Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 4.djvu/35

Rh taught, and also classes in advanced subjects, including Latin and German. This school occupied to a great extent the place that should have been filled by a public high school. With the establishment of the high school in 1890-91 its field of usefulness was greatly limited, and in 1895 it was merged into the high school by the employment of the principal, Miss Warren, as the head of the department of English and English Literature, and the entrance of most of the pupils of Miss Warren's school into the high school.

The earliest schools of Astoria were supported by private funds, yet the payment of any fixed sum was not made a condition for entrance. They were supported by private subscription for the benefit of all the children of the town.

In 1854 District No. 1 was established, and included a large tract of land bounded by Young's River, from the falls to its juncture with Columbia, the Columbia River and a zigzag line starting near Thirty-eighth Street, and connecting the Columbia River with the Young's River Falls. To this district, in October of the same year, was paid the sum of $20, all the school money then available. The next year, under the revised law of 1853-54, the county fund yielded more, and District No. 1 received $104.77. A part of this amount was from tax, and the rest from fines.

The first school taught after the district was organized, as near as can be ascertained (there are no records in existence), was taught in what was known as the "Old