Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/84

68 two wings put onto the building. Here, then, was an opportunity to see what would come of the effort to provide more nearly adequate facilities for the school children of the district. During the winter term following, for the first time, the attendance "was so large as to make it necessary to have three teachers."

We have now traced the school history of Eugene to a point where we are able to observe the drawing together of forces rendering inevitable the rapid development of the public school. The decade opening with 1870 and closing with the year 1878 is to witness the great transformation. For convenience we will subdivide this period as follows: (a) 1870-1872, a period of transition, during which the public school clearly became the most important school in the town; (b) 1872-1874, a period marked by intense educational agitation, owing to the struggle for the university; (c) 1874-1879, in which the Central schoolhouse was built, the school graded, and private schools rendered unnecessary.

We have seen that Professor Henderson abandoned his school enterprise in 1869. This did not end the rivalry of private and public schools, but it marks the beginning of the end. Only one other venture of the kind deserves to be recorded, and the importance of this turns largely upon its relations with the public school.

In the fall of 1870 John C. Arnold, a graduate of Willamette University, and Robert Veatch, a graduate of the State Agricultural College, opened a private school in the Skinner Butte Academy. They met with fair success, having an honor roll of twenty-nine names