Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/80

64 in 1855, and since a school was held in that year, it seems probable that the district was organized by that time.

In April, 1856, the county court passed an order transferring to the directors of the school district two lots (No . 2 and fractional No. 3), in block 21 of the townsite. The conditions were that they pay to the county treasurer $10, and erect a school building on the lots within two years. The building was erected during that summer, and the deed executed September 9.

The teacher who opened the school in the new building was Mr. J. H. Rogers. He was from Connecticut, and was apparently a type of the proverbial "Yankee schoolmaster.' As indicated above, the public school under Mr. Rogers opened about the same time as Columbia College. These two institutions were the types of two distinct, and in a sense, antagonistic educational ideas; their relative pretentiousness marks roughly the relative levels attained by the two ideas at that time. What changes time and the evolutionary process would bring about in this relation was a subject upon which no one at that time thought to speculate. To us, however, it is exactly these changes in the relative positions of the private and public schools as educational agents, which constitute the vital interest of the study. The former we have already traced briefly to the year 1869. As to the public school, Rogers was the teacher for a number of terms, possibly till 1869. He was followed by J. L. Gilbert who likewise remained several years.

During this early time, and indeed till well into the seventies, the support of the school rested almost wholly