THANK YOU PAT AND NEAL DAVIS
A quick excerpt from:
"ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF PROGRESS in EDUCATION IN JEFFERSON COUNTY"
Published in 1954 by John H. Hughs, Co. Supt. of Schools,
It covers the time period from 1854 to 1954 and is interesting reading, I will only include a few excerpts here.
In 1804 John Dixon taught the first school in Jefferson Co. Neal Davis of Munderf is John Dixon's GGGGrandson. This book belonged to Dorothy Davis and has been loaned for this project by Neal and Pat Davis.
The office of the County Superintendent of Schools in Jefferson County was established in 1854.
In 1864 there were 67 students who only spoke German when entered school.
After the Civil War, as population increased and people concentrated in communities, school buildings containing more than one room were built and the pupils were graded according to ages and progress attained. This was an important step in school organization as the plan was latter used in the construction of rural consolidated schools designed to serve all pupils of the entire school district. Not only did school organizations within school districts change but school districts organizations within the county have also changed. Legislation was passed by the General Assembly permitting school districts to either merge into a union district or to join districts to operate all schools within a given area. In 1953 all counties were again required to submit plans, follow certain suggested criteria involving the number of children and the location size of attendance areas and secondary centers. As late as 1935 145 one room schools still operated in Jefferson County.
Transporting students in hose drawn wagons contracted by the School Districts had its pros and cons, often it was just as expensive to transport students to a centralized school, than just keep a one room school open for them. State aid helped this in 1923 a total of 96 students were transported with reimbursed state funds. By 1940 that number had risen to 1,818 students, in 1954 it was 4,324 students transported per year.
(If you read carefully the minutes of West Warsaw's Board of Directors meetings (1919-1954) later in this work, you will see instances of citizens denied transportation for their children to the new schools, as well as exact accounts of what it took to build and staff, as well as finance these consolidated schools, as it actually happened. No sooner had they consolidated to 4 room schools, they were then re-consolidated to larger schools as transportation became less expensive than more schools)
Now a Brief insight of Warsaw twp. schools from:
H I S T O R Y of J E F F E R S O N C O U N T Y P E N N S Y L V A N I A
by; KATE M. S C O T T 1888
The first school-house was built in what is now East Warsaw, at Isaac Temple's
(I am not sure where this location is today but I did find a school noted on an early map in east Warsaw twp. near the Temple Cemetery)
1866 Mr. Smith term as superintendent of Jefferson county schools, and was described here: Nearly all of the former male teachers of the county enlisted and went into the army. Their places had to be supplied almost exclusively by young female teachers. This operated very much against the prosperity of the schools for a time. In the report for 1865, there are only thirty-two male teachers and one hundred and twenty-five female teachers reported for the county.
1886 The number of schools in Warsaw township, according to the report for year ending June, 1886, was I I ; average term five months. Number of male teachers 6 ; females, 5. Average salary of male teachers $35.28 ; females, $30.28. Number of male scholars 267 ; females, 209. Average attendance 311. Per cent. of attendance 85. Cost per month 77 cents. Number of mills levied for school purposes 13. Total amount of tax levied for school purposes $2,048.71.
1887 John Harry Hughes Jefferson county superintendent. In the school term had been increased to four months, and the age of log school-houses, with slab seats and wall desks, was passing away. Mr. Wagaman in his report for 1885, complained of the poor condition of the houses. He says; The majority of the school-houses are old, poorly constructed, of frame or logs, and open, uncomfortable, and entirely unsuited to the purpose; cold in winter and hot in summer, many of them only about twenty feet square (that is ten foot by ten foot square) low-pitched, with only light enough, in a cloudy day, to make darkness visible; children are pent together, reciting, studying(?) Freezing and crying. A general lack of such furniture as pokers, shovels, coal-boxes, and brooms, as well as coal-houses, and other necessary buildings is complained of. All the houses except three were reported as defective in admitting light.
1879-1888 Lewis Evans of Richardsville was school secretary for Warsaw twp. Lewis lived about 1 mile north of Richardsville at the Evans farm. Mr. Evans would have witness to the above school environments as school Secretary. As Mr. Evans, also noted for his commitment to civic duty, I can only assume he would report these conditions to the School superintendent above. Mr. Evans kept the School ledgers from the late 1800's with his family. Here now transcribed as best I could, includes names of students with the year they were first found recorded including there age at the time. Much caution should be used with this transcription since family names were often spelled several different ways for the same student from month to month, also the hand writing was sometimes very hard to read.
Lewis Evans son, Thomas Carl eventually married My aunt, Bessie Marie (Long) Evans. Tom and Marie lived at the Evans farm many years after Lewis's death. They held these early school records until Tom and Marie both passed away. The records then went to my father Everett Long. Then, after the passing of both of my parents, Everett and Julia Long, these school records are held by the Long children. (as I am one of them) Daniel Long. (These original Warsaw Twp. School records are now held by the Jefferson county historical society.)
Richardsville:
As best I have found so far concerning Richardsville school buildings: I suspect 4 buildings were used. Anyone with more or better information about these area schools, students, teachers, and times focusing on 1838 to 1964 when all area students went to Brookville. please let me know and I will post it here.
1878 Richardsville map ( Caldwell's Atlas 1878)
Perhaps the best documentation I have found about the 3 different buildings used as schools at the top of Richardsville hill starts with an excerpt from Caldwell's Atlas 1878, "1878 there were two "graded" schools in Richardsville" also from "History of Jefferson County 1888 page 224, concerning the organization of the Presbyterian church at Richardsville. it states " Richardsville Presbyterian church was organized the fall of 1851, a school house was used as a place of worship until Sept. 5, 1858."
Presbyterian
church / Band Hall / Lower grade school at Richardsville. Photo (est. 1916). Written on
the back in Marie (Long) Evans hand is "Pines below Presbyterian church,
Band Hall". Contrary
to Caldwell’s atlas 1889 showing the Presbyterian church sitting up beside the
Cemetery it clearly seen here to have sat directly across from the stop sign
where the pull off on the corner still exists. The Moore bridge road ran along
side of it and the front door looks to have faced out to Richardsville road
going down over the hill. If you look closely you will see an early road
grader sitting beside the building. Excerpt from: David Gayley
recollections: est. 1923 "The School Board got the building on the
corner across the road from the school ground. It was used by the Richardsville
Band and was known as the Band Hall. It was made into classrooms for grades five
to eight."
Supported by an excerpt from: Doretha (Boyer) Van Norman recollections " From there I went to the one room school that stood on the corner of Richardsville and Moore roads" The next place I went to was a two story building across the road from there, It stood on the ground where the Social Center now stands. It was a newly built two story building High school was on second floor, and grade school was on first floor." Grading was not common until the late 1800"s, until then all of the students were in a single class group. Richardsville seams to be one of the first schools in Jefferson county to adopt the "grading system. Another clue is Harry Long’s 1889 report card clearly showing "Upper Grade"