Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/470

 410 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI sioner, as the principal of the school, and Mrs. E. Wooden and H. Cluley as assistants. The first term was opened April 1, 1867, in the basement of the Presbyterian church. In the following September another room was rented on Good Hope street and four assist- ant teachers were employed ; in the next year the number was increased to eight. The superintendent at that time was William C. Provines. who held the position until 1870, when he was succeeded by D. L. Morrison. The Lorimier school building was completed in September. 1872. It was erected by D. F. Tiedeman at a cost of $15,000. This building was occupied by the public school and for a time by the normal school after the organi- zation of the latter. The superintendents, in addition to those mentioned, have been J. B. Scott, Mrs. Hope, J. Q. A. Kimmell, W. T. Carrington, James H. Van Amburg, A. V. Hamilton, T. E. Joyce, E. E. McCuUough, H. S. McCleary, C. T. Goodale, P. L. Mac- Chesney. A. W. Lawson, John Laidlaw and G. H. Reavis. At the present time there are four schools besides the colored school. There has recently been organized a high school. Private schools and the Arcadia high schools supplied the educational needs of Iron county prior to 1866. In that year an effort was begmi to establish public schools. The first school in Jefferson county was established in 1806 by Benjamin Thompson on Sandy Creek. School lands were sold in the county by the year 1821, but not in suffi- cient quantities to provide any real school funds. The townships were not organized into school districts imtil 1841, and the pub- lic schools were not really effective before the war. The early schools of Madison county were all of the subscription variety except some parochial schools, one for girls and one for boys, carried on by the Catholic church. It is said that the system of public schools was not really organized so as to be effective until 1880. The earliest school in jMississippi county was taught on Mathews Prairie. It was called Indian Grove school. The first teacher was Hartford Hayes. Other teachers con- nected with this school were John C. Thomas and James L. Moore. The public school sys- tem was organized in 1871. St. Prancois county had one of the first schools in this section. It was taught by ilrs. Sarah Murphy, in the Murphy settle- ment, about 1800. It was of course a private school conducted by this noble woman be- cause she saw the great need of some school- ing for the children of the community. The first public school in the county was orga- nized at Parmington in 1870. At this time a two-story building was erected for the school. Public schools in Jackson were established in 1867. The board of trustees was com- posed of Charles Welling, president ; Jacob Kneibert, Jacob Tobler, James W. Cannon, Charles M. E. Slack and C. H. Priedriehs. The board employed James Alderson as the principal. The following year A. W. Milster was chosen principal, with Margaret A. Goode and Rev. Frederick Kies assistants. The academy building was used for the school until 1882 when the present brick building was erected. Among the early prin- cipals and superintendents were Rev. James Reid. A. S. Coker, A. R. Byrd, James A. Brooks and T. M. Wilson. The public schools in Ste. Genevieve were not organized until 1856, though ten years previously a board of directors of common schools, consisting of Elroy S. LeCompte, Felix Valle, Francois C. Rozier, Eugene