Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/521

Rh 'bach' with a 'lawyer and a land agent.' "I took occasion to mention this bit of history to quite a number of the members of the legal profession as well as some land agents. All agreed that it was unexplainable. Many of them ran over the present membership of the bar and gravely concluded that no one answered to that historical conundrum. So to satisfy all parties, I wrote to Mr. Outhouse for the name of his illustrious companions. He replied that "they kept 'bachelor's hall' on the northwest corner of Stark and Front, and that his companions were Hon. Alex Campbell, partner (then) of R. P. Boise, at present of San Francisco, ex-judge of the twelfth judicial district of California, and George Sherman, of revolutionary stock and agent for Hon. Benj. Stark." This news seemed to satisfy most of the parties, but a closing remark of Mr. O.'s may throw some light on the singular conduct of these worthy gentlemen. He says the immigration of 1852 brought to Portland many excellent people, and among these were many young ladies—"then the bachelors blacked their boots and went to meeting."

After Mr. Outhouse closed his work. Miss Clarke continued, opening her school in the same house, near Taylor street, March 12, 1853.

May 21 St, the directors gave notice that Miss Clarke will hold a public examination on Friday, the 27th, to which parents and friends were invited.

Miss Clarke taught until mid-summer, 1853, ^"d then accepted a position in an academy at Oregon City, under the care of Prof. E. D. Shattuck. With the labors of Miss Clarke, the regular work of the free schools seems to have been for a time discontinued. Private schools were opening and closing every few weeks. The "academy" was then flourishing under the Rev. C. S. Kingsley. General apathy in reference to public schools prevailed. From the best information I have been able to gather, over a year elapsed after the closing of Miss Clarke's term before any movement was made toward reviving the free schools. The newspapers make no mention of the regular annual meeting in November, 1853. August 11, 1854, J. M. Keeler, the county superintendent, announces that he is ready to organize school districts.

During the fall of 1854, Thomas Frazer, Esq., began the agitation of the school question. He had printed, at his own expense, notice for a school meeting. He posted these notices, and after failing for five times in succession to secure a quorum to do business, he succeeded at the sixth, and as a result, there appeared in the Oregonian of December 7, 1854, the following:

"We, the undersigned, legal voters of the Portland school district, deeming it important that district officers should be appointed and our public schools reorganized, hereby annex our names to call for a special meeting of the legal voters in this district to convene at the school house on First street, on Monday evening, December 18, 1854, at half past 6 o'clock, then and there to elect (1) a chairman and secretary of said meeting; (2) a board of three school directors; (3) a district clerk, and to transact such other business, etc. Thomas Frazer, Josiah Failing, H. W. Corbett, W. S. Ladd, P. Raleigh, L. Limerick, D. Abrams, T. N. Lakin, A. D. Shelby, Anthony L. Davis."

At this meeting Thomas Frazer, W. S. Ladd and Shubrick Norris were elected a board of directors, and I presume A. D. Fitch was elected clerk.

During this month Multnomah county was organized, and in January, 1855. L. Limerick was appointed county school superintendent. Horace Lyman and J. M. Keeler served as county superintendents when this city was included in Washington county.

It was quite probable that L. Limerick taught the first school under the organization. Prior to this time, it appears that the city had been divided in two districts, with Morrison street as the line—north was district No. 1 and south district No. 2. The board in the south district consisted of Wm. Patton, Col.