campbell.
1901-02: Jos. Hines, Supt.; Carrie B. Templeton, Prin., O. E. Rogers, Asst.
1902-03: E. A. Gast, Supt.; Carrie Templeton, Prin; J. D. Heighway, Asst.
1903-04: Mrs. Carrie Templeton, Supt.; J. D. Heighway, Prin.; Ralph Mayer, Asst.
1915-16: H. G. Knight, Prin., Phys. Geog., Botany, Ag.; F. A. Blackburn, Ward. Prin.; Leroy Jones, Man. Train., Geom., Sci., 7; Dessie Saygers, Dom. Sci., Lat.; Ethel Shipley, Eng., Alg.; Mrs. Faye Gast, Dom. Sci., Mu.; Jos. Lessig, Eng., Hist.
1917-18: W. D. Shewman, Prin., Math., Sci.; J. L. Tombaugh, Man. Tr., Physics, 8; Ethel Shipley, Math., Eng.; C. L. Kuhn, Hist., Eng.; Grace Whitsel, Lat.; Faye Gast, Supervisor, Dom. Sci.; Kathryn Kistler, Mu., Art.
1918-19: W. D. Shewman, Prin.; Fred Blackburn, Wd. Prin.; R. W. Lahner, Man. Train. & Math.; Ethel Shipley, Eng. & Algebra; Cecil Kuhn, Eng. Hist.; Grace Whitsel, Latin; Faye Gast, Dom. Sc.; Katheryn Kistler, Supervisor, Drawing, Music; Faye Gast, Supervisor, Dom. Sc.;
1919-23: Jesse L. Tombaugh, Supt.
1929-30: Enrol (9-12) 176. Prin. S. Earl Rouch, Math.; Omer Mitchell, Math., Physics; Mary E. Maby, Eng.; Russell H. Stout, Hist., Biol.; Thisbe A. Elion, Lat., Hist.; Dorothy E. Drane, Com.; Hubert D. Dickson, Gen. Sc., Arith., Phys Tr.; Robert A. Royer, Eng., Geog.; Henry L. Becker, Manual Tr., Hist.; Esther Teeter, H.E., Eng.; Constance Haldeman, Mu., Art.
1930-31: Enrol (9-12) 175. Prin. S. Earl Rouch, Math., Health; Robert A. Royer, Eng.; Ray Deardorff, Ind. Arts, Phys. Tr.; Russell Stout, Soc. Sc.; Thisbe A. Elion, Lat., Hist.; Anna K. Rinehart, Typewriting Bookeeping, Shorthand; Kenneth F. Oliver, Biol., Alg., Gen. Sc.; Irene Smith, Eng., Geog., Phys. Tr.; Esther Teeter, Eng., H.E.; Constance Haldeman, Music, Art.
1931-32: Enrol. (9-12) 285. Prin. S. Earl Rouch, Math., Health, Com. Arith.; Robert A. Royer, Eng.; Ray Deardorff, Ind. Arts, Phys. Tr.; Russell Stout, Soc. Sc.; Thisbe A. Elion, Lat., Hist.; Marie Love, Com.; Willis L. Bowen, Physics, Math.; Kenneth F. Oliver, Biol., Alg., Gen. Sc.; Irene A. Smith, Eng., Phys. Tr.; Esther Teeter, H.E., Eng.; Ruth M. Carlson, Music, Art.
1932-33: Enrol. (7-8) 98, (9-12) 179. Prin. S. Earl Rouch, Soc. St.; Russell H. Stout, Soc. St.; Willis L. Bowen, Math., Sci.; Ray Deardorff, Ind. A., Phy. Ed.; Thisbe A. Elion, Lat., Soc. St.; Vera Goehler, H.E.; Marie Love, Com.; Kenneth F. Oliver, Math., Sci.; Raymond D. Pontius, Eng.; Irene A. Smith, Eng., Phys. Ed.; Ruth M. Carlson, Mu., Art.
1933-34: Enrol. (7-8) 100, (9-12) 174. Prin. Frank S. Stephens, Soc. St.; Russell H. Stout, Soc. St., Sci.; Willis L. Bowen, Math., Sci.; Ray Deardorff, Ind. A., Phy. Ed.; Thisbe A. Elion, Lat., Soc. St.; Fredora Gable, Com.; Vera Goehler, Eng., H.E.; Raymond D. Pontius, Eng., Sci.; Irene A. Smith, Eng., Phy. Ed, H.; Loyd Swick, Math., Soc. St.
1934-35: Inrol. (7-8) 103, (9-12) 163. Prin. Frank S. Stephens, Soc. St.; Russell H. Stout, Soc. St., Sci., Eng.; Willis L. Bowen, Math., Sci.; Ray Deardorff, Ind. A., Phy. Ed.; Thisbe A. Elion, Lat., Soc. St.; Gwendolyn Pike, Com.; Vera Goehler, Eng., H.E.; Raymond Pontius, Eng., Sci.; Irene A. Smith, Eng., Phy Ed., H.; Loyd Swick, Math., Soc. St.
1935-36: Enrol. (7-8) 103, (9-12) 157. Prin. Frank S. Stephens, Soc. St.; Russell H. Stout, Soc. St., Sci., Eng.; Willis L. Bowen, Math., Sci.; Ray Deardorff, Ind. A., Phy. Ed., H.; Thisbe A. Elion, Lat., Soc. St.; Gwendolyn Pike, Com.; Vera Goehler, Eng., H.E.; Raymond Pontius, Eng., Sci.; Irene A. Smith, Eng., Phy. Ed.; Loyd Swick, Math., Soc. St.; Cleo Moudy, Mu., Art.
1936-36: Enrol. (7-8) 95, (9-12) 161. Prin. Frank S. Stephens, Soc. St.; Willis L. Bowen, Math., Sci.; Ray D. Deardorff, Ind. A., Phy. Ed., H.; Thisbe A. Elion, Soc. St., Lat.; Ethel Grogg, Com.; Beulah Louise Kelley, Eng., P.E.; Kathryn Miller, H.E., Eng.; Cleo Moudy, Mu., Art; Raymond D. Pontius, Eng., Sci.; Russell H. Stout, Soc. St., Sci., Eng.; Loyd Swick, Math., Soc. St.
1937-38: Enrol, (7=8) 90, (9-12) 146. Prin. Frank Stephens, Soc. St; Willis L. Bowen, Math.; Cloyd L. Dye, Ag.; Ethel Grogg, Com.; Beulah L. Kelley, Eng., Phys. Ed.; Kathryn Miller, Eng., H. Ec.; Raymond D. Pontius, Eng.; Claude Rieth, Soc. St., Phys. Ed.; Loyd Swick, Soc. St., Ind. A.; Charles Wells, Jr., Lat., Sci.; Reba Marree Woods, Art, Mu., Orch., B.
1938-39: Enrol. (7-8) 95, (8-12) 174. Prin. Frank Stephens, Soc. St., H.; Willis L. Bowen, Math.; C. L. Dye, Ag., Sci.; Ethel Grogg, Com.; Kathleen Jewett, Voc. H. Ec., Phys. Ed., H.; Kathryn Miller, Eng.; Claude Rieth Soc. St., Phys. Ed.; Loyd Swick, Soc. St., Ind. A.; Charles Wells, lJr., Lat., Math., Sci.; Reba M. Woods, Mu., B., Orch.
1939-40: Enrol. (7-8) 81, (9-12) 176. Prin. Frank Stephens, Soc. St.; Willis L. Bowen, Math., Sci.; Wanita Dust, Soc. St., Lib.; Frances Fluke, Voc. H. Ec., Phys. Ed., H.; Ethel Grogg, Com.; Alfred F. Mathiesen, Voc. Ag., Sci.; Kathryn Miller, Eng.; Raymond D. Pontius, Eng.; Claude Rieth, Soc. St., Phys. Ed., Ind. A.; Charles Wells, Jr, Lat., Math.; Reba Marree Woods, Art, Mu., Orch., B.
1940-41: Enrol. (7-8) 86, (9-12) 163. Prin. Roy E. Meredith, Soc. St; Willis L. Bowen, Math., Sci.; Wanita Dust, Soc. St., Lib.; Ethel Grogg, Com.; Loren S. Jones, Ind. A., Phys. Ed., H.; Alfred F. Mathiesen Voc. Ag., Sci.; Kathryn Miller, Eng.; Raymond D. Pontius, Eng., H.; Mildred L. Senour, Voc. H. Ec., Eng., Phys. Ed.; Charles Wells, Jr., Lat., Math.; Reba M. Woods, Mu., Art, B., Orch.
1941-42: Enrol. (7-8) 88, (9-12) 146. Prin. Roy E. Meredith, Soc. St.; George M. Cullers, Soc. St., Math., Phys. Ed., Wanita Dust, Soc. St., Lib.; W. S. Johnson, Math., Ind. A.; A. F. Mathiesen, Sci., Ag.; Kathryn Miller, Eng.; Martha L. Mundy, Com.; Raymond D. Pontius, Eng., H.S.; Mildred Senour, H. Ec., Phys. Ed.; Charles Wells, Jr., Lat., Sci.; Reba Marree Woods, Mu., B., Art.
1942-43: Enrol. (7-8) 77, (9-12) 150. Prin. Roy E. Meredith, Soc. St.; George M. Cullers, Math., Soc. St., P.E.; Ruth A. Dixon, Mu.; Wanita Dust, Soc. St., Math., Lib.; Victor Johnson, Voc. Ag.; Margaret A. Morrison, Lat., Eng.; Wayne Murphy, Eng., Soc. St., Math.; Raymond D. Pontius, Sci., H.S.; Mildred Senour, Voc. H. Ec., P.E.; Dorcas M. Showalter, Com.; Elizabeth A. Urschel, Eng., Math.
1944-45: Enrol. (7-8) 70, (9-12) 134. Prin. Dwight Gallipo, Aero.; Russell Brown, Soc. St., P.E., H.S.; Olive Davis, Math., Sci., P.E.; Wanita Dust, Math., Soc. St., Lib.; Victor Johnson, Voc. Ag., Sci.; Dorcas Porter, Com.; Mary Price, Eng., Com.; Lorita Shull, Eng.; Virginia Smith, Voc. H. Ec.; LaDonna Summe, Mu., B.; Grace Waechter, Math., Lat.
1946-47: Enrol. (7-8) 84, (9-12) 128. Prin. Roy E. Meredith, Soc. St.; Zera M. Blickenstaff, Aero. Math., H.S., P.E.; Wanita Dust, Soc. St., Lib.; Gene Harvey, Eng., Lat.; A. F. Mathiesen, Voc. Ag.; Imogene Mavis, Com., Mu., B.; Raymond D. Pontius, Eng., Sci., H.S.; Martha V. Sullivan, Com.; Virginia S. Leininger, Voc. H. Ec.; LaDonna Rader, Mu., P.E.; Grace Waechter, Math.
1948-49: Enrol. (7-12) 207 Prin. Roy E. Meredith, Soc. St.; Zera Blickenstaff, Math., Sci., P.E.; Helen A. Brewer, Voc. H. Ec., Sci.; Florence Ducker, Eng., Soc. St.; Alfred F. Mathiesen, Voc. Ag., Ind. A.; Imogene Mavis, Com., B.; Raymond D. Pontius, Eng., Sci., H.S.; LaDonna Rader, Mu., P.E.; John H. See, Com., P.E.; Grace Waechter, Math., Lat., Lib.; Russell Shipley, Eng., Math., Soc. St.
1949-50: Enrol. (7-8) 78, (9-12) 133. Prin. Roy E. Meredith, Math.; Zera Blickenstaff, Math., Sci., P.E.; Charles G. Henderson, Com., P.E.; Mary Lou Huber, Voc. H. Ec., P.E.; Alfred F. Mathiesen Voc. Ag., Ind. A.; Imogene Mavis, Com., B.; Mary Catherine Newhouse, Soc. St.; Philip J. Parker, Eng., Soc. St., Lib.; Raymond D. Pontius, Eng., Sci., H.S.; Russell Shipley, Eng., Math., H.S.; Grace Waechter, Math., Lat., Eng.
1950-51: Enrol. (7-8) 96, (9-12) 121. Prin. Roy E. Meredith, Math.; Thomas Beck, Eng., P.E.; Eric Casson, Soc. St.; Charles G. Henderson, Com., P.E.; Clyde Hochstedler, Math.; Mary Lou Huber, Voc. H. Ec.; Alfred F. Mathiesen Voc. Ag., Ind. A.; Imogene Mavis, Com., Mu., B.; Philip J. Parker, Eng., Soc. St., H.S., Lib.; Raymond D. Pontius, Eng., Sci.; LaDonna Rader, P.E.; Grace Waechter, Lat., Eng.
1951-52: Enrol. (7-8) 93, (9-12) 133. Prin. Granville Deaton, Soc. St.; Thomas Beck, Eng., P.E., H.S.; Eric Casson, Soc. St.; Paul F. Denson, Sci.; Marian Dyer, Eng.; Mary Lou Huber, Voc. H. Ec.; Mildred Kurtz, Eng., Com., Lib.; Phillip E. McCarter, Com., P.E.; A. F. Mathiesen, Voc. Ag., Ind. A.; Imogene Mavis, Com., Mu., B.; Roy E. Meredith, Math., Soc. St.; LaDonna Rader, Mu., P.E.; Grace Waechter, Math., Lat.
1953-54: Enrol. (7-8) 96, (9-12) 155. Prin. Granville Deaton, Soc. St.; Mable Bevington, Art; Paul Buzzard, Eng., P.E.; Eric Casson, Soc. St.; Homer R. Dorrell, Sci.; Mildred Frantz, Com., Lib.; Pauline Hartsock,Voc. H. Ec.; Onita Johnson, P.E.; Barbara Keyes, Eng.; Phil McCarter, Com., P.E.; A. F. Mathiesen, Voc. Ag., Ind. A.; Imogene Mavis, Com., Mu., B.; Roy E. Meredith, Math.; Philip J. Parker, Soc. St., H.S.; Grace Waechter, Math., Lat.
1955-56: Enrol. (7-8) 87, (9-12) 173. Prin. Granville Deaton, Soc. St.; Mable Bevington, Art., Engl; Paul Buzzard, Eng., P.E.; Lawrence Cushan Soc. St., Sci.; Marne Dyer, Eng.; Gordon Heltzel, Eng., Sci.; Onita Johnson, P.E.; Helen M. Lozier, Com., Eng.; Phil McCarter, Com., P.E., Dr. Ed.; A. F. Mathiesen, Voc. Ag., Ind. A.; Imogene Mavis, Com., Mu., B.; Roy E. Meredith, Math.; Philip J. Parker, Soc. St., Lib., H.S.; Martha Shireman, Voc. H. Ec.; Grace Waechter, Math., Lang.
1957-58: Enrol. (7-8) 73, (9-12) 165. Prin. Granville Deaton; Mable Bevingtn, Art, Eng.; Donna Colbert, Bus.; Lawrence Cushman, Soc. St., Sci., Biol.; Ted Dunn, P.E., lH.S., Dr. Ed.; Gordon Heltzel, Eng., Phys. Lib.; Mary Howard, Eng., P.E.; A. F. Mathiesen, Voc. Ag., Ind. A.; Imogene Mavis, Mu., B.; Roy E. Meredith, Math., Soc. St.; Brad Moore, Soc. St., P.E.; Martha Shireman, Voc. H. Ec.; Grace Waechter, Math., Lat.; Lawrence V. Zachary, Eng.
1959-60: Enrol. (7-8) 97, (9-12) 150. Prin. Granville Deaton; Mable Bevington, Art, Eng.; Lawrence K. Cushman, Biol., Sci., Psy.; Gordon Heltzel, Eng., Lib.; A. F. Mathiesen, Voc. Ag., Ind. A.; Imogene Mavis, Mu.; Joan Kerlin, lMu., P.E.; Roy E. Meredith, Soc. St., Math.; Martha Shireman, Voc. H. Ec., P.E., Berniece Striggle, Eng.; Frank Edward Tufts, Soc. St., P.E.; John Elliott Turner, Bus.; Wilma Troxell, Math., Chem., Phys.; Grace Waechter, Math., Lat.; Wayne Yager, Soc. St., Dr. Ed., P.E.
1961-62: Enrol. (7-8) 98, (9-12) 146. Prin. Granville Deaton; Roy E. Meredith, Asst. Prin., Soc. St., Math.; Mable Bevington, Art, Eng.; Imogene Mavis, Mu.; Berniece Striggle, Eng.; John Elliott Turner, Bus.; Grace Waechter, Math., Lat.; Thomas Benbrook, Biol., P.E., Dr. Tr., Coach; Robert Riley, Soc. St., lH., P.E., Asst. Coach; Priscilla Lyman, Eng.; Betty WEstfall, Lib., Soc. St.; Noble J. Rouch, Math., Sci.; Phillip Denhardt, Ind. A.; Joanne Bendall, Voc. H. Ec.
[F.C.H.S. files]
The last graduating class from the old building was in 1913.
A new building was built in 1913.
High School merged with Mentone, became Tippecanoe Valley School, located on SR-19 between Mentone and Akron.
__________
There were 20 in her Akron High School class of 1913; seven are still living: Mariam Fouts Shinn, Mentone; Gladys Kindig Hall, Rochester; Loa Karns Secor Ballenger, Akron; Whit Gast, Akron; Russell Shipley, Athens; Claude Wade, Florida and Mrs. Dawson.
[Ruby Dawson Remembers Akron, Ann Kindig Sheetz, Fulton Co Folks, Vol. 2, Willard]
__________
My class of 1914 was the first class to graduate in the new high school building. It was not finished when the fall term started. I believe we entered the new school in November. Del Whitcomb was the trustee. Homer G. Knight was the superintendent; Roy Jones was the principal, Dessa Sayger, Latin teacher and Ethel Shipley, English. Mr. Knight taught history and Mr. Jones taught mathematics.
[Thomas Carpenter Family, Walter F. Carpenter, Fulton Co Folks, Vol. 2, Willard]
Dessa A. Sayger Fultz was principal of Akron High School in the 1920’s. In 1927 she was sponsor of the senior class and they published the first yearbook ever published in Akron High School.
Teachers: Homer G. Knight; Roy Jones; Dessa Sayger; Ethel Shipley; Dessa A. Sayger Fultz, principal in the 1920’s; Gordon Heltzel, 1955-61
Custodians: Carl Irvin Slaybaugh was custodian of Akron High School from 1921 until 1935.
OLD GRADS DIRECTORY
1897-1962
Kappa Delta Phi
1897
William Bailey Deceased
Seth Wicks Deceased
Elsie Slaybaugh Deceased
Eva Anderson Deceased
Nellie Noyer Deceased
Estil A. Gast Deceased
E. G. Sayger Deceased
Edna Shipley Deceased
1899
Dudley Strong Deceased
Gerge Shively Deceased
Bessie Rader, Mrs. D. E. Shipley (unknown)
1900
Lola Judd, Chester Bitters; 1200 W Marion, Elkhart IN
1901
Elsie Shipley Deceased
Lessie Moore Deceased
Ethel Swartz Deceased
Earl Leininger Deceased
Lenora Dukes Deceased
Frank Pyle Deceased
1902
Dayton Swihart Deceased
Dr. Dayton Hoffman, Akron IN Deceased
Bertha Smith Deceased
Maude Hoffman, C. C. Killinger; 3742 5th Ave N, St Petersburg FL
Scott Shesler Deceased
Tina Bevington, Mrs. Beaver; (unknown)
Dr. Ralph Noyer Deceased
Fred Rowe, Star Route C, Ft Myers FL
Dessa Sayger, Marion Fultz; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Daisy Strong, Arthur Slaybaugh; 318 E 3rd St., Peru IN
1903
Faye Morrett Deceased
Leah Platt, Charley Bahney; Akron IN
Ernest Lamar Deceased
Cleo Nelson Deceased
1904
Mary Whittenberger, Thomas Webster; 543 W. Grove St., Ontario CA
Blanch Swihart Deceased
Nellie Stevenson, Mrs. Nellie Leininger; Akron IN
Emma Miller, Homer Ball; Winona Lake IN
Homer Ball Deceased
1905
Nellie Onstott Deceased
Scudder Wilson; Macy IN
Effie Sayger Deceased
Jay Emahiser, Valura Patterson; Akron IN
William Shewman Deceased
Ida Leininger, Bill Thompson; Box 264, Winona Lake IN
Densie Oliver, Ralph Noyer; 201 College St., Muncie IN
Daisy Young, Mearl Bucher; RFD 2, Akron IN
Earl Vickery Deceased
1906
Nellie Bryant, Otto Smith; RFD 5, Rochester IN
Claudia Stevenson; c/o Mrs Earl Leininger, Akron IN
Pearl Sausaman, Clifford Bradway; 200 Pontiac St., Rochester IN
Valura Patterson, Jay Emahiser; Akron IN
Lola Moore Deceased
Goldia Wilhoit Deceased
1907
Otto Barrett Deceased
Howard Ball Deceased
Dessa Karns Deceased
Gladys Dawson, Mrs. Chambers; 145 N 16th St., Corvallis OR
Karl Gast, Mabel Leininger; RFD 2, Akron IN
Roy L. Groninger Deceased
Merr Strong Deceased
Charles Leininger Deceased
1908
Vesta Coffin Deceased
Carl Siffert Deceased
Silvia Bender, Mrs. Hager; 401 N. Lexington Ave., Hastings Nebr.
Lura Harter, Wm. Shewman; 853 Atlanta Ave., Webster Grove 19, MO
Mae Higgins, John Haughton; RFD, Roberts Mont.
Sadie Hoffman, Ray Mills; 2012 E. 10th St., Anderson IN
Austin Linebaugh; Dragoon Trail, Mishawaka IN
Dessa Newell, Harry Meredith; RFD 1, Mentone IN
Helen Studebaker, Mrs. Helen Arter; Akron IN
1909
Hazel Bradway, Sam Rookstool; 1335 E. Fox St., So Bend IN
Ruth Dawson, Ray Carr; RFD, Argos IN
Eva Good Deceased
Sadie Hammond Deceased
Arzerna Higgins, Lloyd Paxton; RFD 4 Box 87, Winamac IN
Col. Edward Johnson; Box 168, Elizabethtown KY
Mabel Leininger Deceased
Orville Moore Deceased
Mary Noftsger Deceased
Ethel Shipley, Everett Graham; c/o Maude Zolman, Mentone IN
Rev. D. L. Slaybaugh, Faith Thompson; Akron IN
Bertha Tatman, Homer E. Robbins, 2203 Mather Ave., Elkhart IN
Fern Wilhoit, Willar J. Murphy; 1010 S. 36th St., So Bend IN
Ella Seitzer, Howard Wakely; Roann IN
Jessie Miller, Marvin Clemans; Deedsville IN
1910
Cecil Kuhn, Edna Wilhoit; 217 E. Ewing Ave., So Bend IN
Reece Oliver, RFD, Akron IN
Edna Shoemaker, Clark Chapman, 3533 Lowdon St., Los Angeles 26 CA
Blanche Smith, Mrs. Bacon; RFD 3, Plymouth IN
Lena Gerrard, Earl Arter; Akron IN
Carl Hoffman Deceased
Edna Wilhoit, Cecil Kuhn; 217 E. Ewing Ave., So Bend IN
Eva Hoffman, Paul Strong; RFD 2, Akron IN
Alice Glassford, Charles Chapin; 1615 Monroe St., Rochester IN
Ethel Cook, Mrs. Barrett; Hotel Spinet, 206 W. 92nd St., Dept 606, New York 24 NY
Blanche Reece, Cle Teeter; 835 W. Main, Mesa AZ
Devaine Sullivan Deceased
Mercia Coffin Deceased
Ernest Richter Deceased
1911
Dr. John Leech; Callallen TX
Charles Kistler; 636 S. Waiola Ave., LaGrange IL
Hester Bybee, Adolph Richardson; RFD 1, Granger IN
Lon Zimmerman, 117 W 12th St., Rochester IN
Fern Petry; 318 W. 10th, Rochester IN
Beulah Strong, Mrs. Beulah Johnson; 735 Concord Ave, c/o Larry Pendell, Elkhart IN
Fannie Robbins, Mrs. Fannie Moore; Akron IN
Essie Day, Poe Miller; 1312 S. Delphos St., Kokomo IN
Rev. Walter C. Stinebaugh; Markle IN
Dr. Schuyler Fouts, 2818 E. Linden, Tucson AZ
Ralph Lukens, RFD 2, Rochester IN
Max Thompson, 1414 Oneida St., Ft Wayne IN
Ralph Merley Deceased
Lucretia Nye Deceased
Jeanette Case Deceased
Maude Drudge Deceased
Seldon Burns Deceased
Daniel K. Leininger Deceased
1912
50th Anniversary
Walter Swihart; RFD 1, Rome City IN
Rev. Walter Haldeman, Ariel Clifton; 620 College Dr., Anderson IN
Zoa Smith; Ralph Kreamer; 603 E. Main St., Warsaw IN
Marie Lukens, Wm. Hunter; Roann IN
Ethel Bolley, Irish Harger; RFD, Roann IN
Earl Arter, Lena Gerrard; Akron IN
Cleotus Smith, Fay Leininger, Akron IN
Asa Whittenberger Deceased
Cora Zimmerman, Mrs. Coplen; Akron IN
Mabel Moore, Mrs. Mabel Hartman; Akron IN
Daun Read, Glen Gaskill; 3501 Weisser Park, Ft Wayne IN
Hazel Whittenberger, Harley Rogers; RFD 1, Akron IN
Winifred Case, John Wakeman; Bremen IN
J. R. Miller, Esther Dickerhoff; RFD 1, Akron IN
Ariel Clifton, Rev. W. Haldeman; 620 College Dr., Anderson IN
Earl Pressnall, Pearl Bright; RFD, Claypool IN
Mary Read, R. G. Hayward, 227 Joyce Court, Elkhart IN
Sara Gaerte Deceased
1913
Ruth Waechter, Ed Keebler; 1031 Pontiac St., Rochester IN
Neva Haldeman, Mrs. Neva Kinder; RFD 2, Akron IN
Marian Fouts, Earl Shinn; Mentone IN
Bernice Slaybaugh, Oscar Fites; Akron IN
Whitney Gast, Alma Knowlton; RFD 1, Akron IN
Ruby Hoffman, Frank Dawson; Akron IN
Frank Dawson, Ruby Hoffman; Akron IN
Russell Shipley, Verna Davenport; Athens IN
Merl Cook, Bertha Shimer; Akron IN
T. Estil McIntire; 1618 Prairie St., Elkhart IN
Rev. Estil Perry; 311 Burton St., S.E. Grand Rapids MI
Leroy Reed; 1123 Sunnyside Ave., So Bend IN
Claude Wade, Eva McGlennen; Silver Lake IN
Lois Karns, Harvey Ballenger, Akron IN
Gladys Kindig; Justin L. Hall; 317 E. 10th St., Rochester IN
Maune Nye Deceased
Pearl Bright Deceased
Geneva Vickrey Deceased
Hubert McGinnis Deceased
Everet Hammond Deceased
1914
Edna Haldeman, Ernest Hunter; 1014 Huffman St., Ft Wayne 7 IN
Max Hoover; Gladstone Ave., Elkhart IN
Walter Carpenter; RFD 1, Akron IN
Seth Carpenter; June Robinson; 12 Flora Dr., Peru IN
Edgar Runkle, Mary Duey; RFD 1, Akron IN
Ray Shelton; 301 Main St., Rochester IN
Katherine Kistler, Evan Whallon; Akron IN
Mary Siffert, Harry Lillengren; 300 N. Osceola, Clearwater FL
Ernest Hunter, Edna Haldeman; 1014 Huffman St., Ft Wayne 7 IN
Ethel Kuhn, Russell McHatton; 412 E. Franklin, Winchester IN
Ethel Arter, John Eads; Atwood IN
Edna Glassford, Howard Tomlinson; Apt 102 505 3rd Ave., Great Falls Mont
Mabel Snider, Mrs. Driver; 1122 Crescent Ave., Ft Wayne IN
Blanche Wade, J. W. Haskett; Rt 3, Box 351A, Wichita Falls TX
Willa Pearson, Mrs. Harter; RFD 2, Akron IN
Faith Thompson, Rev. Daniel Slaybaugh, Akron IN
Kenneth Oliver Deceased
Ner Kinder Deceased
Willis Cook Deceased
1915
Arthur L. Miller; 910 N 7th St., Goshen IN
Dale Leininger, Ruth Leckrone; Akron IN
Olive Carr, Willis Roberts; 721 32nd St., So Bend IN
Estil Bemenderfer, Glen Hartman; 1407 Main St., Rochester IN
Edwin Shriver; 1816 Stevens Ave., Elkhart IN
Cora Bolley, Cluster Teeter; 304 Bond St., North Manchester IN
Vance Hoffman, Ruth Johnson; Spencer Hall, Corning NY
Nellie Hand, Harrison Gholson; 5525 Ashworth Rd., West Demoines IA
Forest Higgins, Marian Harman; RFD 1, Silver Lake IN
Naomi Penry, Mrs. Miller; RFD 1, Kewanna IN
Kenneth Personett; 3112 Scoville Ave, Berwyn IL
William Kroft Deceased
Jack Dunn; Box 715, Boynton Beach FL
Goldie Bright; Akron IN
Clara Burns, H. D. clemens; 526 W. 4th St., Rochester IN
Mearl Potter, Dean Newcomb; 1312 Bancroft, Rochester IN
Veville Hosman; 106 Longwood Ave., Boston 41 Mass
Marie Drudge, Mrs. Marie Dawson; RFD 2, Akron IN
Amy Davis, Dr. N. LaMar; 149 E. 73rd St., New York 21 NY
Bessie McDowell, Mrs. Byram; 815 N. Van Ness St., Santa Ana CA
Irene Clifton, Don Beery; RFD 4, Rochester IN
Vera Martin Deceased
Emmet Davis Deceased
Glenn Buck Deceased
Joseph Wilhoit Deceased
Webster Blasdel [no address]
1916
Valett Applegate, Merle Carver; 25 SW 4th St., Richmond INk
Paul Dawson; 1618 E. Broadway, Logansport IN
Cleo Robbins, James C. Acridge; 310 W. Kae Ave., Glendale AZ
Beulah Shipley, Almont Wertenberger; 813 Berlin St., Mishawaka IN
Pauline Whitcomb, Mrs. Bardens; Lowell IN
Leo Harter; 2921 W. Paris, Tampa FL
Frank Lukens; RFD 1, Silver Lake IN
Dr. Byron Snyder; 2717 S. East St., Indianapolis IN
Etta Vickery, Mrs. Max Kuhn; Akron IN
Elizabeth Morrett, Wm. Riley; RFD 1, Silver Lake IN
Frances Cook, Wm. Moore; 2304 E. St., Sacramento CA
Charles Lukens; RFD 2, North Manchester IN
Genn Haldeman; 725 Diamond Ave., So Bend 16 IN
Julia Riddinger, Fred Logge; c/o Mrs. Henry BAuer, 612 N. 13th St., Niles MI
William Rowe; Webster, Wis.
Pauline Pressnal Mrs. Fairchild; 3113 W. Dahlia Dr., Phoenix 23 AZ
Lois N. Noyer, Charles Westley; 1212 Verbena St., Denver CO
Orville Hoffman, Ida Fitton; RFD 2, Claypool IN
Ernest Harrold, Altha Hamilton; RFD 1, Claypool IN
Lena Riggle, George Pontius; Weseley Street, Huntington IN
William Riley, Elizabeth Morrett; RFD 1, Silver Lake IN
Mildred Smith Deceased
Pearl Kesling Deceased
Mildred Shesler Deceased
Margaret Kistler Deceased
Beulah Adamson Deceased
Cleo Waechter Deceased
Robert Nye Deceased
Vera Shewman Deceased
Max Kuhn Deceased
Charles Ed Bowen Deceased
Estel Sheetz Deceased
Claude Gaerte Deceased
Anna Floyd Deceased
1917
Vernon Bechtelheimer; Veedersburg IN
Ruby Merley, Merl Sherman; 178 E. Main St., Peru IN
Merl Shewman, Ruby Merley; 178 E. Main St., Peru IN
Tural Haldeman; Akron IN
Ferol King, Albert Skidmore; RFD 2, Hollywood Cottage, Rochester IN
Helen Curtis, Mrs. Baber; 2060 Lafayette St., Ft Myers FL
Cloyd Leininger, Hilda Wilburn; Akron IN
Wilbur Harter, Fern Taylor; RFD 1, Akron IN
Jessie Burns, Grace Quick; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Paul Lukens, Faye Zobberoski; 803 E. Indiana Ave., So Bend IN
Freda Bolley, Harry Patterson; 301 W. Main St., No. Manchester IN
Lela Smith, Elwood Stubblefield; 709 Indiana Ave., New Castle IN
Jennings Grube; Kewanna IN
Lydia Specks Anderson; 1212 Lindburg Rd., Anderson IN
Ray Specks; 655 Broadway, Anderson IN
Chester Long Deceased
George Waechter Deceased
1918
Ralph Leininger, Gretchen Pascal; Akron IN
Estella Bemenderfer, Thos. Racster; 1508 S. 3rd St., Maywood IL
Russell Sparks, Pauline Whittenberger, 826 Jefferson St., Rochester IN
Paul Lamoree; Akron IN
Silvia Secor, Don Noyer; Akron IN
Clair Moore, Louise Wolf; Akron IN
Russell Ferree, Lucille Roe; 24250 Lakeshore Blvd., Euclid 23 OH
Ruel Churchill, Ruby Sicks; Hermitage Rd., Ann Arbor MI
Mary Hauser, Mr. Ashley; Pierceton IN
Ruth McCullough Deceased
Neva Cutshall, Wm. Kretzmeier; Batesville IN
Nina Hoffman, Deo Lowden; Hillwood, RFD 1, Shererville IN
Mary Hire, Mrs. Barrett; Kappa Kappa Gamma House, Bloomington INk
Sarah Strong, Wendell Godwin; 1823 Collins St., Topeka KS
Willis Harrold; 1128 E. 4th St., Mishawaka IN
Gladys Arter, Dewey Merley; RFD 2, Akron IN
L. Herman McIntire, Hazel Gohn; 1531 Morehouse Ave., Elkhart IN
Blanche Kesling, Lawrence Clayton; 667 24th Ave., San Francisco 21 CA
Marie Gast, Mrs. Talbot; 1161-1/2 N. Madison St., Los Angeles 29 CA
Glen Arter Deceased
Carmin Nye, Carl Dawson Spencer; 37 E. Maple Rd., Indianapolis IN
Ethel Higgins, John D. Moore; 1593 Main St., Dubuque IA
Beatrice Stephenson, Clyde Moran; Box 383 RFD 2, Seesburg FL
Edythe Studebaker, R. O. Hillis; 970 N. Potomac St., Arlington 5 VA
Ruby Wade Deceased
Jessie Carr Deceased
1919
Hazel Merley, Everett Plotner; Akron IN
Dwight Whitcomb, 27-1/2 W. 6th St., Peru IN
Ben L. Rufe, Mary Moore; 217 W. Main St., Peru IN
Colfax Rhodes, Edith Bryant; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Devere Shewman, Helen Waite; !05 N. Russell Ave., Mishawaka IN
Wendell Godwin, Sarah Strong; 1823 Collins St., Topeka KS
Loyd Carpenter, Mary Maby; Box 303, Star City IN
Andrew Engle, Mabel Bicker; Warsaw IN
Ralph Arter Marion Bell; 6136 Roslyn St., Indianapolis IN
Dr. Niles R. Lamoree, 711 Forest, Denver CO
Harold J. Read, Mildred Sheets; 1116, Monroe St., Rochester IN
Joanna Miller, Mrs. E. W. Fox; 111 E 10th St., Bloomington IN
Athel Timbers, Raymond Eby; Mishawaka IN
Lucile Heighway Deceased
Dewitt Hosman Deceased
Merrill Penry Deceased
1920
Marie Cutshall, Lamoin Hand; RFD 2, Akron IN
Helen Stout, Otis Craig; Akron IN
Lucile Leininger, Ted Jontz; Akron IN
Ruth Kreamer, Ray Cornell [unknown]
Lucille Stout, E. J. Stephens; 1250 Central Ave. Apt D, Memphis TN
Helen Waite, Devere Shewman; 105 N Russell Ave., Mishawaka IN
Vern Royer; Akron IN
Rev. Joy Hammond; Box 219, Ionia MI
Chalmer Hoffman; 5105 N. Washtenaw, Chicago 25 IL
Glen Wilhoit, Ken Wallace; RFD 2, Box 41-C., St Joe MI
Almina Sriver, Orville Heckaman; 1315 Rhodes St., Jackson MI
Ralph Waechter, Nina Zimmerman; 4117 Manerva Ave., Los Angeles 66 CA
Loder Patterson, 1500 Mass. Ave., Washington DC
Mary Studebaker Deceased
Russell Wade Deceased
Cloyce Geiger Deceased
1921
Georgia Stoner, Fred Senger, 216 W. 3rd St., Peru IN
Walter Waechter, Grace Fites; Akron IN
Lloyd Swick, Blanch Smoker; RFD 1, Rochester IN
Lamoin Hand, Marie Cutshall; RFD 2, Akron IN
Beulah Churchill, Ralph Pratt; RFD 1, Akron IN
Robert Gast, Geneva Mills; RFD 2, Country Club Rd., Warsaw IN
Willis Higgins, Akron IN
Orville Ellis, Doris Keesey; Akron IN
Marie Arter, Charles Judd; 1660 W. Indiana Ave., Elkhart IN
Frank O. Funk, Faye Kindig; 9642 S. Green St., Chicago 43 IL
Vera Arter, George Black; Claypool IN
Howard Craft, Marie Kime; Roann IN
Nondus Pearson, Vern Eikenberry; Mexico IN
Bernice Bowen; Akron IN
Kathryn Read, William Franz; 960 “E” St., Washougal WA
Robert Smith Deceased
Hanley Blackburn Deceased
Loreen Waechter Deceased
1922
Annabel Penry, C. K. Rodkey; 402 W. Market St., Logansport IN
Mary Maby, Lloyd Carpenter; Box 303, Star City IN
Hazel Strong, Rex Middleton; 10715 Eggleston, Chicago IL
Floyd Potter; 1227 Wendover Rd., Charlotte 7 NC
Arthur Newcomg; c/o Mrs. Ronnie Jones, 900 N. Elm, Muncie IN
Roscoe H. Sowers; 51963 Grape Rd., Granger IN
Lucille Morford, Mrs. Tanner; 506 Walden St., Harriman TN
Wilbur Kreamer, Mary Martin; 405 Union St., Batavia IL
Willis Bowen, Mary Dickey; Akron IN
Lloyd Heeter; RFD 2, Culver IN
Homer Saner; RFD 2, Akron IN
Selena Utter, John Gerig; RFD 2, Akron IN
Florence Howard, Mrs. Florence Richter; Akron IN
Mazie Bright Deceased
Robert Royer Deceased
1923
Marjorie Ferry, Jack Fredericks, Mentone IN
Alton Shireman; RFD 2, Macy IN
Georgia Shewman, Carl Jenkins; Golden Hills 1, Peru IN
Willis Eber; Lagro IN
Alice Howard, Charles Ambridge; 208 N. Sycamore, No. Manchester IN
Russell Wideman; 1228 N. Gladstone, Indianapolis IN
Opal Swick, Isaac D. Adams; Greenvalley, Sam Love Road, Rocky Face GA
Orma Keim, Cecil Huffman; RFD 1, Roann IN
Nina Russell, Charles Schilling; 2015 Rockne DR., So Bend IN
Treva Morris, Ellis Kline; RFD 2, Akron IN
Valura Bradway, Charles Spohn; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Earl Kreighbaum; RFD 2, Goshen IN
Muriel Bright, Mrs.Eileen Pack; 2665 N. Burling, Chicago IL
Naomi Cook, Paul Whitcomb, 717 E. 9th St., Rochester IN
Mildred Potter, Alfred W. Harris; 2748 Edgehill Rd., Cleveland 7 OH
Ollie Clark Deceased
Harold Blackburn Deceased
1924
Doris Keesey, Orville Ellis; RFD 1, Akron IN
Garland Kline, Helen Ebert; 409 H. St., LaPorte IN
Marjorie Wade, Robert Bibler; RFD, Valparaiso IN
Esther Teeter, Mrs. Singer; 522 Sherman Ave., So Bend IN
Otto B. Fultz; 6921 Hiltonia Lane, Ft. Wayne IN
Marie Shoemaker, Owen E. Hatfield; 1350 College, So Bend IN
Thelma Waechter, Ben Barnett; Box 133, Silver Lake IN
Dorothy Stokes, Roy Smith; RFD 2, Akron IN
Loren Heeter; 4207 N. 19th St., Phoenix AZ
Maxine Yarian, Keith Bright; RFD 4, Traverse City MI
Estil Whittenberger; 925 Woodlawn Ave., Waukegan IL
Opha Ball, Warren White; RFD 2, Roann IN
Joanna Krieg, Charles McGee; Ossian IN
Modena Cox, Carl Leininger; RFD 1, Marion IN
Gladys Miller, E. Vere Hough; 810 W. Lawrence, Mishawaka IN
Leland Hayward, c/o Guy McMillen, RFD 1, Rochester IN
John Helvey, Vivian Hammer; 730 28th St., So Bend IN
Frank Smith; Akron IN
Mary Martin, Wilbur Kreamer; 405 Union St., Batavia IL
Omer Funk Deceased
Gerald Wilhoit Deceased
1925
Joseph Day, Helen Miller; Akron IN
June Landis, F. M. Castle; Box 374, Morgan UT
Lola Calloway; [unknown]
John Barr; 790 Sunset Rd., Winnetka IL
Rex Rader, Elinor Moore; 2528 E. 25th Pl., Tulsa OK
James Rittenhouse; 786 450 South, Clearfield UT
Forest Grogg; RFD 1, Macy IN
Pauline Bowen, Merl Bennett; 4081 Bacon Ave., Berkley MI
Mabel Keesey, Earl Baber; Box 22, Denver IN
Marie Linebaugh, Harold Crum; RFD 2, Macy IN
Constance Haldeman, Wilbur Kercher; 4743 Wrightwood Ave., Chicago 39 IL
Wilbur Kercher, Constance Haldeman; 4743 Wrightwood Ave., Chicago 39 IL
Iva Shriver; Vogue Beauty Shop, Rochester IN
Joanna Day,Ross Stout; 2635 Eder, Highland IN
Mary Leech, Harold Van Doren; RFD 1, Akron IN
Opal Burns, Claude Hoffman; Roann IN
Wilma Miller, Forrest D. Higgins; RFD 1, Akron IN
William Huppert, Evelyn Kreighbaum; Akron IN
Max Burch, Mabel Krathwohl; RFD 3, No. Manchester IN
Francis McCullough Deceased
Kendall Hosman Deceased
Ronald H. Engle Deceased
1926
Trella Krieg, Byron Bastian; Akron IN
Helen Putman, Russell Bacon; Akron IN
Marie Moore, Claude Berger; RFD 1, Roann IN
Geneva Burch, Galen Groninger; RFD 2, Box 312, Plainfield IN
Harry Fultz, Evelyn Hollenbeck; RR 14 – Illinois Rd., Ft Wayne IN
Raymond Bowen; Athens IN
Raymond Burkett; Star Route, Spooner WI
Col. Wm. E. Heltzel; 149 Grierson Ave, Fr. Huachuca AZ
Helen Van Lue, William Ward; 1111 Monroe St., Rochester IN
Emma Thompson, Clarence E. Hunter; RFD 1, Silver Lake IN
Telford Waechter, Hilda Gresso; 504 N. Wayne St., No. Manchester IN
Orville Sriver, Claudia Rhodes; Akron IN
Willis Helvey; 725 N.W. 129th St. Miami FL
Stanley Huppert, Maxine Showalter; 3770 Freemont, So. Euclid OH
Darl Harsh, Evelyn Cox; RFD 2, Macy IN
Lester Kindig; RFD 5, Warsaw IN
Joe Bolley, Irene Shamp; Akron IN
Claude Berger, Marie Moore; RFD 1, Roann IN
ChesterShafer; RFD 1, Macy IN
1927
Harold L.Bowen; 210 E. Maple Ave., LaPorte IN
Harold Kuhn; RFD 1, Akron IN
Kathleen Hammond; d/o Tom Sheller, Logansport State Hospital, Logansport IN
Ralph Funk; RFD 2, Akron IN
Vera Rogers (Miss); 408 Pontiac, Rochester IN
Martha Ellen Sands, Mrs. Louis Martin; Akron IN
Beatrice Shimer, Ralph Shoemaker; 814 Clinton St., So Bend IN
Marie Love; 401 W. Herscher Dr., Warsaw IN
David Krieg; 604 W. North St., Muncie IN
Charles Whittenberger; RFD 1, Akron IN
Opal Kercher, Robert Hill; 707 E 9th St., Rochester IN
Ross Miller; 2732 N. Myers St., Burbank CA
Beulah Van Cleve, A. T. Campbell; 45235 Custer Rd., Utica MI
Thelma J. Smoker, Mrs. Thelma J. Kuhn; Akron IN
Pauline Hammond, Claude Hoffman; 9545 Faust, Detroit MI
Clarissa Barber, Galen Walker; RFD 1, Roann IN
Devon Smith; RFD 2, No. Manchester IN
Kathryn Barnes; 26 W. Maple, Wabash IN
Merrill Berger; 433 Colorado Blvd., Denver CO
Marian Burrows, Chet Gerig; 1311 S. Anderson St., Elwood IN
Joe Wyatt; [unknown]
Helen Baum; Charles Irelan; Akron IN
Hubert Landis; 902 Olympus Ave., La Puente CA
Matilda Bucher, Harry Doub; Akron IN
Mary Fox Deceased
George Burdge Deceased
Herrell Berger Deceased
Robert E. Flohr Deceased
1928
Maxine Showalter, Stanley Huppert; 3770 Freemont Rd., So. Euclid OH
Mildred Shipley, John Weitzel; RFD 2, No. Manchester IN
Irene Shamp, Joe Bolley; Akron IN
Richard Scott, Nellie Van Lue; 4919 Maplewood Dr., Elkhart IN
Mary Ramsey, Virgil Krouse; RFD 2, Akron IN
Wayne Morris; 1116 Winthrop, Lafayette IN
Donald Morris, Pauline McFarland; RFD 1, Claypool IN
William Miller, Helen Young; Akron IN
Leroy Merley; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Helen Miller, Charles Shipley; 73 N. Wayne St., Peru IN
Thelma Maby, Clyde J. Dougherty; Odon IN
Russell Love; 430 W. Jefferson, Mishawaka IN
Mamie Linebrink, O’Neal Gagnon; RFD 2, Akron IN
Charles Lamoree; 2216 E. Market St., Warsaw IN
Joseph Kroft, Gladys Krieg; RFD 1, Akron IN
Dean Kreamer; 1537 First St., LaPorte IN
Esther Helvey, Paul Miller; 5570 Vista Canada, LaCanada CA
Marvin Heltzel; RFD 2, Akron IN
Faun Doub, Forrest Shrout; 924 So. Western Ave., Marion IN
Earl Day; 3601 SW 44th Ave., West Hollywood FL
Lester Davis; 728 E. Main St., Warsaw IN
Norman Burkett, Helen Miller; RFD 1, Akron IN
Helen Bryant, Ernest Nichols; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Mae Brown, Mrs. Mae Fanning; 313 W. Main St., Ft Wayne IN
Donald C. Smith; 311 S. Carson St., Carson City NV
Rosella Stark, Robert Trumbley; 316-1/2 N. William St., So Bend IN
Julius Wilhoit Deceased
Donald Keesey,3711 S. Harmon St., Marion IN
Irene Strong, James Izzard; 2348 Marine St., Stockton CA
Howard Tait [unknown]
Lester Sowers; 17168 Hagey St., Granger IN
Florence Clemans Deceased
1929
Willodean Stout, L. W. Binna; 704 Rio Vista, Modesto CA
James H. Shimer; 911 River Forest Ct., Milwaukee OR
Nina Riley, Ira Spurlock; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Gwendolyn Pike, Byron Harting; 606 N. Walnut St., No. Manchester IN
Donald Miller; 1870 E. Cantrell St., Decatur IL
Olive McGee, Ted Smith; Box 1649, Ft. Myers FL
Margaret Love, Mrs. Margaret Rose; 7103 S. Broadway, Crown Point IN
Edward Kroft; Charles City IA
Mildred Klise, Frank Meredith; Mentone IN
Nellie Huppert, Mrs. James Riley; Herscher’s Addition, Warsaw IN
Nora Hoffman; Akron IN
Daisy Gearhart, Jack Groshon; RFD 2, Fremont IN
Josephing Gearhart, Theo M. Robinson; Akron IN
Robert Bammerlin, Verna Shrout; RFD 1, Roann IN
Gladys Krieg, Joseph Kroft; RFD 1, Akron IN
Nellie Van Lue, Richard Scott; 4919 Maplewood Dr., Elkhart IN
Faye Landis; c/o Roy Landis, Akron IN
Juanita Gast, Joseph Boswell; Akron IN
Iva Flohr, Roy Krichbaum; Servia IN
Dr. John Ferry 1517 MacArthur Dr., Munster IN
Arvada Barnes, Mrs. Arvada Jones, Akron IN
Doris Arter, Robert Osborn; Ellis Rd., Rt. 2, Ithica NY
Edward Davis; Mentone IN
Harold Leininger Deceased
James Riley Deceased
1930
Dorothy Krieg, Jesse Cox; RFD, Westville IN
Frances Herendeen, Mrs. Eiler; c/o Ben Herendeen, RFD 2, Akron IN
Dale Krieg; Etna Green IN
James Stokes; 219 Howerton Dr., San Antonio TX
Edith Stokes, W. R. Jones; 16 N. High St., Dublin OH
Charles Waite; RFD 1, Silver Lake In
Emerson Sheets, Hazel Brown; Akron IN
Helen Hutchinson, Walter Worthington; 145 Janelle Lane, Jacksonville 11 FL
Claudia Rhodes, Orville Sriver; Akron IN
Pauline Kindig, Charles Swick; RFD 2, Akron IN
Iris Shamp, Ray Smith; Mentone IN
Freda Smoker, Fred Graham; RFD 1, Akron IN
Pearl Stark, Dale W. Brewer, 19597 Yoder, So Bend IN
Mary Margaret Rittenhouse, H. Leininger, Akron IN
Monroe Riley; 809 Wagner St., Ft. Wayne IN
Josephine Riley, Richard Trefz; Rt. 1 Box 631, Stevensville MI
Mary Rickle; Green Co. Hospital, Monroe WI
Arma Ratliff, Ray Eckert; RFD 5, Warsaw IN
Marjorie Putman, Gordon Harold; 2939 Jefferson St., Anderson IN
Mary Putman, Paul Friddle; 2128 E. 37th St., Anderson IN
Arvid Putman; RFD 2, Silver Lake IN
Hugh Wildermuth, Annetta Marsh; RFD 1, Akron IN
Helen Pike, Howard Utter, Akron IN
Esther Miller, Robert L. Nicodemus; RFD 1, Akron IN
Lonzo Meredith, Lucille Shaffer; Akron IN
Anna Meredith, C. E. McGee; 548 Markwood Ave., Indianapolis 27 IN
Juanita Love, Dwight Berry; RFD 1, Walkerville MI
Parentha Kindig, Clyde Johnson; RFD 1, Mentone IN
Raymond Keesey; Cedar Lake IN
Judson Hutchinson; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Evelyn Howard, 26 E 14th St., St. Regis Apt 605, Indianapolis IN
Wayne Hoffman; 2408 Miami Ave., So Bend IN
Mary Hammond, Jess Woefla; RFD, Morgantown IN
Stuart Gast; Winamac IN
Ronald Fenimore, Jeanette Barnes; Akron IN
J. Cleon Dershem; 51199 Hollyhock Rd., So Bend IN
Deloise Keesey Deceased
1931
Doin Smoker; RFD 1, Akron IN
Millicent Slaybaugh; 757 S. Mariposa Ave., Los Angeles CA
Edward Shewman; Akron IN
Freda Shamp, Edgar Igo; 419 N. Lake St., Warsaw IN
James Shaffer; 605 Swain Ave., Elmhurst IL
Lucille Shaffer, Lonzo Meredith; Akron IN
Kermit Ramsey, 367 W. 6th St., Peru IN
Irene Miller, Maurice Sayger; RFD 1, Akron IN
Mildred Peters; 2247 Columbia Ave., Indianapolis IN
Edgar Neundorff; 4321 Hillcrest Dr., Madison WI
Justine Leininger, Edgar Nuendorff; 4321 Hillcrest Dr., Madison WI
Mabel Miller, Warren Lehmann; 102 W 23nd St., Villa Park IL
Helen Mastellar, Mrs. Helen Hammond; 124 6th St., Logansport IN
Annetta Marsh, Hugh Wildermuth, RFD 1, Akron IN
George Maby; RFD 1, Akron IN
Juanna Lukens, George Sheetz; RFD 2, Akron IN
Esther Landis, Ernest Smith; RFD 2, Akron IN
Trella Kuhn, Wayne Tombaugh, Mentone IN
Dalton Kindig; 105 N. Hunt Dr., W. Mesa AZ
Maurice Hammond; RFD 2, No. Manchester IN
Harold Groninger; RFD 1, Akron IN
William Eisamen; 171 W. 12th St., Peru IN
Ralph Davis; RFD 1, Akron IN
Fred Barnes; Main St., No. Manchester IN
Clifford Runkle Deceased
Josephine Fennimore Deceased
Erwin Dershem Deceased
1932
Maxine Smyth, Charles Powers; 1101 Franklin Ave., Rochester IN
Irene Smoker, Mrs. Irene Landis; 6201 Avenue J., Galveston TX
Edward Slaybaugh; 209 35th Street, Connersville IN
Emerson Shrout; 101 N. Main St., Jonesboro IN
Evelyn Showalter, Bill Emahiser; 7205 University Dr., Richmond VA
Raymond Shipley; c/o Mallory Corp., Greencastle IN
Daniel Secor, Irene Bowen; Akron IN
Helen Riley, Mrs. Helen Bright; 2215 Webster St., Ft. Wayne IN
Virginia Riley, Glen Longnecker; 322-1/2 South Bluff, Syracuse IN
Helen Reahard, Steve Zemen; 3424 E. State St., Ft. Wayne IN
Mabel Ratliff, Richard Moore; 575 W. Chicago St., Coldwater MI
Chas. Daniel Smith; 416 Hall of Language, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY
Everett Pontius; 2110 Smead St., Logansport IN
Charlotte Paxton, Fred Keesey, RFD Akron IN
Donivan Meredith, Mildred Swick; Claypool IN
Mabel McGee, Don Lidgard; Bremen IN
Joseph Madeford; Akron IN
Earl Kuhn, Thelma Armstrong; Akron In
Raymond Krieg; 220 E. Jefferson St., Plymouth IN
Leon Kindig; RFD 1, Akron IN
Helen Keesey, Otis Putterbaugh; W. 3rd St., Peru IN
Julia Day, Ardin Creamer; 423 Pennsylvania Ave., Plymouth IN
Juanita Cutshaw, Emerson Johnson; Athens IN
Harold Bryant; 1431 Nightengale Rd., Louisville KY
Kenneth Bright, Akron IN
Charles Bradway; 118 E. Miami St., Logansport IN
Paul Bowen, Gloria Pratt; RFD 2, Akron IN
Elizabeth Baum; 716 Masonic Ave., San Francisco 17 CA
Henry Hartman; Akron IN
Fred Hammond; RFD, Akron IN
Grace Gallentine; 5350 N. College Ave., Indianapolis 2 IN
Alma Dixon, Tom Haupert; Akron IN
Earl Dickerhoff; 2616 Hubertus Ave., Fort Wayne IN
Ferol Burkett, Maurice Hammond; RFD 2, No. Manchester IN
Margaret Hammeral, Leon Kindig; RFD 1, Akron IN
Charles Haldeman Deceased
Harry Huppert Deceased
Dorothy Roderick Deceased
1933
Ruth Berger, Harry Ferguson; 1731 Olive St., Denver 20 CO
Lois Bowen, Gordon Drudge; RFD 2, Claypool IN
David Boyer; 4825 W. Iowa St., Chicago 51 IL
William L. Bradway; 3762 Creston Dr., Indianapolis IN
David Bryant; RFD 2, Akron IN
Wayne Coplen; RFD 1, Macy In
Meriam Dershem, Adolph Mitchell; Akron IN
Muriel Dershem, Homer VanGilder; RFD 3, Pretty Lake, Plymouth IN
Bill Emahiser, Evelyn Showalter; 7205 University Dr., Richmond VA
Helen Floor, Clell Irvine; 103 N. Maple, No. Manchester IN
Amos Foor; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Barbara Gast, Don VanGilder; Mentone IN
Pauline Groninger, Cluster Daine; 141 E. Davis St., So Bend IN
Pearl Hammond, Harold Newcomer; 1312 College Ave., Rochester IN
Emelyn Harter, Paul Fites; RFD 2, Akron IN
Keller Hartman; Akron IN
Freda Hatfield, Delson Morris; Roann IN
Maurice Helvey; RFD 1, Akron IN
Robert Tombaugh, Betty Morris; 121 W. 35th Ave., Gary IN
Clarice Kindig; RFD 2, Akron IN
Kathleen Murphy, Max C. Hill; Box 164-A RFD 1, Pierceton IN
Merl Kroft; Denver IN
Ruth Landis, Wayne Callantine; Currant Rd., Mishawaka IN
Ed Leininger; 211 Poinsetta Ave., Vista CA
Arthur Martin; 1516 High St., Logansport IN
Elsie Ramsey, Floyd Christman; 1300 Monroe St., Rochester IN
Bob Mastellar; RFD 1, Kewanna IN
Genavee Moore, Harold Nelson; Mentone IN
Mildred Morris, Mrs. George Kline; Roann IN
Elizabeth Waechter, Ray Miller; 12320 Gulf Blvd., Sunshine Beach, St. Petersburg FL
Edna Ratliff, Homer Shoemaker; 6616 Arizona Ave., Hammond IN
Katherine Riley, Bob Overmeyer; Lucas St., Rochester IN
Robert Sheets, Dawn Secor; Akron IN
Dawn Secor; Robert Sheets; Akron IN
Opal Smoker, Mrs. Laughman; c/o Albert Smoker, RFD 1, Akron IN
Garland Sriver, Delores Haldeman; RFD 1, Akron IN
Suzanne Thompson, Byron Abbott; 1019 W. Lawrence, Mishawaka IN
John Strong; 903 W. 86th Place, Chicago 20 IL
Dr. Charles Wells, Jane Rowe; 9477 Southworth Rd., Plymouth MI
Freda Wilhoit, L. G. Lynch; 3725 Mayflower Dr., Indianapolis IN
Ruth Williams, Lawrence Gagnon; RFD 1, Silver Lake IN
Violet Barrett Deceased
C’Dale Nichols Deceased
Elsie Townsend Deceased
1934
Elizabeth Arter, Ed Gray; Akron IN
Freda Ballenger, Dean Ault; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Trella Bradway, Ray Coplen, 1330 Franklin St., Rochester IN
Martha Burdge, Richard W. Flack; RFD 1, Laketon IN
Oscar Carr; RFD 2, Akron IN
Louise Darkwood, H. Myers; [unknown]
Joe Davis; RFD 1 Box 125-D, Dinuba CA
Phyllis Day, Merris Hipp; 2640 Duluth St., Highland IN
Marian Fox, Garland Borden; 7316 Capri Drive, Ft Wayne IN
Clella Gerig, Ruthford Neff; 657 Whitethorne Ave., Columbus 23 OH
Evelyn Keesey, Don Miller; 330 N. Main St., Columbia City IN
Arthur Landis, Betty Bryant; RFD 1, Leesburg IN
Bill Leininger, 220 Breezy Lane, Kokomo IN
Joanna Leininger, Howard Van Scoy; RFD, Albany IN
Helen Lytle, Jim Crousore; Dewey St., Bremen IN
Carl R. Martin; 1348 Eastern Place, Grand Rapids MI
Austin D. McHatton, 3209 Matoake Rd., Hampton VA
Lewis Ault, Athens IN
Charles Pearson; RFD, Akron In
Gene M. Rader; 6014 Indianola Ave., Indianapolis IN
Forrest Riley; Akron IN
Ernest Shively; RFD 2, Akron IN
Adrian Shrout; 15430 Cohasset St., Van Nuys CA
Hubert Thompson, Helen Halterman; 14726 Perry Ave., Harvey IL
Virgil Vanlue; 626 W. Virginia St., Kokomo IN
Jane Waechter, Ray Lantz; 240 McKinnie Circle, Ft. Wayne IN
Tilman Wilson; RFD 1, Rochester IN
Harold D. Zink; 1702 N Campbell Ave., Indianapolis IN
1935
Alice Bacon, Jake Overlander; RFD 2, Akron IN
Shirley Bacon, Richard Harper; Box 82, LaBelle FL
Richard Harper, Shirley Bacon; Box 82, LaBelle FL
Jack Barnes; RFD 1, Box 96, Ossian IN
Herman Bowers; 2552 W. Leland Ave., Chicago 25 IL
Adlene Bryant, Otis Halterman; RFD 1, Rochester IN
Octave Cox, Orville Paul; 3015 Lowell Ave., Louisville 5 KY
William Cutshaw; PO Box 1232, Tavarus FL
Cleotus Daine, Ruth Groninger; Akron IN
Wayne Engle; RFD 1, Akron IN
Roselyn Fox, Charles Suter; Roann IN
Charles Gast, Akron IN
Helen Halterman, Hubert Thompson, 14726 Perry Ave., Harvey IL
Bernice Kindig, Raymond Fenstermacher; 1130 Wilcox St., Hammond IN
Wade Knisely; 16400 Collingham Dr., Detroit 5 MI
Floyd Kreig; RFD, Akron IN
Peggy Leininger, Ed Ferrey; 2620 Fairfield, San Marino CA
Don Love; Akron IN
Ralph Maby; 119 N. Jefferson St., New Bremen OH
Betty Morris, Robert Tombaugh; 121 W. 35th St., Gary IN
Virginia Pike, J. Walter York; Akron IN
David Putman; 258 First St., Peru IN
Dora Jane Riley, Earl Booher; RFD 1, Lafayette IN
Dale Sheetz, Akron IN
Ralph Shewman, Akron IN
Dale Shipley; 4431 Maple Lane, Indianapolis 26 IN
Ruth Slaybaugh, George STafford; Aragone Apt #3, Aragone Road, Warsaw IN
Ned Smith, RFD 2, Akron IN
Sheldon Weeks; 345 Rice Ave, Mundelein IL
Leon Tullis Deceased
Cliff Nye, Jr. Deceased
Phyllis Crockett Deceased
1936
George Kuhn, Wilma Swick; Akron IN
Wayne Hoffman, Akron IN
Robert Sausaman, Elizabeth McHatton; Akron IN
Boyd Powell; RFD 1, Akron IN
Edward Stanton, Margaret Cutshall; Athens IN
David Smith, Corine Hoppes; 4225 Norton Dr., So Bend 14 IN
Ruth Groninger, Cleotus Daine; Akron In
Dorothy Carr, John E. Bowen; 9202 Washington Blvd., Indianapolis IN
Irene Dixon, Robert Baber; Akron IN
Robert Baber, Irene Dixon; Akron IN
Harold Herendeen; 405 Orchard Rd., Southern Pines NC
Devon Engle; RFD 2, Macy IN
Robert Kern, RFD 2, Rochester IN
Edna Paxton, Ralph Curtis; 329 E. 13th St., Rochester IN
Philip Krieg, Betty Heeter; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Clara Clemans, Charles Hand; 8930 Foster Lane, Tomahawk Ridge, Overland Park KS
Albert Bowen; 1018 Madison, Rochester IN
Paul Miller; RFD 2, Portland IN
Irma Miller, Mrs. Irma Zolman; RFD 1, Claypool IN
Edna Landis, Wm. Sicks; Trailer Court, RFD 1, Hartford City IN
Maxine Cox, Lou Mahany; Miami Cocktail Lounge, Peru IN
Virginia Secor, Donald Utter; Remington IN
Donald Utter, Virginia Secor; Remington IN
Sam Burch; Monticello IN
James Flohr, Disko IN
Lenora Barnes, Charles Eaton; 1024 E. Winona, Warsaw IN
Max Waechter, Inez Thiend; 955 E. Indiana Ave., Elkhart IN
Willis Landis; 4929 Indianapolis Blvd., East Chicago IN
Neligene Moore; [address unknown]
Gwen Fleegle, Mrs. Gwen Reyone; 3584 Nyland Station, Oxnard CA
Edith Wildermuth, Wm. Driscoll; 6230 Post Road, Dublin OH
Helen Bemenderfer, Harold Parker; RFD 4 Box 281, LaPorte IN
Willis Bradway; 2002 S. Carlisle, So Bend IN
Jeanette McBride, Mrs. Harold Irwin; 816 Mitchell St., Woodstock IL
Merl Hammond; 13 W. Joliet, Shererville IN
Robert Berger; 27 S.E. Second, Evansville IN
Claude Prill, 1722 Steinhart, Redondo Beach CA
Irvin Shrout; 473 Howard St., Fresno CA
1937 – 25th Anniversary
Mary Irene Merley, Verl Rager; RFD 1, Akron IN
Verl Rager, Mary Irene Merley; RFD 1, Akron IN
Robert Werner; 175 E. Hill, Wabash IN
Kathleen Morris, Albert Jennens; Akron IN
Kathryn Keesey, John Hatch; Wabash Ave., Rochester IN
Ned Hutchinson, Ruth Pollen; c/o Elva Hutchinson, RFD 1, Logansport IN
Florence McBride, Ralph Rinard, Jr.; 1235 Highland Oaks Dr., Arcadia CA
Fern Hoffman; 1515 Lexington or 2303 S. Eastern, Indianapolis IN
Christeen Shrout, Wm. McFarland; 14927 Saticay, Van Nuys CA
Faye Pontius, Robert L. Zellers; 926 Wabash Ave., Rochester IN
Dale Day; 2466 Edgevale Rd., Columbus OH
James Love; 219 Warren Rd., Lake Hills, Michigan City IN
Milo D. Tullis; 358 Elm St., Wabash IN
Paul Cutshaw, Gladys Pratt; 901 S. Eli Drive, Tucson AZ
Geraldine Imhoff, John Frankel; RFD 2, Warsaw IN
Katherine Richardson, Porter L. Kizer; 52442 Forestbrook Ave., So Bend IN
Arthur Shively; 11433 Allerton, Whittier CA
Everett Zink; 227 E. Plum St., Anderson IN
Harry Sayger; RFD 5, Rochester IN
Harry Bradway; 2809 S. 9th, Lafayette IN
Ernest Shoemaker; 5757 E. 4th Terrace, Tulsa OK
Ralph Bowers; 2143 Tenn St., New Orleans LA
Dorothy Merley, Dallas Kistonp; RFD 4, Syracuse IN
William Glaze; 33 E. Warren St., Peru IN
Don Rhodes, Caroline Stanton; 1208 S. Boots St., Marion IN
Marvin Putman, Marjorie Daniels; RFD, Wabash IN
Harold Sampson; 2217 S. Bend Ave., So Bend IN
Dr. Charles Thompson; 360 Santa Fe Dr., Encinitas CA
Ruby Austin, Orville Dawald; RFD 1, Akron IN
Betty Jane Walters, Dick Leash; 811 E. Ft Wayne St., Warsaw IN
Myron Kizer; 3682 Seven Hills Road, Castro Valley CA
Richard Strong Deceased
Leona Brown Deceased
1938
Delores Haldeman, Garland Sriver; Akron IN
Merl Swick, Marjorie Slaybaugh; Akron IN
Marjorie Slaybaugh, Merl Swick; Akron IN
Ardis Krieg, Thomas Lamb; Fenton MI
Betty Burrows, Kenneth T. Hawley; 475 Hale Drive, Wabash IN
Jeanne Noyer, Mrs. Ed Ball; 2768 Waverley, Palo Alto CA
Earl Hoffman, Genelle Taylor; RFD 1, Akron IN
Genelle Taylor, Earl Hoffman, RFD 1, Akron IN
Mary Louise Lukens, Cecil Silveus; RFD 2, Akron IN
Stuart Slaybaugh; Box 85, Kings Canyon AZ
Mildred Morrett, Asa Hines; RFD 2, No. Manchester IN
Robert Merley; New Carlisle IN
Gordon Moore; 1110 Sanders Ave., Goshen IN
Betty Bryant, Arthur Landis; RFD 2, Leesburg IN
Lorena Kuhn, Devon Swick; 3737 Arthington Blvd., Indianapolis IN
Charles Flohr; 2681 Lafayette St., Columbus IN
Neva Paxton, Wilbur Stackhouse; RFD 1, Etna Green IN
Betty Showalter, Ernest Marshall; RFD 1, Portland IN
Irene Putman, Everett Ream; Walkerton IN
Mary Bemenderfer, Harry Shorter; 1400 Congress St., Lafayette IN
Helen Hammond, Mrs. John Furgeson; 447 Anna St., Wabash IN
Mary Emahiser, Albert Price; Akron IN
Phyllis Hartman Deceased
Dever Herendeen Deceased
Harry Dixon Deceased
John Leininger Deceased
1939
Charles Stanton, Roann IN
Maradean Bucher; 2119 Nelson St., Ft Wayne IN
Richard Gast; 5050 Shagbark Rd., Gahanna OH
Jane Lantz, Richard Drudge; Akron IN
Richard Drudge, Jane Lantz; Akron IN
Bill Shipley; 216 Breezy Lane, Kokomo IN
Mary Ruth Berger, Merlyn Morris; RFD 2, Akron IN
Mabel Thompson, Earl Click; Denver IN
Grace Pontius, Rosewell Gagnon; RFD 1, Silver Lake IN
Homer Carr; RFD 2, Akron IN
Wm. A. McHatton; 23561 Edison Rd., So Bend IN
Florence Bradway, Glenn Lowe; 127 Santa Rita, Modesto CA
Herbert Ballenger; 416 W 5th St., Rochester IN
Freda Paxton, Gail Geiger; Milford IN
Porter Rhodes; RFD 3, Warsaw IN
Dorothy Dye; c/o Cloyd L. Dye, Sr., RFD 1, Warsaw IN
Bill Stout; 211 W. Jefferson St., Grand Ledge MI
Joanna Whittenberger, Howard R. Martin; RFD 1, Akron IN
Robert Thompson; 3961 N. Fordham Pl., Cincinnati 13 OH
Ruby Keesey, Norman Cumberland; 916 Park St., Rochester IN
Elizabeth Prill, Verl Lindzy; RFD 3, Syracuse IN
Helen Glaze, Heston Creviston; 2528 Meadow Drive, Lafayette IN
Maxine Boyer, Mrs. Herbert Severns; 150 Sylvan Glen Dr., So Bend IN
Margaret Barnes, Harry Watkins; 537 E. Ft Wayne St., Warsaw IN
Dwight Clemens; RFD 1, Rochester IN
Frank Helvey; 716 Ogedn, Benton Harbor MI
Marcelle Fleck, Bud Drake; Converxe IN
Robert Pick; 8901 Tidewater Dr., Norfolk 3 VA
Richard Strevey; RFD 1, Spring Lake MI
Elizabeth Malott, R. E. Bridegroom; 819 W. Georgia Ave., Phoenix AZ
Willard Woods; c/o Mrs. Reba Geist, South Whitley School, South Whitley IN
Cleotus Utter Deceased
Herbert Severns Deceased
Anabelle Richardson Deceased
1940
Margaret Swihart, Norman Benson; Akron IN
Charles Landis; Nappanee IN
Dean Sheetz; Roann IN
Norma Floor, Horace Barr; Akron IN
Gertrude Scheffer; [unknown]
Rev. Edison White, Mable Mitchellan; RFD 1 Box 413, Plainfield IN
Neil Kuhn; Akron IN
Wallace Clinker, Betty Mae Miller; 2021 Lincoln Way East, Mishawaka IN
Capt. Fred L. Swihart; 130 Kentucky Circle, Jacksonville AK
Rex Rhodes, Joan Kindig; Athens IN
Bill Showalter; 10410 Cliffwood Dr., Houston TX
Kathleen Masteller, Delvord Bowen; 916-1/2 Franklin St., Rochester IN
Betty Priser, George Holloway; 820 Jefferson St., Rochester IN
Ermal McGee; ;430 N. Boots St., Marion IN
Kenneth Cooper; [unknown]
Joan Coplen; [unknown]
Martha Merley, George Henning; Lake Mills WI
Freda Crockett, Mrs. Freda Fetrow, Akron IN
Jack Hayden; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Glendon Pontius, Edward Hancock; RFD 1, Roann IN
Howard Haldeman, Shirley Fuller; 12841 Foothill Lane, Saratoga CA
Betty Tullis, Glen Daulton; 617 Madison St., Rochester IN
William J. Riley; ;14812 Acacia St., San Leandro CA
Roland Pratt; 63850 Madison Trail, Mishawaka IN
Laura Waechter, Anthony Minelli, 220 Kenwood St.,Elkhart IN
Margaret Cutshaw, Ed Stanton; Athens IN
Joe Whittenberger; Akron IN
Robert Nye; RFD 1, Akron IN
Pauline Bradway, Robert Yeakley; 1510 Portage Ave., So Bend IN
Jean Martin, Al Kriscunas; 423 W. Clark St., Plymouth IN
Foster Alspaugh, Jr., Nada Murphy; 4416 Fiesta St., New Orleans 14 LA
Caroline Stanton, Don Rhodes; 1208 S. Boots St., Marion IN
Bruce Flohr; 2436 Pearl Ave., Columbus IN
Alice Groninger, Dale McFarland; Akron IN
Edward Secor, Beryl Leininger; Bremen IN
Marie Carr, Wm. H. Cordell; 5650 N. Parker Ave., Indianapolis IN
Lloyd H. Hileman, Jr.; 2110 Edgehill, Ft. Wayne IN
Mary Young, Forrest H. Pike; 1209 Monroe St., Rochester IN
Richard Zolman; 736 W. Wellington, So Bend 19 IN
Geraldine Miller,Robert Hartish; 425 Harrison Ave., Peru IN
Lonus Wise, Virginia Currie; Akron IN
Joseph Wildermuth; RFD 1, Akron IN
Jean Seiber, Glen Clingaman; 6345 Beach Dr., S.W., Seattle 16 WA
Jack D. Morris, Ruth Reed; 1445 N. Walnut St., LaHabra CA
1941
Robert V. Kindig, Josephine Mow; Jimtown Rd., RFD 4, Elkhart IN
Betty Hardy, J. H. O’Barr; c/o Rev. Floyd Hardy, Muskegon Heights MI
Gladys Pratt, Paul Cutshaw; 911 S. Eli Dr., Tucson AZ
Dorothy Mae Zolman, M. J. Denson; 712 Van Buren St., So Bend IN
Audrey Lukens, Glen Fiscal; S. Cicot St., Logansport IN
Rosella Miller, Paul Waltz; c/o Otto Miller, Montpelier IN
Vera Landis, James Grant; 808 Lyn Dr., Lexington KY
June Slaybaugh, Benjamin Cook; 621 E. Madison Ave., Chrisman IL
Nada Murphy, Foster Alspaugh, Jr.; 4416 Fiesta St., New Orleans 14 LA
Charles Severns, Martha Neff; 3424 Plymouth Place, New Orleans 14 LA
Virginia Currie, Lonus Wise; Akron IN
Harold Wideman, Laura Ptah; 3080 Brier Rd, Glenview IL
Walter Funk, Ruth Ann Bickel; Akron IN
Eleanor Litton, Edwin Cavan; 622 Cline St., Griffith IN
Romona Swanson, Lee E. Johnson; 913 Franklin, Rochester IN
Icnota Crabill, Robert Bucher; 3410 W. 58th St., Indianapolis IN
Jack Stucker, Catherine Dailey; Akron IN
Gail Hartman, Betty Kinney; Akron IN
Peggy Burns, Mrs. E. M. Callendar; 19645 Gilmar St., So Bend 14 IN
Otto L. Groninger, Jacqueline Jontz; Akron IN
Pat Moore, Miles Myers; 3712 Huffway, Sacramento 21 CA
Evan Whallon, Jr., Jean Borgman; 1039 Sunny Hill Dr., Columbus OH
Sarah F. Haldeman, Richard M. Miller; 1115 Wabash Ave., Rochester IN
Virginia Bell, J. A. Brown; 326 W. 9th St., Mishawaka IN
Velma Bright; Akron IN
Pat Troutman, Philip Parker; Akron IN
Gloria King, Leo Gearhart; Akron IN
Shirley Howard, Art Craig; Akron IN
Elizabeth McHatton, Robert Sausaman; Akron IN
Junior Hill, Helen Whittenberger; RFD 4, Rochester IN
Jesse Henderson, Mary Mae Flohr, Akron IN
Marjorie Morrett, Robert Hoffman; Silver Lake IN
Richard Sheetz; 601 E. 24th St., So Bend IN
Dean Meyers, Helen Chapman; Mentone IN
Cedric Utter, Betty Smythe; RFD 2, Rochester IN
John Klise Deceased
1942
Fred Lantz, Jerry Stout; 135 S. Michigan St., Elkhart IN
Richard Rader, Ladonna Summe; RFD 1, Akron IN
Thomas A. Gast, Suzanne Morris; RFD 2, Akron IN
Marguerite Utter, Leonard Swick; RFD 2, Akron IN
Mary Mae Flohr, Jesse Henderson; Akron IN
Jo Ann Kindig, Rex Rhodes, Athens IN
Betty Mae Miller, Wallace Clinker; 2021 Lincolnway East, Mishawaka IN
Mary Lou Morrett, Everett Smith; Akron IN
John R. Day; Akron IN
Maxine Miller, Elvin Creviston; RFD 6, Ft Wayne IN
Lula Yarian, Orville Buckheister, RFD, Akron IN
Gladys Williams, Howard Eaton; 140 Harding Rd., Elkhart IN
Gloria Pratt, Paul Bowen; RFD 2, Akron IN
Ted Cox, Mary Ann Whittenberger; Akron IN
Quentin Hand, Mary Jane Denney, 41 Andrew Circle, N.E., Atlanta GA
Charles A. Judd (Gus), Patricia Guthie; 808 Lynwood Rd., Elkhart IN
Elizabeth Crabill, Glen R. Howenstien; 107 Astor St., Hollyhill FL
Richard McKee, Mary E. Alber; 318 E. 9th St., Rochester IN
Jack Burrows, Donna Crawford; 717 Vermillion Dr., Anderson IN
Emme Louise Werner, Raymond E. Pelley; 4920 W. 14th, Indianapolis IN
Robert Keesey, Beverly Deedey; RFD 2 Rochester IN
Orville Burkett; RFD 1, Akron IN
Robert Leininger, Virginia Smith; RFD 2, Akron IN
Thomas Farner; North Virginia St., Rockville IN
Margaret Young, Cloyde Yeater; RFD 2, Warsaw IN
Mary Ellen Gray, Arthur Wise; Burkett IN
Richard Slaybaugh, Elizabeth Brown; Akron IN
Donnis Holloway, Carlton Hasty; RFD 5, Columbia City IN
David E. Deering, Pearl Wilkenmann; 717 Poplar St., Elmhurst IL
William McIntyre; Knox IN
Helen Kindig, Dale Chapman; 16428 Ireland, Mishawaka IN
Nina Burch; 414 Falls Ave., Wabash IN
Mary Jane Rowe Dr. Charles Wells; 9477 Southworth Rd., Plymouth MI
Ardella Wideman, Mrs. Goshorn; 3353 Silver Lake Rd., Fenton MI
Ted Merley, Letha Newcomber; RFD, Rochester IN
Richard Davis, Joan Study; RFD 2, Akron IN
Mary Lou Fisher, Anthony Laurino; 5417 W. Jackson, Chicago 44 IL
Marion Floor, Verna Gochenour; RFD 5, Warsaw IN
Carmen Ellis, Glen Smith; Macy IN
1943
Ralph Carr; RFD 2, Rochester IN
June Hayden, Dick Sanders; Athens IN
Earl Rogers; 1810 East Ridge Rd., Lutherville-Timonium MD
Marilyn Derring, Geo. H. McChesney; 107 Clay Ave., Portsmouth VA
Jack Lukens; 1539 Middleton Run Rd., Elkhart IN
Robert Bell; 1101 E. Marshall, Marion IN
Billie Jo Higgins; 4121 E. New York St., Apt #1, Indianapolis 26 IN
Calvin Riley Deceased
Ralph Miller, Jr., RFD 1, Macy IN
Joan Merley, Ronald Hiles; 358 W 13th St., Peru IN
John Coplen; 728 S. Berlin Ave., Mishawaka IN
Geraldine Hill, Robt. Worl; 6126 Maryland Road, Indianapolis IN
Charles Fellers, Akron IN
Doris Ellen Shafer, Harold Kyle; RFD 11, Lafayette IN
Mary Merley, Vernon Derring; RFD 1, Akron IN
Vernon Derring, Mary Merley; RFD 1, Akron IN
Glendora Gearhart, Delbert Hamilton; RFD 1, Silver Lake IN
Lee Filson; 1603 W. Main St., Ft Wayne IN
Helen Landis, Dean Coplen; 424 S. Washington St., Warsaw IN
Betty Jane Flohr, Chelsea Border; 1701 S.W. G St., Richmond IN
Leon Bidwell; Roann IN
Max Huffman; Akron IN
Martha Lou Madeford, Milton Shaw; 4103 Shelby Dr., Amarillo TX
Helen Yarian, Leonard Beigh; RFD 2, Akron IN
Wanda Vickery, Maurice Barfell; 405 Wood St., Warsaw IN
Dorothy Gearhart, Ogden Alger; So. Buffalo St., No. Manchester IN
Ruth Westwood, Arthur Schauer; RFD 1, Rochester IN
Jackie Jontz, Otto Groninger, Akron IN
Monell Cox, Art Kissel; Box 82, Walton IN
Isabell Miller, Kenneth Eltzroth; 1408 Pike St., Wabash IN
Jean Kinder; 4158 South St., So Bend IN
1944
Bill Shrout; 321 E. Grant St., Marion IN
Mary Ann Whittenberger, Red Cox; Akron IN
Pat Merley, Edwin Johnson; Metamora IL
Beatrice Adams, Frank Gordon; 1200 College Ave., Rochester IN
Gene Burch; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Lovie Bowen, Vernon Mathias; RFD 1, Akron IN
Morse Utter; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Alice Brown, George Grimm; RFD 1, Huntington IN
Garland Eshelman; 412 E. Ottawa St., Logansport IN
Dick Landis, Joan Dillman; 4933 E. 26th St., Tucson AZ
Kenton Gast; 4121 Brown Rd., Indianapolis IN
Marcile Ellis, Fred Becker; RFD, Argos IN
Vivian Gray, Wayne Spence; Akron IN
Gordon Groninger; REF 1, Silver Lake IN
Beryl Leininger, Edward Secor; 427 S. Shumaker Dr., Bremen IN
Rev. John Hand; 1240 Clinton St., Noblesville IN
Joan HeeterWayne Atkinson; 1200 Jefferson St., Rochester IN
George Harper, Jr.; RFD 1, Rochester IN
Suzanne Morris, Tom Gast; Akron IN
Bill Hill; 204 Madison St., Peru IN
Lorene Rhodes, Don Spice; RFD 1, Silver Lake IN
Joe Huffman; South Whitley IN
Virginia Roderick, Elvin Hoffman; Idaville IN
Eugene McIntyre; 1925 S. H St., Elwood IN
Charlotte Rowe, Don Johnson; 210 Harding Ave., Elmhurst IL
Melvin Pratt; RFd 2, Plymouth IN
Jeanne Whallon, Stanley Burrous; 300 So. Goodwin, Apt 502, Urbana IL
Russell Rhodes; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Donnabelle Young, Frank Pickard; 3515 N. Oxford, Indianapolis 18 IN
Lloyd Saner; Fulton IN
Eugene Shriver; RFD 1, Mentone IN
Lester Eber, Jr.; 908 S. Main St., Monesboro IN
Kenneth Bennett; 1111 Bunton St., Houston TX
Ray Bradway, RFD 2, Kokomo IN
1945
Helen Hartzler, Lloyd Landis; RFD, Warsaw IN
Norma Jean Kuhn, Emerson Burns; RFD 1, Akron IN
Bonnie Shireman, Merle Harper; 412 W. 8th St., Rochester IN
Pat Keesey, Joe Stansbury; 2809 Townway Road, Danville IL
Ruth Mae McColley, Max McNear; 311 Luelbe So Bend IN
Mary Adams, Earl Cox; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Jolane Harper Al Frutell; Sherman St., Marion IN
Beulah Shoemaker, Ronald Conner; Macy IN
Pat Geiger, Wm. Tippy; 226 E. Donaldson, Mishawaka IN
Anna Mae Lowmaster, George L. Smith, Jr.; 1029 Barr Ave., Lansing 10 MI
George L. Smith, Jr., Anna Mae Lowmaster; 1029 Barr Ave., Lansing 10 MI
Gene Rhodes; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Edward Paxton; 1130 Monroe St., Rochester IN
Byron Leininger; Akron IN
Paul Nye; Piedmont, SC
George Green; 7361 E. 46th St., Indianapolis IN
Raymond Riley, Norma Craig; Akron IN
1946
Wayne Groninger; Akron IN
Jean Cox, Mrs. Dubois; 63 E. Main St., Peru IN
Dick Day, Judy Bidwell; 7449 Alexander, Hammond IN
Emerson Burns, Norma Jean Kuhn; Akron IN
Helen Whittenberger, Guy Hill, Jr.; RFD 4, Rochester IN
Pat Fetrow, Galen Frantz; 21810 S. Lakeshore Blvd., Euclid 23 OH
Phil Leininger; 4 Burnett Ave., So Hadley Center MA
Betty Fellers, Si Tullis; 13052 N St., Kileen TX
Donna Belle Ellis, Jim Umbarger; 807 Monroe St., Rochester IN
Bill Hammond; 2604 Bellevue Dr., Ft Wayne IN
Harold Hileman; Akron IN
Bonnie Paxton, John Hutchison; 1409 N. Market St., No Manchester IN
Betty Lou Smith, Ralph Nicodemus; 600 Indiana Ave., Rochester IN
Wanda Miller, Dale Olinger; RFD 6, Rochester IN
Inabelle O’Conner, Mrs. Geo. Traver; LaFontaine IN
Pauline Putman, Denslow Doll; Walkerton IN
Pauline Smith, Wm. E. Koch; 296 Longdon St., Greenwood IN
Max Barnett; 4723 Plum Road, Ft Wayne IN
Mary Lou Singpiel, Robt. Shelton; 37 W. Vermont St., Brownsburg IN
Judy Bidwell, Dick Day; 7449 Alexander, Hammond IN
Don Fenstermaker; 1032 W. Kensington Rd., Los Angeles 26 CA
Maurice Azbell; 229 E. 14th St., Rochester IN
Lois Bright, Bill Kinder; 748 E. Ft Wayne St., Warsaw IN
Betty Bright, Gerald Dubbs; 211-1/2 W. Market St., Warsaw IN
Peg Geiger, Jr. Herendeen; Hwy. 13 North, Wabash IN
Dean Clouse; 7915 Lakewood Dr., Falls Church VA
Dafwin Heeter; 307 S. St. Andrew, Dothan Ala
Jean Burkett, Lloyd Walters; RFD 1, Akron IN
Norma Taylor, Vernon Dye; Kouts IN
Dale Bradway; 16384 Elmwood Ave., Mishawaka IN
Dean Leininger; 19086 So. Drive, Oakmont Park, So Bend IN
Julia Mae Slaybaugh, Homer Hoover; 1106 W. Main St., No Manchester IN
Paul Shafer; 1109 Ranch Rd., Warsaw IN
Iva Van Doren, Dick J. Nelson; RFD 1, Silver Lake IN
Gerald Timberman; RFD, Macy IN
Wilbur Mitschelen; 1225 Cone St., Elkhart IN
Irene Rhodes, Dick Miller; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Bonnie Flohr, Gene Strevey; Akron IN
Jean Bryant, LeRoy Ellis, Akron IN
Marion Gagnon; 921 Columbia Ave., Ft Wayne IN
Ivo Myers; 2700 W. Ridge, Gary IN
Betty Flohr, Link Hunter; Akron IN
Helen Jean Brewer, Verlin Warnock; 4841 Woodford Dr., Ft Wayne IN
Norman Moore, Cornelie Sterk; Akron IN
Robert Saner; 419 Jefferson, Rochester IN
Helen Young, Gene Stamate; 306 N. Elm St., No Manchester IN
John E. McKee, Betty Grover; Ossian IN
1947
Ray Burch, 616 E. 5th St., No Manchester IN
Jean Skillen, Jack Mehring; 530 Linlawn Dr. Wabash IN
Dean Bammerlin; RFD 2, Macy IN
Paul Harper, RFD 1, Akron IN
Betty Lou Clark, Fred Rahrer; 19835 NE 12th Ave., No. Miami Beach 62 FL
Dean Gerig; 459 2nd St., Manistee MI
Loren Beatty; RFD 4, Rochester IN
Wanda Clouse, Sam Flohr; Akron IN
Marian Fenstermacher, Robt. F. Wieser; 2729 E. Jackson Blvd., Elkhart IN
Lyle Harris; Akron IN
Garland Gray, Shirley Hibschman; Akron IN
Wanda Funnell, John Fultz; 2406 Solomon Ave., So Bend IN
Marian Musial, Howard Hunter; RFD 1, Akron IN
June Phillips, Mrs. Eilts; RFD 4, 2613 E. 21st St., Tucson AZ
Jack Walker Deceased
Eloise Ramsey, Albert Hoehn; RFD, Larwill IN
Betty Hartzler, Bob Ebbinghouse, RFD 2, No Manchester IN
Gerald Runkle; RFD 1, Akron IN
Robert McGee; 1603 Sunset Dr., Rochester IN
Lucy Heeter, Robert Lane; 2175 Patricia Dr., Dayton 29 OH
Betty Hill, Lawrence Mahoney; Akron IN
Robert Shoemaker, RFD 1, Akron IN
Marvin Shafer; 305 FM. S. Box 107 AES, Bunker Hill Air Force, Peru IN
Mary Esther Lukens, Rex Zolman; Claypool IN
Ruth Weaver, Wendell Fore; 1010 Kinyon St., So Bend IN
Kenneth Winterrowd; RFD 2, Rochester IN
1948
Don Kay Hill; 2702 Calrossie Rd., Anderson SC
Florence Cension, Tom Perdue; RFD 6, Rochester IN
Jerry Stout, Fred Lantz; 135 Michigan Ave., Elkhart IN
Mary Ann Hartzler, Gerald Booker; St Joe IN
Betty Adams, Robt. Busch; RFD 3, Syracuse IN
Phil Bacon; RFD 2, Box 24, Maple Shade Trailer Ct., Oswego NY
Dick Burkett; 4423 Kenilworth, Ft Wayne IN
Jessie Barnes, Mrs. Jessie Dickson; 220 Harris Ave., Ravenna OH
Norma Craig, Ray Riley; Akron IN
Jessie Gagnon Deceased
Irvin Pratt; 22242 Roosevbelt Rd., So Bend IN
Sue Keesey, Wm. A. Smith; RFD 1, Rochester IN
Mildred Davis; Akron IN
Bill Gearhart; 1824 Guilford St., Huntington IN
Dr. Joe Mishler; Pierceton IN
Barbara Fenstermaker, Chas. Hapner; 242 Grand St., Coldwater MI
Marilyn Grogg, Robert Metzger; 1419 St. Mary’s St., Ft Wayne IN
Dwight Groninger; 2028 Crosley Place, Alexandria VA
Tom Hayden; 146 Jefferson, Rochester IN
Barbara Pontius, Mrs. Schwier; Athens IN
Senora Loher, Mrs. Dencil Walls; 206 Front St., No Manchester IN
Robert Rhodes, Carolyn Cumberland; RFD 6, Rochester IN
Doyle Putman; RFD, Argos IN
Donna Belle Carr, Jack Enyart; 5225 Ann Hackley Rd., Ft Wayne IN
Shirley Hibschman, Garland Gray; Akron IN
Gilbert Scott, Jr.; 401 E 305=th St., Apt. 3, Indianapolis IN
Paul Spice Deceased
Frieda Stanley; Mrs. Smith; 2037 N. Luett St., Indianapolis IN
Mary Shriver, Mrs. Cunningham; c/o Estil Sriver, Akron IN
Wayne Smoker; RFD 1, Rochester IN
Jack Sausaman; Akron IN
Kathryn Wentzel, Tom Sturdevant; 503 N. Maple St., No Manchester IN
Marjorie Young, Emmet Taylor, Jr.; 686 Fairway Dr., Wabash IN
Byron Van Doren; RFD 2, Akron IN
Richard L. Smith; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Glen Mitschlen; 905 Fieldhouse, Elkhart IN
1949
Jack Swihart, Macy IN
Dick Hill; 601 McKenzie St., Muncie IN
Marian Belt, Ernest Wilkinson; 6747 W. 16th St., Indianapolis IN
Florence Smith, Lee Murphy; RFD 1, Akron IN
James Enyart; c/o Bill Enyart, 2372 N. 23rd St, Lafayette IN
Doris Ann Miller, Clarence Runge; c/o Frienda Miller, Akron IN
Eloise Engle, Gerald Harshman; RFD 4, Peru IN
Lynn Davis, Jr.; c/o Mrs. Lynn Davis, Sr., 805 Concord Ave., Anderson SC
Bob Bradway, Doris Hibschman; RFD 2, Akron IN
Gertrude Gearhart, Gene Walker; Denver IN
Robert Runkle; RFD 1, Akron IN
James Robbins, Marcia Burkett; 2615 Hampton Rd., Mishawaka IN
Merryanne Dawson, Al Kibbler; 1476 Brae Burn Rd., Altadena CA
Wilma Kuhn, Donald Craeger, RFD 2, No. Manchester IN
Gene Black; RFD 2, Akron IN
Capt. Don Leininger, AE 2210673; 5040th ATS (L) APO 942, Seattle WA
Geraldine Dickerhoff, Wm. E. Shearer; So. Main St., Bourbon IN
Freida Kampen, Martin Bunge; 801 W. Roosevelt Rd.,Wheaton IL
Edna Weaver, Richard Smith; 106 S. 7th St., Denton MD
Fran Hill; RFD, LaPorte IN
Paul Bacon; Box 290, Franklin Lake NJ
Marvin E. Davis; Akron IN
Patricia Dick, Mrs. John Liskey; 1705 Azate Ct., Loveland CO
Rose Gagnon, Kenneth Boyer; Burket IN
Glen Voris; 781 Courtland Ave., Wabash IN
Lloyd Walters, Jean Burkett; RFD 1, Akron IN
1950
Florence Walker, John Shaffer; 804 E. Lawrence, Mishawaka IN
Gene Moore; Box 220, Hamlet IN
Orvan Floor, Jr., c/o Orvan Floor, Sr., Akron IN
Joan Burdge, Richard Doub; 130 Orchard Rd, Norris TN
Richard Doub, Joan Burdge, 130 Orchard Rd, Norris TN
Fred Ogle; Akron IN
Geraldine Smith, Akron IN
Bob Stout; Akron IN
Dick Gearhart, Helen Miller; 601 N. Monticello Rd., Winamac IN
Frances Barnes, Paul Piper; 717 N. Ruse, No Manchester IN
Jean Hill, Jos. L. Kelley; 413 Creighton Ave., Ft. Wayne IN
Arthur Harper; RFD, Rochester IN
Bob Whittenberger, c/o Gen. Finance Loan Co., 3409 W. Lawrence Ave., Chicago 25 IL
James Hubert Burns; 5941 Nash Lane, Indianapolis IN
Arlene Hammond, Ted Cole; 2825-1/2 50th St., So. Gulfport FL
Marilyn McKee, Richard Priebe; Box 2232, Vero Beach FL
David Burkett; RFD 1, Tippecanoe IN
Dorothy Fellers, Thomas Harger; Akron IN
Steven Hartzler, Kathryn Walters; RFD 1, Akron IN
Rev. Chas. R. Armstrong; RFD 1, Seminole Dr., Acton IN
Richard Tilden; Akron IN
Oouis Deturk; 1485 Columbus St., Wabash IN
Jack Slaybaugh; 302 S. Buffalo, No. Manchester IN
Doris Walls, Mrs. Hassenplug; 1314 Monroe St., Rochester IN
Mildred Cox, Mrs. Nicodemus; Akron IN
Joe Harter; Akron IN
Marglee Kindig, Richard Greer; RFD 6, Rochester IN
Grace Spencer; c/o Jack Spencer, Box 353, Irvine KY
Capt. Nolan Sigler, 04009785; Protocol Section ELM, UN HQ, USFK, APO 301
San Francisco CA
1951
Gene Kinney, Beverly See; 610 W. Carlton, Elkhart IN
Boyd Stout; Akron IN
Kathryn Walters, Steve Hartzler; RFD 1, Akron IN
Mary Wood, Frank E. Roberts; RFD 5, Plymouth IN
Sharon Pontius; Rochester Mobile Home Ct., RFD 6, Rochester IN
Harry Shriver, Beverly Rhoades; 313 Bath St., Clifton Forge VA
Arnold Vanlue, Roma Bahney; RFD 1, Akron IN
Janet Duey, Michael Prideaux-Brune; 847 Dexter St., Santa Rosa CA
Judy Jontz, James Harris; 3129 Summit Dr., Logansport IN
Marvin Ruff; Akron IN
Marvin Gagnon; Akron IN
Gladys Hammond, Chester Hight; 451 Washington St., Peru IN
Jean Walls, Ralph DeTurk; 502 E. Elm St., Wabash IN
John Skillen; 4329 S. 20th St., Omaha 7 NB
Wayne Largen, Carolyn Harter; 19829 E. Detroit, So Bend IN
Ruthalys Dawson; c/o Mrs. Al Kibbler 1476 Brae Burn Rd., Altadena CA
Nancy Luckenbill; RFD 1, Akron IN
Roy Saner; Akron IN
Edward Davis; Mentone IN
Elsie Mae McCloughan, Lester Robbins; RFD 3, Big Rapid MI
Paul Tinkel; RFD 1, Adrian PA
Ralph Martin; Akron IN
John Shafer; Roann IN
Mary Etta Cox, Larry Basham; 13900 Creston St., Mishawaka IN
1952
Marcia Burkett, James Robbins; 2615 Hampton Rd., Mishawaka IN
Donald Stanley, Judy Kinney; RFD 1, Akron IN
Sue Skillen; 4329 S. 20th St., Omaha & NB
James Smith; 121 Pope St., Menlo Park CA
Marlen Hanger, John Meredith; 1222 W. 4th St., Ft Wayne IN
John Meredith, Marlen Hanger; 1222 W. 4th St., Ft Wayne IN
Loren Sheetz, Ann Kindig; RFD 2, Akron IN
Ann Kindig, Loren Sheetz, RFD 2, Akron IN
Richard Clark Deceased
La Donna Funnell, Bill Enyart; 2372 N. 23rd, Lafayette IN
Sharon Gearhart, Ben Fleck; Akron IN
Janet Keesey, Wm. Anderson; RFD 1, Rochester IN
Bob Clark; 665 Huffman St., Ft Wayne IN
Dean Runkle; 707 Gary Court, LaPorte IN
Janet Parker, Walter Ward, RFD 1, Rochester IN
Carolyn Harter, Wayne Largen; 19829 E. Detroit St., So Bend IN
Gary Luckenbill, Nancy Holmes; RFD Akron IN
Charles Smoker; 814 E. Winona Ave., Warsaw IN
Ella Mae Kuhn, Sgt. John Young; RA 16500123, 9th Ord Co., APO 180, New York NY
Donna Becker, Larry Gearhart; Akron IN
Keith Good; Akron IN
Jim Adams; Disko IN
Nellene Tilden, Geo. Rentschler, Jr.; RFD 6, Rochester IN
Bill Nelson; Akron IN
Howard Burns, Kay Hollingsworth; RFD 1, Macy IN
Bob Gates; 2307 Bridle Path, Austin TX
Charles Kroft, Marcia Miller; 811 Berkley Dr., Wabash IN
1953
Barabar Waechter,Neil McKinney; 617 S. Best St., Goldsboro NC
Jerry Reed; Jefferson St., Crete IL
Harold Leininger, Kay Utter; Middlebury IN
Judy Kinney, Donald Stanley, RFD 1, Akron IN
Charlene Dick, Wm. Schroer; 1015 Jackson Blvd., Rochester IN
Jack Utter; RFD, Rochester IN
Jerry Pontius; 804 Anna Lee Lane, Bloomington IN
Pat Burkett, Tad Henderson; RFD 1, Akron IN
Bill Hively, Judy Clark; Akron IN
Esther Dawson, Ken Downing; Wilmot Woods, Evergreen CO
Emogene Hoffman, Jack Miller; Akron IN
Kenneth Swick; 400 Nicolet, Apt 6, Los Angeles CA
Larry Gearhart, Donna Becker; Akron IN
Alice Van Lue; RFD 1, Akron IN
Beverly Hartzler, Mrs. Beverly H. Padgett; 424 Hollywood Pl., So Bend IN
Steve Arter, Dixie Myers; 4107 Indiana Ave., Ft Wayne IN
Walter Cumberland; RFD 2, Akron IN
Jane Bowen; Mrs. Richard Clark; Akron IN
Helen Miller, Dick Gearhart; 601 Monticello St., Winamac IN
Don Moyer; 6101 Crawfordsville Rd., Speedway IN
Charles Ramsey; 264 S. Diamond St., Ravenna OH
Nancy Irelan, Robert Troyer; Akron IN
Harriet Whallon; 1038-1/2 Juliana, Parkersburg WV
Jerry Huffman; c/o Grover Huffman, Akron IN
Larry Paxton, 1016 Wabash, Rochester IN
Robert Oliver; c/o Reece Oliver, Akron IN
Rev. Clifford Kindig; 724 Henry St., Lebanon IN
James Sriver; Akron IN
Jack Shriver, Norma Jean Smith; RFD 2, Macy IN
Harry Carlton, Jr.; c/o Ralph Shoemaker, 814 Clinton St., So Bend IN
Mitchell Leavell, Dorothy R. Miller; Box 23, Acme MI
Leon L. Good; RFD 1, Akron IN
1954
William Smith, Carol Smith; Akron IN
Tom Hill, Judy Hammond; Akron IN
Teresa Gamboa; (US Armed Forces)
Jerry Rager; 4512 Illinois Rd., Ft Wayne IN
Marcia Miller, Charles Kroft; 811 Berkley Drive,Wabash IN
Charles Sterk; Akron IN
Sue Fetrow, Karl Woodcox; 2631 Bella Vista, Waynedale IN
Denny Hoover, 223 W. 11, Rochester IN
Carol Shipley, Mrs. Scott; Lansing IL
Wayne Huppert; Akron IN
Beverly Rhodes, Harry Shriver; 313 Bath St., Clifton Forge VA
Dick Ault; Akron IN
Orabelle Kotterman, Jim Meredith; RFD Mentone IN
Chester Kotterman; c/o Harry Kotterman RFD, Rochester IN
Herschel Walters, Carol Zent; 415 W. 9th St., Rochester IN
Carol McKee; 1109 E. 9th St., Apt #26, Rochester IN
Dick Bradway; RFD 2, Akron IN
Kay Hollingsworth, Howard Burns; RFD 1, Macy IN
Larry Keller; Box 74, Etna Green IN
Jeanne Bowers, Robert Gates; 2307 Bridle Path, Austin TX
Helen Kampen, Robert Nelson; c/o Alfred Kampen, Rochester IN
Helen Cox; RFD, Akron IN
John Eiler; 930 Park, Rochester IN
Philip Pratt; RFD 1, Amboy IN
Barbara Arthur, David Zartman; Twelve Mile IN
1955
James S. Oliver; c/o Reece Oliver, Akron IN
Arden Dee Walgamuth; RFD 2 Box 44A, Brownsburg IN
Karen Lynn Gast, Arnold Duemling; 518 S. Swain, Bloomington IN
Karl Dean Woodxox, Sue Fetrow; 2631 Bella Vista, Waynedale IN
Robert E. Cumberland, Sondra Taylor; Akron IN
Harvey Arthur; Akron IN
Marilyn Kay Hoover, Mas Shultz; 616 Jay St., Rochester IN
Sharon Bowen, Mrs. Sharon Tom; Akron IN
Virgie Hoffman, Paul Teel; Akron IN
Jo Ann Cummins, Bob Clark; 665 Huffman, Ft Wayne IN
Mary Ann Clark, Larry Walig; RFD 1, Akron IN
Carol Spurlock, Lyle Vandermark; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Christine Hartman, Dean Burns; RFD 2, Macy IN
Margaret Ann Smith, Don Swick; c/o Everett Swick, RFD 1, Claypool IN
Alys Louise Ault Deceased
Carol Ann Smith, William Smith; Akron IN
Paul Kindig; c/o Byron Kindig, Akron IN
Beverly Joan Teel, Ralph Cummins; RFD, Bourbon IN
Dixie Ann Myers, Steve Arter; 4107 Indiana Ave., Ft Wayne IN
Elaine Bowers, Harold Ousley; 1125 Wabash St., Kokomo IN
Jack Jones, Judy Halterman; 5430 Maumee Rd., Haycock Trailer Ct., Ft Wayne IN
Shirley Ann Luckenbill, Richard Adamson, Akron IN
Carol Ann Junkin, Darrell Miller; 2312 BElla Vista Blvd, Ft Wayne IN
Connie Lou Walls, Jack Nolen; 987 Madison, Rochester IN
Janice Eileene Ellis, Harold Shewman; RFD 1, Akron IN
Laura Curtis, Donnie Butts; North Webster IN
Larry Jay Bacon; c/o Mrs. Pederson, RFD 1, Caladonia IL
Betty Lou Lewis, Jack Holloway; RFD 1, Rochester IN
Janice Nichols, Mrs. Janice Kramer; c/o Ernest Nichols, RFD 2, Rochester IN
Norma Jean Smith, Jack Shriver; RFD 2, Macy IN
Wilma Stephens, Wilma Darmon; RFD 4, Dowagiac MI
Thomas Gordon Phillips; 2613 E. 21st St., Tucson AZ
Lyle Kent Nelson; Akron IN
Reta Y. Hopkins; RFD 1, Akron IN
Robert H. Ogle; Akron IN
Paul M. Swick, Akron IN
Dorothy Rose Miller, Mitchell Leavell; Box 23, Acme MI
1956
William A. Adams; RFD, Athens IN
Tom J. Burkett; RFD 1, Akron IN
Don Lee Cox (Air Force); c/o Jess Cox, Westville IN
Floyd Cox; Bourbon IN
George Deaton, Jean Ann Walters; North Webster IN
Herbert Fites; Etna Green IN
Larry Floor; RFD 1, Akron IN
Roger Gearhart, Janet Thompson; 307 W. Horton, Bluffton IN
Stanley M. Helvey; 8959 Telfar, Sun Valley CA
Larry Hoffman; Akron IN
Dwayne Hopkins; Akron IN
Jim D. Jones, Sue Tilden; Akron IN
Kenneth Jones, Melba Cummins; 11 W. Lawndale, Lebanon OH
Alan Kindig; 143 E. 22nd St., Holland MI
Leonard D. Kuhn; 538 E. Main St., Peru IN
Fred K. Saner; Silver Lake IN
Dennis Sheets; 2119 N. Bolton, Indianapolis 18 IN
Harold Shewman, Janice Ellis; RFD 1, Akron IN
Stanley L. Shewman; RFD 2, No. Manchester IN
Milo Shriver; c/o Chester Shriver, RFD 1, Akron IN
Gary Lee Sriver, Tamara Hand; 1432 S. 16th, Noblesville IN
Stuart Thompson; Akron IN
Richard Wood, Mary Frances Arthur; 861 Highland, Salina KS
Mary Frances Arthur; Richard Wood; 861 Highland, Salina KS
Eileen Beatty, Ray Crousore; 1514 Northfield Dr., Niles MI
Barbara Boswell, John Goodwin; 22-1/2 Vine St., Huntington IN
Mary Jane Burdge, Eldon Baker; 515-A Tyrella Ave., Mountain View CA
Mary Lou Eber, Dean Cox; O’Connor’s Trailer Ct., RFD 2, Newtown CT
Marilyn Fenimore, David Kruger; c/o Ronald Fenimore, Akron IN
Deloris Floor, Max Thompson; RFD 1, Claypool IN
Joan Gearhart, Tom Harris; Whitelock St., Huntington IN
Judy Hammond, Tom Hill; Akron IN
Tamara Hand, Gary Sriver; 1432 S. 16th, Noblesville IN
Suzanne Harter, Ed Niles; Akron IN
Sharon Hill, Richard Hoffman; RFD 1, Akron IN
Lorraine Hopkins, Robert Thompson; LaFountain IN
Ann Landis, Larry Floor; RFD 1, Akron IN
Suellen Nye, William Gagnon; RFD 2, Akron IN
Verla Jean Rager; RFD 1, Akron IN
Ruth Anna Shoemaker, Robert Frantz; RFD 2, Box 337, Warsaw IN
Kathleen Swpe, Richard Dittman; RFD 1, Akron IN
Carol Teel, lJim Heckaman; 54595 Bittersweet Rd., Mishawaka IN
Paula Ann Terrell, Don Adams; 606 Sunset Ave., Elkhart IN
Janet Thompson, Roger Gearhart; 307 W. Horton, Bluffton IN
Kay Joan Utter, Rev. Harold Leininger; Middlebury IN
Jean Ann Walters, George Deaton; Box 34, North Webster IN
1957
Ronald Kuhn; Akron IN
Horace Barnes; 247 W. Riddle, Ravenna OH
Marcia Meredith; RFD 2, Akron IN
Helen Huppert, Charles Bucher; 626 Ferndale St., Plymouth IN
Larry Krieg; RFD 1, Rochester IN
Leroy Kirk; 906 E. Ft Wayne St., Warsaw IN
Ronald Jones, Mary Newcome; 900 N. Elm, Muncie IN
John Gilbert; c/o Mr.Gord Gilbert, Akron IN
Barbara Shriver, Alfred Johnson; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Jill Ault; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Ernie Smoker, Genelle Zellers; 725 Olive St., Columbia SC
Don Fellers; 705 Merritt Island FL
John Ramsey, Midge Jernigan; RFD 1, Akron IN
Bill Ward; c/o Bill Ward, Sr., 1111 Monroe St., Rochester IN
Rebecca Oliver; c/o Reece Oliver, Akron IN
Karel Hollingsworth; 107 W. Portland, Syracuse IN
Bob Hattery, Diane Sittler; 440 N. Winona St., Warthin Apt. 418, Indianapolis 2 IN
Charles Saner, Faye Shelbydine; RFD 5, Bass Road, Ft Wayne IN
Carol Skillen; 4329 S. 20th St., Omaha NB
Mike Colbert, RFD 1, Akron IN
GEnnevee Cox, Tom Snavely; 1580 N. Miami, Wabash IN
Helen Wood, Robert King; 1313 Aberdeen Lane, New Haven IN
Paul Murphy, Beverly Horn; RFD 1, Akron IN
Jocelyn Moore, Joseph Jupin; 110 Highland Ave., Fayetteville NC
Rex Eiler; 201 Pine Lake Ave., LaPorte IN
Oliver Powell, Sue Smith; Hillsdale, Wabash IN
Donna Clark, Larry Wahlig; Akron IN
1958
Channing Utter; Akron IN
Don Overlander; RFD 2, Akron IN
Janet Hammond, Larry Wood; c/o Fred Hammond, Akron IN
Karen Thompson; Akron IN
Charles Miller; Akron IN
Steve Harris; Akron IN
Melba Cummins, Kenneth Jones; 11 W. Lawndale, Lebanon OH
Betty Maddux, Roy Swick; Athens IN
Roy Swick, Betty Maddus; Athens IN
Con Shewman; Akron IN
Devon iller; RFD 1, Akron IN
Sandra Myers, Thomas Sissel; 626-1/2 Main St., Rochester IN
Carol Hutchinson; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Terry Walgamuth, Judy Rosenbury; Akron IN
Bernice Sterk; RFD 2, Akron IN
Erma Hartzler; RFD 1, Akron IN
Norman Stanley; Claudine Smith; RFD 1, Wabash IN
Lyle Bammerlin; Akron IN
Bonnie Gray; Akron IN
Judy Luckenbill; RFD 1, Akron IN
Richard Smoker; RFD 1, Akron IN
Larry Powell, Gwen Burrage; Segars Trailer Park, Dalzella SC
Beth Hicks, Fred Bailey; 205-1/2 W. Main St., Portland IN
Carol Whittenberger; RFD 2, Akron IN
Ross Burdge; RFD 1, Akron IN
Gary Brown; RFD 2, Akron IN
Loretta Young, Brook Black; RFD 1, Akron IN
Mary Newcome, Ronald Jones; 900 N. Elm, Muncie IN
Paul Heltzel; RFD 2, Akron IN
Larry Rhoades; Silver Lake IN
Sharon Royer; Akron IN
Marvus Hively, John Zimmerman; Akron IN
Tom Fites; RFD 2, Akron IN
Clyde Reed; RFD 2, Akron IN
Betty Dawald, Bill Miller; Gilead IN
Jim Reed, Gloria McCloughan; RFD 1, Akron IN
Randall Leininger; Akron IN
Stanley Utter; Athens IN
1959
Eldon Rager; RFD 1, Akron IN’
Patricia Kuhn; Akron IN
Beverly Powell, Henry Hoff; 214 N. Salem, Sumter SC
Kent Groninger; Akron IN
Bob Kirk, Esther Landis; Trailer Ct., RFD 2, Wabash IN
Esther Landis, Bob Kirk; Trailer Ct., RFD 2, Wabash IN
Pat Overlander, David Thompson; We-Like-It Trailer Ct., Rochester IN
John Stanley; 2037 N. Luett, Indianapolis IN
Jack Royer; Akron IN
Karna Hoffman; Akron IN
Frances Lewis, Kay Riner; RFD 1, Akron IN
Jerry Kuhn; RFD 2, Akron IN
Larry Kuhn; RFD 2, Akron IN
Merlee Smoker; Fred Hackathorne; Rochester IN
Jim Swick; Box 174, Cedarsburg WI
Max Helvey; RFD 1, Akron IN
Mary Ellen Maxwell; 2000 Randalia Dr., Ft. Wayne IN
Jenny Barnes, Dale Cox; RFD 2, Akron IN
Bill Burkett, Bonnie Conrad; 137 Esmond – Apt 1, Ft Wayne IN
Linda Nelson; RFD 1, Akron IN
Bill Whittenberger; RFD 1, Akron IN
John McCloughan; c/o Albert McCloughan, Akron IN
Cecil Kelley; c/o Kenneth Perry, RFD 1, Akron IN
Gloria McCloughan, Jim Reed; Akron IN
Bob Burkett, Karen Harvey; RFD 1, Akron IN
Shelby Smoker, Danny Willard; Akron IN
Larry Sheetz; RFD 2, Akron IN
Marla Hammond, Tom Miller; Akron IN
John Little; Athens IN
Frank Urbahns; Akron IN
Paul Shoemaker; 372 Jefferson St., Gary IN
Larry Stiver; c/o Mrs. Luetta Martins, 238 E. Broadway, So Bend IN
Phyllis Murphy; Box 386, Akron IN
1960
Gary Bradway; RFD 2, Akron IN
Helen Arnett, Robert Horn; RFD 2, Akron IN
Jim Harsh; RFD 2, Macy IN
Sharon Masteller; RFD 1, Akron IN
Gary Huppert; Akron IN
Stella Hartzler; RFD 1, Akron IN
Randy Sriver, Akron IN
Suzanne Swick, Leon Hempenius; RFD 2, Lafayette IN
Lynn Fenimore; Akron IN
Diane Drudge, Don Medlen; 14 Marion Ave., Sumter SC
Stanley Singpiel; RFD 1, Akron IN
Mary Lou Good, Charles Fox; Akron IN
Duane Smith, Patricia Hartzler; RFD 1, Akron IN
Mary Ann Meredith; Akron IN
Rush Bradford; Akron IN
Joyce Smith; Akron IN
Mike Metzger; Akron IN
Susan Boswell, Akron IN
Denny Thompson; RFD 1, Akron IN
Sharon Junkin, John Turner; Akron IN
Joe Maddux; Athens IN
Judy Leininger; RFD 2, Akron IN
Fred Shewman; Akron IN
Karen Martin; Akron IN
Allen Heltzel; Akron IN
Janice Miller; 404 N. Lake, Warsaw IN
Gary Parker; Akron IN
Judy Hairrell; c/o Rock Lake Rollercade, RFD 1, Akron IN
Winston Oliver; Akron IN
Carolyn Overlander, Mack Murphy; Akron IN
Richard Funk; Akron IN
Sandra McCloughan; RFD 1, Akron IN
Bob Huppert; Akro IN
Karen Hammond; RFD 2, Akron IN
Patricia Hartzler, Duane Smith; RFD 1, Akron IN
Willodean Cox, Ted Rose; Sidney IN
1961
Walter Hollingsworth; RFD 1, Akron IN
Alyce Murphy; RFD 2, Akron IN
Ted McCloughan; RFD 1, Akron IN
Wendall Kuhn; RFD 1, Akron IN
David Parker; RFD 2, Akron IN
Marcelle Reed, Ronald Needham; Box 66, Magnolia DE
Robert Thornton; c/0 Paul Shafer, Bunker Hill AFB, Peru IN
Linda K. Madeford; 1928 Aldrich Ave., South, Minneapolis 5 MN
Roger Swick; RFD 2, Akron IN
Kenton Kroft; RFD 1, Akron IN
Margaret Moore, Larry Straley; Denver IN
Kenneth Maxwell; RFD 1, Akron IN
Robert Funk; RFD 1, Akron IN
Juanita Burkett; RFD 1, Akron IN
Howard Kerr; RFD 2, Akron IN’
James Barr; 1725 Johnson, Oxford MS
Kay Colbert; RFD 2, Akron IN
Nancy Terrell; RFD 2, Akron IN
Thomas Hatfield; RFD 2, Akron IN
Norma Hiers, Lynn Smith; Akron IN
Eddie Smoker; Akron IN
Stephen Sheets; Akron IN
Bonita Helvey; RFD 1, Akron IN
Vic Slanac; 4216 Northcoat, East Chicago IN
Betty Grandstaff; Rochester IN
Carolyn Myers, Steve Banghart; 1218 Clark St., Warsaw IN
Marsha Sriver; RFD 1, Akron
Karen Secor; RFD 2, Akron IN
Billie Murphy; RFD 2, Akron IN
Wanda Craig, Mrs. Mow; RFD 2, Akron IN
Monte Utter; Athens IN
Phillip Murphy; PO Box, Akron IN
Joe Madeford; Akron IN
1962
Saundra Bobbette Ameigh; Box 62, Akron IN
Mickey Joe Bowers; RFD 1, Silver Lake IN
Lyle David Butt; RFD 1, Akron IN
Michael Earl Floor; RFD 1, Akron IN
Matilda Rose Funk; RFD 1, Akron IN
Peggy Jo Hartzler; RFD 1, Akron IN
Betty Jo Hauser; Akron IN
Carolyn Beth Heltzel; RFD 2, Akron IN
Sharon Ann Hoffman; Box 454, Akron IN
Patricia Ann Holloway; Box 447, Akron IN
Judy Sue Hutchinson; RFD 2, Rochester IN
Jack Ray Junkin; Akron IN
Claudia Sue Klise; Akron IN
Lavada A. McEvoy; RFD 1, Akron IN
Sue Ellen Martin; Akron IN
Sandra Kay Miller; RFD 1, Akron IN
Donald Robert Nicodemus; Akron IN
Martha Louise Oliver; Box 473, Akron IN
Janet Darlene Overlander; RFD 2, Akron IN
Richard Lee Sayger; RFD 1, Akron IN
Bonita Lou Swick; RFD 2, Akron IN
Judy Maxine Young; RFD 1, Akron IN
[Old Grads Directory, Akron High School 1897-1962, Kappa Delta Phi Sororoty]
Akron High School Alumni
1963
John Urbahns; 5555 Audabon Ridge Lane, Indianapolis IN 46250
Darrell Valentine; RR 3, Decatur IN 46733
Marilyn (Swick) Collens; RR 1 Box 224, Rochester IN 46975
Ledah (Stucker) Krueger; 7985 Dowitch Ln, Apt H, Indianapolis IN 46260
Mike Stephen, RR 1, Akron IN 46910
Jane (Stanton) Hoffman; RR 3 Box 327, Rochester IN 46975
Linda (Smalley) Tucker; RR 1 Box 439, Claypool IN 46510
Dick Sittler, 115 Linwood Dr., Glasgow KY 42141
Jerry Shoemaker, RR 1, Akron IN 46910
Jack Shoemaker; RR 2 Box 31A, Akron IN 46910
Vivian (Murphy) Heeter; South Whitley IN 46787
Pauline (Murphy) Sumpter; 605 Linlawn Dr., Wabash IN 46992
Kenneth Miller, 1305 Rivercrest Dr., Warsaw IN 46580
Kay (Metzger) Jones, RR 4, Syracuse IN 46567
Sheila (McCloughan) Busenburg, David Busenburg; RR 1, Mentone IN 46539
Pat (Maxwell) Flea; 3473 West, 6925 SW, Jordan, UT 84084
Mary (Maby) Miller, Theodore Miller, 1236 Earnestine St., McLean VA 22101
Ronald Jones, Akron IN 46910
Kent Jefferies, RR 6 Box 249, Warsaw IN 46580
Merl Jackson, 1119 Chippewa Buchanan MI 49107
Danny Henderson, RR 2 Box 212, N. Manchester IN 46962
Cassy (Hairrell) Warren, 500 Maryland Ave., N. Manchester IN 46962
Dennis Groninger, RR 1, Silver Lake IN 46982
Philip Gray, 6245 S. Bend Dr., Ft Wayne IN 46804
Philip Freese, 972 Brown St., St. Helena CA 94574
Polly (Fites) Finney, Mrs. Jerry Finney; RR 2, Akron IN 46910
Linda (Crockett) York, Doug York; 683 Ridgewood, Ft Wayne IN 46805
Doug York, 623 Ridgewood, Ft Wayne IN 46805
Jean (Cox) Kerby; RR 2 700 E 1300 S., Galveston IN 46932
Jane (Cox) Kratzer; RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Rick Bradway, Hillcrest Motel M-28E, Munsing MI 49862
Tom Adams, 1009 Archway Dr., Lafayette IN 47905
[Akron High School Alumni Mailing List]
[NOTE: END AKRON HIGH SCHOOL – Consolidated into Tippecanoe Valley High
School]
__________
See Akron Grade School; See Akron School.
AKRON NORMAL SCHOOL [Akron, Indiana]
Frank P. Bitters will open a Normal school at Akron on the 2d of September. He is a competent instructor, and tuition for the term will be moderate.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, August 10, 1878]
Dr. Frank P. Bitters has been solicited to open another term of Normal school at Akron this fall . . . commence on the 2d day of September.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, August 16, 1878]
C. K. Bitters has taken his departure for a point in northern Illinois where he has an engagement until March in teaching a high grade school. Mr. Bitters has just closed a successful term of school here of the Normal system.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, November 1, 1879]
AKRON SCHOOL [#4] [Akron, Indiana]
Located S side of W Walnut street on lots 94 and 95.
__________
DISTRICT 4 – AKRON SCHOOL
By Velma Bright
The first Akron School was built in 1838 and was located on the Asher Welton farm west of the present Akron city limits. In the year of 1850 a house was built for school purposes just west of the present city limits. This house was twenty feet wide, twenty-four feet long and nine feet high.
Near the close of the Civil War, a two story frame building was erected on Walnut and Whittenberger Streets. This building was used for school purposes about twenty years. The land where the building stood was sold to Moses Sayger by Henry Township in April 1885. Four lots on Maple Street were bought by Henry Township from Elisa Slaybaugh on May 21, 1884. [NOTE: See Akron High School. -WCT]
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August 1969, No. 1, p. 7]
SUGAR GROVE SCHOOL
By Scott Johnson As Told To Shirley Willard
Scott Johnson also donated his final exam for the school year Oct. 1906 to March 1907 teacher L. F. Budenburg, District No. 4 school. This school was located in Akron on the southeast corner of Walnut and Whittenberger streets on lot 94. The names of the pupils in room 5 Akron school March 16, 1907, were listed by Scott in the exam as follows. 8th grade: Ruth Hammond, Floral Snoke, Loyd Buse, Ferman Love, Russel Rader, Jesse Onstott, Frank Beik, Vernon Karns, Earl Davis, Scott Johnson, Levi Buse, George Stephy, Eva Slaybaugh, Lottie Linebaugh, Ralph Merley, Alva Snoke, Goldie Strong, Hazel Higgins, Fayette King, Bulah Strong, Lucile Long, Lester Strong, Charles Kistler, Cloya Strong. 7th grade: Walter Swihart, Harvey Arter, Roscoe Mitchell, John Glasford, Everett Hammond, Frances Onstott, Earl Presnall, Lucile Hoover, Walter Seitner, Clifton Karns, Loa Karns, Marie Marret, Jessie Sans, Chester Frisenger, Ivan Ginn, Herbert Harter, Edith Showalter, Ethel Sauseman, Earl Arter, Walter Haldeman.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 42, pp 45-46]
__________
Teachers:
1896-97: E. E. Slick, John Clifton, Etta Powell, Gussie Courter, Elva Shaffer
1897-98: A. A. Campbell, Charley Daniels, Atta Powell, Gussie Courter, Elva Shaffer
1898-99: Prof. A. A. Campbell, Supt., Mrs. A. A. Campbell, Princ., Hattie B. Welch, 7th & 8th, Edna Shipley, 5th & 6th, Gussie Courter, 3rd & 4th, Elva Shaffer, 1st & 2nd.
1899-00: James Hines, Princ., Estil A. Gast, Assist., J. W. Bonnell 7th & 8th, Alwilda Wood 5th & 6th, Gussie Courter 3rd & 4th, Elva Shaffer 1st & 2nd
1900-01: James Hines, Princ., Estil A. Gast, Assist., J W. Bonnell 7th & 8th, Amy Shesler 5th & 6th, Gussie Courter 3rd & 4th, Elva Shaffer 1st & 2nd
1901-02: [omitted]
1902-03: Town School
1903-04: C. I. Clemans, grammar, Maude Hoffman, 3rd, Dot Bowen, 2nd, Ethel Swartz, 1st.
1904-05: Teachers listed this way in Akron News: Akron High School: Mrs. C. H. Templeton, Sut’t.; Prof. J. D. Heighway, Princ.; Miss Dessie Sayger, Asst. Akron Grade School: Lola Judd, Rose Anderson, Maude Hoffman, Nellie Stevenson, and Ethel Swartz.
1905-06: The Akron News: “Henry Twp. Public School teachers for the Akron grades and the county schools have been employed and so reported to us by Trustee Cook. Five teachers in the Akron grades are the first named: E. E. Clifton, Rose Anderson, Ethel Swartz, Nellie Stevenson, Fay Morrett; C. I. Clemans, Athens; Mary Whittenberger, Blanche Swihart, Lillian Dawson, Fred Rowe, Ernest Bright, V. R. Miller, Leah Platt, Densie Oliver, Clara Jones, William Shewman, Homer Ball, Fred Moore, Lola Judd, Clyde Richardson.
The High School teachers are J. D. Heighway, Mrs. Templeton, and Miss Minnie Hoffman; making 23 teachers working in Henry Twp.”
1906-07: [omitted]
1907-08: Akron: Prof. J. D. Heighway, Sup’t; Miss Zayda Noe, Princ.; Prof. E. D. Gordon, Assist. Princ.; Leslie Busenberg, 8th year; Rose Anderson 5th & 6th; Mrs. Leslie Busenberg, 3rd & 4th; Lola Judd, 2nd; and Elva Shaffer, 1st
[FCHS Quarterly No. 41, pp 37-39]
ANTIOCH SCHOOL [#15] [Henry Township]
Located E side of 700E at approximately 200S.
Built between 1876 and 1883; abandoned between 1883 and 1907.
Another school, same name.
Located SE corner 700E and 150S.
Built between 1883 and 1907.
Building converted into a residence by Rochard Powlen.
__________
[photo] The hack called the “Crow’s Nest” that took children from Millark to Antioch 1913-14 looked something like this. (Photo: Ruth Bowen)
[photo] Antioch School in 1890’s. Front row: Calven Hartman, Floyd Hartman,
[ – – – – – ] Miller, Fred Miller, Lucretia Nye Kuhn, Dorothy Feece, unknown, Estel Hartman, Vernon Hartman. Row 2: Charles Wolf, Nettie Feece Saygers, unknown, Foster Alspaugh, Nellie Hartman Moore, unknown, Essie Nye Burns, Unknown, Orvil Moore. Row 3: Stella Burns Van Lue, Dell Miller, Myrtle Nye Davis, Bessie Hartman, Lolla Moore, Carl Miller. Row 4: Charles Alspaugh, Willard Alspaugh, next four unknown. Row 5: Daisy Hartman, Grace Alspaugh Bowen, Grace Rouch, Stella Feece Nicodemus, Emma Nicodemus (later Mrs. Bowen) – teacher. (Photo: Ruth Bowen)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 41, p. 50]
[photo] Antioch School, 1904-05, Arthur Rhinesmith, Teacher. Back Row: Jake Miller, Orville Moore, Estel Hartman, Calvin Hartman, Ed Feece. Middle Row: Nellie Hartman, Orpha Rowe, Nettie Feece, Myrtle Nye, Roy Miller, Bill Rowe, unknown, unknown, unknown. Front Row: Dorothy Feece, Fred Miller, Yola Timbers, Glennie Hartman, unknown, Mauna Nye, Bertha Baker, Roxy Gaultry, Lucretia Nye. Other pupils at the school in 1904-05 were James Smith, Tressie Miller, Charles Beck, Vernon Hartman, Ralph Hartman, Orpha Musselman, Della Miller, Vieda Beck, Bessie Hartman.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August, 1969, No. 1, p. 18]
__________
DISTRICT 15 – ANTIOCH SCHOOL
By Velma Bright
Antioch School was located one-half mile east and one and one-fourth miles south of Athens. On October 22, 1872, Henry Township purchased a piece of land from Wesley and Sarah Hartman for the sum of ten dollars. Antioch School was built here and was in use through the school year of 1914-15. In 1898 a brick building was built replacing a frame building. This building is still standing.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August, 1969, No. 1, p. 18]
__________
Mr. Dixon of Argos preached at the Millark school house on Saturday and Sunday last. He will preach his farewell sermon at the Antioch school house on the second Sunday in July. [QUERY: Is this the correct Antioch school? – WCT]
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, June 18, 1874]
The Antioch school closes next Thursday aweek. Miss Cuffel has the reputation of being a good teacher. [QUERY: Is this the correct Antioch school? – WCT]
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, July 2, 1874]
A half day spent with J. W. Colvin at No. 15 convinced us that he thoroughly understands the wants of his school. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 30, 1876]
Teachers:
1896-97: J. C. Pontius
1897-97: John B. Cooper
1898-99: Marion Fultz
1899-00: Emma Nicodemus
1900-01: John Dawson
1901-02: [omitted]
1902-03: Lillian Dawson
1903-04: Charles Slifer
1904-05: Arthur Rhinesmith
1905-06: [not listed by school]
1906-07: [omitted]
1907-08: Roy Groninger
[FCHS Quarterly No. 41, pp 37-40]
Arthur Rhinesmith taught at Ebenezer one-room school in Rochester Township 1906-08 and at Antioch one-room school in Henry Township; Ray Isaac Shelton, 1914-15.
PARTIAL LIST OF TEACHERS, DISTRICT 15, ANTIOCH SCHOOL
Jonathan Dawson, Lillian Dawson, Clara Jones, Emma Nicodemus, Arthur Rhinesmith, Fannie Robbins, Roy Shelton, Charles Slifer.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August, 1969, No. 1, p 23]
ANTIOCH SCHOOL [#12] [Rochester Township]
Located E side of 75W at 325S, near Bearss Post Office.
Built before 1876.__________
[photo] Antioch School 1892. The only positive identification is Edward Tetzlaff in the front row, second boy from left (see arrow). He was born in 1886 and was in the first grade. His sisters, Ida and Sophia, are probably in the picture. Ida might be the girl in the middle row, fourth from right. Sophia might be the first girl from the left in the back row. Other children probably include the McMahan children and Martindales. (Photo: Ruth and Alice Tetzlaff.)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 40, p. 42]
[photo] Antioch School 1916-17. Front row: Donald Newman, Claude Arven, Josephine Gordon, Orlo Brown, Howard Gordon, Lucille King, Ruth Werner, Pauline Brown, Fern Brown. Back row: Byron Werner, Albert Thorstenson, Pearl Werner, Gertrude Werner, Ida Gordon, Pauline Gordon, Maurice Newman. Teacher Ruth Adamson (later Mrs. Emerson Felder). (Photo: Ida Gordon Shafer.)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 37, p. 40]
[photo] Antioch School in 1924, the last year it was open Back row: Clifford Baggerley – teacher, Helen Eber (Mrs. Percy Vanosdale), Charles Werner, Ruth Werner (Mrs. John Eber), Lucille King (Funk). Middle row: Mabel Gordon (Mrs. Ed Umbaugh), Lola Thorndyke, Beatrice Cranmer (Mrs. Buy Anderson, then Mrs. John Eber), Ruth Tetzlaff, Ruth Eber (Brown), Alice Tetzlaff, Marietta Kline. Front row: Lester Gordon, Arthur Gordon, Carl Thorstenson, Clyde Thorndyke, Harold Kline. (Photo: Ruth and Alice Tetzlaff)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 40, p. 43]
ANTIOCH SCHOOL AND CHURCH
A ghost town used to be town, right? But Antioch never quite became a town so it isn’t even a ghost town. The Antioch United Brethren Church and the Antioch one-room school stood on 75W about three miles south of Rochester and a mile west of Indiana 25. The church was on the west side of the road and the school on the east side, between 300S and 400S. A mile straight west of the school was the Bearss general store and post office, on the southeast corner of 200W and 325S. The store contained the post office which in the 1880’s was simply a row or two of mail boxes and a counter for selling stamps, and was owned by John B. McMahan. McMahan had 12 children, most of whom became wealthy in later life in California. Two of them stayed in Rochester: Hugh who operated the Arlington Hotel and was Rochester postmaster 1933-46, and Otto, who founded the McMahan Construction Company in 1920. Several of the McMahan children were schoolteachers in Fulton County at various country schools and in Rochester at Columbia School.
Antioch School was built of wood before 1876 and there was a pump out front. It was located a half mile north of the Antioch Church, which stood until Apr. 5, 1979, when a wind storm blew it down.
Minnie Cessna Alexander taught there 1913-14. The school had an organ for singing lessons. At noon and at recess Minnie would play it in winter. Minnie says they never had the organ tuned. This organ was low like a piano. Minnie went to Rochester College for three years, then graduated from Rochester High School in 1913. This was because Rochester High School was a city school, and township students had to pay tuition. So most of the township kids attended the Rochester College where the township trustee paid their tuition. While teaching at Antioch, Minnie kept her horse in the barn at Bozart’s across the road. It had been one of Hank Morningstar’s hack horses, Cap, a 24-year-old horse. One time there was a wolf lying under the bridge between 14 and the new road south. It frightened Minnie’s horse so it ran all the way home. The wolf was finally shot by a neighbor Mr. Hunter.
Antioch School closed in 1924, and Tom McMahan moved the Antioch school a quarter mile northeast and converted it into a house in 1946. Later it was moved by Gady’s east a quarter mile where Richard Powlen lives in it now. Floyd Nicklaus now lives in the John B. McMahan farm at Bearss. McMahan contracted for a U.S. Postoffice in 1892. John B. McMahan was the postmaster and his children worked in the store, trading for eggs and butter. McMahan also taught school for 15 years. His son, Johnny McMahan, took the Antioch school bell to Thousand Oaks, Cal., to his ranch in the 1920’s.
Ida Gordon Shafer describes Antioch School as follows: It was on the east side of 300S [obviously incorrect, for 300S is an EW road – WCT] about a quarter mile south of the corner. My mother, Sophia Tetzlaff Gordon, attended this school in the mid-1880’s. One of her teachers was Byron Bailey’s mother, Mrs. Stilla (Essa Myers) Bailey, and also Marion Davis. Mother told me that the 12 McMahan children would bring a big picnic basket full of food for lunch and when they walked in, it sure smelled good. Once the McMahan children were late and the teacher locked the door. The bigger children took a fence rail and broke the door down to get in.
Antioch School never had a hack; the children all lived close and walked except for the Thorstenson children who drove a pony and buggy or sled in winther. They put the pony in the woodshed which stood right south of the school. The woodsshed was painted white and there were two white out-houses too.
There was a water pump at the northwest corner of the school. Children would pump the bucket full of water and carry it into the school house. There was a dipper to drink from but some children brought their own drinking cups that folded up for easy carrying in a pocket. There were two out-houses: girls’ on the southeast and boys’ on the northeast.
Coats were hung on hooks on the wall at the back of the room near the door. The northwest corner of the room had a book cupboard for the school’s library. Dinner pails were kept in the southwest corner in a cupboard.
The desks were fastened to the floor and were the type that had a folding seat attached in front of the desk. There were two rows of desks on each side of the stove, which stood in the center of the room to provide heat from burning wood. The bigger desks were on the north side.
The teacher’s desk was on a raised platform on the east end of the school. On the wall back of the teacher’s desk was the blackboard. There was a rack of maps on the wall.
There were no lights but three windows on each side of the building provided sufficient lighting. The blinds were the type that pull up instead of down, and you had to use a long stick to pull them up.
The Christmas treats and programs were the highlights of the year. The last day of school was in April and they always had a carry-in dinner inside because it was too cold outdoors.
Children who attended Antioch included my mother, Sophia Tetzlaff, and her brothers and sister; Louis and John Felder, Edward and Ida Tetzlaff. At the same time Otto and Hugh and Tom McMahan and their brothers and sisters went, and the Hagan children: Ed, Pearl, Effie, Omar, Otis, Mollie and Ruth. Also the Martindale family: Elma, Clara, Albert, Oliver, Ada, Lea, and Byron. Also the Arvin family.
Teachers before 1900 were Mel O. King, John Felder, and O. M. Miller. Teachers while I was in school: 1910-11 Bess King, 1911-12 Blanche Smith, 1912-13 Edna Taylor, 1913-14 Grace Dillon, 1914-15 Minnie Cessna, 1915-16 Florence Arnold, 1916-17 Ruth Adamson, 1917-18 Mazie Davis.
Harriet King Westwood and Alvin Johnson attended Antioch School in the early 1900’s. Harriett recalls her teachers as follows: Mabel Rees 1903, Charles Hower, lHugh McMahan – three years, Nellie Wise, Glen Louderback, Leroy Shelton, Bess King, and Edna Taylor. There was a flood by Harriett’s house so she missed so much school she took the 8th grade again.The pump froze up every winter and they had to carry water from Bozart’s across the road. Lou Felder supplied firewood and cleaned the school before it opened in the fall. Amos Johnson as a pupil came early and started the fire. Hugh McMahan drove a horse and buggy and kept the horse in the woodshed. Once the students shut him out at noon and said they wouldn’t let him in until he gave them a Christmas treat The bridle was in the school to keep warm so it wouldn’t freeze the horse’s mouth, so Hugh drove the gentle horose without a bridle to his sister’s house (Josephine Hays) and brought back a nice treat of candy and oranges. Hugh was a very good teacher and had good discipline. One time he broke the pointer on Jim McKinney but Jum just shrugged it off.
Otis Hagan used to tell how he got up early and hiked across the fields to school to build the fire every morning. He was paid 50 cents a month.
Most teachers drive a horse and buggy to school, but Bess King (no relation to Harriett King) boarded at Eastep’s house a little north and east of the school.
Ruth Tetzlaff wrote the foolowing account of her days as a pupil at Antioch School:
My teachers were Mary Carruthers 1918-19, Hermia Wolf 1919-20, Vida Carey 1920-21-22, Mildred Sheets 1922 (fall), Charles Hower 1923 (winter and spring) 1923-24, Clifford Baggerley, who taught the fall of 1924, the last time that Antioch was used as a school.
At recess and at noon we played outside when it was nice. Some of the games were Blindman’s Bluff, Run Sheep Run, Fox and Geese, Drop the Handkerchief, Tap on the Ice-Box, jump rope, Hide and Seek, Ante Over, Shinny on Your Own Side, and baseball. During the noon hour the teachers would play with us. In the winter we would go over in a field where there was a small pond frozen over and play on the ice. Some of the children had ice skates.
Sometimes on Friday afternoons just before school let out, we had games inside, such as Fruit Basket Upset, map games to see who could stay up the longest in locating cities, states and countries, spelling bees, etc. These were games that all the children in grades 1 through 8 could participate in.
We had box socials in which the girls’ lunch baskets were auctioned off to the highest bidder and cake walks. We raised enough to buy a Victrola with which the teacher would play some records. At the end of school year we had a carry-in dinner and program of recitations and songs.
We had to walk to school and for some pupils that was several miles. Lucille King walked about three miles and Carl Thorstenson had to walk two or three miles too. A few who lived close walked home for lunch part of the time, but most brought their lunches in dinner pails which were kept in a cabinet on the south side of the room. Each pupil had his or her own cabinet.
When the weather was bad our folks would come get us so we wouldn’t have to walk home in the rain or freezing sleet. Uncle Louis Felder would come in his car. Usually our parents came in a horse and buggy.
Others attending Antioch between 1918 and 1925 were Donald and Oren Newman, Pearl and Gertrude Werner, three or four Miller children, Pauline and Minnie and Deverl Holloway, Harold and Richard Hoover, Helen and Herman Ysberg, Delia and Jack McMahan.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 37, pp 38-44]
__________
THREE HENRY TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS
By Ruth Bowen
At the close of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries in the southwestern part of Henry Township stood three fairly new, brick, large one-room schools: namely Millark, Antioch, and Sugar Grove. Sugar Grove was perhaps the best planned and constructed of the three. It had a beautiful stone wall as a foundation. It had a basement in which was a furnace and a pump. Antioch had a pump on the school grounds while Millark had no water supply on the school property.
Sugar Grove was located at the intersection of what is now county roads 800E and 250S on the southeast corner. Antioch was on road 700E half way between 250S and 150S. Millark was on county road 350S at the south end of 650E.
Each school was equipped with a belfry containing a bell, the ring of which could be heard throughout the community. Each school had a fairly large playground. Back of the school building on each side of the playground stood two wood buildings answering for rest rooms. The one on the right was for the girls and the one on the left was the boys’. On each side of the entrance to the school building was a cloakroom. The one on the right was the girls’ and the one on the left was the boys’. Sugar Grove’s and Antioch’s cloakrooms had a window and were well lighted while Millark’s were narrow and dark.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 41, p. 43]
ANTIOCH SCHOOL
by Ruth Bowen
A term of subscription school, beginning Apr. 27, 1885, and ending July 3, 1885, was taught by Amelia Rouch according to a Reward of Merit card given by the teacher to Emma Nicodemus. Emma attended 60 days and got four headmarks for good spelling (going to the head of the class).
About 1913-14 Millerk pupils were bussed to Antioch for one year. Fanny Robins Moore was the teacher and Nelson Bowen was the bus driver. The bus driver furnished his own bus and team of horses. The bus was made from an old carriage, using boards and black oil cloth. The kids dubbed it the “Crow’s Nest”. The bus looked something like this picture.
Outstanding events remembered from Antioch were a party, restroom rules, and a nice clean-cut sixth grade boy. Fanny and Orville Moore gave a Halloween party in their home for their two schools. The house was full of kids and they played “Forfeit.” The teacher took two fifth grade girls home with her to stay all night so they could attend.
The girls congregated in the restrooms at recess and told dirty stories. The teacher made a rule that only one person could be in the restroom at a time. Dirty stories were eliminated.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 41, pp. 49-50]
__________
A Mr. Hoover from Ohio will train the young ideas at Union this winter, Abe Bowers will swing the birch at the Saw-mill school, Miss Maggie Blacketer will dust the jackets in the new district near Wm. Davidson’s and John Davidson will “rule” the young Antiochers. [QUERY: Is this the correct Antioch?]
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, December 3, 1875]
Miss Cora Woolley [will teach a term of school] at Antioch. . .
[Rochester Union Spy, Friday, April 12, 1878]
Feb. 1st, 1879. The teachers of Rochester township convened at school house No. 12, and were called to order at 10 a.m. by Mr. John McMahan, chairman. O. D. Ross was elected secretary. [names mentioned]: A. F. Bowers, O. H. Black, S. R. Moon, C. E. Gould, Mrs. L. Orr, F. Rogers.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, February 7, 1879]
Teachers: Essie Myers, 1885.
Antioch school was bulldozed the last week of April 1978 by the owner, Mrs.Bill Burkett.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 42, p. 42]
ATHENS SCHOOL [Henry Township]
Located N side of SR-14 E edge of Athens at approximately 675E.
Built before 1876; abandoned between 1876 and 1883.
New school built 1904. Closed 1937.
Also called Mount Hope School.
[photo] Athens School about 1919 when Russell Shipley came there to teach. Notice the grove of trees around the building. (Photo given to FCHS by Mrs. Russell Shipley.)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 41, p. 40]
[photo] Athens School, 1920-21. Back Row: [ – – – – ] Moore, Earla Conner, Treva Van Lue, Hilda Moore, Bertha McGee, Mabel Bowers, Mary Sayger, Lena Sayger, unknown, Hildred Kuhn, Mildred Hart, Helen Putman, Ella Bowers, Raymond Burkett, unknown, Bill Sayger, unknown, Esther Miller, Inez Hartman, Harley McGee, Charles McGee, Howard Rowe, Mabel McGee, Norman Rhodes, Waldo Hutchison, Bob Nicodemus.
Middle Row: [ – – – – ] Hartman, Marjorie Clevenger, Alma Dixon, Ruby Williams, Pauline Moore, Mary Putman, Eva Rowe, Martha Moonshower, Claudia Rhodes, Pauline Williams, Margie Putman, Olive McGee, Lucille Nicodemus, Helen Masteller, Ruth Moore, Louise Nicodemus, unknown, Dora Rowe, Irene Miller, Opal Hattery, [ – – – – ] Moore, Lee Mooonshower, Ray Pontious, unknown, Clyde Rhodes.
Sitting In Front: Eugene McGee, Cecil Rhodes, [ – – – – ] Miller, [ – – – -] Hattery, Floyd McGee, unknown, Russell Hartman, unknown, Merl Smith, [ – – – – ] Nye, Norman Burkett, Marvin Moonshower, Don Miller.
FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August 1969, No. 1, p. 10]
[photo] Athens School 1922. Front row: Amos Foor, Dale Shipley, Roy Saygers, Russell Harter, Deloise McGee – holding sign, Raymond Bowers, William Hattery, Kenneth Nye, Eugene McGee, [ – – – – – ] Sayger (one of Hershel’s twins). Row 2: [ – – – – – ] Rhodes, Keith Nye, Maurice Sayger, Deloise Smith, Helen Masteller, Alma Dixon, Irene Miller, Mable McGee, Marjorie Heeter, unknown, Byron Ginn, Robert Masteller, Floyd McGee. Row 3: Dick Rhodes, Ferol Burket, Lois Strong, Dora Rowe Shewman, unknown, Eldora Bryant, Lenora Heeter, Marjorie Moore, Nina Rhodes, Opal Hattery, Selina Rhodes, Freda Ballenger, Louise Nicodemus, Irene Dixon. Row 4: unknown, Judd Hutchinson, unknown, Ronald Smith, Robert Clingenpeel, Ed Miller, Lenden Clingenpeel, Claudia Rhodes, Esther Miller, Martha Moonshower, Eva Rowe Mathiesen, Ines Hartman, unknown, Lee McIntire. Row 5: Hilda Moore, Thelma Nye, Olive McGee, Marvin Moonshower, Woodrow Smith, Russell Hartman, Clyde Rhodes, unknown, Myrtle Oden Rice, Mabel Bower, Earl Oden, Emerson Johnson, Bertha McGee. Row 6: Doyle Clemans, unknown, unknown, Zella Smith, Vada Oden Zartman, Beulah Moore, Lucille Johnson, Earelda Conner, Iduma Johnson, Virgina Smith, Treva Van Lue. Teachers: Russell Shipley (man seated lower right), Pauline Whitcomb (woman at left standing), Blanche Swihart (seated at left). Russell Shipley noted the following names on the school register in 1922 but not in photo: Lenard Mikesell, Norman Burkett, Burnett Strong, Donald Miller, Charleen Pearson, Edwin Nelson. (Photo printed from glass negative by Richard Bair. Now in FCHS collection)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 41, p. 41]
[corrections] Densil, Melvin and Hurshel Smith are three of the unidentified children in the photo of Athens School.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 43 p. 63]
THE HISTORY OF ATHENS, ETC.
By Helen Bryant Nichols
Construction work on the new school was started in 1903, and was completed and rady for the classes in 1904. The first teachers were Blanch Swihart, Lillian Dawson and C. I. Clemens. The Athens School was consolidated with the Akron School in 1937. The building was demolished in 1940 and was still in very good contition.
[FCHS Quarterly, December 1968, p. 10]
DISTRICT 5 – ATHENS SCHOOL (MOUNT HOPE(
By Velma Bright
On November 27, 1874, Trustee E. A. Arnold of Henry Township purchased forty-two square rods of land for ten dollars from Andrew and Matilda Curtis for the Mount Hope School. This school was located one mile east of Athens on State Road 14, This school was in use until 1904. In 1903 construction was started on a new school in Athens andd this was completed in 1904. Classes were conducted in this building until 1937 when the Athens School consolidated with the Akron School. The building in Athens was demolished in 1940 and was in very good contition at the time.
FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August 1969, No. 1, p. 10]
ATHENS SCHOOL
By Ira Baker as told to Shirley Willard
Athens school was built in 1904 and operated until 1937 when it was discontinued and the pupils taken to Akron school. The building was torn down in 1940. It was located on the west side of 650E, south of the Church where the county highway department has a big pile of gravel and salt.
The Athens school building was a nice brick building. The primary grades (1, 2, and 3) were in the south bottom room. Manual training was in the north bottom room. Grades 3, 4, and 5 were in the south upper room, while grades 6, 7 and 8 were in the north upper room.
We had boxing in the room on top of the building (back of the half-circle window) just below the bell. We did not have boxing lessons just did it for pastime.
Blanche Swihart was the primary teacher 1904-37. They wanted to close the school in 1937 but kept grades 1-4 there two more years so she could get a pension.
Ruth Dawson taught grades 3-4-5 in 1910. Clara Moonshower taught 3-4-5 in 1911-12.
Fred Deardorff taught grades 6-7-8 in 1912-13. Estill McIntire taught 6-7-8 in 1913-15.
Lon Zimmerman taught 6-7-8. Vern Miller taught 6-7-8 in about 1910.
We had box socials to earn money to buy boxing gloves and basketballs. We played basketball outdoors with a hoop fastened on a post.
There was a grove of tall walnut trees by the school. It was kept neat and clean for a park. We had picnics there for the last day of school and for the Fourth of July. So big a crowd would come that the buggies would get their hubs caught on each other.
There came a big snow in 1907 and teacher Fred Moore walked little Ira home to see that he made it safe.
Akron News “This Was News” column Aug. 21, 1975, had this article for 39 years ago (1936): Franklin Arthur has been signed to teach the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades at Athens, replacing Merritt Waymire, who resigned last Saturday to accept a position in Miami County.
“This Was News” July 27, 1978, had this article for 39 years ago (1939): “The Athens grade school has been closed, the pupils in Athens who have been attending the school will be brought to Akron, beginning with the September term. According to a state law, passed in 1937, trustees are authorized to close schools which have an attendance for the preceding year of 15 or less.” However, Athens would have had enrollment of over 15 if all eight grades had continued there. Apparently there was some disagreement on the discontinuance of Athens school, and perhaps the compromise of keeping the lower four grades there under the teaching of Blanche Swihart satisfied the majority. As always, when a school is closed there is some fighting and community division and even bitterness.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 41, pp 40-42]
John Dickerhoff teaches at No. 16 and is giving general satisfaction. The same may be said of Mr. I. L. Shipley, who teaches at No. 5.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, January 20, 1877]
1896-97: Loyd Rader
1897-98: Enos Sayger
1898-99: J. W. Bonnell
1899-00: Frank Clemans
1900-01: C. I. Clemans
1901-02: [omitted]
1902-03: C. I. Clemans
1903-04: C. A. Daniels, Bertha Bryant, Lillian Dawson
1904-05: [not listed by school]
1905-06: C. I. Clemans
1906-07: [omitted]
1907-08: Fred Moore, 8th grade, Claudia Stevenson, grammar, and Blanche Swihart, primary
1929-30: Enrol. (1-8) 79. 8 mos. Russell Shipley, 6-7-8; Nadine Roe, 3-4; Blanche Swihart, 1-2.
1930-31: Com. (1-8) 73. Merritt Waymire, 6-7- 8; Pauline Poor, 4-5-6; Blanche Swihart, 1–2- 3.
1931-32: Cont. Com. (1-6) 46. Merritt Waymire, 4-5-6; Blanche Swihart, 1-2-3.
1932-33: Cont. Com. 1-6, 48. Merritt E. Waymire, 4-6; Blanche Swihart, 1-3; Ruth M. Carlson, Mu., Art.
1933-34: Cont. Com. 1-6. 48. Merritt Waymire, 4-6; Blanch Swihart, 1-3.
1934-35: Cont. Com. 1-6. 43. Merritt Waymire, 4-6; Blanch Swihart, 1-3.
1935-36: Cont. Com. 1-6. 39. Merritt Waymire, 4-6; Blanch Swihart, 1-3.
1936-37: Cont. Com. 1-6. 33. J. Franklin Arthur; 4-6; Blanche Swihart 1-3.
1937-38: Cont. Com. 1-4. 17. Blanche Swihart
1938-39: Cont. Com. 1-4. 13. Blanche Swihart.
1939-40: Discontinued.
[F.C.H.S. files; FCHS Quarterly No. 41, p 42]
PARTIAL LIST OF TEACHERS
District 5, Athens
Ruth Bowen, Bertha Bryant, Blanche Bryant, C. I. Clemons, Lillian Dawson, John Heighway, Hazel Marsh, Clara Moonshower, Fred Moore, Orville Moore, Nellie Onstott, Fred Rowe, Ethel Shipley, Russell Shipley, Edna Stinson, Blanche Swihart, J. C. Swihart.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August, 1969, No. 1, p 21]
__________
Doshia Allee Wilhoit attended Sugar Grove one-room school for one year and the rest at Athens School, where I had Blanche Swihart for grades 1, 2 and 3; Clara Moonshower for grades 4, 5 and 6; and Orville Moore for grades 7 and 8. I graduated from Rochester High School.
[Davis & Wilhoit Families, Doshia A. Wilhoit Dearmin, Fulton Co Folks, Vol. 2, Willard]
AUBBEENAUBBEE SCHOOL [Leiters Ford, Indiana]
Located N side of E-W street.
New school built between 1950 and 1953. New Gym built around 1953.
(Editor’s note: When the Leiters Ford school building burned Jan. 5, 1946, they moved in with Kewanna school and two separate schools were operated in the same building. They did not want to lose their identity so it was not a merger. This continued for two years and then Leiters Ford students attended classes in the Methodist Church at Leiters Ford for one year until the new Aubbeenaubbee Township School was completed in the fall of 1951.)
[Kewanna, Thelma Johnston, Wade Bussert, Jan Cessna, and Tammy Evans, Fulton Co Folks, Vol. 2, Willard]
Teachers: Russell Walters, teacher and coach 1933-36; Ada Southard Sherbondy; Flavilla Tracy Stella Bailey; A. A. Campbell.
AUBBEENAUBBEE TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS
[photo] Aubbeenaubbee Township teachers, probably 1913-14. Most of them have now been identified by Helen Shadle of Kewanna. It was her first year teaching and she is wearing a blue velour hat.
FRONT ROW: Martha Cook, taught in Leiters grade school; Theresa Weir, Leiters Ford High School; Florence Meiser, Leiters grade; Prof. Beamer, Leiters high; Henry Moon, trustee. BACK ROW: Gertrude Davidson; Helen Blair Shadle, Delong grades 1-4; Evalyn Robinson; unknown; Paul Guise, Delong grades 5-8; Carrie Van Kirk, probably Myers one-room school; Omer Reichard, Mt. Hope one-room school; Ralph Galbreath/Galbraith.
Helen Blair Shadle graduated (complete with white dress and went through graduation exercises) twice from Leiters Ford High School. She graduated from three years of high school in 1912; three years was all Leiters Ford High offered then. Then they added a 4th year to Leiters Ford High School the next year so she went back and graduated again in 1914. Helen taught at Delong in 1913-14. Helen taught at Leiters in the grades 1915-16. Bertha [McClain] was a good friend of Helen’s. The Delong School in the picture on pg. 29 was in use when Leiters Ford High School burned. Helen taught there that year in the room with the three-part window. She attended school her first year in the old school (1902) not this building.. (Photo from Bertha McClain Tash’s scrapbook)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, p. 31 and FCHS Quarterly No. 49, p. 45]
Notice to Builders. Notice is hereby given that I will let contracts at Public Auction to the lowest bidder, for building school houses in Aubbeenaubbee township . . .
. . . . School District No. 2, on Tuesday the 9th day of June, at 10 o’clock a.m., at the residence of Stephen Rarrick.
. . . . School District No. 3, at 2 o’clock p.m., at the residence of Adam Ditemyer.
. . . . School District No. 9, the next day (Wednesday) at 10 o’clock a.m., at the residence of John Myers.
. . . . School District No. 5, at 2 o’clock p.m., at the residence of John Ellis.
. . . . School District No. 7, at 5 o’clock p.m., at the old school house near the residence of John Leiter.
Also, a contract for repairing the School House in School District No. 7, the next day (Thursday) at 10 o’clock a.m., at said School House, near the residence of William Bailey . . . . James R. Dale, Trustee, Aubbeenaubbee. May 19th, 1863.
[Rochester Chronicle, Thursday, May 28, 1863]
Notice . . . for building a School House in School District No. 2 . . . at the residencde of Samuel Rarrick in Aubbeenaubbee Township . . . I will also sell . . . the log School House . . . at said School House in School District No. 1, near the residence of James Day, Esq. James Dales, Trustee Aubbeenaubbee, Nov. 23, 1863.
[Rochester Chronicle, Thursday, November 26, 1863]
Notice. . . for the building of a School House in School District No. 9, on Tuesday, the 9th day of February next . . . at the residence of Henry Ginther in Aubbeenaubbee township . . . James R. Dales Trustee, Aubbeenaubbee. Jan 21st, 1864.
[Rochester Chronicle, Thursday, January 28, 1864]
Mr. J. F. Saxon has bought the old school house in the Rarrick district and talks of moving it to Leiter’s Ford, to be used as a store room.
[Rochester Union Spy, Friday, March 1, 1878]
__________
SCHOOLS OF AUBBEENAUBBEE TOWNSHIP
Compiled by Paul Hoover
The first Delong School was called Ellis School located south of Delong just east of where old #17 turns toward Kings Lake. It was a log building on the Ellis farm. Later a new brick building was erected about 1896 in the northwest part of Delong about 50 feet east of where the old building now stands.
A new brick building was built just west of it in 1916 and the old building was abandoned. This building is still standing and was sold in 1951 when the new building was completed at Leiters Ford. Then the pupils of the township were all taken to Leiters Ford whichw as then called the Aubbeenaubbee Township School.
I think Mount Hope was the last of the District Schools to be abandoned. It burned in the summer of 1925. I was to teach there in the fall of 1925, my first year of teaching. After it burned I was sent to Delong 4th, 5th, and 6th grades.
According to Omer Reichard, Sandhill School and Beaver School were abandoned about 1913 or 1914. The buildings were sold in 1929 when he was trustee.
The consolidation of the 1920s was quite interesting. Some wanted to consolidate and others didn’t. As long as they had 12 students they could hold the school. Several district schools burned down. Hartman School and Mount Hope were the last two to go.
The first school at Leiters Ford was a log building located just south of Leiters where Willis Cripe now owns. Later a frame building was built across the road from it. This was later moved into town and is the house where Lukenbills lived. Later a brick building was built at the northeast part of Leiters. This one burned in 1946. The upper six grades were taken to Kewanna and later to the Leiters Ford Church while the first 6 grades were sent to Delong while a new building was being built. The new building was completed in 1951 and was known as the Aubbeenaubbee Township School. It was erected at the same place where the old building burned. Now they are consolidating with the Culver Community Schools.
Mrs. A. N. McIntire who is in this year, 1966, 85 years old and has lived in Delong since she was eight years old gave this information to Alice Sprecher. Mrs. McIntire whose maiden name was Mattie Stubbs taught school at the Ditmire School 1899-1900, Hartman School in 1891, Smallpox School 1891-1892. (The Paw Paw School was called Smallpox after an epidemic which struck many of the pupils there. The building has been moved and is now a barn on the Omer Lewis farm.)
According to Mr. Omer Reichard, Ethel Leiter was the last to teach at Sandhill School. (Amelia Engle)
[FCHS Quarterly, December, 1967, p. 15]
MORE ABOUT AUBBEE SCHOOLS
Settlers first came to the Aubbeenaubbee area in the mid-1830’s. The first school was just south of Leiters Ford. The second school was built in 1847 on the John Leiter farm south of Delong, and the third known school was built by a Mr. Dodds in the northwest part of the township. The schools were sustained by public subscription among those attending and other interested persons. Provision for maintaining public schools at public expense came with the revision of the Constitution in 1851. At this time the township was divided into eight districts and new buildings erected to replace the old and to provide for the new. – Joe Guise.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 18, p. 32]
See Leiters Ford Elementary School; Leiters Ford High School.
AULT SCHOOL [Rochester Township]
BALL SCHOOL [#1] [Henry Township]
Located SE corner approximately 1080E and 50N.
Built before 1876; abandoned between 1876 and 1883.
Another school, same name, located NW corner approximately 1080E and 50N.
Built between 1876 and 1883.
[photo] Ball School in early 1890’s. Arrow points to Retta Bright, mothr of Nora Hoffman. (Photo: Nora Hoffman)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 42, p. 41]
[photo] Ball’s School – About 1910. Back row: C. I. Clemons, teacher; Hazel Burns, Stella Bemenderfer, Clair Burns, Gerald Bemenderfer, Clifford Bright, Frank Burns; second row: Ralph Shoemaker, Lloyd Swick, Estel Kamp, Forest Greenwood, Guy Kamp, unknown, Faye Kamp; first row: Lester White, Murial Bright, Ralph Bemenderfer, Elma Kamp, Nellie Bright, Mazie Bright, unknown, Mabel Kamp.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August 1969, No. 1, p. 5]
DISTRICT 1- BALL’S SCHOOL
By Velma Bright:
This was the same school district that started a school on the Daniel Whittenberger farm about 1840.
On August 6, 1881, Henry Township Trustee Charles Richter purchased one acre of land from William H. and Margaret Bright for seventy-five dollars. This was located one and one-half miles north and one mile west of Akron. This was presumably the time that the brick building was built which is still standing. The last year that school was held here was the year 1918-19.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August 1969, No. 1, p. 6]
BALL, MILLARK, SUGAR GROVE & HAHN SCHOOLS
By Loyd Swick:
I attended Ball one-room school for my first grade when I was five years old in 1907-08. Mae Higgins was the teacher. Then we moved northeast of Burket the next year, but the following year (1909-10) we moved back and I attended Ball again when C. I. Clemans was the teacher. Pearl Bright (Presnal) taught the next year, then Estel Perry, Fannie Robbins (Moore), and Nellie Onstott – my 8th grade teacher.
Ball School was a brick building on the west side of the T formed by 50N and 1075E [NW corner], just a half mile north of Division Road northwest of Akron. There were two wooden outdoor toilets, the boys’ to the west ad the girls’ to the northwest. A water pump and a ball diamond were in front of the school, between it and the road. There were several beech trees in the schoolyard.
Instead of a pot-bellied stove, Ball had a drum stove in the middle toward the front. There were two cloak rooms at the back of the room, one on each side of the door, but they were not separated for boys and girls. The door faced east toward the road.
There were four rows of six desks, with the larger desks on the two outer rows and the smaller desks for small children on the two inside rows. The desks were the kind with the fold-up seat attached to the front of the desk, so you had to sit still or you would wiggle the desk behind you and the kid sitting behind you would complain. Some of the desks were double wide, made for two students.
We used big tablets of paper and pencils, and the pencil sharpener was fastened to the teacher’s desk. A big globe hung from the ceiling on a pulley and string system so it could be turned to show the rotation of the earth. A dictionary stand was by the south wall by the window and it was pleasant to look up words while looking out the window and eating beech nuts smuggled in from the beech trees outdoors.
Having no slate, Ball’s blackboard consisted of a painted wall across the west end of the room and around the corners. A bookcase with four shelves and glass doors that pulled down stood by the south wall near the teacher’s desk. The teachers usually lived in Akron and came via the interurban and walked the rest of the way. The interurban train ran on a track a mile east of the school. All of the pupils walked. There was no hack.
We held box socials every fall to earn money to buy play equipment such as baseball bats and library books. We made our own balls by unraveling an old sock and winding the thread around and around. we made the bases by filling bags with sand or using old pieces of plank. When I was a child at Ball school, we did not play basketball and had not heard of it.
Ball schoolhouse is still standing, used for a corn crib by the owner of the farm on which it is located, Clarence Miller.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 42, pp 40-42]
MEMORIES OF SUMMIT, BALL AND BETHEL SCHOOLS
By Daisy Young Bucher as told to Velma Bright
In 1905 I started to teach at Ball’s School. I had just graduated from high school at Akron. One day one of the children said, “Do you want to know what my Dad said about you? He said, with a kid like that, what kind of a school will we have this winter?” Three of the boys said, “We could tie you to a tree.” I said, “Of course you can.” They said “We know we can because we did it last year.” But they didn’t.
I especially remember one little girl who was always telling false stories so I had to tell her, “I’ll have to get a switch or you’ll apologize.”
We had Santa Claus for the Christmas party. The school gave me a scenery picture and I still have it hanging on my wall.
The last day of school at Balls the children brought pop corn and taffy. Everyone pulled taffy, ate pop corn and had a circus.
I drove back and forth to Ball’s School but I made it a point to stay once in every home in the school during the year.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 42, pp 51-52]
__________
C. W. Orr, at No. 1, Henry township, is laboring under a great disadvantage. The school is large, and the house small and very poorly seated. . . and the teacher (although this is his first term) is doing well and is quite confident of success.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 16, 1876]
__________
Teachers:
1896-97: Daisy Bright
1897-98: H. A. Bright
1898-99: Worthy Shewman
1899-00: Worthy Shewman
1900-01: Alwilda Mae Wood
1901-02: [omitted]
1902-03: Scott Shesler
1903-04: Dessie Sayger
1904-05: [not listed by school]
1905-06: [not listed by school]
1906-07: [omitted]
1907-08: Daisy Young
[FCHS Quarterly No. 41, pp 37-39]
PARTIAL LIST OF TEACHERS, BALL’S SCHOOL
Stella Bemenderfer, Homer Bright, John Bright, C. I. Clemons, Mae Higgins, Zerna Higgins, Lola Judd, Emma Miller, Nellie Onstott, Estil Perry, Leah Pratt, Fannie Robbins, Dessa Sayger, Scott Shesler, Worthy Shewman, Christopher Columbus Swartz, Alwilda Mae Wood, Marjorie Wrentmore, Daisy Young.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August, 1969, No. 1, p 20]
BARKMAN – BARTMAN SCHOOL [#5] [Newcastle Township]
Miss Mattie Cooper, of Rochester, has been employed to teach the school in District No. 5, in Newcastle township, known as the Bartman school. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 23, 1875]
[QUERY: Could this also be called Yale School? WCT]
See Possum Hollow School.
Miss Minnie Stradley teaches at the Grove school; Miss Clary Orr at Sixteen; G. W. Tipton at Windfall or No. 9; a Miss Rowley at Barkman; Miss Emma Orr at Dover; Miss Blacketor is teaching the Bloomingsburg school.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, June 7, 1879]
BARRETTS SCHOOL [Union Township]
See Polecat School
BAUMAN SCHOOL [#2] [Wayne Township]
See Bowman School
BEAVER SCHOOL [#6] [Aubbeenaubbee Township]
Located in Section 34, S side of 275N at approximately 825W.
Built before 1876.
__________
[photo] Beaver school 1905. Row 1: Clark Coughenour, Ray Lewis, Hazel Coughenour, Goldie Garner. Row 2: Harry Coughenour, Frank Zellers, Thural Coughenour, Perry Coughenour, youngest Coughenour girl, Gladis Garner, Leroy Hodge. Row 3: Pat McMahan – teacher, Clark Lewis, Paul Reichard, Effie Hodge, Lavon Winkler, Edith Stahl, Omer Reichard. (Photo: Omer Reichard)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 17, p. 6]
[photo] Ada Southard (later Mrs. Otto Sherbondy), Rochester, taught at Beaver one-room school in 1908. During pleasant autumn and spring weather she and Flavilla Tracy rode from Rochester to Leiters Ford on the old Milk Train, Erie Railroad. Ada rode a wheel (bicycle) from the train to Beaver School southwest of Leiters. In winter Ada stayed at the home of Omer Reichard, one of her pupils. Flavilla taught at Sand Hill School and stayed with her cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Bailey. Ada and Flavilla went back home to Rochester each weekend. (Photo donated to FCHS by Omer Reichard in 1974)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 19]
Beaver School (section 34) was located on road 275N about three-fourths of a mile north of 200N on the south side of the road. It was named for the head-waters of Beaver Creek where it was built. It first stood on 275N a mile east of the same location before 1900. Teachers were Dave Ginther 1890 for 50 cents a day in summer (he said would rather teach than grub stumps for $1 a day), Al Monger 1897-99, Wes Kaley 1898-99, John Werner 1899-1900, Stella Bailey 1900-01, Frank Shadel 1901-02, Sarah Shadel (Mrs. Roy Hay) 1902-03, Vern Hay 1903-04, Jay Ginther 1904-05, Pat McMahan 1905. Patrons included Reichard, Newcomer, Coughenour, Milliser, Sales. The school closed in 1913 or 14 and was sold in 1929 by Omer Reichard, trustee, to William Coughenour for a barn.
Omer Reichard attended Beaver school all eight grades. He recalls one time when Clark Lewis, a big boy, thought he could beat the teacher, Elmer Cook, and challenged him to wrestle. They wrestled and Lewis got thrown. Then Mr. Cook jerked him up to his feet and picked him up in the air and when he let him down, it half killed him: he threw up!
The state passed a law that no child should have to walk more than two miles to school. That is why some schools were moved just before 1900.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 17, p. 5]
It is feared that D. Lough, Jr., Trustee of Union township, who is engaged at present in teaching school No. 6, Aubbeenaubbee township, will be compelled to resign on account of failing health. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, February 10, 1877]
D. Lough has been compelled to quit his school in Aubbeenaubbee township on account of failing health. L. Myers has been engaged to complete the term.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, February 10, 1877]
__________
Teachers:
——–: Elmer Cook
1890: David Gnther
1897-98: Al Monger
1898-99: Wes Kaley
1899-1900: John Werner
1900-01: Stella Bailey
1901-02: Frank Shadel
1902-03: Sarah Shadel (Mrs. roy Hay)
1903–04: Vern Hay
1904-05: Jay Ginther
1905: Pat McMahan
1908-09: Ada Southard Sherbondy
1911-12: Cleon A. Nafe
1913-14: Martin Galbreath
[FCHS Quarterly No. 17]
BEAVER DAM SCHOOL [Kosciusko County]
F. P. Bitters is teaching at Beaver Dam this winter . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, December 11, 1873]
BETHEL SCHOOL [Henry Township]
Located NW corner 1500E and 125S.
Built before 1876.
Also called Log Bethel School.
[photo] Bethel School, 1910. Back Row: Sidney Bowman, Clem King, Cliff Landis, Iris Smith, Eva Barber, Cora Weller, Emma Oliver, Daisy Young – teacher, Ethel Landis, Sylvia Nelson, Orville Royer, Guy Mechling, Jesse Landis, Sadie Lynch. Middle Row: Helen Bowman, Bertha Buss, Dot Shireman, Addie Barber, Worden Perry, Bill Smith, Ted Landis, Willard Kuhn, Kenneth Perry. Front Row: Ruth Croyl, Mabel Perry, Gladys Bowman, Edna Royer, Esta Croyl, Alma Nelson, Ruth Mechling, Lena Buss, Jenny Nelson, Vern Royer, Robert Royer.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August, 1969, No. 1, p. 16]
[photo] Bethel School 1911. Front row: Ernest Brooks, Dallas Bowman, Frank Smith, June Perry, Grace Croyl, Lena Buss. Row 2: Glee Eber, Edna Royer, Alma Nelson, Esta Croyl, Mabel Perry, Berdella Brooks, Alton Shireman. Row 3: Glen McGraw, Robert Royer, Vern Royer, Gladys Bowman, Theodore Landis, Vesta Coffin – teacher, Hanna Buss, Jennie Nelson, Ruth Croy, Bertha Buss. Row 4: Florian McGraw, Willard Kuhn, William Smith, Jessie Landis, Sadie Lynch, Orville Royer, Sidney Bowman, Marie Brooks, Dot Shireman, Helen Bowman. (Photo: Vern Royer)
[FCHS Quarterly No 42, p. 53]
__________
DISTRICT 12, BETHEL SCHOOL
By Velma Bright
Bethel School was located east of Rock Lake on the Kosciusko-Fulton County line. The school was in Henry Township, Fulton County and a number of students were transferred here from Kosciusko County. The last school year for this school was 1914-15. In 1876 this school was in existence in Henry Township. The 1883 map shows the school across the line in Kosciusko County. The 1899 records show the school in Henry Township.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August, 1969, No. 1, p. 16]
BETHEL SCHOOL
By Vern Royer
Bethel School was located about one mile east of Rock Lake on the west side of Fulton County road 1500E, with the Fulton-Koskiusko county line being the north boundary of the school yard. I have heard it being referred to as Log Bethel. Whether this referred to the school or the church located about one-half mile east or both, I do not know. However I am inclined bo believe that the brick school house, erected some time before the turn of the century, was a replacement for a former log school house.
Due to its location about half the pupils attending were transferred from Kosciusko County and some from Wabash County, about one mile east. Pupils attending lived as much as two miles distance and the transportation method was walking. We were all underprivileged but no one told us, so we never knew the difference.
Names of families whose children attended Bethel were Bucher, Royer, Weller, Bell, Brooks, Nelson, Hatton, Mechlin, Crouch, Landis, Lynch, Croyl, Van Demark, Smith, Shoup, Kuhn, Shireman, Kamp, Barber, Perry, McGraw, Kindig, Auger, Kreighbaum, and Bowman.
Teachers while I was in school were Charles Daniels, Vesta Coffin, Mercia Coffin, Daisy Young, Roy Miller, and Kenneth Oliver. Some former teachers as recalled by Dow Landis were Orion Oliver, Ernest Lamarr, Ray Newell, Howard Ball, Worthy Shewman, and Densie Oliver.
The building was one room, with a cloak room for boys and a cloak room for girls. It was heated by a wood-burning stove. The seats and desks were double for two pupils to occupy. Other than those who lived close enough to go home, pupils carried their lunches in tin lunch buckets, Karo syrup buckets, or paper bags.
In most cases we devised our own noon and recess activities, with no direction required by the teacher. Games that were played were “Duck on the Rock”, Black Man”, “Hide and Seek”, “Town Ball”, and later “Basketball”.
When there was a fresh snow fall we would tramp a circle in the snow and play “Fox and Geese”. At other times we would go to a pond in the woods across the road and ice skate.
Another activity for the boys was to search for tasty black haws and go into the tamarack swamp for tamarack gum. When properly processed by chewing it without getting it stuck in your teeth, the product was a nice pink, tangy chewing gum.
At 15 minutes before one, the school bell would ring, warning you to get back to school.
We had Christmas programs, complete with a tamarack tree, decorated with popcorn strung on thread colored paper chains, and candles.
Sometimes in the evening by kerosene light, to raise money for some school project, “Cake Walks” were conducted. At other times decorated lunch boxes, furnished by the school girls were auctioned to the highest bidder. The lucky bidder could then share the lunch with the girl contributing it.
The last school year at Bethel was 1914-15 when Kenneth Oliver was the teacher, and I was in the seventh grade.
Some time after that, Harmon Bucher bought the building for a home. In about 1923-24 he dismantled it and salvaged material to build himself a new home a short distance north of the school location.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 42, pp 52-54]
__________
The Bethel school is progressing finely with O. O. Oliver as teacher.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, December 20, 1878]
Schools are progressing very satisfactorily. There is to be a protracted meeting commence at Log Bethel about the second week in Jan.
[Letter From the Isthmus, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, January 10, 1879]
Kenneth, son of Marshall and Rebecca Oliver, taught at Bethel one-room school in Henry Township after graduating from high school.
[Dr. Joseph Sippy Family, Velma Bright, Fulton Co Folks, Vol. 2, Willard]
__________
Teachers:
1896-97: Worthy Shewman
1897-98: Emma Nicodemus
1898-99: George F. Kinder
1899-00: Nellie Noyer
1900-01: Worthy Shewman
1901-02: [omitted]
1902-03: Ray Newell
1903-04: [not definite; will be either Leah Platt or W. B. Shewman.]
1904-05: [not listed by school]
1905-06: [not listed by school]
1906-07: [omitted]
1907-08: Charley Daniels
[FCHS Quarterly No. 41, pp 37-40]
PARTIAL LIST OF TEACHERS, DISTRICT 12, BETHEL SCHOOL
Homer Ball, Mercy Coffin, Vesta Coffin, Charles Daniels, Roy Miller, Ray Newell, Nellie Noyer, Kenneth Oliver, Worthy Shewman, Daisy Young.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August, 1969, No. 1, p 22]
BETZNER SCHOOL [Henry Township]
Located N side of 400S at approximately 1350E.
Built before 1876; abandoned between 1876 and 1883.
__________
DISTRICT 10 – HIGHLAND SCHOOL (EAST GERMANY)
AND BETZNER SCHOOL
By Velma Bright
Highland School was located two miles south and one mile east of Akron. On July 14, 1876, Joseph and Amelia Dickerhoff sold one-half acre of land to Henry Township for sixty dollars on which to build a school. Jacob Whittenberger was township trustee at the time. As late as 1905 this school was called East Germany but later the name was changed to Highland. 1918-19 was the last year at Highland. The last building was built in 1890 and is still standing.
In 1876 a school building was still in use on a site one mile north and one-half mile west of the Highland School. The name of this school is not known.
Also in 1876 there was a school in existence one mile south of the Highland School and is thought to have been called Betzner School. This was located in Henry Township on the Miami-Fulton County line road. This school possibly served both Districts 10 and 11. It is known that when this school went out of existence some of the pupils were sent to Buffalo School in Miami County. Buffalo School had been built in 1864.
An interesting story associated with the Betzner School has been handed down from Civil War days. This story was told by Ray Gaerte.
Levi Gaerte joined the Union Army in 1863. In the Betzner School community there were some Southern sympathizers. They told Levi that they would kill him if he joined the Union forces. One night before he left for the service the Southern sympathizers dug a grave in the yard at the Betzner School and were going to kill Levi the next morning. The Gaerte family and friends were very upset and stood guard at the Gaerte residence. The southern sympathizers evidently lost their courage by the next morning and Levi joined the Union Army.
FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August, 1969, No. 1, pp 14-15]
BIDDLE SCHOOL [Rochester Township]
Located NE corner of 550E and SR-14.
Built before 1876; abandoned between 1876 and 1883.
__________
The Sunday school at the Biddle school house, three and one-half miles east of Rochester, was organized last Sabbath with the following officers: B. F. Dawson, superintendent; A. Ducker, assistant superintendent; A. B. Sibert, secretary; Thos. Meredith, treasurer. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, May 12, 1877]
BIDWELL SCHOOL [Richland Township]
Located N side of 700N at 325W.
Built before 1876; abandoned between 1883 and 1907.
__________
[photo] Bidwell School, District No. 3, Richland Township, was located on the northwest corner of 700N and 325W one and a half miles west of Richland Center.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 25]
[photo] Bidwell School, Richland Township, 1902-03. Front row: Harry Buney, two unknowns, Flora Long, Frank Buney, Charles Overmyer, Orton Long. Row 2: Lloyd Overmyer, Vern Overmyer, Otto Babcock, James Babcock, Ed Babcock, Ray Long. Row 3: Belle Babcock Bunn, Grace Overmyer, Glen Long, Dessie Buney Hartle, Gladys Babcock Maple. Back row: Clarence Mow – teacher, Charles Gibbons – Fulton County School Supt., Guy Babcock, Charles Pendleton – Trustee of Richland Township. Bidwell School was located on the north side of 700N just west of the T road (325W). (Photo donated to FCHS by Jeff Gelbaugh)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 68, p. 110]
__________
The school was built in 1858, closed about 1910, and was torn down by Bert Bunn about 1925. The abstract for the land (now owned by Gray Owens) shows that Clark and Emily L. Bidwell donated one-half acre Apr. 2, 1858, for the school, hence the name Bidwell School. The abstract also shows that Bidwell had bought the land from the Erie Canal Company in 1856.
Ralph Bunn’s father, Bert Bunn, attended Bidwell School, as did his brothers and sisters: Ed Bunn (Fulton County Commissioner 1947-52), Belle (Gelbaugh), Ada (Lowman), Ethel (Lough), and Ruth (Briezic). When Bert tore the schoolhouse down, he sold the lumber to Oliver Nutt, who used it to build a sheep barn west of Richland Center. The sheep barn is gone now and the land belongs to Walter Kronberg. The land where Bidwell School stood belonged to the Bunn family for 61 years, having bought it from Jim Dudgeon. Gray Owens bought it recently.
This is the only existing photo as far as is known. It was lent by Ronald Quivey of Culver, brought to FCHS by Harry McPherron, and copied by DeBruler Studio. Quivey’s grandparents lived two houses west of Bidwell School and attended school there. They are in the photo but Quivey cannot see well enough to identify them.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 25]
__________
Miss Ella Long, of Rochester, has been teaching at the Bidwell school house, in Richland Township . . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, July 31, 1873
Martindale is teaching school at the Bidwell School House as usual.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, December 18, 1873]
We have been informed that Miss Luella Long, of Rochester, will teach the Bidwell school this summer . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, April 9, 1874]
The Bidwell school commenced last Monday, with Maggie Miller, of Rochester, teacher.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, October 9, 1875]
A row was raised at Bidwell school house some evenings ago which terminated in a little blood-letting and the interruption of a public assembly. Better be careful, boys.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, January 8, 1876]
J. L. Martindale has been so long engaged in teaching that his services are considered absolutely indispensable . . . now engaged in the Bidwell school. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, January 20, 1877]
BLACK OAK SCHOOL [#4] [Rochester Township]
Located W side of SR-25 at approximately 275N.
Built before 1876; abandoned between 1883 and 1907.
__________
McKINLEY COMMUNITY ONE ROOM SCHOOLS
Pucky Huddle, White Walnut, Black Walnut [sic], Little Egypt
By Shirley Willard
Before McKinley School was built in 1901, there were four one-room schools serving the community northeast of Rochester.
Black Walnut [sic], District No. 4, shown in the 1876 atlas, was located on the west side of Indiana 25 about half way between 200N and 300N. It too is lost in antiquity.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 62-63, pp 73-75]
__________
J. A. Sickman is teaching at the Black Oak school house, two and a half miles north east of Rochester.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, December 4, 1873]
Mr. Frank Haimbaugh is acting in the capacity of pedagogue at Black Oak. Frank is one of a very few students, who, while attending school at Rochester, carried five studies without failing to recite, for a whole term.
[Rochester Independent, Saturday, December 15, 1877]
Miss Allie Edwards [will teach a term of school] at Black Oak. . .
[Rochester Union Spy, Friday, April 12, 1878]
We hear that Miss Clara Rowley is giving the best of satisfaction with her school at Bloomingsburg, as is also Miss Allie Edwards, at Black Oak.
[Rochester Independent, Wednesday, May 22, 1878]
BLOOMINGSBURG SCHOOL [#7] [Talma, Indiana]
Located on SE corner of Bloomingsburg.
See Talma School
BOONE SCHOOL [Rochester Township]
See Nafe School House
BOWEN SCHOOL [#8] [Henry Township]
Located S side of 350S, at approximately 960E.
Built before 1876; abandoned between 1883 and 1907.
__________
DISTRICT 8 – BOWEN’S SCHOOL AND BUNKER HILL SCHOOL
By Velma Bright
Bowen’s School was located two and one-half miles west and two miles south of Akron. It stood on the south side of the road. It was in existence in 1876 and was a log structure. It was still in use in 1883.
On August 25, 1883, Henry Township purchased three-fourths of an acre of land just across the road and one-fourth of a mile west of the Bowen School. This was sold to Henry Township by Nancy Bowen for a sum of seventy dollars. A brick school building was built on this site and is believed to have been built to replace the old schoolhouse across the road. Albert Smoker says this school was called Bunker Hill and he believes he is the only living pupil who had attended this school. This school ceased to exist when Henry Township Trustee David Bright sold the building and land to Milo Bowen on May 30, 1894. lHenry Township reserved the desks and all of the furniture. This building was made into a dwelling and is still standing today.This was the first venture at school consolidation in the township. When this school closed the pupils were sent to nearby Prairie Union.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August, 1969, No. 1, p. 13]
The school at No. 8 is perhaps the smallest in the county, the house not very comfortable, and very poorly furnished. The patrons in selecting Miss Ida Hakins as teacher, have however been very fortunate. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 30, 1876]
Closed in 1894.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 41, pp 37-39]
__________
PARTIAL LIST OF TEACHERS, DISTRICT 8, BOWEN’S SCHOOL
Kezia Putman.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 6, August, 1969, No. 1, p 22]
BOWMAN SCHOOL [#2] [Wayne Township]
Located NE corner 750W and 650S.
Built between 1883 and 1907.
__________
Miss Annie Guckien teaches the Bowman school. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, February 10, 1877]
A new and neat fence is being built around the grave yard east of the Bowman school house, and Sam Julian has commenced his work on the fences around the different school houses in this township.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, May 26, 1877]
T. J. McClary delivered a greenback speech at Bowman school house in Wayne Township, Tuesday night.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, September 14, 1878]
Samuel Ware was probably one of the earliest school teachers who taught at the school house erected on the Henry Bauman farm about 1847.
[Ware-Bauman-Rauch Families, Carter L. Hilsabeck, Fulton Co Folks, Vol. 2, Willard]
Teachers:
——: Samuel Ware
1895-96: Martha Costello, 1-8.
BRUCE LAKE SCHOOL [#2] [Union Township]
Located SW corner of 1050W and 50N.
Built before 1876.
Also known as Carter School.
See Lake Bruce School
BRUCE LAKE STATION SCHOOL [#11] [Union Township]
Located N side of 100N, at 900W.
Built between 1883 and 1907, closed in 1929, sending the children to Kewanna.
__________
[photo] Bruce Lake Station School. Photo taken Jan. 6, 1920, by Alice Lebo (now Mrs. Frank Walaitus, Culver)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 58]
[photo] Bruce Lake Station School 1927-28. Front Row: Ruth Lebo – teacher, Betty Crabill, Howard Summers, Jean Brooker, Woodlawn Hendricks. Row 2: Chauncy Summers, Paul Mullencup, Alice Garner, Helen Summers, Naomi Hendricks. Row 3: Paul Hendricks, Mary Hendricks, Ruby Henderson. Row 4: Boyd Henderson, Leonard Garner, Burdett Garner, Walter Hector.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 57]
[photo] Bruce Lake Station School 1929-30. Front Row: Woodlawn (Buddy) Hendricks, Paul Mollencup, Jean Brooker, Ray Myers, Naomi Hendricks, Alice Garner, Catherine Crabill, Betty Crabill, Edwin Brooker. Back Row: Theodore Myers, Burdette Garner, Charles Murray, Paul Hendricks, Walter Hector, Tom Reed – teacher, Mary Hendricks, Ruth Mollencup, Lucile Crabill. (Photo: Catherine Crabill Kough)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 45, p. 61]
__________
BRUCE LAKE STATION SCHOOL
By Ruth Lebo Hunter
Those who never attended or taught in a one-room school missed a lot. Countless others who enjoyed this unforgetable privilege will second my sentiments. I’m glad I didn’t miss the little old country school before it faded into oblivion. Bruce Lake Station School has been torn down long ago. I have a few pictures of children standing beside the building but not a full picture of the school. My brother Raymond, two sisters, Julien (Gilzow) and Alice (Walaitus), and I attended through all eight grades.
I don’t recall all the teachers. Some were Miss Dola Garman (Ingram) 1916-17, Miss Plaudia Enyart 1917-18, Miss Helen Gould 1918-19, Miss Mildred Teeter 1919-20, Mr. Albert McLochlin 1920-21, Miss Koening 1921-22, Miss Helen Pensinger 1922-23, Mr. Lewis Starr 1923-24, Mr. Glen O’Connor 1924-25, Mr. Van Tuyl Gillespie 1925-26, Miss Ruth Lebo (Hunter) 1926-27, and Mrs. Thomas Reed 1929-30. We respected and loved our teachers. Miss Teeter introduced us to good music, records played on a wonderful old record player, as we called it.
My school souvenir booklet for 1921 has A. C. McLochlin the teacher, on the front. Listed inside are the pupils: 8th grade: Mildred Hendricks, Mildred Crabill, Paul Overmyer, Gerald Walle, Raymond Lebo, Arvin Carr, Adolph Hector, Oscar Monesmith. 7th grade: Ruth Lebo, Cuba Hendricks, Ralph Hunneshagen, Victor Garman, Aden Guise. 6th grade: Chester Hunneshagen, Ethel Hector. 4th grade: Julien Lebo, Lucile Smith, Leota Guise, Esther Bixler, Harrold Overmyer, Daniel Hendricks. 3rd grade: Edwin Hector, Lois Smith. 2nd grade: Lester Washburn, Carl Hendricks, Dorthy Zellers, Alice Lebo, Dorthy Washburn, Floyd Overmyer, Ralph Bixler, Ralph Garman. 1st grade: Ray Bixler, Mary Hendricks, Ralph Overmyer. Bert Gorsline was Union Township trustee and Thomas F. Berry was the Fulton County school superintendent. Bruce Lake Station School was district No. 11.
My first experience as a teacher was in this school 1927-28 after training at Madame Blaker’s school in Indianapolis. In those days the “new teacher” was sent to the one-room school for a year or so. It was a wonderful experience and challenge for a very young lady. How I ever got through teaching all those eight grades I don’t know. The children were eager to learn and very attentive. I was addressed as “Miss Ruth”, instead of Miss Lebo, because several pupils were cousins: Mary, Paul and Woodlawn Hendricks. (Woodlawn was named for Woodlawn Hospital where he was born.)
As a disciplinarian, I had to have eyes in the back of my head on the mischief makers across the room on the other side of the pot-bellied stove.
A duty that fell to the teacher’s lot was that of being the janitor. I hired a cousin, Paul Hendricks, to do this chore, as he lived in Bruce Lake Station while I walked a mile and a half. On cold wintry days he would carry in the kindling, coal or wood and start a fire in the stove. The youngsters arrived at 8 o’clock and the room would be warm and the stove aglow. After walking miles through snow and cold we would stand around the stove and “thaw out” before I rang the bell for classes to begin. (It was a medium-size copper bell with a wooden handle on top.)
Pupils carried their lunch in pails eating inside in bad weather, outside in nice weather. Lunch usually consisted of home-butchered pork sandwiches on homemade bread, also jelly bread, boiled eggs and apples. An old-fashioned pump in the school yard provided our drinking water.
Recreation included baseball, basketball, tag, hide and seek, guessing who was buried under maple leaves in the fall, and in winter skating on near-by ponds. Nature study was an afternoon spent in the near-by woods observing trees, flowers, birds and small animals.
We would have spelling bees and ciphering matches. One of my eighth grade boys, Leonard Garner, received the highest grade in Fulton County on the entrance exam given in those days, before entering high school at Kewanna.
The closing day of school was special. The parents brought baskets of delicious food for a “pitch in” lunch. The children received their report cards and then entertained their families with songs, recitations and plays. Writing this brings back happy memories to me. I wish I knew what happened to all those lovely children.
One day just before school was out in the spring of 1928, a man and a woma from the Rochester News-Sentinel came with cake and ice cream to congratulate my school for having the best attendance in the county. They took our picture and printed the following article in the News-Sentinel May 9 1928:
“Bruce Lake School Mate Attendance and Tardy Record That Will Be Hard to Beat.
“Schools in Fulton County hung up various records during the past season but in all probablilty one of the most difficult to reach again will be the one made by the Bruce Lake grade school which recently dismissed for the summer vacation. Miss Ruth Lebo is the teacher and her school is one of the few remaining ‘one room buildings’ left in the county.
“But Miss Lebo speaks proudly of the record made by her 19 pupils of various ages in that during the entire fall, winter and spring, only one was absent, and that on account of sickness for one day and not a single one was tardy at any time. The patrons also naturally take some pride in the fact that they helped make this record possible. Those living the farthest from the school are the Summers children whose home is neary two miles distant.
“The record made is considered all the more remarkable when all of the 19 pupils walk to school every day winter and summer as no bus is used there. Bucking snow drifts and walking considerable distance daily through zero weather is no little task for youngsters and the fact that only one of them missed a day’s session and all the others were never a minute late makes it all the more remarkable.
“This unusual record was not made without many hardships and sacrifices, but the teacher and pupils said nothing about them – they seemingly being willing to take sufficient pride in the record without elaborating on it in the least.
“The pupils in the school and their age are: Boyd Henderson 16; Leonard Garner, 14; Walter Hector, 13; Ruth Mullencup, 14; Mary Hendricks, 13; Lucile Crabill, 12; Burdette Garner, 12; Naomi Hendricks, 10; Paul Hendricks, 12; Ruby Henderson 11; Chauncey Summers 11; Helen Summers, 9; Catherine Crabill, 9; Alice Crabill, 9; Paul Mullencup, 9; Jean Brooker, 8; Howard Summers, 7; Woodlawn Hendricks, 8; Betty Crabill, 7.”
After teaching at Bruce Lake Station, I taught second grade at Fulton 1928-30 and at Kewanna 1930-33.
(Ruth Lebo is now Mrs.William Hunter, 6033 N. Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN 46208)
My sister, Alice Lebo Walaitus, [of Culver], added the following memories:
I attended Bruce Lake Station 1917-26 and then went to Kewanna for my eighth grade.
The school was on Dan Hendricks property. It was a one-room, wooden structure. it had an entrance hall with two doors leading into the main room. Blackboards were across the front of the room. It had a pot-bellied stove. There were no hackdrivers, everyone walked to school, some several miles. The school house was in the center of the lot with play area on both sides.
There was a big oak tree on the east side, water pump on the outside, and outside toilets at the rear with a wooden fence between.
Games we played included “shinny”, “run sheep run”, “anti-over”, “pigtail”, baseball and a game played in snow called “fox and geese”.
Friday afternoon was often given over to “spell downs” or cyphering contests.
The last day of school was always a big day Mothers came with lots of picnic food.
Families attending in my time were Hector, Smith, Hunneshagen, Lebo, Crabill, Guise, Garner, Hott, Bixler, Baldwin, Paxton Henderson, Zellers, Garman, Stingley, and Overmyer.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 44, pp 56-60]
RUSSELL, MUNGER and BRUCE LAKE STATION
Early School Years(1921-28)
By Catherine Crabill Kough
My sixth year (until Feb. when I started attending Kewanna School) was at Bruce Lake Station, with Tom Reed as the teacher. He was a great teacher and I remember him with a great fondness. In the winter months several of the pupils would walk about a mile to meet him on his way to school; we would tie our sleds onto the back of his car and ride to school. At noontime he would take us around and around the school building on our sleds tied onto his car.
At the last recess the girls would work very hard cleaning the school room, thinking we might get the last period for spelling bees, map study, ciphering contests, etc. The contests were fun and educational.
Mr. Wringer once told me I couldn’t read my own writing when it got cold. I later had Mr. Wringer as a teacher when I was in the eighth grade at Kewanna School.
Some of the pupils attending the Bruce Lake Station School were Mary, Carl, Naomi, Paul and Woodlawn (Buddy) Hendricks; Helen and Howard Summers; Leonard, Burdette and Alice Garner; Ray and Theodore Myers; Edwin and Walter Hector; Boyd and Ruby Henderson; Paul Mollencup, Lucile, Catherine, Betty and Harrison Crabill; Lois and Lucile Baldwin, Jean and Edwin Brooker.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 45, pp 60-65]
BRUCE LAKE STATION SCHOOL
By Esther Stingley Overmyer
I was in the 4th grade taught by Plaudia Enyart, who taught two years, followed by Dola Garman Ingram, who taught two years. Then Helen Gould taught in 1916. Next 1917 Mildred Teter taught me the last year.
Charley Overmyer, my future husband, came to the station school in my seventh class. As there were four girls there (Marie Campbell, Theresa Hendricks, Ruth Hecktor and myself) the teacher put him in the 8th grade.
I remember the pot-bellied stove where on a cold winter’s day we cooked a pot of beans. We truly enjoyed them. At recess we carried in wood and piled it in the hall-way. This building was made of wood. It was torn down and there is a corn field there now.
Bruce Lake Station School (District No. 2) [or 11?] was near the railroad tracks. There was also a church, the Community Church, where the road went north, formerly the United Brethren Church. A blacksmith shop was run by Henry Zellers and his wife Margaret many years. Also Harrison Crabill’s General Merchandise Store, operated in connection with a cream station (tested cream). The school was torn down during the 1950’s.
The inside of the school was very dull as I remeber it. There was a vestibule in front where the wood was kept, also the coats in wintertime. There was no raised platform for the teacher, only her desk with special books on it. The blackboards were across the north end with the alphabet across it. We had no night meetings so there was no need for lanterns. There were no hacks in my days nor as long as the school stood.
We played ball, shinny (played with sticks and old tin cans), duck on Drake, etc. There were several big snows but I don’t remember them very well.
There were two outhouses. Facing north, they were also of a drab color. Sometime the school house and outhouses had been painted white but so long ago they were colorless.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 45, pp 65-66]
MONGER SCHOOL
By Chloe Stingley Washburn:
Then we moved to Bruce Lake Station in 1916 where Dola Garman was the teacher. My 7th and 8th grades were under Plaudia Enyeart, teacher in 1917-18. Since I had no way of going to high school and was not old enough to leave school, I took the 8th grade another year under Helen Gould (1918-19). To graduate we had to go to Rochester and take an exam. I was terrified but came through with passing grades.
The families attending Station School were Hendricks, Guise, Campbell, Hecktor, Harris, Engle, Perkins, Lebo, Bixler, Hunneshagen, and Smith.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 45, pp 71-72]
Thomas Reed and Ruth Lebo taught there. Tom Reed taught the year 1928-29.
BUNKER HILL SCHOOL [# ?] [Henry Township]
Located N side of 350S at approximately 975E.
__________
On August 25, 1883 Henry Township purchased three fourths of an acre of land just across the road and one-fourth mile west of Bowen School, from Nancy Bowen for $70. A brick school called Bunker Hill was built on the site, which replaced Bowen School. Bunker Hill School ceased to exist when trustee David Bright sold the building and land to Milo Bowen on May 30, 1894. [“History of Henry Township Schools” by Velma Bright, quoted by Vernie Bowen.]
See Bowen School.
BURCH’S SCHOOL [Liberty Township]
BURR OAK SCHOOL [Rochester Township]
Teachers: James Wagner
BURTON SCHOOL [#9] [Rochester Township]
[frame building] Located N side of 200N approximately 250W.
Named for James Burton.
Built before 1876; abandoned between 1876 and 1883.
[brick building] Located S side of 200N approximately 250W.
Built between 1876 and 1883.
[brick building] Located on S side of 200N approximately 350W.
Named Germany School, but during World War I name changed to Burton School.
No longer in existence.
__________
[photo] Burton one-room school before 1900. Front row: Marion Marsh, Don Beery, Ray Ware, Loyd Ware, last 3 unknown, William Kennell – teacher sitting. Row 2: Rhoda Plantz, Don Crabbs, Carrie Overmyer, Floyd Marsh, Ruth Marsh, Roland Clay, Albert Ware. Back Row: Donna Marsh, Elmer Ware, Etheal Falls, Walter Ware, Carl Crabbs, Esther Falls, Dee Berrier, Edgar Clay. (Photo: [ – – – – ]
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 43]
[photo] Eula Ewing (later Mrs. Dee Berrier) teaching at Burton one-room school, probably in the spring of 1913 because she is wearing the same dress as in the following photos. (Photo lent by Eula’s daughter, Georgia Nyland)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 52]
[photo] Dee Berrier and the school hack he drove to the new Germany (Burton) School in the fall of 1913. (Photo: Georgia Berrier Nyland)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 65]
[photo] The Burton one-room school the last year they had school, 1913. Eula Ewing Berrier was the teacher. Pupils not identified. Obviously the top photo was taken in winter and the bottom photo in the spring of 1913. (Photo: Thelma Safford)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 53]
Identified (top photo): First person at left is Carrie Wales Sixbey, the eleventh person is Ora Wales.
(bottom photo): unknown, Helen Mathias, Ora Wales, two unknowns. Row 2: four unknowns, Ernest Wales, Minnie Eddington, unknown, Nellie Hudkins. Back row: unknown, Fawn Hudkins, two unknowns, Carrie Wales Sixbey.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 62-63, Corrections p. 21]
[photo] Germany (Burton) School, March 1914, Gail Zartman – teacher of grades 1 and 2. Front row: Harry Nafe or Donald Miller, Pearl Marsh (Wagoner), Robert Miller, Jeanette Noftsger (Gohn), Nondas Sheets (Oliver), Helen Mathias, Paul or Ernest Woodcox, Mildred Nafe, Clarence Fletcher, unknown, Ora Wales, Ruth Hoffman, Jack Sheets. Row 2: Faye Sheets, Alice Bowman (Anderson), Mable Spurlock, Zelda Ball, unknown, [ —- ] Nafe, Floyd Mathias, Lyman Morris, Emerson Nafe. Back row: Mildred Tobey, Ethel Baldwin, Bessie Baldwin (Voorhees), unknown, Marie Nafe, Lloyd Blessing, Edna Morris, Dick or Wallace Morris, Donald Sheets, Ernest Wales, Paul Mathias. (Photo: Clarence Fletcher)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 85]
[photo] Staff at the new Germany (later called Burton) School 1914-15. Marie Turner, teacher of grades 1 and 2, is seated in front. Row 2: Edna Taylor (left) teacher of grades 3 and 4, Ruth Hughes, teacher of grades 5 and 6. Back: Frank Wales, janitor: Omer Reichard, principal and 7th and 8th grade teacher. (Photo donated to FCHS by Omer Rcichard)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 68]
[photo] Germany School teachers 1914-15. From left: Ruth Hughes (Mrs. Fred Deardorff), Edna Taylor Burns, Marie Turner, Omer Reichard – principal. The school’s name was changed to Burton during World War I because of anti-German feeling. (Photo donated to FCHS by Thelma Safford)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 61]
[photo] Germany (Burton) School 1914-15 or 16. Omer Reichard, teacher.
Front row: [ —- ] Woodcox, unknown, Oren Mathias, Winifred Miller, Esther Wagoner, Emerson Nafe, unknown, Walter Sixbey, Lester Rice, unknown, Paul Mathias, Dennis Miller. Row 2: Grete Prouty, [ —- ] Woodcox, unknown, Robert Hoffman, [ —- ] Leiter, [ —- ] Steininger. Back row: Edna Morris, Ethel Baldwin, Edna Baker, Gladys Fields, unknown, Lloyd Mathias, unknown, Sadie Holloway. (Photo: Merrell Wagoner)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 69]
[photo] Germany (Burton) School 1917, grade 1 photo taken by their teacher Marie Sheets. Left to right: Bud Braman, Clyde Earl Castleman, Everett Fisher, Clifford Moore, Thelma Sanders, Irene Overmyer, Frank Noftsger. Elnora Hudkins was absent that day. (Photo: Thelma Sanders Safford)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 87]
[photo] Burton School manual training class 1918-19. Back row, from left: Hugh Sewell, Elding Clayburn, Leonard Gaumer, Floyd Mathias, Paul Woodcox, Vernie Bowen – instructor.
Front row: Robert Miller, Robert H. Walters, Russell Miller, Howard Taylor. (Photo: Robert Walters)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 61]
[photo] Burton School 3rd and 4th grades 1920. Front row: Porter Whisman, [ —- ] Harding, Francis Blacketor, Jessie Adams, Everett Fisher, Clyde Earl Castleman, Frank Noftsger. Row 2: Gladys Spurlock, Merle Blacketor, Grace Eash, Ruth Wolf, Nelson Hunter, Roy Clay, Mary Harding. Back row: teacher – Mary Miller, Irene Overmyer, Thelma Sanders, Dorothy Wolf, Ruth Miller, Cindy Adams, Nina Spurlock, Ina Spurlock, Otis Adams, Clayton Whisman. (Photo: Thelma Sanders Safford)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 89]
[photo] Burton School 5th and 6th grades, teacher – Fred Crabbs 1921. Front row: Harold Spurlock, Donald Fisher, Bud Braman. Row 2: Everette Taylor, Ward Wylie, Howard Clay, Lee Moore, William “Bill” Baldwin, Wayne Hardy. Row 3: Elnora Hudkins, Geneva Morris, Laura Sheets, Mildred Clay, Helen Miller, Esther Miller, Norma Hobbs, Bonnie Reams, Gladys Hobbs. Row 4: Miriam Kennell, Roscoe Clay, Claribell Johnson, Edith Hunter, Eunice Adams, Mary Wylie, Opal Overmyer. Row 5: Leonard Steininger, Otis Adams, Courtney Adams, Fred Crabbs – teacher. (Photo: Bill Baldwin)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 74]
[photo] Burton School 1921. Notice the new sign that covered the old name of Germany School, which was originally carved in stone. Front row (sitting on ground): Ora Wales, Archie Marriot, Arthur Hunter, Clyde Earl Castleman, Homer Clay, Kline Blacketor, Roy Clay, Kenneth Castleman, Nelson Hunter, Porter Whisman, Francis Blacketor, Ralph Sanders, John Miller, Lemon Whisman, Charles Miller, George Reams, Frank Noftsger, Everett Fisher, Lee Moore, Howard Clay.
Row 2: (on knees): Doc Miller and Ross Morris with arms around shoulders, Harold Spurlock, Madge Gaumer, Ada Wales, Dola Taylor, Helen Wylie, Kathryn Castleman, 2 unknown, Berniece Baldwin, Grace Eash, Nina Spurlock, Ruth Miller, Merle Blacketor, Cindy Abby Adams, Maxine Roudebush, unknown, Thelma Sanders, Jess Adams, Ward Wylie.
Row 3: (all girls): Marjorie Vanata, unknown, Florence Moore, Lois Gaumer, Mildred Lamb, Annabell Hunter, Gladys Spurlock, Mildred Palmer, 3 unknown, Lucy Anderson, Ruth Wolfe, Dorothy Fisher.
Row 4: 2 unknown, Esther Miller, Irene Overmyer, Emerson Braman, Everett Taylor, Billie Baldwin, 2 unknown, Elnora Hudkins, unknown, Donald Fisher, Clayton Whisman, Otis Adams, Sandy Talbott.
Row 5 (3 boys on ground, then girls on bleachers): Ralph Talbott, Kermit Sage, Loren Marriott, Dorothy Wolf, Eunice Adams, Norma Hobbs, Geneva Morris, Gladys Hobbs, unknown, Mary Wylie, Opal Overmyer, Mildred Clay, Lora Sheets, Helen Miller, Bonnieta Ream, Loftlee Vanata, unknown, Berniece Eash – teacher of 1 & 2 (behind the boys), Lucille Rinehart – teacher of 5 & 6, Fred Crabbs – principal and teacher of 7 & 8, Eugene Carter – janitor.
Back row (4 boys on ground, then girls on bleachers): Dee Anderson, Roy Anderson, Howard Anderson, Howard Taylor, Pearl Whisman, Faye Steininger, Fern Braman, Annabel Noftsger, Edith Hunter, Agnes Miller, unknown, Hazel Clay, May Steininger, Alice Bowman, Harriet Moore, Jenny Wales, Lucy Oliver. (Photo: Helen Wylie Reese)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 76]
[photo] Burton School 1922, grades 3 &4. Front row: unknown, Nina Spurlock, Grace Eash Pontious, Ruth Wolf, Gladys Spurlock Harmon, Ina Spurlock, Mae Talbott, Bernice Baldwin Henderson. Row 2: Merle Blacketor Ginn, Anabelle Hunter, Lucie Anderson See, unknown, Lois Gaumer, 3 unknowns, [ – – – – ] Roudibush. Back row: Francis Blacketor, Porter Whisman, [ – – – – ] Adams, Clyde Earl Castleman, Nelson Hunter, Archie Marriott, Kline Blacketor, Lucy Oliver – teacher. (Photo: Bernice Henderson)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 62-63, p. 21]
[photo] Burton School 5th and 6th grades, teacher – Lucille Rinehart, 1922. Front row: Thelma Sanders, Eunice Adams, Merle Fall, Geneva Morris, Esther Miller, Irene Overmyer, Gail Moore, Elnora Hudkins. Row 2: Harold Spurlock, Courtney Adams, Gladys Hobbs, Irene Hunter, Donald Fisher, Dorothy Wolf, Everett Taylor, Frank Noftsger, Roy Clay, Everette Fisher, Roscoe Clay. Back row: Roy Wolford, Kermit Sage, William Baldwin, Emerson “Bud” Braman, Homer Clay, Leonard Steininger, Lee Moore, Clayton Whisman, Otis Adams, Ward Wylie, Ralph “Coon” Talbert, Lucille Rinehart – teacher. (Photo: Bill Baldwin)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 73]
[photo] Burton School 3rd and 4th grades 1928. Front row: John Masters, Daryl Chapman, Burl Eber, Roe Good, Cecil Hudkins. Row 2: Georgia Belle Berrier, Eloise Hauks, Helen Moore, Phyllis Wynn, Margaret Wynn. Row 3: Lewis Carr, Jay Carr, Harold Hoge, Robert Miller, Charles Pickard, Margaret Cooper, Mary Mathias. Back row: Vivian Moore, Jean Kissinger, Mary Pickard, Ada Wales, Ida Kathryn Moore, Isabel Rans – teacher (Photo: Georgia Berrier Nyland)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 83]
[photo] Burton girls basketball team 1930-31.
Front row: Irene Hardesty, Evabelle Cooper, Jean Foster (Kent), Margaret Cooper, Vivian Moore, Ada Wales (Neher). Back row: Lura Jean Kissinger, Orletha Pontious, Yetta Entsminger (Essig) – coach, Ruby Henderson (Baldwin), [ —- ] Ballenger, Leona Good (Taylor), Eileen McQuiston, Georgia Belle Berrier (Nyland), Ida Kathryn Moore (Burwell). (Photo: Hazel Savage)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 94]
[photo] Scott Savage, principal and teacher of 7th and 8th grades and basketball coach at Burton School 1930-31-32. (Photo: Hazel Savage)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 82]
[photo] Staff at Burton School 1932-33 (left to right): Clarence Eber – custodian Esther Thrush – teacher of 5 & 6 grades, Annabelle Viers – teacher of 3 & 4, Margaret Halterman (whom the kids called “Miss Margaret” instead of “Miss Halterman”) – teacher of 1 & 2, Kermit Biddinger – teacher of 7 & 8, principal. (Photo: Ida Kathryn Moore Burwell)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 71]
[photo] Burton School 1934. Front row: Roy Dickerson, Billy Pontious, Max Clay, Bobby Joe Herrell, Dick Miller, Bethel Olinger, Willis Nickell, Ralph Crist, Billy Gene Hudkins, Frank Dickerson, Dale Olinger, Gene Reese. Row 2: Juanita Dague, Velma Dague, Frances Castleman, Muriel Mathias, Mildred Compton, Donna Castleman, Martha Miller, Maynard Reese, Vern Herrell, Mary Bender, ( —- ] Pontious, Jeanette Eshelman, Margaret Clay. Row 3: Vivian Olinger, Betty Evans, [ – – – – ] Dickerson, Frances Eshelman, Joanne Miller, unknown, Harold Moore, Earl Townsend, Ida Mae Good, unknown. Row 4: June Mathias, Margaret Anderson, Donnabelle Good, Frances Berrier, Wayne Reese, Louis Bender, Howard Hoge, Gus Habich, Guy Helson “Andy” Anderson, Clarence Eber – janitor. Back row: Kermit Biddinger – principal, Grace Eash (Pontious) – 5th & 6th teacher, Ruth Pletcher (Skidmore) – 1st & 2nd teacher, Esther Thrush – 3rd & 4th teacher, Hazel Compton, Phyllis Wilson, [ – – – – ] Slouderback, Marybell Baumgartner,
[—-] Dickerson, Bob Mathias, Dale Milliser. (Photo: Frances Castleman Baxter)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 95]
[photo] Burton Bulldogs boys basketball team – champions of Fulton County tournament 1935-36. Front row: Dale Milliser, Bob Mathias, Louis Bender. Back row: Billy Gene Hudkins, Vern Hereell, Nelson “Andy” Anderson, Howard Hoge, Harold Moore, Frank Dickerson, Roy Dickerson, Kermit Biddinger – coach. (Photo: Allene Biddinger)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61. p. 92]
[photo] Burton grades 1, 2, & 3, Esther Thrush, teacher, 1939. Front row: Charles Bunnell, Bill Green Jr., Bryan Green, Bill Dague, Daryl Bunnell, Jack Woodhouse, [ —- ] Van Skoyk, Merl Wysong, Joe Mathias. Row 2: Opal Shaw, Merrill Olinger, Patsy Good, Catherine Kirkpatrick, Mary Lou Herrell, Dwayne Clayburn, Frank Herrell. Row 3: Mary Dague, Patsy Carr, unknown, Jack Beery, Dorothy Woodhouse, unknown, Bob Rosenbury. Row 4: Bob Woodhouse, David Pickens, Mildred Miller, Evelyn Wysong, Orla “Tootsie” Green, Bonnie Reese, Bonnie Castleman, Pearl Pickens. (Photo: Bonnie Castleman Overmyer)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 96]
[photo] Burton 4, 5, & 6 pupils 1941-42. Front row: Bob Bryant, Pearl Pickens, Ward Polley, Catherine Kirkpatrick, Merrill Olinger, Billy Dague, Patsy Good, Mary Lou Herrell, Mary Dague, Harland Ehlinger. Back row: Joyce Strickland, Bonnie Bastleman, Evelyn Wysong, Mildred Miller, David Pickens, Florence Ehlinger, Bob Woodhouse, Miss Grace Eash – teacher, Charles Bunnell, Jack Woodhouse, Daryl Bunnell, Joe Mathias, Dick Rosenbury, Merl Wysong, Gordon Lebo, Bob Helt, Keith Strickland. (Photo: Joe Mathias)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 80]
[photo] Burton School 1943. Front row: Rex Carey, Lonnie McIntire, Billy Dague, Bobby Rosenbury, Frank Herrell, Marshall DeVall, Richard Belcher, Everett Henderson, Dennis Taylor, Raymond Miller, Douglas Waltz, Jimmy Carey, Donnie Helt. Row 2: Mrs. Jane Kemper – teacher of 4, 5, & 6, Jack Beery, Roy Warfield, Rosella Johnson, Merlene Bradley, Minnie Jean Bradley, Peggy Lebo, Carole Miller, Margaret Johnson, Martha Dague, Peggy Conrad, Marilyn Beyers, Carolyn Castleman, Susie Kirkpatrick, Joan Bunnell, Marilyn Henderson. Row 3: Gordon Lebo, Bob Woodhouse, Dick Dague, Joe Mathias, Buddy Ehlinger, Ward Polley, Darryl Bunnel, Dorothy Woodhouse, Mary Dague, Patsy Good, Catherine Kirkpatrick, Yvonne Vanata. Row 4: Miss Esther Thrush – teacher of 1, 2, & 3, Raymond Bunnell, Charles Bunnell, Donna Harren, Barbara Conrad, Bob Helt, Mary Lou Herrell, Mildred Miller, Lorna Beyers, Bonnie Castleman, Julia Carey, Delores Hunter, Evelyn Wysong. Back row: Mr. Kermit Biddinger – teacher of 7 & 8, Charles Helt, Jim Woodhouse, Robert Clemens, Beverly Lebo, Florence Ehlinger, Lois Lange, Jeanne Beyers, Marvin Czspanski, Dick Rosenbury, Merl Wysong, Jack Woodhouse. (Photo: Bonnie Castleman Overmyer)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 98]
[photo] Burton School grades 1, 2, & 3 1944-45. Front row: Donna Jean Towle, Laura Curtis, Delores Simonin, Carolyn Castleman, Susie Kirkpatrick, June Denton. Row 2: Donald Helt, JoSue Ferguson, Carole Miller, Betsy Brown, Margaret Johnson, Jimmy Moore, Joe Johnson. Back row: Ida Kathryn Burwell – teacher, Donnie Towle, Doug Clifft, Raymond Miller, Everett Henderson, Dennis Taylor, Leonard Clifft, Kenneth Kelley. Notice the cornerstones on each side of the door. (Photo: Ida Burwell)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 97]
[photo] Burton School had a toy band consisting of first and second graders 1949-50. Edith Carlson was the music teacher. (Photo: Harold Reese)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 72]
[photo] Burton School basketball team 1950 proudly display trophy. Front row: Don Helt, Jim Moore, Robert Rigney, Dale Castleman, Denny Taylor. Back row: ;Kenneth Overstreet – coach and principal, Raymond Miller, Everett Henderson, Richard Arvin, Merl Collins. (Photo: Myrtle Castleman).
[FCHS Quarterly No. 62-63, p. 22]
[photo] Burton grades 1, 2, & 3 1950, Mrs. Ethel Kirkpatrick – teacher. Front row: John Hudkins, Verl Scott, Gail Castleman, Jack Castleman, Carl Azbell, Cletus Rigney, Allen Miller, John Moore, Buddy Wetzel. Row 2: Juanita Towne, Connie Henderson, Mary Jane Anderson, Gladys Johnson, Sandra Brown, Darlene Davison, Donna Wetzel. Row 3: Terry Kinley, Wanda Zartman, Mitchell Manns, Elaine Reese, Patty Davison, Della Mae Manns. Back Row: Larry Green, Shirley Hehderson, James Rigney, Ann Iler, Ronnie Collins. (Photo: Bed Wetzel)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 100]
[photo] Burton School graduating class of 1950. Back row: Kenneth Overstreet – principal and teacher of grades 5 and 6, Raymond Miller, Merl Collins, Richard Arvin, Everett Henderson, Jack Towne. Front row: Don Helt, Margaret Johnson, Carolyn Castleman, Carol Miller, Kathleen Mathias Greer, Dale Castleman. Girls were beginning to break with the tradition of wearing white dresses for graduation. (Photo: Myrtle Castleman)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 62-63, p. 24]
[photo] Boyd Henderson’s new 1952 school bus is stuck in a snow drift and the snow plow has come to get it out. (Photo: Everett Henderson)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 86]
[photo] Kids practiced pole vaulting in the field across the road from Burton School in 1955. (Photo: Harold Reese)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 99]
[photo] Yea Team Fight! Burton cheerleaders 1955-56 were Ellen Elaine Reese, Anita Gilliland, Shirley Henderson. Reese was in the 7th grade and the others were in the 8th. (Photo: Harold Reese)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 79]
[photo] Burton grades 7 & 8, 1955-56. Front row: Wanda Zartman, Anita Gilliland, Wanda Alderfer, Shirley Henderson, Ann Eiler, Sharon Miller, Nancy Ghrist, Ann Mudra, Karen Ferguson. Row 2: Roberta Mudra, Reba Bailey, Harold Moore, Kenny Scott, Byron Towne, James Rock, Wendell Scott, Joe “Red” Johnson, Nyla Scott, Judy Steininger, Mr. Chauncey Oren – teacher & principal. Back row: Richard Breson, Phil McCall, Cecil Nichols, Lorene Towne, Lana Bitterling, Jim Rigney, Eileen Howard, Sharon Elliot, Elizabeth Castleman, Jay McCall, Mike Quick, Bud Wetzel. (Photo: Chauncey Oren)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 101]
[photo] Burton School 7th & 8th grade, 1955-56. Front row: Gladys Johnson, Jeanette Scott, Patty Davidson, Yolanda Zoppe, Nancy Ascencio, Ellen Elaine Reese, Sharon Hoffman, Darlene Cox, Sanda Brown. Middle row: Manford Norris – principal and tacher of 7th & 8th grades, Ronnie Zent, Allen Bitterling, Terry Kinley, Bondi Heinzman, Bela Heinzman, Cletus Rigney, John Hudkins, Gerald Maccos. Back row: John Moore, Veril Scott, Billy [ – – – – ], Connie Henderson, Dave Tabler, Darlene Davidson, Gloria Towne, Larry Elliot, Jack Castleman, Gail Castleman. (Photo: Myrtle Castleman)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 62-63, p. 24]
[photo] Burton was a country school and the near-by fields were sometimes used for a playground, with the permission of the farmer. Ellen Elaine Reese and Darlene Cox have opened the gate and entered Clyde Earl Castleman’s field across the road from the school. (Photo: Harold Reese)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 91]
[photo] Burton School 1957, located on the south side of 200N half way between 300W and 400W. The gymnasium is on the left. This is the east side of the school. Notice the fire escape. (Photo: Harold Reese)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 1 cover]
[photo] Burton grades 1, 2, & 3 1957-58, Ethel Kirkpatrick – teacher. [all names right to left] Front row: Debra Severns, Arlene McCourt, Jennifer Clemans, Kay Foglesanger, Judy Minarik, Vicki Fulton. Row 2: James Hoge, Bill Nichols, Dennis Guyer, Fritz Heinzman, Jim Herrell, Robert Miller, Roger Zoppe. Back row: Danny Ehlinger, Rick Castleman, Rick Foglesanger, Monte Zavata, John Cleland, John Merkert. (Photo Jennifer Clemans Green)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 99]
[photo] Burton School cornerstones are now part of a monument in Ralph Stayton’s lawn, Leiters Ford. On the north side it reads “Griffith & Fair – Architects, Fort Wayne, Ind. W. H. Cooper – Contractor, Rochester, Ind.” On the south side Stayton had this engraved: “In honor of the early teachers and schools of our country. ‘I will study and get ready and the opportunity will come’ – Abraham Lincoln.” The bell is from Lincoln School in Rochester. Burton School closed in 1959 and was torn down by Fred Stayton & Sons. (Photos: Shirley Willard)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 67]
The Burton consolidated four-room school was originally named Germany School. Like the town of Germany, it changed its name during World War I because of the anti-German feeling that ran so high at that time.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 4]
The road where the Burton school and church were was called Stringtown because so many people were related to the Mathiases. John Mathias sold the land for the Burton school in 1912.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 19]
BURTON ONE-ROOM SCHOOL
The old Burton one-room school was a wood building located on the north side of 200N in the 1870’s. It was next to the cemetery. Sometime before 1883 a new brick school was built across the road.
When the new brick school was built, the old wooden school was sold to Frank Wales, who moved it to his farm just west of the Burton Church. It is still part of the barn, now owned by Loy Mork. The blackboards were boards painted black. Later slates was purchased for the new brick school.
Teachers included Fred Crabbs, Ada Leonard, William Kennell, William Neff, Fred Moore, Fred Deardorff 1907-08, Oneida Williams, Adda Neff 1901 for one month and 1908-09, Dan Nafe 1910-11, and Eula Ewing 1912-13.
Georgia Berrier Nyland stated that her mother, Eula Ewing, was teaching at the Burton one-room school when she met Dee Berrier, who drove a hack. They were married in 1916. While teaching, Eula roomed by the week at Addie and Amos Sanders’ house.
Golda Gaumer Zahnizer remembers the Burton brick school as having a bell on top. They had box socials and parties. There was a shelf of books for a library but no platform for the teacher’s desk. They hung their coats on hooks on the wall by the door. Water was brought from the pump in a bucket. There were out-houses in back of the schools.
The children played Drop the Handkerchief, Blackman, Andy over the Schoolhouse, and ball and bat games. At parties they played kissing games such as Spin the Milk Bottle.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, pp 52-54]
GERMANY-BURTON MEMORIES
By Jennie Wales Wolf, Cortez, Fla.
My birth date is Jan. 9, 1908. I started to the new Germany (Burton) school in the fall of 1914-1915.
Edna Taylor was my first grade teacher. She taught the first and second grade; Marie Turner taught me third and fourth; fifth and sixth I cannot recall. Hugh McMahan was principal and taught me seventh and eighth grades. Other teachers’ names I recall were Dewey Mow, Vernie Bowen, Fred Crabbs, Lucille Rhinehart, and Lucy Oliver. Later there was Bernice Eash and others I can’t recall.
My father (Frank Wales) was janitor for four years of the time Hugh McMahan was principal. I remember this being during World War I days, when there was so much controversy over the name of our school being called Germany and how unpatriotic it was to let the names remain, as our church, also the little general store and railroad station were all named Germany Since no one could come to any agreement, the school and church were renamed Burton, general store – Loyal, railroad station – Pershing. It was quite a trying time, since the terrible flu outbreak followed the war. Our family was very fortunate as none of us contracted it. My mother did have a brother, Earl Milliser, who died in the Woodlawn Hospital with it.
My aunt Amanda Bowman used to board and room the women school teachers who taught at Burton. Since her home was close to the school and mode of transportation wasn’t what it is today, it made it convenient for them. There were horse-drawn hacks to transport the pupils to and from school. I can remember on extremely cold mornings, how icicles formed on the horse’s nostrils. Also, come Christmas the beautiful basket of oranges from California the hack driver distributed around to each one of us and small bag of hard candy. For some, that orange and bag were the only store-bought Christmas gift we would receive. But we were happy and appreciative. Like General Eisenhower wrote in his book of his early life, “They were poor but didn’t realize it.”
At school, there were noon-hour baseball games, London bridge, and drop the handkerchief. When the ground was coverd with snow, there was Fox and Geese and numerous other fun games for everyone. During school hours, for breaks, there were spelling matches and speed on adding and subtraction at the blackboard. After school hours you had your work laid out for you: gather the kindling to start the morning fire in the cook stove; pump and carry in the water to fill the reservoir on the kitchen stove; gather in the eggs from the hen house and barn, and numerous other jobs which kept us busy and out of mischief. The boys had their duties too, mostly around the barn and livestock, feeding and bedding them down for the night.
One close tragedy occurred when my father was janitor at the school. It was in the fall when he and my younger brother Ora were mowing the grass in the school yard getting it in readiness for school to open in a week or two with a team of horses and mower with a long side blade. The horoses were suddenly frightened by something, bolted and started running. My brother was caught between the horses and mower, knocked down with the mower blades passing under his body, causing deep wounds in his back and one arm. Quick thinking and heroic action by my father no doubt saved my brother’s life as he threw himself between the horses and caught their bridle bits and was able to stop them, after being dragged quite a distance, as the horses were circling back where my brother was lying.
I want to also mention the one-room school building that was located a mile or so east of our farm on the southwest corner of the Robbins farm and almost directly across the road from the Burton cemetery. The school building itself was moved to our farm and made the upper part of the bank barn that is still standing. This was our home place for a number of years. My mother sold it after my father died and my brother Ora, who had been helping farm it, married and moved to Rochester and later to Florida, where he worked for the state of Florida until he retired.
My older sister, Carrie (Wales) Sixbey, and my older brothers, Ernest and Ora, attended this school. I think my sister Carrie graduated from grade school from here. Eula Berrier was their teacher, wife of Roscoe Berrier, who lived on a farm a mile south of us on the corner of the String Town Road.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, pp 5-9]
BURTON SCHOOL
By Mrs. Harry Pontius (Grace Eash)
The consolidated Burton School was made up of five one-room schools. These schools were Burton School, Ernsperger No. 5 or Tippecanoe River School, Wildermuth School, North Mud Creek School, and South Mud Creek School.
The new Burton School was located west of Rochester on the Burton road (200N) between 300W and 400W in Rochester Township. It was on the south side of the road facing north.
The two-acre tract of land was bought in 1912 from George Beehler for $205. It was a rectangular piece of land and the school was built on the northwest corner.
Griffith and Fair of Ft. Wayne, Ind., were the architects. W. H. Cooper, Rochester, was the contractor. Robert Wylie of Rochester was the trustee.
The school had eight grades. It was a square, two-story, brick building with a basement. In the basement were the restrooms, furnace room and janitor’s room. On entering the building on the north side there was a wide stairway half way through the building leading to the first floor. A white water fountain was on the landing. There were two classrooms on the first floor, one on each side of the landing. The rooms extended across the east side and west side of the building. The second floor was like the first. South of the fountain on the second floor was a small room used for an office. Sewing classes were taught in this room too.
A long narrow barn was built behind the school building. In 1913 children were brought to the school in “hacks” (school buses) pulled by horses. Teeachers came to school by horse and buggy. The horses were put in the barn during the day. One end of the barn was used for the boys shop. Later the shop was moved to the basement of the school building. Later hacks were replaced by motor bus. The barn was torn down about 1927.
William Foster was trustee 1927-1930. During this time a gymnasium (1930) was built on the south side of the school. At the east end of the gym was the stage. Under the stage was the kitchen. Hot lunches were prepared here.Tables were set up on the stage and here the children ate their lunches.
The school was closed in 1959 to consolidate with Rochester City schools.
The school building was bought by Fred Stayton and Sons and torn down. The bricks were used mostly to build other homes. The land was purchased by Roland Miller and he built his home there.
(Editor’s note: Some of the lumber fromBurton School was used to build a two-story addition on the east side of Ralph Stayton’s house at Leiters Ford. The cornerstone and some of the limestone can be seen in Ralph’s yard today, as he made a monument to early schools and teachers.)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, pp 65-67]
BURTON SCHOOL 1918-22
By William J. Baldwin:
My first recollection of Burton School was in 1918. I was in the fourth grade and was looking forward to going to this huge, beautiful brick school. My family had moved from the Mount Hope neighborhood in Aubbeenaubbee Township, where we had a frame one-room schoolhouse with two wood-burning stoves for heat and outside rest rooms. My teachers there had been Paul Bridegroom, Mildred Pownall and Bill Keitzer.
Now I would be going to Burton School with four rooms and a bvasement with inside toilets and central heating. We even had horse-drawn hacks to take us to and from school In the winter time when snow was on the ground, the hack driver, Ed Clay, would let us tie our sleds on the back of the hack and ride the to school.
The third and fourth grades were on the first floor in one room with Mary Miller as our teacher. Marie Sheets was the other teacher on the first floor with the first and second grades in her room. The other four grades were in two rooms on the second floor. Some of the other teachers at Burton while I was there was Lucille Rinehart, Fred Crabbs, Melvin Swihart, Vernie Bowen and Scott Savage.
Back of the school was a long horse barn where the teachers put their horses in stalls during the day. At one end of the horse barn was the wood-working shop where Vernie Bowen taught shop along with his other class work.
The large school ground permitted us to play shinny which was similar to hockey and was a favorite fall game. We had a baseball diamond where we played competition with Whippoorwill, Richland Center and Leiters Ford. Later Burton played against Reiter and Woodrow. During recess or at noon we would choose up sides and have snowball fights around the horse barn back of the school. When there wasn’t any snow we would use corncobs brom the horse barn for ammunition. Back of the horse barn was an abandoned gravel pit where Eugene Carter, our janitor, fed his cattle corn fodder and after the blades were eaten off by the cattle, we would use the stalks as lances but Mr. Crabbs put a stop to that type of warfare as too many boys were getting hurt by the sharp corn stalks.
When Mr. Swihart was our teacher, he helped the boys cut some small trees in Emmett Sage’s woods and built a basketball court in the back of the schoolyard. This was quite a popular sport for a while but in the last couple years that I was at Burton community a new gymnasium was built in 1930 and made basketball playing much better.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, pp 73-75]
MY MEMORIES OF BURTON SCHOOL IN 1920’s
By Helen Wylie Reese (Mrs Harold Reese)
(Robert W. Wylie, Rochester Township Trustee 1909-14 had Burton School built during his term in office. He is Helen Wylie Reese’s uncle.)
The September (1921) I was a first grader at Burton, Florence Moore proudly told me at recess, “I have a baby sister at my house I want you to see.” After school we walked to Florence’s home which stood beyond the Burton Church on the opposite side of the road. (This house no longer exists.) Mrs. Moore took us into the bedroom and there on the bed lay the lovely tiny sleeping infant. Mrs. Moore asked, “Helen, aren’t you going home on the hack?” In my excitement of seeing my first new-born baby, I’d subconsciously forgotten all about my transportation! Just then, we heard the horses’ trotting hoof beats and the hack wheels’ turning noise on the gravel road passing by the house. I remember being startled and alarmed, suddenly realizing the hack was going on without me. How I got home I don’t remember!
In December, we had another surprise – a baby sister was born at our house. My mother told my only brother, Ward, since he was now out-numbered by three sisters, he could name our new baby. He named her Mildred after Mildred Clay, the only auburn-haired pupil in the school, because he liked “her pretty red hair”.
Our neighbors, the Gaumer brothers, drove their mother (Fan) a half mile to our house on a cold December Saturday. Mrs. Gaumer laughingly explained, “Leonard and Floyd aren’t coming in to see the new baby. You know how teen-agers are. They went to the barn with Ward to see your dog Trixie’s litter of collie puppies.”
Kathryn Castleman and I were foot racing each other around the school house one time, when an eighth grader, Roy Anderson, (I believe), came riding his motorcycle down the slope from the school’s long red shed behind Burton. Not seeing us, he ran right into Kathryn pinning her to the ground and wounding her. While all the pupils crowded around Kathryn and Roy, I sat down on the wide cement slab that surrounded the school basement windows and picked sandburrs caught from the school yard off of my black ribbed stockings and my high laced shoe strings. Happily, Kathryn wasn’t hurt. In 1922, Kathryn had to be taken out of school due to poor health. One day her mother brought her to the school door in the family car. We children took turns standing on the running boards and talking to Kathryn through the isinglass car window. I was home ill the winter day of her funeral in 1923. My mother took me out of bed, wrapped me in a blanket and propped me in a high-back armchair by the wood stove near the window and she and I watched the white coarch hearse pulled by white horses go by its way to the cemetery.
Ira McVay was our hack driver. The horse-team-drawn hack had leather-padded seats and backs on each side. Pupils sat with their backs to the windows facing each other across the aisle. Dinner pails were placed underneath the seats. On speical occasions Mr. McVay would treat us with candy. We smaller youngsters sat toward the front. Lois Gaumer asked the driver when were we going to get some candy. He answered, “I forget it when I go to town. Write it on the dash board in pencil with your name to remind me.” Those listening asked Lois to write their name down for candy. I asked, “Please put my name on there too.” Lois wrote four words down. I, being a first grader, hadn’t learned to read writing. The kids started laughing at me and tickling and wiping my chin and mouth off with their hand. I thought they were making fun of my facial features. “What’s wrong with my chin?” I wanted to know, blinking back the tears. Mr. McVay intervened, “Helen, there is nothing wrong with your pretty little chin. Lois just wrote, ‘Bring Helen some tobacco.'” Then I laughed too!
Another time, three of the bigger boys quietly slipped out of the hack’s back door (which was left open in warm weather with a rope hook across it). The boys climbed the fence along the road at the Don Beery farm, snatched a watermelon from the patch, and ran to catch up with the hack. One jumped on the step, and the other two tossed him the melon. He grabbed for the melon, lost his balance, and dropped the watermelon which hit on both steps and fell to the road, breaking to smithereens. Mr. McVay never slowed the pace of the horse or looked back! (No use of rear-view mirrors then.) Did he know what prank was taking place?
In nice weather the older pupils were allowed to walk ahead and to the side of the road so they could be seen by the driver. Many foot races and tag were enjoyed on these occasions. My sister, Mary, was racing on through one spring day and lost her rubber along the way. It took both her hands and a good pull to get it released from the sticky, muddy clay and sand road side.
The older boys fixed a straight pin upright in the leather seat. When Floyd Wolf got on the hack, they insisted, “Come on, Floyd, sit her beside us.” Floyd just slid onto the seat bending the pin down. That episode fortunately did not have a sharp ending!
In the northwest corner of the first and second grade cloak hallway, stood a table where we placed our dinner pails. A pencil sharpener was secured to the very outer table edge for the children’s use. Several days in a row, an individual pupil would find their lunch covered with pencil shaving ruining their sandwiches (before plastic wrap period) and often entire lunch contents. The teacher, Bernice Eash, tried to catch the culprits without success. I made the remark that no one had harmed my dinner pail. The next day my lunch bucket was hit! Miss Eash pulled a chair beside her desk and shared her lunch with me. I hesitated to take her only piece of pie and she insisted, “Go ahead and eat it.” After that, the lunch pail incidents stopped. Were they privately caught and punished? Who knows?
The eighth grade students with the highest grades were exempt from taking the entrance examination to enter Rochester High School. My brother, Ward, and Leroy “Bud” Graves were the two pupils so honored when they graduated from the Burton eighth grade in 1924.
My sister, Mary, said in her seventh and eighth grade sewing class in 1922-23, they learned basic hand stitching. They had no sewing machine at the school then.
I got sick and had to stay home after a month or so in the third grade at Burton. I would get sick to my stomach in arithmetic class and would have to excuse myself to go the restroom and throw up. There was no such thing as a school nurse in those days and no testing of eyes. Little did my parents realize that it was my poor vision affecting my nerves and upsetting my stomach. Mother kept me home and took me to a medical doctor. There were no eye doctors in Rochester. One day she sent me to get something at Howard’s Jewelry store, and he noticed I could not see what was right there. So he called my mother, tested my eyes with a chart he had, and recommended that I be taken to an eye doctor in Warsaw. What a difference it made to get glasses. I could see!
When the last day of school came that spring, Mr. and Mrs. Mike Eash took me to eat at the carry-in dinner at Burton School. I had gotten new glasses and my mother warned me not to let anyone try them on as that might result in their getting broken and they were too expensive to take chances. Madge Gaumer saw me come in and the first thing she said was, “Oh, you got new glasses; can I try them on?”
We moved to town (Rochester) in about 1924 and I attended Columbia School for the rest of my elementary education. But I never forgot Burton School.
Our daughter, Ellen Elaine Reese, attended Burton School from first through seventh grade. Boyd Henderson was her bus driver all through grade and high school. Mr. Henderson brought Ellen Elaine home on the draw bar of his tractor when the bus got stuck in a snow storm.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, pp 75-79]
BURTON SCHOOL 1937-45
By Joe Mathias, Kokomo:
I attended Burton Grade School from 1937-38 to 1944-45. My teachers were as follows:
Grade 1 Miss Pletcher [Ruth Pletcher Skidmore]
Grade 2 & 3 Esther Thrush
Grade 4 & 5 Grace Eash (Pontious)
Grade 6 Mrs. Kemper
Grade 7 Kermit Biddinger
Grade 8 Albert Ginther
Mallie Spurlock was the custodian during that time and my dad, Earl Mathias, was my bus driver. We had several music teachers but I don’t remember any names.
I recall the 1, 2, 3 grade room was on the first floor west side. The 4, 5, 6 was on the first floor east side. The 7th & 8th grades were on the second floor east side. The second floor west side was used for music or whatever. The rest rooms, boiler room and shop class were in the basement beneath the classroom.
The best part of Burton was a great gym. It had a regulation high school floor with a stage on the east end. Dressing rooms were on either side of the stage and a kitchen beneath and behind the stage.
The approximately 1.5 acre playground had a softball diamond, a tall slide, a couple of teeter-toters and several swings. There was a long barn at the southwest corner of the playground that provided storage for various equipment and supplies.
My remembrances include the following:
We had a sand table in the first grade. I loved to play in the sand. I also remeber it bothering me because some of the girls learned to read before I did. I didn’t understand how they knew what those words said. I guess I spent too much time playing in the sand box.
In the second grade, Miss Thrush taught us to play the harmonica. My dad bought me a Marine Band harmonica and I played it (for my own enjoyment) for years.
During the World War II years, we bought war stamps each week. When you purchased $17.50 worth of stamps, you got a $25.00 War Bond.
It was customary to recite a Bible verse on certain days. The short verses were always the most popular. We also were required to memorize poems and bring in current events to share with the class.
One of the disadvantages of a small rural school was each room had three grades. The teacher would meet with each grade one at a time for discussion, give an assignment and move to the next grade. It was sometime before the teacher returned to your grade.
There were not many free time activities and materials. We had our textbooks and not much else. Most students listened in on other grades or invented unique ways to entertain themselves.
There was always an operetta at Christmas. The entire school participated. We would start practicing many weeks before Christmas.
Burton had a strong P.T.A. Children performed at most of the meetings. The school term was eight months. We got out the last of April or around May 1. On the last day of school we’d have a carry-in dinner and the students would perform: usually doing something with a May Pole.
We had to carry our lunch. Most kids had a dinner pail. In warm weather we would eat outdoors.
In the winter we would divide up sides, build snow forts and have snow ball fights.
Kermit Biddinger not only served as 7 & 8 grade teacher but he was the principal. He always cautioned the boys to wear clean pants to school. He said not to wear the pants to school that we wore to the barn. Kermit was a great model for all the boys. He was a dairy farmer besides being a principal. I decided at an early age that I wanted to be a farmer and principal just like Kermit.
We had a band but it wasn’t big enough to sound like anything. When we performed, we joined the Woodrow & Reiter groups to make a larger band.
We had interscholastic sports. We played Woodrow, Reiter, Columbia, Lincoln, Talma, Richland Center, Kewanna in softball and basketball.
Mallie Spurlock scooped coal into the furnace to keep the building warm, rang the bell and cleaned the rooms. When he wasn’t working, he sat in front of the furnace in a big chair.
The county library truck came about once a month.
Burton School was an important part of the Burton community. It was hard for the old time residents to give up their neighorhood school.
Ralph Stayton from Leiters Ford built his house with some of the materials from Burton School.
My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Mathias, owned the farm surrounding Burton School. I bought the farm after they passed away, and I have a house trailer on the corner west of the former Burton School site, where my family and I spend weekends.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, pp 79-81]
THE BURTON ECHO
In 1932-32 when Scott Savage was principal, the seventh and eighth graders published a newspaper called The Burton Echo. Ida Moore (Mrs. Robert Burwell) saved hers and lent them to FCHS to make xerox copies for the museum.
The newspapers were mimeographed on 81/2 by 11 inch paper and each issue had eight to ten pages. They were published nearly every month. The front page had a big drawing of something that pertained to the month such as sledding for January or kite flying for April.
Ida Moore (a seventh grader) was the business manager and helped sell ads. The ads filled 2/3 of one page and were the same for all the issues. They are interesting because most of these businesses are gone now: M.Wile & Sons, The Hoosier Shoe Store, The Boston Store, Carter’s Book Store, Swiss Dry Cleaners, C. K. Kepler Auto Co., A & P Tea Company, Karn Cofffee Shop, Levi’s Dry Goods, Dovishi’s Hot Dogs, The Racket, J. W. Brubaker Garage, Liston’s Grocery. Some changed their name but still exist: Black & Bailey Hardware, The Basement Barber Shop, The Racket Clothing Store. And some still operate under the same name: First National Bank, Schultz Bros. Co., and Kroger.
Naturally The Burton Echo told of basketball and softball games and track meets. It is interesting to note that the girls team won more basketball games than the boys that year. They played against Woodrow, Reiter, Richland Center, and Leiters Ford.
The students drew cartoons and wrote short essays for the newspaper. Vivian Moore, Mary Alice Leeds, and Ralph Miller drew cartoons. The honor roll and sick list was published too, as well as a few jokes and inspirational quotations from literature and history. News of the P.T.A. meetings, local news about clubs, who moved away and who moved into the neighborhood, brief histories of holidays, puzzles, and poems by Burton pupils make the newspaper a fine reflection of the community.
A 4-h club was organized at Burton in April 1932. Mrs. Clarence Culp was elected leader of the girls with Mrs. Dee Berrier her assistant. Mr. Ross Moore was elected leader of the boys club with Mr. Earl Chapman his assistant.
Candy bars promised to children of the sixth grade who learn the Gettysburg Address have been claimed by just two so far: Helen Sloderback and Helen Moore.
At the Fulton County Teachers Institute held March 14 in Whitmer Gym, Rochester Township Schools entertained. The pupils of the upper grades from Burton presented a Virginia Reel and the pupils of he lowoer grades gave a playlet “Tha Making of the Flag.” An orchestra composed of children from Burton, Reiter and Woodrow played several selections.
“Summer”
By Ralph Miller
I’ll be glad when summer comes
So we can get a little heat
And run way out in the fields
And run sandburs in our feet.
A joke:
Mr. Savage: What is the plural of louse, Jay?
Jay: (after thinking a long time) Cooties.
Our School
Friday April 22 finishes our school year. This year has been a very profitable year and everyone has enoyed it very much. The following makes up our school:
Grade 1: Dorothy Carr, Dale Ollinger, Maxine Crabbs, Martha Miller, Harriet Carr, Donald Smith, Billy Gene Hudkins, Jeanette Eshelman, Flossie Hounshell, Lillian Steenbergen, George Replogle, Ralph Dickinson, Verne Herrell.
Grade 2: Donna Castleman Virgil Cooper, Betty Evans, Marjorie Steenbergen, Clifford Eytcheson, Margaret Anderson, Harry Morris Jr., Virginia Leeds, Harvey Nichols, June Mathias, Frank Dickinson, Betty Replogle. Teacher: Annabelle Lee Veirs.
Grade 3: Martha Leeds, Howard Hoge, Warden Nickells, Leo Crabbs, Ida Mae Good, Hazel Dickerson, Harold Moore, Pauline Cooper, Wilma Replogle, Joanne Miller, Mary Nickells, Helen Dickinson, Edward Steenbergen, Evelyn Smith.
Grade 4: Robert Mathias, Maxine Moon, Betty Carr, Nelson Anderson, Hazel Compton, Mary Belle Bumbarger, Frances Eshelman, Paul Crabbs. Teacher: Isabelle Rans.
Grade 5: Frances Berrier, Alberta Cooper, Edna Dickinson, Donabelle Good, George Holloway, Harlan Nickells, Myretta Sloderbeck, Eleanor Smith, Marcus Steenbergen.
Grade 6: Georgia Belle Berrier, Lewis Carr, Burl Eber, Eloise Hanks, Harold Hoge, Carl Jensen, Norma Miller, Robert Miller, Helen Moore, Ann Morris, Eugene Nickells, Ethel Replogle, Helen Sloderbeck, Gladys Herrell. Teacher: Yetta Entsminger.
Grade 7: Jay Carr, Margaret Cooper, Walter Dickinson, Leroy Eshelman, Roe Good, Cecil Hudkins, Lura Jean Kissinger, Mary Alice Leeds, Ralph Miller, Ida Moore, Vivian Moore, Mary Pletcher, Dale Vanata, Ada Wales.
We wish the following graduates all kinds of success after leaving Burton School: Frances Compton, Irma Compton, Eva Belle Cooper, John Crabbs, Robert Pletcher, Viola Replogle, Sammy Voorhees. Teacher: W. Scott Savage.
MEMORIES OF BURTON (GERMANY) SCHOOL INCLUDING COOK’S
Bus Drivers & Janitors
From interviews by Shirley Willard
When it was birst built, Burton School was named Germany School. The name was changed during World War I because of the anti-German feeling.
Omer Reichard was principal at Germany 1914-15 for $75 a month. The next year Hugh McMahan was principal 1915-16. Reichard taught grades 5 and 6 but he got the same amount of money even though he was not principal because of a change of politics. Trustees tended to favor teachers of the same party.
At Germany School the janitor Frank Wales said someone stole his dinner for three days. Reichard called the kids together and they suggested it might be old George, age 75, who had a blind wife. He came and sat in the furnace room every day to talk. Reichard and Wales planned a way to find out. Wales left old George alone at the usual time he always went upstairs to do work. But he hid behind a door and Reichard went up the squeaky steps so old George would think it was Wales. When Wales opened the door, sure enough, there was old George eating Wales’ lunch as fast as he could.
Lee Moore, Rochester, recalled that his first teacher Ethel Leiter who taught first grade at Germany School 1916-17. He remembered his teachers fondly: Marie Sheets grade 2 1917-18, Mary Miller Grades 3 and 4 1918-20, Fred Crabbs grade 5 1920-21, Lucille Rinehart grade 6 1921-22, and Melvin Swihart grades 7 and 8 1922-24.
Rochester Township Schools had eighth grade commencement in the CharBell Theater now Times Theater, 168 Main Street, Rochester. The pupils had written test in the high school assembly (where Taekwondo Fitness Center is now in the Civic Center), conducted by the County Superintendent. Thomas F. Beery was the superintendent that Lee Moore remembered, but you didn’t have to take the test if the principal exempted you for good grades. Lee had to take only the Indiana History test because he was sick and missed it. He took math and geography tests too, just for the fun of it.
The hack driven by Ben Taylor was snow bound once in the winter of 1927-28 and stayed three days at Clyde Castleman’s home. Castlemans had just butchered a hog so the 17 kids had plenty of pork to eat. Three or four boys slept upstairs in beds. Naturally that many boys broke the bed down; actually the slats came out and the bed went down but nothing was broken. They helped do chores and milk 40 cows. The girls helped Florence cook and clean house.
Lee also recalled that when the gym was being built in 1930, a strong wind blew down the west wall and it had to be rebuilt. The new gymnasium had wooden bleachers on the north side and west end. The dressing rooms were on the south and north sides of the stage.
The class rooms were on the first floor and second floor. On the first floor was the first and second grade room on the east. On the second floor there was the fifth and sixth grade rooom on the west, and the seventh and eighth grade room on the east.
The hot lunch program began serving every day in 1944-46. The kitchen was in the basement under the gym on the east end under the stage. The children ate on the stage at the east end of the gym. The first cooks were Marie Bowen, Edna Crabbs, and Ethel Lebo. They would get a whole truck load of peaches and can them for the lunch program.
Lee recalled the following hack (horse and wagon with bus body) drivers: Jim Marsh, Ira McVay, Dee Berrier, Jeff Gaumer, Will Mathias, Eli Woodcox, and Ted Clay. Motor buses were used from 1923 on. Some of the drivers were Earl Mathias, John Leeds, and Don Beery.
Home economics for the girls and shop classes (called manual training) for the boys began in the early 1920’s. Shop classes were held in the barn where the horses and hacks were kept. In summer the hacks (bus bodies) were removed from the wagon chassis and stored; then the farmer could use his wagon for hauling around the farm. The same thing was done with bus bodies from the motor trucks at first, but later the buses were permanently attached to the chassis and never removed.
While Seth Carpenter was principal of Reiter School 1927-31, a building was built behind Reiter School to store bus bodies in summer. This building was half of the barn that stood behind Burton School. It was a red barn with an A-shaped roof and held all four buses. Woodrow School had a shed to store bus bodies in, too.
Clyde Earl Castleman attended Germany (Burton) School beginning in 1917. He remembers the hack drivers and janitors very well and helped us compile the list in this article. He recalls playing shinny, which was a type of field hockey. The boys cut tree limbs from hockey sticks to hit the ball (and shins) with. The sticks had to have a natural hook or crook on the end. They played baseball and basketball with Leiters Ford, Delong, Richland Center, McKinley, and Woodrow. The basketball goals were on poles outdoors at the east end of the schoolyard. It wasn’t until 1930 that Burton had a gymnasium and the boys could play indoors. Lee Moore and Clyde Earl Castleman helped build the gym. They pushed wheelbarrows of bricks and mortar up planks to the bricklayers. This was in the summer of 1930.
Clyde enjoyed manual training classes, held in the barn heated with a wood burning stove. He made a tie rack, shoe shine box, magazine rack, and with Leonard Steininger made a big birdhouse which they erected at the south end of the schoolyard by the maple trees. They had no electric, just hand tools. The barn was south of the school. The hack drivers left their hacks and horses in the barn. Jeff Gauymer had a Model T and drove it home because it would have taken too long to drive the horses home and back again. Melvin Swihart, the 7th and 8th grade teacher and principal, taught manual training, now known as shop. Manual training was nearly always taught by the principal.
Home economics, then known as domestic science, was taught by one of the women teachers, usually the 5th and 6th grade teacher. The 7th and 8th grade girls had domestic science and the 7th and 8th grade boys had manual training just one or two classes a week.
Burton School was heated with a coal furnace in the basement, and water was pumped with a gasoline motor because there was no electricity. Gene Carter, the janitor in the early 1920’s, was an old man and sometimes could not get the gasoline motor to run, so he would come up and get Kermit Sage, a 5th grader with mechanical ability, to get it going. Burton School had no carbon lights, just kerosene lanterns. In 1935 when REMC began, the school got electriciity and electric lights.
Clyde Earl Castleman got typhoid fever over Christmas vacation in 1920. He and his cousin Vernice Castleman both got it from cousin Carl Warner of Culver, while the kids were all [with] the grandparents, Caleb and Ida Castleman, who lived north of South Mud Creek School. Typhoid meant the family was quarantined. Clyde stayed in bed and was out of his head for about two weeks. His mother bathed him with soda water to lower the fever. Dr. Loring came every day. Clyde missed the rest of the school year so had to take the fourth grade over again.
As early as 1936 hot lunches were served at Burton School on a volunteer basis. The food was donated. The lunches were cooked by volunteer mothers and were served in the classrooms, and the pupils ate at their desks. It was usually hot soup. The hot lunch program began in 1944-45 and the first cooks were Marie Bowen, Ethel Lebo, and Edna Crabbs. Later cooks were Mrs. Mallie Spurlock, Ruby Fredrich, Mrs. Clifford Moore, Ruth Castleman, Mabel Alderfer, and Myrtle Castleman.
Janitors at Burton School included Lou Beehler, Frank Wales for five years c. 1917, Eugene Carter 1918-30(?), Clem Bowen in 1930’s. Clarence Eber, Floyd “Jim” Mathias 1940, Mallie Spurlock 1940’s, Al Borden 1940’s, Clem Bowen in late 40’s, R. Baker finished part of a year in 1950’s, Roscoe Collins 1950’s, Boyd Henderson about six months in 1955, and Mr Paxton.
Hack (horse-drawn bus) drivers at Burton School: Jeff Gaumer, Ira McVay, Jim Marsh, Ed Clay, Cora Beery, Newt Berrier 1917, Eli Woodcox, Bill Mathias 1918-19, Zimry Vanata about 1917, and Mallie Spurlock, who drove a hack and then drove a motorized bus from 1923 to late 1920’s.
John Leeds, bus driver at Burton 1921-25, was the first go get a motorized school bus. It was a Ford and had solid rubber tires. This was in 1923 and was the first motorized schoolbus in the county, according to his daughter, Dolly Ranz, Rochester. Leeds drove to Indianapolis to get the schoolbus body. The next year he took the team and fans to the state basketball tournament at Indianapolis. Even though the bus had a motor, there was still no heater, so Leeds would heat bricks and put them under the seats.
Other schoolbus drivers, all having motorized buses, included: John Braman (had a Model T and his son Emerson “Bud” substituted for him), William Hudkins, Ben Taylor 1928, Ross McQuisten, Don Beery, Ron “Dutch” Garner, Francis Cave, and Dick Graves, all in the 1920’s. Also Rev. Ira Davis (pastor of Burton Church, but left after being arrested for public indecency Dec. 7, 1927). In the 1930’s there were Roy Anderson, Dee Berrier, Kenneth Taylor 1938-39 (son of Ben Taylor), Clyde Earl Castleman 1931-43, Lloyd Reese (took over Dee Berrier’s route) and Boyd Henderson 1938-55, who drove the longest.
In the 1940’s the bus drivers were Roy Anderson, Earl Mathias, Clem Bowen, Harvey Rush, Vernon Adams, and of course, Boyd Henderson and Clyde Earl Castleman.
In the 1950’s: Calvin Braman, Charles Rhinehart bought Braman’s route in 1955, Boyd Henderson, Everett Davis, Lester Heckathorn.
In the 1930’s after McKinley School was closed, those pupils were bused to Burton and the town schools (Lincoln and Columbia) by Harvey Rush.
Up until 1926 or 1927 the high school students were not allowed to ride the schoolbuses but had to provide their own transportation. After Richland Township started the precedent of letting high school students ride the buses in the fall of 1926, other townships had to let their high school students ride free too. Naturally this increased the number of farm kids who could afford to go to high school, which up to that time had been largely considered a “town kids’ luxury.”
Around 1955 Clyde Earl Castleman, who lived northwest of the school, let the school use a part of his field north of the school for a second ball diamond. It was used by older boys and was much appreciated by Dee Carvey and Chauncey Oren, teachers. They made a stile over the fence.
Clyde’s daughter, Bonnie Castleman Overmyer, recalls the Parents & Teachers Association (PTA) met once a month and they had cake walks in the gym to earn money for the school. They also had Christmas programs and a big last-day-of-school carry-in dinner in the gym. It was a community center and everyone came, whether they had children in school or not. On rainey or snowy days the children played in the gym at recess and noon. Once Millie Miller ran into Joa Mathias and broke his front tooth off.
When Clyde was driving a schoolbus in the early 40’s, Kermit Biddinger had two brothers, Tom and Bob Miller, on his basketball team. They were big boys. Kermit taught Tom to yell and confuse the boy he was guarding. The Burton team became County Champs and went to play at the Berry Bowl in Logansport against a deaf and mute team. Tom yelled to confuse the boy he was guarding but he couldn’t hear so it didn’t work. Kermit laughed about this for years.
Ida Moore Burwell recalls that the music teacher, Ernest Fisher, had an orchestra in all three Rochester Township schools 1929-33. They played together for a spring concert in each of the three schools, Burton, Reiter and Woodrow. In the spring of 1932 they performed at the County Teachers Institute in Whitmer Gym [SE] (corner of 6th and Fulton) in Rochester, giving a special program for the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birthday. The mothers made costumes for the children. The girls were dressed like Martha Washington in long dresses. The boys were dressed in knee breeches and white wigs like George Washington. Both girls and boys wore long white wigs made by sewing cotton on stockings that fit over the skull like a cap. The girls wore red ribbons at the back of their wigs and the boys wore black ribbons. Ida played the piano and she remembers being “scared green” because she had to walk across the gym floor to get to the piano and play. After the orchestra performance, they had a spelling bee. Unfortunately, no photo sees to have been made of this.
Lorena Starr was Ida’s first grade teacher, and Ida recalls that sometimes the little girls spent the entire noon hour or recess combing Miss Starr’s long hair! Ida and her cousin Vivian Moore and friend Cecile Hudkins wanted to sit together but of course, it was only one to a seat, so they couldn’t. Melvin Swihart was principal that year, and he would play with the children at recess. When playing Blackman, he would pick up two small children, first graders like Ida, and run with them across the yard to score a point. Later when she was a teacher at a meeting and Swihart was Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, he recognized her and said he could not carry her now!
The winter that Ida was in first grade there was a blizzard and Ida’s father came on horseback to take her home so she wouldn’t have to spend the night in a neighbor’s house. Some kids spent the night at Bill Hudkins’ and at Frank Wales’ houses as they were near the school. Her older brother, Lee Moore, was in high school, and the bus got stuck near Clyde Castleman’s so they all spent the night there.
In the second grade Ida broke her arm at the elbow while sliding down a straw stack at Uncle Charles Mathias’ farm. Miss Lena Wenger was her teacher and brought her homework to do.
When Ida entered the third grade, she told her new teacher, Isabel Rans, that she and her cousin, Vivian Moore, always got the same grades. Isabel teased her about this years later.
When Ida was in the fifth grade in the fall of 1930, the new gym was being built and there was a lot of noise, hammering and such. So the pupils told Scott Savage, the teacher that they could not concentrate to study, and they got him to read them stories aloud. Half the gym floor was done so in inclement weather the children were allowed to play there. They were strictly forbidden to go over into the part still under construction. One day Ida ran too fast and couldn’t stop and went over into the dirty part. For punishment she had to stand and watch the others the rest of the recess.
Ida played basketball in sixth, seventh and eighth grades. The boys played regular basketball with five players but the girls played “three-court basketball” with six players: two forwards, one center, one side center, and two guards. A girl didn’t leave her court but passed the ball to others. Only the forwards shot baskets.
In about the seventh grade she and Vivian went home with principal Scott Savage to attend a spelling bee at Woodrow. Savage lived at Macy. The girls sat in the back seat of the car and giggled all the way.
While in the eighth grade, Ida and the kids decided to play in the service tunnel (with plumbing and electric wires) under the school and leading to the gym. The kids were playing hide and seek when the principal, Kermit Biddinger, caught them and made them stay in at recess as punishment. The girls could beat the boys at softball and basketball, so Mr. Biddinger made them choose sides instead of playing girls vs. boys. Commencement was held at Whitmer Gym. Rev. Loren Stine of the United Brethren Church was the speaker.
When Ernest Fisher was the music teacher, the music room was the dressing room on the south side of the stage. It had a piano in it. The boys restroom was on the east side and the girls restroom on the west side. Home economics (domestic science) was taught in a room under the stage, a room that was later the kitchen. At the top of the stair landing on the south side there was a little room that had a mimeograph machine and sewing machine. The school newspaper was printed there, and girls did sewing (one at a time as there was only one sewing machine) for domestic science class. Clothing accidentally torn in play might be sewn there too.
There were no hot lunches when Ida attended Burton School. She and her friends would eat their box lunches sitting in the window ledge outside the girls restroom. When Ida took hard-boiled eggs, her cousin Vivian at the yolks.
Mrs. Kermit (Allene) Biddinger stated that her husband taught 7th and 8th grades, was principal and coach at Burton for $800 a year for several years. This was during the Depression so there were no raises. In fact, there was no pay check for a few months one year for lack of funds. And then when Kermit got the check, Allene lost the check from her purse. Thank goodness it was found on the sidewalk by the New York Candy Kitchen in Rochester.
When Kermit Biddinger and Allene Emmons were married in 1933, the Burton PTA had a shower for them. Most of the gifts were from their gardens, such as potatoes and carrots. There were a few gifts like dishes. Remember this was during the Deep Depression!
O. C. Howard drove a schoolbus to Reiter School, so when he moved his family to Indiana 25 northeast of Rochester, he let his youngest children, Harold and Eileen, ride the bus with him to continue to attend Reiter. About two weeks after school started, the principal and basketball coach at Burton, Rex Good, demanded that Harold Howard attend Burton in order to be on his basketball team. Naturally Fred Van Duyne, Reiter principal, wanted to keep Harold for his basketball team. They took their fuss to the County Superintendent and he made the Howard kids go to Burton. This was in 1952-54.
Clarence Fletcher stated that Marie Turner taught three generations in his family. She taught Clarence at Burton School in 1914, taught his sons Dick and Bob at old Columbia School in the 1940’s, and taught his granddaughter Terry (daughter of Dick) at new Columbia School in the 1960’s.
Carolyn Castleman (Mrs. Nelson) Hunter recalled that Clem Bowen, the janitor in the 1940’s, would load the 7th and 8th graders in the bus and take them a half mile down the road to the Burton Store for ice cream cones. The principal, Kenneth Overstreet, called the 12 eight graders the “Dirty Dozen.” They used to get Clem Bowen talking so he would forget to ring the bell and they would have a longer recess The bell was disk-shaped and attached to the wall by the door; Clem would pull a rope to ring it. Later the school got an automatic electric bell.
In the late 1950’s there were fewer children attending Burton School and only three teachers. Vicky Fulton Onstott recalled the thrill of being allowed to slide down the fire escape (installed c. 1954) once a year. This was part of the fire safety program and was meant to teach the pupils how to slide safely down the fire escape. She also remembered the pleasant arrival of the library truck, bringing all the wonderful books to choose from.
Jim Rock recalled that the fire escape was attached to the 7th and 8th grade room, so when Rex Good was principal, he would have two or three boys slide down it on waxed paper every two weeks to keep it slippery and in good shape. Of course, boys sometimes sneaked a slide down it just for fun too!
Connie Lowery (Mrs. Mickey Joe) Baker has a 1958 Burton Bull Dogs yearbook. there were 12 in the 8th grade and only 8 in the first grade. The cooks were Blanche (Mrs. Orville) Gilliland and Mrs. Harvey Nickell. The bus drivers were not named but there were four in the picture: Harvey Rush, Everett Davis, Boyd Henderson, and one we couldn’t get identified. The basketball team had a full schedule and played against Richland Center, Talma, Aubbee, Woodrow, Reiter, Akron, Fulton Kewanna, and Grass Creek. The school produced an operatte titled “Sleeping Beauty.” Connie Henderson had the part of Beauty, and Veril Scott was the handsome prince. Rita Gilliland was the wicked fairy. The 8th graders of 1958 were the last 8th graders at Burton because the next year they sent the 8th grade to Rochester and had only the lower seven grades at Burton. These were the last 8th graders at Burton School: Mike Brandt, president; Veril Scott, vice president; Cletus Rigney, secretary; Earl Gaerte, treasurer; Gail Castleman, Jack Castleman, Connie Henderson, David Jones, Yolanda Zoppe, Doris Lowery, Gloria Towne, and Charles Mitchell. Notice the boys were in the majority and so they elected all the officers.
Everybody who attended Burton School has many fond memories of it. The last day of school they always had a big carry-in dinner. And when it closed forever in the spring of 1959, along with Reiter and Woodrow, it was the end of the country school era in Rochester Township. Pupils were bused to the town schools, Riddle and Columbia in Rochester.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, pp 85-101]
__________
Franklin Leiter swings the birch over the Mud Creek school, and Fitch Montgomery presides over the Burton urchins. . . We had a “spellin’ skule,” Wednesday evening we had a good, sociable and instructive time. Walter Harding carried away the laurels. . . and also spelled the Mud Creek school down Thursday evening. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, December 22, 1876]
Our school at Burton is moving on smoothly without a jar. We have an enrollment of 47, all sizes and ages from 3 to 22.
[Rochester, Union-Spy, Friday, December 21, 1877]
We had an old-fashioned spelling school at Burton’s school house a short time ago. Frank Baldwin carried away the laurels. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, January 11, 1878]
Miss Clara Rowley closed a very successful term of school at Bloomingsburg yesterday afternoon.
[Rochester Independent, Saturday, June 29, 1878]
Mr. Com. Montgomery will teach the young idea how to shoot this winter at No. 9 Mr. Allen McKitrick at 17 and Walter Harding at 18.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, November 15, 1878]
__________
1913-14: Edna Taylor 1-2, Gail Zartman 3-4, Estil Ginn 5-6, Hurbert Mogle 7-8.
1914-15: Edna Taylor 1-2, Marie Turner 3-4, Ruth Hughes 5-6, Omer Reichard 7-8.
1915-16: Ethel Leiter 1-2, Marie Turner 3-4, Omer Reichard 5-6, Hugh McMahan 7-8.
1916-17: Ethel Leiter 1-2, Marie Turner 3-4, Harry Champ 5-6, Hugh McMahan 7-8.
1917-18: Marie Sheets Barkman 1-2, Mildred Nafe Wakefield 3-4, Glen Blackburn 5-6, Hugh McMahan 7-8.
1918-19: Marie Sheets 1-2, Mary Miller 3-4, Ray Shelton and Earl Beehler 5-6, Vernie Bowen 7-8.
1919-20: Marie Sheets 1-2, Mary Miller 3-4, Earl Miller 5-6, Vernie Bowen 7-8.
1920-21: Marie Sheets 1-2, Mary Miller 3-4, Fred Crabbs 5-6, Dewey Mow 7-8.
1921-22: Bernice Eash 1-2, Mary Miller 3-4, Lucille Rinehart Mathias 5-6, Fred Crabbs 7-8.
1922-23: Bernice Eash 1-2, Lucy Oliver Kincade 3-4, Lucille Rinehart Mathias 5-6, Melvin Swihart 7-8.
1923-24: Bernice Eash 1-2, Lucy Oliver 3-4, Lucille Rinehart Mathias 5-6, Melvin Swihart 7-8.
1924-25: Bernice Eash 1-2, Evelyn Shonk Eiler 3-4, Lucille Rinehart Mathias 5-6, Melvin Swihart 7-8.
1925-26: Lorena Starr Sheridan 1-2-3, June Robinson Carpenter 4-5-6, Melvin Swihart 7-8.
1926-27: Lena Wenger Barkman 1-2, Alice Hendrickson 3-4, June Robinson Carpenter 5-6, Melvin Swihart 7-8.
1927-28: Bernice Eash 1-2, Isabelle Rans Grove 3-4, Alice Hendrickson 5-6, Lewis Starr 7-8.
1928-29: Bernice Eash 1-2, Isabell Rens Grove 3-4, Ralph Jones 5-6, Lewis Starr 7-8.
1929-30: Enrol. (1-8) 63. 8 mos. Ralph Jones, 7, 8; Scott Savage, 5, 6; Isabelle Rans Grove, 3, 4; Bernice Eash, 1, 2.
1930-31: (Com. 1-8) 67. Scott Savage, 7, 8; Yetta Entsminger, 5, 6; Isabelle Rans Grove, 3, 4; Kermit Biddinger, 1, 2.
1931-32: Cont. Com (1-8) 73. Prin. W. Scott Savage, 7-8; Yetta Entsminger, 5-6; Isabelle Rans Grove, 3-4; Annabelle Lee Veirs, 1-2; E. F. Fisher, Music Supervisor.
1932-33: Cont. Com. 1-8, 92. Prin. Kermit Biddinger, 7-8; Esther Thrush, 5-6; Annabelle Lee Veirs, 3-4; Margaret Halterman, 1-2.
1933-34: Cont. Com. 1-8, 78. Prin. Kermit Biddinger, 7-8; Esther Thrush, 5-6; Grace Eash, 3-4; Margaret Halterman, 1-2.
1934-35: Cont. Com. 1-8, 51. Prin. Kermit Biddinger, 7-8; Esther Thrush, 5-6; Grace Eash, 3-4; Ruth Pletcher, 1-2.
1935-36: Cont. Com. 1-8. 62. Prin Kermit Biddinger, 7-8; Esther Thrush, 5-6; Grace Eash, 3-4; Ruth Pletcher, 1-2.
1936-37: Cont. Com., 1-8. 62. Prin. Kermit Biddinger, 7-8; Grace Eash, 4-6; Ruth Pletcher, 1-3.
1937-38: Cont. Com. 1-8. 62. Prin. Kermit Biddinger, 7-8; Grace Eash, 4-6; Ruth Pletcher, 1-3.
1938-39: Cont. Com. 1-8. 69. Prin. Kermit Biddinger, 7-8; Grace Eash, 4-6; Esther M. Thrush, 1-3; Audrey Kassebaum, H. Ec., Mu., Orch.
1939-40: Cont. Com. 1-8. 67 Prin. Kermit Biddinger, 7-8; Grace Eash, 4-6; Esther Thrush, 1-3; Ida Kathryn Moore, H. Ec., Mu.
1940-41: Cont. Com. 1-8. 69. Prin. Kermit Biddinger, 7-8; Grace Eash, 4-6; Esther Thrush, 1-3; Gertrude Klingaman, Mu.
1941-42: Cont. Com. 1-8. 60. Prin. Kermit Biddinger, 7-8; Grace Eash, 4-6; Esther Thrush, 1-3; Gertrude M. Klingaman, Mu.
1942-43: Cont. Com. 1-8, 67. Prin. Kermit Biddinger, 7-8; Nora Kemper, 4-6; Esther Thrush, 1-3; Gertrude Klingaman, Mu.
1943-44: Ida Burwell 1-2-3, Lucille Ferguson 4-5-6, Albert Ginther 7-8.
1944-45: Cont. Com. 1-8, 64. Prin. Albert F Ginther, 7-8; Lucile Ferguson, 4-6; Ida Kathryn Buyrwell, 1-3; Edith M. Carlson, Mu.
1945-46: Ida Burwell 1-2-3, Lucille Ferguson 4-5-6, Albert Ginther 7-8.
1946-47: Cont. Com. 1-8, 65. Prin. Albert F. Ginther, 7-8; Blanche Baker, 4-6; Ethel Kirkpatrick, 1-3.
1947-48: Ethel Kirkpatrick 1-2-3, Blanche Baker 4-5-6, Albert Ginther 7-8.
1948-49: Cont. Com. 1-8, 62. Prin. Kenneth R. Overstreet, 7-8; Blanche Baker, 4-6; Ethel F. Kirkpatrick, 1-3; Esther S. Lyle, Mu., B.
1949-50: Cont. Com. 1-8, 74. Prin. Kenneth R. Overstreet, 7-8; Blanche Baker, 4-6; Ethel F. Kirkpatrick, 1-3; Edith M. Carlson, Mu.
1950-51: Cont. Com. 1-8. Enrol. (1-6) 44, (7-8) 11. Prin. Billie J. Davis, 7-8; Blanche Baker, 4-6; Ethel K. Kirkpatrick, 1-3; Edith M. Carlson, Mu.
1951-52: Cont. 1-8. Enrol (1-6) 81, (7-8) 19. Prin. Billie J. Davis, 7-8; W. Scott Savage, 5-6; Neva E. Mikesell, 3-4; Ethel Kirkpatrick, 1-2; Edith Carlson, Mu.
1952-53: Ethel Kirkpatrick 1-2, Neva Mikesell 3-4, Scott Savage 5-6, Rex Good 7-8.
1953-54: Cont. 1-8. Enrol. (1-6) 75, (7-8) 30. Prin, Rex A. Good, 7-8; W. Scott Savage, 5-6; Neva E. Mikesell, 3-4; Ethel Kirkpatrick, 1-2; Carl Doherty, Mu., B.
1954-55: Ethel Kirkpatrick 1-2, Fran McNulty 3-4, Manford Norris 5-6, Chauncey Oren 7-8.
1955-56: Cont. Com. 1-8. Enrol. (1-6) 91, (7-8) 27. Prin. Chauncey Oren, 5-8; Manford Norris, 5-8; Fran McNulty, 3-4; Ethel Kirkpatrick, 1-2; Donna Lee Dawald, Mu., B.
1956-57: Ethel Kirkpatrick 1-2, Florence Long 3-4, Dee Carvey 5-6, Chauncey Oren 7-8.
1957-58: Cont. Com. 1-8. Enrol. (1-6) 50, (7-8) 19. Prin. Lester D. Carvey, 6-8; Gladys E. Cords, 3-5; Ethel Kirkpatrick, 1-2; Donna Lee Dawald, Mu., B.
1958-59: Ella Greenwood 1-2, Gladys Cords 3-4, Rex Friedline 5-6-7.
Rochester Township music teachers taught at all the township schools by teaching at each school one day a week and giving instrument lessons on a half-day basis in each school. If the music teacher was a woman, she might also teach domestic science or home economics.
Martha Hoge – domestic science 1920’s
Ernest Fisher – music 1929-33
Bertha Cole – music 1935-36
Margaret Meyers – music and home ec. 1936-37
Audrey Kasselbaum – music and home ec. 1938-39
Ida Moore Burwell – music and home ec. 1939-40
Gertrude Clingaman – music 1940-43
Carl Daugherty – music
Mrs. Orvan Van Lue – music
Wilma Byfield Murphy – music 1947-48
Esther Sheffer Lyle – music 1948-49
Edith Carlson – music 1949-54
Mary Ginn – music 1954-55
Donna Dawald – music 1955-59
[F.C.H.S. files and FCHS Quarterly No. 61 pp 68-72]]
Teachers: Earl Beehler grades 5 and 6, 1918-20; Mrs. Seth [June Lela Robinson] Carpenter, grades 5 and 6, 1925-27; Don Nafe, 1910-12; Mildred Nafe, 4th grade, 1917-18; Lucile Nafe during WW2; Lucy Vernice Oliver; Addie Neff Sanders in 1901; Ray Isaac Shelton, 5th & 6th, 1919-20
BUSH SCHOOL [Aubbeenaubbee Township]
See Myers School
CALVERT SCHOOL [ – – – – – ]
Miss Mariah Coons has returned home from school, and will take charge of the Calvert school . . .
[From Bristle Ridge, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 23, 1875]
The Sunday school at the Calvert school house has suspended.
[From Bristle Ridge, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, June 4, 1875]
CARTER SCHOOL [Rochester Township]
Also known as Liberty School House
CASTON SCHOOL [Liberty Township]
Located NE corner of SR-25 and Fulton-Cass county line.
Caston School District, composed of Wayne and Liberty townships in Fulton County, and Adams and Bethlehem townships in Cass County, formed August 2, 1959.
In 1961, Metea and Twelve Mile combined as one high school at Twelve Mile. The elementary students were combined at Metea.
In 1961, Fulton and Grass Creek also joined, with the high school being at Fulton and the elementary was held at Grass Creek.
Caston now had two high schools: North Campus at Fulton and South Campus at Twelve Mile.
On January 1, 1964, Caston School District became the Caston School Corporation, being comprised of the schools of Grass Creek, Fulton, Metea and Twelve Mile. An actual school board was required, so until elections in May an interim board had to be appointed. These men were chosen by the township trustees. They were Jack Parish, Omer Hauser, Harold Showley, Harold Price and Russell Johnson. Then in May of 1964 the first five-member school board was elected. Russell E. Johnson, Carl Huffman, Harold Showley, Harold Price and Omer Hauser were the school board members. Thomas Brumett was the first Caston superintendent. He had been Grass Creek superintendent since 1959.
Caston School dedicated November 19, 1967.
Teachers: Patricia Fredrick Jones, home economics.
CENTENNIAL SCHOOL [#10] [Newcastle Township]
Located SE corner of 500E and 400N.
Named Centennial School because it was built in 1876, our nation’s centannial.
__________
[photo] Centennial school about 1903. Row 1: Loren Emmons, Carr boy, Carr boy, Bob Anderson, Emmons boy, Ted Coplen, Unknown, Anderson girl, lNora Anderson, unknown. Row 2: Tom Emmons, Cary Haines, unknown, unknown, Beryl Anderson, Anderson girl, Otto Emmons, Herman Coplen. Teacher – Fred Rowe – center back. (Photo: Allene Emmons Biddinger)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 25, p. 5]
[photo] Centennial school 1910-11. Row 1: Boyd Barkman, Jay Stansbury, Lloyd Barkman, George Anderson. Row 2: Harold Kochenderfer, Lucy Emmons Hathaway, Hilda Kochenderfer, Alice Richardson Liming (visitor), Elsie Cox, Hester Kochenderfer Schild, Howard Kochenderfer. Row 3: Elnora Haines, Alice Haines, Gertrude Barkman VanLue, Ruth Emmons, Omar Cox, Roy Cox, George Cox. Row 4: Marjorie Barkman Grass, Loren Bryant (teacher), Wilbur Cox. (Photo: Gertrude VanLue)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 25, p. 6]
__________
Centennial School, by Gertrude Barkman Van Lue.
In 1876 a country school was built at the corner of roads 500E and 400N in Newcastle Township on one-fourth acre of ground owned by John Emmons. The name for it was Centennial, commemorating the 100th anniversary of our country.
Newton Emmons (son of John E.) was 18 years old and attended school there a short time.
The school had long double searts and desks which were occupied by two students if needed. The old water pail was in the back on a stand and there were places to hang coats and caps on nails. It was heated by one large stove near the center of the room.
Bessie Emmons Wagoner attended grade school at Centennial. As she remembers, the teachers who taught then were: L. Sadie Fultz Heighway, Vincent Hutchinson, Ida Tippy Scott, Dr. Aaron Bowman, Omar Montgomery, Maude King Blue, George Deamer, Sr., Cynthia Cramer Deamer and Loy Umbaugh. Retta Russell was a teacher there before 1900. Beginning in 1907 teachers I can recall were Dessa Thompson, Ona Wingard, Frances Montgomery, Mary Nellans Bryant, Loren Bryant and Logan VanDoran. The last teacher was a young lady and taught only a portion of the school year in 1913; the students were transferred to Possum Hollow school. (Editor’s note: the young lady teacher left the school because of a startling incident: She had gone out to the outhouse behind the school house and unbeknownst to her a man was hiding underneath. A hand touched her bottom and frightened, she ran to the nearest farm and refused to return to the school – ever!)
A souvenir booklet belonging to Ona Hedrick, dated 1907, pictures Dessa Thompson as teacher of public school, district No. 10, Newcastle Township, Fulton County, Indiana. J. C. Werner is listed as County Superintendent and C. C. Swonger, Township Trustee. The pupils listed are Margret Ellis, Nellie Ellis, Tellie Coplen, Beulah Barkman, Merrie Ellis, Orvill Carr, Ruth Kuhn, Paul Kuhn, Wilbur Cox, Omaca Ellis, Irena Carr, Dean Kuhn, Roy Cox, Gertrude Barkman, Carrie Haines, Loam Emmons, Jessie Wingard, Clara Olson, Ralph Carr, Harley Anderson, Marjorie Barkman, Elnora Haines, Omar Cox, Elva Carr, Robert Tippy, Alice Haines and Ruth Emmons.
The last year Centennial school was used was about 1913. A young lady teacher taught for a while that year and later the students were transferred to Possum Hollow school. Centennial school was auctioned off later and Willard Teel bought it. He moved it west of there to a farm at the first crossroad where it was placed on the northeast corner of the crossroad. He and his son Lowell made it into a dwelling and lived there until 1918 when Elmer Rathfon bought the farm. In 1918 Mondo Barkman purchased the farm and the building was used for storage, etc. on the farm. In 1964 Chloris Barkman purchased the place and was the owner of the Centennial school building when it was destroyed by the tornado April 3, 1974.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 25, pp 5-7]
__________
A new school house has been erected on the farm of Mr. S. H. Farry, about seven miles north of town. As soon as a teacher is chosen and the seats arrive, school will commence in that neighborhood.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, October 20, 1877]
CENTER SCHOOL [Newcastle Township]
The new building was erected on the site of the old, and was called “Independence Schoolhouse,” from the spirit in which it was built, as well as from the fact that it was independent of the control exercised by the trustees over the township schools. It had the best of teachers, and it is said that no school in the township ever had a more prosperus existence or a larger enrollment of scholars. It was maintained thus by private patronage for a number of years until the present fee school law became operative, and in 1856 this building was succeeded by Center Schoolhouse.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 24, pp 10-11]
Teachers: E. R. Rannels
CENTER SCHOOL [Richland Township]
See Richland Center School
CENTER SCHOOL [#3] [Wayne Township]
Located NW corner 900W and 650S.
Built between 1883 and 1907.
Miss Lucetta Ritchey began her first term of school on Monday last, four miles south . . .
[Kewanna Items, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 7, 1871]
Miss Jessie Sparks is teaching the Davis school and Miss Cora Brumback will hold forth at the Center school in Wayne township.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 19, 1879]
CHAMP SCHOOL [#8] [Liberty Township]
Located NW corner 115E and 850S.
Built between 1883 and 1907.
[photo] Champ school 1897-98. O. R. Enyart, the teacher, is standing by the chair at left. Row 1: Trudie Zartman, rest unknown. Row 2: Mabel Zartman unknoown, Cloydie Zartman, Oral Clevenger, Henry Zanger, three unknosn, Harry Heddens. Row 3: Anna Zanger, Goldie Zartman, rest unknown. Row 4: Frank Bloom, Earl Zartman, unknown. But their names were listed in the souvenir booklet quoted in the story. (Photo: Charles Olmsted).
[FCHS Quarterly No. 21, p.30]
[photo – drawing] This ground plan of Baker’s graded district school building is typical of the arrangement of all one-room schools, except they usually contained all eight grades. Taken from the back cover of the old Champ school register book, belonging to Charles Olmsted.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 22 p. 3]
[photo] The front page of souvenir last-day-of-school booklet given to Lois Green Wagoner by her teacher, Ellen King, 1912. Teachers of one-room schools had these little booklets printed with their photo on the front and the puils listed inside just as we have yearbooks today.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 22, p.6]
__________
CHAMP SCHOOL
By Bertha Waltz
Champ School, named for Joseph and Malinda Champ, donors of the half acre of land it was built on was located east and a little south of Fulton. It was on the northeast corner of the T road now identified as 850 South and 100 East. The ground was conveyed on March 5, 1872, “for as long as the school may be used for school purposes.” Just when it was built has not been determined, but it is shown as Number 8 school in the 1883 Kingman Atlas.
Known survivors of Champ School students are Mary Anglemyer (Mrs. Harold) Beaudoin of Rochester, her sister, Mrs. Ruth Van Eman of Peru; Mrs. Grace Bookwater of Twelve Mile, and Voris Zartman who lives east of Fulton on the farm his parents purchased and moved to when he was a few months old. Also Ruth Bok and Dorothy Bok.
Voris Zartman, age 78, remembers starting to school there in 1902. His first teacher was Mary Dill Garrity who is still living in Los Angeles California, although severely injured in the earthquake of 1971. A bout with typhoid fever caused him to spend two years in the second grade. The teacher both years was Emma Baird 1903-04 and 1904-05, Otto Reed 1905-06, Thomas Reed 1906-07, Myrtle Morts (Bevelheimer), 1907-08, Ray Bish 1908-09, Myrtle Morts again 1909-10. A neighbor’s son, Earl (Happy) Mills, finished the eighth grade at Champ in 1910 and was driving a horse and buggy to Fulton to high school the next school term and induced Voris to walk a half mile west to his house and ride with him, so he took his last year of grade school in Fulton.
Both Mary Beaudoin and Voris Zartman remember the wainscoating which ran lengthwise about four feet high around the room. Boys carved holes in it with their pocket knives and put paper whirligigs in for the wind to whirl, making quite a racket. It was also a receptacle for boy-girl notes.
The winter’s wood was cut and racked against the school yard fence for the teacher to fire the wood-burning stove to warm the building. It was the school boys’ job to carry the wood in and fill the wood box. Drinking water was carried in a bucket from the well and old iron pump in the school yard, to be drunk from a common dipper. Sometimes water had to be carried from the closest farm house.
In warmer weather the children took their lunches to the bank of the nearby creek or ditch to eat; then played in the water until the bell rang, calling them back to classes.
The snow in winter was a fascinating playground. On the way to school the children would now and then lie flat in the snow, moving their legs and arms back and forth, leaving the semblancre of a butterfly when they arose. Little girls’ outing-flannel dresses would be crusted stiff with ice and snow when they arrived at the school, but would soon dry as they stood around the old wood stove.
The feminist movement hadn’t been heard of yet. There definitely was discrimination. Little (and big) boys were spanked; little girls weren’t. Men teachers were locked out of the building at Christmas time if they refused to treat; lady teachers were not.
Community social gatherings were the usual exciting and often romantic rural fare, spelling bees, box socials with fish ponds, and school entertainments.
Champ school ended with the 1911 term. Children went into Fulton.
Charles and Mary (Baker) Zartman, Voris’ parents, owned and lived on their farm east and north of the school building and had purchased the land adjacent to the building. Most school acreages reverted to the farm. Assuming this to be the case, they sold the abandoned building to Elzie Olmsted for $50. He tore it down in 1913 and sold the lumber to Omer Ward who built a house where the Charles Runkle family now live on old U. S. 31. Later Charles Stahl showed up claiming the half acre as his wife’s (Belinda Champ) inheritance. The Zartmans paid him $60 for the land. It is still owned by Voris and Edna (Surface) Zartman. The Zartmans have the sheepskin deeds for the 2 favorites of their home place. The deed to one forty acres was issued to Rueben Mitchell Buck by President Martin Van Buren on August 10, 1837 at the land bank at LaPorte, Indiana. The other, for the adjacent forty acres, was issued to John Keller by President James Knox Polk in May 1848.
Information from Voris Zartman, Mary Beaudoin, and Charles Olmsted.
The enrollment of Champ school 1897-98 is taken from a souvenir booklet belonging to Charlie Olmsted. The teacher was Omer R. Enyart, county Superintendent – W. S. Gibbons, township trustee – W. S. V. Norris, director – David Morts. Pupils in the eighth year were Frank Bloom, Earl Zartman. Sixth year: Chloa Fry, Oscar Poorman, Dora Fry. Fourth year: Anna Zanger, Hazen Heddens, Sammie Dague, Maudie Moon, Goldie Zartman, Harry Heddens. Third year: Oral Clevenger, Bertha Weaver, Virl Zartman, Henry Zanger, Lyman Bretbrunner, Mable Zartman, Glen Moon. Second year: Cloydie Zartman, Hubert Heddens. First year: Myrtle Zartman, Mable Moon, Harry Ulrich, Verdie Zartman, Trudie Zartman, Cora Bretbrunner, Cecil Ulrich, Harley Heddens.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 21, pp 29-31]
OLD SCHOOL RECORD BOOK
By Shirley Willard
Charlie Olmsted has “The Combined School Register, Grade Book, and Reports” for Champ school 1908-11. In this book Ray Bish the teacher for 1908-09, listed the following pupils: Grade 8: Trudie Zartman,Beatrice Olmsted, Albert Black, Earl Mills, Charles Olmsted. Grade 6: Gale Black, Francis Johnston, Voris Zartman. Grade 4: Riley Yankee, Jessie Yankee, Ray Yankee, Carl Johnston, Carmine Gibbs. Grade 3: Sylvia Black, Gertie Heckathorn. Grade 1: Nettie Yankee, Marie Cornell, and Eddie Heckathorn. There were no pupils in the second, fifth and seventh grades. Average attendance ranged from 13 in February to 16-3/4 in October. School began October 5 and closed March 26. Christmas vacation was Dec. 24 to Jan. 4.
Mr. Bish’s daily program was divided into 10 and 15 minute segments in order to provide al the subjects to all the grades. As this was probably typical of one-room school’s daily programs, we will reproduce it here.
9:00 – Reading grade 6 1:40 – History grade 6
9:15 – Reading grade 8 1:45 – History grade 8
9:35 – Reading grade 1 2:10 – Grammar grade 4
9:45 – Reading grade 3 2:20 – Georgraphy grade 6
10:00 – Reading grade 4 2:30 – Recess
10:15 – Grammar grade 6 2:45 – Physiology grade 8
10:30 – Recess 3:00 – Geography grade 4
10:45 – Arithmetic grade 8 3:10 – Physiology grade 6
11:05 – Arithmetic grade 1 3:25 – Geography grade 8
11:15 – Arithmetic grade 3 3:40 – Spelling grade 1
11:30 – Arithmetic grade 4 3:45 – Spelling grade 3
11:45 – Arithmetic grade 6 3:50 – Spelling grade 4
12:00 – Noon 3:55 – Spelling grade 6
1:00 – Grammar grade 8 4:00 – Spelling grade 8
1:15 – Reading grade 1 4:05 – Dismissal
1:25 – Reading grade 3
Now you can see why they taught little more than reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic in the one-room schools. Note that the three lower grades had only four classes totaling 35 to 50 minutes a day; the rest of the time they studied or listened to the older kids recite. Grades 4, 6 and 8 had grammar and geography, while only grades 6 and 8 had history and physiology. This meant that the teacher spent much more time teaching the older pupils than the younger ones. One can imagine the little ones getting bored and sleepy sitting on a hard bench all day.
At the close of the school year Ray Bish wrote the following remarks: “To my honorable successor: You will find the school graded in a very good shape. The seventh year will be very good. The fifth year not very strong, the fourth year pretty good and the second year bright and the first year pretty good.”
The register of visitors lists Jno. C. Werner, Rochester (County Superintendent of Schools); Pauline Bok, Michigan; Hazel Edgerton, Elza Olmsted, Fulton; and Mrs.Ethel Bish, Fulton.
Myrtle Morts was the teacher the next year, October 4, 1909 to March 24, 1910. Her students were Earl Mills, grade 8; Francis Johnston, Gail Black, Voris Zartman, grade 7; Jesse Yankee, Carl Johnston, Riley Yankee, Ray Yankee, Carmine Gibbs, grade 5; Sylvia Black, grade 4; Nettie Yankee, grade 2; Marie Cornell, grade 1-a; Grace Yankee, Claude Cornell grade 1-b. Their ages ranged from 5 (Grace Yankee) to 15 (Earl Mills). It was a common practice for big boys to take the eighth grade over until they were 16 and could quit as high school was considered an unnecessary expense and inconvenience, sometimes just not available.
Miss Morts’ daily program was similar to Ray Bish’s except that she began school with opening exercises at 8:50 each day. She put some of the classes together, such as seventh and eighth grade literature, fourth and fifth grade reading and spelling. Geography and physiology were taught on alternate days. Because there was only one in the eighth grade, it was combined with seventh grade for purposes of recitation. First grade reading was called Primer, and first grade arithmetic was called number work. School was dismissed at 4 p.m.
Miss Morts put numbers beside the pupils’ names and made the following remarks: “To my successor: You will find No.1 a very good student and able to do 8 year work, but No. 2 and 3 ought to review percentage and the important parts of the 7 year grammar, before taking 8 year work. No. 4, 5, 6 and 7 should begin with ‘the sentence’ in the back part of the Book I, and the other grades as I have designated on opposite page. No. 4 and 6 could do 6 year work except in reading. They are aall very poor readers.” After each student’s name she wrote such comments as “good workers, not so good, fairly good, medium, little slow.”
Two new pupils had enrolled during the year: Edna Dague, grade 4; Archie Dague, grade 2.
For her end-of-school-year report to the township trustee, Miss Morts recorded 20 days of school, 16 pupils, 3 withdrawn, 13 remaining to the end of the term, 19 cases of tardiness by 12 pupils, total time lost by tardiness: 3 hours 34 minutes, 78 days of pupil absence. Only four pupils were promoted to the next grade. There were 84 books in the school library, and 5 pupils read one or more books. Patrons were allowed to borrow the school’s library books. There were only three visitors to the school.
Otto Reed was the teacher Sept. 26, 1910 to March 17, 1911. There were eight pupils enrolled: Francis Johnston grade 8; Carl Johnston, Ray, Jesse, and Riley Yankee, grade 6; Nettie Yankee, grade 3; Marie Cornell, grade 2; Claudia Cornell, Grace Yankee, grade 1; and Russell Yankee, primer.
Mr. Reed gave them percentage grades in spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, Geography, grammar, history, and physiology. The grades ranged from 60 to 100 and were given only to those in grades two up. Grades two and three received grades in only the firrst four subjects (the 3R’s and spelling).
The guest register listed Sylvia Black, Charles Olmsted, Voris Zartman, Earl Mills and Lee Olmsted all of Fulton on Nov. 9 1910. Also Beatrice Olmsted, Albert Black, Gail Black, J. C. Werner – County Supt., and Edgar McCarter – Liberty township trustee.
Mr. Reed’s end-of-school report shows 10 pupils enrolled and 5 withdrawn, 2 re-entered, and 7 remaining to the end of the term (all Johnston and Riley children). No one was tardy and only 48 days were lost in absence. Eight pupils were promoted to the next grade. But there were only 79 books in the library in the fall, and no patrons used the books that year, perhaps because of the loss. By the time school closed in the spring, one book was recovered to make a total of 80.
The teacher’s contract stated that the teacher must attend the Township Institute or teacher’s meetings or forfeit one days pay. The teacher may be dismissed by the trustee for “incompetency, cruelty, gross immorality, neglect of business, or a violation of any of the stipulations of this contract, or in case his license should be annulled by the County Superintendent or State Superintendent.” The Acts of 1899 stipulated that the trustee should pay the teacher one day’s pay for each day he attended the Township Institute.
The school record book also includes “A Word To Teachers.” “If teachers would be more careful about leaving a correct record of their work, one that school officers understand and appreciate, their salaries would be far better than they are today, but as long as a teacher begins his term of school as though no term of school had ever been taught in the district before, and leaves it as if none would ever be taught again, just that long will we have low wages and unsatisfactory results. Leaving a record of attendance and absence is not enough; we must have some record to show what we do and do not do.
“Attendance – Give the pupil a ‘clean record’, recording absences only, for which give a ‘black mark’; this will make room to record minutes tardy, times punished or corrected in the vacant spaces.
“Promotion – At the end of each term, those pupils who have an average of 75 percent, and no study falling below 60, should be allowed to pass to the next higher grade.
“Visitors – When a parent visits you, record the visit in the Parents’ Record, giving date, length of time and any remarks that will, in your opinion, acquaint your successor with the interest taken by the visitor, and as people act differently when they know their actions are recorded, you may stir up a little enthusiasm among this lethargic class.”
This school record book is made to contain four years records. Each month has a double page spread, and the school year lasted six months. The book was printed by Baker & Thornton Co. in the Century Building on Pennsylvania and Maryland streets Indianapolis. It uses Baker’s system of grading district schools. On the back cover is the following floor plan for arrangement of one-room schools. For good ventilation it recommends two upright coal stoves, each enclosed in a sheet-iron drum or jacket with an air space of six inches between it and stove, fitting close to the floor. An opening is made in the floor beneath each stove with a wooden air passage, 10×12 inches, leading to a ventilator in the foundation. Each corner of the room opposite the stove contained a triangular escape with an opening, or register, at the base.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 22, pp 3-7]
__________
The Sunday-school at the Champ school house is prospering finely.
— School will commence at the Champ school-house, next Monday; Miss Emma Carvey, teacher.
[From Bristle Ridge, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 23, 1875]
The Sunday school at the Champ school house is now doing well. It was reorganized last Sabbath. L. W. Powell, superintendent; John Champ, assistant.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, June 4, 1875]
The Sunday-school at Champ school house, is still in progress, and is doing well.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, August 6, 1875]
The schools in this township are all supplied with teachers. . . .Mr. Townsend at the Champ district . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, October 18, 1878]
Miss Martha J. Coons is the assistant teacher at Champ school house this winter. She is a young lady of more than ordinary ability. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, December 27, 1878]
Liberty Township Institute. February 15th, 1879. . . at School No. 8. . . [names mentioned]: Trustee, Isom R. New, J. F. Ault, M. C. Chestnut, J. Q. Barcus, Peter Stingley,B. F. Dawson, Mr. Conn, J. A. Howland, Miss F. A. Leffe.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 1, 1879]
COLLEGE CORNER SCHOOL [#4] [Union Township]
Located N side of 350S at approximately 975W.
Built before 1876.
__________
[photo] College Corner, one-room school in Union Township, 1913. Front row: Opal McFay, Dona Wagner, Anna Lamborn, Lorena Starr, Opal Lamborn, Darl Lamborn, Dale Hoff. Row 2: Alice Lamborn, Alvyn Graham, Mary Gillespie, Ray McVay, Lewis Starr, George Graffis. Row 3: Wallace Starr, Warren Graffis, teacher – Dottie Reese, Ruth Herd. (Photo Dona Wagner Miller.
FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 50]
[photo] College Corner, 1916 last day of school. Front: Belle Ayers – mother of Beatrice Willoughby and grandmother of Dona Miller. Row 2: Mrs. William Starr, Mrs. Harry (Myrtle) McVay, Mrs. William Hoff. Row 3: Mrs.Frank (Laura Belle) Lamborn, Mrs. Tom (Pearl )Graffis. The flowers were probably for oldest mother – Mrs. Hoff, and most children – Mrs. Lamborn with six. (Photo donated to FCHS by Marjorie Lamborn Hanson)
FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 48]
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COLLEGE CORNER SCHOOL
From the Diary of Thomas W. Barnett
(Editor’s note: College Corner was District No. 4 school. The following is from the diary of Thomas W. Barnett and submitted by Mary Ruth Ingram, his great-great-granddaughter.)
Aug. 22, 1863: Raised school house in College Corner
Mar. 27, 1865: Hauled down the old school house for firewood.
Dec. 31, 1865: John A. Barnett (my son) commenced (teaching) his school this day in College Corner in Union Township, Fulton County.
Nov. 2, 1867: Went to school meeting. J. A. Barnett got the school term for four months.
Nov. 11, 1867: John’s school commenced this day.
Feb. 25, 1870: This is the last day of John’s school. He has taught school since January of 1866.
Mar. 24, 1870: Went to school meeting. Elected Connie Miller for teacher. (She was a sister of Nancy Harvey Barnett.)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 46 p. 49]
COLLEGE CORNER SCHOOL
By Alice Lamborn Sailors
This particular country school was located one mile west of Kewanna, and a mile south of the Frank Lamborn farm. It was located on a crossroads, on the northeast corner of roads 350S and 1000W in Union Township.
The school must have been built about the turn of the century. It was a large one-room wood frame building, erected on about an acre of land. A small room was built on each side of the door, one to be used as a cloak room and the other a storage room for wood to heat the school. An old-fashioned stove was located in the center of the room. The teacher’s desk was placed in the middle of the room at the opposite end, with a long blackboard covering the wall. There were two rows of seats on each side of the classroom. At the rear of the school yard there were two “Chick Sales” buildings. There were also two old-fashioned swings that hung from the trees that we could swing on.
[NOTE: Charles (Chic) Sale authored The Specialist, copyright 1929. It was created as a very short humorous talk which Mr. Sale gave “to numerously attended gatherings in different sections of the country for several years” describing a carpenter who built out-houses (a subject not theretofore talked about in polite circles) and was very proud of his life’s work. The book was so popular in the late 1920’s and 1930’s that out-houses were universally called “Chic Sales”. – WCT]
I do not know who the contractor was that built the school, and I do not know for sure just why they called the school “College Corner.” It could be said that every school is a preparatory school for college, so possibly that is why it was called “College Corner” being located on a corner as it was.
I can’t remember how many years they held school there, but there came a time when a lot of the students graduated and entered high school at Kewanna; and after a meeting of the school board shortly thereafter, it was decided there were not enough pupils left to warrant hiring a teacher and otherwise going to the expense of operating the school. It was very disappointing to the parents who had chldren in that area to think they might have to haul their children in to Kewanna, as there were no school buses, so the school board met again and decided that if the Lamborn family would transfer from Kewanna School to College Corner, they would be able to operate the school and keep it open. So at that time (1910) Clifford, Marjorie, Alice and Opal were transferred to College Corner.
In about a year after we were transferred, William Starr moved his family into the area, about a quarter of a mile north of our home. So Alta, Wallace and Lewis Starr also went to College Corner. Later Darl and Ann Lamborn and Lorena and George Starr were old enough to enter school, so now the school had plenty of students to keep the school open and everyone was happy.
Lorena Starr used to stop at our home each morning and we had loads of fun walking to and from school. We waded show and when it crusted we would walk on snow that was as high as the fences. It was more fun we thought. If it was raining or the westher was real bad Wallace Starr would cover the grain wagon with a canvas to protect us and take us to school or take us home. Those were the days! Now the kids go by bus right in town. They really do not know what they missed by not attending a country school.
Other students that attended school at College Corner were Ralph and Lloyd Comer, Van Tyle and Mary Gillespie, Ruth and Tom Herd, Harold and Dale Hoff, Nellie, Mary, and Henry Ward, Perry Troutman, Bertha Bear, Warren and George Graffis, Alvin Graham, Glenn Rose, Ray, Opal and Ralph McVay and Fred Graffis. There were other students who attended the school but I do not recall their names.
The teachers who taught there that I remember were Plaudia Enyeart in 1910, Grace Collins 1911, Agnes Wilson 1912, Bessie Garner 1913 and Dottie Reese in 1914 and 1915. Tom Barnett also taught school but I do not know what year he was there.
I graduated from the 8th grade in 1915 and entered high school in Kewana. After my leaving, Louise Gorseline taught at College Corner in 1916 and Raynee Miller in 1917. Not long after that the school was closed and the students were all transferred into the town school. By that time they had buses to transport the children into school.
Some of the amusing incidents that happened while I attended school there were as follows: Perry Troutman and I were whispering one day and our teacher, Plaudia Enyeart caught us, of course, so she drew circles on the blackboard and told us to stand up in front of everyone with our noses in the circles. We stood there so long and I was so humiliated that I began to cry. She said “Cry Baby Cry, for I know you have broken your dolly.” Then I really cried and felt so badly, for you see, I never had owned a doll. Times were hard back in those days and the children did not have toys.
When Bessie Garner taught there, she was going to buy each student a little gift. When she asked Opal and myself (Alice) what we would like for Christmas, we said we would like a doll. The kids all laughed for they thought we were too old to have a doll, but we did not care as that was what we wanted. And when Christmas came, Bessie gave each of us a tiny china doll with blond hair and a pink silk dress. We were pleased and happy. It made our Christmas.
Another amusing thing that happened was when the teacher called on Opal to read out loud. She came to a word that she did not know, so she hesitated, trying to think what it was. About that time two of the older boys, Clifford Lamborn and Lloyd Comer, were kicking each others’ feet under the desks. The teacher said, “You big babies, kicking fee!” so Opal repeated the teaccher’s words “You bib babies, kicking feet” and went right on reading. She was a real small child, but the students all got a big bang out of it and had a good laugh.
My sister Marjorie used to wesr her hair in braids, and one day the boy seated in back of her put her braid into the ink well, so she got ink all over her dress.
My Dad had lots of apple trees, so we took apples to school for all of the kids. The lining was loose in Opal’s coat so she was elected to carry the apples in the bottom of her coat. Can you imagine the apples banging aginst her legs all the way to school? We laugh about it now but I know it was not funny for her.
One year when we were having a final exam, several of the students had finished their exams and were outside playing ball; but Darl had not finished his exam as yet, but in his thoughts he was right out there playing also and smiling and listening to the kids out there having fun. The teacher came around and she said to Darl “Now come on and finish your exam; you are doing fine, and then you can go out and play ball too.” She always liked Darl as he had such a sunny disposition. She knew she could always do more with him by bragging on him, so he was soon finished and was out with the rest of the boys.
Alvin Graham had a bad habit of chewing his pencils. His pencils always had teeth marks all over them. The teacher, Bessie Garner, tried very hard to break him of it, but was unable to do so. Finally, she decided to soak his pencils in kerosene and the bad taste soon broke him of the habit.
Now as to the games we played at noon and recess. We liked to play baseball but Donna Wagoner did not like to play ball and if she would not play, there was not enough of us left to play, so we had to play something else. We sometimes would choose up sides and half of the kids would stand on one side of the shool house and the other half would throw a rubber ball over the schoolhouse and call out “Andyover.” Whoever caught the ball would throw it back over. So we had fun playing that. We also played tag, drop the handkerchief, and hide and seek.
In the winter time there was a pond on the Hoff farm that we would all visit and go skating. In the fall of the year, he had loads of watermelons which we could eat. He would say “Eat all you want, kids, but don’t waste them.” We made our own fun, but always had a good time.
Each year we always had an excellent teacher. A teacher had to have talent and capacity to teach that many grades and discipline that many students. I have many vivid and wonderful memories of my College Corner school days.
Lorena Starr Sheridan Johnson recalls the following teachers at College Corner one-room school: 1912-13 Lela McCoy (Lorena’s first grade), 1913-14 Dottie Reese, 1914-15 Grace Collins and Rayne Miller, 1915-16 Agnes Wilson, 1916-17 Louise Gorsline, 1917-18 Genevive Felty (Lorena’s sixth grade).
MORE ON COLLEGE CORNER SCHOOL
Ralph Comer taught at College Corner about the year 1902.
Ed Blessing taught there also, followed by Edna Talbott, Lela McCoy, Van Tuyl Gillespie. Others who attended school there were the Gillespie children: Howard, Van Tuyl, lHazel, Mary, Warren, and Victor Gillespie; Don Pearcy; Roy and Harold Hoff; Edna and Bertha Bair; James Barnett; Ruth and Tom and Dick Herd; and Kerry Walsh.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 46, p. 53]
__________
Miss Emma Barnett [has charge of] College Corner.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 6, 1873]
Miss Mary Robinson is duly installed at “College Corner,” and is doing quite well. .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, February 24, 1877]
Miss Minnie Cooper closed a very successful term of school at College Corner, on last Saturday.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 1, 1879]
COLLEGE UNION SCHOOL [Richland Township]
The Sabbath-school at College Union, in Richland township, is prospering under the superintendency of Bro. J. W. Davis.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, June 7, 1878]
A grand reunion picnic will be held at College Union, Richland Tp., in Anderson’s Grove, on the second Sunday in August. Good speakers, vocal and instrumental music and a basket dinner. All are invited.
[Rochester Republican, Saturday, July 13, 1878]
A large attendance is expected at the College Hall Sabbath school picnic, the second Saturday of August. Big time generally, the Leiter’s Ford band will dispense music. [QUERY: is College Hall the correct name for Dead Man’s College? – WCT
COLLINS SCHOOL [#1] [Liberty Township]
Located N side of 550S and approximately 300E, near Collins, Indiana.
Built before 1876. Closed about 1925.
__________
[photo] Collins School 1901-02. Back row: J. Kerchable Robbins – teacher, Clarence Calloway (both in doorway). Middle row: Jimmie Hartgrove, Howard DuBois, Fern Fike, Esta Robbins Dawald, Gertrude Collins Miller, Unknown girl (between rows), Ethel Collins Ream, Dorothy Jackson, Frank Fouts, Keort DuBois. Front row: Ray DuBois, Madge Calloway Carvey, Jackson boy, Carl Quick and Harry McCarter holding sign, Mable DuBois, Glen Berry, Ross DuBois, Orville Quick. (Photo: Dorothy Miller Moore Richter and Beulah Curtis Fouts Elkins.)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 22, p. 18]
[photo] Collins school children across the road from the school by the split rail fence about 1916. Row 1: Florence Baker Birt, Irene Feder, Dorothy Miller Moore Richter, Fred Miller, Homer Saylor, Richard Saylor. Row 2: Floy Tidrick Cunningham – teacher, Harry Baker, Samuel Baker, Harvey Coleman, Robert Baker, Darwin Petty. (Photo: Dorothy Richter and Robert Baker).
[photo] Collins school souvenir belonging to Robert Baker: 1917. Floy G. Tidrick Teacher. Pupils: Richard Saylor, Irene Feder, Homer Saylor, Genevere Wines, Forrest Feder, Fred Mille,r Darwin Petty, Frances Wines, Harry Baker, Robert Baker, Ruth Cloud, Berneice Wines, Sammy Baker, Cloyd Sutton, Florence Baker, Dorothy Miller.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 22, p. 19]
[photo] Collins school Jan. 18, 1899. Row 1: Lucy Collins Hattery, Roy DuBois, Harry McCarter, Ross DuBois, Glen Berry, Mort Smith, unknown, Frank Fouts, Clyde Petty, Ross Petty, Howard DuBois, C. S. Clemons – teacher. Row 2: Ethel Collins Ream, Emma Smith Shaw Sanders, Eunice Jackson, Trudy Collins Miller (mother of Doroth Richter), Estie Robbins Dawald (mother of Florence Miller), Bessie Smith Edwards, Clarence Calloway, Keort DeBois, Otto Calloway, Dell Callowoay Row 3: unknown, Alva McCarter, Frank McCarter, Howard Calloway. (Photo: Beulah Fouts Elkins, Macy)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 22, p 20]
__________
COLLINS SCHOOL
By Lois Wagoner
Collins one-room school, District No. 1, was located on road 550S one-half mile east of road 250E in Liberty township. It sat on the line of Amos Severns and John Robbins farms on the north side of the road, about a mile west of old US-31. It was built before 1876 and torn down about 1925.
One teacher, Kassandra Blasdale, came on the train to Macy, walked to the school and roomed with Frank Fouts and later with Howard Calloway. She had a long way to walk so she asked Mr. Fouts to keep his cows shut up so she could cross the field, as she was afraid of the bull. Dr. Bert Kent and Kerchable Robbins taught around 1904 and 1905. Marie Foglesang Karn roomed with Howard Calloway when she taught there.
Other pupils besides those shown were Frank McCarter, Pearl McCarter, Daisy McCarter Washington, Alva McCarter, Harry McCarter, Glen Berry, Clarence Calloway, Madge Calloway Carvey, Frank Fouts, Elmer Robbins, Estie Robbins Dawald, Grace Robbins Chambers Jones, Virginist Calloway Rentschler, Clarence Robbins, Sylvia Koffel Conn, Edna Koffel Hattery, Ruth Cloud Benedict, Hugh Cloud, Keort DuBois, Ray DuBois , Rose DuBois, Mable DuBois Guyer, Mary DuBois Clemans, Ethel DuBois Duey, Howard DuBois, Verne Severns, Ossie Severns Trout, Don Baker, Everett Coleman, Harvey Coleman, Esther Fox, Hattie Shobe Pennington, Mattie Shobe, Mary Whybrew Dawson, Martha Whybrew Waltz, and more.
Florence Birt told of one time the boys brought guns to school and shot rabbits, cleaned them, and the girls fried them on top of the potbellied stove.
Ethel Duey told of two girls who didn’t appreciate the discipline from the teacher and vowed to beat up on her. The parents gathered at the home of George Baker to discuss firing her. Tom DuBois said, “Let her finish this term.” They did. Beulah Elkins said pupils could attend any school, if they didn’t like the teacher or any other reason.
The wood frame schoolhouse was on the north side of the road across from the lane going back to Bethel Olinger’s house. When the school was being operated, Frank Fouts’ folks lived back the lane. Water for the school was carried from Fouts’ well.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 22, pp 17-20]
School Report. . . school in District No. 1, Liberty Township. . . December 7, 1869 and ending March 27, 1869: . . . . B. W. Craven Teacher.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, April 8, 1869]
Miss Letitia Reid, who has been teaching school at the Collins School House, near Green Oak, returned home last week, sick with the measles. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, December 19, 1872]
We are pleased to note the fact that Miss Lucy Smith is teaching at the Collins School House. . . .
[Green Oak Chips Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, June 5, 1873]
We must now make mention of the (Sunday) school at the Collins School house . . . Mr. Califf as Superintendent.
[Green Oak Chips, Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, July 10, 1873]
Mr. E. P. Townsend has got up another writing school at the Collins school house. . [Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, February 12, 1874]
The youths of the Collins school are being trained by Miss Lucy Smith and those of Green Oak by Miss Christina McMahan; Miss Eva Ault, of Rochester, is teaching the Mt. Tabor School . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, April 30, 1874]
The literary society at the Collins school house is attended with great interest.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, January 22, 1875]
A little fight took place at the Collins school house, Thursday night. Fortunately no one was much hurt.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, February 12, 1875]
Lucy Smith is teaching at the Collins school house.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, May 28, 1875]
Miss Bina Abbott teaches the Collins school.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 21, 1876]
Geo. L. Jameson has applied for the Collins winter school. George is a good fellow and deserves the vote of every patron.
[Green Oak, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, August 25, 1876]
Schools are moving up in these parts lively. Joe Smith, at Green Oak school, Ella New, at the Collins school, Mollie Soward, at Mount Tabor, and Maggie Blacketor, at Ebenezer.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 26, 1878]
The schools in this township are all supplied with teachers. . . . Mr. Barcus at Collins’ school. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, October 18, 1878]
Mr. Joel Townsend is teaching penmanship at the Collins school house . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, November 28, 1878]
Mr. John N. Townsend has just closed a successful term of school of penmanship at the Collins school house in east Liberty township.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, January 10, 1879]
Our friend Johny N. Townsend, who has just closed his first term of school of penmanship at the Collins school house, is now organizing anothr class at the Greenoak school house.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, January 31, 1879]
We are informed that there will be a Literary Society formed at the Collins school house in the near future.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 13, 1879]
Teachers: J. K. Robbins, ca. 1900 to 1905
COLUMBIA SCHOOL [Rochester, Indiana]
Located SW corner of Monroe and Twelfth Street, covering the whole quarter block.
Also called South School.
Had 7th and 8th grade. Lincoln school transferred students at end of 6th year to Columbia School.
Students finishing 8th grade were then transferred to high school located second floor of Lincoln School.
[photo] South or old Columbia school was located where the Jaycee Park is now on the southwest corner of 12th and Monroe streets, built in 1897 or 98. (Photo: FCHS collection]
[FCHS Quarterly No. 35, p. 1 – cover]
[photo] Columbia School about 1903. Miss Alice Stahl is the teacher wearing a “Peggy from Paris” purse on her belt. The only identified child is Dean Kilmer in the third row, second from left. (Photo: donated to
FCHS by Don Kilmer)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 35, p. 6]
[photo] Columbia School 1909. Row 1: unknown, Ralph Radelshimer, Hubert Taylor, Arthur Copeland, Harold Ross, unknown, John Black, unknown, Garrett Leverton, Alvin Brandt, Karl Becker, Ross boy [?]. Row 2: unknown, unknown, Cecilia Peters [?], Elsie Gelbaugh, Fern Mastellar [?], unknown, Genevieve Smith, Allee Whittenberger, unknown, unknown, Esther Grove [?], Margaret Bitters, unknown, unknown. Row 3: 3 unknowns, Nada Zimmerman, unknown, Faye Davis, Grove girl [?], Clara Brandt, Miss Jennings – teacher, Claudia Stephenson – teacher of music and art, Genevere Grove, Ana Clayton, next 5 unknown. Row 4: unknown, Edith Kingery, 3 unknowns, Ethel McCarter, Hazel Leiter, Hugh McMahan – principal, Josephine Davis, next 5 unknown.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 35, p. 4]
[photo] Old Columbia or South School, first grade 1910, Ada Leonard, teacher. Front row: Leroy Medary, Vera Keplar, Faye Spohn. Row 2: Arthur Smith, Bessie Lachow, Lillian Shreyer, Hazel Spohn, Majeska Anderson. Row 3: Frederick Perschbacher, Mabel Brubaker, Victor Shanks, Archie McKee, unknown. Row 4: all unknown. Standing in back: Harold Cole, Roy Haggerty, Cecil Jones, Clifford Downs, Ray Flynn, Vernon Gelbaugh, 4 unknowns. Freddie Perschbacher said the round metal object on the blackboard (left) regulated the heat; it had a chain on it and was like a damper above the heat register just below it. The janitor, Daddy Kreigle (Kreig or Craig?) would come in the room and check the thermometer hanging in the middle of the room, then go to the regulator and adjust it. This school was located where the Jaycees Park is now, on the SW corner of 12th and Monroe. (Photo donated to FCHS by Ruth Downs Richardson)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 67, p. 148]
[photo] Ready for School – This picture, taken between 1913-16, was given to Bertha McClain Tash by Margaret Stockberger in 1916. Bertha stayed at the Stockberger home that year while teaching in Rochester’s Columbia School. Bertha taught grade 3 at Columbia 1915-17, and Margaret taught grade 4 19??-18. In the picture are Margaret Stockberger in light-colored clothes) and Miss Neff, teacher of room 2. The horse and buggy was the Stockberger’s. (Photo from Bertha McClain Tash’s scrapbook.)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, p. 31]
[photo] Columbia School, 1944, Grade 5. Josephine Clymer – teacher. Row 1 (front to back): Jean Ann Spencer, Bob Mitchell, Marilyn Bayles, Bonnie Grove, Joe Brubaker, Virginia Reed, Gerold “Mousie” Bowers. Row 2: Alberta Beedle, Catherine Ewing, George LaPierre (Daugherty), Laurel Burnham, Donnazetta Purdue, Bebe Sue Mattix, Laura Abbott, Gladys Wilson. Row 3: Leonard Hoff, Jim Heyde, Peggy Hunter, Dean Stinson II, Joan Mullins, Joyce Snyder. Row 4: Edwin Crissinger, Lora Sutton, Bill Willard, Sue Ann Mikels, Vergie Patton, Wendell Sanders, Lavon Crissinger. Row 5: Clarabell Crussore, Wade Tucker, Phil Carr, Barbara Hopper, Omer Kindig, June McCall, Dick Spohn, Melville Coplen, Dick Markley.(Note the “Help Win the War” and Victory posters above the blackboard at right. The Red Cross flag on the door indicates this class donated the most money that week.) (Photo: Bill Willard)
FCHS Quarterly No. 36, p. 19]
[photo] Columbia 8th grade 1947. Front row: Jim Denton, Omer Kindig, Jim Heyde, Lavon Crissinger, Richard Spohn, Don Cantwell, Ramon Ascencio. Row 2: Lora Abbot, Barbara Rogers, Jean Ann Spencer, Catherine Ewing, June McCall, Lora Fae Sutton, Barbara Hopper, Marilyn Bayles, Beverly Lynch. Row 3: Bonnie Lou Grove, Virginia Reed, Joan Mullen, Joyce Snyder, Clarabelle Croussore, Rebabelle Swango, Sue Ann Mikels, Bebe Sue Mattix, K. V. Jones – prncipal. Row 4: Edwin Hess, Joe Brubaker, Gerald Bowers, Edwin Crissinger, Robert Mitchell, Wendell Sanders, Wade Tucker. (Photo Lavon Crissinger)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 36, p. 4]
COLUMBIA OR SOUTH SCHOOL
By Rena Wright
As I remember my teachers in old South Building, I am sure they were much above average. Since I was a mid-year student, I had two teachers in some grades. I started in first grade in January 1906. My first teacher was Bertha Kline. In grade two I had Mrs. Glen Heath for the first half year and Mable Rees the second half. Third year, Blanche Disher (Mrs. M. O. King); 4th year, Edna Sheets; 5th grade, Faye Hulse (Mrs. Carl Van Trump) and Gladys Dawson, 1910-11, 1912-13; 6th, Nellie Stevenson (Mrs. Earl Leininger of Akron) and Edna Stinson; 7th, Thomas Barnett and Clyde Henderson; 8th, Mae Osborn and Hugh McMahan, principal 1913-15. There was some departmental teaching. Mr. McMahan taught mathematics, history, and grammar to seventh and eighth grades; Miss Osborn taught literature. Other subjects were taught to both grades by the other men. Claudia Stevenson [sister of Nellie Stevenson] was the art teacher for a number of years before 1909-15 – an excellent teacher. We had painting lessons with water colors. In a tin box were four little oblong containers with red, yellow, blue, and black cakes of paint. With these we mixed all other colors we needed for our lessons.
Outside the building was a beautiful well-kept lawn. The school yard occupied 1/4 block. There was no playground and nobody dared walk on the grass. On warm spring or fall days, as a very special treat, our teachers would take us, two by two, for a walk around the block during our brief recess periods. Otherwise the recess periods were spent in our rooms. Sometimes we played quiet games or sang; sometimes our teachers read to us.
There were no physical education classes, but sometimes after school, boys played basketball on a small fenced-in floor in the third floor attic. Loose balls sometimes went over the fence and had to be retrieved. Occasionally a small hole in the ceiling plaster of a second floor room gave evidence that the retriever had narrowly escaped disaster and stuck his foot through the plaster. Other things I remember: the principal in 1906, Miss Alice Stahl, wore a white high collar blouse, and black shirt, her gray hair in a knot on top of her head.
Three rooms of 7th and 8th grade met on Friday morning in one room to sing, accompanied on the school’s one piano by one of the 8th grade girls. How proud we were to be asked to play!
A special May Day program with 8th grade girls dancing around the Maypole.
Marching down steps and outside the building to the sidewalk two and two, when school was dismissed, with Miss Stahl watching at the up-stairs window to see that no one broke ranks until we were off school property. Occasionally the up-stairs window would open and we would hear her yell “Here, boys, Here, boys!” as someone started running too soon.
The bubbling fountain in the middle of the huge hall, running all day. Children needed to be constantly cautioned not to let their lips touch the fountain.
A thermometer in the center of each room was suspended on a string from the ceiling, too high for us to tamper with but just right for teacher to check the temperature.
A nice old janitor named Mr. Quigg with white hair and beard. When he retired, all of us brought pennies and presented a leather arm chair to him. We assembled in the hall for the presentation.
A dreary basement room with a heating stove in the center around which students from the country would eat their cold lunches from tin lunch pails. On rainy days students who got their shoes wet coming to school could take their readers and go to this basement and sit around the stove until their feet were dry. Although I lived only a block from school, I always managed to get my shoes wet, so I could sit around the stove in the basement.
When we were excused to go to the basement restrooms, there were three sets of bannisters to slide down on the way. All basement rooms were dark, gloomy, cold, with white-washed walls and dull gray cement floors.
The ominous sound of the “Tardy bell” and the guilty look on the face of an occasional late comer who had committed the crime of being tardy The seriousness of this crime so impressed me that I was never tardy during my 12 years of school.
Standing in the hall for punishment for being an incurable whisperer, and on my occasional trips to the basement, noticing other culprits from other grades being similarly punished.
Other teachers who taught at Columbia were Nannie McGraw, Mrs. Mary Clifton, and principal Roy Jones 1902-04, Margaret Carruthers, Eva McMahan (Delaney), Dorothy Prescott, Margaret Lathrope (Rankin), Ruth Blough (Levy), Margaret Kistler, Pansy Lowman Leona Sibert (around 1902).
I taught 4th grade two years at Columbia School 1920-1922 when Jessie McMahan was principal. Some teachers who were there then were Fern Deamer, George Riddle, Mildred Neerman, Mary Carruthers, Marie Turner, Eva Jones, Agnes McKee, Edith Thomson – music teacher. By then we did have recess outdoors in good weather and there was some playground equipment.
Again in 1925 I returned to Columbia to teach one semester before beginning to teach in Rochester High School. A. L. Whitmer was Superintendent for many years, when I was a student and later a teacher. He visited all the grades in both buildings about once a week. Students looked forward to his visits; teachers sometimes didn’t!
About this time an intense bitter rivalry developed between Columbia and Lincoln schools, not only in athletic contests but in forms of competition, such as fund-raising drives, spelling bees between the sixth graders, and selling Red Cross stamps. Later, efforts had to be made to create a friendlier spirit between the two schools.
The only change I noticed between the time I was a pupil and when I returned in 1925 as a teacher is that the third and fourth grades were moved up to the second floor and the seventh and eighth graces were moved down to the first floor. When I was a pupil, the younger four grades were all on the lower floor while the upper floor was occupied by the older grades, 5-6-7-8.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 35, pp 3-5]
The School Trustees have purchased two lots of Mr. Joe Beeber lying on south Madison Street, and intend to proceed at once to the erection of a large and comfortable school building for the accommodation of the school children in the south part of town . . . with a school population of nearly 700, the present accommodations are entirely too meager . . . The work will be commenced immediately, and the building completed in time for the fall term . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, May 9, 1874]
Miss Luella Long, of this city has been engaged to teach the first grade at the new school building in the south-east part of town. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, August 27, 1874]
At the new school building in the southeast part of town, First, Miss Louella Long, Second, Miss Emma Sterner.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, September 3, 1874]
Rochester Public Graded School . . . winter term . . . began Monday morning of last week with an enrollment of nearly four hundred scholars . . . Prof. W. J. Williams, Mr. W. H. Sickman, 1st assistant, Misses Williams, Neal, Kelly, Brown and Barb, occupying posisitons as 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th assistants respectively . . . the south school taught by Misses Sterner and Long. . . December 15, 1874.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, December 18, 1874]
The Sunday school at the South school house is prospering under the leadership of Willis Line as superintendent and Miss Mary Brown as assistant superintendent.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, May 26, 1877]
Jonathan Dawson, one of the school trustees for Rochester, has furnished us the following. . . engaged to teach. . . for the year commencing September 3d: . . . (south school) 2d Grade, Miss Libbie Williams, 1st, Miss Luella Long.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, July 14, 1877]
The services of Miss Lida Stradley have been engaged to teach the juveniles in the south end school building for the coming year.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, August 24, 1878]
The fall term of the Rochester Graded Schools will open next Monday. . . In the school building in South part of town, Miss Maggie Miller, 2d grade; Miss Lida Stradley, 1st grade. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, August 30, 1878]
The Rochester Public Schools. . . teachers. . . Prof. Williams, principal; High School, J. H. Cammack; Fifth grade, Miss Phebe Thompson; Fourth grade, Alice Barb; Third grade, Clara Sturgeon; Second grade, North Buyilding, Lon Killen; Second grade, South Building, Maggie Miller; First grade, North Building, Ollie Davis; First grade, South Building, Linda Stradley. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, August 15, 1879]
OLD COLUMBIA SCHOOL
By Tom Willard (for English Class at Rochester High School in 1976
My father, Bill Willard, was born in Rochester March 5, 1932. He attended the old Columbia school which stood on the southeast corner of Twelfth and Monroe, where the Jaycees Park is now. This school was a two-story brick building which contained eight rooms, each having twelve-foot ceilings. The school had no gymnasium but had two furnaces (one in the north end and one in the south end). This kept the janitor, Earl Hoover, very busy shoveling coal. He also rang the big iron bell in the belfry by pulling a rope. Each floor had a drinking fountain but only the basement had restrooms.
There were four rooms on each floor and one grade to a room. The ground floor contained grades one, two, seven, and eight. The second floor had grades three, four, five, and six. Dad’s first grade teacher was Miss Mary Jane Hood (now Mrs. Robert Van Duyne). He remembers getting his first paddling. Miss Hood stepped out of the room, and the kids began talking. When she came back, she told everyone who had been talking to stand up and bend over his desk. Then she took a paddle and went down the row giving each one a whack.
Each class was divided into B-first semester and A-second semester, with pupils being able to pass or flunk by semester. This system was abandoned in 1942.
His second grade teacher was Miss Marie Turner, third – Miss Ruth Lichtenwalter, fourth – Miss Wilma Larison, fifth – Miss Josephine Clymer (1944). Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teachers rotated from room to room each day teaching their specialized subject to each class. Sixth grade teacher, Frank Graham, taught arithmetic. Seventh grade teacher, Miss Lillian Wagoner, taught English. Eight grade teacher and principal, K. V. Jones, taught history and was the first teacher to make Dad interested in history. His grade went from D to C and B. Edith Thomson taught music two days a week and Betty Ohlrogge taught art.
During recess the boys would play baseball and try to hit the ball through the windows on the south side. The seventh grade was the basketball B team and the eighth grade was the A team. Twice a week they rode on Mr. Ray’s bus to Whitmer gym where Clyde Lyle taught physical education, and Bill Schroer was basketball coach. Once in a basketball game at Burton school (1946) Dad made 30 points himself. “I was really hitting; every time I threw the ball it went through the basket,” he recalls. He got first place in pole vaulting for vaulting seven feet.
After physical education the boys went across the street for shop class in the old high school. Harry Ray taught shop.
There was only one bus bringing pupils to Columbia. It was driven by Harvey Rush and brought kids from the north and east of town. Only the kids who rode the bus were allowed to bring their lunch and eat at school. Town kids had to walk home for lunch.
Herman Daake, a Rochester man who founded a nation-wide organization called Safety Legion of America, came to Columbia each year to give safety talks. He gave the kids safety medals the size of a quarter. Dad still has his and recently placed it in the Fulton County Historical Society Museum.
In the seventh grade they put on a Christmas play called “Scrooge”, and Dad was the second gentleman (a bit part). He had two lines but it took him two weeks to memorize it. Then he had the message written in his hat just in case he forgot.
Joe Mackey had a pond at the south end of Elm Street. He sold the land for the new Columbia school, which opened in the fall of 1957. Kids found an old boat and put it in the pond. One time the boat drifted out to the center of the pond so Dad put his feet in 2 five-gallon buckets and walked on the water out to get the boat. This was when he weighed less than 100 pounds.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 36, pp 19-20]]
__________
1898-99: Miss Nannie McGraw, 1.*
1899-00: Miss Glen Myers (Heath), 2.*
1900-01: Miss [—-] Stinson, 3.*
1901–02: Leona Sibert, 4.*
1902-03: Jennie Clifton, 5.*
1903-04: Miss Everly Clifton, 6.*
1904-05: Alice Stahl, 7.*
1905-06: Roy Jones.*
[* furnished by Hugh A. Barnhart to Shirley Willard, 1-25-77]
1905-06: Mabel Gregory, Hist.; Miss Jennings, Eng., Math; Roy Jones, Prin.
1915-16: Frances Elliott, 1; Minnie Cessna, 2; Bertha McClain, 3; Margaret Stockberger, 4; Clara Pierce, 5; Faye Hoover, 6; Harry Champ, 7; Merle Knapp, 8.
1916-17: Frances Elliott, 1; Minnie Cessna, 2; Bertha McClain, 3; Margaret Stockberger, 4; Clara Pierce, 5; Faye Hoover, 6; Jessie McMahan, 7; Harry Champ, 8.
1917-18: Frances Elliott, 1; Minnie Cessna, 2; Martha Coffin, 3; Margaret Stockberger, 4; Clara Pierce, 5; Beatrice Almstead, 6; Jessie McMahan, 7; Harry Champ, 8.
1918-19: Bertha Miller, 1; Minnie Cessna, 2; Martha Coffin, 3; Alta Sayger, 4; Clara Pierce, 5; Beatrice Almstead, 6; Jessie McMahan, 7; Estil Sheets [7]; Harry Champ, 8.
1919-1924: George Riddle, Arith.
1919-20: Pansy Loman, 1; Minnie Cessna, 2; Martha Coffin, 3; Alta Sayger, 4; Agnes McKee, 5; Clara Pierce, 6; Estil Sheets, 7; Jessie McMahan, 8.
1920-21: Margaret Kistler [1], Marie Turner, 2; Mary Carruthers, 3; Rena Wright, 4; Agnes McKee, 5; Mildred Neerman, 6; George Riddle, 7; Jessie McMahan, 8.
1921-22: Elgie Thomas, 1; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Carruthers, 3; Rena Wright, 4; Eva Jones, 5; Mildred Neerman, 6; George Riddle, 7; Jessie McMahan, 8.
1922-23: Frances Elliott, 1; Marie Turner, 2; Jewell Smiley, 3; Mary Carruthers, 4; Nellie Walsh, 5; Juanita Atkinson, 6; George Riddle, 7; Jessie McMahan, 8.
1923-24: Fern Deamer, 1; Marie Turner, 2; Jewell Smiley, 3; Dorothy Noftsger, 4; Minnie Reed, 5; Dorothy Prescott, 6; Byron Murphy, 7; Jessie McMahan, 8.
1924-25: Fern Deamer 1; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Carruthers, 3; Jewell Smiley, 4; Rena Wright, 5; Rovine Rhinehart, 5; Eva McMahan, 6; Dorothy Prescott, 7; Jessie McMahan, 8.
1925-26: Fern Deamer, 1; Marie Turner, 2; K. Perschbacker, 3; Jewell Smiley, 4; Margaret Carruthers, 5; Ruth Blough, 6; Margaret Lathrope, 7; A. V. Purdue, 8.
1926-27: Fern Deamer, 1; Marie Turner, 2; Bernice Anderson, 3; Olive Hendrickson, 4; Margaret Carruthers, 5; Ruth Blough, 6; Margaret Lathrope, 7; A. V. Purdue, 8.
1927-28: Waneta Lloyd, 1; Marie Turner, 2; Katherine Leonard, 3; Bernice Anderson, 4; Margaret Carruthers, 5; Mary E. Barker, 6; Ruth Blough 7; A. V. Purdue, 8.
1928-29: Waneta Lloyd, 1; Marie Turner, 2; Frances Reed, 3; Lucille Shuman,4; Juanita Atkinson, 5; Erda Robinson, 6; Otto Beehler, 7; A. V. Purdue, 8.
1929-30: Enrol. (1-8) 275. Prin. K. Verne Jones. Otto Beehler, 7; Erda Robinson, 6; Esther Engquist, 5; Mabel Wood, 4; Frances Reed, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Waneta Lloyd, 1.
1930-31: (Cont. Com. 1-8) 265. Prin. K. Verne Jones; Otto Beehler, 7; Erda Robinson, 6; Esther Engquist, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Frances Reed, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Waneta Lloyd 1.
1931-32: (Cont. Com. (1-8) 284. Prin. K. Verne Jones; Otto Beehler 7; Erda Robinson, 6; Esther Engquist, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Frances Reed, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Waneta Lloyd, 1.
1932-33: Cont. Com. 1-8, 276. Prin. K. Verne Jones; Otto Beehler, 7; Erda Robinson, 6; Esther Engquist, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Frances Reed, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Waneta Lloyd, 1.
1933-34: Cont. Com 1-8, 276. Prin. K. Verne Jones; Otto Beehler, 7; Erda Robinson, 6; Esther Engquist, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Frances Reed, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Waneta Lloyd, 1.
1934-35: Cont. Com. 1-8. 276. Prin. K. Verne Jones; Otto Beehler, 7; Erda Robinson, 6; Lillian Wagner, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Jane Hood, 1.
1935-36: Cont. Com. 1-8, 276. Prin. K. Verne Jones; Otto Beehler, 7; Erda Robinson 6, Lillian Wagner, 5, Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Jane Hood, 1.
1936-37: Cont. Com. 1-8. 276. Prin. K. Verne Jones; Otto Beehler, 7; Erda Robinson, 6; Lillian Wagner, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Jane Hood, 1.
1937-38: Cont. Com. 1-8. 165. Prin. K. V. Jones, Math., 8; Otto Beehler, Soc. St., 7; Erda Robinson, Eng., 6; Lillian Wagner, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Jane Hood, 1.
1938-39: Cont. Com. 1-8. 265. Prin. K. V. Jones, Math., 8; Otto Beehler, Soc. St., 7; Erda Robinson,Eng., 6; Lillian Wagner, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Jane Hood, 1.
1939-40: Cont. Com. 1-8, [—]. Prin. K. V. Jones, 8, Math.; Otto Beehler, 7, Soc. St.; Josephine Clymer, 6, Eng.; Lillian Wagner, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Jane Hood, 1.
1940-41: Cont. Com. 1-8. 269. Prin. K. V. Jones, 8, Soc. St.; Lillian Wagner, 7, Eng.; Frank Graham, 6, Math.; Josephine Clymer, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Jane Hood, 1.
1941-42: Cont. Com. 1-8, 272. Prin. K. V. Jones, 8, Soc. St.; Lillian Wagner, 7, Eng.; Frank Graham, 6, Math; Josephine Clymer, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Jane Hood, 1.
1942-43: Cont. Com. 1-8, 255. Prin. K. V. Jones, 8, Soc. St.; Lillian Wagner, 7, Eng.; Frank Graham, 6, Math ; Josephine Clymer, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Jane Hood, 1.
1944-45: Cont. Com. 1-8, 267. Prin. K. V. Jones, Soc. St.; Lillian Wagner, Eng.; Frank Graham, Math.; Josephine Clymer, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Mary Jane Hood, 1.
1945-46: Vada Reffett, Spec. Prim.; Helen Weisshaar, 1; Marie Turner, 2; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Wilma Larrison, 4; Mildred Stukey, 5; Frank Graham 6; Lillian Wagner, 7; K. V. Jones, 8.
1946-47: Cont. Com. 1-8. Prin, K. V. Jones, Soc. St.; Lillian Wagner, Eng.; Frank Graham Math.; Mildred Stukey, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Marie Turner, 2; Vada Reffett, 1.
1947-48: Jean Trumbull, 1; Marie Turner, 2; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Wilma Larrison, 4; Mildred Stukey, 5; Frank Graham, 6; Lillian Wagner, 7; K. V. Jones, 8.
1948-49: Cont. Com. 1-8, 296. Prin. K. V. Jones, Soc. St.; Lillian Wagner, Eng.; Frank Graham, Math.; Erma Steingass, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Avis McCray, 2; Eva Wesner, 1.
1949-50: Cont. Com. 1-8. 294. Prin. K. V. Jones, Soc. St.; A. V. Purdue, Math., H.; Lillian Wagner, 7, Eng.; Frank Graham, 6, Math.; Erma Steingass, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Ida Kathryn Burwell, 2; Julia Marquell, 1.
1950-51: Cont. Com. 1-8. Enrol (1-6) 220, (7-8) 66. Prin. K. V. Jones, 6-8; Frank Graham, 6-8; John Pruden 6-8; Lillian Wagner, 6-8; Erma Steingass, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 3; Ida Kathryn Burwell, 2; Julia Marquell, 1.
1951-52: Cont. 1-8. Enrol (Kdg) 39, (1-6) 230, (7-8) 62. Prin. Wilford H. Tribby, Soc. St.; Lloyd H. Adley, 6-8; Lillian Wagner, 6-8; Frank Graham, 6-7; Edward Trexler, 5; Wilma Larrison, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 4; Hazel Savage, 3; Mildred Mitchell, 2; Julia Marquell, 1; Helen Castor, Kdg.
1952-53: Julia Marquell, 1; Mildred R Mitchell, 2; Hazel Savage, 3; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 4; Wilma Larrison, 5; Edw. Trexler, 5; Frank Graham, 6; Lillian Wagner, l7; Wilford Tribby, 8; Edwin L. Tryon, Eng., Sc.
1953-54: Cont. K-8. Enrol (Kdg.) 44, (1-6) 227, (7-8) 63. Prin. Wilford Tribbey, 8; Irene Sith Paltz, 6-8; Sidney Parks, 6-8; Frank Graham, 6-7; Wilma Larrison, 5; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 4; Hazel Savage, 3; Mildred Mitchell, 2; Thelma Robbins, 1; Zulah Long, 1.
1954-55: Thelma Robbins, 1; Zulah Long, 1; Mary K. Fraser, 2; Bernice Watson, 2; Hazel Savage, 3; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 4; Wilma Larrison, 5; Frank Graham, 6; Wilford Tribbey, Prin.; Irene Paltz; Robt. McGinn; Edith Thomson Music.
1955-56: Cont. Com. Kdg.-7. Enrol. (Kdt) 29, (1-6) 269, (7) 38. Prin. Wilford Tribby; Frank Graham, 6; Wilma Stepler, 5; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 4; Ruth Skidmore, 3; Mary Fraser, 2; Thelma Van Meter, 2; Bernice Watson, 2; Zulah Long, 1; Thelma Robbins, 1.
1956-57: Thelma Robbins, 1; Mary Jane Van Duyne, 1; Mary Fraser, 2; Bernice Watson, 2; Zulah Long, 3; Ruth Skidmore, 3; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 4; Wilma Stepler, 5; Frank Graham, 6; Irene Paltz, Relief; Wilford Tribby, Prin., Edith Thomson, Music.
1957-58: [NEW BUILDING. Located 15th & Elm Sts.] Kdg.-6. Enrol. (Kdg.) 45, (1-6) 369. Prin. Wilford Tribby; Mildred Mitchell, 1; Thelma Robbins, 1; Nancy Troyer, 1; Mary Fraser 2; Bernice Watson, 2; Zulah Long, 3; Olive Julian, 3; Ruth Skidmore, 3; Helen Burkett, 4; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 4; Kermit Biddinger, 5; Ruth Keebler, 5; Frank Graham, 6; Eileen Knauff, Kdg.; Edith Thomson Mu.; Audrey Myers, Art.
1959-60: Unc. K-6. New School. Enrol. (Kdg.) 66, (1-6) 457. Prin. Wilford H. Tribby; Secy. Juanita Jewett; Thelma Robbins, 1; Annetta Wildermuth, 1; Vada Harts, 1; Mary Fraser, 2; Isabelle Grove, 2; Bernice Watson, 2; Zulah Long, 3; Ruth Skidmore, 3; Marleah Thompson, 3; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 4; Helen Burkett, 4; Kermit Biddinger, 5; Dora Oliver, 5; Ruth Keebler, 6; Frank Graham, 6; Eileen Knauff, Kdg.
1961-62: Enrol. (Kdg) 78, (1-6) 469. Prin. Wilford Tribby; Juanite Jewett, Secy.; Kermit Biddinger, 5; Mary Fraser, 2; Frank Graham, 5-6; Isabelle Grove, 3; Ruth Keebler, 5; Jane Kemper, 5; Eileen Knauff, Kdg; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 4; Zulah Long, 3; Dora Oliver, 4; Thelma Robbins, 1; Ruth Skidmore, 3; Bernice Watson, 2; Richard Welborn, 5-6; Charlotte Wichers, 4; Annetta Wildermuth,1.
1963-64: Cont. Enrol (Kdg) 71, (1-6) 436. Prin. Wilford Tribby; Juliet Traeger, Secy.; Eileen Knauff, Kdg.; Thelma Robbins, 1; Annetta Wildemuth, 1; Carol A. Hurst, 1; Mary Fraser, 2; Bernice Watson, 2; Ruth Skidmore, 3; Helen Burkett, 3; Ruth Lichtenwalter, 4; Charlotte Wichers, 4; Ruth Keebler, 5; Jane Kemper, 5; Lenora Burke, 5, Frances Baxter, 6; Kermit Biddinger, 6; Frank Graham, 6.
1965-66: Cert. Kdg.-6. Enrol. (Kdg.) 69, (1-6) 448. Prin. Wilford Tribby; Evelyn Schroeder, Secy.; Thelma Robbins, 1; Annetta Wildermuth, 1; Carol Hurst, 1; Mary Fraser, 2; Mildred Mitchell, 2; Bernice Watson, 2; Ruth Skidmore, 2-3; Helen Burkett, 3; Kathleen Jennens, 3; Zanna Daniels, 4; Lenora S. Goodrich, 4; Jean Kent, 5; Chauncey Oren, 5; Frances Baxter, 6; Kermit Biddinger, 6; Marjorie Martens Kdg.
[F.C.H.S. files]
Then there was the old white frame building replaced years and years ago by the brick “South” (Columbia) building which now stands in ruins as a monument to many of Rochester’s older citizens who remember with pride having been a pupil of “Granny” Stahl. Granny was a hard taskmaster, but with a heart as good as gold.
[Earle A. Miller, The News-Sentinel, Thursday, July 30, 1959]
I don’t recall who taught in the old frame school which is now Eleventh [?] street, but I do well remember some of the students and the shenanigans of Harry (Peck) Miller, Ed Hill, Fred Miller, and Ora Fenstermacker. A favorite sport of the group was to chew tobacco and expectorate in the ink well on their desk, when the schoolmarm had her back turned.
However, in this part of the past century teenage delinquency was an unknown term. Of course, the kids were kids, either good or bad, depending on whose kid shoved over an outhouse on Halloween, filched a watermelon from the front of a local grocery store or came home with a black eye after a fisticuff encounter.
[Earle A. Miller, The News-Sentinel, Thursday, July 30, 1959]
Some of the teachers were Ada Leonard; Jessie McMahan, principal; Hugh McMahan, principal 1913-1920; Ruth Tracy; Flavilla Tracy; Frances Elliot; Edna Sheets; Claudia Stephenson; Blanche Disher.
New building, same name, now at 1502 Elm Street.
Otto Beehler taught at South Germany School before 1922, was principal at Whippoorwill, then principal at Tiosa 1928 while his wife Bessie taught fourth and fifth grades at Tiosa. Then Otto taught seventh grade at Columbia School in Rochester 1928-40 and grade six at Lincoln School in Rochester 1928-40 and grade six at Lincoln School 1940-43.
[Mary Rosella Beehler Reinhold, William Amel Sausaman, Fulton Co Folks, Vol. 2, Willard.]
Teachers: Nannie McGraw, Miss Morrison and Florence DeMont; Carol Ann Powell Hurst, art, grades 1, 2 and 3; Dora Oliver; Mary Jane Hood Van Duyne, 1934-45, except for one semester at Richmond in 1944, and 1st grade, 1956-57
Janitors: Frank Earl Hoover
[Frederick Eherenman Family, Lloyd Eherenman, Fulton Co Folks, Vol. 2, Willard]
See Lincoln School.
CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS [Fulton County]
School consolidation has been one of the most dramatic aspects of the Rural Revolution in Fulton county. Gleaming new buildings now are attended by elementary and-or high school students from seven of the eight townships of the county. New courses of study, sophisticated teaching aides, departmentalized instruction more widely-educated teachers — all have come with the new facilities.
Today, the five school corporations with Fulton county students as all or part of their enrollment — Rochester Community Schools, Caston Educational Center, Tippecanoe Valley Schools, Culver Community Schools and Union township (Kewanna) school — have 7,321 pupils attending a total of 19 school buildings.
There are six high schools and 13 junior high and-or grade schools.
The dollar value of the 19 buildings and the land upon which they stand surpasses $15 million.
The five school corporations operate 85 motor buses that transport 5,260 students to and from school each day.
The school libraries to which Fulton county pupils have free access contain more than 40,000 books.
How has the educational picture changed in Fulton county in the last 40 years or so?
Consider these statistics compared to those just given:
In 1923 each of Fulton county’s eight townships operated their own school systems. There were 3,865 students attending a total of 55 school buildings in this county. Six of the townships had state-commissioned high schools and two had accredited high schools.
There were 12 “consolidated” schools — meaning the buildings had more than one room and more than one teacher — while there were 35 one-room schools with one teacher each.
The total valuation of buildings and land of the 55 schools was $620,250.
A total of 922 children were transported to and from school each day — 134 by motor bus, 769 by horse-drawn vehicles and 19 by private cars.
The school libraries had a total of less than 4,000 books.
This was the school situation in 1923, by townships:
AUBBEENAUBBEE — Enrollment of 244 in four grade schools and one high school (two brick buildings, three frame) with five public horse-drawn vehicles for transportation. Value of buildings and land — $50,100.
HENRY — Enrollment of 609 in eight elementary schools and one high school (all brick), with four public horse-drawn vehicles, four privately-owned motor buses and four privately horse-drawn vehicles for transportation. There were six one-teacher schools. Value of buildings and land — $31,000.
NEWCASTLE — Enrollment of 219 in one high school and two grade schools (all brick) with two private autos and seven public horse-drawn vehicles for transportaiton. Value of buildings and land — $38,500.
RICHLAND — Enrollment of 265 in one high school and four grade schools, with eight horse-drawn vehicles for transportation. Value of buildings and land — $42000.
ROCHESTER — Enrollment of 1,480 in one high school and 11 grade schools (eight brick, three frame). Transportation facilities not noted in resource material. Value of buildings and land — $277,200.
UNION — Enrollment of 440 in one high school and six grade schools (five brick and two frame) with one private motor bus, one public motor bus and four private and two public horse-drawn vehicles for transportation. Value of buildings and land — $54,600
WAYNE — Enrollment of 268 in one high school and four grade schools (two brick and three frame), with nine public horse-drawn vehicles, for transportation. Value of buildings and land — $31,000.
Today, Fulton county students are attending school corporations with the following statistics:
Caston Educational Center (includes Liberty and Wayne townships plus two from Cass county) — Enrollment of !,058 in one centralized building with 16 buses transporting about 1,034 students daily. Value of building and land — $3,000,000.
Culver Community Schools (includes Aubbeenaubbee township plus three others) — Enrollment of 1.456 at one high school and six other buildings, with 23 buses transporting 1,250 students daily. Value of land and buildings — $5,250,000.
Rochester Community Schools (Rochester and Richland townships) — Enrollment of 2,275 at one high school, one junior high and two grade schools, with 15 buses transporting 1,212 students daily. Value of land and buildings — $5,172,895.
Tippecanoe Valley Schools (includes Henry and Newcastle townships plus three others) — Enrollment of 2,220 at two high schools, one junior high and three elementary, with 26 buses carrying 1,562 students daily. Value of land and buildings — $1,200,000.
Union Township — Enrollment of 322 students at consolidated high school-grade school building, with five buses transporting 202 students daily. Value of land and building — $825,000.
School consolidation was not effected in Fulton county without painful disputes and differences of opinions; the subject still is a sore point with a good number of persons.
However, the consolidations of the sixties were not the first such progressive moves in Fulton county’s educational program and they were not the first to draw the ire of county residents.
Shortly after the dawn of this century, prominent educators in Fulton county laid before the people of the rural communities the system of consolidated elementary schools. This meant closing down one-room schools where one teacher supervised the work of four or eight grades. It meant better accommodations for the children and more specialized teaching.
Fulton county was among the first in the state to institute such educational programs And the rapid building of new consolidated grade schools — such as ones at Athens, Tiosa, Mount Olive and the McKinley and Woodrow schools in Rochester township — brought forth complaints from some taxpayers.
But with the passage of time, most persons came to accept such moves as part of the ever-changing world in which they lived.
Today, those five schools mentioned and many others in Fulton county no longer exist, superceded themselves by newer and better facilities as the Rural Revlution has moved inexorably forward, bringing changes — some good and some unwelcome — but always . . . bringing changes.
[William Freyberg, Rochester Sentinel, Friday, January 30, 1970]
COUNTY LINE SCHOOL [Richland Township]
Located SE corner Marshall-Fulton County Line Road [SR-110] and 50W.
Built between 1883 and 1907.
__________
[photo] The old County Line school now stands on the east side of Old 31 half way between 700N and the county line. This photo was taken by Rev. Clyde Walters in Oct. 1974 and shows the west end of the dwelling.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 20, p. 16]
__________
COUNTY LINE SCHOOL
By Rev. Clyde Walters
County Line school was built in 1889 on the Jake Zerbey farm, now owned by Dee and Mildred Nallans, on the south side of county line road (state road 110) just east of 50W at the northeast corner of the farm. Children were bussed to Tiosa in the fall of 1903, then in 1904 they were bussed to Richland Center to the new school there. The bus was called a hack, a side-curtain job drawn by a team of horses. The driver of the hack was Clinton Alderfer, a farmer living in the area of County Line School.k
The County Line school building was moved out on old US-31, half way between the county line road and the Richland Center road (700N0 on the east side of the road on the Eddie Robbins farm. Charley Town was a long-time day laborer for Robbins, and he sold Town a building space on the northwest corner of his farm, so that he would be near as a hired man. The school house was worked over into a family dwelling by Mr. Town about 1910. Alvin Robbins lives there now.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 20, p. 15]
CROSS ROADS SCHOOL [Richland Township]
See Richland Township Schools
__________
THE FIRST SCHOOLS
In the winter of 1836 or 1837, David Shore taught school in the house of his father, Michael Shore. His pupils were few in number, and his compensation correspondingly meager. But this was the first school in the township, and the point at which its educational history had its beginning. . . . During the next year (1837), a schoolhouse of round logs was erected by the citizens, on the Abial Bush farm, and beginning with that winter, it was, for three or four years, the school that all the children of the township attended, and was used for school purposes for a number of years. About the year 1842, a similar building was erected west of the Michigan Road. It received the name of the “Cross Roads Schoolhouse,” from the fact that it was situated at the crossing of two roads. . . . In the eastern part of the township, a log schoolhouse was erected at an early day on the farm now owned by John Perschbacher, prior to which time the children of this locality had attended a school on the Sanns farm, in Newcastle Township.
[T. B. Helm, Fulton County Atlas, A. L. Kingman, 1883, p. 51]
DANCING SCHOOL [Rochester, Indiana]
J. H. Kelly has started a dancing school at Wallace’s Hall, twenty-five cents each evening.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, February 13, 1864]
DAVIS SCHOOL [#7] [Union Township]
Located 775W at approximately 150S.
Built before 1876.
__________
Rufus Cox [has charge of] Davis School.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 6, 1873]
Elder McGraw is holding protracted meeting at the “Davis” school house and is meeting with some success.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, December 25, 1874]
Miss Jessie Sparks is teaching the Davis school and Miss Cora Brumback will hold forth at the Center school in Wayne township.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 19, 1879]
__________
DAVIS SCHOOL
By Shirley Willard:
Davis School, District no. 7, was also known in early days as Jackson School. It was located on the east side of county road 775W a little north of half way between 100S and 200S, a mile and a half south of state road 14. This road (775W) is east of Kewanna and was often used to go to Kewanna before the Tamarack Swamp road was made to hold up in the 1960’s. I drove on this road twice a day for years while teaching at Kewanna High School in 1960-67, but the last couple years used the Tamarack Road (the next road west, numbered 850W).
Davis schoolhouse is shown in the 1876, 1883, and 1907 atlases of Fulton County, indicating it was built before 1876 and torn down after 1907. But it probably was a wooden building standing empty and unused in 1907 as it had been replaced by a new brick school, Russell School (located where the Pinhook Grange now stands on state road 14) c. 1898.
Pearl Mutchler Hiland, age 96, recalled that her husband’s grandfather, Joseph Heimburger, taught singing school at Davis School, probably in the 1860-70 era. He used a tuning fork to start the tune, and the class laughingly called it his “pitch fork.”
Pearl also recalled that the Davis schoolhouse had been the meeting place for the Baptist Church, again probably in the 1860-70 era, when lay leader Isaac McCoy preached there.
The Hudkins family lived near Davis School and their children attended there. Cora Bruce Milliser of Rochester attended Davis School. Cora’s mother was a Hudkins. (See Hudkins family in Fulton County Folks vol. 2.) Cora was a year older than Pearl Hiland so she must have attended Davis School in the 1880’s and early 1890’s.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, p. 67]
DAVIS SCHOOL
By David Metzger
(from a taped interview made by Ruth Urbin, Feb. 2, 1982):
I was born in Kosciusko County about three miles west of Leesburg on Sept. 8, 1891. My parents were William and Sarah Adelaide Metzger. I went to school when I was six, went to school just a few months and then didn’t go back until I was seven, so I was behind kids of my age that year. I started to school in Kosciusko County about three miles west of Leesburg and went there two years, then went to Inwood in Marshall County. My dad quit farming and bought a grocery store in Inwood, so I went to school at Inwood for one or two years. My grandfather died and Dad inherited the farm by Kewanna so we moved here in 1900 and then I went to Davis School for two or three years.We lived on a farm east of 800W, north of 200S, and south of 100S. The farm is now owned by Bill DeWitt.
Davis School was located 150 feet north of the Joseph Evans barn on the hill on the east side of the road (800W) between 100S and 200S. This barn was destroyed by tornado, and there is a different barn there now. When I went to school, there was a stile built over the fence so we could walk across the fields to Davis School. We went north half a mile to Pete Metzger’s place and then went across the fields that way. (Ann Zartman lives now where my uncle Peter Metzger lived.) Pete’s girls went to school with us.
I went to Davis School three years and had three different teachers. Others who went to school with me were Leone Guise, Jessie Lisey, Jessie Moore, Alma Moore, Bessie Moore, Rosie Bruce, May Essicks, Lulu and Lela Metzger, Belle and Anna Metzger, Hugh Guise, Harry Lisey, Albert Kissinger, Jessie Zuck, and myself. I think that’s all unless Metta Henderson went there and I can’t remember if she did or not.
Our teachers were Maggie Wilson (Harrington) 1900-01, Belle Wilson 1901-02, Una Gillespie (she married Tom Wilson right after school was out) 1902-03. The next year we went to Jubilee School.
We studied reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic, spelling – that was about the limit in those days. Games we played: Deer around the House, Andy Over, ball games, Black Man, and a few of those things.
The trustee furnished the wood for the stove – I don’t know where he got it. There was no well at Davis School; we carried the water from Evans’ well as he lived right close to the school. A couple of us would go down there with a bucket and bring it back and put it on a little stand there where everyone could reach in with a dipper and take a drink. If you didn’t want it all, you poured it back in.
There were two outside toilets, one for boys and one for girls.
Davis School was abandoned about 1903 or 04. A man named Andrew Jackson lived on the hill south of the school on the west side of the road. He bought the schoolhouse and moved it down to his place, but he never used it. My dad bought it off of him, moved it to our place, and made a wood house and a little pump house of it. It is no longer in existence, as both have been torn down.
From that time on we went to Jubilee School by the gravel pit. There were 30 some pupils at Jubilee in grades one through eight. I was ready for the fifth grade when I went to Jubilee and I was the only one they had for fifth grade, so they put me in the sixth grade, and I never did take the fifth.
DEAD MAN’S COLLEGE [Richland Township]
Located NE corner of 700N and 500W, on a one-acre lot.
It received this unique name from the fact that the school ground was laid out on an old abandoned cemetery, possibly originally a family burial ground.
Brick building, facing S, was built before 1876.
Wood frame toilets were located behind the building at the back of the lot.
The playground was in front of the building.
There was no well, so water had to be carried in.
The school was closed in the spring of 1926.
__________
[photo] Dead Man’s College 1887-88. The identifications are hard to understand because the group is divided into only two rows. Top Row: Ben Bishop, Louis Cowan, Frank Runnels, Frank Cook, George Cooper, Hattie Walker Clark, Alvin Hiatt, David Sult, Loren Biddinger, boy staying with Walkers, Andrew Babcock, Charles Anderson, Perry Babcock, Fred Cook, Belle Anderson, Arvesta Calhoun, Jessie Walker, Nannie Cowan, Mary Biddinger Wagoner, Amanda Beish (Reish), Fred Cook. Row 2: Effie Runnels, Anna Cook Estella Hiatt, L. G. Walker, Ida Anderson Whipple, Edna Anderson, Lucia Babcock, Lulu Runnels, Arthur Dillon, Charley Anderson, Ray Babcock, Bert Runnels, Belle Cowan, Anna Biddinger Kreig, Della Biddinger Best, Pearl Cowan, Maggie Anderson Woolington,Vivian [ – – – – ], Louisa Martindale (Mrs. Mark Jackson) – teacher. The teacher is the mother of Mrs. Howard Weir, who lent this photo. The original photo was by Union Photograph Company, Monterey, Ind.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 50, p. 62]
[photo] Dead Man’s College looked like this 1897-1907 when Jessie Sult Steininger and Chloe Sult Spidle attended it. (Photo from Jessie’s daughter, Ila Mae Huggy, Chicago).
[FCHS Quarterly No. 20, p.26]
[photo] Dead Man’s College 1911. Left to right: Cletus Batz, Ray Overmyer, Raymond Overmyer (adopted), Ralph Ault, Carl Sheets, Eddie Overmyer, Harry Ault, Eldon Ault, Florence Eddington, Florence Hiatt, Nellie Hudkins, Dolly O’Connell, Don Calhoun, Clarence Ault, Floyd Batz, Medford Neher – teacher. (Photo: Don Calhoun)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, p. 17]
[photo] Dead Man’s College in Richland Township, 1916-17. Row 1. Pearl O’Connell, Edna Florence, Carl O’Connell, Edward Overmyer, Vernice Castleman, John Norman Hiatt, Annabelle Cowen. Row 2: Lee Sheets, Donna Sheets, unknown, unknown, Mabel Florence, Harry Ault, unknown, Clarence Ault, Floyd Batz, unknown. Row 3: Florence Edgington, unknown, Don Hand, Dollie O’Connell, unknown, Carl Sheets, Don Calhoun, unknown, Florence Hiatt. Back: Vernie Bowen – teacher. (Photo: Vernie Bowen)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, p. 12]
[photo] Dead Man’s College 1918-19. Row 1: Carl O’Connell, John Hiatt, Eldon Ault, Lee Sheets, Ira Cowen, Eddie Overmyer. Row 2: Wanita Curry, Annabelle Cowen, Mary Anderson, Wilma Curry, Donna Sheets, Berniece Anderson, Billy Dillon, Edna Florence, Madge Dillon, Lucile Cowen, Minnie Florence, Berniece Castleman, Esther Overmyer, Pearl O’Connell, Eudora Brugh. Back Row: Hazel O’Neil – teacher, Burl Cowen, Florence Hiatt, Mildred Brugh, Carl Sheets, Mabel Florence, Don Calhoun, Clarence Ault. (Photo: Don Calhoun)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, p. 18]
[photo] Dead Man’s College in the fall of 1925, the last year school was held. It closed in the spring of 1926. Row 1: Robert Smith, Elmer Cook, Ray Price, Charlotte Bunn, Edith Cook, Pauline Tanner, Mary Jane Woolington, Florence Woolington, James Smith, Billy Dillon, Eldrith Cook. Row 2: Louedva Bunn, Harold Price, Mary Neff, Phyllis Smith, Esther Overmyer, Arthur Nulf Cecil Mercer. The teacher, Carl Sheets, took the picture. (Photo: Eldrith Cook)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, p. 23]
[photo] Dead Man’s College, the only remaining one-room school in the township. Photo taken from the south side looking north. Graves are located 100 feet west of the building. (Photo by Bruce Hess)
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 8, September 1972, No. 3, p. 23]
[photo] Dead Man’s College one-room school as it looks today. Vernie Bowen taught here 1916-18. His daughter took this photo Sept. 6, 1981.
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 48, p. 13]
[photo] The hole in the foundations of Dead Man’s College that a prankster crawled through to attach a bell to the floor and harass the teacher. Located on the north side. (Photo by Bruce Hess)
[FCHS Quarterly Vol. 8, September 1972, No. 3, p. 24]
[photo] Home place of John Bowen in Richland Twp., being torn down in Sept. 1981. His grandson, Otis Bowen, was born here. Otis was Governor of Indiana 1972-80.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, p. 14]
[photo] Hazel O’Neil Overmyer, teacher of Dead Man’s College 1918. (Photo: Malcolm Miller)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, p. 15]
__________
Miss Eliza J. Reid is to be the teacher at “Dead Men’s College,” in Richland township, the coming summer. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 28, 1877]
The Sabbath-school at College Union, in Richland township, is prospering under the superintendency of Bro. J. W. Davis.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, June 7, 1878]
A grand reunion picnic will be held at College Union, Richland Tp., in Anderson’s Grove, on the second Sunday in August. Good speakers, vocal and instrumental music and a basket dinner. All are invited.
[Rochester Republican, Saturday, July 13, 1878]
A large attendance is expected at the College Hall Sabbath school picnic, the second Saturday of August. Big time generally, the Leiter’s Ford band will dispense music. [QUERY: is College Hall the correct name for Dead Man’s College? -WCT]
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, July 19, 1878]
Next Saturday there will be a large Sunday School Picnic held at what is known as “Dead Man’s College,” in Richland Township. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, August 3, 1878]
REMINISCENCES OF FULTON COUNTY’S
ONE ROOM DISTRICT SCHOOLS
By Vernie Bowen
My next experience as teacher in the one-room district school was at the school with the very unusual name, Dead Man’s College. Here I taught two years 1916-18. This brick building, still standing, is located in the northwest corner of Richland Township, one mile south of the Fulton-Marshall county line. It received this unique name from the fact that the school ground was laid out on an old abandoned cemetery. It possibly was an original family burial ground. I never learned how many people had been buried there. But I was told that the building was constructed over a couple of graves, and one was under the front steps. We knew of several on the playgrtounds in front of the building. On the premises were several marble slabs that had served as grave markers. We used a part of one of these markers as home plate for our softball games. This building is a well-built brick structure on a stone foundation. Its gable-capped protruding entrance, the partially concealed bell in the cupola-shaped belfry, the four-way sloping slate roof and limestone window sills together with the wooded background gave the building a rather distinguished and inviting appearance. The building faces the south and is on the north side of an approximately one-acre lot, which is located in the east angle formed by the east and west road (700N) with the T-road (500W) to the north. The playground was in front of the building between it and the road. Across the entrance end of the building was a narrow anteroom that was used for wraps, lunch pails, storage of fife wood and supplies. The bulding had four windows on each side of the main room and two to the anteroom on the south. The interior of the building had about the same seating and equipment arrangement as the Germany [Richland Twp] and #11 [Liberty Twp] buildings. The combination desk-seats had a metal frame and wood top which contained the customary groove for pencils and round opening for the ink bottle. Since ball point pens were then unheard-of and the fountain pens were too expensive to use, it was still necessary to provide for the messy ink bottle. The seats varied in size to accommodate pupils of different heights. Often it was necessary to supply a foot rest for those whose feet did not touch the floor when seated.
The wood frame toilets, conforming to the usual custom, were located at the back of the lot and behind the building. There was no wood shed so the winter’s supply was corded along the fence next to the woods. To heat a building of that size, uninsulated and no storm windows, required several cords of wood to last all winter. A day’s supply was kept in the anteroom. The pupils were always willing to help carry in a supply each day. Often we would form a relay team arranged arms length apart from the wood pile to the anteroom, and relay the wood into the building one stick at a time. This added variation and interest to the chore. There was no well at the school so the water supply had to be carried from the nearest residence, which was that of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Guise. He was a younger brother of Alonzo Guise, one of my teachers at the Germany School. During real cold weather it was necessary to have a good fire going in the wood-burning stove by 7:30 in the morning so as to have the room warm enough to start school at 9:00. On a few Monday mornings the temperature was down to 0 degrees in the building when I arrived. When the weather was nice, I walked the nearly two mile distance to school. When it was not I came by horse back or drove a horse and buggy. I stabled the horse in a shed which Jerry Edgington had built, in the corner of the woods by the school building, of poles and marsh hay. His daughter, Florence, when in the seventh grade drove to school and needed a shelter for her horse during the day.
After my first year at Dead Man’s College, the trustee, William Foster, provided transportation for the pupils who did not live close enough to the school. My father, John Bowen, was awarded the contract for the job of driving the school hack with his own team of dapple-gray horses. This was one of the first transportation routes in the township. The hack, of coach like construction, was heated by a vented kerosene heater. It would accommodate about 16 to 18 children.
The enrollment during my second term at Dead Man’s College (1917-18) was larger than it was the first. I do not remember the exact number, but for part of the term it exceeded 35 and in all eight grades, with the first grade having the largest number. It was interesting as well as surprising to me to see how rapidly the first graders learned to read, spell, write and do simple arithmetic. Beginners were then taught to read by the word method. That is, words were leanred first, then put into simple sentences. The alphabet and spelling of the words came next. This method has since been superseded by more modern, and no doubt better methods, which develop more rapid reading. Flash cards and specially designed drill exercises from the black board were aids used in learning new words. One exercise drill that I used, seemingly with good results, was “Picking the Apples”. I drew on the blackboard with colored chalk an apple tree with some red apples on it, and a ladder extending from the ground into the tree. The apples were the new words and the rungs of the ladder were the more familiar ones. The object was to climb the ladder, pick an apple and climb down by pronouncing each word. They fell from the ladder if they missed a word. To add more interest and thrill I added to the drawing a tub of water beneath the ladder.
The winter of 1917-18 was one to be remembered because of the unusual amount of snow. On either side of a section of the north and south road, over which I had to travel to get to school, was a hedge fence. The hedge had not been trimmed for several years and was six or eight feet high.The snow drifted across the road between the hedges so deep that it was impossible to get through. There were no snow plows and it was too deep to shovel out, so it was by-passed by driving through to the field until the snow melted in the spring.
Another memorable event was the School Box Social held during the fall of 1917-18 term for the purpose of raising funds to purchase some books for the school library. Box socials then were quite common and very popular. The girls of the community and often some of the women would decorate and fill a cardboard box or lunch basket with a tasty lunch for two. Without announcing the name of the one who prepared it, the box would be auctioned off ot the highest bidder. After all the boxes had been sold, the one purchasing it had the privilege of sharing the lunch with the one who prepared it. The selling price of the boxes varied from 25 cents to occasionally four to five dollars. Boy friends often would pay a good price to prevent his lady from eating lunch with his rival. There was very little expense involved in this type of project and hence it was a good fund-raising activity. As I remember our net proceeds from this social were between $15 and $20, all of which was used to purchase books. The evening was greatly enjoyed by all.
The school term ended with the customary carry-in dinner and a school program in which most of the pupils participated. As I remember, the teacher who preceeded me at Dead Man’s College was Bertha (Conway) Kelley and the one who followed was Hazel (O’Neil) Overmyer.
Now, 64 years later, the Dead Man’s College building, although changed in appearance, still stands and is used by a farmer for stoarge purposes. The bell and belfry are gone and a large opening with a sliding door has been made in the west side. The remaining windows are boarded shut and the woods all cleared away. Although it bears the marks of age, to all those who went to school there or taught there, it is an emblem of community service. If it would talk, it, like all of the other abandoned one-room district school buildings, would say “Farewell. I have served my time.”
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, pp 11-16]
DEAD MAN’S COLLEGE
By Donald Calhoun Sr.
This is a sentimental journey back in time and mainly concerns a small square-top brick building located about three and one-half miles west of Richland Center in Fulton County. It was and still is known as Dead Man’s College. I do not know in what year it was constructed but I do know that it was before the turn of the century. It still stands, quite erect for its age, and is used for grain storage.
My name is Donald Calhoun Sr., Argos, and I was born in 1904 on the north side of the Marshall and Fulton county line just one mile north of Dead Man’s College schoolhouse. History has it that the schoolhouse got its name by having a small cemetery in the corner of the yard. As children we were fascinated with the story that there was a grave under the front steps. I knew that relatives that I had nver known were buried in the small graveyard.
Because I lived north of the county line I attended Santa Anna School in my first year; then we moved across into Fulton County and I started my second year and graduated from eighth grade at Dead Man’s College.
There were about 15 students and all eight grades were taught by one teacher. Family names of my classmates included Anderson, Ault, Brugh, Batz, Castleman, Curry, Dillon Edington, Hiatt, Hudkins, O’Connell, Cowen, Overmyer, Sheets and Sult. I’m sure there are some I have fofgotten to mention.
My first teacher was Medord Neher, who at that time lived on what is now the Charlie Staner farm near Argos. If all the students were still here to reminisce, I am sure they would agree that the highlight of Mr. Neher’s teaching career was the day he sent a paper balloon into the air and thinking that it would not go very far, he decided that it would be a good treat for the children to follow it. So off we started, all eight grades, across the fields, and ditches, about one and one-half mile before it came down. Most of the smaller children were very tired and by the time we trudged back to the school it was time to go home; no time left for studies. We had a great day but some of the parents were not in agrement with that.
I believe the next teacher was a lady named Bertha Conway and next came a gentleman named George Riddle. In my sixth year we had Vernie Bowen, the father of ex-Governor Otis Bowen. Mr. Vernie Bowen still lives in Leiters Ford. By the eighth grade another lady became our teacher. She was Hazel O’Neil Overmyer who still lives southeast of Delong. Every day she drove her horse and buggy to school and the horse was kept in a small shed beside the schoolhouse.
The one-room schoolhouse was heated by a large round oak stove around which we had classes in winter. As one of the older boys in my last two years there it was my job to get to school early and get the fire going. At night, before leaving I would bank it with wood and it would hold a little heat until morning.
Most of us had to walk to school and I can remember several cold winters of plowing through the snow and sometimes across the fields to get there.
Since there was no plumbing whatsoever the toilets were outside. There was one in one corner of the schoolyard for boys and another in the other corner for the girls. Mighty uncomfortable in winter.
We also had to carry our drinking water. Two of us at a time would take turns carrying a three-gallon pail of water from the Hugh Guise farm down the road. Sometimes we would have to make two trips a day. The pail sat on a small table and each pupil and the teacher had his or her own folding tincup. These tincups were numbered and sat on small shelves.
At noon and recess we played Black Man, Andy Over, Dare Base and in winter when there was snow we played Fox and Geese. There was a nice hill to slide on and we made a sled out of buggy top bows about four feet long. These buggy top bows were turned up on each end and made good sled runners. Inside we held lots of spelling bees. Part of the social life of the community was the box socials and cake walks held at the schoolhouse.
The game of basketball was just starting in some of the larger city schools. We didn’t know for sure what it was.
One winter, in approximately 1918, there was a bad flu epidemic. The school was closed and most families were so ill that they could not take care of each other. Several people died that winter.
Today, retired from many happy years on the farm, I sit with my wife Cora in my modern home on a paved street across from a new high school and count the cars (over 300 in one hour) going to the ball games, concerts, etc. Sometimes I close my eyes and become a boy again at Dead Man’s College and with a tinge of sadness for days gone by and yet a gratefulness for things that are now, I realize that “school days” in rural America can never again be the same as then, except in the memory of an old codger like me.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, pp 16-19]
THE COOKS RECALL DEAD MAN’S COLLEGE
Dan Cook, born in 1893, attended Dead Man’s College 1900-08. He lived a mile south of the school if you cut across the fields, but 2-1/2 miles if you went by the roads, so of course the children cut across the fields, as there was no hack and they all had to walk to school.
Dan’s first year of school was in the new brick school which replaced the wooden building and stood almost but not quite on the same exact location but on a different foundation laid so it covered part of the old foundation. His teachers were Arthur Dillon 1900 fall and William Cook 1901 spring, William A. Hiatt 1901-02, Elmer Hiatt 1902-03, Alvin Hiatt 1903-04, Nellie Meiser 1904-05, Josie Meiser 1905-06, Alonzo Guise 1906-08.
Oren Anderson crawled under the school in the crawlspace and put a cow bell attached to a wire and ran the wire up through the floor by his seat. He would ring the bell with his foot during school and was not detected by the teacher. This became a sort of tradition because when Dan’s sons Elmer and Eldrith (twins) were attending Dead Man’s College, Ed Overmyer did the same thing. Probably other boys did it too. A favorite line the boys told the teacher was that the bell was rung by the ghost of one of the dead people buried under the school. There was even a story that a man was killed and buried under the school; later other graves were added to this and it became a graveyard. It’s true that there was a graveyard under and around the school, but it may or may not be true about the man being killed.
Tom Calhoun drove the first hack (horse-drawn) to Dead Man’s College. Dan Cook drove the hack 1919-21, and Ed Bunn drove it next. The hacks were stored in the garage at Richland Center School during the summer when not in use.
Dan’s wife, Della Babcock Cook, often drove the hack while Dan was busy with the harvest in the fall. One evening while it was pouring down rain and Della was driving the kids home, the right rear wheel broke. It dropped down in a mud hole and broke the hub right off. They walked to the nearest house, Fred Campbell’s, and Campbell took the kids on home.
The hack had a little wood-burning stove underneath it, and it poured heat through a register in the middle of the floor. They carried wood behind the driver’s seat and had to stop once or twice during the route to restock the fire with fuel. The hack was pulled by Cook’s horses, Topsy and Roxie, both real gentle horses that knew the route and stopped at each child’s house without having to be told.
They had spelling bees, box socials, carry-in dinners for the last day of school – all the usual events in a one-room school. For the evening meetings the school was lighted with coal-oil lamps fastened to the walls, about three lamps to a wall all around the inside of the school. But no matter how dark the winter days were, the lamps were never lit in the day time.
Dan Cook has no photo of his school days at Dead Man’s College, but he does have a souvenir booklet from his teacher in 1901-02. It lists the pupils: Jessie Miser, Bertha Reed, Florence Miser, May Overmyer, Talmage Dillon, Zella Dillon, Evert Sult, Grace Dillon, May Cooper, Herbert Edinger, Mattie Dudgeon, Harold Hisey, Frank Cowen, Dessie Cowen, Benjamin Dillon, Ida Dillon, Rhoda O’Connell, Claudia Cooper, Bertie Sult, Effie Overmyer, Edward Cook, Eunice Dillon, Clyde Cooper, Albert Biddinger, Ina O’Connell, Tressie Edgington, Jessie Sult, Floyd Light, Alvin Cowen, Chloe Sult, Charlie O’Connell, Dan Cook, Carrie Cooper, Clarence Dillon, Esther Light, Eugene Hisey, Harry Clark, and Cevilla Calhoun.
Dan’s three older children, Elmer, Eldrith and Edith, attended Dead Man’s College, but his youngest son, Kenny, attended Richland Center School. Eldrith recalls his teachers: Helen Rush 1921-22, Esther Green 1922-23, Miss Zartman 1923-24, Dewey Mow 1924-25, and Carl Sheets 1925-26. Dead Man’s College was closed in 1926 and the children were bussed to Richland Center.
Eldrith also recalls that they had to carry water from the nearest house, which was owned by Mike Briney. They had to set their lunches on the stove in real cold weather to keep them from freezing. The stove had a sheet-metal jacket around it to help spread the heat. Arthur Nulf has the metal jacket now. Once the teacher went to sleep in her chair and the older boys tied her to the chair. Robert Smith had a little dog named Steel. There was a big woods back of the school, and the boys would hunt rabbits with the dog, using slingshots for weapons. They would sell the rabbits to the teacher, Carl Sheets, for 25 cents each.
When Esther Green of Fulton taught at Dead Man’s College, she stayed with the Tanners, a family near the school. Later she married a man named Tanner from Mobile, Ala, but he was no relation to the ones in Richland Twp. Esther would go home to Fulton on weekends, and on Monday mornings she drove her father’s Model T Ford back to Dead Man’s College. Her younger sister, Lois Green (later Mrs. Melvin Wagoner), would ride with her and then drive the car back to Fulton and keep it at Fulton High School all day ’till time to go home after school. Lois was 17 and a sophomore, so this was quite a thrill to have the family car! Of course, you didn’t have to have a driver’s license in those days.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, pp 19-23]
DEAD MAN’S COLLEGE
By John Norman Hiatt
Teachers recalled: William A. Hiatt 1901-02; Medford Neher 1912-13; George Riddle 1913-15; Bertha Conoway 1915-16; Vernie Bowen 1916-18; Hazel Oneal 1918-19; Mildred Eash 1919-20, Helen Rush 1920-22.
Estella Hiatt taught a term of subscription school during the summer. Her pay came from the families with pupils enrolled. Few attended so pay was very poor.
Games played: School yard and surrounding woods and open fields were the only playgrounds. Games recalled were ball, with several versions such as one old cat, two old cat, work up and regular baseball with about every pupil playing; shinney on the ice; old sow; motion; black man; tappy on the ice box; fox and goose; anty or andy over; and tree tag. Very few factory-made sleds were owned by the pupils; most were home made. Some used barrel staves for runners. Coasting was great fun. The more distant hills were considered the best. It took longer to get there and much longer to return. Noon hours often were stretched to two hours. After all, the snow might be gone by the next day. We should make the most of it while it lasted.
School hack drivers (no motor buses): Estella Hiatt (picked up four in her buggy), John Bowen, Verle Brugh, Dan Gaby, and Dan Cook. Most preferred to walk to school if weather permitted. It was a great time to observe nature and the outdoors.
Vernie Bowen drew trees on the blackboard and then drew apples on the branches. He also drew a ladder leaning into the tree for us to imagine using while picking the apples. On each ladder rung and on each apple he placed a small arithmetic problem. Then beginning at the bottom of the ladder and climbing upward, he would point to these problems. As long as we gave the right answers we could continue climbing, but once we missed we fell to the ground. After a couple of months this became a bit monotonous. He then drew a large tub of water at the foot of the ladder to fall into. Interest and effort increased. This method worked as well in phonics as arithmetic. Thanks to his methods and patience we learned arithmetic and reading much better.
Whiplash was a game of endurance and fortitude. Raspberry vines, blackberry vines and limber willows served as “lashes”. The game started when two boys squared off and started lashing each other below the knees and continued until one gave up. One particular day the largest boy in school showed up with several large willows on hand and challenged a skinny fifth grade boy to whiplash. It was no match. The small boy was taking an awful beating but something gray showed from the big boy’s overall legs. All the other boys jumped in and wrestled him to the ground and proceeded to see what the gray material showing was. The big boy had heavy underwear and two pairs of pants below his overalls. After removing the extra pants so some pain might penetrate, all began lashing him. He yelled, cried and begged for mercy. It was the last day of whip lashing.
During the “Flu” epidemic of 1917-18, school was closed. All but one pupil contracted the disease but none died.
In the corner of the school yard next to the small family cemetery stood a large oak tree. In the fall it was a pleasant place to eat our lunches. It was also a favorite place for shade bumblebees – a bumblebee without a stinger. Somehow these bees would get trapped in boys’ bandana handkerchiefs and stored for future use. Of course, they needed to be inspected and shown to others in the school room. They would buzz and frighten the girls into a panic – real or imaginary.
In this small cemetery were lots of brambles and an old seedling apple tree. Yellow jackets made their home in there and if disturbed would fly beyond the cemetery limits seeking their adversaries. It seemed a bit strange that after the first day of school every boy knew where to throw a stone into a yellow jackets nest. It was also a test of valor to disturb the yellow jackets, fall to the ground and lie motionless until they settled down again. Sometimes bees don’t recognize valor and in those instances, draw your own conclusions – at a safer distance.
Many good boys and girls have attended Dead Man’s College and became good citizens. Few have reached the headlines. We do have the distinction of having the 1972-80 governor of Indiana being born within the district limits.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 51, pp 44-46]
__________
Teachers: Arthur Dillon, 1900 fall
William Cook, 1901 spring
William A. Hiatt, 1901-02
Elmer Hiatt, 1902-03
Alvin Hiatt, 1903-04
Nellie Meiser, 1904-05
Josie Meiser, 1905-06
Alonzo Guise, 1906-08
Medord Neher, 1912-13
George Riddle, 1913-15
Bertha Conoway 1915-16
Vernie Bowen, 1916-18
Hazel (O’Neil) Overmyer, 1918-19
Mildred Eash 1919-20
Helen Rush, 1920-22
Esther Green, 1922-23
Esther Zartman Powell, 1923-24
Dewey Mow, 1924-25
Carl Sheets, 1925-26
DELONG SCHOOL [Delong, Indiana]
Located in Section 16, on the South side of Olson Road and the East side of 900W at Delong.
__________
[photo] Della Edgington, teacher at Delong School 1907-12. December is the month on the calendar on the wall. Della married William Heeter and became Lois Heeter’s mother. (Photo: Lois Heeter Baldwin)
[FCHS Images, p. 23]
[photo] William Heeter and the school hack he drove to Delong School, 1907-12. (Photo: Lois Heeter Baldwin)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 23]
[photo] Delong hack and pupils. William Heeter, hack driver, is standing at rear of hack. He drove the hack 1907-12. (Photo: Lois Heeter Baldwin)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 23]
[photo] William Heeter stopped his Delong School hack on the bridge over Tippecanoe River for this picture, so the children all got out to pose, sometime between 1907 and 1912. (Photo: Lois Heeter Baldwin)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 23]
[photo] Delong School 1911-12. Row 1: Westey Hosimer, Clarence Whitacre, Floyd Deck, Leonard Brugh, Lew Cusick, Charley Downham, Sidney Brugh, Norman Earl, Roy Wilbert, June Robinson, Georgie Yelton, Edith Whitacre, Norma Jones, Hazel Calhoun, Estie Hosimer. Row 2: Lawrence Kelly, George Scheuer, Lottie Yelton, Louisa Whitacre, Howard Bunnel, Ross Bunnel, Francis Kelly, Helen Mahler, Olive Robinson, Hope Slonaker, Roscoe Delly, Mildred Robinson. Row 3: Martha Ball, Earl Baker, Delice Hand, Don Hand, Walter Whitacre, Bert Deck, Fred Yelton, Herman Bunnel, Lee Calhoun, Millard Hosimer, Lloyd Wilfert, Olive Blair, Harry Castleman, Bess Kaley, James Cusick, Helen Downham, Vernice Earl, Ada Fry, Omer Ball, Chester Kelly, Oren Kelly. Row 4: Thomas Meridith, janitor; Clarence Castleman, bus driver; Elsie Ball, Mary Cusick, Pearl Earl, James Calhoun, Walter Bunnel, Maude Deck, Florence Mahler, Mae Robinson, Della Edginton, teacher of first through fourth grades; Guy Shadel, teacher of fifth through eighth grades; Glen Hand, Clarence Kelly, Alta Bowman, Geneva Vankirk. (Photo supplied by Guy Shadel)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 17, p. 11]
[photo] Delong School built in 1896, torn down 1915-16. It was located in Delong on the north side of Olson Road and the east side of 900W. (Photo donated to FCHS by Vera Mathewman)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 23]
[photo] Delong School from Bertha McClain Tash’s scrapbook. This school was built in 1896 and torn down in 1916.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, p. 29]
[photo] Delong School built 1916. This photo was taken by Lois Heeter in 1920.
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 24]
[photo] Delong School 1920-21, Edna Champ, teacher. They are playing “London Bridge is Falling Down.” (Photo: Lois Heeter Baldwin)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 24]
[photo] Delong School 1920-21, Edna Champ, teacher. [right to left] Front row: Marie Lewis, John Decker, Lois Heeter, Raymond Thomas, Lester Shidaker.
Row 2: Beulah Thomas, Letcher Robinson, Goldie Mahler, Mike Hartz, Howard Heeter, Harry Shidaker.
Row 3: Bernice Engel, Frances Kline, Millicent Slaybaugh, Paul Decker, Eva Reinhold, Elnora Bitterling Malgren, Kathleen Burns.
Row 4: Bob Kelley, Robert Kline, Ray Reinhold, Earl Reinhold, Jack Kreischer. (Photo: Lois Heeter Baldwin)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 24]
[photo] Delong School primary grades 1921-22, Naomi Hartle, teacher. Front row: Raymond Thomas, Donald Engel, Raymond Kreischer, Lester Shidaker, Kenneth Kaley.
Row 2: Ruth [ – – – – ] , Bob Kelley, Harry Shidaker, Letcher Robinson, Howard Heeter.
Row 3: Ruth Williams, Doris Young, Lois Heeter, Kathleen Burns, Bernice Kline,
[ – – – -], Flo Carper.
Row 4: Mike Hartz, Beulah Thomas, Paul Decker, John Decker, Josephine Fauk, Janet Mcintire, Marie Lewis. (Photo: Lois Heeter Baldwin)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 27]
[photo] Delong School, grades 4-5-6, 1921-22. Front row: Everett Murhling, Eugene Kreischer, Walter Erwin, Carl Folk.
Row 2: Harry Edgington, Ray Reinholt, Earl Reinholt, Charles Calhoun, Donald Reinholt, Clifford Hauser, Robert Kline. (John Hein was absent.)
Row 3: Kathleen Burns, Frances Kline, Viera Monesmith, Dorotha Whitacre, Hope Williams, Reatha Lewis, Julia Engle, Burnis Engle.
Row 4: Avanelle Kurtz – teacher, Louiemae Edgington, Pauline Monesmith, Edna Kreischer, Charlotte Mahler, Geraldine Robinson, Anna Decker. (Florence Erwin and Eva Reinholt were absent.) (Photo: Avanelle Kurtz Cowen)
[FCHS Images No. l, p. 37]
[photo] Souvenir booklet, 1921-22 school year at Delong, Avanelle G. Kurtz, Teacher. Pupils:
FOURTH GRADE: Kathleen Burns, Eugene Kreischer, Francis Kline, Donald Reinholt, Viera Monesmith, Eva Reinholt, Walter Erwin, Burnis Engle, Robert Kline, Florence Erwin, Ray Reinhold, John Hein, Earl Reinhold.
FIFTH GRADE: Hope Williams Anna Decker, Edna Kreischer, Everett Murhling, Dorothy Whitacre, Charlote Mahler, Reatha Lewis.
SIXTH GRADE: Julah Engle, Charles Calhoun, Louiemae Edgington, Geraldine Robinson, Clifford Hauser, Carl Folk, Paulene Monesmith, Harry Edgington.
L. V. Robinson, Trustee, T. F. Berry, County Superintendent, Ralph Murray, Principal.
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 38]
[photo] Delong School 1925-26 souvenir booklet. (From Lois Heeter Baldwin)
Intermediate Room, DeLong School, Fulton Co., Ind., April 23, 1926. Teacher, Paul A. Hoover. Co. Supt., Roy Jones. Trustee, G. C. Kline.
Pupils: Norman Heeter, Robert Kelly, Ruby Mahler, Betty Reams, Bernice Kline, Cloral Hartz, Eleanor Washburn, Raymond Kreischer, Lois Heeter, Daisy Faulstich, Raymond Thomas, Cecil Patsel, Marguerite Slonaker, Frances Wentzel, Marjorie Thompson, Opal Hurlburt, Flo Carper, Donald Engle, Janet McIntire, Leatha Mahler, Virgil Slonaker.
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 25]
HISTORY OF DELONG, INDIANA
Compiled by Alice Sprecher
Prior to 1896 children attended a one room log school on the Ellis property one-half mile southeast of Delong. Then a two room brick school was built in the town. This school was replaced in 1916 by a two story brick school which was abandoned in 1945 when the new Leiters Ford School consolidated and took over the pupils. This 1916 building still stands unoccupied since that time.
[FCHS Quarterly, December 1967, p. 13]
SCHOOLS OF AUBBEENAUBBEE TOWNSHIP
Compiled by Paul Hoover
The first Delong School was called Ellis School located south of Delong just east of where old #17 turns toward Kings Lake. It was a log building on the Ellis farm. Later a new brick building was erected about 1896 in the northwest part of Delong about 50 feet east of where the old building now stands.
A new brick building was built just west of it in 1916 and the old building was abandoned. This building is still standing and was sold in 1951 when the new building was completed at Leiters Ford. Then the pupils of the township were all taken to Leiters Ford whichw as then called the Aubbeenaubbee Township School.
[FCHS Quarterly, December, 1967, p. 15]
AUBBEE’S ONE-ROOM SCHOOLS
By Guy Shadel and Omer Reichard as told to Shirley Willard
Delong (section 16) had two schools; the later one is still standing in ruins in the northwest part of the town about 1-1/2 blocks west of old state road 17. The earlier building was about 50 feet east of the present ruins on a lot north of Reform church which has been long gone. The village name came from the last name of the first railroad agent in Delong. The first school had two rooms and was built in 1896. Primary grades 1 to 4 and the restrooms were in the east room, while grades 5 to 8 were in the bigger addition, the part having the bell tower. The two rooms wre really two buildings attached, but with completely different architectural styles. Teachers were Bert Myers 1901-02; Carrie Kline 1907-08; Frank Shadel 1908; Dow Haimbaugh (grades 5-8) 1907-09; Della Edginton (grades 1-4) 1909-12; Guy Shadel (grades 5-8) 1911-12. Patrons included Bunnell, Deck, Kelly, Hand, Patsel, Miller, Cusick, Robinson families.
Guy Shadel recalls handling a discipline problem while teaching at Delong. A certain boy was always leaning back and knocking the books off the desk belonging to the girl seated behind him. Finally in an effort to stop him, she pulled his hair. He opened his pocket-knife and slashed at her with it. Mr. Shadel kept him after school and asked the janitor to get four switches from Wolf Harbor nearby. After school he locked the door and talked to the boy about 15 minutes and then whipped him. The boy held on to his desk and had to be pulled out of it in order to be whipped, but Mr. Shadel used up all four switches. The next morning the father came with the boy to school and asked what was the matter, as the boy refused to come to school and wanted to quit. After Mr. Shadel explained, the father said, “You sit down and behave yourself. When you come home tonight, you’re getting the worst licking of your life. And Mr. Shadel, if he gives you any more trouble, you go ahead and whip him and when he gets home, I’ll lick him too.”
In 1916 the old Delong school was torn down and part of the material was used to build the new four-room school. This second had 2 grades to a room. High school students were bussed to Leiters Ford. The abandoned school was sold by Guy Shadel, trustee, in 1951 to Albert Scheuer for $2300. It had been appraised for $1500, but a man wanting to make an apartment house out of it bid it up. However it has been used only for storage since that time, and a fire has reduced it to ruins in a weedy lot. A list of teachers in this school has never been compiled, and it is our hope that someone will do so.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 17, p. 10]
DELONG SCHOOL
By Lois Heeter Baldwin
I was born in Fulton County in Delong in August 1914. We lived in Delong in the winter and in Ray, North Dakota, in the summer as my Dad homesteaded there. When I was five years old and my brother Howard was six and ready for school, we stayed in Indiana.
I started to school in Delong in 1920. My first grade teacher was Edna Champ. The school I went to was built in 1916; it replaced the two-room school that was just east a short distance and was built in 1896. My mother Della M. Edgington, taught at Mt. Hope 1905-06, Delong 1906-07, North Dakota 1907-08, and in Delong 1908-12.
Our school had four school rooms. First, second and third grades were in one room on the first floor; and fourth, fifth and sixth across the hall. Seventh and eighth were upstairs; across the hall was an empty room. Up half a flight and to the center front of the building was a small room, our library. Some books belonged to the school and others were supplied by the Fulton County Library. The library truck came once a week, we each got to go to the library truck and get books.
Between the two upstairs rooms was a space we called the stage. It had pull-down doors to both rooms. It was here we had plays, programs for last day of school, also for Christmas, Thanksgiving and other occasions. We had several spelling bees and the final day program was on the stage so all the school could listen to it.
Our school had two rooms in the basement where we played on days we couldn’t go outside. We even roller-skated there. One room had play equipment; I remember the rockers which were similar to a teeter-totter.
Each school room had a cloak room, a small room at the back with hangers on three sides for coats and hats and shelves on the third side for lunch buckets for those who came to school by the school hack. Boots went on the floor.
We had inside restrooms, but no spetic tank in the ground like now. There was a large tank in the basement just below the restroom and it had to be taken out to be emptied.
Since we lived in Delong, we walked to school but there were school hacks pulled by horses for the farm kids.
My second grade teacher was Naomi Hartle, third grade – Mildred Robinson, fourth grade – Miss Carruthers, fifth – Esther Williams, sixth and eighth was Paul Hoover, and seventh – Orville Wentzel. Charles Messersmith was principal 1924-25.
Our school was heated by coal; the boiler room was in the basement between the two rooms we played in. A register was in each room; it was about three feet square, located on the wall, but up by the ceiling. There was always a red ribbon hanging on it so you could tell if any air was coming out. There was always a dirty black spot on the ceiling above it. The cold air duct was also about three feet square located on the wall by the floor; if you looked in it, it was like a chimney.
The only sport we had was baseball. The boys team was very popular. A few of the girls played baseball but we never got to play teams from other schools like the boys did.
Report cards – for first grade were were graded on Reading, Writing Numbers, Spelling, Phonics and Deportment, the scores 95-100 were excellent, 90-95 P+ (Passing), 85-90 P, 80-85 P, 75-80 PC, below 75 NP (Not Passing) or Failure.
The last day of school was a big occasion. We always had big carry-in dinner. Most of the time it was held outside but due to it being the last of April, sometimes the weather didn’t cooperte. Also we had a program for the parents. Then the mothers presented the teachers with a gift, which most always was a quilt, like a basket quilt with each family’s name on a basket. That block would be made from a print dress you had that year.
Since I lived in Delong, most of the time I went home for lunch. It was a real treat to carry my lunch in a blue and white enamel dinner pail. On nice days we ate outside.
“Wolf Harbor” was a swamp just north of the school. A ditch ran into it but the swamp no longer exists today, as it has been drained and dried, but it’s still a woods. About half way between the school and “Wolf Harbor” was a raised area about 18 inches high forming a ring. We sat on this with our feet inside the circle. There was room for about 14 kids. This circle was later identified by Ervin Stuntz as an Indian mound.
Sometimes on nice days in the spring we would get to take a walk and one of the places we went was Kline’s woods just north of the school and north of town. There in the woods was a high ridge called Peanut Hill, so named because sometimes when my mother taught there, the teacher would hide peanuts and let the children hunt them.
I graduated in 1928. We had our graduation exercises at Leiters Ford with their high school. My cousin Harry Edgington graduated from high school that year.
Most of the teachers when I was in school boarded in Delong. David and Liza Castleman lived just across the Commons from the school and several teachers boarded there.
Janitors I remember were Dave Castleman and John Kaley.
[FCHS Images No. 1, pp 23-25]
TEACHING SCHOOL AT DELONG & LEITERS FORD1917-24
By Avanelle Kurtz Cowen
In April 1917 when my class graduated from the 8th grade, we were the first group to march in the School Auditorium following the High School graduating class and we were given our diplomas after they received theirs. This was a great honor. We sat on a front row of chairs ahead of the audience. Of course, the H.S. Seniors sat on the stage.
All through school I thought some day I would be a teacher and many times when I was in the upper grades, when an elementary teacher would be absent a part or even all day, the Principal would ask me to take charge. I always enjoyed it very much.
My high school class started out with 16 students. Gerald Best, Dorothy O’Blenis, Emerson Nafe, Gladys Robinson, Fred McConkey, Roy Millizer, Lucille Hoesel and Walter Ball and the eight who graduated in 1921 – Clifford Cowen, Emery Davis, Norman Davis, Lonnie Hall, Orville Fisher, Gwendolyn Stubbs, Avanelle Kurtz, and Neoma Hartle. ((1987 – Clifford Cowen, Emery Davis, Norman Davis, Gwendolyn Stubbs and Avanelle Kurtz (Cowen) are still living and often 50% of our 8 graduates attend the Leiters Ford High School Alumni meetings.)
Our high school graduation was April 29, 1921.
That summer I attended Indiana University at Bloomington – no pre-entrance or formalities as of now. I just sent a deposit for a room at Residence Hall, took the train from Delong, changed at Indianapolis – by myself. It was a new experience but I soon found friends. Three girls were there from Kokomo. I roomed with Ruth Unger from Kokomo.
The trustee of Aubbeenaubbee Twp., Lloyd Robinson, told my father I could teach the 4th, 5th and 6th grades that fall (1921-22) school year) at Delong (about 3 miles from home). That year the wages were raised from $60 a month to $100.
Since I was getting a certificate for my 12 weeks training and had passed the State Teacher’s examination, I was qualified. So I did.
I really enjoyed teaching and was so thrilled with my first check, I wondered whether to cash it – or frame it! Contrary to now I kept every penny of the check. That year 1921 was the beginning of the year for the Indiana State Teachers Retirement Fund. I had no choice – paid $32.45 for several years. Little did I think I would teach long enough to enjoy a pension.
Each summer I got more college training and taught each winter.
In Fulton County I taught 1921-1928.
Later I taught in St. Joseph County in the South Bend-Mishawaka area for a total of 38 years. After retirement in 1966, I did substitute teaching both in Michigan and Florida.
My first year teaching was very enjoyable.
Bill Keitzer, our Township Supervisor arranged a Township Spelling contest to be held at Delong School in 1923. It was planned for 7th and 8th grade students but open to the younger students if they cared to enter. It would be a good experience for all.
I encouraged my group, (4th, 5th and 6th grades) to enter. They worked hard and had a lot of enthusiasm – playing spelling games and studying every list of words they could find.
The big day came. All contestants stood and spelled orally until half the group were spelled down (missed a word). Then they wrote 50 words which were pronounced by Bill Keitzer. The papers were graded by teachers and as soon as one word was spelled wrong, that student was eliminated, so the checking was soon finished. There were just three perfect papers and to my surprise – all three were from my room: Florence Scheuer, Florence Erwin and Anna Decker.
I might as well tell the whole story – when my three girls’ names were announced – I was so overjoyed, I jumped right straight up! And I heard an older teacher say, “Well, she didn’t need to act like that about it!” The girls spelled orally, winning 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes. We were all very proud of our girls and it surely proved that encouragement and work pays off.
Spelling matches and ciphering matches were great fun. Spelling bees used to be very popular.
During 1921-22 Naomi Hartle taught grades 1, 2 and 3. I had 4, 5 and 6, and Ralph Murray, Principal, had the 7th and 8th grades.
The next winter 1922-23, Mildred Robinson taught grades 1, 2 and 3; I taught 4, 5 and 6; and Paul Bridegroom, Principal, taught the 7th and 8th grades.
My second year teaching was grades 4, 5 and 6 at Delong. Paul Bridegroom, Principal, taught grade 7 and 8. Mildred Robinson taught grades 1, 2 and 3.
The building at Delong had two rooms on the second floor and two on the first floor. It was very adequate, in very good condition, was well heated and kept very clean.
The students who lived near walked to school. Others were bussed.
Very few children went home for lunch. Most all brought good lunches and we all ate in our rooms in a very pleasant atmosphere.
Recess time was the same for all three rooms so there was a fun time for all to play together. They mostly created their own fun. The older children enjoyed playing with the younger ones. This works out very well in varied age groups and is great. Outdoor play was enjoyed – even in cold weather – they just had fun together.
In exchange for me teaching the 7-8 grade girls Home Economics, Paul Bridegroom taught geography class with my group.
At Delong I was “Miss Kurtz”. The next winter 1923-24 I was “Avanelle” at Leiters Ford – teaching grades 1 2 and 3. You see, most every child knew me.
The 3rd year I resigned at the end of the first semester and went to Rochester’s Lincoln School (next door to the old Woodlawn Hospital) and taught the 2nd grade until the end of the 1927-28 term. Other teachers there were Kathryn Perschbacher, 1st grade; Bernice Stonall, kindergarten; Edna Sheets, and Lucille Rinehart.
[FCHS Images No. 1, pp 37-38]
MEMORIES
By Robert C. Kline
I began school at Delong in 1917. The teacher said that brothers and sisters should be in the same class. They placed me in the class where my older sister Francis was. Other students which were in the third grade were Earl R. Reinhold, Oliver and Effie Michael, Eva and Donald Reinhold. The teacher removed Harry Edington from the third grade and placed him in the fourth grade with his sister, Louiemae.
When in the third grade one of my classmates, Earl Reinhold, suggested that I smack the teacher with the spelling book. I was promptly told to stay after school for punishment. The teacher told me she did not blame one for having a good time and as soon as all the students were gone I was dismissed.
Ralph Murray was the sixth grade teacher. When the teacher discovered that Francis Kline and Earl Reinhold were talking he asked them to come up front and sit on his lap. This they did – one on each knee.
When I was in the eighth grade there was school on Labor Day. I lamented to the teacher, Mr. Wentzel, that I would sure like to go to the stock car races in Rochester. The teacher said I could take his car and to be sure to return to school before it was dismissed for the day. What a nice teacher!
I attended high school in Leiters Ford. During the first two years in high school four boys left school.
When the class put on the Junior Class Play, the student with the leading part became ill one day before the play was to be performed. The teacher asked Ethel Stayton to take the book home and see if she could learn the leading part in one night. Ethel came back with all the words memorized and did a beautiful job.
While I was a senior in high school, my father was killed by a train in Delong on October 4, 1929. I was going to quit school to pick corn by hand. Rev. Adams from the Leiters Ford Church told me if I would finish high school they would get the corn picked. He was responsible for getting all the high school boys out of school for a day and the boys’ fathers all pitched in and helped pick the corn. In all there were 64 men and boys. The Klines all joined together and cut all the wood for the winter.
The Delong and Leiters Ford Schools combined for graduation ceremonies. Since Annabelle Freese and I were the tallest we marched in together. We later were married. Our class had 17 graduates out of the original 27 who began. In 1990 there is only one male class member living and four girls still alive.
[FCHS Images p. 26]
DELONG TEACHER STORY IN NEWS
Indianapolis Writer Plays Up Charges
Against Pretty School Mom
Indianapolis News, Mar. 17, 1921
Done are the delirious days of despair at Delong, and the demure little Hoosier hamlet up in Fulton County has returned to peaceful normalcy. For nineteen-year-old Miss Lewellyan, of Waynetown, teacher in the Delong grade school, has been exonerated without single nullifying reservation by L. N. Hines, state superintendent of public instruction, of the charges that caused the revocation of her license by the county school officials some time ago. The charges were brought against Miss Lewellyan by L.V. Robinson, school trustee of Aubbeenaubbee Township, and Thomas F. Berry, Fulton County Supt.
Delong geography is largely responsible for Miss Lewellyan’s troubles. If you are in Delong and walk north, you will walk into the Tippecanoe River; if you walk south you walk into King’s Lake; in fact, if you walk at all, you walk out of Delong. And Miss Lewellyan walked.
One of the main charges against her was that she committed the unpardonable crime of walking along the banks of the Tippecanoe River and sometimes actually was accompanied by young men of Delong. This terrible evidence of Delong delinquency was testified to at the hearing before Supt. Hines Wednesday by Mr. Berry.
Other charges were that Miss Lewellyan was extremely popular with the children and that they actually clustered around her on the school playgrounds and that she gave her pupils higher grades than other teachers had done. As further evidence of her total uniftness, it was proved beyond a shadow of doubt that on more than one Wednesday evening she had attended the dance that was held immediately following the high school basketball game and on these occasions sometimes danced until the lights were turned out at the unheard-of-hour of midnight.
Throughout the entire hearing neither Miss Lewellyan nor her attorney had the effrontery to contradict one staggering piece of evidence offered by Leroy Hoff, principal of Leiters Ford High School. Hoff testified that so terrible were these post-basketball revels that he went only under the protection and guidance of the Methodist pastor and then only once, but he felt sure that Miss Lewellyan was among the dancers of these affairs. He testified that he was horrified at what went on, though he stayed until the last light went out.
“I am attempting to hold to a minimum basketball, dancing and every one of those pursuits that hold scholarship down,” Mr. Hoff testified. “Basketball is a sin when carried to an extreme and especially when followed by dancing.”
But in gravity fully equal to the charge of strolling along the Tippecanoe River was the charge that Miss Lewellen was flirtatious. When pressed for a definition of the term “flirtatious,” Mr. Hoff defined it as “giddiness, frivolity and playing at coquetry.” When still further pressed for an example of Miss Lewellyan’s flirtations, he told a tale of how at one of the monthly teachers’ institute meetings held regularly in the high school, Miss Lewellyan had received a note from a young man sitting near her and on receiving it their hands touched and she actually smiled at him.
During the hearing more than 30 persons from Delong were on hand, and it was whispered that Miss Lewellyan’s only crime was that of “spilling the beans,” at Delong; that she had been urged to come there to teach by the Robinson family and that after she came she was so well liked and popular that she found herself basking in the Delong limelight and actually enjoyed it. It was also whispered by many of Miss Lewellyan’s friends, who crowded the hearing room in the offices of the public service commission, that Mr. Berry and Mr. Robinson would “get theirs” at the next election of school officials.When Supt. Hines announced his decision in favor of Miss Lewellyan there was lively applause. Among the most appreciative of the situation, being a number of public service employees who “stayed after work was over just to see that Miss Lewellyan got a square deal.”
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 27]
Prior to 1896 children attended Ellis one-room school, a half mile southeast of Delong. This was replaced by a two-story brick building in 1916, which was abandoned in 1945 and the children went to the new Leiters Ford School.
In the early 1900’s Delong had a general store, meat market, hotel, saloon and two railroads.
Today Delong has two stores and a conservation club where square dances often are held. Joann Clingler, the postmaster, is heading the committee to install playground equipment and a ball court. She and her husband operate a gas station and store. A new post office was built in 1980. The town now has two churches, the old Baptist and the new Gospel Lighthouse church.
[Bruce Lake and Delong, Shirley Willard, Fulton Co Folks, Vol. 2, Willard]
Teachers:
1901–02: William Bertram (Bert) Myers.
1911-12: Guy Shadel, 5-8; Della Edgington, 1-4.
1919-20: Edna Champ, 1-3.
1929-30: Enrollment (1-8), 73. Paul Hoover, 6-7-8; Mabel Hassenplug, 3-4; Olive Guise, 1-2.
1930-31: Enrollment (1-8), 75. Paul Hoover, 6-7-8; Olive Guise, 4-5-6; Mabel Hassenplug, 1-2-3.
1931-32: Enrollment (1-8), 87. Paul Hoover, 6-8; Olive Guise, 4-5; Odessa Greer, 1-3.
1932-33: Enrollment (1-8), 78. Paul Hoover, 6-8; Olive Guise, 4-5; Odessa Greer, 1-3.
1933-34: Enrollment 1-8), 78. Paul A. Hoover, 7-8; Olive Guise, 4-6; Mary Norris, 1-3
1935-36: Enrollment (1-8), 77. Paul A. Hoover, 7-8; Olive Guise, 4-6; Frances Walsh, 1-3.
1936-37: Enrollment (1-8) 75. Albert Ginther, 7-8; Olive Guise, 4-6; Frances Ellen Walsh, 1-3.
1937-38: Enrollment (1-8) 68. Albert F. Ginther, 7-8; Olive Guise, 4-6; Frances Ellen Walsh, 1-3.
1938-39: Enrollment (1-8) 54. A. F. Ginther, 7-8; Olive Guise, 4-6; Paul A. Hoover, 1-3.
1939-40: Enrollment (1-8) 60. Albert Ginther, 5-8; Olive Guise, 1-4.
1940-41: Enrollment (1-8) 44. Paul A. Hoover, 4-6; Olive Guise, 1-3.
1942-43: Enrollment (1-6) 47. Paul A. Hoover, 4-6; Olive Guise, 1-3.
1944-45: Enrollment (1-6) 44. Olive Guise, 4-6; Elizabeth Overmyer, 1-3.
1946-47: Enrollment (1-6) 123. Olive G. Hoover, 5-6; Helen Shadle, 3-4; Elizabeth Overmyer, 2; Mary E. Bryan, 1.
1948-49: Enrollment (1-6) 131.Prin. Paul A. Hoover, 5-6; Wreatha Swanson, 4-5; Olive G. Hoover, 2-3; Elizabeth Overmyer, 1-2.
1949-50: Enrollment (1-6) 130. Prin. Paul A. Hoover, 5-6; Wreatha Swanson, 4-5; Olive G. Hoover, 2-3; Elizabeth Overmyer, 1-2.
1950-51: Enrollment (1-6) 128; Prin. Paul A. Hoover, 7-8; Frances Zagajewski, 4-5; Olive G. Hoover, 2-3; Elizabeth Overmyer, 1-2; Helen Blair Shadle, 3-4; Olive Guise, 5-6;James Osmun, Mu.
1951-52: Discontinued the school.
[F.C.H.S. files]
[Photo] taken during the term of 1911-12. Guy Shadel of Leiters Ford. . . taught fifth through eighth grqades while Della Edgington instructed first through fourth.
The two-room building was abandoned about 1920 for a new structure in Delong, which was used until 1950 when it then was consolidated into the Aubbeenaubbee township school.
Thomas Meredith was custodian of the building, Clarence Castleman the bus driver.
[Rochester Sentinel, Friday, June 15, 1973]
See Delong, Indiana.
DENVER COLLEGE AND NORMAL SCHOOL [Denver, Indiana]
The first term of this newly established Institution of learning will open Tuesday, September 4, 1877, at 9 a.m. in Denver, Miami county, Indiana. Accessible from all sides by rail, and lasts eleven weeks. . . The expenses are lower than in any other good school of the State, amounting, in all to $3.50 per week. Send for circular. W. O. Piper, Sec’y. Denver, Ind., Aug. 11, 1877.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, August11, 1877]
Prof. Ruebelt, of the Denver College, addressed the Murphy congregation at the Opera Hall, Monday night.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, August18, 1877]
The Denver College and Normal School at Denver in Miami county, will enter upon its second term, Tuesday Nov. 27th.
[Rochester, Sentinel, Saturday, November 17, 1877]
Denver College, under Prof. Reubelt, changed to Gladewood Female Seminary or Denver Normal School. . . Rev. Scott Hershey, President. The normal and business departments will be under the charge of Prof. McGinley. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 2, 1879]
DEWEY SCHOOL [#1] [Wayne Township]
Located SW corner of 500W and 550S.
Built between 1883 and 1907.
__________
School No. 1, which is taught by A. J. Harsh, is small, and the house is not well suited to the purpose for which it was intended. . . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, February 24, 1877]
H. D. Howell closed a very successful term of school at the Dewey school house, in Wayne township last Saturday.
[Kewanna Chips, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 5, 1879]
John F. Wilson began teaching when 19 years of age (1865). His first school was the Dewey School in Wayne Township. He “boarded around” for part of his pay and received $100 in cash for the remainder of it. It was only a three months term, though a public school. [Wilson Family, Myrtle Wilson, John Wilson and Lucille Leonard, Fulton County Folks, Vol. 1, Willard]
Pearl Miller was a teacher.
DISKO SCHOOL [Disko, Iniana]
[photo] Disko School, 1908-09, last year in old building. Front row: Helen Krieder, Doris Young, Vernon Landis, Ruth Kreamer, Edith Sopher, Otto Drudge, Dorothy Brooks, Eva Brooks, unknown, Elva Shipley. Row 2: Wilbur Gearhart, Lucile Wright, Opal Wright, Roxie Brooks, Hazel Kreide, Vernon Bechtelheimer, Paul Lukens, Arthur Correll, Arden Hileman, Riley Lambert, Willard Correll, Paul Shipley. Row 3: Laura Barnhart – teacher, Karl Shipley, Mannie Lambert, John Ferree, Frank Lukens, Floyd Fleck, Vernon Floor, Karl Hileman, Alfred Ferree, unknown, Roy Hoagland, Eva Landis – teacher. Row 4: Jessie Creager – music teacher, Charles Lukens, Mabel Smith, Beulah Shipley, Goldie Sopher, [ – – – – ] Sopher, Blanche Grogg, Fay Smith, Lloyd Hileman. Row 5: Ethel Hoagland, Ralph Gearhart, Russell Smith, Ernest Hunter, Russell Shipley, Earl Sullivan, Walter Lotz, Clarence Hoagland. (Photo from History of Pleasant Township Schools by Ruth Brown Brubaker.)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 40, p. 53]
__________
DISKO AS I REMEMBER IT
By Frank Lukens
My first teacher at Disko was Mae (Bolley) Shipley. Other teachers were Anna Funderburg, Lulu Strickler, Pearl Creager (music), Peter Grisso, and a Miss Williams from Roann.
The old Disko school was condemned and torn down and the old school at Forgey’s Corner (one mile east and one mile south of Disko) was used until the new Twin Lakes school building was completed about 1912 or 1913. Teachers at the new Twin Lakes School were Ralph Lukens, Zoa Smith, and Tressa Ohms.They had about 85 students in three separate rooms. Other teachers later on were Mrs. Foster Fooshee, LaVon (Leffel ) Walsh (grades 1 thru 4) 1927-32, Glen Fox (5-8) 1927-32, Bessie (Alger) Henry (1 thur 6) 1932-35.
Disko school closed in 1935. Bussard and Fairview schools closed in 1934. All pupils were taken to Laketon.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 40, p. 48]
HISTORY OF THE DISKO SCHOOL
By June Branegan
(Taken from the Manual of the Pleasant Township Schools 1898-99 Wabash County)
Prior to the year 1876, the children of Disko (New Harrisburg) attended the Twin Lake School, one mile east of here. The schoolhouse being built a short distance from the beautiful lakes from which it derived its name, was the rallying place for many a gay skating party, and spelling schools held there made it a very attractive place for the young peopoe of our town in early years.
In 1876 the first schoolhouse was built in Disko. Twin Lake schoolhouse was vacated, as was also “Hoosier-slide.” Benton Essig, at present a well-to-do farmer of this vicinity, was the first teacher in the new building. At this time Nelson G. Hunter of Wabash taught a writing-school here.
During the terms taught by Eugene McGinley and G. W. Gunder, a very successful literary and debating society was held. The people of the entire community were greatly interested in the literary work. All the young people willingly prepared the duties assigned them, and this accounts for the grand success that crowned the efforts of the society. The editorial paper alone was of sufficient merit to insure a crowded house.
At the close of Mr. Gardner’s school his pupils gave a grand cantata entitled, “Under the Pines,” which was highly commendable.
Entertainments, debating societies, singing-schools and reading circles, writing-schools, etc., have made this a meeting place for the young people. For musical talen, in times past, no other district in the township has surpassed this.
Frank Zimmerman was awarded first premium as the best map-drawer in the Indiana contest of the World’s Fair, and Charles Nelson also received a medal for the map he drew. (Columbian Exposition 1893 in Chicago.)
Wabash County being the banner county in the State exhibit at the World’s Fair, Disko feels that she can claim her share of the honors, as several who visited the Liberal Art Building were convinced that more work from our school was on exhibition there than from any other school in the county.
While most of the pupils have read one-half or more the the library books, Ross Shipley, Albert Beare, Bruce Beare, Frank Branegan and June Branegan have read nearly all but a few volumes. All the “Children’s State Reading Circle” books in the library have been read by nearly all the pupils.
The “ciphering matches” at the school the past winter proves that in accuracy and rapidity of work the pupils here have no equals in this part of the county. Among the best are Ross Shipley, Bruce Beare, Frank Branegan.
Disko School – District No. 17, Grammar Department, A. L. Lukens, Teacher
EIGHTH GRADE: Ross Shipley, Bruce Beare, June Branegan, Frank Branegan – 4.
SEVENTH: Cleo Jontz, Zelma Correll, Mable Neel, George Smith, Charles Gearhart – 5.
A FIFTH: Frank Beare, Jessie Landis, Katie Fleck, Chauncey Gushard Roy Groninger, Effie Beare Dottie Shipley, Jesse Hileman, Oren Hawk, Goldie Secore – 10.
B FIFTH: Lloyd Lukens, Birdie Starr, Ray Davenport, Frank Gearhart, Clyde Gearhart. – 5
TOTAL – 24.
Honor Roll.
Pupils Not Tardy During the Year.
Ross Shipley, Bruce Beare, June Branegan, Frank Branegan, Cleo Jontz, Zelma Correll, Mabel Neel George Smith, Charles Gearhart.
Primary Department, Mr. Branegan, Teacher.
FOURTH GRADE: Dervane Sullivan, Esli Sopher, Ned Hileman, Wilson Carpenter, Earl Carpenter, Washington Nelson, Harry Beare, Sylvia Sopher, Bert Heisleman, Anna Loetz, Lottie Shipley, Charlie Green – 12.
THIRD: Gladys Branegan, Marie Lukens, Levi Bruce, Howard Essig, Opal Essig, Lulu Beare, Earl Sullivan, Artie Carpenter, James Nelson – 9.
SECOND: Clella Hileman, Janie Moore, Nellie Fleck, Willis Loetz, Lulu Moore, Blanch Gearhart – 6.
FIRST: Gertrude Hawk, Guy Gearhart, Pearl Brooks, Ray Starr, Lloyd Bruce, Willie Hattery – 6.
TOTAL – 33.
TOTAL FOR SCHOOL – 57
Honor Roll
Pupils Not Tardy During the Term
Dervane Sullivan, Charlie Green, Esli Sopher, Earl Carpenter, Anna Loetz, Sylvia Sopher, Lottie Shipley, Harry Beare, Artie Carpenter, Earl Sullivan, Gladys Branegan, Marie Lukens, Lulu Beare, Levi Bruce, Janie Moore, Lulu Moore, Willie Loetz, Clella Hileman, Nellie Fleck, Pearl Brooks, Ray Starr, Willie Hattery, Lloyd Bruce, Wilson Carpenter.
Neither Tardy Nor Absent During the Term
Marie Lukens, Lottie Shipley, Gladys Branegan, Sylvia Sopher, Charlie Green.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 40, pp 49-51]
SCHOOL FOR NEW HARRISBURG AND DISKO
By Ruth Brown Brubaker
(From her book History of Pleasant Township Schools, 1979)
Disko was originally called New Harrisburg. It was founded about 1856 or laid out by George Gearhart, proprietor. N. M. Moore surveyed it in April 1856, and it was recorded July 1856 by Lewis Sheets, recorder of Wabash County. The name was changed to Disko when the Chicago & Atlantic Railroad was built in 1881-82 because there was already a town named New Harrisburg on the railroad.
In 1876 the first school was built in Disko. This stood near the Methodist Church and was either moved or town down in 1936 for the new right-of-way for state highway 114. Twin Lake school-house was vacated as was “Hoosier Slide,” which was in Miami County but as many did in the early days go to the school that they lived closest to, it made no difference what county or township.
The second school-house, the new Disko School-house, was at that time taught by Benton Essig, a well-to-do farmer of that vicinity. Also Nelson G. Hunter of Wabash taught a course in writing. A number of the pupils went on to become teachers: J. Q. Shipley, J. W. Beare, S. G. Essig, and Mrs. Branegan.
There were a few others in later years who also became teachers: Emma Nelson, Etta Nelson, Maud Shipley (Kerr), and Leotus Young.
Until the year 1883 the Disko School was undivided. That year there were 65 pupils. J. Q. Shipley who was then teacher, was assisted by his wife, a very able primary teacher. The next year Miss Bigler taught the primary pupils in the old school-house while Mr. Gardner taught the older pupils in the hall.
In 1885 they completed the brick school which was a two-story building built down close to the railroad depot. Mrs. J. Q. Shipley was the first teacher to take charge of the primary room. As to who taught the older ones is not known for sure. But after B. Essig taught, the following also taught at the first brick school in Disko: Eugene McGuiley, Eugene Bradshaw, G. W. Gunder, L. S. Abbott, John Smith, John Q. Shipley, W. Gardner, Allie Miller, John Smith, Mrs. S. Summerland, John Kreamer, Lorena Adams, Mrs. Sophrona Branegan, C. I. Kerr, Mr. Bolinger and A. L. Lukens.
Mrs. J. Q. Shipley taught two years, followed by Miss Edna Hunter. Miss Emma Nelson was the primary teacher, followed by Mrs. Branegan in 1897-98 who had been an instructor with the exception of three years which time Mrs. C. I. Kerr taught in the primary division.
Teachers who taught in the old school-house until it was concemned:
1897-98: A. L. Lukens and Mrs. Sophrona Branegan
1898-99: A. L. Lukens and Mrs. Sophrona Branegan
1899-00: Daniel Reahard and Sophrona Branegan
1900-01: Daniel Reahard and Etta Nelson
1901-02: J. W. Smith and Etta Nelson
1902-03: J. W. Smith and Etta Nelson
1903-04: J. W. Smith and Eva Landis
1904-05: Peter Grisso and Mae Bolley
1905-06: Peter Grisso and Phebe A King
1906-07: L. E. Grisso and Anna Funderburg
1907-08: L. D. Wright and Anna Funderburg
1908-09: Laura Barnhart and Eva Landis
It was about this time that the old brick school in Disko was condemned and until the new one was done, the pupils had to go to what was known as the Forgey School. This was located one mile south and a mile east of Disko. It made things very crowded there as it was only a one-room school. But by putting up a cover of some kind they divided the room so they could hold school.
The new brick Disko School-house was to be built one mile east of Disko on the same spot or place as the very first school many years before. This school-house was one of three that was built during this time 1910-11 in Pleasant Township. This school-house was made of brick but had three rooms replacing the one-room school and had a furnace in the basement. It even had a janitor. It was about 1910-11 when this school was ready for the pupils. There were 85 students the first year in the three rooms. For with its opening the Forgey School was no longer needed. The first teachers were Ralph Lukens, Zoa Smith, and Tressa Ohms.
It is feelt that Estil Penrod might have been one of the last teachers at the Forgey School.
Teachers who taught at this school until it was closed are as follows:
1911-12: Ralph Lukens, Zoa Smith, Tressa Ohms
1912-13: Ralph Lukens Zoa Smith, Tressa Ohms
1913-14: Ralph Lukens, Louise Sailors, Zoa Smith
1914-15: Ralph Lukens, Louise Beachley, Zoa Smith
1915-16: Ralph Lukens
1916-17: Ralph Lukens
1917-18: Ollie Miller and Freda Schipper
1918-19: Ollie Miller and Freda Schipper
1919-20: Ollie Miller and Blanche Reahard
1920-21: Emmet Eiler and Helen Bohnstedt
1921-22: [omitted]
1922-23: Ollie Miller and [- – – -]
1923-24: Ralph Boyer and Edith Frantz
1924-25: John Frederick and Edith Frantz
1925-26: John Frederick and Lael Fooshee
1926-27: John Frederick and Lael Fooshee
1927-28: A. Glen Fox and Lavon Leffel
1928-29: Glen Fox and Lavon Leffel
1929-30: Glen Fox and Lavon Leffel
1930-31: Glen Fox and Lavon Leffel Jacobs
1931-32: Lavon Leffel Jacobs
1932-33: Bessie Alger
1933-34: Bessie Alger
1934-35: Bessie Alger and the closing of the school.
In 1929 the State told the Township that the Disko School was not fit to use. But some felt it was too new a school-house to close down so they fought it. They went to court and when the State did not appear they felt they had won, but it was for only a time.
The size of the classes started to get smaller and finally they were down to only the six grades going to Disko. If you were in a higher grade you rode the bus to Laketon. That is if you lived on the east side of Main Street. If you lived on the west side you went to Akron and some might have even gone to Gilead, for there were some in the south end of town that might just have been too far from both.
So in 1934-35 the last classes wer held in the school.
In 1937 it was announced that the Disko and Bussard school houses were to be put up for sale. This was to be a public sale. The sale was to be held on May 5, 1937. But when the bids were all in, it was found they were too low. Trustee Bert Young said he could not take what was offered. He had the right to either have another public sale or sell them privately.
These two buildings were built when Pleasant Township was first going into consolidation. It was felt when the last three schools were built it would take care of needs for the township for years to come. But in a few years to come the idea of having all children at one school building took over in Laketon.
After these buildings were closed they soon started to go down so it was better to sell. The first old brick school-house that stood in Disko had been sold to Estil Burch. The last Disko school-house was finally sold in 1937 to Harvey Peterson of Wabash for the price of $533.24 exclusive of ground and fixtures. Mr. Peterson was to dismantle it and was going to build a home in Wabash. The building had cost $12,000 to build. But for some reason it never did get all the way down. It has been sold a couple times since. But it is now made into a home and if one did not know it, you would not know it had been a school-house. Elmer Hammond bought the ground where the Disko school set for $100 in 1938.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 40, pp 51-54]
DITMIRE SCHOOL [#3] [Aubbeenaubbee Township]
Located in Section 8, SW corner of 1000W [SR-17] and 700N.
Built between 1876 and 1883.
__________
It was named for its location on Henry (?) Ditmire’s farm. Teachers were Bertha Kline 1886 (?); Mary Shadel (Mrs Jesse Ball) 1888; Mattie Stubbs 1899-1900. Patrons included Ditmire and Kaley families. The school burned in 1918.
The one-room schools all closed by 1925 and the students attended Leiters Ford. It will be noted that several of the little white schoolhouses burned in 1918. It was suspected that they were set afire by people who wanted the children to go to Leiters Ford school. At Hartman school the stove burned through the floor and dropped to the ground. Myers and Ditmire burned completely. So did Mt. Hope and Hartman in 1925.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 17, p. 7 and p. 12]
DODDS SCHOOL [Aubbeenaubbee Township]
Erected on Dodds farm in Section 9 in the northwest part of the township.
DOVER SCHOOL [#2] [Newcastle Township]
Located N side of 400N at approximately 375E.
Relatively little information is available on Dover school. It was District School #2 in Newcastle Township located on the north side of 400N between State Road 25 and 475E in Section 22. It is listed in the 1876 Atlas and again in the 1883 Atlas but it is not mentioned in the 1907 Atlas. This leads us to believe that it was closed somewhere between 1883 and 1907.
What actually became of Dover schoolhouse when it was closed is not known. Edison Kochenderger recalls that when he was a boy the barn on their farm was made in part from an old schoolhouse. He remembers the blackboards were still visible on the inside of the barn, and upon asking about this, was told that part of the barn was an old schoolhouse moved from up the road. He does not recall anyone mentioning the name of the schoolhouse in question, but we can assume that it was Dover. The Kochenderfer property was located 3/4 mile east of the Dover School. When the schoolhouse was moved and converted into use as a barn, we have been unable to determine.
The 1896 School Enumeration Record for Fulton County shows Newcastle Township District School #2 still in operation and lists the following students assigned there: Frederick A. and Lennie Fenstermaker; Stanley, Harley and George Kochenderfer (children of Ben); Charles R. Barkman; Harley and Lottie Barkman; Mondo Barkman; Loren Bussert; Floyd, Lemial, Nellie, Rosa, and Arthur Carr; Alfred Chatten; Floyd I. Counts; Ota D. Hisey; and Glenwood, Ida, Sylvia and Walter Hughes. The teacher was not listed in the enumeration but Marjorie Bryant recalls that her uncle, Roy Jones, taught at Dover school at one time.
Dover school was on the George Kochenderfer farm but was moved across the road and used for a barn on Edison Kochenderfer’s farm.
[FCHS Quarterly #25, p. 7]
The Literary at the Dover school house is enjoyable and first-class.
[Rochester Independent, Saturday, January 5, 1878]
Miss Minnie Stradley teaches at the Grove school; Miss Clary Orr at Sixteen; G. W. Tipton at Windfall or No. 9; a Miss Rowley at Barkman; Miss Emma Orr at Dover; Miss Blacketor is teaching the Bloomingsburg school.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, June 7, 1879]
DUKE SCHOOL
EAST GERMANY SCHOOL [Henry Township]
See Highland School
EAST GERMANY SCHOOL [Liberty Township]
The schools in this township are all supplied with teachers. . . .Mr. Ault at East Germany. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, October 18, 1878]
EBENEZER SCHOOL [#7 and #19] [Rochester Township]
Located N side of 300S at approximately 140E, a few rods E of Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Built before 1876.
__________
[photo] Ebenezer School in 1890’s. Mel Miller is fourth boy from left with hat in second row. Effie Blacketor is in front of him. Della Miller is in plaid dress in front row, next to girl in striped dress. Pearl Miller is in plaid dress at right end of second row. Charlie Miller is left of Pearl. Ebenezer School was three miles south of Rochester between SR-25 and Old US-31, across the road north from the Ebenezer Church, which is still standing. The photo advertises The Oak Drug Store, Perxchbacher & McMahan, proprietors. Arlington Block, Rochester. (Photo donated to FCHS by Lillian Miller Barger)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 64-65, p. 112]
[photo] Christmas in 1911 at Ebenezer School. Front Row: Teddy Keim – visitor, FreeLove (Betty) Newcomb Myers, Leonard Newcomb, Ada Ford Bryant, Everett Coleman, Agnes Jones. Row 2: May Ford Miller, Melvin Wagoner, Helen Lowe Rosenbury, Mildred Calloway Burns, Russel Wagoner, Alice Lowe Newcomb, Oren Jones, Blanche King, Edna Jones. Row 3: Ross Blacketor, Carl Newcomb, Eugene Brubaker, Lyman Blackburn, Dee Miller, Dewey Horton, Harvey Coleman. Back Row: Russell Neher, Dell Wagoner, Gail Ford Grandstaff, Carrie Dell Blacketor Estabrook, Truman Neher, Priscilla Blacketor Wheadon, Lillian Miller Barger. (Photo: Lois Wagoner, widow of Melvin Wagoner.)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 1 cover]
[photo] Ebenezer School 1884-85, Clara McMahan, teacher. This aging photo, somewhat the worse for wear but still capable of bringing forth the haunting mood of a long bygone era, shows the old Ebenezer wooden frame schoolhouse. It was replaced by a brick school in 1890. In the back row of the grouping at left are, left to right; Effie Blacketor, Dollie Blacketor, Agnes Miller and Clara McMahan In the front row are Avery Cook, John Lackey, Kline Blacketor Sr., May Priest, Howard Cook, Etta Blacketor, Amy (or Etta?) Priest, Maude Brubaker and Stella Cook. In the back row of the grouping of boys at the right: Arthur Brubaker, Elmer Cook, Omer Brubaker, Frank Priest, J. R. Babcock, Seymour Blacketor, Henry Newcomb and A. E. Babcock, later county clerk. Front row: Herman Miller, Walter Brubaker, O. M. Miller and Elmer Newcomb. Notice the rustic wood fence. This photo was printed in the Rochester Sentinel Sept. 7, 1961. (Photo: Alida Lease)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 20]
[photo] Showing off the new brick Ebenezer School. The stone above the door says: No. 7, 1890. Only a few of the children have been identified. Front row: Kelly Blacketor – 4th from left, Della Miller – 7th. Back row: Pearl Miller – 2nd from left, A. E. Babcock – teacher – 6th from left, Omer Melvin (O.M.) Miller 7th, Herman Miller – 8th. (Photo donated to FCHS by Lillian Miller Barger.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 21]
[photo] Ebenezer School c. 1895. This shows the new brick school from a different angle, so we can see the bell on top. The lady at the left is the teacher, probably Estella Keel 1894-5 or Lillian DuBois Babcock 1895-6. (Photo from scrapbook of Carrie McKinney, now owned by Carrie Williams)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 22]
[photo] Souvenir booklets listing the pupils and sometimes having a photo of the teacher were often given at the end of the school year to pupils of one-room schools. Notice there was no one in the 4th and 5th grades this year, 1898-99. (Donated to FCHS by Lillian Miller Barger).
Souvenir Ebenezer School District – Number – 19. Rochester Tp., Fulton Co., Ind. 1898-1899. Samuel A. Kent, Teacher. B. E. Pendleton, Trustee. W. S. Gibbons, Co. Supt. W. E. Smith, Director. PUPILS: Education is Wealth. 8th YEAR: Lee Smith, Della Miller, Elvy Smith, Dora Cook. 7th YEAR: Frank Babcock, Ethel Cook, Carrie Blacketor, Bessie Smith. 6th YEAR: Loyd Smith, Lovell Miller, John Lewis, Elsie Wagoner, Bertha Blacketor. 3rd YEAR: Dallas Smith, Carrie Babcock, James Babcock, Charlie Lewis, Anna Myers, Fern Miller. 2nd YEAR: Ray Myers, Phill Miller, Clarence Coleman. 1st YEAR: Forest Calvert, Orpha Maxwell, George Miller. [NOTE: shows School District as 19. – WCT]
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 23]
[photo] Ebenezer School suivenir booklet for 1901-02 has teacher, Lefevre DuBois on the cover. This was Lillian Miller’s first grade in school. (Donated to FCHS by Lillian Miller Barger)
Ebenezer Public School, Rochester Tp., Fulton Co., Ind. Lefevre DuBois, Teacher. 1901-1902. PUPILS: Carrie Blacketor, Bertha Blacketor, Edgar Fenimore, Fern Miller, Forrest Fenimore, George Miller, Carrie Bell Blacketor, Minnie Belt, Pearl Day, Merle Blacketor, Cecil Day, Dell Wagoner, Estella Van Lue, Roy Fenimore, Oma Kochel, Clarence Coleman, Phill Miller, Eara Day, Omer Fenimore, Charley Wagoner, Forest Calvert, Charles Ford, Lillian Miller, Gail Ford, Freddie Day. Board of Education: W. S. Gibbons, Co. Supt., Charles Jackson, Trustee.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 24]
[photo] The rest of this booklet has been lost but this cover shows Minnie Hoffman, teacher at Ebenezer School in 1903. (Property of FCHS)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 26]
[photo] Arthur Rhinesmith taught at Ebenezer School in 1907. (Donated to FCHS by Lillian Miller Barger)
Souvenir 1907. Ebenezer Public School, District No. 19, Rochester Twp., Fulton Co., Ind. Arthur Rhinesmith, Teacher. J. C. Werner, Co. Supt. PUPILS: FIRST YEAR: Russell Wagoner, Ada Ford, May Ford, Evert Coleman, Blanche Rans, DeForest Miller, Harvey Coleman. SECOND YEAR: Alice Lowe. THIRD YEAR: Celia Ross, Carl Newcob, Eugene Brubaker, Gail Ford. FOURTH YEAR: William Sheagley, Dewey Horton. FIFTH YEAR: Dell Wagoner, Lillian Miller, Ross Blacketor, Wayne Horton, Priscilla Blacketor. SEVENTH YEAR: Hiram Ross, Carrie Blacketor, Charley Ford, Charley Wagoner. EIGHTH YEAR: Caryl Ross, Clarence Coleman, Phill Miller, Harvey Ross. K. P. Richardson, Twp. Trustee. [NOTE: shows School District as 19. – WCT]
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 26]
[photo] Ebenezer School 1908-09, Ray Mowe – teacher. Front row: Russell Wagoner, Melvin Wagoner, Helen Lowe, Blanche Rans, Edna Jones, Everett Coleman, Willie Joe Downs, Leonard Newcob, Nerman Neher. Row 2: DeForrest Miller, Harvey Coleman, Alice Lowe, Jeanette Downs, Oren Jones, Eugene Brubaker, Dewey Horton. Row 3: Wayne Horton, Lyman Blackburn, Carl Newcomb, Ross Blacketor, Truman Neher. Back Row: Russell Neher, Lillian Miller, Carrie Dell Blacketor, Priscilla Blacketor. (Photo: donated to FCHS by Lillian Miller Barger)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 27]
[photo] Ebenezer School 1911-12, Estil Ginn – teacher. Front row: Melvin Wagoner, Leonard Newcomb, Helen Lowe Rosenbury, Alice Ford Wagoner, Betty Newcomb Myers, Ada Ford, Irene Hinsley Ball, Kenneth Tatman. Row 2: Dewey Horton, Herman Neher, May Ford, Alice Lowe Newcomb, Russel Wagoner. Back row: Dee Miller, Carl Newcob, Eugene Brubaker, Truman Neher, Priscilla Blacketor Wheadon, Estil Ginn – teacher. (Photo: Lois Wagoner)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 28]
[photo] Ebenezer Schol 1912-13, Fred Deardorff – teacher. Front row: James “Doc” Newcomb, Mildred Ford, Omer Wagoner, Alice Ford, Ada Ford, Irene Hinsley, Freelove Betty Newcomb, Helen Brubaker. Row 2: Leonard Newcomb, Helen Lowe, May Ford, Glen Rush, Herman Neher, Russell Wagoner, Mildred Simpson, Melvin Wagoner. Back row: Dewey Horton, unknown, Dee Miller, Fred Deardorff – teacher, Truman Neher, Carl Newcomb, Alice Lowe. (Photo: donated to FCHS by Lillian Miller Barger)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 29]
[photo] Ebenezer School 1915, Bessie McKee – teacher. Front row: Alice Ford Wagoner, Kermit Calloway, George DuBois, Leora Pierce, Merle Blacketor, Orvin Van Lue, James G. “Doc” Newcomb, Dolores Blacketor McGrew, Mae Pierce, James Pierce, Omer Wagoner. Back row: Dee Miller, Bessie McKee – teacher, Freelove (Betty) Newcomb Myers, Russell Wagoner, Irene Hinsley Ball, Melvin Wagoner, Anna Van Lue Vandergrift, Mildred Ford See, Leonard Newcomb. (Photo: Ethel Blacketor)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 30]
[photo] With a schoolhouse across the road from their house, the Blacketors found it appearing in every picture they took in their front yeard. Here Anna Wolf Blanchard poses with her baby daughter, Mary. (hoto:
ethel Blacketor)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 31]
[photo] The abandoned Ebenezer schoolhouse stood straight across the road from the Seymour Blacketor home. Notice the school door had been removed and big doors to accommodate farm equipment had been installed by Otto McMahan, on whose farm the old schoolhouse stood. Bernice Blacketor Rhodes is on porch, while Seymour and daughter Ethel Blacketor relax in lawn chairs. (Photo: Ethel Blacketor)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 32]
EBENEZER SCHOOL
By Shirley Willard
There were two Ebenezer schoolhouses, the first one made of wood about 1850, and the second one made of brick in 1890. The old wood school was located on 300S just across the road east from the Ebenezer Church. The foundation of the second school still remains on the north side of county road 300S across from the Ebenezer Church, located about a half mile east of Indiana 25 by the jog in the road. The second (brick) school was torn down by Harry Johnston in 1965 after a wind storm knocked part of it down. The Ebenezer Church is still standing but has been a dwelling since 1928. The church closed in 1911. The school closed in December of 1917, transferring its pupils to Woodrow, which opened as a brand new school in January of 1918.
Clara McMahan taught at Ebenezer 1884-85, Burt Calvert 1890, A. E. Babcock 1891-93, Reynaldo “Nobby” True 1893-94 (the kids put a board on the chimney to get him to treat them for Christmas), Estella Keel 1894-95, Lillian DuBois Babcock 1895-96, Samuel Kent 1898-99, Lefevre DuBois 1901-02, Minna Hoffman 1902-03, Frank Tracy 1903-04, Lula Van Duyne Burkett 1904-06, Arthur Rhinesmith 1906-08, Ray Mow 1908-11 (Reed Garman of Kewanna finished Mow’s year while he went to Texas for spring training in baseball. Mow played professional baseball for several years, then taught at Earlham College, and married Fanny Grove), Estil Ginn 1911-12, Fred Deardorff 1912-13, Lorraine Seeley 1913-14, Bessie McKee 1914-16, Agnes McKee 1916-17. Marie Turner was the last teacher at Ebenezer; she taught only three months in the fall of 1917 and then went to teach at new Woodrow.
After Lula Van Duyne taught at Ebenezer 1905-06, she went the next year to teach in the southwest part of Rochester Township and had to “lay out the boys with a stove poker.”
Every year the teaacher gave his/her pupils a souvenir booklet listing their names and sometimes having a picture of the teacher on the front. Sometimes it had a poem or story in it. These souvenir booklets took the place of today’s yearbooks.
Memento of the Ebenezer School, District No. 7, Rochester Township, Six Months’ Term ending March 31, 1893, A. E. Babcock – teacher, F. M. Ernsperger – Trustee, D. D. Ginther – County Superintendent. List of pupils: FIRST GRADE: Fred Brubaker, Loyd Smith, Elsie Wagoner, Carrie Babcock, Pearl Brubaker, Ethel Cook, Carrie Blacketor, Bessie Smith, SECOND GRADE: Jack Wilhelm, Lovell Miller, Della Miller, Ralph Richardson. THIRD GRADE: Pearl Miller, Charlie Miller, George Richardson, Dora Cook, Rosa Newcomb, Harry Wagoner, Howard Cook. FOURTH GRADE: John Lackey, Maud Brubaker, Kline Blacketor, Josh Blacketor, Nellie Wilhelm, Elvy Smith, Lee Smith. FIFTH GRADE: Monnie Cook, Walter Brubaker, Herman Miller, Dollie Blacketor, Etta Blacketor, Effie Blacketor, Ed Wagoner, Wallie Wagoner, Stella Cook, Elmer Newcomb, Mel Miller. (From booklet donated to FCHS Museum by Lillian Miller Barger, Rochester).
Ebenezer School, 1903, Minna Hoffman – Teacher, Charles Jackson – Trustee, W. S. Gibbons – County Superintendent. PUPILS: Priscilla Blacketor, Virgil Blacketor, Dell Wagoner, Lillian Miller, Cecil Day, Fred Day, Hazel Bates, Gail Ford, Ruben Bates, Merle Blacketor, Charley Ford, Charley Wagoner, Forrest Calvert, Carrie Dell Blacketor, Pearl Day, Eara Day, Phil Miller, George Miller, Fern Miller, Clarence Coleman, Carrie Blacketor, Bertha Blacketor. (From booklet belonging to Mrs. Harold D. Miller, Akron, Ind., daughter of Dell Wagoner. Dell’s brother was Charley Wagoner.)
Ebenezer Public School, District No. 19 (why the district number was changed, we do not know), 1907, Arthur Rhinesmith – Teacher, K. P. Richardson – Trustee, J. C. Werner – County Superintendent. Pupils: FIRST YEAR: Russel Wagoner, Ada Ford, May Ford, Evert Coleman, Blanche Rans, DeForest (called Dee) Miller, Harvey Coleman. SECOND YEAR: Alice Lowe. THIRD YEAR: Celia Ross, Carl Newcomb, Eugene Brubaker, Gail Ford. FOURTH YEAR: William Sheagley, Dewey Horton. FIFTH YEAR: Dell Wagoner, Lillian Miller, Ross Blacketor, Wayne Horton, Priscilla Blacketor. SEVENTH YEAR: Hiram Ross, Carrie Blacketor, Charley Ford, Charley Wagoner. EIGHTH YEAR: Caryl Ross, Clarence Coleman, Phill Miller, Harvey Ross. (From booklet donated to FCHS Museum by Lillian Miller Barger.)
Ebenezer School, District No. 19, 1913, Frederick K. Deardorff – Teacher, Henry L. Becker – County Superintendent, Robert Wylie – Trustee, Elmer Newcomb – Director. Pupils: EIGHTH GRADE: Vergal Neher, Carl Newcomb, Alice Lowe, Dewey Horton. SEVENTH GRADE: Amos Johnson. SIXTH GRADE: Dee Miller, Herman Neher, Russel Wagoner, Millard Simpson, Leonard Newcomb. FIFTH GRADE: Susie Lowe, May Ford, Melvin Wagoner, Glen Rush. FOURTH GRADE: Ada Ford, Myrle Simpson. THIRD GRADE: Free Love Newcomb, Anna VanLue. SECOND GRADE: Irene Hinseley, Alice Ford, Helen Brubaker. FIRST GRADE: Omer Wagoner, Mildred Ford. (From booklet donated to FCHS Museum by Lillian Miller Barger.)
Lillian Barger was born in 1895 the daughter of Gideon Miller and Anna Richardson Miller, and attended Ebenezer School 1901-09. Her brothers and sisters attended Ebenezer too: Charlie, Pearl Jane, Della, Earl (died at age two), Fern, George Jackson, and DeForrest (called Dee). Lillian was between George and Dee. Lillian recalled that Mr. Lefevre DuBois was her first grade teacher.
At Ebenezer School the children played shinny (hitting a tin can with a stick) on a pond of ice in the field west of the school. They played Black Man in the schoolyard. If it rained or snowed, the parents came for the children; otherwise they walked as there was no hack or bus.
They always gave a Christmas program and decorated the school. The teachers gave treats. The children memorized pieces and sang songs. Lillian recalls that one teacher, Frank Tracy, said he wasn’t going to treat the children so they locked him out of the school. Boy, was he angry! He brought a treat the next day (Editor’s note: Flavilla Tracy, Frank’s daughter remebers the incident a little differently in Fulton County Folks vol 2 p. 455:
(We moved from Miami County to Rochester in April 1903. In the fall of 1903, Mr. Jackson, township trustee, asked my father to take the Ebenezer School, a rural school south of Rochester, explaining that it was considered tough and he wished an experienced teacher there. At Christmas time they always ran the teacher out with, “Treat! Treat! Treat!” My father accepted the assignment. When Christmas time came he bought a quantity of candy ready for the Ebenezer School Christmas treat. Flavilla and sister Ruth helped him place the candy in individual sacks. Father felt something was brewing so he studied the situation and all the steps were planned. He knew the door panel near the lock and latch was weak. One noon after they all had eaten their tin-bucket lunches he went as usual to the barn near there to feed his horse. He concluded from the atmosphere that this was the day! As he returned he stopped at the wood pile, picked up a strong piece of wood and proceeded to the door. Strange, all were inside, nobody out playing. Father tried the door. It was locked. Then the yells, “Treat! Treat! Treat! Promise a treat!” Finally the yells stopped and all was quiet – ready for teacher to talk. Father said, “Everybody stand back! I’m going to knock the door in!” Silence. Again he spoke. This time he heard them sucrry away. One lick did the trick. He lifted the latch, unlocked the door and stepped inside. Then Father said, “All go to your seats and turn to your studies!” They did so. Father sat in a back seat, busy with his geography lesson. All was in good quiet order. When the proper time came to open the afternoon session, Father did so, an afternoon of school in strict order! Flaville adds, “and we had candy at our home for weeks!”)
Lillian Miller Barger remembered the teachers rewarding pupils by putting a gold star by their names on the blackboard if they got a perfect grade in spelling. She always got one and was very proud, but her cousin Priscilla Blacketor couldn’t seem to get spelling. They had spelling every day. Lillian would help Priscilla practice at recess but still she would miss one or two. However, Priscilla was good at arithmetic and would get more gold stars than Lillian in that subject.
Ebenezer, like all one-room schools, had a big wood-burning stove in the middle. Pupils carried wood from the shed southeast of the school on the line fence. The wood shed was a big red shed. The firewood was donated by the parents. Lillian remembered her father donating firewood. There was a wooden fence in front of the school, but instead of a gate, there was a stile. There was a bucket of water just inside the door with a dipper for all to drink from. Water was carried from the house across the road.
On the last day of school in the spring, parents and the younger children too small for school came with big baskets of food for the carry-in dinner. The pupils put on a program of recitations, and certificates for perfect attendance were given out. Lillian still has her certificate today. She told a story about her sister Della, age four, who was too young for school but insisted she had a recitation like the big kids. Della got up and said, “Old Mr. Poke Joy, he chewed his tobacco thin, he let it run down his chin, and he licked it up again.” All laughed but older sister Pearl, who was embarrassed and mad.
Della Miller went to Rochester College and got a teacher’s license. She taught at Green Oak 1904-06 and at Union School south of Rochester 1906-08. She taught at an Indian Reservation near Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1909. They took her to Rochester in a buggy to meet the L.E. & W. train the day before Thanksgiving. A Big crowd of people cae to see Della off, even Mr. Henry Barnhart, the Congressman and editor of the Rochester Sentinel. Lillian was 14 years old and hated to see Della go. Della said, “Don’t cry for me; I’m doing what I want to do.” She didn’t like dry New Mexico very well, as the alkali in the water made her face crack. She came back home the next year and taught at Screech Owl one-room school west of Rochester for five years 1910-15. She then graduated from Terre Haute State Normal School, taught at Indiana Business College and then at Michigan State University. She taught for 40 years. This was a great accomplishment for a country girl who started out at Ebenezer School. But there are those who say that the one-room schools provided children with a better education than some of the schools of today.
Bessie McKee, now Mrs. H. B. Shepherd of Phoenix, Ariz., wrote: “I spent my first two years of teaching 1914-16 in the Ebenezer one-room school. Never having attended a rural school, it was quite an experience.
“Mr. Seymore Blacketor, who lived across the road from the school, always had a nice fire going for me on cold winter days.
“The students were wonderful. I still remember most of their names: Free Love (Betty) and James (Doc) Newcomb, Anna and Orvan Van Lue, Ada and Alice and Mildred Ford, Merl and Dolores and Horatio (Ott) Blacketor, George and Ruth Anne DuBois, Glen Rush, Blanche and Donald and Isabelle Rans, Omer and Melvin Wagoner, Kenneth Callaway, and Irene Hinesly.
“I remember playing Andy Over and going skating at a pond back of the school. I can still see us around the stove eating lunch from our tin pails so we could hurry out to play.
“In 1916-19 I taught at the McKinley School where Fred Deardorff was principal. Anna Myers McVay and I drove a horse and buggy My grades were 3-4-5 and they were all such nice children.
“In 1919 Anna and I were transferred to Woodrow where Vern Miller was the principal. In 1920 I received a contract to teach in South Bend where I stayed until my retirement in 1956.”
James (Doc) Gould Newcomb lived as a little boy across the road from Ebenezer in the house built by his father, Elmer Newcomb, until they sold the house to Seymour Blacketor. His middle name was from Dr. Gould, the doctor who delivered him and that’s why he was given the nickname of Doc. He recalls there were only three boys in his first grade and no girls. Orvan Van Lue and Merl Blacketor. They didn’t have any girls in their class until the fourth grade. They used paper and pencil, somethwat a new practice, instead of the old traditional slate. He remembers playing Andy Over (throwing a ball over the schoolhouse), cat and mouse, and baseball.
Dolores Blacketor McGrew attended Ebenezer for her first three grades before going to Woodrow after it opened in January 1918. She says there was no hack; they all walked. Groundhogs would dig under the out-houses and would run out in the mornings, but nobody was afraid of them. Boys would throw snowballs against the out-house when the girls went in. The out-houses were back of (north of) the school.
Dolores recalls playing Andy Over, Black Man, Tag, and Hop Scotch. Her father, Seymour Blacketor, was the school janitor. There was no well at the school, so the children carried water in a bucket from Blacketor’s. This water bucket and dipper sat on the last desk in the row. The desks were the kind that had a seat attached to the front of the desk; therefore at the end of the row was an unused desk with no seat. There were hooks on a board by the door for them to hang cotats. The school was heated by a wood-burning stove in the center. In winter they would put water to boil on the stove to create steam and “purify the air.” It got awful cold so the children dressed warm in sweaters and long underwear. The teacher’s desk was on a platform, raised about 3 or 4 inches higher than the rest of the floor. Pupils would have to go up to the platform and stand by the teacher’s desk to recite. Sometimes they had box socials. Once Dolores’ mother made a gooseburry pie for the school auction, and King Ford bought it. Outside the school door there was a platform or small porch with a roof over it. Dolores was very small and it seemed the big boys were in the ninth grade, but as none of the souvenir booklets list ninth grade, they must have been big boys taking the eighth grade over again, rather than go to high school. This was a common practice, as people did not see the use of going to town to high school as it was expensive and difficult in horse and buggy days. So in order to comply with the law of attending school until age 16, the bigger pupils would take eighth grade over.
Marie Turner, the last teacher at Ebenezer one-room school, went on to teach at Woodrow (four-room) school as teacher of grades 1 and 2.
After Ebenezer School was closed, the Blacketor children would go in and play. The blackboard was still there, across the north wall, and they would write on it, recalled Ethel Blacketor. Ethel explained there were three Merl Blacketors: Merle, daughter of Abe Blacketor, who died as a teenage girl; Merl, son of Seymour Blacketor; and Merle, daughter of Kline Blacketor, now Mrs. Byron Ginn.
Evidently the Ebenezer schoolhouse reverted back to the farm, as it was used for a machine shed by Otto McMahan. It stood on the McMahan cattle farm, so they took the front of the school off, allowing big machinery to enter. Harry Johnston bought the farm in 1962. A big wind blew the school over in June 1965 and Johnston tore it down that same year.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, pp 20-32]
Ebenezer school, situated on Walnut street, commenced last Monday. Miss Sarah Kirkendall, teacher, says the scholars are not as bad as she expected to find them.
— Mr. M. S. Weills has been selected to teach our school during the winter term. . .
[Pin Hook Points, Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, March 26, 1874]
The Ebenezer debating club has reorganized and begun work.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, November 5, 1874]
Miss Maggie Blacketor will teach at the Ebenezer school house. . .
[Rochester Union Spy, Friday, April 12, 1878]
Schools are moving up in these parts lively. Joe Smith, at Green Oak school, Ella New, at the Collins school, Mollie Soward, at Mount Tabor, and Maggie Blacketor, at Ebenezer.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 26, 1878]
Teachers: Arthur Rhinesmith, 1906-08; Rinaldo Pulaski (Nobby) True, 1893-94; Frank Siegal Tracy, 1903-04; Lulu Van Duyne Burkett, 1905-06
EIDSON SCHOOL [———-]
L. Lewellyn McClure got the job of building Center and Eidson school houses – Center at $980, and Eidson at $650. Worley got the Whippo
ELLIS SCHOOL [Aubbeenaubbee Township]
Located in Section 15, at Delong, Indiana.
Located south of Delong on 900W at the end of 525N on the east side of the road. It was named Ellis because it was on the John Ellis farm. It was a log building and was torn down before 1890.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 17]
Built between 1876 and 1883; abandoned between 1883 and 1907.
__________
Ellis School (section 19) was another school so old that no one remebers much about it. It was located south of Delong on 900W at the end of 525N on the east side of the road. It was named Ellis because it was on the John Ellis farm. It was a log building and was torn down before 1890.
SCHOOLS OF AUBBEENAUBBEE TOWNSHIP
Compiled by Paul Hoover
The first Delong School was called Ellis School located south of Delong just east of where old #17 turns toward Kings Lake. It was a log building on the Ellis farm.
[FCHS Quarterly, December, 1967, p. 15]
ELLIS SCHOOL [Newcastle Township]
Ellis School (section 19) was another school so old that no one remebers much about it. It was located south of Delong on 900W at the end of 525N on the east side of the road. It was named Ellis because it was on the John Ellis farm. It was a log building and was torn down before 1890.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 17, p. 4]
ELLSWORTH SCHOOL [Rochester Township]
Located S of Rochester E side SR-25 at 100S.
Also known as Saw Mill School.
At the spelling school held at Ellsworth School House, one mile south of town, last week, John H. Pyle, Teacher, Mrs. Wm. Downs proved to be the best speller. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, January 2, 1873]
The Ellsworth and Orr Schools pitted themselves against the Prairie Union school in a spelling match, last Tuesday night, but came off second best. Miss Sarah Lawrence, of the former school, was again declared the best speller.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, January 9, 1873]
The Ellsworth school, near the saw mill south of town, John H. Pyle, teacher, will close next Saturday. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, March 6, 1873]
The Ellsworth school, near William Downs’ saw mill, Miss Thornton, teacher, closed last Friday.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, July 17, 1873]
ELMER’S SCHOOL [- – – – -]
The town is about two miles in length. The principal place is the Elmer’s school, and the meeting house on Walnut street.
The meeting house is Baptist. Rev. Mr. Marsh is minister.
[Longtown Dottings, Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, February 12, 1874]
ELM GLEN SCHOOL [Rochester Township]
Located possibly at or near where Woodrow School later stood, or perhaps where Mud Sock School was located.
Teachers: Edith (Hoover) McMahan, 1906.
ERNSPERGER SCHOOL (#5) [Rochester Township]
Designated as School #5.
Located NW corner 250N [Olsen Road] and Meridian.
Built between 1876 and 1883.
Also called Tippecanoe School.
__________
[photo] Adda Neff 1906-07. Ernsperger School. (Photo: Thelma Safford)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 54]
[photo] Souvenir booklet from Ernsperger or Tippecanoe School 1906-07. Addie Neff’s picture was on the inside cover. (Photo: Thelma Safford, daughter of Addie Neff Sanders)
Tippecanoe School, District No. 5. Rochester Township, Fulton County, Ind. Term 1906-7. Compliments of Miss Adda Neff, Teacher. Officers: Ira McVay, Director, K. P. Richardson, Trustee, J. C. Werner, Supt. Pupils: SEVENTH GRADE: Oso Foor, Donald Conner. SIXTH GRADE: Belle Clinger, Floyd McVay, Vermon Foor, Raymond McVay, Nellie Davis. FOURTH GRADE: Jimmie Foor, Charley Holloway, Mary Brubaker, Jesse Foor, Roy Brubaker, Tommy Davis. THIRD GRADE: Pearl Clinger, Carrie McVay. SECOND GRADE: Estel Holloway, Charley Clinger, George Wiley, Trobe McVay. FIRST GRADE: Helen Gaumer, Sina Brubaker.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 55]
[photo] Ernsperger School, fall of 1912. Front row: Roy Brubaker, Theadore Downs, Floyd Gaumer, Everett Taylor. Row 2: Aletha McKay, Fern Taylor, Charles McKay, Carl Brubaker, Howard Taylor, Loyd Blessing, Helen Gaumer, Myrtie Krist. Row 3: unknown, Mable McKay, Troby McVay, [ —- ] Blessing, Dory Downs, Leonard Gaumer, Floyd Taylor. Back row: Florence McKay, Berniece Eash, Carry McVay, Blanche Taylor, Elsie Taylor. This photo was given by the teacher, Anna Myers (McVay) as a Christmas gift to her pupils. (Photo: Howard Taylor)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 56]
[photo] Geneva Stinson, teacher at Ernsperger School, was the mother of Helen Wylie (Mrs. Harold) Reese. (Photo: Helen W. Reese)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 57]
__________
ERNSPERGER SCHOOL
Ernsperger (district no. 5) was also known as Tippecanoe School because it was near the Tippecanoe River. It was located on the northeast corner of the Olson Road (then called the River Road) a half mile west of New US-31 where the road turns north. It was named Ernsperger because it was located on the Ernsperger farm when it was built before 1883.
Teachers included Belle Jewell, Ida Elkins, Geneva Stinson (married Charles Wylie), William Kennell, Faye Phoenix (mother of Allene Biddinger), Mary Stacy, Arthur Rhinesmith 1904, Bess King, Ruth Hughes, Sherm Mitchell, Charles Gibbons, Adda Neff (Sanders) 1906-07 and 1907-08, Anna Myers (McVay) 1910-12, Grace Dillon 1912-13.
The teacher drove a horse and buggy to school. The horse was allowed to graze at Charles Wylie’s farm.
Helen Gaumer, Rochester, attended this school beginning in 1906. It was a wood frame building and faced south. There were only eight pupils the last year. There was a water pump in the yard and a wood shed on the east. Anna Myers’ brother, Ray Myers, drove her to school in a horse and buggy on Monday mornings and came to get her on Friday evenings. She roomed with Ira McVay, the janitor, and married his son, Ray McVay. Helen Gaumer helped to clean the school.
The children all walked to school. They played ball using the wood shed as first base, the girls privy as second base, the boys privy as third base, and a corner of the schoolhouse as home. They went sledding on the hill across the road west of where Ralph Foglesanger lives now.
Helen recalls that her younger brother, Floyd, followed her and Leonard to school and he wouldn’t go home unless Helen gave him a cookie from her lunch pail. He ate all her cookies and came to school so their mother had to walk to school after him. Their mother was Fanny Florence (the last of 13 children so they ran out of names – an old joke) and their father was Jeff Gaumer.
For the last day of school they had a carry-in dinner and laid boards across the desks to make tables. They had box socials and cake walks.
Each school day began with the pledge to the flag. The blackboard was across the north end of the school. There was a platform for the teacher’s desk. At the south end of the school by the door there were hooks for the coats and a shelf for the dinner buckets. The stove was not exactly in the middle of the room.
School was held from 9 a.am. to 4 p.m.
The Rochester Township Trustee visited each school once a year. When he came, the teachers and the pupils were very nervous.
It was the style for the girls to wear ribbon bands around their hair; these had bows on either or both sides. In the photo these ribbons look like braids on top of the girls’ heads. Some wore “Bulldog stockings” which had large ribs.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, pp 55-57]
HELEN WYLIE REESE WROTE THE FOLLOWING
My mother, Geneva A. Stinson, graduated from Rochester Normal University in 1903. Following graduation, she taught at Monterey, Ind., staying with a Catholic family and commuting by train on weekends to her home in Rochester. The following year she taught at the Ernsperger School, rooming at the Hannah Wylie farm home where she met my father. They were married after school was out in the spring, April of 1906. I have my mother’s first grade reader that she taught from entitled Universal Primer by Klingensmith. On the inside back cover is her daily school schedule.
The Wylie farm had a lane that opened into a meadow pasture. This field was bordered on the north by a narrow oak woods that stopped at the main road. Here you walked out of the woods and crossed the road to the Ernsperger School. The Wylies had a private road from the lane through this wooded area for farming and short-cut convenience to the school and Tippecanoe River, etc. Today, a mobile home stands on this entrance site. A modern home stands where the school was.
Marion Ernsperger helped with the school construction. He later was Township Trustee. His wife was my grandfather Wylie’s sister, Aunt Ida Wiley. Grandfather changed the spelling of the name to Wylie.
Cousin George Wylie said Addie Neff (she followed my mother teaching at Ernsperger) was both his Burton Church Sunday School teacher and his school teacher. George attended first and second and third grades at Ernsperger. He was the son of my uncle, Bob Wylie (Township Trustee 1909-14).
Uncle Bob and my dad built a corral for Miss Neff’s horse beside the school yard. She often drove her horse and buggy through the Wylie farm short cut.
Miss Neff roomed at my great-Uncle Newton and Aunt Mary Wiley’s home. Here she met her future husband, Amos Sanders, who was my Uncle Newton’s farm hand.
Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Mills own the Wylie homestead now. The barn was torn down in the 1960’s. The house was made into a one story, possibly in the 1930’s or 40’s.
Helen W. Reese has the original hand-written evaluation of her mother’s teaching at Ernsperger School in 1905. This was written by the Fulton County Superintendent of Schools, Arthur Deamer, after he visited her school and observed her teaching one day.
Geneva Stinson
10/24/1905
Order good.
Pupils are busy. Good.
Very little whispering. Good. There should be none.
Your manner is quiet and unassuming. Good.
Your assignment in 4th hr. Reading was unusually good.
Spank the little curley-headed boy in the N.E. corner of the room.
Do not have pupils in the primer class recite in concert.
You teach the script form
You are doing good work.
Arthur Deamer
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, pp 57-58]
Teachers: Lulu Van Duyne Burkett, 1906-08
FAIRVIEW SCHOOL [Harrison Township, Pulaski County]
Located SW corner of 125S and 450 E in Harrison Township, Pulaski County.
__________
GREENLAND SCHOOL AND CHURCH
By Shirley Willard
Another former Greenland teacher, Gerald Graffis, taught at Fairview 1930-31. L. G. Smith taught there 1931-33. Fairview School was a two story brick school located on the southwest corner of 125S and 450E in Harrison Township, Pulaski County. This land is now owned by Joseph and Ardell Panici, according to the 1976 plat book.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, p. 84]
FAN SCHOOL [Henry Township]
Also called Sheets School House
Located N side of 250S at approximately 760E.
Built before 1876; abandoned between 1876 and 1883.
__________
FAN SCHOOLHOUSE
In 1842 Jerome and Ann Hoover sold lot No. 12 in the town of Troy to Henry Township for a sum of two dollars for District VI School. This was evidently the Fan School. The township trustee at the time was John Gould. The town of Troy is not listed in any plat book of Fulton County, but there were towns laid out in the early days which eventually went out of existence. A post office and store are known to have been at this place. The Fan School was located about four and one-half miles west and two miles south of Akron. In 1876 (according to 1876 atlas) the Fan School was still at this location. Leticia Reed, grandmother of Fern Bowen, was the last teacher at the Fan School and the first teacher at Sugar Grove, the school replaced Fan School. (The preceding was by Velma Bright, published in FCHS Quarterly of Aug. 1969)
Sugar Grove was a brick school built before 1883, as it appears in the 1883 atlas. it is believed that the Fan School was closed about 1876. It was a wooden schoolhouse. Postal records show that a post office named Sid Conger existed 1889-95. Previous names for the tiny village were Troy and later Owen. The post office was located in a store on the southeast corner of 250S and 800E.
Mrs. Keith Hollingsworth adds the following: The old Fan School is now one-fourth mile west of Sugar Grove. It was originally on the north side of the road (250S) and was moved across to the south side onto the old Johnson property where it still stands. The Johnson Farm was designated a Century Farm several yers ago. The new school was built one-fourth ile east at the crossroads and named Sugar Grove. The old fan schoolhouse now belongs to J. Arther Howard, the owner of the land upon whit it stands.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 27, p. 35]
FEIDNER SCHOOL [#10] [Wayne Township]
Located E side of 1100W at 750S. Built between 1876 and 1883.
The Grass Creek Church was first started in this school, which in 1974 had become Harrold Summer’s farm.
Pearl Miller was a teacher.
The Feidner school in 1883 was called District No. 10, but in 1900 was classified as District No. 5.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 52, p. 52]
Miss Mary Maud Murray, daughter of Archimulus and Hannah (Dively) Murray, was born Dec. 23, 1880. She attended and graduated from common school in 1899 from the Feidner one-room school, which was located on her parents’ farm.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 52, p. 55]
Miss Eva Baer, daughter of John U. and Sarah J. (Bockover) Baer, born in Kewanna in 1883, graduated from common school in 1900, went to Rochester College taking a six weeks course. She came to Liberty with one year of experience, after teaching one year at Shady Dell School. The school term of which she taught at Liberty for one year was from Sept. 30, 1901, to Mar. 21, 1902. She then taught four years, at the District No. 10, the Feidner School and two years at the Smally School (1904-1906), all one-room schools located in Wayne Township. She married Verdie Lee (V.L.) Barker on April 11, 1906, and discontinued teaching following their marriage.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 52, pp 56-57]
FIRST YALE SCHOOL [Newcastle Township]
Located on S side of 550N at approximately 850E.
Built before 1876; abandoned between 1883 and 1907.
FIVE CORNERS SCHOOL [Allen Township, Miami County]
School commenced at Five Corners last Monday morning.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, October 18, 1879]
FLETCHER/FLETCHERS LAKE/LAKESCHOOL [Wayne Township]
See Lakeview School.
FREAR SCHOOL [#2] [Liberty Township]
Located E side of 125E at approximately 650S.
Built before 1876. Closed May, 1917.
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[photo] Frear school Nov. 1916. Row 1: Schuyler Hudson, Charles Green, Lois Green Wagoner, Ivan Hudson, Lee Olmsted, Lawrence Meyers. Row 2: Zephere Martin, Lola Cunningham Rentschler, Lyman Dawald, Agnes Shields, John Cunningham, Beatrice Olmsted Hendershot – teacher, Carl Hudson. (Photo: Lois Green Wagoner)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 21, p.26]
[photo] Frear school. (Photo: Lois Wagoner)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 21, p. 27]
[photo] Frear school after the wind blew it in, 1917. (Photo: Lois Wagoner)
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FREAR SCHOOL
By Lois Green Wagoner
The one-room Frear (also spelled Freer) school stood on the east side of road 125E across from the T formed with 650S on the farm now owned by Mark Williams. Samuel Frear owned the land in 1851, and the school was named in honor of him. The land was donated for school purposes by Benjamin Franklin Green (my grandfather) and reverted back to the farm when the building was destroyed. A red brick building was erected in 1880. Before that a few days of school were held in a log cabin one mile south of there. Some of the early teachers were Alpha Blessing, Ella New, Nathan Enyart, Marion Fultz, Carrie Conn, Thomas Enyart, Elmer Reed, 1907, Blanche Dawson Norris, Ruth Krathwohl Sutton, Emma Becker, Ellen King, 1912, Lena Large Williams, Beatrice Olmsted Hendershot, 1916-17.
The students by families from 1880 to 1919 were:
B. F. Green family: Ernest Gertrude (Madary), Nettie (Kline), Irvin, and Elsie.
Henry Meyer family: Minnie (Baldwin), Edward, Walter, Charles, Alvin, Arthur, Louise (Zartman), and Omer.
Charles King family: Ellen, Catherine, Emanuel, Elizabeth (Allman), and Fred.
A. E. Koffel family: Alva, Roy, Sylvia (Conn), Edna (Miller Hattery).
Neal Lowe family: Ethel (Blackburn), Charles.
Charles Becker family: Henry, Charles, Jr., Edward, Julius, Herman, Ernest, and Emma.
Samuel Dawald family: Benjamin, John, Byrd (Eber), Lyman, and Viola (Coffing).
Samuel Kent family: William John, Bert.
George Conn family: Mattie (Rentschler), Angeline (Enyart), Carrie, Howard.
Charlie Elkins family: Alba, Bessie (Doud), and Beulah (Curtis).
Ben Dawald family: Cleo (Durbin), Helen (Newell).
William Cunninaham family: Lola (Rentschler), and John.
Ora Hudson family: Emmet, Karl, Ivan, and Schuyler.
George Martin family: Zephere and Medeline (Schilling).
Ernest Green family: Ruth (Gilbert), Esther (Tanner), Lois (Wagoner), Charles, and Willis.
Edward Meyer family: Lawrence and Ralph.
Huffman family: Thurman, Loyd, Frank and Maude.
Edgar Stone family: Minerva, Olive (Richards), Ray and Bessie.
Hugh Norris’ son Lawrence. Seymor Blacketor’s son Merle.
Bill Sunday family: John Sunday, Russel Sampsel and Retha Rowland.
The twins, Bert and Myrtle Kent, also attended Frear’s school.
My first recollection of school is of 1911 my first grade. The term was from September 15, to the last week of April, with a week off at Christmas and days when the weather was too bad.
The one-room school had a raised platform at the front of the room where the teacher’s desk and a couple of chairs stood. The small children stood at the desk to recite. A blackboard was all across the front of the room. A map cupboard with maps that could be rolled down like a window blind was above the blackboard. At the end was a cupboard for books, our library. On the wall were pictures of the statue of Liberty and the Presidents of the United States and an American flag with 47 stars. In the back of the room was a bench to set our lunch buckets on, a table with a water bucket and dipper, which everyone used and nails to hang our coats and hoods on. A large wood or coal stove stood in the center of the room with the stove pipe going across the room to the chimney. The parents furnished wood and the older boys carried it in. They also primed the pump and carried water from the pump in the yard. The desks and seats were double so two pupils could sit together. The girl who sat with me would slip apples, sandwiches or chicken legs in the desk to eat during school. One day the teacher made her clean it out.
Out back were 2 out houses, one for girls, one for boys.
The teachers drove a horse and buggy to school, and as we lived close, they would put the horse in my father’s barn.
Ellen King was my first teacher. There were 14 pupils in six grades. At the hour-long noon we played games like baseball, Andy-over-the-school-house, Blackman (a game of tag), or New York for which we chose sides. Side one would call “Here we come.” Side 2 would ask “Where you from?” Side 1: “New York.” Side 2: “What’s your trade?” Side 1: “Butter and eggs.” Side 2: “Go to work.” Side 1 would act out a situation and as soon as side 2 guessed correctly they would try to tag all the players on the other side.
We occasionally exchanged visits with the Collins school on Friday afternoons. The whole school walked one afternoon the three miles there. They had the blinds all down and sacks hung around the room. We put a hand in each sack and wrote down what we thought was in each. One had a dish, another Jimson burrs, another Apple butter etc. It was a time of fellowship I never forgot.
Christmas programs were an exciting time too, with songs, recitations, land dialogues. The last day of school was always a big dinner for all the families. The teachers gave a souvenir with her picture, pupils’ names and verses. The following poem is my souvenir:
The Close of School
Our school days now we end a while, to give you needed rest,
To banish care, the time beguile, and spend as you think best.
Oh sweet has our communion been, the days have passed in joy,
And nothing ill has entered in to mar them with alloy.
And often hence your mind will dwell on school days past and o’er,
Impressions made will upward well with all their garnered store.
You’ll think of schoolmates teachers too, the books you studied then,
Old sports and games will come in view, all in one round again.
You’ll think how valuable is time, how priceless are his days,
The wealth of wisdom’s heights sublime the pleasure of her ways,
And now the time has come about, the closing words to say,
The shadows fall and lengthen out and mark declining day.
And soon the hum of voices sweet will join in merry shout
As one another you will greet and cry “The school is out”.
And now farewell, my dear young friend, I wish you rest complete,
May happiness your steps attend until again we meet.
Sincerely Your teacher,
Ellen King
In May 1911 two weeks after school closed a wind storm blew the roof off and the front of the building in. The next year we rode the hack to Fulton.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 21, pp 26-29]
__________
Corrections: Q. 64-65 p. 125 photo of Samuel Frear: Frear school closed in May 1917, not 1911. Lawrence Meyer, Bonita Springs, Florida, wrote: “I started to school there in September 1915 along with Charles Green, Elizabeth Stout, Schuyler Hudson and Madeline Martin. Some of the other pupils attending at that time were: Lois (Green) Wagoner, Agnes Shields, Ivan Hudson, Carl Hudson, Edgar Baker, Lyman Dawalt and Zephere Martin. We attended there for the two years until the storm destroyed the building. Beatrice Olmstead was our teacher both years. The building, as stated, was located on the east side of the road (now 125E) and about 150 yards north of the T. Ernest Green and family lived just south of the school. The Tom Enyart family lived across the road in the large square house built by my grandfather Henry Meyer. My father, Ed and his sister Minnie (pictured on page 117 of the 64-65 quarterly) as well as the other older children were born in a house which used to stand just south of the present square house.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 66, pp 36-37]
__________
The people organized a Sunday-school at the Frear school house on last Sunday.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, August 13, 1875]
A new brick school house is now being completed in the Frear district in Liberty township.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, November 24, 1876]
The schools in this township are all supplied with teachers. . . . Mr. Stingley at the Frear district. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, October 18, 1878]
Teachers: Francis Marion Fultz
FROGTOWN SCHOOL [Wayne Township]
Also known as Lake School.
Miss Eggman [has charge of] Frogtown.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 6, 1873]
FULTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION [Fulton County]
The Fulton County Board of Education met at the Court House, September 1st, 1874. . . called to order by the President, Prof. W. H. Green. . . J. Dawson was elected Secretary.
The following members were found to be present: W. H. Green, John A. Barnett, W. H. Moore, Eli Rogers, C. Haimbaugh, E. A. Arnold, John R. Shoup, N. L. Lord, J. Dawson and John Q. Howell.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, September 10, 1874]
Board of Education. The Fulton county Board of Education met at the Auditor’s office, September 1st, 1875. . . called to order by Prof. Enoch Myers . . . J. Dawson was elected secretary.
The following members were found to be present: Prof. Myers, A. W. Elliot of Wayne township, W. D. Moore of Aubbeenaubbee, C. Haimbaugh of Newcastle, Jacob Whittenberger of Henry, F. Peterson of Liberty, A. Brown, N. L. Lord and J. Dawson of Rochester corporation. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, September 4, 1875]
Board of Education. The Fulton conty Board of Education met at the Auditor’s office, September 1st, 1875 . . . called to order by Prof. Enoch Myers. . . . The following members were found to be present: Prof. Myers, A. W. Elliot, of Wayne township, W. D. Moore of Aubbeenaubbee, C. Haimbaugh of Newcastle, Jacob Whittenberger of Henry, F. Peterson of Liberty, A. Brown, N. L. Lord and J. Dawson of Rochester corporation. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, September 10, 1875]
The Fulton County Board of Education met at the Auditor’s office, May 1, 1876. . . called to order by the President, Prof. Enoch Myers. . . The following members were present: F. Peterson, Liberty. A. W. Elliott, Wayne. A. Hunneshagen, Union. W. D. Moore, Aubbeenaubbee. Wm. Newcomb, Richland. C. Haimbaugh, Newcastle. J. Whittenberger, Henry. J. B. Elliott, Rochester. Dr. Thompson, Dr. J. Q. Howell, Kewanna Cor. N. L. Lord, A. Brown, J. Dawson, Rochester Cor.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, May 13, 1876]
Board of Education. The Fulton County Board of Education met at the Court House on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 1876, at 2 o’clock p.m., under a special call of the President, Prof. Enoch Myers. . . . The following members were found to be present: Prof. E. Myers; J. H. Buchanan, Wayne; David Lowe, Union; S. J. Barger, Aubbeenaubbee; Jacob Whittenberger, Henry; J. B. Elliott, Rochester; A. Brown, N. L. Lord, J. Dawson, Rochester Corporation . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, November 18, 1876]
Meeting of the Fulton County Board of Education. The Fulton County Board of Education met according to law, Sept. 1st, Sup’t. Myers in the chair. . . The following named members of the Board were present: J. B. Elliott, of Rochester tp.; Jas. H. Buchanan, Wayne; Jacob Whittenberger, Henry; Wm. Newcomb, Richland; D. Lough, Jr., Union; Moses Nellans, Newcastle; S. J. Barger, Aubbeenaubbee; Enoch Sturgeon, town of Rochester . . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, September 15, 1877]
FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL ENUMERATION [Fulton County]
Population of Rochester. Rev. N. L. Lord has lately completed the enumeration of the school children . . . of Rochester. . . No. of whites between the ages of 6 and 21, 516; colored, 1. Total whites of all ages, 1,500; colored, 17. This is the Corporation proper; at least 100 more live within a short distance of the Corporation line.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, September 3, 1869]
The enumeration of school children in this county is as follows: White males, 2,562; white females, 2,252; colored males, 3; colored females, 1; total, 4,819 . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, December 25, 1873]
The enumeration taken for school purposes in the corporation shows the number of male scholars to be 325, female scholars 360, total, 685; a gain of 49. The number of children over ten years old who can neither read nor write is 7; five males and two females, one of the girls being deaf and dumb and one of the boys is blind. The corporation contains but four colored school children, 3 males and one female. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, May 2, 1874]
Jonathan Dawson has completed the enumeration of the school children within the corporation and finds the number of males to be 340, females 366; total, 706. This shows a gain over last year of 22.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 21, 1877]
Number of children of school age enumerated in this county, five thousand. Number of teachers now engaged in teaching in the county, 102.
[Rochester Independent, Saturday, December 15, 1877]
[See: Wendell C. & Jean C. Tombaugh, Fulton Co Ind School Enumeration, 26 vol. set]
FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL EXAMINATION [Fulton County]
The Trustees of Richland Township [met] Saturday, the 5th inst.
Mr. Sturgeon called the meeting to order, and it was organized by the choice of Mr. Wilson as President, and Messrs, Blodget and Ralstin as Vice Presidents. . . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 12, 1859]
Richland Township, Feb. 22d, 1862. . . . at the Center School House and Mount Pleasant Church . . .
The exercises were opened by the following remarks from William Sturgeon, the present Trustee: . . . .
. . . . on motion of Morris Blodgett, William Sturgeon was called to the chair, and T. J. White, Secretary.
A committee of five was then appoointed by the chair, to report the further order of the day. The committee consisted of William McElfresh, Morris Blodgett, Peter P. Meredith, Moore Ralstin and John McElravy . . .
After dinner addresses by the Hon. Judge Miller, and Rev. N. L. Lord.
A private school being in attendance, on motion of J. E. Bonewitz, it was admitted to a seat in the examination . . .
. . . Four was then called and appeared upon the state, with John W. Blodgett, their teacher . . .
Number Five was then called . . . their accomplished teacher, Mr. J. E. Bonewitz . . .
. . . eighth . . . teacher Miss Rachel P. Meredith . . . address by Mary Davis . . .
The numbers being again called declamations were offered by R. N. Woodruff, Davis and Ralstin . . . Number eight . . . teacher, Miss R. P. Meredith . . .
After comments by Morris Blodgett and the chair, the meeting adjourned. William Sturgeon, Chairman. T. J. White, Sect.
[Rochester Mercury, Thursday, March 13, 1862]
FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL EXAMINER [Fulton County]
We learned recently, that the County Commissioners, at thir June session appointed Hon. Hugh Miller School Examiner . . . The Judge is peculiarly qualified for this position, having taught for years, more years than any other person now in the County.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, June 29, 1861]
Notice to School Teachers. Teachers’ Examination at Rochester, Ind., the last Saturday of each month. W. H. Green, County Examiner.
[Rochester City Times, Thursday, July 28, 1870]
FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL REGULATIONS [Fulton County]
The use of tobacco, in any form, within the school-room, is strictly prohibited, unless those using it have spittoons to use and keep them clean. [one of 14 Rules and Regulations of the Fulton County Common Schools, Recommended by Trustees and Co. Supt.]
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 6, 1873]
FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS [Fulton County]
1887 TEXTBOOKS
According to the Oct. 10, 1887 issue of Rochester Republican newspaper the following were the text books in use in Fulton County with the date of their adoption:
McGuffy’s Reader 1882, White’s Arithmetic 1883, McGuffy’s Speller 1883, Harvey’s Revised Grammar 1883, Eclective Physiology 1885, Eclective U.S. History 1885, Eclective System of Penmanship 1885, Barnes Elementary Geography 1886, and Barnes Complete Geography 1886
FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS
The Township Trustees met last Monday to choose a County Superintendent of Schools. Their choice fell upon Mr. W. H. Green, and we can only say that in our opinion it was one eminently unfit to be made. Mr. Green has been School Examiner for several years, and ought by this time to understand his duties. But he does not, and never can have an intelligent appreciation of them, in our judgment, lacking as he does those inherent qualities of mind necessary to be possessed by one in his position. . . . The choice has been made, and it is irrevocable for two years to come. We shall endeavor to bury our prejudices against the Superintendent, and render him all the aid in our power. We freely acknowledge that he is a man of good intentions, and strictly upright and moral in all the relations of life. . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, June 5, 1873]
Notice to Applicants. To those desiring license to teach school, notice is hereby given that I will hold a public examination for that purpose in Rochester, on the last Saturday in each month. E. Myers, Co. Supt.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, June 26, 1875]
1863-65: Hugh Miller
1865-69: George W. Shilling
1869-71: Rev. A. V. House
1871-75: William H. Green
1875-81: Enoch Myers
Prof. E. Myers, Superintendent of the public schools of this county, will remove from Kewanna to Rochester and make this his residence in about two weeks.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, October 28, 1876]
1881-85: William J. Williams
1885-87: Frank D. Haimbaugh Appt. June 1, 1885 for term 2 years.
1887-91: Andrew J. Dillon, Elected June 6, 1887 for 2 years.
1891-95: David D. Ginther
1895-99: George R. Fish
1899-03: W. Sherman Gibbons
1903-07: Arthur Deamer
1907-11: John C. Werner
1911-17: Henry L. Becker
1917-25: Thomas Franklin Berry
1925-29: Roy Jones
1929-33: Elbert L. Powell
1933-59: S. Earl Rouch
1959-65: Russell D. Walters
1965-66: Millard P. Sink, Act. Supt.
Walters was the last Fulton county superintendent of schools. Before school reorganizations began in the 1950’s there was a Fulton County Board of Education, composed of the eight township trustees, and a county superintendent of schools appointed by the county board.
In June of 1959, S. Earl Rouch resigned as county schools superintendent in the midst of his seventh four-year term and Walters, who had been Kewanna principal for three years, was appointed to succeed Rouch.
Walters resigned as county superintendent at the end of 1964-65 school term to go to Riddle school as sixth grade teacher.
Because most schools in Fulton county had joined newly-created, reorganized school districts by that time (only Kewanna had not), the County Board of Education decided to abolish the position of county superintendent of schools following Walters’ resignation.
[Rochester Sentinel, Tuesday, May 23, 1978]
FULTON COUNTY SCHOOLS [Fulton County]
[photo] The Rochester Township schools 8th grade commencement at the Methodist Church June 15, 1921.
Front row: Marion (Bill) Severns, Elma Myers, Ora Wales, Treva Fisher, Abe B. Krom, Evelyn Peeples, Howard Gordon, Geneva Holloway, Maurice Newman.
Row 2: Eva Severns, Beatrice Good, Mildred Tobey, Mabel Gottschalk, Bernice Hagan, Dorothy Aughinbaugh, Arthur Durkes, Bertha Joy, Oren Conrad.
Back row: Joe Van Duyne, Leona English, Susie Souder, Faye Sheets, Pearl Werner or Jennie Woodcox (Eva didn’t know which but these two girls were listed in the program and were the only names left unidentified), Marion C. Reiter – the Rochester Township Trustee, and Arnold Spurlock.
(Photo printed in Rochester Sentinel. Persons identified by Eva Severns Kindig)
FCHS Quarterly No. 60, p. 137]
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It may be gratifying to some of our readers to know that Fulton county contains 90 school houses and 188 teachers with average wages of one dollar and four cents per day. During the year we have 135 school days and 4,271 pupils are admitted to our schools. The total amount of Congressional school fund held in trust in June, 1876, for the county is $22,164.54.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, January 27, 1877]
Rev. Pontius is holding a series of meetings at 17 school house . .
[Rochester Union Spy, Friday, February 22, 1878]
Jennie Kofel teaches the summer school in Sprinkleburg. Mabel McQuern teaches the Home district.
[Rochester Union Spy, Friday, March 29, 1878]
Wm. McKitrick will swing the birch at 17 school this summer, and Miss Emma Neff at Burton’s.
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EARLY ONE-ROOM SCHOOLS
By Shirley Willard
The first school sessions were held in homes, taught by mothers or older brothers. Perhaps David Shore was the first teacher, holding school in his father’s house by Old US-31 north of Rochester about where Paxton’s round barn is now. Or perhaps the first eacher was Ebenezer Ward who taught in a log cabin near the site of the Jacee Park, SW corner 12th & Monroe.
The first schools were organized in 1838 or shortly after and were held in old abandoned cabins. The first Wayne Township school was taught by Mrs. Conn in an old cabin left by the Michigan Road company. It wasn’t until the 1860’s that schools were divided into grades.
Early schools were subscription schools paid for by the patrons, perhaps 10 cents a day per child. The teacher usually boarded with one of the patrons or spent a certain number of days at the home of each patron.
At first, teachers needed no license as they were hired by the parents. Later when the townships took over payment of teacher salaries (which was only $1 a day in 1880), the trustee hired teachers and the county auditor gave teacher examinations. Sometimes if he was busy, he would pass a prospective teacher on the basis of good penmanship.
The revised state constitution of 1851 provided that tax money be used to support schools and education became “free.” The office of county superintendent was created in 1865. Just before 1900 a state law was passed that no child should have to walk more than two miles to school, so some schools such as Beaver School in Aubbeenaubbee Township were moved.
The first schoolhouse in Aubbeenaubbee Township was built in 1843 on the corner of 700N and 700W. The first school in Liberty Township was built on the Andrew Oliver farm on the corner of 600S and SR-25. In 1840 a log school was erected a mile west of Kewanna. Ambrose Meredith taught the first school in Newcastle Township in his home in the winter of 1839-40, and the following summer his neighbors built a school on his farm.
The one-room schools had interesting names, ranging from weird to beautiful. Often a school was named for the person who donated or sold the land on which it stood. Prill School was named for John Prill who owned the land in 1876. Dead Man’s College (Richland Township) was located on a cemetery. Centennial School in Newcastle Township was so named because it was built in 1876, our nation’s centennial. Summit School southeast of Akron was named for the hill on which it stood. Paw Paw School (Aubbeenaubbee Township) was nicknamed Small Pox because of an outbreak of the disease. Many had Bible names such as Mt. Zion, Ebenezer, Mt. Hope, Antioch, and Bethel.
In Fulton County the construction of schools followed this chronology fairly closely: 1840 log cabin schools, 1860-70 frame schools, 1890 brick schools, 1910-20 brick schools of more than one room, 1960 consolidated schools of several townships.
The last one-room school in Fulton County, Sugar Grove in Henry Township, closed in 1932. Tiosa and Whippoorwill schools in Richland Townshi closed in 1933, but they both were two or three-room schools.
Each township had eight to 15 schools, so Fulton County had over 100 one-room schools. Most of them are gone, but one or two still stand in each township, used for grain storage or just empty and falling apart. The Prill School has been restored, and there is some talk of restoring Jubilee School in Union Township.
[Fulton County Folks, Vol. 2, Willard]
FULTON COUNTY’S ONE-ROOM SCHOOLS
By Shirley Willard
When children had to walk to school, there was a one-room school located every three to five miles so that no child would not have to walk more than five miles to school. Down through the years, Fulton County had over 120 one-room schools.
Some schools had more than one name, as nicknames were freely given and seemed to stick. For instance, Paw Paw school became known as Small Pox after that disease broke out in the community.
The first schools were constructed of logs, beginning about 1836 and continuing until shortly before the Civil War, when the log schools were replaced by wooden frame buildings made of sawed lumber. Last of all would be the brick schools about 1890.
Consolidated schools began about the turn of the century, with several one-room schools going into a brick four-room school. The first consolidated school in Fulton County was Mt. Olive in 1899 in Liberty Township, built by W. S. V. Norris, township trustee and grandfather of Laurence Norris. McKinley School was built in 1901 and was the first in Rochester Township. For some unknown reason, McKinley was named in some newspaper stories as the first in the county, even mistakenly called the first in the state. But it was neither.
Most schools took their name from the property owner closest to the school. The farm owner sometimes donated use of the land or sometimes sold the land to the township. Examples: Prill, Ditmire, Collins, Dewey, Slick.
A lot of imagination was used in naming some of the schools. Officially, they were each assigned a district number, but the names were much more popular. Dead Man’s College was given that name because it sat in a graveyard.
Bible names were popular: Mt. Hope, Mt. Nebo, Antioch, Ebenezer, Mt. Olive, Mt. Tabor, Mt. Zion.
Names were often derived from some feature of its surroundings, such as trees (Black Oak, White Walnut) or the near-by water (Tipecanoe, Lakeview, Lake Bruce, North Mud Creek).
Sometimes they were named for famous men (McKinley and Woodrow – both presidents) or a show in Chicago (Little Egypt) or a famous event (U.S. Centennial of 1876, Jubilee – referring to Queen Victoria’s 60 year Diamond Jubilee Celebration in 1897).
Sometimes when a new school was built, it was given a new name. Sometimes it kept the name of the old school. Some schools had more than one name. So it is impossible to get an accurate total for the number of schools in Fulton County. This list was compiled with the help of many people, including authors of stories in the Fulton County Historical Society Quarterlies and Fulton County Images, plus Caroline Fultz and Wendell Tombaugh.
Sometimes a school was over the county line, so some Fulton County residents attended it because it was the closest school.
The towns had one-room schools that were soon succeeded by schools with two to four rooms: Akron, Athens, Delong, Fulton, Grass Creek, Leiters Ford, Richland Center, Talma, and Tiosa. Rochester had Lincoln (or Central) and Columbia elementary schools, as well as Rochester High School, each having an old building later replaced by a new one.
Rochester had the first high school in Fulton County in 1878. By 1900 every township had a high school in its principal towns: Akron, Fulton, Grass Creek – Majesty, Leiters Ford, Richland Center, Rochester, Talma, and Tiosa
Liberty and Richland were the only townships to have two high schools. Liberty Township had Fulton and Mt. Olive. Richland Township had Tiosa and Richland Center.
With that many schools, we maybe shouldn’t believe those stories about walking many miles to school through snow and rain. If they walked over five miles, it was of their own choosing, as students sometimes did not like a teacher or for other reasons chose to attend a distant school rather than the closest one.
[Unpublished article by Shirley Willard]
LIBERTY SCHOOL IN WAYNE TOWNSHIP
Old #5 1864-1902
New #6 1903-1925
By Mrs. Robert (Dorothy Cunningham) Fultz
Fulton County was a part of the territory of Cass County. It was surveyed and formed in 1836 and was purchased from the Potawatomi Indians for a sum of $63,000. No school houses were constructed in Wayne Township until after 1839 – then the schoolhouses were built of logs and were small, containing only slabs roughly hewed from benches and writing desks, with only a small aperture formed by cutting out a section of half the log and below, then covered over with greased paper, in the absence of glass, to admit light. Instead of stoves, the rooms were heated by means of a large fireplace in one end or corner of the house, supplied with logs for fuel. It was the responsibility of the teacher and the eldest pupils to prepare this for use.
From the old records of Wayne Township, on July 20, 1839, the township was divided into four districts for school purposes. The township, at that time, contained but 36 sections. To each of the four districts were nine sections. These, although equal in size, differed greatly in the number of pupils enumerated for school purposes. At the time of the first enumerations in May 1842 – District No. 1 contained 13 pupils entitled to attend school; No. 2 = 9; No. 3 = 10 and No. 4 = 37 or a total of 69. In the month of October 1842, District No. 4 was divided — No. 4 embracing Sections 22, 23, 26, 27, 34 and 35. The new district No. 5 comprised only Sections 24, 25 and 36. The citizens built a schoolhouse in each of these supplying the logs and their labor free of charge. (One erected on Lindly Moore’s land; one on land of Henry Bowman, Michael Miller, and the last on the Stroub land of which was called District No. 1). From this time on to 1850, the settlement of the township progressed rapidly and was in need of more schools. The free school system was established in 1851 and marked the improvement of the schools of the township, which has never ceased in its forward steps. The rude structures of the early day began to cease and were replaced by better structures when they began to decay.
The law of 1855 turned over the control of individual schools to the patrons. Township trustees were required to number the school districts in their township and then each patron attached himself to whatever district he chose. On the first Saturday of October each year, the patrons met at the schoolhouse, elected a director of the school, chose a teacher and began those interminable district quarrels which never ended until the old directorate system wore itself out about 1900.
In 1859, the General Assembly of Indiana reorganized the township government placing it in the hands of one trustee, elected annually, and abolishing the township secretary and treasurer. In accordance with the trustee was given control over school affairs formerly possessed by all the township officers.
The Assembly of 1865 abolished all laws on the subject of common schools for the third time and rewrote the school law.
School trustees in cities and towns were to be elected by governing boards of the same. The school trustee, in the various school corporations, was given power to levy taxes for building purposes. The corporation teachers’ institute also dates from this year, holding which was made the duty of the county examiner. The school term was defined as 60 days, the school week as five. Physiology and U.S. History were added to the list of common school branches, and the township trustees were given custody of the township libraries. The law dated March 9, 1867 gave local school corporations power to levy and collect taxes for tuition purposes. This fund came to be known as the special tuition fund and the one for building, the special school fund. Both are kept separate. In 1869, the German language entered the grades as a subject to study. Its teaching was conditioned on the demands of parents with 25 children of school age.
In 1873, the whole school law was re-written for the fourth time and last. The acts 1849-1852-1855-1861 and 1865 had been replaced. This raised local tax to 50 cents on 100 and one-dollar on the poll, district: elected a county superintendent to replace the county examiner. The superintendent is supposed to be a professional educator and devote all his time to the improvement of the schools of the county. Many amendments were added to these laws.
Consolidation was taking over rapidly in Fulton County especially during 1907-1913 under the supervision of county superintendent John C. Werner. During this time four new consolidated schools were built, situated in Athens, Tiosa, Mount Olive and McKinley School.
When county superintendent Becker was elected to office in 1913, he had supervision of the above four mentioned and six comparatively new schools at Grass Creek, Akron, Fulton, Kewanna, Leiters Ford and Richland Center were already built. He continued to build and equip new buildings. Consolidations greatest period of development was during Mr. Becker’s incumbency: a 4-room consolidated school at Delong, a similar at Tiosa and the Burton consolidates school in Rochester Township, a new high school built in Talma and in Leiters Ford an addition including a gymnasium attached to the high school.
A rapid building of consolidated schools within such a short period of years, 1907-18, brought forth quite a bit of complaining from taxpayers of Fulton County and for this reason county superintendent of schools Thomas F. Berry has been unable to secure funds for any enlargement of the broad line. However since he has been in office (year 1918) the Woodrow consolidated school in Rochester township has been built. A ruling of state board made this school the only first class elementary school in the county. When it is considered that the lack of window blinds, too many elementary pupils in a room, failure to have the required number of supplementary readers for each child, or some similar thing that may keep the school out of the first class, this ruling may be more fully appreciated to get this classificaiton. A school must be no less than perfect. A $20,000 consolidated building is under construction in 1923 at the Whippoorwill, Richland Township and the high school in the same township will cost approximately $16,000. In 1922, a new $75,000 high school was completed at Fulton occupied in September 1922.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 52, pp 49-51]
FULTON COUNTY TEACHERS [Fulton County]
First teacher Ebenezer Ward.
[Earle A. Miller, The News-Sentinel, Tuesday May 12, 1959]
Fulton County has ninety-four school teachers.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, December 3, 1874]
The names herewith appended are those mostly of ladies and gentlemen who have had charge of schools in this county within the last one or two years, while a few names of persons appear who will just begin the work of teaching during the coming winter.
There is a large number of names of teachers on the record who have embarked in other enterprises and a few have gone to their long homes. Among those to whom reference is made are John Graffis and George W. Henderson. . .
Samuel Barger, W. R. Lough, J. F. Wilson, W. H. Sickman, C. P. Hinman, W. L. Koons, E. L. Yarlot, P. Townsend, T. J. McClarey, Ella Bryan, Joseph A. Howland, Addie Whittenberger, Sallie McMahan, Lou. McMahan, Solomon Cavender, Al. S. Pugh, J. H. Cooper, J. W. Eidson, J. Q. Henry, E. L. Martindale, G. H. Wallace, Melvin Slick, C. Bybee, Joseph Burdg, J. A. McClung, B. F. Green R. Honneshagen, W. A. Dillon, T. Meredith, E. F. Chinn, John B. McMahan, G. M. Calvin, W. H. Clevenger, F. Leiter, C. E. Newhouse William Myers, W. Egman, E. Horton, John E. Troutman, Jefferson Robbins, H. D. Mosteller, A. H. Shafer, Rufus W. Core, T. J. Ware, J. W. Jefferies, Benton Essig, David Lowe, Peter Stingly, Joseph Slick, Geo M. Conn, A. L. Shafer, W. H. Vankirk, A. F. Bowers, J. P. Nellens, E. Myers, F. C. Montgomery, F. P. Howell, W. M. Hay, Lucy Smith, S. Bryan, Jennie Egman, Sarah Barnett, M. Fowler, Eliza Elliott, Mary M. Coons, Lizzie Green, Mollie Kahler, Lizzie McGraw, L. E. Smith, Josie Davidson, A. E. Andrus, Wanda Nye, Maggie Kelly, Maggie Oneth, E. M. Pond, Sarah Julian, Louisa J. Ware, Allie M. Weary, Emma Sterner, Leota Hunter, M. J. McCaughey, L. Taylor, Alice Barb, Mary Allen, Mary Elliott, Callie Smith, Ella Barb, Eva Ault, Lida Stradley, R. C. Wallace, Olean Bainter, Maggie Miller, Abbie Hudkins, Lissie Sweet, William Pugh.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, November 15, 1873]
Robert W. Wallace has engaged to teach a district school at Akron this winter . . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, November 22, 1873]
F. P. Bitters is teaching in Newcastle Township.
— Leroy Armstrong, formerly a typo in this office, but for the past year has been roaming o’er the western wilds and on the Pacific coast, returned to this place and has engaged to teach the young ideas how to shoot in a school near Green Oak in this county. It is his first experience in that direction, but we venture to say that he will make a success of it.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 5, 1874]
Newcastle Township Institute, Bloomingsburg, Dec. 12, 1874. . . following teachers present: Miss Lou McMahan, Miss Sallie McMahan, Messrs. McClary, Bitters, Dillon, Haimbaugh and Montgomery. . . to meet at the Wind Fall School House, District No. 9, on Saturday, January 16, 1875.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 19, 1874]
The Union Township Institute held its first meeting on Dec. 18th, at District No. 8. Mr. McKitrick, Principal of the Kewanna Graded Schools, Miss Olie Bainter . . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 19, 1874]
Miss Emma Sterner, the handsome and efficient teacher in the Third Ward school, is rusticating during vacation on the flowery banks of the beautiful St. l;Jo., and in the fruit-laden vineyards of Bristol. Apropos: Perhaps that is the reason the clerk of the Central House talks of journeying North. Good bye.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, July 3, 1875]
The teachers employed in this township, as far as we know, lare Joseph Slick, S. J. Barger, Harvey Graham, Miss Olie Bainter and Miss Allie Weary.
[Kewanna Items, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, October 30, 1875]
The Howell boys are teaching in Pulaski County, instead of Miami County, as stated in the Spy. F. P. is teaching west of Star City, and Henry is teaching in Paris or Rosedale.
[Kewanna Items, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, November 20, 1875]
Miss Mariah Coons is attending school in your place. She is already a good teacher, but I hope she will improve her time.
[From Bristle Ridge, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, January 22, 1875]
Mr. Carruthers, the popular music teacher, is teaching at Birmingham and other places in this section.
[Lincoln News, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, February 12, 1875]
Miss Mattie Smith, of Peru, who is teaching a country school, some where between Wagoners and Lincoln, called at the Spy office last Saturday. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, March 19, 1875]
Miss Josie Sturgeon has been selected to teach our school this summer.
[Around-About by Gate Keeper (J. N. Orr), Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 23, 1875]
F. L. Wagner, who has been attending the high school and teaching in this county, for the past year, returned to his home at Lake Post, Stark county, Ohio, last Tuesday. He will resume his studies at the high school in this place with the opening of the next term.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, June 25, 1875]
School commenced again on the 3d by a Miss Strong, from Akron . . .
[Owl Creek Items, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, August 13, 1875]
Five cents reward is offered for the return of one W. M. Camp, a school teacher in the north part of this county, who owes us $1 for printing visiting cards.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, August 20, 1875]
Frank P. Bitters returned to the Valparaiso college, last Saturday, it being his fourth term. . . He has been a successful teacher of public schools for four years, but is now seeking for higher attainments in order to practice some more useful pursuit in life. C. K. Bitters, a younger brother, went to the same place Monday. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, September 10, 1875]
Miss Adria Andrus, of this place, is teaching in the Winamac public schools. Adria is a good scholar, of kind disposition, and well fitted for the position she occupies.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, September 24, 1875]
Miss Mollie Newhouse, who is an intelligent, well educated young lady, is teaching instrumental music in connection with the common school branches, near Greencastle, this State.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, November 5, 1875]
A Mr. Hoover from Ohio will train the young ideas at Union this winter, Abe Bowers will swing the birch at the Saw-mill school, Miss Maggie Blacketer will dust the jackets in the new district near Wm. Davidson’s and John Davidson will “rule” the young Antiochers.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, December 3, 1875]
I was present with Mr. Jonas Myers at a union of the pupils of the Rochester Graded School, except those attending the South Ward School. . . I saw many of the pupils in attendance at school who have been teaching in the country during the past winter and many just entering a graded school for the first time. I herewith give the names of a few whom I noted particularly: J. O. Stevens, Frank Haimbaugh, Fitch Montgomery, Mr.Birch, C. S. Knott, E. Mercer, David Knott, Willie Loomis, John Davidson, Mr. Smith, Miss Ambrose, H. C. Martindale and others . . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 18, 1876]
Miss Irene Sellers closes her school in Aubbeenaubbee on Friday next with a grand exhibition.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 25, 1876]
F. P. Bitters has returned from Valparaiso and will teach the tender ideas how to shoot this winter.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, July 29, 1876]
F. P. Bitters will plant educational twigs at Argos during the coming winter.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, October 21, 1876]
Charley Plank will “teach the young ideas” where, when and how to shoot at the Saw Mill School; Curg. Rannells swings the birch at Mt. Zion; Ches. Chinn manipulates the rod away down in Wayne; Frank Dawson will “walk their chunk” at Prairie Union — and Able Bowers will introduce the apple-eating system at Millark.
— Miss Emma Barnett returned from the State Normal last Saturday. She intends teaching in Wayne this winter.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, November 25, 1876]
J. W. Bear and Thomas Nelson are each teaching their first schools, in Kosciusko county.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, May 19, 1876]
Will Strong has commenced his school.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, August 4, 1876]
Prof. E. L. Yarlott has been engaged as principal of the school at Knox, and has moved his family to that city . . .
[Kewanna by Medici, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, September 8, 1876]
Miss Gertrude Hawkins, the mute teacher has returned from Chicago, and will continue her school here during the fall and winter.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, September 15, 1876]
Two young men, employes of the Spy office – Hugh Brown and S. F. Chandler – desire to obtain situations as school teachers in Fulton county, this winter . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, October 27, 1876]
James Brown, of this place, is teaching a dancing school at Plymouth. He makes weekly visits to that city.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, November 31, 1876]
Joe Smith, of Green Oak, is teaching school in New Castle.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, December 8, 1876]
Joe Smith did not reach that school in New Castle, as reported.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, December 15, 1876]
Two young men, who are known by the euphonious names of Jake Chandler and Abby Grove, have gone west to grow up with the country. The first-named gentleman obtained a suit of clothes of Jos. Lauer and rings and breastpins of C. C. Wolf, all on “tick,” to be paid for out of the school fund at a specified time, which this undertain model rural teacher had set to draw a part of his wages. In order to fix himself for the trip, it is reported that young Grove shaded his father’s pocketbook and plucked it from the paternal pants after the “old folks” had retired. They started on their western tour Monday night and before another Monday night overtakes them they will probably think that “the way of the transgressor is hard,” as is his board and lodging.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, February 3, 1877]
We are informed that W. H. Cooper will finish the term begun by S. F. Chandler, who lately abandoned his chool. -E. Myers, County Supt.
— Richland township Teachers Institute, Whippoorwill, Feb. 10, ’77, [names mentioned]: Wm. Riley, E. T. Henderson, F. E. Zechiel, J. L. Martindale, Miss Lou McMahan, C. S. Knott, E. C. Martindale, W. A. Dillen, Thos. Adamson, Mr. Carr. Edgar T. Henderson, Secy.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, February 10, 1877]
Bill Krieghbaum is a graduate of John Morrissey’s school, but he can’t play chequers for shucks.
— Frank P. Bitters, who is now engaged in one of the Argos schools, has, under the religious excitement now prevailing there, taken up the cross and gone over on the Lord’s side to labor for the salvation of other poor souls.
[Here and There by Dick Sands, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, February 24, 1877]
Wayne township teachers institute, Bowman’s School House, February 10, 1877. . . [names mentioned: E. Myers, F. M. Burdy, T. J. Ware, S. A. M. Butcher, Miss Emma Barnett, Miss Guckien.
— The success of the Wayne township institute was mainly due to the efforts of the Trustee. Mr. Buchanan is a most efficient officer.
F. P. Howell has not been able to teach for a few days past. His health, however, is improving. -E. Myers, County Supt.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, February 24, 1877]
Teachers Institute, Kewanna, Ind., Feb. 17, 1877. . . [names mentioned] A. J. Harsh, Miss Luella Long, F. P. Howell, H. W. Graham, R. B. Minton, Miss Robinson, R. W. Cox, Miss Bainter, Joseph Slick, Supt. Myers, Mr. Lough.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 3, 1877]
Richland Twp. Teachers Institute, Richland Tp. March 3, 1877. [names mentioned] Wm. Newcomb, Trustee, W. A. Dillon, S. Cavender, E. T. Henderson, F. E. Zechiel, Mrs. Martindale, Mr. Riley, E. C. Martindale, J. W. Colvin, J. L. Martindale, Miss McMahan, Mr. Rees, Mr. Wolf.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 10, 1877]
Frank Bitters, who has just concluded a successful term of school in Marshall county, has returned to his home near Akron and will remain there during the summer, devoting his time to the study of medicine under the tutorship of Dr. Harter.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 31, 1877]
The energetic young teacher, Mr. Frank Haimbaugh, checked his white shirts for Valparaiso last Monday where he will attend the “Normal” ten weeks.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 21, 1877]
Miss Mollie Emrick, of Rochester, will teach this coming summer at the New School House, northwest of town.
— Miss Ella Barb, of Rochester, will teach the “young idea how to shoot” in Richland township. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 28, 1877]
Mason Jaqua, a poor but worthy citizen and mechanic of this place, started with his family for California, on Tuesday. For a year or more he has been severely afflicted with consumption, which, in connection with the fact that his wife is blind, and a family of small children to support by the labor he was able to perform made his struggles with the world hard to overcome. Although scarcely able to be off his couch he successfully taught a district school during the winter, and by his earnings supported himself and family. Having friends in California, and believing that his health would be improved by the change, he sold off what little articles of value he possessed and accumulated a little fund, to which was added an amount from the public treasury sufficient to take himself and family to the Pacific coast, where it is hoped he will recover and enjoy life, as his integrity and energy merits.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, May 12, 1877]
The school at this place commenced one week ago last Monday, with N. W. Cooper as teacher.
[Items From Bigfoot, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, June 2, 1877]
Miss Eliza J. Reid closed her school on Thursday last, and in the evening was united in marriage to Rev. J. Bishop, of Arkansas. . . will leave for Arkansas in September. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, June 23, 1877]
Miss Eliza J. Reid having been recently married, Miss Emma Onstott has been engaged to teach the unexpired term of her school — two months.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, June 30, 1877]
J. Q. Henry has resigned his position in the Winamac school and expects to enter the theological seminary of Chicago this fall.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, August 4, 1877]
The Normal School, under the supervision of F. P. Bitters, promises to be a success.
[Tidal Waves by Tom Thumb, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, September 15, 1877]
Leiters Ford, Dec. 22d, 1877.
Institute convened at Leiters school house at 10 o’clock, a.m., and was called to order by E. Myers, County Superintendent. J. T. Goucher was elected secretary, and N. D. Ellis critic. . .
In the afternoon Messrs. Boyce, Moon, Ellis, Miller, Allen, Goucher, and Minton demonstrated respectively their method of teaching primary reading, subtraction and simple numbers, phyusiology, grammar, geography, methods of finding the greatest common divisor, and history. . . .
[Rochester Independent, Saturday, January 5, 1878]
C. K. Bitters closed his winter session of school at Bremen, in Marshall county, last week. He went to Chicago Wednesday and possibly he will become a citizen of that place.
[Rochester Union Spy, Friday, March 29, 1878]
B. F. Dawson received a letter this week from one of the principals of the University at Ann Arbor, soliciting him to become first assistant teacher in the Laboratory and superintendent of pharmaceutical operations. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, August 16, 1878]
Miss Ella Wilhelm of this place has been engaged as a school teacher at Knox. . .for some time. . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, August 30, 1878]
B. F. Dawson returned to Ann Arbor last Monday as a teacher and pupil. . . He will graduate with the present term which will close some time next year.
Oscar Metz, of this place, is an experienced writing school teacher, and will devote his time to that business this winter.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, September 27, 1878]
Mr. David Nott, who is teaching school at Perrysburg, will hold meeting at Zion church next Sabbath at half past ten.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, November 1, 1878]
The school in this district which was taught by Wm. McMahan, has closed for the season we are informed.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 1, 1879]
C. E. Newton is at home, having completed his school in Cass county, last Friday.
[Kewanna Chips, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 1, 1879]
Miss Emma Barnett closed a very successful term of school in Wayne township, week before last.
[Kewanna Chips, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 15, 1879]
The many friends of Prof. J. M. McAfee will be pleased to learn that he is now principal of the Dolton Academy and Normal Institute, at Dolton, Ill. He is also editor of The School Record, a spicy little paper devoted to general news, but more especially to the interests of Dolton Academy. -E. Myers, Co. Supt.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 12, 1879]
Miss Minnie Stradley teaches at the Grove school; Miss Clary Orr at Sixteen; G. W. Tipton at Windfall or No. 9; a Miss Rowley at Barkman; Miss Emma Orr at Dover; Miss Blacketor is teaching the Bloomingsburg school.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, June 7, 1879]
B. F. Dawson has returned from his two years college labors at Ann Arbor, Mich., a full fledged pharmacist. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, July 5, 1879]
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Isaac P. Pontius, a school teacher, at Harrisburg, corner of Fulton, Kosciusko, Wabash and Miami county, has been placed under bond for selling leaf tobacco without a licnese.The red tape of a Radical Government gets many people into trouble. We presume the tobacco sold was raised by his own hands and upon his own land.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, September 20, 1879]
Mr. Joseph A. Howland, an old and experienced school teacher has retired from the profession. For a period of nearly forty years, Mr. Howland could be found almost at any time in the school room. But on account of bad health he has been compelled to yield. During that time he has taught more than one hundred and fifty terms of school.
[Five Corners Scraps, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, October 18, 1879]
ADDA NEFF’S TEACHING RECORDS
Adda Neff (later Mrs. Amos Sanders, mother of Thelma Safford, Akron) kept records when she taught school and the money received:
1900 Oak Grove School, 1 week 5.00
1901 Burton (one room) School, 1 week 36.00
1901-02 Oak Grove, Dist No. 11
120 days and 10 institutes @ $2.12-1/2 a day 276.25
1902-03 North Mud Creek, Dist No. 11
120 days and 11 institutes @ $2.15 per day 281.65
1903 (summer) Dakota, 5 months @ $35 a month 175.00
1903-04 School No. 6 (Wildermuth School) north of
Church, 130 days and 6 institutes @ $2.43 a day 330.48
1904-05 North Mud Creek,
120 days and 6 institutes, @ $2.47 a day 311.22
1905-06 North Mud Creek,
120 days and 6 institutes, @ $2.50 a day 315.00
1906-07 (Apr.5) Tippecanoe (Ernsperger) School,
120 days and 6 institutes @ $2.54 a day 370.85
1907-08 (Mar. 27) Tippecanoe School,
120 days and 6 institutes @ $2.55 a day 371.30
1908-09 (Apr. 9) Burton (one-room) School,
130 days and 6 institutes @ 2.81 a day 382.16
Janitor 5.00
Total for teaching nine years $2,821.90
In April 1909 Adda Neff married Amos Sanders and ended her teaching career.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 54]
FULTON COUNTY TEACHERS’ ASSN. [Fulton County]
Proceedings of the Fulton County Teachers’ Association, November 24, 1873. [names mentioned]: R. C. Wallace, Miss Ella Rex, W. H. Sickman, T. J. McClary, S. E. Green, Mrs. E. J. Pond, F. M. Montgomery, Prof. Williams, Bowers, Riley, G. Green, Yarlot, N. G. Hunter, C. R. Green, Rev. Elliott, Miss E. J. Rex, Cyrus Smith, Miss Green, Prof. Smith, L. Rannells, Miss Kelley, D. E. Williams, Miss Kuhns, Col. Shryock, Mr. Cavender, E. R. Herman J. S. Slick, E. L. Yarlot, A. F. Bowers, J. A. Troutman, Llewella Long, J. Q. Henry, Mr. Wood, Mr. Lough.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, December 4, 1873]
FULTON COUNTY TEACHERS CONVENTION [Rochester City]
Teachers Convention, at Wallaces Hall in Rochester on Saturday the 29th day of December 1860, at 10 o’clock, a.m. . . . James Wagner, teacher, Burr Oak, Roch’r T’p, J. S. Rannells, teacher, Walton, Roch’r T’p, F. M. Ernsperger, teacher, Sand Ridge, Roch’r T’p, Rufus McClung, teacher, Sand Ridge, Roch’r T’p, E. R. Rannels, teacher, Centre, Newcastle T’p, Jno. McClung, teacher, Mt. Zion, Roch’r T’p.
[Rochester Mercury, Thursday, December 20, 1860]
FULTON COUNTY TEACHERS EXAMINATIONS [Fulton County]
. . . public examinations of applicants for license as teachers of common schools of the State, at the Court House at Rochester, on the last Saturday of each month, during the balance of the year. Hugh Miller, Rochester, July 31, 1862.
[Rochester Chronicle, Thursday, July 31, 1862]
FULTON COUNTY TOWNSHIP TRUSTEES
[photo] Township Trustees for Fulton County 1909-14 served six years. Identified: Emory Weeks, Wayne Township Trustee, the tall man in a black hat, 5th from left, Robert W. Wylie, Rochester Twp., sixth from the left. He had Burton School built during his term. Edgar McCarter, second from the right, was Trustee of Liberty Twp. and J. H. Reed was Richland Twp. Trustee. (Photo: Helen Wylie Reese)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 108; and corrections FCHS Quarterly No. 62-63, p. 22]
Indiana Law in 1831 provided three trustees to control schools and school funds (called congressional townships) and three for civil townships. A law passed in 1852 made it only one trustee for each township, but the four-year term didn’t come into use until 1870.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 17, p. 13]
AUBBEENAUBBEE:
1860: Henry Sutter
1861: William Moore
1863: James R. Dales
1864: Ambrose Meredith
1865: Milton Moore
1866-68: John Leiter
1869: Thomas Meredith
1872-75: Wm. D. Moore/Moon [?]
1876: Samuel J. Barger
1877: Samuel J. Barger
1878: Samuel J. Barger
1879: Lewis M. Lough
1882: Levi Slonaker
1888 John Ditmire
1895-00: Albert Ginther
1905-08: Zina C. Bunnell
1909-14: Henry Moon
1915-18: John Louis Hoesel
1919-22: L. V. Robinson
1923-26: Grover C. Kline
1927-30: Omer Reichard
1931-34: John Louis Hoesel
1935-42: Ed A. Bunn
1943-50: Fred Plantz
1951-58: Guy A. Shadel
1959-62: Vernie Bowen
1963-70: Eldon Davis
1971-74: JackCroy
HENRY
1838: Hugh Miller – School Commissioner of Fulton County
1842: John Gould
1869: James Dawson; Geo. Shafer; Levi Burch.
1873: E. A. Arnold
1874: William Bitters
1875-80: Jacob Whittenberger
1881: Charles Richter
1894: David Bright
1899-00: A. F. Bright
1901-04: Ben F. Holloway
1905-09: Albert Cook
1908: Alonzo Bright [?] Albert Cook [?]
1909-17: Del Whitcomb
1917-22: William Morrett [?]
1917-25: George Kinder
1925-33: Fred Blackburn [?]
1929-35: Fred Blackburn [?]
1934-38: Clifford Wilhoit [?]
1935-39: Clifford Wilhoit [?]
1938-42: Earl Shimer [?]
1939-43: Earl Shimer [?]
1942-50: Ralph Rader [?]
1944-51: Ralph Rader [?]
1950-58: Vernon M. Cumberland [?]
1951-58: Vernon M. Cumberland [?]
1959- Kenneth Lukenbill
1960-present: Paul Fites [?]
1959-62: Paul Fites [?]
LIBERTY
1854: Andrew Oliver, Samuel Van Blaricom, John McConnehey
1860: Robert Aitken
1861-64: Fred Peterson
1865-68: E. J. Delp
1869-79: Frederick Peterson
1879-83: George M. Conn
1848-88: George W. Cook
1889-98: Richard M. Reed and William Miller
1899-04: Winfield Victor Scott Norris
1905-08: Vachel J. Pownall
1909-14: Edgar McCarter
1915-18: George A. Black
1919-22: Jaames M. Mills
1923-26: Lawrence Hendrickson
1927-30: Vachel J. Pownall
1931-38: John Dawald
1939-46: Dr. Bert R. Kent
1947-50: Lawrence Rouch
1951-54: Robert D. Leavell
1955-62: Fred Gottschalk
1963-70: Ronald F. Gundrum
1971-76: Roger Kent (resigned in 1976)
1976-82: Robert Leavell
1982- James Sutton
NEWCASTLE
1853: Samuel L. Heys and Loyd B. Davis
1854: John Schlow
1860-64: Peter C. Dumbauld
1865-67: Thomas Almack
1868-71: John W. Black and David McCaughey
1869: J. W. Black; Geo. Perschbaucher; W. S. Lynch. [?]
1872-75: Conrad Haimbaugh
1876: Conrad Haimbaugh [?]
1877-79: Moses Nellans
1880-81: George Kesler
1882-86: Daniel Jones
1888: F. C. Montgomery
1899-1904: Edmond B. Tippy
1905-08: David Swonger
1909-14: Francis Coplen
1915-18: Charles T. Jones
1919-22: Clinton L. Walburn
1923-26: William W. Norris
1927-34: Lou Grove
1929-35: Lou Grove
1935-40: John B. Haimbaugh
1940-41: Lawrence E. Bogenwright
1941-46: David C. Swihart
1947-54: Charles E. Green
1955-62: Wayne Mikesell
1962-70: George Craig
1971-74: Dave Burkett
1975- –: Wendell Grass
RICHLAND
1853: L. A. Osborn, O. J. Ralstin, S. A. Chambers
[By 1860 there was only one trustee per township]
1860: Benjamin C. Wilson
1861-62: Wm. Sturgeon
1863: Daniel W. Jones
1865: W. P. Ball
1869: Isaac Hiatt; Ferd Packer; A. E. Babcock.
1870-73: Eli Rogers
1874: William Newcomb
1875: William Newcomb
1876: William Newcomb
1877: William Newcomb
1878: William O. Dillen
1879: W. A. Dillon
1883: Arthur E. Pendleton
1888: Joseph Cowen
1899-04: William Wright
1905-08: Wm. L. Rogers
1909-14: J. H. Reed
1915-18: Wm. Foster
1919-22: John Oneal
1923-26: J. Howard Reed
1927-34: Oscar M. Scott
1935-38: Clyde J. Beehler
1939-42: Clarence L. Overmyer
1943: Clarence Overmyer for 12 days, then went into Armed service. His wife
Edith M. Overmyer 1943-46 completed trustee term.
1947-50: Edward C. Smith
1951-58: C. Dean Mow
1959-66: Ernest Walters
1967-70: Eldrith Cook
1971- George Schwenk
ROCHESTER
1860-61: William Mackey
1863: Isaiah Walker
1864-65: C. H. Robbins
1868: John Elam
1869: John Elam; C. H. Robbins; E. Kirtland.
Calvin Van Trump
1872: Lewis B. Conger
1873: L. B. Conger
John R. Shoup has been appointed Township Trustee to fill the vacancy
caused by the death of Mr. Conger.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, January 15, 1874]
1874: John R. Shoup
1875-77: James B. Elliott
1878-82: John E. Cates
1882-84: Lemuel W. Shelton
1885: George W. Tipton
1886-88: Lemuel W. Shelton
1889-90: George Miller
1891-92: Joseph Cower
1893-94: F. M. Ernsperger
1895-00: Arthur E. Pendleton
1901-04: Charles Jackson
1905-08: Kelsey R. Richardson
1909-14: Robert Wylie
1915-18: William K. Stevenson
1919-26: Marion Reiter
1927-30: William Foster
1931-34: Bert Myers
1935-42: Alf L. Carter
1943-50: John J. Braman
1951-54: Kenneth Taylor
1955-62: Henry Skidmore
1963-66: Robert Keim
1967-70: Arthur Weaver
1971-74: Robert Gottschalk
1975-78: John William Myers
1979- Kenneth L. Blackburn
Note that before 1900 the terms were for two years. Arthur E. Pendleton was the first to serve four years. Robert WEylie served six years because the trustee election was shifted away from the presidential election. The terms were limited to two terms until 1970: now they can serven an unlimited number of terms.
Fire on Feb. 5, 1936 destroyed Rochester Township records in Alf Carter’s books store at 812 Main Street thus destroying all records of the one-room schools.
UNION
1869: Thos. Wilson; C. S. Graham; J. A. Barnett.
1873: J. Barnett
J. A. Barnett (trustee) has had several school-houses re-painted.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, November 1, 1873]
1874: Adolph Hunneshagen
1875: Adolph Hunneshagen
1876: David Lowe/Lough
1877: David Lough, Jr.
1878: David Lough, Jr.
1879: David Lough, Jr.
1898: J. P. Russell
1908: Charles J. Sparks
1909: John Bybee
1929-30: William Starr
1931-34: Thomas Reed
1934-35: Mrs. Thomas Reed
1935-43: J. B. Talbott
1944-51: Ralph V. Johnston
1951-54: Sidney J. Crabill
1955-62: James M. McKinney
1963-66: Raymond Hinderlider
WAYNE
1869: D. M. Caughey; James Ware; Wm. Hill.
1873: Jas. Ware
1874: Alex W. Elliott
1875: Alex W. Elliott
1876: James H. Buchanan
1877: James H. Buchanan
1878: E. R. Hendrickson
1879: E. R. Hendrickson
1895-06 S. W. Julian
1900-01: R. O. Murray
1902: E. J. Buchanan
1903-06: E. “Jude” Buchanan
1907-10: Frank Thomas
1911-14: Emory Weeks
1915-22: Frank Douglas
1923-26: William McLochlin
1927-30: Frank Douglas
1931-34: Clarence Huffman
1935-38: Lloyd Rouch
1939-42: Clarence Huffman
1943-50: Frank Thomas
1951-58: Carl M. Herrold
KEWANNA CORPORATION
1873: Dr. Thompson and J. Philips
1876: Dr. Thompson and Dr. J. Q. Howell
ROCHESTER CORPORATION
1873: A. Brown, N. L. Lord and J. Dawson
1875: A. Brown, N. L. Lord and J. Dawson
1876: A. Brown, N. L. Lord and J. Dawson
1877: Enoch Sturgeon
1878:
1879: J. Dawson, A. V. House and C. C. Hickman
[F.C.H.S. files; also FCHS Quarterly No. 61, p. 108; FCHS Quarterly No. 52, p. 55; Grass Creek High School Annual]
FULTON SCHOOL [#5] [Fulton, Indiana ]
Located one block W of SR-25 in Fulton. Baptist Church is now located at the site.
Next school: Liberty Township School was built in 1909/1910 across the Fulton town line, two blocks east of SR-25. After it was closed in 1967, the children attended Caston School.
Clarence Rentschler tore down Fulton school after the new Caston Educational Center opened in 1968, but the gym is still standing [in 1974]
[photo] This is a picture of the first school bus or hack used in the Fulton community. It was driven by Elmer Eytcheson of Fulton and was first used in 1914. With the help of his faithful horses, Nellie and Pearl, he took the children to the Pleasant Hill one-room school, which has since been torn down. It was located on the Everett Rentschler farm. Eytcheson was paid a little under $2.00 a day. (Photo from a newspaper clipping submitted by Thelma Johnston, niece of Elmer.)
FCHS Quarterly No. 67, p. 58]
[photo] It is a long time and many generations of grade school children from the “hack” of 1914 to this modern bus (parked in front of Fulton School) which Eytcheson drove in 1958. (Photo: Indianapolis Star Magazine)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 67, p. 59]
[photo] Fulton High School 1918. Front row: Cleo Norris Ford, Esther Quick Williams, Mary Smith – teacher, Minnie Reed Carr, Esther Green Tanner, Vera Felder Messinger.
Row 2: Arthur Carr, Myrl Lichtenwalter, Prof. W. E. Nickels, John Harding, Peter Haslett, Jim Whybrew. (Photo donated to FCHS by Marjorie Halstead Lichtenwalter in 1978)
[FCHS Images No. 3, p. 101]
[photo] Fulton 1947 Bulldogs: sitting: Phillip Smith, Meatball Jr., Dick Burns – managers. Front row: Bill Louderback, John Wagoner, Phil McCarter, Don Masterson, Dean Richter. Middle row: Arthur Shafer, Kenneth Rouch, Joe Rentschler, Joe Bean, Raymond Zartman, Bob Fred, Wallace Felty. Top row: Dennis Severns, Jim Casben, Ray Pownell, Bill Mikesell, Bernard Gundrum, Coach A. E. Lattimer. (Photo: Sefhos 1947 1947 – Fulton High School yearbook.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 32, p. 3]
[photo] 1953 Fulton Bulldogs. Left to right: Dick Pinder – student manager; John Kingery, Don Williams, Harry Richter, Norman Ousley, Bill Cooley, Paul Gross, Ed Pinder, Jim Brown, Alfred “Buck” Johnson, Jim Gates, Coach Bob Williams. (Photo: Sefhos 1953)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 32, p. 6]
[photo – top] School’s out for the day and here is the No. 1 customer for the trip back home. The rest of the kids will pile on soon. Elmer had a great fondness for children. (Photo: Indianapolis Star Magazine)
[photo – bottom] Eytcheson prides himself on keeping his bus neat and clean, always does his own sweeping. (Photo: Indianapolis Star Magazine)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 67, p. 60]
[photo] Back in the days of the horse-drawn “hack”, Mrs. Eytcheson sometimes drove bus for him. (Photo: Indianapolis Star Magazine)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 67, p. 61]
ELMER EYTCHESON – FULTON SCHOOL HACK DRIVER
By Ernest A. Wilkinson
(Indianapolis Star Magazine, May 18, 1958)
The fondness of Elmer E. Eytcheson for children whose noise “doesn’t bother me at all” is exemplified in his record as a school bus driver in Fulton County.
After 8 buses and 39 years of hauling pupils to and from classes for Liberty Township schools in the town of Fulton, the 70 year-old Eytcheson is looking forward to many more years with “my kids” over 20 miles of country roads.
He began driving a “hack” in 1914 and except for a brief period has been at it ever since, to set a record among school bus drivers in Indiana.
Proud of his long service to education, he also has another enviable record. Eytcheson has used his accident insurance only once and that was to pay for an X-ray of a girl who bruised her back when she fell down the steps of his bus a year ago.
“Accidents are caused by carelessness,” Eytcheson declares. “I always try to be cautious. Some kinds complain that I drive too slowly but their parents never complain.
“And I’ve never been ticketed by the police for going too fast or too slow,” he adds. He has never been arrested for other traffic violations in or out of his school bus either.
Eytcheson, who walked 1-1/4 miles to school as a child, has 42 passengers he hauls 20 miles to school each morning and another 20 miles on the route home each evening.
The number of miles he has driven, possibly 500,000, may not be impressive but he has used 8 buses during his career. The first three were horse-drawn. Next came a Model-T. The number of his pupil-passengers and the length of his route has increased with the improvement in roads and buses.
In the early days he often used a horse-drawn bobsled, he calls a mud boat, as a bus when the “bottom dropped out of the roads during the spring thaw.”
And there were times his wife, Donna, drove the bus when he was ill or busy with planting or harvesting on his farm. That was before the days of the horseless carriages and “I didn’t actually drive, because the horses knew the route and where to stop,” Mrs. Eytcheson recalls.
For this service, Eytcheson now helps his wife around the house when he isn’t in the bus or supervising work on his farm.
He likes to drive the bus best of all because he likes children and doesn’t mind their noise “as long as the boys don’t fight.”
There is very little rough-house on his bus because the children know he has used a paddle at times. They also like and respect him and show it every Christmas by chipping in to buy him a nice gift.
He also treats them with more candy and apples than is good for them.
Eytcheson has a contract to drive next year, his 40th in a school bus, and he plans to keep on driving “as long as they will let me.”
The school at this place, taught by Miss Elliott, closed last Friday.
[Mill Creek Gossip, Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, July 31, 1873]
There was a spelling school here one night last week, and everything passed off pleasantly. G. W. Cook was the champion speller.
[Fulton Items, Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, March 12, 1874]
Mr. Jaqua, our school teacher was taken down sick with the lun fever on Thursday 26th.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, April 30, 1874]
A school meeting was held in this place, last Wednesday evening, for the purpose of selecting a teacher for the summer, and resulted in choice of Miss Lizzie Sweet.
[From Pin Hook, Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, April 9, 1874]
Mr. Carruthers has been teaching here during the winter and spring. He is a splendid teacher.
[Fulton Scribblings, Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, May 28, 1874]
Mr. Jaqua has got the Rosedale school, land intends moving to that place in a few days.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, November 12, 1874]
Miss Bessie Sweet was elected teacher of the Fulton school last night. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, November 19, 1874]
Since my last writing David Arnold, our present School Teacher, has moved his family to this place . . .
[Fulton Scribblings, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, January 8, 1875]
A Literary Society was organized here a few weeks ago. It meets every Saturday night. . . The question under discussion last night was, Resolved, That mind acts independent of matter. . . . debated by D. C. Arnold . . . and J. Jenkins . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, February 26, 1875]
The school meeting last Wednesday night resulted in the selection of Mr. Tracy to teach our spring term of school, school to commence to-day.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 24, 1875]
School commenced here on the 12th with Mr. Tracy as teacher. Out of 36 votes cast 26 were for Tracy.
[Fulton Scribblings, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 30, 1875]
Our school is progressing finely. Mr. Tracy seems to be liked by both parents and scholars.
[Fulton Splinters, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, May 22, 1875]
Mr. D. C. Arnold, who taught our winter school, has, he informs us, gone into the ministry, and will hereafter preach for the Christian denomination.
[Fulton Splinters, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, June 12, 1875]
Miss Jennie Egman, of near Fletcher’s Lake, is teaching our week day school at this place, with success. [QUERY: Is this the correct school? -WCT]
[From Liberty Township, Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, June 18, 1875]
Mr. C. K. Bitters was elected to teach our winter school. It will commence the first Monday in December.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, November 5, 1875]
Mr. Bitters has concluded not to take the school at our place; so another teacher will be required.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, November 26, 1875]
E. P. Townsend is teaching school here this winter. We had very hard work to get a teacher.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, December 24, 1875]
Mr. B. Tracy has again been selected to teach the spring school.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 29, 1876]
School commenced May 1st with Mr. J. Tracy, teacher. Mr. Tracy taught our school last Summer and we are very glad to have him again.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, May 5, 1876]
The spelling Thursday night was not very well attended on account of bad weather. Charlie Peterson had the honor of spelling the school down. F. M. Day, Esq., has a little daughter four years of age that can read in either of the five school readers with ease. School closed here Friday. I suppose E. P. Townsend, the teacher, feels happy now that he is free.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 14, 1876]
The educational interests of Fulton are well cared for by Mr. P. Stingley, assisted by Miss Burrows…
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, January 27, 1877]
The school is prospering finely under the control of Mr. Peter Stingly and Miss Annie Burrows.
[Rochester, Union-Spy, Friday, January 12, 1877]
Liberty Township Institute. Fulton, Jan. 26th, ’78. Institute convened in Fulton school house. . . called to order by trustee F. Peterson. . . F. Waite was appointed critic. . . Primary reading, Miss Coons; history by A. Murden; fundamental rules of arithmetic by F. Waite; digestion by G. M. Conn; grammar, participles by P. Stingley; spelling by Miss Johnson; primary grammar by Miss Carter. . . .
[Rochester Independent, Saturday, February 16, 1878]
Liberty Township Institute. Fulton, March 9, ’78. The teachers assembled in Fulton school house and were called to order at 10:30 a.m. by Supt. Myers. Mr. P. Stingly was appointed critic. . . [names mentioned]: Miss Coons, A. Murden, Miss Johnston, Trustee Peterson, J. F. Ault, F. Waite, E. P. Townsend, J. A. Shelton, Miss Carter, G. W. Conn.
[Rochester Independent, Wednesday, April 3, 1878]
The schools in this township are all supplied with teachers. . . Mr. Conn at the Fulton school . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, October 18, 1878]
After teaching at Bruce Lake Station, I taught second grade at Fulton 1928-30 and at Kewanna 1930-33.
[Ruth Lebo (Hunter), FCHS Quarterly No. 44, p. 59]
__________
Teachers: Russell Walters, principal 1951-55; Cleon A. Nafe, 1912-14; Carl Nellans, 6th grade, 1934-35; Esther (Zartman) Powell, 1st grade, 1943-53; Marie Richards Henderson, domestic science; Ray H. Hendrickson; Mary Jane Hood Van Duyne, kindergarten, 1957-58 and 2nd grade, 1959-60; Fred Van Duyne, 1957-64
1896-97: C. O. Phillips, Prin.
1897-98: A. J. DuBois, Prin.
1898-99: James Hines/Hoynes, Prin.; E. J. Doud; O. M. Enyart; Jessie Rouch; Ollie K. Trout; Frank Reed; John Kent; N. A. Enyart; John L. Zook; Wm. McHatten; Walker Fry; C. I. Clemens; Henry Becker; Wm. Hanson, Intermediate; Gertrude Reed, Primary.
1901-02: Henry Becker, Prin.; Chas. Cline.
1902-03: Elmer Robbins, Prin.; Henry Becker; P. O. Wagner.
1903-04: Henry Becker, Prin.
1915-16: W. E. Nichols, Prin., Math., Sc., Hist.; Mary E. Smith, Lt., Eng., Hist; Jeanette Case, Supervisor, Dom. Sc.; Emma Becker, Indust. Arts.
1917-18: W. E. Nichols, Prin., Sc., Hist.; Mary E. Smith, Lat., Eng.; Roy Jones, Man. Tr., Math.; Marie Richards, Dom. Sc.
1918-19: W. E. Nichols, Prin., Hist., Math., Man. Tr.; Mary Smith, French, Lat, Eng.; Marie Richards, Dom. Sc.
1922: Gail Morts Gamble, 4.
1923: A. C. Wright, Prin., Mary Rogers, 2, 3; Helen Moody, 5; Emma Becker, 6; Truman Ward, 7-8; Mrs. Olinger, 7-8; Mr. Reard (urd?); Chas. Cline; Johanna Miller; Olmstead Fox.
1928-29: Mr. C. Lichtenwalter, Prin; Mrs. Joanna Olmsted, Asst. Prin.; Charles Cline, Latin, Math.; Pauline Weimer, Music; History; Mrs. Cleo Teeter, Eng., Home Ec.; Vernie Bowen, Man. Train., Coach; Truman Ward, Departmental.
1929-30: Enrol. (1-8) 257, (9-12) 74. Prin. Wendall Godwin, Soc. St.; Joanna Olmsted, Hist., Eng.; Charles Cline, Lat., Math.; Vernie Bowen, Man. Tr., Physics; Cleo Teeter, H. E., Eng.; Truman Ward, Hist., Gen. Sc., Eng.; Mabel Frederick, Mu., Math.; Lewis Starr, 6; Harold Clevenger, 5; Emma Becker, 4; Edna Welty, 3; Ruth Lebo, 2; Mary Rogers, 1.
1930-31: Enrol. (1-6) 200, (7-12) 147. Prin. Wendall Godwin, So. St.; Joanna Olmsted, Hist., Eng.; Charles Cline, Lat., Math.; Vernie Bowen, Man. Tr., Physics, Coach; Cleo Teeter, H. E., Eng.; Truman Ward, Hist., Gen Sc.; Mary Dowell, Mu. Eng.; John Surguy, Band, Orch.; Harold Clevenger, 6; Emma Becker, 5; Edna Welty, 4; Priscilla Claybaugh, 3; Ruth Lebo, 2; Mary Rogers, 1.
1931-32: Enrol. (1-6) 212, (7-12) 155. Prin. Carl Porter, Physics, Soc. Sc.; Joanna Olmsted, Eng., Soc. Sc.; Cleo Teeter, Eng., H.E.; Vernie Bowen, Ind. Arts, Math.; Charles Cline, Lat.., Math., Hist., 7-8; Russell Stuart, Biol., Mu.; John Surguy, Band, Orch.; H. W. Clevenger, 6; Emma Becker, 5; June Babcock, 4; Priscilla Claybaugh, 3; Nina Franklin, 2; Mary Rogers, 1.
1932-33: Enrol. (1-6) 205, (7-8) 68, 9-12) 92. Prin. Carl Porter, Sci., Soc. St.; Joanna Olmsted, Eng., Soc. St; Cleo Teeter, Eng., H.E.; Vernie Bowen, Ind. A., Math.; Charles Cline, Lat., Math.; Truman Ward, Math., Soc. St., 7-8; Russell Stuart, Sci., Mu.; Donald Myer, 6; Emma Becker, 5; June Babcock, 4; Priscilla Claybaugh, 3; Nina Franklin, 2; Mary Rogers, 1.
1933-34: Enrol. (1-6) 219, (7-8) 73, (9-12) 100. Prin. Carl Porter, Math., Soc. St.; Joanna Olmsted, Eng., Soc. St.; Mary Howk Adams, Lat., Eng., Mu.; Vernie Bowen, Ind. A., Phy. Ed., Math., Ag., Soc. St.; Lawrence H. Myer, Sci., Math.; Cleo Teeter, Eng., H.E; Donald Myer, 6; Emma Becker, 5; Ray Hendrickson, 4; June Babcock, 3; Nina Franklin, 2; Mary Rogers, 1.
1934-35: Enrol. (1-6) 223, (7-8) 66, (9-12) 100. Prin. Carl Porter, Math., Soc. St.; Joanna Olmsted, Eng., Soc. St.; Frances Deen, Lat., Eng., Mu.; Merl Chambers, Ind. A., Phy. Ed., Sci.; Lawrence H. Myer, Sci., Math.; Cleo Teeter, Eng., H. E.; Carl Nellans, 6; Raymond Cook, 5; Ray Hendrickson, 4; Emma Becker, 3; June Babcock, 2; Mary Rogers, 1.
1935-36: Enrol. (1-6) 198, (7-8) 81, (9-12) 90. Prin. Byford B. Cox, Soc. St., Sci.; Janith Rook, Soc. St., Phy. Ed.; Frances Deen, Lat., Eng., Mu.; Raymond J. King, Ind. A., Eng., Phy. Ed.; Lawrence H. Myer, Sci., Math.; Cleo Teeter, Eng., H.E.; Carl Nellans, 6; Raymond Cook, 5; Ray Henderickson, 4; Emma Becker, 3; June Babcock, 2; Mary Rogers, 1.
1936-37: Enrol. (1-6) 171, (7-8) 84, (9-12) 103. Prin. Byford B Cox, Soc. St., Sci., H.; Leicester H. Brown, Com., H.; Lawrence H. Myer, Math., Sci.; Lee Owens, Jr., Ind. A., Soc. St., Phy. Ed.; Janith Root, Soc. St., Eng., Phy Ed.; Cleo Teeter, Eng., H. E., Math.; Vera B. Wright, Eng., Lat., Mu.; Ray P. Hendrickson, 6; Raymond L. Cook, 5; Evelyn Lois Jones, 4; Emma Becker, 3; Avis L. Ritchey, 2; Mary Rogers.
1937-38: Enrol. (1-6) 163, (7-8) 69, (9-12) 107. Prin. Byford B. Cox, Sci., H., Soc. St.; Leicester H. Brown, Com., H.; Lawrence H. Myer, Math., Sci.; Lee Owens, Soc. St., Ind. A., Phys Ed.; Isabelle Spencer, Eng., Soc. St., Phys. Ed.; Cleo Teeter, Eng., H. Ec., Math.; Helen Thompson, Eng., Lat., Soc. St.; Leslie Gilkey, Mu., Orch., B.; Ray P. Hendrickson, 6; Raymond L. Cook, 5; Mary Louise Goodner, 4; Emma Becker, 3; Avis Ritchey, 2; Mary E. Rogers, 1.
1938-39: Enrol. (1-6) 168, (7-8) 70, (9-12) 123. Prin. Byford B. Cox, Sci., H.; Leicester H. Brown, Com., Soc. St.; Justine Craig, Eng., Phys. Ed.; Lawrence H. Myer, Math., Sci.’ Lee Owens, Jr., Ind. A., Soc. St., H.; Cleo Teeter, Eng., H. Ec., Math.; Helen Thompson, Lat., Soc. St.; Russell A. Julian, Mu., B., Orch.; Ray P. Hendrickson, 6; Raymond L. Cook, 5; Mary Goodner, 4; Emma Becker, 3; Anna V. King, 2; Mary E. Rogers, 1.
1939-40: Enrol. (1-6) 160, (7-8) 61, (9-12) 124. Prin. Byford B. Cox, Math., Sci., H.; Leicester H. Brown, Com., Soc. St.; Justine Craig, Soc. St., Phys. Ed.; Helen Dodds, Eng., H. Ec.; Louise Van Lieu, Lat., Mu., Orch.; Lawrence H. Myer, Math., Sci.; James Lee Owens, Ind. A., Phys. Ed., H.; Cleo Teeter, Eng., Math.; Ray P. Hendrickson, 6; Raymond L. Cook, 5; Mary Louise Goodner, 4; Emma Becker, 3; Anna Viola King, 2; Arabelle Enyart, 1.
1940-41: Enrol. (1-6) 173, (7-8) 54, (9-12) 118. Prin. Dwight Gallipo, Math., Sci., H.; Wilbur Eikenberry, Com., Soc. St.; Lois Fruth, Eng., Soc. St., P.E., H.; Rosemary McCammon, H. Ec., Sci.; Lawrence Myer, Math., Sci.; Arden W. Richards, Mu., Orch., B.; Cleo Teeter, Eng., Soc. St.; Robert N. Weir, Ind. A., Soc. St., Phys. Ed.; Neva E. Funk, 6; Raymond L. Cook, 5; Mary L. Goodner, 4; Emma Becker, 3; Anna V. King, 2; Arabelle Enyart, 1.
1941-42: Enrol. (1-6) 164, (7-8) 51, (9-12) 112. Prin. Dwight Gallipo, Math., Sci.; Lawrence N. Cory, Math., Sci., Ind. A.; Wilbur Eikenberry, Soc. St., Com.; Lois Fruth, Eng., H.S., Phys. Ed.; Cleo M. Kinnison, Eng., Lat., Math., Lib.; A. E. Lattimer, Eng., Soc, St., H.S., Phys. Ed.; Georgia Mae Ricks, Com., H. Ec., Sci.; Marion Sellers, Mu., B., Orch.; Raymond L. Cook, 6; Cleo Teeter, 5; Mary Louise Goodner, 4; Emma Becker, 3′ Eva L. Nellans, 2; Arabelle Enyart, 1.
1942-43: Enrol. (1-6) 147, (7-8) 45, (9-12) 107. Prin. Dwight Gallipo, Math., Sci.; A. E. Lattimer, Ind. A., P.E., H. S.; Dixie Lattimer, Com., Math., P.E.; Georgia Marsh, Voc. H. Ec., Com.; Bernice Smoker, Math., Soc. St., Eng., H., Sci.; Lydia E. Stroup, Eng., Lat., Lib.; Mildred Walker, Eng., Lat.; George Ewing, Mu.; Raymond L. Cook, 6; Cleo Teeter, 5; Mary L. Goodner, 4; Emma Becker, 3, Opal Hamblin, 2, Arabelle Enyart, 1.
1944-45: Enrol. (1-6) 149, (7-8) 50, 9-12) 81. Prin. E. E Jester, Math., Soc. St., Aero.; Mildred Burns, Math., Soc. St., Sci.; Myrtle Doud, Eng., Lat.; Edith E. Driscoll, Voc. H. Ec., Sci.; Doris Jackson, Eng., Soc. St., P.E.; A. E. Lattimer, Ind. A., P.E., H.S.
Dixie Lattimer, Com.’ Ernest Studebaker, Math., Lat., Soc. St., Sci.; J. Franklin Arthur, 6; Margaret Rankin, 5; Zulah B. Long, 4; Emma Becker, 3; Ethel Kirkpatrick, 2; Esther Z. Powell, 1.
1946-47: Enrol. (1-6) 169, (7-8) 56, (9-12) 88. Prin. Claude G. Lawler, Math.; Mildred Burns, Math., Soc. St., Eng., Sci.; Ilo Coffing, Voc. H. Ec., Sci.; Myrtle Doud, Math., Lat.; Colburn S. Hardin, Soc. St., Sci.’ A. E. Lattimer, Ind. A., P.E., H.S.; Dixie Lattimer, Com., Eng.; Mabel Morehead, Eng., Soc. sT., Lib.; Arthur Wilson, Mu., B.; Earl Burgett, 6; Margaret Rankin, 5; Florence Schafer, 4; Emma Becker, 3; Bernice Watson, 2; Esther Z. Powell, 1.
1948-49: Enrol. (1-12) 317. Prin. Dwight Gallipo, Math.; Mildred Burns, Soc. St., Sci., Math.; Ilo Coffing, Voc. H. Ec., Sci.; Myrtle Doud, Math., Lat.; Alfretta Hartman, Mu., B.; Frances S. Molinder, Com., P.E.; Walter A. Molinder, Ind. A., H.S., P.E.; Agnes Schael, Eng., Lib.; Paul K. Smith, Soc. St., Sci.; Edna Gottschalk, 6; Margaret Rankin, 5; Iris M. Smith, 4; Ema Becker, 3; Bernice Watson, 2; Esther Z. Powell, 1.
1949-50. Enrol. (1-6) 180, (7-8) 47, (9-12) 97. Prin. Dwight Gallipo, Math.; Mildred Burns, Soc. St., Eng., Math.; Edith E. Driscoll, Voc. H., Ec., Sci.; Alfretta Hartman, Mu., B.; Patsy McNabb, Eng., Sp.; Frances S. Molinder, Com., P.E.; Walter A. Molinder, Ind. A., P.E.; Agnes Schael, Eng., Soc. St.; Paul K. Smith, Soc. St., Sci., Math.; Edna Gottschalk, 6; Mildred E. Diveley, 5; Iris M. Smith, 4; Emma Becker, 3; Bernice Watson, 2; Esther Z. Powell, 1.
1950-51: Enrol. (1-6) 207, (7-8) 47, (9-12) 87. Prin Dwight Gallipo, Math.; Edver W. Coburn, Voc. Ag., Sci.; Alfretta Hartman, Mu., B.; Dixie Lattimer, Com., P.E.; Georgie Rife, Foc. H. Ec., Sci.; Agnes Schael, Eng., Soc. St.; Benny L. Simpson, Math., Sci.’ Floyd L. Webb, Eng., Soc. St., Sp.; Robert E. Williams, Com., H.S., P.E.; Edna Gottschalk, 6; Mildred E. Diveley, 5; Mildred Burns, 4; Emma Becker, 3; Bernice Watson, 2; Esther Z. Powell, 1.
1951-52: Enrol. (1-6) 205, (7-8) 51, (9-12) 83. Prin. Russell D. Walters, Soc. St.; Edver W. Coburn, Voc. Ag., Sci.; Alfretta Hartman, Mu., B.; Dixie Lattimer, Com., Math., P.E., H.S.; Barbara J. Mattingly, Eng., Sp.; Georgia Lafaughn Rife, Voc. H. Ec., Sci.; Agnes Schael, Soc. St.; Benny L. Simpson Math., Sci.’ Robert E. Williams, Com., P.E., H.S.; Clifford Baggerly, 6; Edna L. Gottschalk, 5; Mildred Burns, 4; Estella Clemans, 3; Bernice Watson, 2; Esther Z. Powell, 1.
1953-54. Enrol. (1-6) 192, (7-8) 54, (9-12) 72. Prin. Russell D. Walters, Soc. St; B. J. Adkins, Com.; Byron E. Bunker, Voc. Ag., Sci.; Nancy Douglas, Voc. H. Ec., P.E.; Frances Floyd, Eng.; Manford L. Kistler, Math., Sci., P.E.; Clara Minnick, Math.; Agnes Schael, Soc. St.; Lawrence L. V. Thompson, Mu., B., Art; Clifford Baggerley, 6; Florence Long, 5; Mildred Burns, 4; Estella Clemans, 3; Bernice Watson, 2; Princess Thompson, 1, Ann Kocher,1.
1955-1956: Enrol. (1-6) 199, (7-8) 58, (9-12) 86. Prin. Russell D. Walters; Dan Ballard, Math., P.E., H.S.; Henry P. Buchholz, Math., Sci., P.E.; Joyce Dawald, Eng., P.E.; Joanne Newcob, Voc. H. Ec., Sci.; Mayretha Plalsterer, Com.; Daniel R. Poole, Voc. Ag., Sci.; Agnes Schael, Soc. St., Eng.; Cedric L. Berdine, Mu., B.; Helen Ehrhardt, 6; Esther G. Tanner, 5; Olive Wenger, 4; Mildred Burns, 3; Estella Clemans, 2; Eva Louise Benedict, 1.
1956-57: [changes noted in supplements] Prin. Lewis Cameron.
1957-58: Enrol. (1-6) 198, (7-8) 54, (9-12) 89. Prin. Lewis Cameron, Soc. St.; Joyce Dawald, Eng., Lib., P.E.; Patricia Ann Kirkendall, Voc. H. Ec., Bus.; Hugh E. Ressler, Bus., P.E., Dr. Ed.; D. Dean Ruhl, Voc. Ag., Biol.; Agnes Schael, Soc. St., Lat.; Fred K. VanDuyne, Math., Eng., Sc. H.S., P.E.; J. M. Wildermuth, Math., H.S., Phys.; Cedric L. Berdine, Mu., H.; Helen Ehrhardt, 6; Esther G. Tanner 5; Olive Wenger, 4; Eva Friend, 3; Estella Clemans, 2; Eva L. Benedict, 1.
1959-60: Enrol. (1-6) 203, (7-8) 65, (9-12) 92. Prin. Lewis Cameron; Secy. Shirley Williams; G. Bud Bearss, Dr. Tr., P.E., Soc. St., Jr. H. Coach; Ruby Bearss, Com.; Cedric Berdine, Mu.; Arthur Canady, Eng., Coach; Ilo Coffing, H. Ec.; Agnes Schael, Soc. St.; Fred Fan Duyne, Eng., Math., Soc. St.; Philip Van Matre, Ag.; Joe Wildermuth, Math., Sci.; Helen Ehrhardt, 6; Alfretta Hartman, 5; Olive Wenger, 4; Eva Friend, 3; Mary Van Duyne, 2; Eva Benedict, 1.
[A consolidation of four schools was formed and called Caston School; they continued to use the old building until the new Caston building was built in 1967]
NORTH CASTON HIGH SCHOOL AT FULTON
1961-62: Enrol. (7-8) 99, (9-12) 161. Prin. Lewis Cameron; Jean Kent, Secy.; Gresham Bearss, Soc. St.; Cedric Berdine, Band; Loisann Hatten, Span.; Michael Henderson, Dr. Ed., H., P.E., Baseball Coach, Fresh. Basketball Coach; Janece Herrold, lH. Ec., H., P.E.; Doris Hill, Sci., Lib.; Miriam Hizer, Comm., Chorus; Shannon Jones, Math., Basketball Coach; Manford Kistler, Math., Ath. Dir.; Patricia Kistler, Engl; Homer Smith, Sci.; Fred Van Duyne, Eng., Soc. St., Math.; Philip Van Matre, Voc. Ag., Sci.
1963-64: Enrol. (7-8) 85, (9-12) 171. Prin. Lewis Cameron; Jean Kent, Secy.; Daniel Ballard, Soc. St., Engl; Gresham Bearss, Soc. St., Dr. Tr., Frosh Basketball Coach; William Graham, Eng., Pub. Speak.; Janece Herrold, H. Ec., P.E.; Miriam Hizer, Comm.; Shannon Jones, Math., P.E Dr. Tr., Baseball, Basketball, Track Coach; Evelyn McDaniel, H. Ec., Sci.; Fred Van Duyne, Eng., Soc. St., Math., Jr. Hi. Athletics; Philip Van Matre, Voc. Ag., Sci., Chem.
1965-66: Enrol. (7-8) 179, (9-12) 294. Prin. Lewis Cameron; Kenneth Hattery, Asst. Prin., Guid.; Joan Kent, Secy.; Sandy Grable, Secy.; Gresham Bearss, Soc. St.; Carita Brown, H. Ec.; Stephen J. Brown, Ag., Sci.; Forrest Gehrig, Ger.; William Graham, Lang. A.; Janece Herrold, P.E.; Miriam Hizer, Comm.; Charles E. Jones, P.E., Ath. Dirl; Patricia Jones, H. Ec.; Harold Keener, Comm., Soc. St.; Ronald Lebo, Soc. St., Coach; Basil Mawbey, Math.; William Mitchell, Comm., Soc. St.; Homer Smith, Sci.; James Stephenson, Lang. A.; Robert Swatts, Math.; Martin A. Torgerson, Lang. A.; Philip Van Matre, Ag.; Veleta Wendt, Comm.; Carole Wilson, Lang. A.; James Wojahn, Math.; Barry Worl, Soc. St.
[F.C.H.S. files]
FULTON HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI
Fulton Alumni Association – Mailing List
1913
Mrs. Carl Emery, c/o Doyne Emery RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Beatris (Olmstead) Hendershott, St. Paul House, Room 224, 3831 N Mozert St., Chicago IL
60618
Mrs. Russell Williams (Lena Large), 234 Norton St., Corpus Christi TX 78415
1916
Mrs. Henry W. Sherrard, Sr., Opal Durbin), RR 2 Box 39, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Lester Cunningham (Floy Tedrick) [no address]
1917
Mr. & Mrs. William H. Messinger, Villa Ocotillo Apt 225 3327 N Civic Center Plaza,
Scottscale AZ 85251 William Deceased 3-15-87
1918
Mrs. Esther Tanner, 2007 N. Portier Ct Apt A, Mobile AL 36607
Mr. Arthur Carr, 3163 C Alta Vista, Laguna Hills CA 92653 Deceased
1920
Kline D. Reed, Box 176, Fulton IN 46931 Deceased
Mr. & Mrs Ernest Hattery (Edna Koffel), RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Mrs. Nellie Riemenschneider (Nellie Hendrickson), Box 84, Fulton IN 46931 Deceased
Cecil Henderson, 1400 N. Drake Road Apt 184, Kalamazoo MI 49007
Mr. & Mrs. Herman Jones (Dessie Kent), 1039 Kerry Dr., Sebring FL 33870
Mrs. Charles R. Warner, 1810 Park Valley Dr., Columbus IN 47201 [wrong address]
1921
Mr. & Mrs. Floyd Gray, 241 Gray St., West Palm Beach FL 33405
Mrs. Herschel Clemons, 3272 Whitney Ave, Atlanta Ga 30354 Deceased
Mr. & Mrs Vern Peacock (Lucille Felty), 301 Pasadena Dr., Indianapolis IN 462—
Mrs. Lester Martin, 151 Eastgate Ct, Mishawaka IN 46544
Mrs. Lola Eber Ewer (Lola Norris), 4510 Marcy Lane #49, Indianapolis IN 46205 Deceased
1922
Mr. & Mrs. Willis Henderson (Helen Cox), 404 N. Polk, Fowler IN 47944
Mr. & Mrs. Gail McDougle, 2129 W New Haven #349 W Melbourne FL 32904-3856
Mrs. W. J. Rusch (Mary Rogers), 4712 Round Lake Rd Apt L, Willow Brook Park,
Indianapolis IN 46205
Ferry See [no address]
Mrs. Grace Miller (Grace Yankee), 3147 N Mt Maple Ct, So Bend IN 46628
Mildred Janery Helt, 708 N River Rd Apt 205, Marion IN 46952
Mrs. Ray Stingley (Mildred Miller) Rm 519 Swill Village, Berne IN 46711-1741
Mrs. Ray Haney (Lola Grace Sanders), 2701 34th St N Lot 237, St Petersburg FL 33713
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Parman (Glenn Jackson), Box, Fulton IN 46931 [Glenn Deceased]
[Joe not a member]
Mrs. Mary Ward Smith, 400 S Highland #424 C, Memphis TN 38111
Mildred Fowler, 5716 W 25th St, Indianapolis IN 46220
Mrs. Oscar Miller (Esther Gray), 3060 North Pennsylvania Ave, Logansport IN 46947
Mrs. Melvin Wagoner (Lois Green), Box 102, Fulton IN 46931
Mrs. Wayne Sutton (Fern Morts), 811 20th St., Logansport IN 46947 Deceased
Mr. & Mrs. robert Ward, RR 2, 351 Manly St, Sebastian FL 32958
1924
Mrs. Bernice Stookey (Bernice Thommen), 2305 Evans St, Valparaiso IN 46383
Roland Armstrong, 1317 Gamma Ave, Crosby TX 77592
Mr. & Mrs. Sanders (Winfred Calloway), RR 2 Macelona MI 49659 – winter address
Box 8186, Sarasota Fl 33578
Mr. & Mrs. Harold Fry, 51177 Lilac Rd RR 4 Box 161, So Bend IN 46628
Mrs. Harry Sutton (Inez Staley) 323 West Cliff Dr., Logansport IN 46947
Mrs. Gail Davis, RR 5 221 E, Kokomo IN 46901
1925
Mr. & Mrs. Cyril Ryan (Martha Powell) RR 2 Box 519, Walkerton IN 46574-9751
1926
Helen (Nickles) Shaw, 658 Outer Drive Frankfort IN 46041
Mrs. Noah Gastiman (Hilda Fowler) [no address]
Mrs. Albert Shoup (Gladys Doud), RR 1, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence Meyer, Box 513 Imperial Harbor 26001 Imperial Blvd SE, Bonita
Springs FL 33923
Lucille Gilmore [no info]
Pauline Powell Felty, 303 W North St, Bremen IN 46506
Mr. & Mrs. Allen Laseter (Pauline Van Devender), 325 Bittersweet Lane South, Muncie IN
47304
1927
Robert Krathwohl, 322 Glenellen Ct., Clearwater FL 33519
Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Black, 613 Branded Blvd, Kokomo IN 46901
Mrs. Grace Button {Grace Musselman) RR 3 Box 269, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Phil Eskew (Elsa Barker), 8411 Overlook Pkwy, Indianapolis IN 46260
Mr. & Mrs. Lester Heddens, 3503 University Park Dr., Mishawaka IN 46544
Mrs. Thelma Davidson Price, 5482 Taft Ave, Apt 2, Oakland CA 94618 [moved]
1928
Mr. & Mrs. Carl Herrold (Olive Apt), RR 2 Box 84, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Williams, RR 1 Box 146, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Mervine Rentschler, Box 85, Fulton IN 46931
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Green, 1129 Rochester Blvc., Rochester IN 46975
Mrs.Carl Nellans (Janet Zook), 3602 South Michigan St., South Bend IN 46614
Mr. & Mrs. Clarence Graham (Janes Zook), 65371 E. Peninsula Dr Cassopolis MI 49031
Rev & Mrs.Dwight Patterson, Estero River Trailer Park, Estero FL 33928
Mrs. Priscilla Clevenger (Priscilla Claygaugh), 5822 Parkcrest, Long Beach CA 90808
Mr. & Mrs. Omer Collins, 343 Boothill Dd., W.H.H., Cranbury TX 76048
1929
Mr. & Mrs. William J. Downs (Mildred Dielman), Box 201 555 N. Pantano, Tucson AZ
85710
Mrs. Ann Clason (Annabelle Large), 309 E. Hoffman, Kingsville TX 78363
Mr. & Mrs. Gerald McCroskey (Charlotte Jewell), RR 6 Box 340, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Goodman (Jennie Rannels), 1689 26th St., Cuyahoga Falls OH 44223
Mr. Emerson Ward, 20 Perrin St., Greenville SC 29607
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Enyart, 3038 Xenia Court, Denver CO 80231
Mrs. William Meade (Rush Cornell), 123 Greenville, Battle Creek MI 49017
Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Cook, 13381 Magones Ar. #2, Corona CA 91720
Dr. Ray Pownall, 238 Orange Rd., NE, Lake Placid FL 33852
1930
Mr. Ralph Meyer, 4424 Lower Huntington Rd, Fort Wayne IN 46809
Mr. & Mrs. Glen Ward, 873 Gilbert St, Sebastian FL 32958
Arlo McCorskey, 200 26th St, Logansport IN 46947-2063
Mr. & Mrs. Chester Williams (Conna Gordon), RR 1 Box 156, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Everett Newell (Helen Dawald), RR 2, Macy IN 46951
Mr. & Mrs. Russell Newell (Shirley Dawald – 1930), Box 222, Michigantown IN 46057
Mr. & Mrs.Willis Green, 7338 N 19th Ave, Phoenix AZ 85021
Dr. & Mrs. Vactor Connell (Margaret Meyer), 705 N. Harris, Bourgon IN 46504
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph True (Helen Cook), 24694 W. Passavant Ave, Round Lake IL 46073
Mr. & Mrs. Ray Hendrickson, 20 Luana Ct R6 23 Jamaica Bay West, Ft Myers FL 33912
Mr. & Mrs. Clayson Bailey (Florence Gray), RR 6 Box 249, Rochester IN 46975
1931
Mrs. Estella Clemons, 6349 Portage Ave, Portage IN 46368
Mr. & Mrs. Edison Paul (Evelyn Swope), RR 1, Roann IN 46974
Mr. & Mrs. Dean Drudge (Erma Apt), 1221 Wabash, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. John Eber (Beatrice Cranmer), RR 1 Box 38, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. James Horner (Frances Franklin), 5859 Susan Dr E, Indianapolis IN 46250
Mrs Harry Coy (Nellie Powell), 303 W. North St., Bremen IN 46506
Rolland Martin, 3332 176th Place, Hammond IN 46323
Leona Emerson Buschbaum, 19870 Lucinda St, South Bend IN 46614
1932
Mr. & Mrs. Laurence Norris, RR 5 Box 82, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Wilbur Enyart, RR 6 Box 186, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Carl Eber, 10115 Concord Ave, Sun City AZ 85351
Mr. & Mrs. Howard Pownall, 1531 40th Ave NW, Salem OR 97304
Mr. & Mrs. Estel Champ, RR 2 Box 185, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Buckingham, 1233 Wabash Ave, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Florence Dawald Miller, 1117 Madison St, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. L. B. Vanata (Belva Weller), 1215 Rochester Blvd, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Oren St. Clair (Josephine Cooper), RR 2 Box 240, Kewanna IN 46939
Mrs. Lloyd Dawson (Ethel Dawson), 419 W 4th St, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Donald Leavell (Goldys Jones), Box 201, Fulton IN 46931
Mr. & Mrs. Wilbur Chizum, Knox IN 46534 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Ziesenhene (Kathryn Severns), 415 W 8th St, Rochester IN 46975
1933
Mrs. Berniece Thompson (Berniece Hower), 2205 Saranac St, Adelphi MD 20783
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Conn (Mary Alice Rannels), 1823 Highbridge Rd, Cuyahoga Falls OH
44223
Mr. & Mrs. Benile Berry, RR 7 Box 102, Rochester IN 46975
Mary K. Buchanan, 2732 Emmet Dr., Logansport IN 46947
Mrs. Cleo T. Baker (Mildred Duckworth), 98 21st St, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Virdell Overmyer (Mary Cornell), Box 162, Fulton IN 46931
Mrs. Nyona Casbon [no address]
1934
Mr. & Mrs. Miller Ault, RR6, Rochester IN 46975
Miss Mary Goodner, Box 113, Fulton IN 46975
Mrs. Bertha Waltz (Bertha Hower), Box 56, Fulton IN 46931
Mrs. Eugene Galbreath (Martha Griggs) 526 56th St, Holmes Beach FL 33529 Deceased
Mr. & Mrs. Lester Plain (Esther Bowen), 2424 Flat Rock Rd, Dyer IN 46311-1911
Mr. & Mrs. Rollin Maher (Dorothy Baker) 519 N. Cherry, Mesa Az 85201
Mr. & Mrs. John Robert Thomson, RR 5 Box 255A, Logansport IN 46947
Mrs. Alva Rans (Nadene Mills), 500 LWE #507, Mishawaka IN 46544-2264
Mrs. Ralph Little (Annabelle Buckingham), 102 Ruddell Dr., Kokomo IN 46901
Mr. & Mrs. John Moulton (Isabelle Bailey), RR 2, Macy IN 46951
Mr. & Mrs. Harold Showley, 1517 Arrowhead Dr, Rochester IN 46975 [didn’t graduate]
Mr. & Mrs. Marion Chizum, RR 1 Box 28, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. John Hall, RR 4, Winamac IN 46996
Mrs. Donald Eytcheson (Leona Weller), RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Woodrow Nice, 900-4229 US-41 N, Brooksville FL 33512
Mr. & Mrs. Everett Rentschler (Rachel Nellans), RR 6 Box 284, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Clyde Gearhart, 600 E Florence Dr, Elm Grove Wis, 53122
Mr. Wayne Baldwin, 4350 Madison Ave Apt 409, Indianapolis IN 46227
1935
Mr. Cleon Gilbert, 5508 FAirview Dr, Pensacola FL 32505
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Lindsey, Box, New Paris IN 46553
Mr. & Mrs. Von Staley (Ruth Brown), RR 7 Box 585, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Eding (Ica Floy Thorrington), 3420 E. McDowell, Phoenix AZ 85008
[moved]
Mrs. Raymond Dailey (Mildred Dittman), Box 145, Marguez TX 77865
Mrs. Margaret Spencer Sutton, RR 1, Lucerne IN 46950
Mr. & Mrs. Dean Arven, 4501 High St Rd, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Clifford Strebe, 111 Yorktown Rd, Clarksville TN 37040
Mr. & Mrs. Marvin E. Whisler, 832 Sunset Dr, Logansport IN 46947 [didn’t graduate]
Mrs. Mary Jane Podroza (Mary Jane Martin) [no address]
Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Keim (Virginia Clemans), RR 1 Box 53, Roann IN 46974
Mrs. Edgar Conrad (Herma Runkle), RR 5 Box 308, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Eldon Zabst, RR 7 Box 183, Rochester IN 46975
Don Sutton, 1104 Butler St., Richmond IN 47374
Mrs. Ruth (Emerson) Best, 19870 Lucinda St., So Bend IN 46614
Mrs. Caroline McCroskey (Caroline Stanley), RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. Charles Runkle, RR 2 Box 304, Rochester IN 46975
Richard Clark [no address]
1936
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Heckathorn, RR 6 Box 79, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Ralph Friedrich (Aline Fred), Box 24, Fulton IN 46975
Mrs. Ray Bowen (Margaret Rouch), Lakeville IN
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Dice (Mildred Reed), Box 35, Fulton IN 46931
Mrs. Hester Zimmerman (Hester Strebe), 718-1/2 Main St Apt 2, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Lloyd Gault (Helen Pownall), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939 Deceased
Mr. & Mrs. Loren Fry, Box 55, Fulton IN 46931
Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Enyart, RR 4, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Dielman, 4921 Camino Del Norte, Sierra Vista AZ 85635 [moved]
Mr. Kermit Doud, 1503 Bunbury Drive, Whittier CA 90601
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Hartman (Anna King), 6010 South Eastern Ave, Indianapolis IN 46203
Marjorie Harmon (Marjorie Masters), 4264 Southeast 122nd Ar N37, Portland OR 79236
Floyd Hall, 135 South Main, Monticello IN 47960
1937
Mr. Donald Zartman, 218 Fulton St., Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Roger Kent, Box 146 Fulton IN 46931
Mr. & Mrs. Don Fisher, RR 7 Box 597, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. John Urbin (Ruth Nellans), Box 186, Kewanna IN 46939
Mrs. Don Wilson (Eldonna Showley), Box 66, Fulton IN 46931 [moved to Fla]
Mrs. Albert Tharp (Elizabeth Shoddy), RR 1, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Wahlig (Louise Clemans), Box 40, Athens IN 46912
Mr. & Mrs. Dud Miller [no address]
Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Zabst, 2585 Teeters Rd, Martinsville IN 46151
Mr. & Mrs. Dick Baker (Vonda Rentschler) RR 1 Box 231, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. William Hartzler (Maxine Casper), Box 185, Fulton IN 46931
Mr. & Mrs. Erwin Grimes (Dora Griggs), 8213 13th St, Tampa FL 33604
Mrs. Russell McDaniel (Maxine McDougle), 394 Cortaro AZ 85230 [sic]
Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Brown (Lois Emery), 2008 Candelaria NW, Albuquerque NM 87107
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Black, 15 Carlyle Drive Box 227, Frankfort IN 46041
1938
Mr. & Mrs. Frank Hizer, RR 2 Box 473, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Don Burton (Dorothy Goodner), 3139 E Elm St, Phoenix AZ 85016
Mrs. Carl Rentschler (Jane Casper), RR 1, Twelve Mile IN 46988
Mr. & Mrs. Ed Birk (Juanita Flora), RR 1 Box 312, Macy IN 46951
Mrs. Florence Hoyt (Florence Sutton), Cauyga IN 47928
Mr. & Mrs. Hugh Sanders (Rachel Coleman), 2803 Jamestown Ct N, Mishawaka IN 46545
John Masters, 216 Giant, Royal Center IN 46978
Mr. & Mrs. Lloyd Grable, Twelve Mile IN 46988
Mr. & Mrs. Bob Leavell, RR 6 Box 343, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Bob W. Mills, Box 105, LaFontaine IN 46940
John Tomb, 7753 West Norwood Ave, Chicago IL 60631
William Greenwald, RR 1 Box 98E, Battleground IN [moved]
1939
Mr. & Mrs. Dwight Reed, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Shoemaker, 537 Austin Terrace Zephyr Hills FL 33599
Mr. & Mrs. Carl Stanley (Pauline Moore), RR 3 Box 650, Walterton IN 46574
Mr. & Mrs. James Blacketor (Marilyn Baldwin), 73380 18th Ave, Desert Hot Springs CA
92240
Mrs. Craig Billman (Lorene Zartman), 2225 N. 38th Ave, Hollywood FL 33021
Mr. & Mrs. Allen Heminger (Jean Mills), 2529 Rolling Ridge Dr RR 5, Logansport IN
46947
Mr. & Mrs. Harold Kistler, 201 Old Pflugerville Rd #426, Pflugerville TX 78660-3511
Mr. & Mrs. James Henderson, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Edwards [no address]
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Barker (Olive Stanley), 2059 Pittview Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15212
Mr. & Mrs. Hugh Smith (Ruth Stanley), RR 1 Box 160, Macy IN 46951
Mrs. John Friedrich (Alice King), RR 1, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. James O. Wilson (Wilma Dittman), RR 1 Box 104, Kewanna IN 46939
Mrs. Leonard Reed (Virginia Zartman), RR 1, Twelve Mile IN 46988
1940
Alvin Abbott, RR 8 Box 40, Warsaw IN 46580
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Gordon, 516 W 3rd St, Box 374, Rochester IN 46975
Frank Gordon, 317 E 8th, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. Max Zabst, RR 2 Box 52-I, Angola IN 46703
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Anderson (Dorothy Zimpleman), 315 11th St, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Jack Haskett (Phyllis McCarter), 325 Croft Road North Wales PA 19454
Mr. & Mrs. Lyman King (Helen Rentschler) RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Chester James (Elviria Wagoner), 701 W. Rancho Dr., Phoenix AZ 85013
Mr. & Mrs. Fred Newell, 3150 Markridge Dr, Reno Nev 89502
Mr. & Mrs. W. G. Jedlicks (Vivian Kalbas) [no address]
Mrs. Emmalou Caskey (Emmalou Jones), Manitou Manor Apt 23 1109 E 9th, Rochester IN
46975
Mr. & Mrs. J. R. Halpeny (Wilma Easterday), RR 1, Macy IN 46951 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Depoy (Pauline Eber) RR 6 Box 347, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. O. A. Cook, RR 1 Box 210, Atlanta TX 7551
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Eastland, RR 3 Box 11, Albert Lea Minn 56007
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Staley, 1317 Hedgewood Dr., Lafayette IN 47904
Mrs. Evelyn (Miller) Fletcher, 1803 W Indiana Ave, Elkhart IN 46516
Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Grable, RR 3 Box 457, Frankston TX 75763
Rev. & Mrs. W. D. James (Clara Chizum), RR 3 Box 156, Pickens SC 29671
Mr. & Mrs. Clyde Cornell (Donna Olmstead), RR 1 Box 133, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Lavon Fred (Eloise Rouch), RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
1941
Dr. and Mrs. James Fall (Ethel Mae Swank), 1505 Overlook Road, Marion IN 46952
Mr. & Mrs. Emerson Norris, 5347 E Wonderview Rd, Phoenix AZ 85018
Mr. & Mrs. Dale Emery, 2832 Meyers Ave SW, Grand Rapids MI 49509
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Hammond (Eileen Snoke), 14453 Redwood, Culver IN 46511
Mr. & Mrs James Arthur Geist (Doris Shoemaker), RR 5 Box 50, Woodward Park, Circle
Drive, Crystal River FL 32629
Mr. & Mrs. Howard Rentschler (Betty Sanders), RR 1 Box 131, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Long (Elsie Jean Bish), 1215 Pontiac, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Leavell, 720 Randolph Ave, Topeka KS 66606
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Jones (Pauline Buckingham), RR 1 Box 403, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Thar (Deloris Bassler), RR 2 Box 10, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. George Altman (Esther Easterday), RR 2 Box 157, Peru IN 46970
Mr. & Mrs. Carl Gregory (Lucille Lownes), 410 Riverview St, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Ezra Feece, 10624 King Road Plymouth IN 46563 – winter address: 442 Box
154-B, Ostween FL 32764
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Plummer (Lillian Eastlund), 190 N. High School Rd, Indianapolis IN
46224
Norma Jean Hornbeck [no address – Wayne Hornbeck (brother), 412 W Sycamore, Kokomo IN
46901
Mr. & Mrs. John Runkle, 203 Nassau Dr, San Antonio TX 78213-4085
Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Baldwin, 2102 Southland Rd, Baltimore MD 21207
Mr. & Mrs. Dean Reed, RR 2 Box 191, Kewanna IN 46939
1942
Mr. & Mrs. Audra Bryant (Wilma Jean Wagoner), RR 1, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Harold Hartman (Cleo Bassler), RR 1 Box 27, Ligonier IN 46767
Mr. & Mrs. John James Campbell, 715 Newvagolda St., Culver IN 46511 [deceased]
Mr. & Mrs. Lowell Hoehne, RR 1, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Owen Hoehne (Marilou Hartzler), 14429 McPhee Dr, Sun City AZ 85351-2632
Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Rouch, RR 5 Box 343, Rochester IN 46975
Loring McKenzie, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Harold Mikesell, RR 4 Box 105, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Don Mulikin (Letha Baggerley), 1015 Fairlane Drive, Lebanon IN 46052
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Baker, 1922 Deodara St, Los Altos CA 94022
Mr. & Mrs. James (Betty Reed), RR 3 Box 16, Frankfort IN 46041
Mr. & Mrs. Joe H. Runkle, 5405 E. Mimosa Ln, Inverness FL 32650
Albert Shepard [no address]
Mr. & Mrs. Mac Grable, Jr., 226 Tamara Lane, Pendleton IN 46064
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Yater (Maxine Baird), 1828 Eileen Place, Fort Wayne IN 46819
Mr & Mrs. John Wright (Betty Beattie), 560 W 6th St, Peru IN 46970
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Webster (Eunice Flora), 885 Yucca, Rialto CA 92376
Mrs. Paul Hockman (Roberta Kingery), 5441 Troy Rd, Springfield OH 45502
Mr. & Mrs. Albert Walsh (Ellen Wagoner), RR 2 Box 11, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Lester Feece (Kathryn Johnson), RR 1, Argos IN 46501
Mr. & Mrs. Leroy Mills, Jr. (Margaret Zartman), RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Mrs. Nadeane Dodson (Nadeane Snoke), 12015 W 11th Red, Plymouth IN 46563
Miss Maxine Smith, RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Pauline Keough, 4719 21st St, Indianapolis IN 46218
1943
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Coleman, 394 Indian Lake Rd, Hendersonville TN 37075
Mr. & Mrs. Wilbur Doud, 8505 N. Glacier Drive Country Village Estates, Muncie IN 47302
Mr. & Mrs. George Denny (Evelyn Snethan), N & W Dormitory, Peru IN 46970
Mr. & Mrs. Carl Kirby (Evelyn Rouch), 59306 Hazel Rd, So Bend IN 46614
Mrs. Ed Kinas, 320 Lark Ave, Sebring FL 33870 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. William Zimpleman (BonnieEytcheson), RR 6 Box 327, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Covert Wentzel (Romayne Smith), RR 1, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. George Rouch, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Leroy Rouch, Box 98, Fulton IN 16931
Mrs. Wally Dinsmore, RR 2 Box 288 AB, Culver IN 46511
Elwood Henry, RR 3, Box 60 [? ? ? ?]
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Shull (Mary Fultz), 912 Vandallion St, Logansport IN 46947
Alberta Burton, 2728 E. Campo BEllo Dr, Phoenix AZ 85036
Mr. & Mrs. Junior Whybrew, 304 N 13th, Brighton CO 80601-1534
Mr. & Mrs. John Stuckey 8641 Holiday Dr, Indianapolis IN 46260
Mr. & Mrs. Harry Baker (Nancy Sayger), 1541 Audubon Ave, Rochester IN 46975
1944
Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Ziesenhene, 1818 Farnsworth, So Bend IN 46614
Mr. & Mrs. Wayne Felts, 130 E. South St, Bremen IN 46506
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Eytcheson (Patricia Baker), RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Wilbur Winegardner (Clara Mae Clemons), RR 2 Box 50, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Lee Roy Hoehne, 304 Yorktown Rd, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Gene Williams (Charlene Jackson), RR 2 Box 322, Rochester IN 46975
Art Chizum, Ash Road, Osceola IN 46561 [didn’t graduate]
Dean Chizum, 312 E. Broadway, Mishawaka IN 46544
Mr. & Mrs. Pete Terpstra, Sr. (Marjorie Mikesell), RR 1, Rochester IN 46975
Olive Mae Pfieffer, (Olive Mae Sutton), [no address]
Mr. & Mrs. Herman Miller (Dorothy Burns), RR 1 Box 217, Akron IN 46910
Mr. & Mrs. Eldon Leedy (Betty Crain), Box 8-214, Warsaw IN 46580
Mr. & Mrs. Lewis Young (Laura Mathias), RR 4, Crawfordsville IN 47933
Miss Clarabelle Martin, PO Box 182, Fulton IN 46931
Rev. & Mrs. Richard Kistler, 5741 W. County Rd., 100 W State Rd 22, Kokomo IN 46901
Mr. & Mrs. Wayne Miller (Esther Goodner), RR 1 Box 172, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Emerson Whybrew, 2025 E. Market, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Forest Zartman (Harriet Hoehne), RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Glen Dean Zartman, PO Box 175, Fulton IN 46931
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Riggle, PO Box 187, Fulton IN 46931
Mr. & Mrs. Dean Zimpleman (Betty Jo Masterson), 814 Wildwood Dr, Kokomo IN 46901
Cleo Enyart Elliot, 2448 23rd St, Santa Monica CA 90406 [wrong address]
Mary Lou Henry [no address]
1945
Miss Carrie May Arthur,c/o Rev. Franklin Arthur, 255 Liberty St Box 183 Russiaville IN
46979
Mr. & Mrs. Oris Baker (Mary Rentschler), RR 6 Box 300, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Devon Engle, RR 1 Box 474, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Gotshall (Betty Fred), RR 3, Logansport IN 46947
Mrs. Robert Rouch (Nonetta McKenzie), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Francis Coplen (Janet Zartman), RR 1 Box 287, 18361 Kenilworth Rd, Argos IN
46501
Dr. & Mrs. Arlo Baggerly, 505 Division St, Loyal Wis 54446
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Gottschalk, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Mike Zartman (Mary Ellen Johnson), RR 6 Box 229, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Roe (Freida White), 1237 Rochester Blvd, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Betty Coldren (Betty Cook), 510 East St., North Manchester IN 46962
Mr. & Mrs. Darl Kistler, RR 1 Box 36, Winamac IN 46996
Mr. & Mrs. Carl Vedder, 1728 Meridian St, Ft Wayne IN 46808 [moved]
1946
Mr. & Mrs. William Stephens (Betty Jane Dice), 2004 Mims St, Fort Worth TX 76112
Mr. & Mrs. Gordon Beattie (Catherine Baldwin), 429 W 5th St, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Reed, Box 988, Casper Wyo [wrong address]
Mr. & Mrs. Eldo Beam (Margaret Martin), Flora IN 46929
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Ross (Doris Baker), RR 1, Tippecanoe IN 46570
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Rouch (Phyllis Hardy), 4844 Laurel Ave, Muskegon MI 49441
Russell Zartman, 1307 South 12th St, Springfield IL 62703
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Fincher (Jeanne Townsend), RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs Gale Boldry (Jean Swank), RR 6 Box 237, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Harold Dittman, Box 93, Akron IN 46910—93
Mrs. Jim Reffett (Imogene Dawald), Box 183, Fulton IN 46931
Mr. & Mrs. Fred Keim (Mary Ruth Gottschalk), 1210 Jackson Blvd, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Gundrum (Betty Townsend), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs.Doyne Emery (Luella King), RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Laitala (Ruth Stingley), RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Ellen Caplett (Ellen Rose Johnson), 544 N. Riverside Dr., Saukville Wis 53080
[moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Frank Richter, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Ross (Mary Richter), RR 2, Flora IN 46929
Mr. & Mrs. Belve Turner (Evelyn Cole) [no address]
1947
Mrs. Phyllis (Kingery) Skatu, RR 1 Box 730, Cody WYo 82414 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. J. H. Montgomery (Bonnie Mathias), RR 1 Box 169, Macy IN 46951
Mr. & Mrs. Donald E. Long (Donna Bryant), 633 Bexford Dr, Perrysburg OH 43551
Mr. & Mrs. Robert McGrew (Nellie Gault), RR 6 Box 340, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Gail Dial (Charlotte Cook) 1500 E. Stapp Red 10, Indianapolis IN 46204
Mr. & Mrs. Phil McCarter, 119 W. 16th St, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Keefer (Donnabelle Jackson) Box 51 Summitville IN 46070
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Gene Rouch, 150 West Warren Lot 21, Peru IN 46970 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Rentschler, Comfort Lodge 4020 Central SE, Albuquerque NM 87108
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Louderback, 65 Northwest Florence St, Gresham OR 97030
Mr. & Mrs. Dennis Severns, 809 S 26th St, So Bend IN 46615
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Bean (Mary Jo Burns), 511 Oak St, Peru IN 46970
Mr. & Mrs. James Watson [no address]
Mrs. Howard Shook (Velda McKay), Galveston IN 46932
1948
Mr. & Mrs. James Casbon, 803 N. Center St, Plymouth IN 46563
Mr. & Mrs. Don Masterson, 7643 S R 43 South, Lafayette IN 47905
Mr. Gerald R. (Jerry) Newton, Box 5, Fulton IN 46931 [moved to Fla.]
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Dawald, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975 [didn’t graduate]
Mr. & Mrs. Tom Zobrosky, 13405 Redding Dr, Fort Wayne IN 46804
Mr. & Mrs. William Kietzman, Box 145, Mexico IN
Miss Virginia Ditmire, 1019 19th St, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Donald Leininger (Lettie Jane Rentschler), 4437 Robin Court, Gurnee IL 60031
Mr. & Mrs. Ray Pownall (Sue Hartzler), RR 4 Box 494, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Norman Brett (Lou Ann Mikesell), 13635 Jackson Rd, Mishawaka IN 46544
Mr. & Mrs. John Marsh (Mary Pownall), 4617 North Chambliss St, Alexandria VA 22312
Mr. & Mrs. John E. Wagoner, 3431 Sudberry Lane SW, Bonita Springs FL 33923
Mr. & Mrs. Dee Carvey (Donnabelle Richter), RR 2, Macy IN 46951
Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Zartman, RR 1 Box 137, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Dean Richter, RR 1 Box 377, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Tom Kennedy (Marge Pownall), 4617 N. Chambliss St, Alexandria VA 22312
[deceased]
Mr. & Mrs. Aaron Cole, RR 1 Box 758, Harvest AL 35749
1949
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Blacketor (Marilyn Culp), 195355 Southland St, So Bend IN 46614
Mr. & Mrs. Wilbur Wheadon, RR 4 Box 383, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. John Sheetz, RR 4 Box 49, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Lowell Robinette (Lois Anna Baker), 18087 Jayhawk Dr, Penn Valley CA
95946-9651
Mr. & Mrs. Jim Rentschler (Doneta Riemenschneider), RR 1 Box 74, Lucerne IN 46950
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Wray (Carol Dillman), 1032 Coin Dr, Frankfort IN 46041-3273
Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Shafer, 24399 Belmar Dr, Elkhart IN 46517 [moved]
Miss Margaret Shaw 658 Outer Drive, Frankfort IN 46041 [not a member, didn’t graduate]
Mr. & Mrs. Dick Burns, RR 5, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Easterday, RR 4 Box 129, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. Bill Mikesell, RR 4, Plymouth IN 46563
Mr. & Mrs. Phillip E. Smith, 1915 Fairway Dr., Madison IN 47250
Mr. & Mrs. Devain Bryant, 8908 Ayrshire, Louisville KY 40222
Mr. Paul Friend, 316 Amarillo Dr., Carpentersville IL 60110
Mr. Jim Reed, Box 245, Leesburg IN 46538
Mr. & Mrs. Edward Magon (Patsy Puz) 1642 Evans Ave, South Holland IL 60473
1950
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Runkle (Carolyn Burns), RR 1, Akron IN 46910
Mr. & Mrs. David Duey, 535 S Main Box 306 Evert MI 49631
Mr. & Mrs. Rex McKittrick (Donna Lee Dawald), 5174 Lake Ave, Ft Wayne IN 46805
Mr. & Mrs. Howard Diveley, Box 35, Converse IN 46919
Mr. & Mrs. Russell Smith (Ethel Mae Enyart), RR 4 Box 218, Winamac IN 46996
Mrs. Louise Morrill (Louise Goss), 919 Marleton Road, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Tom Nicklaus (Ladonna Heckathorn), RR 4, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Rentschler, RR 1 Box 114, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Gehring (Phyllis White), 90 Albert St., Peru IN 46970
Mr. & Mrs. Bernard Gundrum, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Bob Ball (Berdinia Jackson), RR 3 Box 7W Ligonier IN 46767
Mr. & Mrs. Dale Foley (Helen Severns), 5630 South US-31, Peru IN 46970
Mr. & Mrs. Don Reed, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Gordon Zartman, 1765 Lora Lane, Defiance OH 43512
Mr. & Mrs. Harold Collins, 1216 Jackson Blvd, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Sue Zartman (Sue Mathias), RR 1 Box 457Q, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Earl Guyer (Janet Severns), 912 S. Tenth St, Noblesville IN 46060
Mr. & Mrs. Bob Smith, 1655 Monroe St, Rochester IN 46975
1951
Mr. & Mrs. Jim Rhinehart (Mildred Bailey), 423 Forest Lake Dr, Wilmington OH 45177
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Smith (Pauline Gross), RR 3, Peru IN 46970 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. George Burton, RR 4 Box 492, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. James Leavell (Martha Hartzler), North Star Route, Lyons CO 80540
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Rans (Joan Brandenstein), RR, Akron IN 46910
Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Gundrum (Lois Newton), RR 6 Box 333, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Ora Clemons, RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Mr. Vernon Linback, 16570 Douglas Rd, Mishawaka IN 46544
Mr. & Mrs. Don McGrew, RR 6 Box 336, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Ned Rentschler, RR 1 Box 109, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Clyde J. Scott, 2206 Willowroad Ave, Valparaiso IN 46383
Mr. & Mrs. Frank Brutcher (Helen Richter), 3015 High St Road, Logansport IN 46947
Mrs. Mary Miller (Mary Newell), RR 1 Box 142, Rochester IN 46975
1952
Mrs. Doris Casassa (Doris Burns) RR 2, Monticello IN 47960
Mr. & Mrs. Glen Niederer (Janice Rentschler), RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Diana (Brown) Barnett [no address]
Mr. & Mrs. Ernie Bailey, 10570 Greentree Dr, Carmel IN 46032 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Ditmire, 925 Michigan Ave, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. William Gottschalk, 1709 West Bend, Kokomo IN 46901 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. James D. Mathias, Sr., 1212 Madison St, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. Byron Black, 516 W Sixth, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. robert Powlen (Joyce Rentschler), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. William Abbott, 1426 Main St., Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Charles Katlun (Gretchen Beatty), 23156 Acacia Place, South Bend IN 46624
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Baughman (Ardis Baird), 314 East Edgar Ave, Mishawaka IN 46544
Mr. & Mrs. Doyle Putman (Betty Harvey), RR 3, Argos IN 46501
Mr. & Mrs. Don Easterday, 4017 Northwood, Corpus Christi TX 78400 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Gene Miller, 5019 Haynes Ave, Indianapolis IN 46250
Mr. & Mrs. Sherald Tam, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Shipp, 2600 Hillside Dr, Logansport IN 46947
Brig. Gen. & Mrs. Paul D. Wagoner USAF REtired, 3805 DEnsmore Court, Alexandria VA
22309
Mr. Robert Zartman, RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Scott, PO Box 244, Fulton IN 46931
Mr. & Mrs. Aaron Ousley, Kewanna IN 46939
1953
Mr. & Mrs. Edgar Naughgle (Shirley Burns), 10 Beverly Blvd, Hobart IN 46342
Mr. & Mrs. Harold Van Meter (Lois Burton), 4865 Firethorne, Jackson MI 49204
Mr. & Mrs. Jim Brown (Shirley Williams), RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Don Williams, RR 1 Box 84, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Ed Pinder (Lora Ann Clemons), 480 Lakeview, Culver IN 46511
Sgt. Howard P. Howard, 7821 Hunter Oak, San Antonio TX 78233
Mr. & Mrs. Vern Dillman, 1540 East Flower St., Mesa AZ 85204
Mrs. Shirley Chailcutt (Shirley Gates), 1081 W 1st St, Peru IN 46970
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Walters (Catherine Kietzman), 2457 Marshall Dr., Valparaiso IN
46383-5432
Mr. & Mrs. Mel Collins (Gladise Johnson), 1407 Washington, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Gross (Shirley Bruce) [no address]
Mrs. Jim Rhineholt, RR 6, Warsaw IN 46580 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Jim Sutton (1955) (Arvella Rouch), RR 6 Box 248, Rochester IN 46975-9806
Mr. & Mrs. Neil Krisher (Nina Ruth Sutton), 3522 Quincy Dr, Anderson IN 46013
Mr. & Mrs. Phillp Kaley (Helen Poorman), RR 2, Park Rapids Minn 56470
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Cooley, 6814 Drumheller, Spokane WA 99208
Mary Davis [no address]
1954
Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Hults (Shirley Champ), 2440 Camberwell Cort, Des Peres MO 63131
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Gunter (Janet Dillman), RR 1 Box 123, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Dittman, 2186 Bradley St, Beloit Wis 53511 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Mikesell, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Douglas Waltz, 11145 Leo Collins Dr., El Paso TX 79936
Mrs. Earl Personette (Anna Jane White), 505 Annie Dr., Muncie IN 47302
Mr. & Mrs. Alfred (Buck) Johnson, 5022 Gamble Rd, Indianapolis IN 46201
Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Cassel (Mary Lou Howard), The Village Hamlet, Lot 19, North Manchester
IN 46962
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Osborn (Pat Snoddy), Box 428, Pardeville Wis 53954
1955
Mr. & Mrs. Phil Rentschler (Margaret Alber), RR 2, Macy IN 46951
Mrs. Georgia Brown (Georgia Reames), RR 1 Box 378, Ingleside TX 78362
Mr. & Mrs. Elmer E. BAiley, 1321 Patriot Ct, Mishawaka IN 46554
Mr. John Kingery, 4763 Plata Del Sol Dr, Las Vegas NV 89121-6827
Mr. & Mrs. Roger Fields (Neva Riemenschneider), RR 2 Box 72, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Norman Ousley, RR 2, Paw Paw MI 49019
Miss Alma Migonis, PO Box 238, Fulton IN 46931
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Graham (Elsie Easterday), Box 193, Fulton IN 46931
Mr. Jim Kelly, 421 E. Euclid St, Phoenix AZ 85040
Miss Dorothy Goss, 1917 3rd St, Stillwater OK 74-074
Mrs. Monte McFarland (Annette Cook), 32 North Wood Dr. Fairview Manor, O’Fallon MO
63366
Mrs. Phyllis Brown (Phyllis Rogers), 3809 West Woodway, Muncie IN 47304
Mr. & Mrs. Merle Rouch, RR 1, Rochester IN 46975
1956
Mrs. Marjorie Caldwell (Marjorie Baird), Box 162, Denver IN 46926
Mr. & Mrs. Jim Gates, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Tom Demorest (Linda Casper), 776 Troabley Rd, Grosse Point Park MI 48236
Mr. David Waltz, 2501 D Coachlight Dr, Midwest City OK 73110
Mr. & Mrs. David Frost (Rita Mohler), 1043 S. York Rd Apr 605, BEnsenville IL 60106
Mr. & Mrs. Tom Gundrum (Beverly Eber), 306 16th St, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Fred Heckathorn, 1114 Sunset, Celina OH 45822
Mr. & Mrs. Harry Richter, RR 1 Box 80, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Eldon Gohn (Virginia Button), RR 4, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. James Cox (Carolyn Diveley), 65 Woodside Dr, Mooresville IN 46158
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Pinder, 4 Brucewood Cr, Buffalo Grove IL 60090
Mr. Martin Ludwig, RR 1, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Ludwig (Judy Hoagland), 500 W 8th, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. R. Dean Folger (Sonja Spangler), 45351 Lorimer, Lancaster CA 93534
1957
Mrs. Lulu Bele Koneig (Lulu Belle White), RR 1, Russiaville IN 46979 [moved]
Mrs. Karen Byers (Karen Bruce), 901 East Main Lot 6, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs Roscoe Goings (Hazel Cook), RR 2, South Whitley IN 46787
Mr. & Mrs. John Duey, PO Box 1128, Wailuku HA 96793
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Green, Box 104, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Shoup (Elsie Button), RR 5 Box 298, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Culp (Betty Smith), RR 1 Box 165, Macy IN 46951
Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Ousley, 14520 Kitch Rd, Mishawaka IN 46544-6848
Mr. & Mrs. Dewey Reames (Mary Jane Sutton), RR 1 Box 100, Bringhurst IN 46913
Doyne Wheadon, 2126 E. La Palma, Anaheim CA 92806 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Harold Reed, 9917 Scott Court, Indianapolis IN 46236
Mr. & Mrs. Mark Williams (Barbara Goss), RR 1 Box 155, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Tony Bounds (Frances Mikesell), 7430 Stone Pine, Houston TX 77041-1727
1958
Mr. & Mrs. Ed Hartman (Margaret Ault), 2778 N, 525W, LaPorte IN 46350
Mr. & Mrs. Elmer Gross, RR 3, Peru IN 46970 [didn’t graduate]
Mr. & Mrs. Jack Waltz (Lelia Fry), RR 2 Box 96, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Hoffman (Susie Carithers), 325 Brawley, Huntington IN 46750
Mr. & Mrs. Dan Hauser, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. William Kingery, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Billy Enoch (Elaine Mohler), 1751 W. 60th St., Indianapolis IN 46208
Mrs. Lynn Ladson (Judy Dillman), RR 1, Roann IN 46974 [didn’t graduate]
Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Bailey, RR 7 Box 365, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Roy Fisher, RR 7, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Dante Webster (Kay Sholty), 3308 Powers Dr., Durham NC 27705
Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Eytcheson (Jeanne Fairchild), RR 6 Box 292, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. James Gottschalk, 18480 Orlando Road Southeast, Fort Myers FL 33908
Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Heckathorn, RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Mr. & Mrs. Larry Mikesell, RR 1 Box 77, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Phyllis England (Phyllis Ross), RR 3 Box 22, Warsaw IN 46580 [moved]
Mrs. Kay Henderson (Janet Kay Vanata), PO Box 26, Fulton IN 46973-0026
1959
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Teel (Judy Baird), 500 W 9th St, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Wagoner (Rose Fry), RR 1 Box 273, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. ronald Raih (Linda Hancock) [no address]
Mr. & Mrs. David Newburn (Nelda Mathias), 306 E. Fleming Ave, Fort Wayne IN 46806
Mr. & Mrs. David Rentschler, RR 2, Mexico MO 65265 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Dee Williams (Susan Waltz), RR 1 Box 173, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Mack Haimbaugh (Carol Champ), 1516 Marietta Dr, Fort Wayne IN 46804
Mr. & Mrs. Jim Bird (Phyllis Gottschalk), 36 Lux St, Logansport IN 46947-4735
Mr. & Mrs. James Campbell (Karen Kent), RR 1, Twelve Mile IN 46988
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Ousley (Judy Berry), RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Showley, RR 5, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Byron Towne (Linda Rouch), RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Chief M/Sgt. & Mrs. Kenneth Watts, 5278 Mantle Ct, Woodbridge VA 22193
Mrs. Janice Brown (Janice Tanner), 2369 Maxine Dr. Southeast, Marietta GA 30062
Mr. & Mrs. Milton Heckathorn (Nelda Watson) Box 455, Deedsville IN 46921
Mr. & Mrs. James Barnette (Maridean White), 396 E. Main St., Danville IN 46122
Mr. & Mrs. James Rigney (Sue Zartman), RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
1960
Mr. & Mrs. Larry Casper, RR 2 Box 313, North Manchester IN 46962
Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Hall (Barbara Bailey), 1100 23rd St., Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Norman Bowers (Shelby Jo Hartzler), 5742 Larson Lane, Lena Wis 54139
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Spangler, RR 1, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Don Murphy (Mary Wagoner), 2542 Deerwood Dr., Fort Wayne IN 46825
Mr. & Mrs. Jack Shubat (Shirley Fry) 411 N. Marion, Oak Park IL 60302
Bill Burns, RR 1, Macy IN 46931
Mr. & Mrs. Clifford Mikesell, RR 4 Box 192, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Jack Nickels, 6505 Whipperwill, Lafayette IN 47905
Mr. & Mrs. Gerry Overmyer, 925 Arlington Dr., Lansing MI 48917
Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Schnieb (Linda Pugh), [summer] 720 Glenway Dr., Logansport IN 46947
[winter] 2877 Van Buren Ave, Naples FL 33942-6351
Mr. & Mrs. Vernon Knight (Joan Zartman), 1319 Nelson, Cambridge Neb 69022 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Eber, RR 6 Box 40, Shorewood Estates, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. Steve Hudkins, 2436 Northeast Armsworth, Portland OR 97211 [moved]
Mrs. Joann Stallcup (Joann Kingery), 4763 Plala Del Sal, Las VEgas NV 89121
Mr. & Mrs. Joe Leavell, 650 W. 136th St., Carmel IN 46032
Mr. & Mrs. Raymon Hoover (Karen Dielman), RR 1, Twelve Mile IN 46988
1961
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Baird, PO Box 301, Ligonier IN 46767
Mr. & Mrs. Gary Champ, RR 1 Box 85, Lucerne IN 46950
Mr. & Mrs. John Drapalik (Linda Zabst) [no address]
Mr. & Mrs. George Cook, 16501 Irving Rd., New Haven IN 46774
Mr. & Mrs. John Packard (Geneva Clemons) [no address]
Mr. & Mrs. Gerald Depoy, RR 5, Rochester IN 46975
Mrs. Lou Ann White (Lou Ann Dice), 7409 Holbrook, Fort Wayne IN 46815
Mr. & Mrs. Gilbert Raderstorf (Janice Green), RR 1 Lucerne IN 46950
Mrs. Leroy Bowen (Jean Kistler), RR 1 Box 48A, Royal Center IN 46978
Mrs. Alex Fundyk (Caroline Hanaway), RR 4, Logansport IN 46947
Mrs. Margaret Ditto (Margaret McCrosky), RR 2, Kendallville IN 46755 [moved]
Mr. & Mrs. Mike Maloney, 1805 Stoneview, Kokomo IN 46901
Judy Maloney [no address]
Mr. & Mrs. Ed Parman, 2331 Fieldwood, San Antonio TX 78251
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Pugh, RR 1 Box 92A, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Vanata, 110 South Maple, Argos IN 46501
Mr. & Mrs. Robert McDonald (Judy Wildermuth), 914 Woodmere Dr., Logansport IN 46947
[Fulton High School Alumni Association]
GAMBY SCHOOL [Aubbeenaubbee Township]
See Polley School.
GERMAN LUTHERAN SCHOOL [Rochester, Indiana]
Located S side of W Fourth Street, at the back of Lot #154 Bozarth’s Addn, at the alley.
Built by St. John Lutheran Church in 1873.
__________
The foundation of the German Lutheran School building is finished, a considerable portion of the lumber is on the ground, and the builders are only waiting for brick.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, July 17, 1873]
thet are painting and finishing the new German Lutheran school building.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, September 4, 1873]
GERMANY SCHOOL [Rochester Township]
Located S side 200S at approximately 150W.
During World War I, name changed to Burton School.
__________
W. Riley, the successful teacher at Germany, blew his horn quite frequently at the Institute. We love to hear the gentleman talk, his voice sounds like sheep bells on a distant hill. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, January, 1874]
A row occurred at Germany school house on Tuesday evening, March 17th, where an exhibition was being held. The effect of which was two disfigured craniums. Participants, Anderson and Overmire.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 7, 1877]
Teachers: Samuel Austin Kent.
GERMANY SCHOOL [Henry Township]
Near Millark.
__________
Last Saturday being the last day of the Germany school, of which Silas Hoffman is teacher, a large crowd of interested patrons from the surrounding country visited the school, and were well entertained. . . The Germany school is one of the largest and best conducted schools in the township.
[Foot Prints of Time by Dick Sands, Rochester, Sentinel, Saturday, March 9, 1878]
GERMANY SCHOOL [Richland Township]
Located NE corner of 425W and 500N.
Built before 1876; abandoned between 1883 and 1907.
Another school, next to above, located N side of 500N at 400W.
Built between 1883 and 1907.
Miss Dora Pyle will teach a term of school at Germany, in Richland township. . .
[Rochester Union Spy, Friday, April 12, 1878]
Miss Dora Pyle will teach the fall term of school at “Germany” school house, in Richland township. She taught the spring term of the same school, and gave general satisfaction.
[Rochester Republican, Saturday, August 3, 1878]
The common schools of the township have nearly all closed. The greater part have been highly successful. Germany and Whippoorwill closed with the plaudit from their patrons, “Well done, thou good and faithful servants.”
[Richland Locals, Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, February 27, 1873]
Germany School, March 9, 1878.
The teachers of Richland township assembled here to-day to hold their last institute of the winter, and were called to order at 10 o’clock by the trustee. On motion F. Henry was elected secretary, but by his request W. A. Dillon acted in that capacity. After which the roll was called, and Messrs. Newton, Gould and Cooper were noted as absent, which was followed by music. [names mentioned;: E. F. Henderson, C. C. Chinn, J. L. Martindale, F. I. Henry.
[Rochester Independent, Saturday, March 16, 1878]
Miss Dora Pyle commenced her fall term of school at Germany school house, in Richland township . . .
[Rochester Republican, Friday, September 5, 1879]
Our school is progressing very well. John Troutman wields the birch.
[Notes from Salina, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 20, 1879]
WOULD CHANGE SCHOOL NAME
A petition is now being circulated by Principal Hugh McMahan and other interested citizens to change the name of the Germany school, west of Rochester. Trustee W. K. Stevenson has said that he will consider the request if the petition is signed by a majority of the school patrons.
The petitioners assert that strangers passing the school often remark, upon seeing the name on the front of the building, that this must be a hotbed of Kaiser lovers. They also claim that a more loyal school district does not exist.
The following new names have been suggested: Burton, Riley or Stevenson.
[Rochester Sentinel, Monday, February 18, 1918]
GERMANY SCHOOL RENAMED “BURTON”
After receiving a petition containing 125 names, Trustee W. K. Stevenson Monday changed the name of the Germany school west of Rochester to Burton. Two men, Thomas Spurlock and Milo Steininger, refused to ask that the name be changed. One man suggested that the school be named “Nuisance.”
[Rochester Sentinel, Tuesday, March 5, 1918]
GOODWIN SCHOOL [Marshall County]
Some of the winter schools in this section of the “moral vineyard” have been taken for the winter. Miss Waugh has the “16” school; Miss Huffman the Windfall, and Simon Bybee the Greenhill school. Your humble servant will teach the “young idea how to shoot,” at the brick school house in District No. 7 just across the line in Marshall county. Jacob Martin who attended the Rochester high school this fall, will teach at the Goodwin school house in the same county.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, November 15, 1879]
GORDON SCHOOL [Newcastle Township]
See Wright School
GOSS SCHOOL [#7] [Liberty Township]
Located NE corner 300W and 550S.
Built before 1876.
[photo taken 1915] shows Goss School in Liberty township. Goss One-room school stood on the corner of county roads 500-W and 300-S. The road curved around a hill when he school was built before 1876 on the south side of the road. Later the road was straightened, which made the school on the north side of the road facing north.
[Rochester Sentinel, Thursday, May 22, 1975]
[photo] Goss school the last day of school 1915. Row 1: Edith Baird Johnson, unknown, Bernice Apt Severns, Olive Apt Herrald, Beatrice Casper, Leatha Showley, Ralph Showley, Raymond Showley. Row 2: unknown, Dale Showley, unknown. Row 3: Cleo Showley, unknown, Beveridge Baird, Fairbanks Baird (twins named for two Republicans, Senator Albert Beveridge and Vice President Charles Fairbanks 1905), Dale Apt, and Herschel Goss. The teacher, Ruth Adamson, is standing in back. (Photo: Olive Apt Herrald).
[FCHS Quarterly No. 21, p. 20]
[photo] Goss School (Photo: Barbara Williams]
[FCHS Quarterly No. 21, p. 21]
GOSS SCHOOL
By Lois Wagoner
The Goss one-room school was located on the northeast corner of road 550S and 300W in Liberty township. The road curved around a hill when the school house was built on the south side of the road. Later the road was straightened, which made the school on the north side of the road facing north. Three windows on each side of the building let in the light. The belfry and chimney were on the front end. The school was built before 1876.
Water was carried by the pupils from the Andrew Oliver home nearly a half mile away. Wood was used for fuel which the boys had the “honor” of carrying.
The souvenir given by the teacher the last day of school 1906 names County Supt. J. C. Werner, Trustee V. J. Pownall, and Director A. J. Oliver, Teacher Emma Baird (Van Buskirk). Pupils were 8th year: Burton Lacer, Irvin Pliver, Willie Madary, Mabel Holler and Chleo Goss (Wildermuth). 6th year: Frank Keesey, Chauncy Dice, Charlie Holler, Marie Dice (Rentschler), Gladys Rouch (Berry), Sarah Ford. 4th year: Harry Keesey, Lloyd Showley, Elvie Louderback, Gail Oliver (Shelton), Goldie Rouch (Van Meter). 2nd year: Roscoe Holler, Maggie Keesey (Crissinger), Elsie Showley (Aldridge). 1st year: Dwight Rouch and Catherine Louderback.
Other teachers recalled were Fannie Walters Lowman, Lulu Cline Pownall, Pearl Thrush, Ruth Adamson Felder, Agness Shields Bauman, and Orville Collins.
Other pupils were Opal Bailey, Marion Meyers, Lela Robinson Rans, Lester McCroskey, Roscoe Holler, Frank Keesey, Charlie Holler, Ross Krathwohl, Herschel Goss, Dale Apt, Beveridge Baird, Fairbanks Baird, Cleo Showley Eber, Ralph Showley, Dale Showley, Edna Showley Kent, Raymond Showley, Harlan Showley, Leatha Showley, Beatrice Casper, Olive Apt Herrald, Bernice Apt Severns, Edith Baird Ball, Erma Apt Drudge, John Apt, Margaret Apt Hizer, Mary Edington, Gale Edington, Gladys Edington, Gerald McCroskey, and Carl McCroskey.
Alfred Showley drove the bus to take the children to Fulton from about 1922 to 1925. He owned the chassis and maintained it; the township owned the bus bed which was put on the chassis each fall and taken off each spring. He could use it thru the summer for trucking.
The building was sold Dec. 1926 for $56 to M. O. Enyart, who owned the land then. I received this information from Olive Herrold, Gail Shelton, Loyd Showley, and Agness Bauman.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 21, pp 20-21]
__________
No. 7, known as the Goss school, has for some time been considered below par, but by the efficient management of J. R. Shelton this opinion is completely dispelled. . .
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, January 27, 1877]
The schools in this township are all supplied with teachers. . . .Mr. Shelton at the Goss school house . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, October 18, 1878]
Teachers:
1905: Ruth Adamson Felder.
GRADED SCHOOL [Rochester, Indiana]
Located E side of Pontiac Street between Sixth and Seventh Streets, on Lot #145 Bozarth’s Addn.
GRAMMAR SCHOOL [Rochester, Indiana]
Mr. J. W. Green requested us to announce . . . that he intends forming a Grammar class in this place soon. Mr. Green comes to us well recommended, and having taught several terms here, is known by most of our citizens and scholars . . .
[Rochester Chronicle, Thursday, July 18, 1867]
GRASS CREEK SCHOOL [Grass Creek, Indiana]
Located S side of SR-17 about one block W of Pennsylvania Railroad.
In 1903 the Grass Creek Majesty School was built at the Ted Sadler farm, and the old school was sold.
A new school was built 1928; closed 1967.
In 1936 a fire destroyed the old building, and a new addition was soon added to the 1928 building.
The children then attended Caston School.
__________
[photo] Charles F. Edgerton 1877-1909. He is the son of Lewis and Eunice Burch Edgerton. Charles was a schoolteacher, author and musician. He played the violin, guitar and mandolin. He had a library in his home; his books were given to the Grass Creek School but were all destroyed when the school burned in 1939. This picture was taken Feb. 18, 1900. Lois Kumler Ewen wrote: “I have his violin. I remember using his books when I attended Grass Creek School. He was my mother’s only brother. (Her mother was Mae Edgerton Kumler.)
[FCHS Images No. 1, p. 57]
[photo] Grass Creek High School in Fall of 1917. Front row: Lee Bechtold, George Graffis, Rex Murray, Bertie Cunningham, Loyd Huffman, Herbert Leasure.
Row 2: Mary Hizer, Mildred Morphet, Freida Moore, Helen Burns, Gertrude Burns, Helen Pensinger, Margaret McLochlin.
Row 3: Dorthy Vedder, Cecelia Caton, Irene Spencer, Nina Barnett, Marie Stewart, Gertrude McLochlin, Leitha Jones.
Row 4: Frances Gault, Phoebe Nickels, Ella Koenig, Pauline Diveley, Altha Cox, Charlotte Thomas, Nellie Walsh, Blanche Feidner, Lucile Nichol, Ruth Nickels, Floyd Leasure – teacher.
Row 5: Earl Rouch – teacher, Irene Heward, Rosie Spencer, Wilma Graham, Lela Buchanan, Mabel Jones, Margaret Walsh, Everett Cunningham, Margaret Hines – teacher.
Row 6: Marvin Mogle, Elva Nichol, Elmer Gault, Ernest Allen, Mildred Pownall, Robert Thomas.
Back row: Lester Rouch, Richard Elliott, Howard Nickels, Ernest Vedder, Vance Callahan. (Photo donated to FCHS by Mrs. Lloyd Rouch in 1973)
[FCHS Images No. 3, p. 107]
Schools are about all out. I had the pleasure of attending the last of Grass Creek school on Saturday last, at which Mr. David Birge presided. . . Mr. J. J. Horn made quite a lengthy speech of three minutes; he was followed by Mr. James Calahan, who gave a two minutes speech, and was followed by Mr. Jacob Showley, who made a speech coming out ahead of the other gentlemen ten minutes or more. After these addresses the audience was highly edified by a speech from Mr. C. M. Hill. . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, March 26, 1874]
A Sabbath school has been organized at the Grass Creek school house with James M. Horn as Superintendent.
[Mt. Vernon Items, Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 21, 1877]
__________
HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN GRASS CREEK
FOREWORD
During the 1954-55 school year, Mr. Carl M. Herrold, Trustee of Wayne Township, suggested to our principal, Mr. Thomas D. Brumett, that some consideration be given the fact that this year’s class, the Class of ’56, would mark the fiftieth graduation class of high school students in Wayne Township. Because this year, 1956, marks the fiftieth year of secondary education, it was felt that the “Golden Jubilee” of education in Wayne Township sould be presented in this year’s Annual. This idea was presented to the Senior Class and enthusiastically accepted by it.
The first task was to secure information concerning early education in Wayne Township. Since all of the old school records perished in the fire in 1937, most of the information written came from the memories of alumni and people of our community. Questionnaires were prepared and sent to alumni. Personal interviews with many informed alumni and former school officials were held. 80% of the questionnaires were returned with many important facts concerning early education. Special acknowledgement for information is given to Roy Kumler, Clarence Huffman, Elmer Douglass, Carl M. Herrold, and county superintendent of schools, Mr. S. Earl Rouch.
PRE-HIGH SCHOOL DAYS – – THE PLANTING
To trace common education back to its source in Wayne Township would indeed be a task. One would have to go back to the Ordinance of 1785 which provided that the Territory of Indiana be surveyed and divided into townships of six miles square and that plats of the townships shall be marked by subdivisions into lots of one mile square . . numbered from 1 to 36 . . . There shall be reserved the lot No. 16 of every township, for the maintenance of public schools, within the said township. One would also need to study the Ordinance of 1787, the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Indiana, and many laws passed by the Indiana Legislature.
We have no record of the first elementary school of Wayne Township. There is evidence of elementary schools in Wayne Township around Civil War days. How many or where they were located has been lost with the passing of the years. Around the turn of the century, there were the following elementary schools, called Common Schools:
1. Shady Dell School . . . . located in the North West part of township. Ellis Barker Corner.
2. Feidner’s School . . . . West Center of township. Now part of Harold Sommer’s Farm.
3. Liberty School . . . . This school was the best constructed of the township schools. It
was construced of brick. Location was on Lawrence Funk’s Farm. SW part of
township.
4. Center School . . . . North Center part of township, this school was located at Bugby’s
Corner. (Land Cecil Fields farms)
5. Bowman School . . . . East Central part of township, across from Bowman Cemetery.
6. Pugh School . . . . South Central part of township, on Dick Will’s Farm.
7. Dewey School . . . . North East corner of township. On Irene Rouch’s Farm.
8. Smalley School . . . . East Central part of township, located 1/2 mile south of
Marshtown. (Across from Clyde Ford’s Farm.)
9. Lake School . . . . South East part of township. On Everett Gregg’s Farm.
10. Wayne School . . . . Central part of township. On Henry Lease’s Farm. (The frame of
Wayne School was used as framework for barn of D. K. Crippen’s Farm.)
11. Grass Creek School . . . . stood at the present site of Everett Cunningham’s residence.
Much of the lower part of the Cunningham residence is part of Grass Creek School.
12. Marshtown School . . . . A school was built in Marshtown and Smalley School pupils
attended in Marshtown.
Graduation from high school during this period was quite a fete [sic – feat?]. A few attended Kewanna High School before Majesty High School was built. Kewanna’s High School’s first graduation class was in 1900.
MAJESTY HIGH SCHOOL
Education had become a seriously talked of matter by 1903. Upon the urging of many patrons of Wayne Township, newly elected E. “Jude” Buchanan, Trustee of Wayne Township and his advisory board which consisted of E. J. Urbin, Peter Snyder and Samuel Rouch decided that now was the time for a high school for the students of Wayne Township.
The present site was decided upon after much deliberation as there was a move on by many of the patrons to have the school at Marshtown. Early in 1903 an architect, Mr. A. D. Mohler, was hired and soon after the James I. Barnes Construction Co. of Logansport started building Majesty High School of brick and Bedford limestone.
In the Fall of 1903, Majesty High School was not completed, so the first high school class of 14 students was enrolled and commenced their studies in Grass Creek Common School. At that time Willard Nickels, a man whho was to lead Majesty High School through her early years, was hired. His title was Superintendent. He was the only teacher. Around Christmas in 1903, Majesty High School was completed and the proud students moved into their new halls and rooms.
The next year, Miss G. H. Kuehne was also hired. She was given the title of Principal. The curriculum of the early years was strictly academic. While Mr. Nickels recited half of the high school in the assembly, Miss Kuehne recited the other half in the “recitation” room. Miss Ethel Roberts replaced Miss Kuehne as Principal in 1908. (Principal meant in those days as the “top or first” teacher after the superintendent.)
The first commencement was held in the High School Room on April 26, 1907. Of the 14 students who had started as Freshmen in 1903, only five survived. They were: Floyd Ward, H. Roy Kumler, Charles K. Walsh, John W. Herrold, and Frederick D. Harsh. Our high school owes much to this class as it was this class that chose as their class colors, Black and Gold. This choice of colors was so popular with the other students that Black and Gold has always been considered as the official school colors of both Majesty and Grass Creek High Schools.
If we could go back to that memorable night of April 26, 1907, we would not only have heard the first commencement address entitled, “The Star Performer” and given by Dr. R. L. Kelly, President of Earlham College, but we would have also witnessed the birth of the Alumni Association. Prior to their graduation, the Class of ’07 was led to the assembly by Mr. Nickels and told that they were soon to be the first alumni of Majesty High School. He recommended that they form an Alumni Association, which they did. Roy Kumler was elected the first president of that association.
THE CULTIVATION
From those small beginnings 50 years ago — a class of five graduates, a faculty of two teachers, a curriculum of academic subjects, we have come a long way. Seven trustees, thirteen principals, and scores of teachers have served the high school of Wayne Township. Majesty High School, the title given the school by its first trustee, E. J. Buchanan, was commissioned by the State of Indiana during the 1905-06 school year. It is not certain how long the school was called Majesty High School. Some questionnaires indicate the name officially changed around 1912 and a 1917 report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction shows the name at that time to be Grass Creek High School; however, many people referred to the school as Majesty High School as late as 1923.
CURRICULUM
As stated earlier, the early years of Majesty-Grass Creek High School taught the purely academic curriculum. Four years of grammar were required as were three years of math, four years of history, four years of Latin, political geography (agriculture) was also required. As the years went on, other subject fields were added as the school grew and more teachers were employed. Grass Creek School’s first band was organized in 1921 under the direction of May Kumler. Without the records, which perished with the fire, it is impossible to say when such new subjects as biology, shorthand, typing, health and safety, physics, home economics, business sociology, psychology, and industrial arts were added to the curriculum but the curriculum has grown until today, Grass Creek High School offers one of the broadest curriculums to choose from in Fulton County, as there are 39 different courses to select from.
STUDENT ACTIVITIES
One needs only read a history of education to know that early extra-curricular activities were frowned upon by both educators and patrons. This was especially true of physical education activities. Students of early Majesty High School were not unlike other high school students of that time — they wanted outside activities. Probably the earliest form of extracurricular activities in Majesty High School were the debate societies. At least two such societies are remembered – – The Riley’s and the Athenians. Debates were of an intramural nature and no contests with other schools were held.
Many games were played before school and during the noon hour. Early favorites were black man, dare base, baseball, fox-and-geese, ice skating, and (as one questionnaire indicated) fighting when the teachers weren’t around.
Organized sports probably started with the Majesty Athletic Club, which was organized in 1905. Members of this club were called MAC’S. They met in the old grass Creek Common School building (Everett Cunningham’s present residence.) This club had no connection with the school as one did not need to be in school to belong, although most members were high school students. They had uniforms and played many baseball games with various other towns and villages. This urge to organize teams was also going on in other schools throughout Indiana and our Nation at this time. Although most early educators fought the movement of sports into schools, the organization of teams continued and finally school authorities realized that if sports were to continue, they should be under school supervision.
There are no records or memories of the first interscholastic contest with another school. There is a belief by some that the first interscholastic contests were in baseball during the 1915-16 year. About this time, however, basketball, soon to be King in Indiana, was growing popular with the boys at Old Majesty High. An outside court was prepared behind the school building. During the 1915-16 school year, Mr. S. Earl Rouch, present County Superintendent of Fulton County Schools and then Principal of Majesty High School, organized and coached a basketball team that represented Wayne Township. They had a fine team consisting of Al McLochlin, Archie Wills, Jack and Arthur Burns, John Douglass, Harley Miller. They won most of their games. Games were played on the outside court in the fall and in the Old Catholic Church in the winter. Soon the church building became too small and practices were held in the Kewanna Gym when possible. Games were played away with schools that had gyms. With basketball gaining in popularity in the early 20’s, the patrons began to come and watch their boys play ball. Grass Creek played as curtain risers at many Kewanna High School games. Agitation for a gym started around 1923 and continued to rise until our present gym was constructed in 1928. It was the largest gym in the County at that time and Fulton County Tournament was played there in 1928 and 1929. It would be almost impossible to find the win and loss data on the teams representing Majesty-Grass Creek High School. We know that many fine teams have represented our school and we are sure that Grass Creek will have many fine teams to come. Grass Creek has never captured a sectional tournament. Grass Creek has captured the County Tournament twice, in 1940 and 1941. The Panthers have captured seven Four-Way Tourneys. Probably our gratest team in the win and loss department was the 1936 team which went through their 20 scheduled games undefeated. It was also during the 1936 basketball season that the team got it’s name, the Panthers. The members of that great team all purchased a black basketball shoe called “black panther.” The boys began calling themselved the Black Panthers. Somewhere along the line the ‘black’ was dropped. Our school song was adopted during the later Majesty High School days. Mrs. May Kumler wrote the words and applied them to the Illinois Loyalty tune. There have, however, been a few minor additions and subtractions of the original words.
The first annual was published in 1940. It is uncertain when the first school paper was published but it is believed around 1938-39. The title of the first paper, “Panther Scratches” is still used today.
The first school plays were presented in the old Majesty Athletic Club where a stage was built. Later a temporary stage was built in the assembly in the old building and plays presented. During the 1920’s and early 30’s several minstrels were presented.
Grass Creek School has not been without tragedy. In the earlier days, Ruth Linden was killed and Nellie Walsh injured when a team ren away with the school hack. Later in 1939 seven Grass Creek Juniors were injured in a bus-street car accident in Chicago on their Junior Trip. In 1937 Old Majesty High burned!
After the firs destroyed Old Majesty, the present school was built connected with the gym which was saved. The building now known as Grass Creek School (officially Wayne Twp. School) was built under the supervision of Trustee Loyd Rouch and his advisory board of Alpha Hoesel, Lawrence Funk and Harry Hiatt. The architect was Henry C. Wolf and the construction firm was W. R. Dunkin and Sons. 1937 was the date.
TRANSPORTATION
To us students today probably one of the sights to see would be the coming and going of our alumni in the older days. Transportation was provided the common (elementary) pupils in horse drawn hacks. High school students had to furnish their own transportation. Most of the early students who lived farther than walking distance used the horse and buggy for transportaiton. The horses were kept in several barns during the school day. Several barns used were Melvin Thomas’s, Heward’s, Tommy Harrison’s, Janie Albro’s, and Grace Down’s. A fee of a dollar a month was usually charged. When roads were very muddy many rode horseback. When the snow was high, boats were often pulled by horses over the snow in place of the hack. There are many conflicting theories on when the first motor bus was used but evidence leads us to believe around 1921 to 1924.
THE GOLDEN HARVEST
Space and time have permitted us to only scratch the surface of what could have been written. One lesson that we have learned well is that our alumni, students, faculty, and community can well feel proud of our high school. After doing this research on our school one can feel its spirit as one walks down the rows of pictures in our “hall of fame.” One can almost hear the sounds of yesteryears, sounds of teacher’s lectures, gay laughter, cheers from our gymnasium and playgrounds. One can see the changing styles in the various photographs. Yes, we students are thankful to this community for providing us with our high school. We thank you for the many fond memories that going through high school brings. We thank this community for the fine education that has enabled so many of our graduates to go forth and make the fine citizens that they have and will become.
We call this section “The Golden Harvest” because education is a planting, a cultivation and harvest of preparation for young people to meet the needs of the life they will live. That was true 50 years ago when the first graduates came forth from Majesty High School, and it is true on this fiftieth anniversary when the 14 members of the Class of ’56 will go forth from the institution which began its history a half of a century in the past. When this year’s graduation class of 14 Seniors receive their diplomas, Majesty-Grass Creek High School will have harvested 558 graduates. This has truly been a “Golden Harvest.”
[untitled copy, possibly from 1956 Annual]
GRASS CREEK HIGH SCHOOL
TEACHERS
Majesty High School was built in Grass Creek 1903-04. It was finished at Christmas 1903 and classes began there in January of 1904. It burned in 1935 and was rebuilt immediately but named Grass Creek School.
1896-97: Edward Kelley; Biddie Hines; James Hines; Frank Sommers; Mary Costello; Martha Costello; George Costello; Martin Myers.
1901-02: Martha Costello, Prin.; Willard Nickols.
1903-15: Willard E. Nickels, Prin.
1915-19: S. Earl Rouch, Principal
1915-16: Prin., S. Earl Rouch, Math., Sci., Hist.; Margaret Hines, Lat., Eng., 5; F. J. Leasure, Man. Tr.; Jeannette Case, Supervisor.
1917-18: Grass Creek was not shown but was listed for this year.
1918-19: Grass Creek was not shown but was listed for this year.
1919-23: Floyd Leasure, Principal
1923-27: Fitzhugh Traylor, Principal
1927-31: Harold Young, Principal
1929-30: Enrol. (1-8) 163, (9-12) 53. Prin. Harold Young, Lat., Hist.; Wendall Elpers, Math., Man. Tr.; Gladys Brannon, Hist., Eng., Biol.; Marjorie Cox, Eng., H.E.; Clifford Baggerly, 7-8; Virgil Gwan, 5-6, Coach; Doris Wright, 3-4; Alice Thomas, 2-3; Mary Norris, 1.
1930-31: Enrol. (1-8) 178, (9-12) 54. Prin. Harold Young, Lat., Hist.; Mark R. Brumbaugh, Physics, Math., Gen. Sc.; Gladys Brannon, Hist., Eng., Biol.; Beulah Gill, Eng., Music; Virgil Gwin, 8th Coach, Phys. Ed.; Clifford Baggerly, 6-7; Carl Hartman, 5; Carrie Long, 3-4; Alice Thomas, 2-3; Mary Norris, 1.
1931-32: Enrol. (1-8) 182, (9-12) 48. Prin. Lloyd C. Blickenstaff, Soc. St., Man. Tr.; Mark R. Brumbaugh, Sc., Math; Beulah Gill, Eng., Musid; Ella Brannon, Eng., Lat., H.E.; Virgil Gwin, Coach, 7-8; Ralph Johnston, 5-6; Carrie Long, 4-5; Alice Thomas, 2-3; Mary Norris, 1-2.
1932-33: Enrol. (1-8) 180, (9-12) 56. Prin. L. C. Blickenstaff, Soc. St., Ind. A.; Mark R. Brumbaugh, Sci., Math; Beulah Gill, Mu., Eng.; Ella Brannon, Lat., Eng., H.E.; Virgil Gwin, Coach, 7-8; H. V. Clevenger, 5-6; Edith Miller, 4-5; Alice Thomas, 2-3; Mary Norris, 1-2.
1933-34: Enrol. (1-8) 203, (9-12) 63. Prin. L. C. Blickenstaff, Soc. St., Eng., Sci.; Ella Brannon, Lat., Eng., H.E.; Keith Carper, Math., H., Soc. St., Phy. Ed.; Beulah Gill, Eng., Mu.; Cloyd Murray, Math., Ind. A., Ag.; H. V. Clevenger, 5-6; Pauline Diveley, 4-5; Alice Thomas, 2-3; Lura Costello, 1-2.
1934-35: Enrol. (1-8) 191, (9-12) 59. Prin. L. C. Blickenstaff, Soc. St., Eng., Ind. A; Ella Brannon, Lat., Eng., H.E.; Keith Carper, Math., H., Soc. St., Phy. Ed.; Beulah Gill, Math., Mu.; Mark Brumbaugh, Math., Sci.; H. V. Clevenger, 5-6; Pauline Diveley, 4-5; Alice Thomas, 2-3; Lura Costello, 1-2.
1935-36: Enrol. (1-8) 165, (9-12) 75. Prin. F. C. Ritenour, Soc. St., Ind. A.; Ella Brannon, Lat., Eng., H.E.; Virgil Gwin, Soc. St., Sci., Phy. Ed.; Lorena Justice, Eng., Mu., Phy. Ed.; Mark Brumbaugh, Math., Sci.; H. V. Clevenger, 5-6; Pauline Diveley, 4-5; Alice Thomas, 2-3; Lura Costello, 1-2.
1936-37: Enrol. (1-8) 149, (9-12) 86. Prin. F. C. Ritenour, Ind. A., Soc. St.; Mark Brumbaugh, Math., Sci.; Virgil Gwin, Soc. St., Sci., Phy. Ed.; Dorothy Hartsough, Eng., Lat., Mu.; Vivian McKee H.E., Eng., Phy. Ed.; Lorraine C. Hope, 5-6; Violet Diveley, 2-3; Merle Huffman, 1-2.
1937-38: Enrol. (1-8) 145, (9-12) 69. Prin. F. C. Ritenour, Soc. St., Ind. A.; Mark R. Brumbaugh, Math.; Helen Davis, Lat., Eng.; Margaret Bertsch Day, H. Ec., Sci., H., Phys. Ed.; Virgil Gwin, Soc. St., Phys. Ed., H.; Leslie Gilkey, Mu., Orch., B.; Mary Applegate, 5-6; Reita I. Smith, 4-5; Alice Thomas, 2-3; Merle Huffman, 1-2.
1938-39: Enrol. (1-8) 157, (9-12) 82. Prin. Daniel H. Shambarger, Soc St., Ind. A., Ag.; Mark R. Brumbaugh, Math., Sci.; Helen Davis, Eng., Lat.; Virgil Gwin, Soc. St., Sci., Phys. Ed., H.; Estella Smith, Engl, H. Ec., Phys. Ed.; Jane Hostetter Walterhouse, Com., Mu.’ Mary Applegate, 6; Reita Smith, 4-5; Alice Thomas, 2-3; Merle Huffman, 1-2.
1939-40: Enrol. (1-8) 146, (9-12) 75. Prin. Russell H. Rayburn, Soc. St., Ag.; Doris G. Brown, Eng., H. Ec., Phys. Ed., H., Lib.; Arnold H. Felker, Soc. St., Sci., Phys. Ed.; Helen Davis, Engl, Lat.; Miriam Hines, Com., Math, Mu.; Paul Pacilio, Math., Ind. A.; Mary Applegate, 5-6; Margaret Herd, 4-5; Reita Smith, 2-3; Merle Huffman, 1.
1940-41: Enrol (1-8) 144, (9-12) 77. Prin. Russell H. Rayburn, Soc. St.; Perry O. Black, Voc. Ag.; Doris G. Brown, Eng., H. Ec., P.E.; Arnold H. Felker, Soc. St., Sci., Phys. Ed.; Mary R. Meeks, Com., Mu., Orch.; Paul Pacilio, Math., Ind. A., Sci.; Mary Elizabeth Winger, Eng., Lat., Lib.; Frances Gillespie, 6-7; Mary Applegate, 4-5; Reita Smith, 2-3; Merle Huffman, 1.
1941-42: Enrol. (1-8) 134, (9-12) 74. Prin. Russell H. Rayburn, Soc. St.; Arnold H. Felker, Soc. St., Sci., H. S., Phys. Ed.; Doris Huffman, Eng., H. Ec., Phys. Ed.; Virginia R. Larr, Com., Mu.; Silas Miller, Sci., Math.; Celia A. Wakeman, Eng., Math., Lib.; Arthur K. Wissman, Ag.; Frances Gillespie, 6-7; Mary Applegate, 4-5; Florence Cunningham, 2-3; Reita Smith, 1.
1942-43: Enrol. (1-8) 132, (9-12) 65. Prin. Everett R. Strycker, Soc. St.; Arnold H. Felker, Soc. St., Sci., H.S., P.E.; Miriam Hizer, Com., Mu.; Alta Housour, Eng., H. Ec., P.E.; Silas Miller, Math., Sci.; Celia C Wakeman, Eng., Lat., Lib.; Arthur K. Wissman, Voc. Ag.; Dorothy Grossman, 6-7; Ruth Nicodemus, 4-5; Florence Cunningham, 2-3; Mary Norris, 1.
1943-47: Everett Strycker, Principal
1944-45: Enrol. (1-8) 138, (9-12) 43. Prin. Everett R. Strycker, Soc. St., Ind. A.; Jane M. Farley, Eng., Mu.; Miriam Hizer, Com., Lat.; Mary E. Jones, Voc. H. Ec., Sci., P.E.; Silas Miller, Math., Sci., P.E.; Dorothy Grossman, 7-8; Neva Funk, 5-6; Mary Applegate, 3-4; Florence Cunningham, 1-2.
1946-47: Enrol. (1-8) 140, (9-12) 60. Prin. Everett R. Strycker, Soc. St., Ind. A.; Lillian G. Fahler, Voc. H. Ec., Sci.; Laura B. Huff, Math, Sci., Lat.; Charles E. Stephens, Com., P.E.; Mildred Webb, Eng., Sci., P.E.; Arthur Wilson, Mu., B.; Neva Mikesell, 6-7; Mary Applegate, 4-5; Clara Noel, 2-3; Florence Cunningham, 1-2.
1947-48: G. E. Tennis, Principal
1948-49: Enrol. (1-12) 218. Prin. Harold L. Stafford, Eng., Soc. St., Ind. A.; Laura B. Huff, Math., Lat., Sci.; C. D. Kreigh, Eng., Soc. St., Sci.; Dorothy Mahan, Mu., B.; Charles E. Stephens, Com., P.E.; Nellie M. Winter, Voc. H. Ec., Eng., Sci., P.E.; Neva Mikesell, 6-7; Clara Noel, 2-3; Florence Cunningham, 1.
1949-50: Enrol. (1-6) 115, (7-8) 31, (9-12) 54. Prin. Charles E. Stephens, Com., P.E., H.; A. Lyle Barton, Voc. Ag.; Katherine Grande, Mu., B.; Marjorie Heckard, Voc. H. Ec., Sci., P.E.; Laura B. Huff, Math., Lat.; C. D. Kreigh, Soc, St., Sci.; E. H. Moss, Vet. Ag., Henry Youngblood, Eng., Com.; Neva Mikesell, 6-7; Alma C. Murphy, 4-5; Clara Noel, 2-3; Florence Cunningham, 1.
1950-51: Enrol (1-6) 125, (7-8) 31, (9-12) 58. Prin. Charles E. Stephens, Com.; A. Lyle Barton, Voc. Ag.; Katherine Grande, Mu., B., P.E.; George C. Grosskopf, Soc. St., P.E.; Marjorie Heckard, Voc. H. Ec., Sci., P.E.; Laura B. Huff, Math., Lat., Sci.; Henry Youngblood, Eng., Com.; Neva Mikesell, 6-7; Paul A. Erdel, 3, 5; Choletta Erdel, 2, 4; Florence Cunningham, 1.
1951-52: Enrol. (1-6) 136, (7-8) 39, (9-12) 58. Prin. Charles E. Stephens, H.D.; Marjorie Bishop, Voc. H. Ec., Sci.; Simon Deeb, Voc, Ag.; George Grosskoph, Soc. St., P.E.; Laura B. Huff, Math., Lat.; Betty Lou Hughes, Com., P.E.; Mae P. Jones, Eng.; James K. Greiner, Mu., B.; Florence Miller, 5-6; Mildred Diveley, 3-4; Wilma Grosskoph, 2-3; Florence Cunningham, 1.
1952-53: [changes noted in supplements] New Prin. Thomas D. Brumett.
1953-54: Enrol. (1-6) 142, (7-8) 37 (9-12) 64. Prin. Thomas D. Brumett, Soc. St., H.S.; Miriam Hizer, Com., P.E.; Laura B. Huff, Math.; Mae P. Jones, Eng.; James R. Smith, Soc. St., P.E.; Lois Vogel, Voc. H. Ec., Sci.; James Woolsey, Voc. Ag.; Mario Lombardo, Mu., B.; Edna L. Gottschalk, 5-6; Mildred E. Diveley, 4-5; Dona B Miller, 2-3; Florence Cunningham, 1-2.
1955-56: Enrol. (1-6) 109, (7-8) 37, (9-12) 62. Prin. Thomas D. Brumett, Soc. St.; Kenneth E. Groff, Ind. A., P.E., H.S., Doris Hill, Voc. H. Ec., Sci., P.E.; Miriam Hizer, Com., Mu.; Laura B. Huff, Math., Lang.; Mae Jones, Eng.; Charles F. Byfield, Mu., B.; Edna L. Gottschalk, 5-6; Mildred E. Diveley, 4-5; Dona B. Miller, 2-3; Florence Cunningham, 1-2.
1957-58: Enrol. (1-6) 114, (7-8) 42, (9-12) 59. Prin. Thomas D. Brumett, Soc. St., Ind. A.; Janece Herrold, H. Ec., Biol., P.E., H. S.; Doris Hill, Eng., Soc. St., Sci.; Miriam Hizer, Com., Mu.; Mae Jones, Eng.; Manford Kistler, Math., P.E., Dr. Ed.; Charles F. Byfield, Mu., B., Edna L. Gottschalk, 5-6; Mildred E. Diveley, l4-5; Dona B. Miller, 2-3; Florence Cunningham, 1-2.
1959-60: Enrol. (1-6) 109, (7-8) 32, (9-12) 63. Prin. Manford Kistler, Math.; Secy. June Fall; Joe Barnett, Soc. St., P.E.; Charles Byfield, Jr., Mu.; Doris Hill, Eng.; Miriam Hizer, Com., Mu.; Laura Huff, Math.; Phoebe Monroe,l H. Ec., Sci., P.E.; Eleanor Murphy, Eng., Lat.; Ralph Johnston, 5-6; Gladys Cords, 3-4; Mabel Wills, 2-3; Florence Cunningham, 1.
[A consolidation of four schools was formed and called Caston School. They continued to use the old building until the new Caston building was built in 1967.]
NORTH CASTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GRASS CREEK
1961-62: Enrol. (1-6) 308. Prin. Ivan Everson; Florence Cunningham, 1; Eva Benedict, 1; Margrite Bosard, 2; Barbara Ann Henderson, 2; Eva Friend, 3; Mabel Wills, 3; Kathleen Burns, Lang., P.E.; Ralph Kistler, Sci.; Vern Miller, Math., P.E., Marveleen Snapp, Soc. St.; Olive Wenger, Read.
1963-64: Enrol. (1-6) 305. Prin. Ivan Everson; Florence Cunningham, 1; Juanita Waddups, 1; Vera Conn, 2; Evelyn Ehase, 2; Virginia Scott, 3; Hazel Savage, 3; Ruby Bearss, Dept. Eng., P.E.; Nancy ‘douglass, Dept. Read.; Vern A. Miller, Dept. Math.; Marvaleen Snapp, Dept. Soc. St.; Barry Worl, Dept. Sci., P.E.
1965-66: Enrol. (1-6) 477. Prin. Gordon Bohs; Mary Emery, Secy.; Madys Adkins, 1; Charlene Bailey, 1; Ruby Bearss, Lang. A., 4-6; Vera Conn, 2; Florence Cunningham, 1; Evelyn Ehase, 2; Isabelle Grove, math., 4-6; Connie Houser, 3; Jane Kemper, Lang. A., 4-6; Mary Loser, Lang. A., 4-6; Vern Miller, Math., 4-6; Myra Quackenbush, 1; Letha Reed, Lang. A., 4-6; Anthony Sabatine, Sci., 4-6; Hazel Savage, 2; Virginia Scott, 3; Sandra Stuart, Sci., 4-6; John Watson, Soc. St., 4-6; Olive Wenger, 3; Bill Worl, Soc. St., 4-6.
[F.C.H.S. files]
Teachers: John Haimbaugh; Opal Spotts Welsheimer Rice, 1919
GRASS CREEK HIGH SCHOOL
GRADUATES
[* designates husband and wife both graduates of Grass Creek]
1907
Roy Kumler* Deceased
Charles Walsh Deceased
John Herrold Deceased
Fred Harsh Deceased
Floyd Ware Deceased
1908
Lawrence Hendrickson Deceased
Florence Hendrickson Deceased
Mae (Snyder) Emerson Deceased
Ethel (Trickle) Wouster Deceased
Mary (Snyder) Walsh Deceased
Mable (Feidner) Benham Deceased
Maggie (Rans) Zook Deceased
Ada (Vernone) Boeldt Deceased
1909
Oscar Trickle Deceased
Clara Murray Deceased
George McDonough Deceased
Will Costello Deceased
Roy Rans Deceased
Ray Snider Deceased
1910
Pearl (Herrold) Williams Deceased
Effie (Hizer) Malone Deceased
Fern Black Deceased
Earl Moore Deceased
Frank Nickle Deceased
Pearl Thrush Deceased
Hazel Pownall Deceased
Mae (Edgerton) Kumler * Deceased
Hazel Jones Deceased
1911
Earl Rouch Deceased
Archie Van Meter Deceased
Joseph Costello Deceased
Alice Shanley Deceased
Elizabeth Graffis Deceased
Flo (Walsh) Brinkle Deceased
Edward Zimpleman Deceassed
Hanna (Connery) Caton Deceased
1912
Dessie (Buchanan) Rentschler Deceased
Calvin Alber Deceased
George Walsh Deceased
Gertrude Maroney Deceased
Edgar Rans Deceased
Loyd Snider Deceased
1913
Arthur Feidner Deceased
Joe Heward Deceased
Clifford Baggerley, Nursing Home
Ruth (Williams) Chapman Deceased
Ella Shanley Deceased
Dr. Edgar Morphet, 2095 Cactus Court #4, Walnut Creek, CA 94595
Martha (Buchanan) Bradshaw, 415 P St Apt 313, Sacramento CA 95814-5336
1914
George Murray* Deceased
Dessie (Nickles) Coglan, 9746 40th St., North Pinellas Park FL 3356 [moved]
Vera (Lower) Huffman Deceased
Edith Welsheimer Deceased
Emmit Burns Deceased
Edith (Burns) Briggs Deceased
Ernest Van Meter Deceased
Garrett Alber Deceased
Cecil Kistler Deceased
James Buchanan Deceased
Frank Van Meter Deceased
1915
Clara (Costello) Hirsch Deceased
Joe I. Hizer Deceased
Ada (Costello) Meyers, 1407 Sunnymede St., South Bend IN 46615
Melvin Moore Deceased
Margaret (Pensinger) Alexander Deceased
Elsie (Nickles) Thompson Deceased
David Welsheimer Deceased
1916
Lotus Thrush Deceased
Frank Graham Deceased
Grace (Falls) Acker Deceased
Violet (Van Meter) Darling Deceased
Opal (Spotts) Rice Deceased
Esther (Shanley) Kiehl
Glenn (Robbins) Murray, Nursing home
Arthur Burns Deceased
Jack Burns Deceased
John Douglass Deceased
Ray Caton Deceased
James Graham Deceased
1917
Lela (Thomas) Thrush, Peabody Home, 400 W 7th, N. Manchester IN 46962
Gladys (Gault) Dickey Deceased
Archie Wills Deceased
Walter Walsh Deceased
Harley Miller Deceased
Sylvester Kelly Deceased
Albert McLochlin Deceased
1918
Phoebe Nickles Deceased
Mildred (Pownall) Dively, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Ella (Koenig) Huffman, PO Box 104, Etna Green IN 46524
Elma (Nichol) French Deceased
Elva (Nichol) Firmes Deceased
Rose (Spencer) O’Dell, 2006 Ontario #8, Niles MI 49120
Irene (Heward) Callahan, RR 6 Box 123, Rochester IN 46975
Wilma (Graham) Ashy Deceased
Frances (Gault) Graff, [address unknown]
1919
Helen (Burns) Sattler, 732 East Victoria, South Bend IN 46614
Lela (Buchanan) Wills, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mable (Jones) Wills Deceased
Lloyd Huffman Deceased
Rex Murray Deceased
George Graffis, 140 E. McKenzie Ave., Stockton CA 95204
Mary (Barnett) Cotner Deceased
Letha Easterday Deceased
Margaret Bergin Deceased
Pauline Dively Deceased
Joe Walsh Deceased
1920
Nellie (Walsh) Trionsky, Nursing home
Mary (Hizer) VanDerWeele, 422 S. Michigan, Argos IN 46501
Blanche (Feidner) Hendry, 12 Strathmoor Dr., Wabash IN 46992
Richard Elliott Deceased
Herbert Leasure Deceased
Gertrude (Burns) Sedam, 2011 S. Ironwood Dr., South Bend IN 46613
1921
Cecelia (Caton) Gillie Deceased
Everett Cunningham* Deceased
Howard Nickles 801 Huntington Ave, Warren IN 46792-9401
Frieda (Moore) Polley, 610 N. Fairview Dr., Dowagiac MI 49047
Edith (McCarter) Hartig Deceased
Ruth L. (Nichol) Keeney Deceased
Marvin Mogle Deceased
Robert Thomas* Deceased
Bert Cunningham Deceased
Vance Callahan Deceased
1922
Irene (Long) Thomas* Deceased
Paul L. Nichol [address unknown]
Ruth (Nickles) Rhea, 101 Crest Drive, Logansport IN 46947
Beatrice (Walsh) Stahl Deceased
Peg (Walsh) Evelsizer [don’t send invitation]
Verl Conn Deceased
1923
Floyd Thomas Deceased
Arthur Floyd Knepp Deceased
Flossie (Murray) Behlefeld Deceased
Florence (Hizer) Koebcke Deceased
Florence (Jones) Cunningham*, Grass Creek IN 46935
Alvah Rans Deceased
Delmar Funk, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939 [winters in Florida]
George Anderson* Deceased
1924
Ola (McCrosky) Bevington Deceased
Annabelle (Durbin) Knepp, 1339 E. Bowman St., South Bend IN 46613
Robert Rans, 1616 E. Colfax Ave., South Bend IN 46617
Howard Lease, 13051 Chirping Sparrow Way, Tustin CA 92680
Everett Claybaugh Deceased
Ralph Nichol Deceased
Odin Feidner, RR2 Box 304, Rochester IN 46975 [moved]
Jim Walsh Deceased
Voyle Mason Deceased
1925
Cloyd Murray Deceased
Geraldine (Keeny) Anderson* Deceased
Herrold Sedam, Star Route 2 Box 1186, Yucca Valley CA 92284
George Dively, 1721 5th Ave., South, Great Falls, Montana 59405
Harry Jones, 630 Cherry St., Ft. Wayne IN 46808
Carl Myers Deceased
Elmer Douglass, 202 Fulton Ave., Rochester IN 46975 Deceased
1926
Harold Leedy Deceased
Everett Long Deceased
Ruth (Nichol) Fraser Deceased
Alice (Thomas) Delaney, 4408 Stellhorn Rd., Ft. Wayne IN 46805
Pearl (Waddups) Eichensehr Deceased
Mary (Waddups) Murray Deceased
Mildred Lehman Deceased
Everett Huffman, 3631 Norland Lane, New Haven IN 46774
Theresa Walsh Deceased
Lloyd VanMeter, 443 Fair Oaks, San Francisco CA 94110
Harold Fouts, 2629 S. Mt. Olive St., Siloam Springs Ark., 727
Violet (Daily) Foutch, M-20 Palmetto Tr. Park, Palmetto FL 33561
Pearl (Keeny) Jester, Box 473, Kewanna IN 46939
Gertrude (Nickels) Barkman Deceased
Ruby (Koenig) Satterfield, 3515 Dydley Ave., Baltimore MD 21213
Dale Haselby Deceased
Olive (Jones) Nolan Deceased 11-15-1985
Herrold Lease, RR 1, Rochester IN 46975
1927
Clyde Leedy, 1226 Chicago St., Logansport IN 46947
Fred Hizer Deceased
Joe Burns Deceased
Helen (Walsh) Fleming [don’t send invitation]
Carl Herrold, RR 2 Box 84, Kewanna IN 46939
Florence (Nickles) Kistler, 801 Huntington Ave., United Meth Memorial Home, Warren IN
46792-9401
Cloyne Haselby, 35154 North Bay Circle, Mount Clemens MI 4804
Forrest Daily, RR 2 Box 202, Royal Center IN 46978
Joe Costello Deceased
Gertrude Walsh Deceased
1928
Errol Borders Deceased
Margaret (Walsh) Baltis, 486 Beaver St., Ft. Wayne IN 46807
Peg (Wyatt) Williams Deceased
Juanita (Cunningham) Pherson, 406 Big Richard Dr., Tallahassee FL 32300
Wallace Williams Deceased
Lee Sommers Deceased
Floyd Van Meter, RR 2 Box 35, Kewanna IN 46939
Chester Daily, RR 1 Box 242, Carmi IL 62821
Francis McLochlin Deceased
Bessie (Barnett) Hassett, 108 Coldbrook Dr., Lafayette IN 47905
Marie (Long) Gwin, 704 Ohio St., Walkerton IN 46574
Patsy (Walsh) Kline, 239 Rue Bossuet, So. Bend IN 46615 Deceased
Eva Huffman Deceased
Homer Lease, 5370 S W Cherry Ave., Royal Woodlands, Beaverton OR 97005
Donald Hill Deceased
1929
Loren Dean Kumler Deceased
Nelson Sadler, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939 Deceased 1985
Donald Click, Denver IN 46926
Margaret (Cosetllo) Boldry, RR 2 Box 125, Kewanna IN 46939
Donald Burns Deceased
Fay (Koenig) Pinder, R.1 Kewanna IN 46939
Elmer Foutz*, 28 Cleveland St., Logansport IN 46947 Deceased
Mildred (Huffman) Foutz* Deceased
A. J. Funk (didn’t graduate, but wants invitation, but it was returned no fwd ads 1983)
1930
Warren Hill, Sarasota Mobile Home Pk, 6th St. Lot 36 Box 8256, Sarasota FL 33578
Dr. Joe Caton Deceased
Marjorie (Huffman) Myers, 516 Byland Drive, Beech Grove IN 46107
Ronald Smith Deceased
Blake Plummer Deceased
Lester Working Deceased
Dale Poenix Deceased
1931
Marjorie (Hill) Working Fish, 3276 First Ave, Mims FL 32754
Esther (Dickinson) Schulz [address unknown]
Lura (Costello) Taylor Deceased
Margaret (Burns) Kirk, 115 E 5th St., Peru IN 46970
Calvin Smith, 1556 Cambridge Blvd., Columbus OH 43200
Zedda (Applegate) Brumbaugh, 19553 Darden Rd., South Bend, IN 46637
Merle (Huffman) Franklin* (Glenn), 5901 W 25th St., Apr 1, Indianapolis IN 46224, or
329 Sago Palm, Largo FL 33544
Marjorie (Hizer) Smith, Mar-Jo-Wood Motel, RR 1, Logansport IN 46947
Lois Ewe, 218 W 8th St., Rochester IN 46975 (didn’t graduate, but wants invitation)
[Harold Young, Principal, Box 276 Milford IN 46542]
1932
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Wills*, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Reva (Nickels) Wills* (Paul), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Bruce Todd, 125 6th Ave NW, DeMotte IN 46310
Woodrow Smith Deceased
Lawrence Walsh Deceased
Carl Dean Shafer, RR 6 Box 133, Rochester IN 46975
Joe Kumler, 6620 Plesenton Dr., W. Worthington OH 43085
Erma (Tabler) Williamson, RR 1 Box 82, Twelve Mile IN 46988
Maude (Markley) Hiland Deceased
Jane (Manders) Glad Deceased
Violet (Dively) Simpson, N. Havenhill Rd., Salisbury, Apt 22 Century Village, W. Palm
Beach FL 33409
1933
Olive (Emerson) Thomas, RR 2 Box 112A, Kewanna IN 46939
Devon Hizer, 143 Park Lane, Lakewood, Winter Haven FL 33880
Ira Kruger, RR 2, Logansport IN 46947 [returned 1984]
Martha (Campbell) Baldwin [address unknown]
Florence Wiser Zittlaw, 13600 Haynes Ave., Mishawaka IN 46545
Margaret (Sinnott) Hughes, RR 7 Box 316, Warsaw IN 46580
Dorothea (Hendee) King, RR 2 Box 203, Royal Center IN 46978
Lillian (Tabler) Crist, RR 1, Twelve Mile IN 46988
Earl Click, Denver IN 46926
Wilma (Coleman) Miller, RR 1 Box 45M, L.A. Serea TX 78559 [returned]
John Maroney Deceased
1934
James White, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Roy Kruger Deceased
Roland Hizer, RR 2 Box 113, Kewanna IN 46939
Ray Emerson Deceased
Murray Maudlin Deceased
Merrill Maudlin Deceased
Olive (Wilson) Caslow, 14343 N.E. Siskiyou Court, kPortland OR 97230
Elsie Krchnavi Deceased
Clara (Cook) Lunsford, 820 W. Bdway, Logansport IN 46947
Irene (Daily) Cobb, 3545 E. Cherry Lynn Rd., Phoenix AZ 85018
Vieve (Markley) Kelsey, 2015 East Southern, Apt O, Tempe AZ 85281
Jess Willard Denton, RR6 Box 242 Frankfort IN 46041 (didn’t grad, but wants invite]
Mrs. Harry Pearson (Reatha Lytle), RR 1 Box 227, Rochester IN 460975 (didn’t grad but
wants invite]
1935
Don Herrold* Deceased
Floyd Friedrich, RR 1 Box 100, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Eddie Hauser*, Box 306 Akron IN 46910
Odetta (Martin) Burget, 54686 County Rd 19 #105, Bristol IN 46507-9475
Marjorie (Spotts) Jones* (Robert), RR2 Box 64, Kewanna IN 46939
Mildred (Hill) Dieterle), 7285 Textile Rd., Saline MI 48176
Jennie (Mills) Koenig, RR 2 Box 43, Akron IN 46910
Robbie (Jones) Burns* Van Meter, Kewanna IN 46939
Mary (Applegate) Hiatt, RR3 Box 334, Rochester 46975 Deceased 1986
Reita Smith, 207A South Sixth, Alhambra CA 9180
Mary (St. Clair) Erwin Deceased
Joe Huffman Deceased
Jeanette Winn, RR2 Box 271, Lucerne IN 46950 [didn’t graduate]
1936
Doveda (Rouch) Showley, RR 2 Box 226, Kewanna IN 46975 Deceased
Wanda (Boldry) Hauser, RR 6 Box 357, Rochester IN 46975
Donald Hizer, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
David Hill, RR 2 Box 152, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Maurice Smith*, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Essie (Gault) Siders, RR 2 Box 143, Kewanna IN 46939
Alberta (Maroney) Evers Deceased
Dorothy (Thomas) Sadler*, RR 1, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Jones*, RR 2 Box 64, Kewanna IN 46939
Don Wilson, Box 66, Fulton IN 46931 Deceased
Hazel (Myers) Herrold* Deceased
Mr. & Mrs. Glenn Franklin*, 5901 W. 25th St. Apt 1, Indianapolis IN 46224
Lloyd Campbell Deceased
1937
Forrest Miller, 3440 S. Foltz, Indianapolis IN 46241 Deceased 1985
Harold Heater, 1420 Webb Street North, Las Vegas NV 89030
Sidney Sadler, Jr.*, RR 1 Box 375, Rochester IN 46975 Deceased 1987
Bill Callahan, 409 E. St Louis Ave Apt 103, Las Vegas NV 18109
Robert McLochlin, RR 1 Box 70, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Glen St. Clair*, 104 North Street, Galveston IN 46932
John Krchnavi Deceased
Neva (Funk) Mikesell, RR 4 Box 105, Rochester IN 46975
Hazel (Myers) Henry, 490 S E Verda Ave., Port Lucie FL 33452
Don Huffman* Deceased
Kenneth Dingman [address unknown]
Clayton Scott Deceased
Mary (Frazier) Girton, 1240 Keith, Lot 37, Plainwell MI 49080
Mary Alice (Hendee) Goodner, Box 205, Fulton IN 46931
Dorothy (Cunningham) Fultz, RR 2 Box 43, Kewanna IN 46939
Margaret (Herd) Dorton, 1410 N Jefferson T., Hartford City IN 47348
Dorothy (Hauser) Henderson, RR 2 Box 134, Kewanna IN 46939
Evelyn (Carlin) Peterson, [address unknown]
Dr. Leslie O. Carlin, 922 Southmoor Rd., Mount Pleasant MI 48858
1938
Earl Hizer, 1118 21st St., Logansport IN 46947
William White, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Devon St. Clair*, RR 2 Box 135, Kewanna IN 46939
Mary Lois (Franklin) St. Clair (Glen), 104 North St., Galveston IN 46932
Ruth (Hoesel) McCracken Deceased
Irene (Hizer) Smith* (Maurice), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Olive (Denton) Tate Deceased
Betty (Spotts) Huffman (Dan), 316 N. Washington, Delphi IN 46923
Mary (Walsh) Kemer, 54616 N. 27th St., South Bend IN 46635
Jane (Heater) Carey, 1131 N. Armstrong St., Kokomo IN 46901
Carl Kline, 434 Washington Ave, Peru IN 46970. (didn’t graduate likes to come)
1939
Marie (Boldry) Leavell, RR 6 Box 343, Rochester IN 46975
Marjorie (Burke) Johnson, RR 1, Peru IN 46970
Ethel (Campbell) Enyart, Star City IN 46985
Leroy Crippen*, RR 2 Box 115, Kewanna IN 46939
Dr. William Diveley, 1713 Valleybrook, Oakwood Hills, Wilmington Del. 19808
John Friedrich Deceased
Mr. & Mrs. Earl Gault*, RR 1, Macy IN
Ellen (Heater) St. Clair* (Devon), RR 2 Box 135, Kewanna IN 46939
Mary (Herd) Burdette, c/o John Herd RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939 (don’t send)
Frances (Hill) Nelson, 32540 Crescent Ave., Lake Elsinor CA 92330
Albert Huffman Deceased
Helen Huffman, Grass Creek IN 46935
Pauline (Huffman) Scales* (Don), Grass Creek IN 46935
Freida (Kistler) Colby, RR2, Gravat Road, Danville IL 61832
Lois (Miller) Hauser* (Edward), Box 306, Akron IN 46910
Robert Montgomery Deceased
Zella (Ness) Prouty, 7 Norothern Ave., Logansport IN 46947
Annabelle (Rouch) Clary, 114-1/2 E. 8th St., Rochester IN 46975
Kezie (Sadler) Gibson Deceased
Levon St. Clair, 422 West Main St., Peru IN 46970
Mary (Ware) Dawson, 8703 Sudbury Pl, Alexandria VA 22309
Jean Williams Dawson [moved]
Hugh Devon Wilson, Box 73, Kewanna IN 46939
Lowell McLochlin Deceased
Robert Whybrew Deceased
1940
Leon Crippen, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Lucille (Denton) Cumberland, 203 S Market, North Manchester IN 46962
Ellium Gault, 1353 Chestnut St., Manchester NH 03104
Dale Myers* Deceased
Charlotte (Hill) Myers* (Dale), Box 132-DD RR 1, Camden IN 46917
Florence (Hizer) Whittenberger Deceased
Lawrence Hizer, Mar-Jo-Wood Motel, RR 1, Logansport IN 46947
Wiliam Larkin, RR 2, Winamac IN 46996
Madeline (McLochlin) Myers, RR 7 Box 228, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Harris Lease*, RR 2 Box 168, Kewanna IN 46939
Dorothy (Hershey) Lease* (Harris), RR 2 Box 168, Kewanna IN 46939
Darrell Montgomery, 51 Parkwood Dr., Hamilton OH 45011
Eugene Montgomery, 51590 Pond St, South Bend IN 46637
Forrest H. Montgomery, 4303 Pottawatomie Rd., Logansport IN 46947
Mary (Sadler) Sparks, RR 4, Peru IN 46970
Floyd Scales 618 West Miami Ave., Logansport IN 46947
George Spotts, 19735 Apple Lane, Goshen IN 46526
Walter Hauser Deceased
Marjorie (Hoesel) Bock Deceased.
Joe Dague, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939 (didn’t graduate, but wants invite)
Lewis Markley, RR 4 Box 66A, Logansport IN 46947 (didn’t graduate, but wants invite)
1941
Lillian (Leazenby) Webster, 301 SW 12th St., Ft. Lauderdale FL 3331
Susan (Webb) Stough, RR 1, Plymouth IN 46563
Delbert Kistler, RR 1, Kokomo IN 46901
Phillip Popejoy [address unknown]
Albert Walsh, RR 2 Box 11, Kewanna INa 46939
Lillian (Reason) Graham Deceased
Ruth (Landis) Taylor, 2450 S. Earl Ave Apt 27, Lafayette IN 4790
Gale Boldry, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
James Heater, 925 Homewood Ave, Mishawaka IN 46544 Deceased
John Hoesel, 3645 W Oregon Ave., Phoenix AZ 85019
Dorothy (Hendry) Trumbower, 8763 N. Meridian Rd., Uniondale IN 46791
Eileen (Myers) Rusnik, c/o Edgar Diveley, 5000 SE Federal Hwy Lot 201, Stuart FL 33494
[moved]
1942
Dorothy (Hill) Huffman* (Carl), RR2 Box 165, Kewanna IN 46939
Dorothy (McLochlin) Warfield, RR 1,Kewanna IN 46939
Arlene (Easterday) McVay* (Owen), RR 1 Box 26, Rochester IN 46975
Wilma (Rouch) Berwanger, RR 1 Box 361A, Kewanna IN 46939
Virginia (Smith) Ard, 640 South Stough St., Hinsdale IL 60521
Frances (Walsh) Hand, 46 Millstone Rd., Randallstown MD 21133
Thelma (Nickels) Fites, RR 2 Box 39, Kewanna IN 46939
Maxine (St. Clair) Scheppele, 3404 Winding Rd Lane, South Bend IN 46615
Bessie (Gault) Kirk, RR 1 Box 98, Kewanna IN 46939
Donald Dean See [address unknown]
Robert Poenix, RR 1, Deer River Minn. 56636
Junior (J.H.) Montgomery, RR 1 Box 169, Macy IN 46951
Mr. & Mrs. Don Scales, Grass Creek IN 46935
Earl Hartman Deceased
William Hershey, 5836 E. Leonora St., Mesa AZ 85205
Orville Thomas, Box 363, Grass Creek IN 46935
Adam Sommers, Jr., Box 91, Cortez FL 33522
Virgil Gunter, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Bill Feidner, 107 W Third St. Box 20, Michigantown IN 46057
Vivian (Applegate) Crippen* (Leroy), RR 2 Box 115, Kewanna IN 46939
1943
Mildred (Gunter) Mullins, RR 3 Box 347, Rochester IN 46975
Mary Lee (Shafer) Loveland, 2 Lantern Lane, Media PA 19063
Mr. & Mrs. Calvin Kistler*, 5320 53rd Ave E U-3, Bradenton FL 34203
Mr. & Mrs. Carl Huffman*, RR 2 Box 165, Kewanna IN 46939
Margaret (Hendrickson) Wineland, Box 983, Monticello IN 47960
Francis Hauser, RR 1, Lucerne IN 46950
Margaret Ann (Ware) Angell, 1891 Ridge Rd., Ukiah CA 95482
Mr. & Mrs. Owen McVay, RR 1 Box 26, Rochester IN 46975
Wilma (McKee) Kistler* (Calvin), 5320 53rd Ave E U-3, Bradenton FL 34203
Harold Montgomery Deceased
Darrell Diveley, 9 Cottonwood Court, Mellwood Sub-Division, Belleville IL 62220
Wayne Newport, 1001 S Mayflower Rd., South Bend IN 46619
Vivian (Gault) Otto, 820 Academy Rd., Holly MI 48442
John Neal [address unknown]
Howard Huffman, #6 Prairie Court, Marion IN 46952
1944
Betty (McManama) Montgomery* (Don), RR 4, Peru IN 46970
Mildred (Easterday) Engle, Box 264, Kewanna IN 46939
Donna (Hendry) Babb, c/o Blanche Hendry, 12 Strathmoor Dr., Wabash IN
Evelyn (Siders) Henry Vanata, 3420 Tucson Hwy #21, Nogales AZ 85621
James Neal Deceased
Richard Thomas* Deceased
Mr. & Mrs. Donald Montgomery*, RR 4, Peru IN 46970
David Thomas, 17928 Ireland Rd., South Bend IN 46614
James Berry, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Crippen*, RR 2, Rochester IN 46975
Robert DePoy, 502 Gold St., Kingman AZ 86401
Edward Leazenby, 1511 Croton Rd, Newaygo MI 49337
Raymond Gunter Deceased
1945
Jane (McLochlin) Beery, RR 4 Box 497, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. John Shanley*, 52320 N. Ironwood Rd., South Bend IN 46635
Prof. Louis Simmons, Jr., [returned – try c/o Wesley Simmons, 440 Meadow View Drive,
Vacaville CA 95688]
Joann (Walsh) Reedy, 914 Oneida St., Lewiston NY 14092
Mary (Fiedler) Losch, 18 Clark Ave, Lake in the Hills IL 60102
Nicholas Grostefon Deceased
Marjorie (Gunert) Cromer Easterday, 10257 2nd St. Brownsville OH 43721
Norma Jean (Murray) Sabatini, PO Box 197, Logansport IN 46947
Doris (St. Clair) Perry, 716 Plymouth Rd Apt #19, Winamac IN 46996-1167
Verna (Mullins) Huegel, 1207 Alpine St., South Bend IN 46614
1946
Eli Heater, Jr., 5548 W. School St., Chicago IL 60641 Deceased
Dale Douglass, 116 N. Connelly, Delphi IN 46923
Charles Luey, c/o Florence Luey, 933 Biddle St., Logansport IN 46947
Wesley Simmons, 440 Meadow View Drive, Vacaville CA 95688
Wayne Penny, 1502 Caribou Dr., Ft. Wayne IN 46804
Corabelle (Kistler) Crippen* (Charles), RR 2, Rochester IN 46975
Genevere (Strycker) Flory Deceased
Fern (Lunsford) Carson, RR 4 Box 151, Logansport IN 46947
Edna (Nickelson) Nitschke, 20 E Linden Ave., Logansport IN 46947
Donna (Thomas) Riggle, Box 187, Fulton IN 46931
Ruth (Hizer) Gault* (Earl), Apt 4804 W Steanson, Oklahoma City OK 7311
Bob Herry, 6552 Park Rd, Ravenna OH 44266 (didn’t graduate, but wants invite)
1947
Margaret Ann (Myers) Zentz, 330 SW River Dr Apt 102, Stuart FL 33497
Edith (Girnus) Reymonds, [address unknown]
George Hencrickson, RR 2 Box 30, Kewanna IN 46939
Robert Moyer, RR 2, Plymouth IN 46563
Dewayne Cutler, c/o Richard Cutler, 422 Gilbert Dr., Wood Dale IL 60191
Leslie Eugene Easterday, RR 2 Box 18, Kewanna IN 46939
1948
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Young*, 3 W Main St., Burkittsville MD 21718
Richard Cutler, 422 Gilbert Dr., Wood Dale IL 60131
Alfred Heater, RR 1, Star City IN 46985
Don Douglass, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Julia Ann (Cunningham) Moore, 2800 Lexington Place N.E Apt 35, Albuquerque NM 87112
Louise (Inman) Holden, RR 3, Waverly OH 45690
Albert Leazenby, Box 205, Mexico IN 46958
Waudene (Nickelson) Bookwalter, Twelve Mile IN 46988
Janece (Rouch) Herrold* (Bob), RR 2 Box 81, Kewanna IN 46939
Vera Warmbrod, 786 Geary Apt 204, San Francisco CA 94109 [returned]
Max Grostefon, Star City IN 46985
Eva (Wills) Hipsher, PO Box 357, Tijeras NM 87059
Edna (Johnston) Park, 122 East South “B” St., Gas City IN 46933
Frances (Wise) Webb* (Robert), 3606 Randall Dr., Indepencence MO 64055
Edith (Nickelson) Ysberg, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
1949
Darl Harvey, RR 1, Royal Center IN 46978
June (Otto) Davis, 22165 Goyer Rd, Kokomo IN 46902-4164
Lottie (Reffett) Kotterman, 3200 Susan Dr., Kokomo IN 46901
Zora (Mullins) Conner, 2110 East Jackson St., Muncie IN 47320
Donald Lunsford Deceased
Jack Grostefon, 612 Center St., East Aurora NY 14052
Ruth (Reason) Herron, 840 Helm St., Logansport IN 46947
Helen (Burk) Wood 801 Beech Rd., West Palm Beach FL 33401
Donna (Hill) Adams, Box 223, Royal Center IN 46978
Nellie (Walsh) Shanley* (John), 52320 N. Ironwood, So. Bend IN 46635
Maurine (Kuhn) Young* (Robert), 3 W Main St., Burkettsville MD 21718
Alma (Coffman) Reffett, 1710 SW 22nd Ave, Fort Lauderdale FL 33312
Jim Ware, 227 W. Larino, Houston TX 77037
George Robert Gunter, Box 42, Silt CO 81652
Joan (Wise) Berkshire, 204 East Main St., PO Box 126, Lebanon IN 46052
Don Wise, 977 S. Cicott, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Herrold*, RR 2 Box 81, Kewanna IN 46939
Alice Mae (Anderson) Turnipseed, 3227 Heather Ridge Dr. Apt 202, Indianapolis IN
46224-4026 Deceased
Mary Jane (Shotts) Madary, RR 5, Logoansport IN 46947
Marlene (Moyer) Jones, 4730 Britt Rd, Norcross GA 30093 [moved]
1950
Jack Parrish*, 14 Erin Ave., Plattsburg NY 12901
Mary Lou (Horn) Parish* (Jack), 14 Erin Ave, Plattsburg NY 12901
Marjorie (Rouch) Fee, Kewanna IN 46939
Jeanne (Hizer) Miller, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Martha (Feidner) Bryant, 816 Midway Drive, Auburn IN 46706
Bonnie (Thomas) Fry, RR 1 Box 249A, Logansport IN 46947
Jean (Miller) St. Clair* (Bill), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Bill St. Clair, RR 2 Box 235, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Bob Webb*, 3606 Randall Dr., Independence MO 64055
Jim Cunningham, 11806 Locust St., Kansas City MO 64131
Carl Sommers, RR 2 Box 106, Kewanna IN 46939
Charles Wayne Wills, 1832D. Cicero Ave, Cicero IL 60650
Gene Horn, RR 1, Kewanna IN 46939
1951
David Anderson, RR 1, Royal Center IN 46978
Frances (Coffman) McKissick, 1902 Champlain St., Ottawa IL 61350
Mr. & Mrs. Ray Gunter*, Box 42, Fulton IN 46931
Victor Hill, 1231 East Locust, Orange CA 92667
Roger Long, 345 S Ridge Rd., Muncie IN 47304 [moved]
Francis Luey, 4616 Grandview Drive, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Walter Miller*, RR 2, Box 304, Lucerne IN 46950
Joan (Moyer) Truax, RR 1 Box 117, Pittsboro IN 46167
Arthur Nickelson Deceased
Charlotte (Sommers) Schnapf, RR 2 Box 207, Royal Center IN 46978
Harold Van Meter, 4865 Fire Thorn, Jackson MI 49204
1952
Donna (Sadler) Fields, 108 Mee Court, Lodi CA 95240
Shirley (Fields) Shivley, 14 Park Lane Dr., Terre Haute IN 47803
Ralph Gunter, RR 1 Box 123, Rochester IN 46975
Joe Herd Deceased
Elaine (Horn) Becker, 2226 Royal Center Pike, Logansport IN 46947
Phyllis (Johnston) Farrer, 2119 Chieftain Row, Logansport IN 46947
Dorothy (Long) Young* (Jim), PO Box 812, Windermere FL 32786
Don Showley, RR 2 Box 79, Rochester IN 46975
Steve Martinov [address unknown]
Bert Miller, RR 5 Box 270, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Reffett*, RR 4, Lagrange IN 46761
Marvin Wills, 1604 Cherry St., Lake City PA 16423
Mr. & Mrs. J. C. Herrold*, RR 2 Box 89, Kewanna IN 46939
Mary C. Shanley, 5370 S. 400E, Gas City IN 46933 (didn’t grad,wants invite]
1953
Dorothy (Douglass) Richter, RR 1 Box 80, Rochester IN 46975
Marcel DuVal, c/o Carter DuVal, Star City IN 46985 (returned 198?]
Tom Miller, RR 1 Box 338, Culver IN 46511
George Moyer, 70355 Hilltop Road, Union MI 49130
Jerry Myers, 817 Van Buren St., Logansport IN 46947
Nada (Willy) Herrold* (Jay), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Velma (Warmbrod) Backburn, 3328 S 18th St., Lafayette IN 47901
Mr. & Mrs. Jim Young*, PO Box 812, Windermere FL 32786
David Hliday, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Dorothy (St. Clair) Clauson, RR 4, Rochester IN 46975
Lila (Van Meter) Kellems, 1289 Brentwood Rd NE, Washington DC 20018
Carol (Mannies) Williams, 400 W 17th St., Kaukauna WI 54130
Karl Dean Ness, Lot #15 Hidden Creek Estates, Huntsville TX 77340
Eugene Thomas, Box 326, Grass Creek IN 46935
Bill Shanley, RR 1 Rensselaer IN 47978
1954
Norma (Cohagan) Miller* (Walter), RR 2 Box 304, Lucerne IN 46950
Roger Fields, RR 2 Box 72, Kewanna IN 46939
Shirley Freels, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Richard Holiday, RR 3 Box 307, Peru IN 46970
Lula (James) Ousley, Kewanna IN 46939
Virginia (Lunsford) Lantz, 930 Pink St., Logansport IN 46947
Charles Parish, Redkey, IN 46373
Roger Reason, 719 Lynnwood Dr., Logansport IN 46947
Shannon Reffett, 268 Orchard Ave., LaPorte IN 46350
Sandra (Saylors) Lines
Deceased
Marilyn (Thomas) Webb, Idaville IN 47950
Murl Waddups, 1327 High St., Logansport IN 46947 [moved]
1955
William Anderson, 203 Meadow Lane, Hartford City IN 47348
Ann (Bassler) Becker, 196 Susan Lane, Steger IL 60475
Carol (Fall) Moss, 841 Wheatland Ave., Logansport IN 46947
Larry Foutz, 105 Pine Court, Logansport IN 46947
Beverly Hines, RR 1, Twelve Mile IN 46988
Mr. & Mrs. Maurice Horn, RR 1, Rochester IN 46975
Kay (Myers) Ezra, 117 E 8th St., Mishawaka IN 46544
Freda (Siders) McGrew, RR 6 Box 336, Rochester IN 46975
Karen (Watkins) Guzicke Deceased
Angela (Burns) Miles, 4762 N. C. Rd. 150 W., Kokomo IN 46901
Donna Reffet* (Paul), RR 2 Box 163, Lagrange IN 46761
1956
John Cunningham RR 2 Box 90, Kewanna IN 46939
Robert Feidner, RR 2 Box 29, Kewanna IN 46939
Sandra (Fields) Redmaster, 2629 Garden Park Dr., Ft. Wayne IN 46825
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Hoff*, RR1, Kewanna IN 46939
Beverly (Horn) Warren, 6117 Gremmar Dr., Indianapolis IN 46241
Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Jones*, RR2 Box 217-A, Winamac IN 46996
Marilyn (Mannies) Hoff* (Richard), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Larry Pownall [address unknown]
Kelsa (Reffett) Carr, 1801 Oakwood Dr., Rochester IN 46975
Jack Smith, 2719 E. Bdwy., Logansport In 46947
Don St. Clair, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Dean Wills, RR 4 Box 296, Los Lunas NM 87031
Larry Showley, 1280 “C” Denver Lane, El Cajon CA 92020 [moved]
Wanda (Siders) Sharp, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
1957
June (Fall) Young* (Bill), RR 1 Box 228, Lovettsville VA 22080
Kathy (Burns) Ditmire, 927 Michigan Ave., Logansport IN 46947
Kay (Sadler) Murhling, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Don Gault, 809 Pinoak Dr., Kokomo IN 46901 [moved]
Larry Bucks, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Richard Webb, Box 208, Mentone IN 46539
Loren Thomas, 1825 Gump Rd E., Ft. Wayne IN 46825
Louise (Bassler) Ratledge, RR 11, Panarama Estates, Maryville TN 37801
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Jones*, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Jim James*, RR 1, Kewanna IN 46939
Phillip Wills, 1195 Princeton Place, Zionsville IN 46077
Sylvia (Feidner) Hartshorne, Box 78, Fredericksburg IN 47120
Larry Cunningham, 2915 Wedgewood Dr., Columbus IN 47201
Janet (Wills) Horn* (Maurice), RR 1, Rochester IN 46975
Avice (Eckhart) Gunter* (Ray), Fulton IN 46931
Barbara (Watts) Rogers, 1201 Peacepipe Dr., Kokomo IN 46901
Eileen (Waddups) Tompson Deceased
1958
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Young*, RR 1 Box 228, Lovettsville VA 22080
James Doyle Kuhn, 3633 S. Washington Rd., Ft. Wayne IN 46804-2049
Darlene (Christopher) Smith* (Howard), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Judy (Fiedler) Reid, 1101 North Adams St., South Bend IN 46628
Carol (Coffman) Scott, RR 5 Box 169, Rochester IN 46975
Tom Shanley, R2 Kewanna IN 46939
Richard Fields, 4801 W 99th St., Minneapolis MN 55431
Joye (Watkins) Oliver, 1710 E. Victor #2, Wichita KS 67142 [moved]
Myrtle (Feidner) Moore, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Ruth (Feidner) McCullough, RR 1 Box 208, Dickson TN 37055
1959
Patricia (Friedrich) Jones* (Bill), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Shirley (Cunningham) James* (Jim), RR1, Kewanna IN 46939
David Gault, Box 61, Etna Green IN 46524
Louis Herd, RR 2 Box 17, Kewanna IN 46939
Darla (Hizer) Frearson, 4441 Meadow Stwet Dr., Dayton OH 45424 [moved]
Ann (Hizer) Good, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Ellen Holiday, RR 2 Box 161 A, Colfax WA 99111
Judy (Miller) Depoy* (Kenneth), RR1, Rochester IN 46975
Ed Showley, RR 4 Box 13 A, Logansport IN 46947
Mr. & Mrs. Howard Smith*, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Edith (St. Clair) Sell, RR 1, Logansport IN 46947
Tom Waddups, 1822-1/2 High St., Logansport IN 46947
Phillip Showley, 1305 Chicago St., Logansport IN 46947
1960
Sheila (Beehler) Warner, 100 SW 31st Rd., Miami FL 31129
Charles Birnell, 40 Mooreland, New Whiteland IN 46184
Connie (Brown) Jones* (Jerry), RR 2Box 217-A, Winamac IN 46996
Judy (Stamper) MacMillan [address unknown]
Joe E. Dague, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
John Fields, 603 SE 15th St. Apt 104, Cape Coral FL 33905
Mr. & Mrs. Rodney Hoff*, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
David Huffman, 3400 E Tulip Dr., Indianapolis IN 46227
Alan Hizer, PO Box 61, Winamac IN 46996
Larry James, RR 3, Plymouth IN 46563
Carita (rouch) Brown, RR4 Box 509, Rochester IN 46975
Phyllis (St. Clair) Hauser, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Susan (St. Clair) Wallner, 415 Krameria St., Denver CO 80200
James Scott, 8261 SW 9 Ct., N. Ft. Lauderdale FL 33068
John Scott, 723 Parkway Dr., Logansport IN 46947
Lyle Siders, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
1961
Norma (Boldry) Miller, 6501 Old State Rd., Evansville IN 47710
Vivian Freels, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Kathy (Friedrich) Smith* (Alan), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Leroy Mullins, 3655 James St., Port Orange FL 32019
Marie (Heater) Kuneff, 1917 E Colfax Ave, South Bend IN 46617
Jane (Hizer) Burkett, 1407 Main St., Rochester IN 46975
Linda (Showley) Hoff* (Rodney), RR 2 Box 12, Kewanna IN 46939
Mr. & Mrs. Allan Smith*, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Ted Van Meter, 13027 St., Rd 120, Middlebury IN 46540
Nancy (Waddups) Jones [address unknown]
Barbara (Scales) Moyer, 4033 Coventry Lane, Ft. Wayne IN 46804
1962
Phyllis (Bailey) Hudkins, RR 3 Box 388, Rochester IN 46975
Roger Bailey, RR 1 Box 185, Akron IN 46910
Sharon Baird, RR 6 Box 301, Rochester IN 46975
Paul Bauman Jr., RR 2 Box 78, Kewanna IN 46939
Chas. Beehler, 1204 S. Ohio, Kokomo IN 46901
Jim Birk, 2033 Laurelwood, Defiance OH 43512-3418
Danny Brown, WAlton IN 46994
Jerilyn (Brown) Conwell, RR 5, Rochester IN 46975
Dr. Larry Clemons, 7717 Dandy Court, Indianapolis IN 46254
Mr. & Mrs. Kenny DePoy* (Judy), RR 1 Box 183, Rochester IN 46975
Odetta (Gault) Harrison Schaffer, 1517 Knox Drive, New Haven IN 46774
Jean Ann (Goodner) Cooley, RR 5, Logansport IN 46947
Bill Hartzler, PO Box 65, Twelve Mile IN 46988
Donna (Hauser) Hisey, RR 2 Box 306, Macy IN 46951
Elaine (Huffman) Hartigan, 841 Ridgeview Dr., Medina OH 44256
Jerry Leavell, RR 6 Box 410, Rochester IN 46975
Bill Malott, RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Don McCrosky, RR 2 Box 52, Waterloo IL 62298
Larry (Melton) Sandefur, 228 Wheatland Ave., Logansport IN 46947
Alice (Newell) Leavell, 650 W 136th St., Carmel IN 46032
Judy (Overmyer) Shelton, RR 2 Box 328, Rochester IN 46975
Dave Phillips, 1724 Hickory SW, DeMotte IN 46310
Jerry Pinder, 12375 Peach Rd, Plymouth IN 46563
Jack Price, RR1, Lucerne IN 46950
Mr. & Mrs. Kenny Reed, RR 2 Box 193, Kewanna IN 46939
Manford (Bud) Rife, RR 6 Box 275, Rochester IN 46975
Karen (Sadler) Mather, 1653 N. Almond St., Mesa AZ 85203
Vicky (Saylors) Vetro, 2259 Southeast 14th St., Pompano Beach FL 33062
Paul Schmidt, RR 7 Box 205, Rochester IN 46975
Lonnie Showley, 1450 Hidden Mesa Trail, El Cajon CA 92020
Mike Shuler, 707 Georgia St., Walkerton IN 46574-1412
Jean Ann (Smith) Summers, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Jim E. Smith, RR 1 Box 510, Claypool IN 46510
Carolyn (St. Clair) Baker, 3422 Tomlinson Dr., Logansport IN 46947
Martin Van Meter, RR 2 Box 34, Kewanna IN 46939
Mark Zartman, RR 5 Box 161, Logansport IN 46947
1963
Bruce Beehler, RR 1, Kewanna IN 46939
Ed Brown, 310 W. Vine, Sharpsville IN 46068
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Burns* (Jane), RR 2, Rochester IN 46975
Donnie Button, RR 2, Kewanna INa 46939
Sharon Calvin* (Bill) Hileman, PO Box 241, Fulton IN 46931
Paul Christenson, Bailey & Christenson, Attorneys, 1004 Walnut St., PO Box 1011,
Murphysboro IL 62966
Jane (Cook) Champ, RR 1, Lucerne IN 46950
Kenny Cornell, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Connie (Costello) Jernigan, PO Box 1477, Lake Panasoffkee FL 33538
Steve Duff, RR 1 Rochester IN 46975
Bonnie (Eber) Mikesell, RR 1 Box 77, Rochester IN 46975
Terry Foreman, RR 1, Macy IN 46951
Judy (Friedrich) Hollis Mize, 230 Redbud Court, Derby KS 67037
Larry Friedrich, RR 1 Box 102, Kewanna IN 46939
John Fry, 130 14th St., Rochester IN 46975
Elaine (Hoff) Brown, RR1, Lucerne IN 46950
Larry Horn, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Noel Howard* Deceased
Carol Huffman, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Vesla (Kallhovd) Nils Peter Thoresen, Norevein 18, Oslo 3 Norway
Joe Kistler, SR 25 North, Logansport IN 46947
Jack Leavell, 113 Sylvan Grove Drive, Cary NC 27511
Carol (McCroskey) Macy, RR 1, Rochester IN 46975
Paul Orr, 216 E. Elm St., Lebanon IN 46052
Keith Patch, OOEW 379 South 31, Kokomo IN 46901
Beverly (Reames) Kimble, PO Box 413, Kewanna IN 46939
Betty (Showley) Corn, RR 2 Box 210, Kewanna IN 46939
Orren Siders, 160 Winding Creek Rd SW, Eatonton GA 31024-8655
Judy (Simmons) Reed* (Kenny), RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Jerry Spencer, 428 Bailey Ave, Beckley WV 28801
Steve St. Clair, RR 2 Box 137, Kewanna IN 46939
Larry Tabler, RR 2 Box 105, Logansport IN 46947
Maebelle (Thomas) Lontz, 24098 E King St., Broken Arrow OK 74014
Judy (Vanata)Young Rush, RR 2, Lucerne IN 46950
1964
Dana (Ault) Gurney, 4025 River Rd, Marion IN 46952
Fred Bauman, Box 217, Kewanna IN 46939
Jane (Berry) Burns*, RR 2, Rochester IN 46975
Mr. & Mrs. Tom Brummett, 4183 Tareyton Dr., Bellbrook OH 45305
Carol Sue (Burns) Cooper, Box 206 Lagro IN 46941
Cathi (Cameron) Ray, 2706 Kenny Ln., Imperial MO 63052-1433
Ron Costello, 809 Westminster Ln, Kokomo IN 46901-1823
Judy (Dague) Uhrick, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Charlie Eytcheson, 3504 Robin Dr., Terrace Meadows, Kokomo IN 46– –
Jane (Eytcheson) Locke, 118 K Soffa Rd R.1, E. Greenville PA 18041
Helen (Fry) Breidinger, RR 3 Box 376, Rochester IN 46975
Penny (Heckathorn) Yeakley, RR 2 Box 13A, Monticello IN 47960
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Hileman, Fulton IN 46931
Joe Hizer, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Art King, RR 1, Twelve Mile IN 46988
Sue (Lease) Sailers, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Shirley Leonhart King, RR 2 Box 310, Collinsville OK 74021
Ron Lowe, RR 2 Box 50, Macy IN 46951
Denny Maloney, 3628 Southeast 5th Ct., Cape Coral FL 33904
Dave Melton, 8707 S. Goldspur, Fort Wayne IN 46801
Terry Parman, 1677 Parker St., Decatur MI 49045
Bill Pugh, PO Box 23, Fulton IN 46931
Judy (Rentschler) Sensinick, 1201 S 15th St., Goshen IN 46526
Marilyn (Rogers) Hendrix Rogers, 5400 Arrowhead Blvc, Kokomo IN 46902-5404
Gerald Rouch, 253 E 1400 N, Chesterton IN 46304
Bruce Scales, RR 6, Rochester IN 46975
Mike Smith, RR 2, Kewanna IN 46939
Shirley (Sutton) Felda, 928 Goodwin Ave., Lancaster OH 43130-2169
Kenny Trinosky, 246 Saratoga Ave., Apt 38, Kokomo IN 4690 [moved]
Carol Wagoner Deceased 1983
Danny Walsh, RR 2 Box 69, Kewanna IN 46939
Betty Jo (Williams) Pugh, RR 1 Box 92A, Rochester IN 46975
Dean Williams, 4317 N. Mingo, Lot 168, Tulsa OK 74115 [returned]
Manford Willis, RR 1, Macy INa 46951
Alan Wills, 6930 NE 56thAltoona IA 50009 [moved]
Sue Ann (Zabst) Mead, 736 W Bauer Rd, Naperville IL 60540-1105
[Grass Creek Alumni Mailing List]
GREEN HILL SCHOOL[#4] [Newcastle Township]
Located W side of 800E at approximately 725N, on Haimbaugh farm.
Built before 1876. It was a one-room brick building.
[photo] Green Hill school pupils pose on a January day in 1897 with skates and overshoes. Roy Jones, “a good feller” was the teacher standing in back. Row 1: Otis Davis, Vic Darr, Edna Haimbaugh (third grade), Golda Harsh, Loren Busenburg, Mack Haimbaugh (holding slate with school name). Row 2: Nellie Warren, Tom Darr, Rex Haimbaugh, Meade Haimbaugh, Barthel Davis, Dow Haimbaugh (last three are holding skates). Jep Darr is directly back of Dow. Row 3: Bertha Warren, Eunice Jefferies, Ethel Meredith, Ada Eherenman, Oat Darr. Row 4: Zora Eherenman, Edith Meredith, Lulu Horn, Blanche Ames, Blanche Darr. (Photo: Edna Haimbaugh Carey)
[FCHS Quarterly No. 24 p. 23]
Green Hill school was three miles east of Talma, one of the ten one-room schools in Newcastle township. The other schools were Yale, Lakeview, White Oak, Sshelbark, Possom Hollow, Dover, King, Centennial and Talma.
According to the Governmant land office records of Washington, D.C., Vol. 25, page 490, and recorder’s office, Fulton County courthouse, on page 107, Green Hill school was built on land that had been granted to Thomas Meredith March 18, 1839. On Feb. 12, 1846, James Carter and wife purchased the 160 acres grant. On April 26, 1851, Isaac Meredith and wife Mary bought the 160 acre farm from James Carter. On July 25, 1853, the farm was sold to Jacob Grove. On Dec. 31, 1892, Obadiah H. Haimbaugh purchased the 160 acre farm from the Grove heirs.
The first Green Hill school was a frame building. It was built sometime before 1860 on the north side of what is now county road 700 North. The actual date of the construction is not recorded.
Among the pupils attending Green Hill school prior to 1860 were the Haimbaughs, Merediths, Jefferies, Kings, Kalenbeckers, and Bybees. Theodore Montgomery, Samantha Bryan, James Lee, Sally McMahan, and Jerry Byrer were some of the teachers of the first Green Hill School.
In 1888 the school burned down. The following year a brick school was built on the same farm just around the corner to the north, on what is now known as county road 800 East. This building served District No. 4 from 1889 to 1908. The teachers were as follows: William King 1890-91, William Walburn 1891-92, Jerry Byrer 1892-93, Arthur Deamer 1893-94, Rudy Bybee 1894-96 (two terms), Roy Jones 1896-97, Omer Montgomery 1897-99 (two terms), John Montgomery 1899-1900, Clyde Fish 1900-01, Annabelle Jones 1901-02, Elmer Sullivan 1902-03, Jerry Byrer 1903-04, Dean Kizer 1904-05, Jerry Byrer 1905-06, Loren Bryant 1906-07, and Elmer Ellis 1907-08.
In 1908 the school was abandoned and the pupils were transferred to Talma. The pupils in the last class were Ruth, Ford, Hoy, and Freda Meredith; Esco and Lena Busenburg; Treva and Phoebe Harsh; and Edna Entsminger. The trustee was David Swonger. The county superintendent was Arthur Deamer.
Green Hill was just like any other one-room school but we thought it was the prettiest school in the world with the best teachers too. It had a wood-burning stove in the middle of the room and an aisle down the center between the rows of desks. There were seats for about 40 pupils. There was a desk but no platform for the teacher. Back of the teacher’s desk was a big blackboard covering the wall on that one side of the room. There were cloak rooms on each side of the door: one for boys and one for girls to hang their wraps. For the first two years I hung my coat with the boys because I had no sisters and thought girls were sissies. Rudy Bybee, the teacher, was my cousin and let me get by with it. Omer Montgomery, my third and fourth grade teacher was a relative of mine too.
We loved our teachers, but one teacher even though very good looking turned out to be not so wonderful. He would walk down the aisle and then hit a boy hard on the side of the head. We kids all wondered why and at first thought the boy had sone something wrong. But after a while we realized this teacher had something wrong bothering him. My mother went to see his mother, and she didn’t know what was the matter: her son just put his head in his hands and would not answer. Barthel Davis was a little boy, and the teacher beat him so bad one day he literally thrashed the floor with him. If Barthel had not been limber, it would have killed him. The teacher picked on my brother Dow until Dow hit him with a ballbat. Finally we found out what was the matter. The teacher had been dating a girl in college and had to marry her and she had a child that was not right. He had kept it a secret from his parents and it was driving him crazy. After the secret came out, he went out West and never came back.
Clyde Fish was a wonderful teacher and played with us kids every recess. One day we were playing ball and my garter broke. Clyde took off his tie and threw it to me to tie up my stocking so I could continue the game. I kept that tie until it was all ravelings. He is 97 and living in Florida now.
One sunny day I asked to go to the outhouse. It was so pretty and balmy outdoors that I whistled all the way and back. When I got back to the school, the kids all laughed and I realized that the windows were open and the kids heard me whistling all the way.
There was a woods back of the schoolhouse, which stood on a little knoll. We played ball between the school and the road. The water pump was located toward the road, but in winter it did not work and we kids had to carry a bucket of water from Andrew Meredith’s house, the first neighbor to the east. The woods protected us kids coming from the west and provided a windbreak as we walked to school and home again.
After the school was abandoned, it reverted back to the farm from which it was donated, that of my father, Obadiah Haimbaugh. Father boarded up the windows and stored grain in the school but someone stole the grain so he didn’t use it anymore. It just stood on its one-fifth acre fenced off from the rest of the farm, resting by the road. I lived on the farm until selling it to Richard Dickerhoof, who tore down the school and the woods in about 1964. [FCHS Quarterly No. 24, pp. 22-24]
Friday afternoon was spent in School No. 4. The house is poorly
seated and badly arranged, and is by no means well suited to the purpose for which it was intended. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, Mr. J. L. Bryan has the school under fair discipline, and altogether this school compares favorably with the other schools of the county. . . -E. Myers, County Sup’t.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, December 23, 1876]
Some of the winter schools in this section of the “moral vineyard” have been taken for the winter. Miss Waugh has the “16” school; Miss Huffman the Windfall, and Simon Bybee the Greenhill school. Your humble servant will teach the “young idea how to shoot,” at the brick school house in District No. 7 just across the line in Marshall county. Jacob Martin who attended the Rochester high school this fall, will teach at the Goodwin school house in the same county.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, November 15, 1879]
GREEN OAK SCHOOL [#5] [Rochester Township]
Located E side of old US-31 and approximately 360S.
Another school, located NW corner old US-31 and 400S.
Built between 1883 and 1907.
[photo] This picture of Green Oak’s one-room school was taken during 1917 the last year before it was closed and the children went to Woodrow. Row 1: John Gottschalk, Dick Smith, Isabell Brubaker, Violet Keel, Ruth Westwood, Lyman Gottschalk, John Westwood, Mary and Martha Weybrew (twins). Row 2: Gertrude Gottschalk, Fred Gottschalk, French Severns, Fred Westwood, Ted Keim, Harold Fenters, Esther Keim, Mabel Gottschalk, Audra Grandstaff. Row 3: Charles Gottschalk, Deloise Severns, Irene Heinsley, Dean Mikesell – teacher, Imogene Krom, Tom Westwood, and Kenneth Keim (Photo: Charles Gottschalk)
[FCHS Quarterly, Vol. 9, February, 1973, No. 1, p. 4]
__________
Green Oak’s school history is a rather short one. The first school was built in about 1850. It was a one-story, frame building about a quarter-mile west of the corner on the County road [400S]. Two other schools were built as previous ones were outgrown or became dilapidated and then in 1917, Green Oak pupils began attending Woodrow school. The last school building in Green Oak was torn down about 1943.
Green Oak school teachers who are remembered were A. E. Babcock, Lillian DuBois, Charles Gibbons, Lloyd True, Trella Harter, Estil Ginn, Jessie and Bessie McMahan, Clara McMahan, Edith Hoover, George Tobey, Elva Murphy, Della Miller, Dean Mikesell, Ruth Grove, Margaret Eber, Ruth Whittenberger, Glen Smiley, Blanche Smith, Emma Jones, Ida Baer, Walter Scott, Clyde Porter, Marion Davis, Clark Bailey, and John Felder.
[FCHS Quarterly, Vol. 9, February, 1973, No. 1, p. 6]
Della Miller went to Rochester College and got a teacher’s license. She taught at Green Oak 1904-06 and at Union School south of Rochester 1906-08. . . . She came back home the next year and taught at Screech Owl one-room school west of Rochester for five years 1910-15.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 58, p. 28]
The Optorama, held at the school house Saturday evening, was a grand affair. The entertainer was a crippled soldier, formerly belonging to the 78th Regt Ind Vols.
[Green Oak Chips, Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, May 29, 1873]
The term of the daily school at this place expired on Saturday, the 18th inst. which was taught by Miss Davis from Rochester and who gave good satisfaction, as far as we have learned.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, October 25, 1873]
Miss Lina McMahan is teaching the Green Oak school. She says Green Oak is a lively place.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, April 23, 1874]
The youths of the Collins school are being trained by Miss Lucy Smith and those of Green Oak by Miss Christina McMahan; Miss Eva Ault, of Rochester, is teaching the Mt. Tabor School . . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Thursday, April 30, 1874]
William Corruthers is perhaps the most successful teacher of vocal music in the county. He has now a class of seventy scholars at Green Oak. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, January 29, 1875]
Miss Jessie Neal is teaching the school at this place.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, May 28, 1875]
Singing at the school house every Saturday night.
Eugene Shelton leader of the G.O. singing class, is a young man of more than ordinary ability. He is now teaching his first class at the Ebenezer church. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, July 2, 1875]
Lucy Smith is teaching a full term of school at this place, gotten up by subscription.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, September 10, 1875]
The Green Oak school is prospering finely; Lucy F. Smith, teacher.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, December 24, 1875]
Miss Lucy McCarter is the teacher of this school, and I am informed that she is now teaching her ninth term of school at Green Oak. Much credit is due Miss McCarter for the rapid advancement of the scholars under her tutorship.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, February 11, 1876]
The spring term of the Green Oak school will commence the third Monday in April; Miss Ella New, teacher.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 7, 1876]
A Mr. Packard, of Lincoln, will teach the Green Oak school the coming winter.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, November 3, 1876]
The Green Oak school commenced Monday, Ira B. Packard teacher.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, November 31, 1876]
Schools are moving up in these parts lively. Joe Smith, at Green Oak school, Ella New, at the Collins school, Mollie Soward, at Mount Tabor, and Maggie Blacketor, at Ebenezer.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, April 26, 1878]
The Greenoak Lyceum continues to draw crowds each Saturday evening.
Joe Smith is teaching an extra good school here this summer. . .
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, May 31, 1878]
Dr. Wells, of Rochester, made a telling national Greenback speech before the Green Oak Lyceum Saturday evening, June 22d, 1878.
Joe Smith’s school will close Thursday the 27th.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, June 28, 1878]
Our friend Johny N. Townsend, who has just closed his first term of school of penmanship at the Collins school house, is now organizing anothr class at the Greenoak school house.
[Rochester Union-Spy, Friday, January 31, 1879]
GREEN OAK SCHOOL
By Shirley Willard
Green Oak was a little town five miles south of Rochester on Old US-31, known as the Peru Road. Green Oak had three different school houses from 1850-1917.
The first Green Oak School was built in 1850, a one-story frame building located about one-quarter mile west of the corner on county road 400S. Clark Bailey is the only teacher recalled there.
The second schoolhouse was built about 1870. It was a wooden structure located in Keel’s woods on the east side of highway US-31 about a half mile north of Green Oak corner. It closed in 1890 and was moved to a quarter mile east of Green Oak on county road 400S. It was converted into a house up a lane and still stands, presently owned by Bill McMillen. The last occupants were Mr. and Mrs. Guy McMillen. Teachers in this schoolhouse were Emma Jones, Ida Baer, Walter Scott (known for being big and tough), and Lloyd True (who went to be a policeman in Washington, D.C.)
The third schoolhouse was a brick building located 60 feet north of the last Green Oak Store on the west side of Old US-31. It opened in 1891 and closed in 1917. It was torn down in 1943. Teachers included Lillian DuBois 1891, Clyde Porter, Marion Davis, John Felter, Charles Gibbons 1893, A. E. Babcock, Clara McMahan, Bessie McMahan, Edith Hoover, Trella Harter 1901-02, Margaret Eber 1903-04, George Tobey 1905 and 1907, Elva Murphy 1906, Della Miller 1904-05, Ruth Whittenberger, Ray Carr 1908, Lavon Mikesell 1910, Blanche Smith 1909, Jessie McMahan 1911-12, Ruth Grove 1913-14, Glen Smiley 1914-15, Estil Ginn 1915-16, Dean W. Mikesell 1916-17, Agnes McKee 1917. Agnes McKee was the last teacher at Green Oak and went into the new Woodrow to teach. She drove a horse from Rochester and kept the horse in a barn at the Green Oak store. Charles Gottschalk was the janitor at age 13, which job included starting the fire, sweeping the floor, and feeding the teacher’s horse.
There was a squabble because Green Oak was on the Liberty – Rochester township line. Families living on the south side of the road 400S were in Liberty Township and had to get transfers from the Liberty Township Trustees to attend Green Oak, the closest school.
Mail came from Wagoner’s Station on the Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago Railroad (later named Nickle Plate, then Norfolk & Western). Green Oak had a post office in the store and children would bring the mail home on their way home from school.
Box socials were held during the winter to buy library books. Roy Pletcher was the auctioneer. Someone dressed as Santa Claus and came across from the store bringing treats for all. But Santa had no red suit, just an overcoat and beard.
George McMillen told of flipping match heads on the hot stove to liven up dull school days. He also put a darning needle through a hole in the seat of a pupil in front of him, attached to a spring and a string so he could pull the string and the needle would poke the kids. The last day of school they would put boards across the desks for a big family picnic. They would sing, maybe present a play. Sometimes the picnic was held outdoors. Families came from miles around even if they had no children in school.
There was no commencement. Few went to college or high school. Some went to Rochester Normal University (Also known as Rochester College) before Rochester High School was built. The Rochester Township trustee paid tuition for township students to attend Rochester College instead of Rochester High School.
Teachers: Edith (Hoover) McMahan in 1901; Hugh McMahan; Trella Harter
GREENLAND SCHOOL [Pulaski County]
Located in Pulaski County, on the W side of 1200W at approximately 50N.
Built between 1883 and 1907.
[photo] Souvenir end-of-school booklet given to Roy Master by Lulu Moore, teacher at Greenland Schol 1909-10. Pupils. EIGHTH YEAR: Herman Beilhartz, Albert Kissinger. SEVENTH YEAR: Blanche Compton. SIXTH YEAR: Ruby Pate, Georgia Garrison: FIFTH YEAR: Arthur Engle, Genevieve Felty, Della Engle, Adda Compton, Mavour Simpson, Edith Pate, Clara Schorter, George Schorter. FOURTH YEAR: Hazel Beilhartz, Estella Engle, Doyal Simpson, Carrievelle Tyler, Artie Kissinger, Omer Pratt, Charlie Schorter. THIRD YEAR: Lelia Engle, Grace Engle, Clyde Denny, Roxie Pratt, Ray Sprague, Joseph Denny. SECOND YEAR: Eve Pate, Lucile Hoesel, Janie Hatton, James Bruce, Maude Compton, Grace Pate, Edgar Pate, Russell Pratt, Ray Tyler. PRIMER: Ruth Kissinger, Arzula Pate, Freda Pratt, Roy Master, Cleon Felty, Glen Garrison, Lida Hatton, Emma Schorter, Meda Pratt, Freddie Beilhartz, Forrest Gardner, Evert Hoesel.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, pp 82-83]
GREENLAND SCHOOL AND CHURCH
By shirley Willard
Roy Masters lives half a mile west of the Greenland School site and attended this one-room school as a boy, 1909-18. He remembers his teachers: Lulu Moore 1909-10, Mabel R. Werner 1910-11-12, Clancy Murphy 1912-13, Beatrice Miller 1913-14-15-16, Cotner Williams 1916-17, and Mary Lucile Neel 1917-18.
Greenland School was built before 1876 and was located on the road that is 75N in both Fulton County and Pulaski County. The school was on the south side of the road a mile west of the Fulton-Pulaski county line in Pulaski County. The land where the school stood is now owned by Archie and Sadie Hiatt. The foundation is gone but there are some trees still there at the former school site.
Just across the county line in Fulton County stands the former Greenland Church (still marked Greenland Church on some maps) now known as the Pleasant Hill Church. This church was started in 1852 in the schoolhouse.
Roy Master’s father attended Greenland School around 1879. William Keitzer and Katie Shine taught at Greenland before 1909.
While Roy was attending Greenland, a black family moved from Indianapolis to a farm near there. The kids did not mind the difference in color and mixed right in, all having a good time together. There were several sets of twins who attended Greenland while Roy was there: Freda and Meda Pratt, Iona and Veoda Enyart, Leona and Iona Adair.
In winter the children used to skate on the creek (Tyler Weisjahn ditch) just west of the school, where there was an iron bridge. Meda Pratt put her tongue on the bridge rail at noon and it stuck (froze) so she pulled it off. She probably was not able to talk for a while!
At times there were children from Fulton County who would walk across the county line and attend Greenland School if it was closer to walk than to the Lake Bruce School. Roy Masters recalled that the Comptons had three girls who walked across the county line to attend Greenland
Roy graduated from Greenland School in 1918 and went to Fairview High School two years 1918-20. Walter Mohr was a high school teacher there. The Fairview high school was closed in 1920 and the students could go to wherever they wanted to, so Roy rode his bicycle to Winamac. The Fairview grade school continued, and after Greenland School was closed in 1930, the lumber was used to build a bus shed at Fairview.
Another former Greenland teacher, Gerald Graffis, taught at Fairview 1930-31. L. G. Smith taught there 1931-33. Fairview School was a two story brick school located on the southwest corner of 125S and 450E in Harrison Township, Pulaski County. This land is now owned by Joseph and Ardell Panici, according to the 1976 plat book.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, pp 77-84]
GREENLAND SCHOOL
By Jessie Tyler Hoover
These are some things I remember when attending Greenland School in Harrison Township, Pulaski County. All my grade school years were spent there.
The teachers were as follows: Plaudia Enyart taught 3 terms – 1921, 21-22, and 22-23; Elizabeth Gephart 1923-24, Agnes Shields 1924-25, Walter Mohr 1925-26, Julia Phillips Fagen 1926-27, and Plaudia Enyart again 1927-28.
The school had only one room, with a huge pot-bellied stove in the center. There was a hall or anteroom in front for our coats and shelves for our lunch pails. Our water supply was a pump a few feet west of the school. Of course, there were outdoor toilets too.
Some of the games we played were Blackman, drop the handkerchief, tag and softball. As soon as the muck ditch west of the school froze over, we spent many hours skating and sledding during noon hours and recess.
When it was very cold, we were allowed to toast sandwiches in the huge stove at lunch time. It was lots of fun and sure made those cold lunches taste good. We would cut sticks along the ditch to toast the sandwiches on.
Many Friday afternoons were spent ciphering and spelling. All looked forward to these happy times.
Our teacher, Plaudia Enyart, read several books to the whole school. She read Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and Shepherd of the Hills; there are the only ones I can recall but I’m sure there was more.
The last day of school was celebrated with a basket dinner at noon. All the children’s parents came with lots of good food; a good time was had by everyone.
Here are the names of children I recall who attended some of the years from 1920-28: Myrna, Lillian, Erma, Kenneth, and Ashel – children of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Tabler. Frances, Bernie, James and Cecil – parents: Mr. and Mrs. Frank Engle. Bessie and Jordon – parents: Mr. and Mrs. John Denny. Eris Meiser – parents: Mr. and Mrs. Harry Meiser. Eldon Shine – parents: Mr. and Mrs. Preston Shine. Lucille, Donald, Opal and Mary – parents: Mr. and Mrs. John Hettinger. Twila, Darlene and Betty – parents: Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Lemmon. Garnet, Lee, Esther, Grace and Thale – parents: Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Kistler. Arthur and Fanny McClain – parents: Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Kistler. Arthur and Fanny McClain – parents: Mr. and Mrs. Ott McClain. Dorothy, Edna, and Jessie – parents: Mr. and Mrs. Russ Tyler. Lester and Doyle Campbell – parents: can’t remember who their parents were. James Hubeny – don’t recall his father’s name either. Elmer Ward – parents: Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Ward.
Carrie Bell Tyler, who was my aunt, taught at Greenland School in 1884 when she was only eighteen years old. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Sedgwich Tyler. We believe Charles Fenton who was her future husband, taught there about 1881. He later became owner, manager and editor of the Logansport Times. Upon his death, his daughter, Segie Velle Fenton, took over the Times. She was very young, only in her 20’s, I believe. Also she was a graduate of Vassar College.
My sister, Carrie Velle Tyler, married Walter Mohr, who was one of my teachers at Greenland School.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, pp 84-85]
GREENLAND SCHOOL
By Helen Ziemba (Mrs. Phillip) Brucker
(Editor’s note: Although Greenland School was a mile west of the Fulton-Pulaski county line, pupils from Fulton County attended school there too. Therefore, we include its history in our Quarterly. Helen lived in Pulaski County, but she attended Kewanna High School her sophomore year 1933-34 because Lloyd Overmyer drove the Kewanna bus right by her house.)
Greenland School was in Harrison Township in Pulaski County on the south side of 75N about a block west of the corner with 600E. This was a mile north of state road 14, just east of the sinkhole. The school was on what was later the Archie and Sadie Hiatt farm, now called Hiatt South Inc. It was a wood frame building facing north with an entry for coats and lunch buckets. It had a stove centrally located toward the back of the room. There was a blackboard all across the south wall. We had two outhouses located at the end of the schoolyard and a pump on the west side of the schoolhouse for our water supply.
I enjoyed the one-room school as it seemed like a family and we helped and cared for one another. The spelling bees, ciphering contests, and map study were fun and educational. The teachers taught all eight grades; they stressed the importance of reading, writing and arithmetic, and aimed to make us useful and productive members of society.
We went to school in all kinds of weather; other children would join us as we walked past their homes. Sometimes my father would take us and those along the way by horse-drawn sled as we lived about one and a half miles from the school.
Some of the games we played were tag, ring around the rosie, andy over the woodshed, ball, fox and geese, and more I can’t recall.
My first and second grade teacher was Walter Mohr 1925-26, third grade 1926-27 – Julia (Phillips) Fagen (presently living in Star City), fourth grade 1927-28 – Plaudia Enyart, and fifth and sixth 1928-30 – Gerald Graffis.
In August prior to school commencing in September for the fourth grade my younger sister Berniece and I cut each other’s hair short (very very short). She was fortunate as she was not old enough to go to school. I was so embarrassed I wore a felt hat. Aftr a day or so my older sister Marie brought a note to my teacher, Plaudia Enyart, from my parents. I don’t know what that note said but Miss Enyart asked the pupils not to make fun of me. That was so nice as that felt hat sure was hot in September. Now one would say, “That really made my day.” Also I recall one of the pupils, Grace Kistler, had a new baby sister aand the famly named her Helen Marie for myself and my sister Marie.
The last day of school was always exciting. In the forenoon we would be told if we were promoted or not. At noon the parents brought well-filled baskets and a big dinner was enjoyed by all, followed by a program.
Some of the children who went to school during the six years 1924-30 were members of the Bixler, Engle, Davidson, Tabler, Hettinger, McClain, Crose, Kistler, Shine, Tyler, Sloderback, Skinner, Warfield, and Ziemba families.
Greenland School closed in 1930 and the pupils went to Fairview School, a four-room school on the south side of 125S at corner of 450E.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, pp 85-86]
GREENLAND SCHOOL AS I REMEMBER
By Sister Monica Marie Ziemba
The Greenland School, which I attended in the mid-1920’s through sixth grade, was approximately two miles from our home. It was located in Northern Indiana and situated on a slight hill surrounded by farmlands. My sisters and I usually walked to school, but a man who owned a Model-T and who had a car pool would take his children and us occasionally. On a bitter cold, snowy day, my father would take some of us children along the way to school in a big bob sled drawn by horses. Oh what Fun! Those wintery days were really cold, and my mother was solicitous to see that we wore long-legged underwear, woolen stockings, high-top shoes and rubbers and that we were bundled up well before venturing out.
Our one room school was a white wooden, rectangular building with a sloping roof and a chimney. The building had only one door. On each side of the door there was a window. There was a little open porch, but no roof, attached with steps. I can still see “Old Glory” blowing in the breeze from the top of the flag pole at the corner of the school yard. There were windows on the sides of the building which gave adequate light.
On wintery days when we arrived at school, the teacher was there trying to get the fire going in the huge pot-bellied stove. The stove was located in the center of the room toward the rear. Just before we entered the classroom itself, there was a vestibule or a hall divided with a small cloak room on each side – one for the girls and one for the boys – where we put our wraps and lunch boxes. I remember seeing some dry wood kindlings and buckets of coal sitting by the wall in the center passageway. A shed where coal and wood were sorted was a short distance away just to the left corner of the school ground. Some of the older boys used to help the teacher bring in the supplies for the fire. The stove did give us lots of warmth, and sometimes was red hot and ’twas a miracle that we didn’t have a fire.
The teacher’s desk, plain oak appearance, was in the center in the front where the teacher kept the school hand bell and some necessities for conducting classes. The blackboards were behind the desk arcoss the back wall. To the right and left of the desk were either three or four rows of seats each – the right for grades one to four and the left for grades five to eight. Roughly, I would say there were 25 or 30 pupils.
At lunch time we ate inside when the weather was inclement; but on nice days, we went outside and sat on the ground or on the porch steps – some of us exchanging sandwiches like jelly bread for peanut butter.
Our play ground was large and we used to engage in different games such as hop-scotch, tag, blind man’s bluff, jump rope, softball, etc. Behind the school were the out houses – one for the boys and one for the girls. To the right of the school was the pump where we got our drinking water, often drinking from the same tin cup. I recall one time going out there on a snowy, icy path, and falling on my face. I thought I had broken a nose. The teacher had compassion for me at the time; but he never did make a big issue of it, so I had to overcome the thought of dwelling on my mishap.
During school hours, when there was time we had a singing session. The teacher would give us a note on the pitch pipe. One of my favorite songs was “Over the river to Grandmother’s house. . .” The teacher would have us perform a little skit for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other occasions. When I was in the third grade, I was a little “Brownie” in a Christmas play. Just before Christmas dismissal for the holidays, we were given a treat. Each of us would get a little box of candy. The Spelling Bee contest was another great thrill for me. I always enjoyed that even though I didn’t always turn out to be the best speller.
Our grading system in those days consisted of the following letters: S- Superior; E – Excellent; G – Good; P – Poor; and F – Failure. I was baptized Mary, but at one time, there were three Marys in the room so one teacher decided to change my name to Marie to avoid confusion. When a class on the opposite side of the room was in session, the other side might not be studying – some might be asleep, but in order to awaken us and keep us busy, one of the teachers would sing in a monotone, rather loudly, this phrase: “Old grey mare died in the wilderness” and that would arouse the whole room from any stupor. She never scolded us, but this was her way to get us busy. I don’t recall the teachers having any discipline problems.
There was an elderly gentleman, Grandpa Bruce we called him, who often took his cows to a pasture down the road. In the apple or pear season, he would wear an ovrcoat with a top (like a vest) underneath, even when the weather would be seemingly warm. His pockets would be bulging with delicious fruit. As he passed by the school ground, he would throw a piece of fruit, one by one, and watch us scamper to catch it. Sometimes there weren’t enough pears or apples to go around and we would share – five or six of us – taking a bite of the apple or pear. There was no talk of germs spreading in those days.
A short distance down the road there was a ditch. One eighth grade boy, husky in stature, had the responsibility to take a group of us youngsters to ice skate. One crisp, winter day, when we went skating, the ice suddenly cracked and this lad shouted loudly, “Get off , quick!” I remember his concern for us.
I have no idea where our one-room school got the name Greenland or how old it was. I do have some pleasant memories of my school days and of my teachers – Julie Phillips, Walter Mohr, Plaudia Enyart, and Gerald Graffis. The latter three have gone to their eternal reward. After my sixth grade, the school was condemned and we were transferred to Fairview School, a consolidated one.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, pp 86-89]
GREENLAND SCHOOL
By Julia (Mrs. William) Fagan
My first days in the greenland School opened up a whole new world for me. This was in the fall of 1926.
The school was heated with a large pot-bellied stove which stood in the middle of the room. I kept a bucket of water on the top of the stove so the children would have warm water to wash their hands. The pump was in the school yard; the children went to the pump for drinking water, as we did not have a common water bucket. I do not remember that the pump ever froze.
There was a shelf in the back of the room for the dinner buckets. (There was no school cafeteria in one-room schools.)
Also there were shelves for the few library books and a set of out-dated Wrld Books.
There were eight grades so the class time was limited to ten minutes. Now I wonder how I ever taught the children anything. More often I wonder how they ever learned. I came to the conclusion that they learned through the process of absorption, listening to the older children recite. I am sure I learned more that year than the children.
On Friday afternoon Mr. Charles Byfield Sr. came to school and taught a music class for an hour. I was to continue the class the next week. It became a part of our “Opening Exercise” which consisted of the Pledge of the Flag, and any news – a sort of “Show and Tell”. Mr. Byfield’s class was a rare treat for the children.
The school year was really a delightful experience. The children were well behaved and anxious to please the teacher. I do not remember any discipline problems. The parents were very cooperative and understanding.
We walked to school each day. Sometimes Jessie Tyler rode horseback. When she got to school she sent the horse back home. My home was in Star City. My parents felt that because of road conditions in the winter I should live near the school. I lived with the Reuben Miller family. They were fine people and made me very comfortable. I was so busy checking papers and preparing lessons I didn’t have time to be lonely.
I remember the children very well.They were: Donald, Lucille, Wilby, Opal and Mary Hettinger; Garnet, Lee, Esther, Grace and Thale Kistler; Erma, Myrna, Lillian, Kennth and Ashel Tabler; George and Marjean Crose; Arthur, Lottie, Fannie and Bessie McClain; Anetta Davidson; Eldon Shine; Ruby and Delores Bixler; James and Cecil Engle; Jessie Tyler; Marie and Helen Ziemba; Helen Sloderbeck; Clarence Warfield.
The boys played ball, the girls played tag, hide and seek, and sometimes they joined the boys and played ball. The little girls often brought their dolls to school.
Later when it was too cold to play outside, they enjoyed checkers, dominos, Old Maid, Flinch, snap and other games. The little children enjoyed the building blocks, tinker toys and coloring books.
We didn’t have a box social or any night entertainment.
I have many fond memories of that year, the eagerness of the children to please me, to get their lessons, to help me. Cleaning erasers and washing the blackboard were coveted privileges. I remember the delicious cookies, cake, popcorn balls and homemade candy that the children would share with me.
The children looked forward to the last day of school; this was really a very special time. The fathers and mothers all came with baskets laden with the most delicious choice foods one could ever imagine. The men put boards over the desks for our tables. It was a bountiful feast; everyone enjoyed the dinner and the warm fellowship. The children had prepared a program for their parents, which everyone enjoyed. Each child had a part in the program.
James and Cecil Engle were the janitors; they were dependable and efficient and took pride in doing their work. I shall never forget their kindness.When it got cold their father would take them over to the school; they would build a fire and get the building warm so that on Monday morning the children would come into a warm room.
Sometimes on Friday afternoons we had a spelling or ciphering match which was lots of fun, as well as a learning experience.
This was a memorable year of school. I believe this first year of teaching was one of my happiest years. It was a rewarding experience in many ways. I cherish the friendships that I made, I fondly remember each one who was so kind and put so much happiness into my life.
There is much to be said about the merits of a one-room school. I am sure modern educators would not agree with me on this subject.
I believe the school closed at the end of the year 1930. The children were bussed to Fairview School, Harrison Township, Pulaski County. This was an eight grade school, with three teachers.
[FCHS Quarterly No. 48, pp 89-91]
GREGSON SCHOOL [Rochester Township]
GROVE SCHOOL [ – – – – – ]
Miss Minnie Stradley teaches at the Grove school; Miss Clary Orr at Sixteen; G. W. Tipton at Windfall or No. 9; a Miss Rowley at Barkman; Miss Emma Orr at Dover; Miss Blacketor is teaching the Bloomingsburg school.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, June 7, 1879]
GYMNASIUM [Rochester, Indiana]
The boys of Rochester have organized a gymnasium. Under Ed. Chinn’s leadership, we don’t believe they will fail in anything they undertake.
[Rochester Sentinel, Friday, July 4, 1873]