Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 21.djvu/83



METHODIST EDUCATIONAL EFFORT IN OREGON TO 1860 73

Dr. Ralph Wilcox conducted a school at the foot of Taylor or Morrison street in Portland in 1847; Aaron Hyde in 1848- 49. Miss Julia Carter, at Second and Stark, in 1848, was the first woman teacher in Portland.

After 1850, the term school was very common. The cost was $8.00 to $10.00 a term.

According to the territorial law of 1850, districts could be organized with power to levy taxes for school purposes. Such a school was organized in Portland in 1851. This was held in a frame building which Col. Wm. M. King had built in 1849 for "church, school and general purposes." This was the first free public school in Oregon. John T. Outhouse was the teacher, assisted by Miss Abigail M. Clark. They got $100.00 and $75.00 a month, respectively.

Finally, May 17, 1858, a school house was built and ready for use. This was the first school building erected by public taxation in Portland, and in Oregon, so far as I could find. L. L. Terwilliger was principal and Mrs. Mary Hensill as- sistant.

Rev. Geo. H. Atkinson, Congregational minister in Portland, wrote Gov. Lane's message in 1849 and framed the free public school law of 1850. The latter was bitterly opposed by the bachelors and the denominationalists.

The following is a description of one of these term schools attended by Geo. H. Himes near Olympia, Washington, from June to August, 1854. 14

"The school was in a log cabin, 16x18 feet. The floor was made of puncheons, i. e., logs smoothed on one side with a broad ax. Sticks and moss were crowded into the spaces be- tween the logs and held in place by mortar made of clay. Light was provided by two panes of glass 8x10 inches set lengthwise in a space where a log was cut out. These panes were held in place by wooden pegs. The door was made of split cedar smoothed with a drawing knife and hung upon wooden hinges. These would emit a most doleful sound whenever the door

14 Geo. H. Himes Unpublished article.