Popular Education on the Western
Reserve. 35
THE HISTORY OF POPULAR EDUCATION ON THE
WESTERN RESERVE.
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED IN THE SERIES OF
EDUCATIONAL
CONFERENCES HELD IN ASSOCIATION HALL,
CLEVE-
LAND, SEPTEMBER 7 AND 8, 1896.
B. A. HINSDALE, PH. D., LL. D.,
PROFESSOR OF THE SCIENCE
AND THE ART OF TEACHING IN THE UNI-
VERSITY OF MICHIGAN.
It is peculiarly appropriate that the
programme of the Cen-
tennial Commemoration of the founding of
the City of Cleveland
and of the beginnings of the Western
Reserve should embrace a
generous recognition of the subject of
education. It is fitting also
that the conferences that mark this
recognition should come at or
near the close of the commemoration
season rather than at the
beginning, suggesting, as the fact does,
the relation that educa-
tion bears to all that has gone before.
Nothing is more honor-
able to the Reserve than the prominence
of education in its his-
tory. Nothing has given more character
to its people than their
educational intelligence, zeal, and
activity. In nothing can they
more confidently challenge comparison
with other communities
than in their devotion to schools and
learning. In fact, the Re-
serve was twice dedicated to education,
- once by the General
Assembly of Connecticut, and once by the
people that have made
its history. While the history of the
first dedication belongs to
Connecticut rather than to Ohio, it will
not be unfitting briefly to
recite it as a prologue to the main
discourse.
The reservation by the State of
Connecticut, in 1786, of the
block of territory to which the names
Connecticut Reserve, New
Connecticut, and Western Reserve were
soon applied, raised at
once the question, What shall be done
with it? Several answers
were returned to this question before
the right one was finally
found.
In October of the year just named, a
month after the Con-
necticut cession, the General Assembly
passed an act that author-
36
Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
ized the survey and sale of a portion of
the Reserve, with a proviso
that five hundred acres of land in every
township should be re-
served for the support of the ministry,
and the same quantity for
the support of schools, within the
township. This act was pre-
mature; only 24,000 acres were sold
under it and it was repealed.
In May, 1793, the half million acres
lying across the Western end
of the Reserve were given to the
inhabitants of eight Connecticut
towns who had suffered loss of property
in the British raids into
the State in the Revolutionary War.
These lands, known as the
Sufferers' Lands in Connecticut, and as
the Fire Lands in Ohio,
comprise Huron and Erie counties. In
October of the same year
the Assembly authorized the sale of the
remaining lands on certain
terms and conditions, and at the same
time enacted: "That the
moneys arising from the sale. .... be
established a perpetual
fund, the interest whereof is granted
and shall be appropriated to
the use and benefit of the several
ecclesiastical societies, churches,
or congregations of all denominations in
the State to be by them
applied to the support of their
respective ministers or preachers of
the Gospel and schools of education,
under such rules and regula-
tions as shall be adopted by this or
some future session of the
General Assembly." This provision
at once created a violent
agitation throughout the State, in the
course of which the ecclesi-
astical societies and ministers of the
Gospel came in for the lion's
share of the public attention. The
people of one town, in public
meeting, declared that the appropriation
was a step towards es-
tablishing a permanent sacerdotal order,
and this opinion was
more or less generally entertained. A
still earlier proposition had
been to devote the lands wholly to the
support of the Connecticut
ministry. This agitation went on for two
years, but in the mean-
time the lands were not sold.
In May, 1795, the Assembly passed a new
act, repealing the
old one and making new terms of sale. At
the same time the As-
sembly put the controversy about the
disposition to be made of
the proceeds at rest. It constituted
these proceeds a perpetual
fund, the interest of which should be
applied to the support of
schools within the State, according to
the provisions of law then
existing or from time to time enacted. A
few months later the
lands were sold to the Connecticut Land
Company, and the pay-
Popular Education on the
Western Reserve. 37
ments, as they were made, were applied
as the law directed.
Moreover, the interest was capitalized
until the fund amounted to
about two million dollars. Such was the
origin of the Connecticut
Common School Fund, which, in the
boyhood of men now liv-
ing, was celebrated in the school
geographies as one of the
glories of American civilization. This
fund still exists in its in-
tegrity, for the State watches over it
with scrupulous care; but it
has paled its ineffectual fires before
the far greater school funds
of later times.
It has been seen that at first
Connecticut proposed to make a
generous endowment for education on the
Reserve soil. For
some reason she abandoned this idea; she
appropriated the soil
to her own exclusive benefit, at the
same time that her children by
thousands were flocking to New
Connecticut, where they were
left to provide themselves with schools
and education as best
they could.
Briefly told this is the story of the
first dedication of the West-
ern Reserve to education. It was a
dedication in a very literal
sense of the term. The story of the
second dedication, which was
a far greater achievement, it will take
much longer to tell.
The History of Popular Education in Ohio
may be divided
into three periods, as follows:
1. The period extending from the
planting of the first set-
tlements in 1788 to the enacting of the
first general school law in
1821.
2. The period extending from 1821 to the
reorganization
and expansion of the school system of
the State in 1853.
3. The period extending from 1853 to the
present time.
These may be called the periods of
preparation, planting, and
development. To fill out this outline
would be quite beyond the
possibilities of the hour; but enough
may be said to render it
intelligible.
The Land Ordinance of 1785, the
contracts that Congress
made with the Ohio Company and with
Symmes and his associates
in 1787, and the Enabling Act of 1802
for the admission of the
State to the Union, with exceptions soon
to be noted, gave the
inhabitants of every Congressional
Township in Ohio Section No.
16, or one thirty-sixth part of the
whole township, for the use of
38 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
schools. Another act of legislation
vested the title of these lands
in the State Legislature. But these acts
had no application to
three extensive divisions of the State;
viz.: The Western Re-
serve, the Virginia Military District,
and the United States Mil-
itary Bounty Lands, amounting to
one-third of the whole area.
Connecticut, as we have seen, had
appropriated to her own use
the whole of her reservation, and so had
Virginia. The result
was that the people of these three
divisions were at a disadvantage
compared with the people of the other
parts of the State. Con-
gress, however, by a series of acts came
generously to their re-
lief, appropriating them lands within
the State, but beyond their
own borders, that put them on the same
footing as their neigh-
bors. Thus, in 1807, Congress gave the
Reserve eighty-seven
and one-half square miles of school
lands in the present counties.
of Tuscarawas and Holmes, and fifty-nine
square miles more in
1834 in the northwestern part of the
State, making one hundred
and forty-six and one-half square miles,
or 93,760 acres, in all.
The school lands of the whole State
amounted to eleven or twelve
hundred square miles of surface, not
including the three townships
that were granted for Universities.
There is little reason to think that the
framers of the Consti-
tution of 1802 contemplated a school
system to be supported by
the State. All they did for education
was to put into Article VIII
of the Constitution the three following
sections:
"Sec. 3. Religion, morality, and
knowledge, being essen-
tially necessary to the good government
and the happiness of
mankind, schools and the means of
instruction shall forever be
encouraged by legislative provision, not
inconsistent with the
rights of conscience."
"Sec. 25. No law shall be passed to
prevent the poor in the
several counties and townships within
this State from an equal
participation in the schools, academies,
colleges, and universities
within this State which are endowed in
whole or in part from the
revenue arising from the donations made
by the United States for
the support of schools and colleges; and
the doors of the said
schools, academies, and universities
shall be open for the recep-
tion of scholars, students, and teachers
of every grade, without
Popular Education on the Western
Reserve. 39
any distinction or preference whatever,
contrary to the intent for
which the said donations were
made."
"Sec. 27. Every association of
persons, when regularly
formed, within this State, and having
given themselves a name,
may, on application to the Legislature,
be entitled to receive let-
ters of incorporation, to enable them to
hold estates, real and per-
sonal, for the support of their schools,
academies, colleges, univer-
sities, and other purposes."
And this was all. The late Dr. Eli T.
Tappan, one of the
foremost educators that the State has
produced, who investigated
the subject with great care, said it was
doubtful whether anything
more was contemplated by the framers in
regard to schools than
the granting of corporate powers and the
protecting of rights of
person and property. The framers seem to
have believed, he
says further, that the school lands,
including the university lands,
would be adequate for the support of
schools, academies, colleges,
and universities. However this may be,
all legislation relative
to a public school system down to 1821
dealt with the school
lands only. Touching this legislation,
it will suffice to say that
the General Assembly first attempted to
lease the lands, and, that
plan failing, finally offered them for
sale, and in due time they were
all sold. This was the source of the
Irreducible School Fund of
the State, which amounts to about three
and a half million dollars.
The last of the Reserve lands were sold
in 1852. The portion of
the whole State Fund that belongs to the
Reserve is something
more than a quarter of a million
dollars. These results seem
small; but we must remember that the
problem of handling
school lands in great quantities was a
new one, that Ohio was the
first State to grapple with it, and
that, in those days, wild lands
were more abundant than buyers.
In the first of the three periods, the
General Assembly did
very little for education. It legislated
concerning the two uni-
versities at Athens and Oxford: beyond
this it did nothing except
to authorize school companies. All
education previous to 1821 was
purely voluntary, - as voluntary in
provision as it was in attend-
ance. Associated effort was of course
resorted to where schools
were established, for in the Ohio
wilderness there were few fami-
lies who could keep a private teacher.
Citizens living within per-
40 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
mitting distances would naturally act
together in the provision
and maintenance of schools for their
children. School houses
would be furnished and teachers
employed. In such a state of
affairs, charters of incorporation would
often become desirable,
if not necessary. Accordingly, acts
incorporating schools begin
to appear in the Statute book as early
as 1808, and in 1817 a gen-
eral act was passed to provide for the
incorporation of school and
library companies. Such companies were
authorized to own
property valued at ten thousand dollars,
but were forbidden, on
pain of forfeiting their charters, to
employ any portion of their
funds for banking purposes. How
generally the schools took ad-
vantage of this legislation, and how
generally they remained mere
private associations, it would not be
easy to ascertain.
In January, 1821, the General Assembly
passed an act to
provide for the regulation and support
of common schools. This
act authorized the division of townships
into school districts, the
election by the householders of the
districts of school committees,
the acceptance by these committees of
gifts of land for school
house sites, and the taxation of the
property of all residents in the
districts that were subject to State or
county taxation for the pur-
pose of erecting school houses, and also
for the purpose of making
up any deficiency that might accrue by
the schooling of children
whose parents or guardians were unable
to pay for the same. The
amount of taxes so levied in any
district should not exceed one-
half the amount levied for State or
county purposes. The school
committees were authorized to employ
competent teachers, and
to assess the expenses of the schools on
the parents or guardians
of all scholars in proportion to the
whole number of scholars at-
tending, provided that they might remit
the assessments, in whole
or part, made on parents or guardians
who were unable to pay
them. The committee might buy lots for
school purposes if none
were given or purchased by subscription.
Every school in a
township should have its proportion of
rents arising from the
school lands.
Such are the salient features of the
first Ohio general school
law. The law calls for a few words of
comment. In the first
place, its language is permissive
merely, not mandatory: it author-
izes the doing of a few things, but
commands the doing of noth-
Popular Education on the Western
Reserve. 41
ing. In the next place, it authorizes
taxation for but two pur-
poses - to provide school houses and to
pay the fees of chil-
dren whose parents are too poor to pay
them. This is a sugges-
tion of the so-called pauper schools, of
which we hear more in
some of the other States than in Ohio.
Not a word is said about
fuel, furniture, or incidental expenses.
It is assumed that the
people who use the schools will meet the
major part of the expense
directly, without any reference to the
tax collector. The property
of non-residents is not to be taxed for
school purposes. The
voluntary principle, it may be observed,
was counted on by the
General Assembly long after this time.
Taxation for school
furniture and fuel was not authorized
until 1838; the school bill
as a means of partially paying teachers
lingered until 1853, and
the good old plan of boarding around,
which was a device for
lengthening out the school money,
perhaps still lingers in some
parts of the State. How generally the
people availed themselves
of the powers of the act of 1821, we
cannot tarry to inquire. Nor
can we or need we follow step by step
the evolution of the school
system of which it was the beginning.
Still, some of the more im-
portant facts cannot be omitted.
In 1825 the General Assembly passed a
new law, which dif-
fered from the previous one in two
important particulars. First, it
was written in the language of command.
It shall be the duty of
the auditor, of the trustees, of the
school directors, etc., the sec-
tions run. The new style suggests, what
was no doubt true, that
the people, as ministers say in relation
to another subject, had not
lived up to their privileges. A mere
permission to educate con-
ferred by law never yet produced a good
school system. Selfish-
ness is always strong enough to defeat
general education on that
basis. Experience has proved
conclusively that three things are
essential to an educated state: The
provision of schools must be
made obligatory; tuition must be
practically free, and attendance
upon the schools must be compulsory. The
other change in the
new law was the much wider range of
powers conferred. The
very first section provided for raising
funds by taxation for the
use of common schools, but not to exceed
one-half a mill on the
dollar. Boards of County Examiners were
provided for, and only
certificated persons could be employed
as teachers. From this
42 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
time forward there was a State fund
available for the payment of
teachers; but until 1853 it was never
large enough, unless in
favored localities, to permit the disuse
of the rate bill.
The two laws of 1821 and 1825 were
secured largely through
the efforts of Judge Ephraim Cutler, of
Washington county. It
is soberly written in history that in
1825 there was in the Legis-
lature a "school" party and a
"canal" party; the first wanted
schools, and the second canals, but
neither one could secure a
majority for its favorite measure; so
the two parties worked to-
gether, and, as a result, won both
schools and canals. The fact
shows how times have changed; the
proposition to connect the
fortunes of the public schools and of
the canals of Ohio at the pres-
ent day would be ludicrous indeed.
From 1825 onward the State,
participating in the general edu-
cational movement of the country,
continued to make slow but
steady progress. Sometimes a step was
lost, but it was soon re-
gained. It was the day of the common
school revival. The Con-
stitution of 1851 marks a great advance
on 1802. Besides throw-
ing its shield over the State School
Fund, and casting a bulwark
about the treasury to turn aside
sectarian assaults, the new instru-
ment declares: "The General
Assembly shall make such pro-
visions, by taxation or otherwise, as,
with the income arising from
the school trust fund, will secure a
thorough and efficient system
of common schools throughout the
State." The act of 1853 en-
titled "An Act to provide for the
reorganization, supervision, and
maintenance of common schools", was
the speedy fulfillment of
this promise. This law provided an
augmented school fund, es-
tablished a central education office at
the State capital, strength-
ened local authorities, and gave to
common schools an impulse
that they have never lost.
A few words touching the third period
will answer the present
purpose. The progress that the State has
made in education is
very great indeed. A few statistics will
tell the story. In 1854
the pupils reported enrolled in the
schools were 456,191. In 1895
the number was 817,490. The average
attendance for the two
years was 277,196 and 593,465 pupils. The
school year had also
considerably increased in length. The
high school attendance
at the first date was 4,611; at the
second date 48,390. The total
Popular Education on the Western
Reserve. 43
expenditure for public schools in 1854
was $2,266,457. In 1895,
not counting interest on bonds redeemed,
it was $12,496,345. The
average pay per month of male teachers
has nearly doubled, of
female teachers considerably more than
doubled. Still it must
be said that the statistics are much
more full and accurate now
than they were then.
In no feature that strikes the eye has
the improvement been
so great as in school houses. Marvelous
is hardly too strong a
word to describe the change. In the year
1850 there were ten or
more district school houses in the
township of Wadsworth, Medina
county, all well filled with pupils when
the winter school was in
session. I was familiar with the
exterior of nearly all of these
buildings, and with the interior of
three or four of them. It would
be quite safe to say that there was not
a building among the num-
ber that to-day would sell for one
hundred dollars. The one that
I knew best was clapboarded and
shingled, but there was not a bit
of mortar about it, save what had been
put into the chimney;
while a Webster's "Elementary
Spelling Book" could have been
passed from the inside to the outside
without opening the door
or raising a window. But it would be a
mistake to suppose that
this district was behind others in
enterprise.
Three Ohio men now deceased have
exercised a far-reaching
influence upon popular education
throughout the country, and
one of these belongs to the Reserve.
These men were known in
quite different ways. William H.
McGuffey was little more than
McGuffey's Readers, and Joseph Ray
little more than Ray's Arith-
metics and Algebras. But Thomas W.
Harvey, in Ohio at least,
was much more than Harvey's Grammars.
This is not the place
to recount at length Mr. Harvey's
personal or educational history.
As teacher and superintendent at
Chardon, Republic, Massillon,
and Painesville, as State Examiner and
Commissioner of Com-
mon Schools, and as institute lecturer,
he gained, it is probable,
a wider personal knowledge of the
teachers and schools of the
State than any other man of his time. He
was a charter member
of the State Association, and for more
than forty years was closely
identified with every forward
educational movement in the State.
If not the greatest scholar or
pedagogical thinker of the circle in
which he moved, he was a good scholar
and thinker; while his
44 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
companionable ways, wisdom in council,
long experience, sense
of honor, and devotion to his chosen
calling drew men to him
wherever he went. All things considered,
it may be doubted
whether any other man has left a
stronger impress on public edu-
cation in Ohio than Thomas Harvey.
Let it not be supposed that I have
forgotten the subject.
The historical outline that has been
drawn embraces the Western
Reserve as well as the other parts of
the State. Still from the be-
ginning until 1853 the Reserve more than
participated in the great
educational advance that was made: She
often led the column.
Some examples of this leadership may be
mentioned.
Previous to 1853 special school laws
were often passed for
particular localities. This was
permissible under the old Con-
stitution. Perhaps the best of these
laws, and the one most
widely copied, was the Akron law,
enacted in 1847. This law
now seems to us a very simple matter,
but it was a great matter
in its time. It was enacted in response
to a popular demand that
was led by the Rev. Mr. Jennings, at the
time pastor of the Con-
gregational church of Akron. The law
made the town one school
district, created one school board of
six members, authorized a
suitable number of primary schools and
one central grammar
school, and conferred power to levy
taxes sufficient to meet the
expense of the system. It has been said
that the State law of 1853
was little more than an amplification of
the Akron law. Under
this law the late General M. D. Leggett
organized the schools of
Akron as superintendent, for which
service he received the munifi-
cent salary of five hundred dollars a
year. In 1847 Akron witnessed
another interesting event. This was the
organization of the Ohio
State Teachers' Association, which has
exercised such an import-
ant influence upon education in the
State. Not only was the As-
sociation organized on the soil of the
Reserve, but the meeting
was called and the organization effected
mainly through the ef-
forts of Western Reserve men. Again, the
first teachers' insti-
tute ever held in the West was held on
the Reserve. The place
was Sandusky, the year 1845. And, once
more, Cleveland joined
hands with Cincinnati to secure the
school law of 1853. This act
was carried through the Legislature by
the Hon. Harvey Rice,
then a senator from Cuyahoga county.
And, generally, it will
Popular Education on the Western
Reserve. 45
be found that the men of the Reserve
were at the fore when there
was an opportunity to do anything for
schools and education.
Books of chronicles, while dry and
uninteresting to most
people, are full of marrow and fatness
to those who have been
touched by the historical passion. The
educational chronicles of
the Reserve in the early days are
scanty, but eloquent for that
very reason. We shall look into some of
these books. And first
a little volume called "Memoirs of
Rev. Joseph Badger."
Father Badger, first of the missionaries
sent to New Connec-
ticut by the Connecticut Missionary
Society, reached Poland at
the end of December, 1800. The oldest
Reserve settlements were
but three years old, and the total
population was 1302. Badger
spent several years in missionary work
in the Northeastern part
of the State, commonly making his home
in Austinburg. He re-
lates that he found three families at
Cleveland in June, 1801, and
that he assisted in organizing the first
church on the Reserve, at
Austinburg, in October of the same year.
Badger was a college
man, and, as he revolved in his mind the
question of removing
his family to the Western wilderness, he
reflected: "Our family
of six children must now be taken from
school to grow up in the
woods without any advantage of even a
common school for years."
Occasionally he speaks of visiting a
school. Early in 1803 we
meet this entry: "Visited a school
of sixteen children, the first at-
tempted in this place." The place
was, apparently, Austinburg.
A year later he speaks of preaching in
the North School House,
Harpersfield, language which seems to
imply a South School
House also. As late as April 8, 1810, he
wrote: "By preaching
in different settlements, and visiting
all schools now beginning to
be set up, I learned the great want of
school books, and by family
visits I also learned the want of
suitable books in families." Ac-
cordingly Badger, forming an Eastern
connection for that pur-
pose, undertook to supply both wants, in
which he confesses he
was not very successful.
Rev. Thomas Robbins, D. D., was the
second missionary sent
to the Reserve by the Connecticut
Society. He arrived in De-
cember, 1803, and returned in May, 1806.
His particular field
of labor was Trumbull and Mahoning
counties, but, like Badger,
he traveled over the whole eastern half
of the Reserve. While
46 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Robbins' diary, consisting of more than
two thousand octavo
pages, covering fifty-six years of life,
is as dull a book of its kind
as could well be written, the two
hundred pages covering his
experience in New Connecticut contains
many an interesting item.
In the course of his journeyings he
speaks of schools twenty or
more times. Generally his mention is the
mere fact, "Visited a
school"; but sometimes he adds a
word of comment, as that the
school was small, or poorly governed but
ambitious, or was well
instructed, particularly in the
catechism. He saw the frame of
the first Burton academy in December,
1804, and was urged to
become its first head, and the minister
of the church.
Persons who are familiar with New
England history will not
be surprised to learn that a movement
was on foot in those early
days to found a college in New
Connecticut. Both Badger and
Robbins mention it several times. Boards
of trustees were elected,
sites were canvassed, and an act of
incorporation was secured
while Ohio was still a part of the
Northwest Territory. Robbins
mentions that one prospectus was sent to
Connecticut to be
printed. These efforts at college
building were tentative only;
still they point forward to Western
Reserve College, founded at
Hudson in 1826.
It is to be hoped that none grow weary
of these old chronicles,
or think them trivial. They are not dead
but living; as was said
of the words used by a great master of
speech, cut them and they
will bleed. We are standing at the
sources of a great history, and
we need not be in haste to descend the
stream. We are not deal-
ing with the smart new brick school
house that stands on the
main street in the village; or with the
little red school house that
stands in the country at the crossing of
the roads; but with the old
log school house that stood in the edge
of the clearing which,
with strong hands, was chopped out of
the forest. Things have
changed mightily since Hooker and
Davenport made their plant-
ings at Hartford and New Haven early in
the seventeenth century;
but in the thirst for education and zeal
for schools the Connecticut
stock have not changed. These chronicles
tell us that, almost be-
fore the surveyors were out of the
woods, the little communities
sprinkled here and there through the
wilderness were doing what
they could to meet present educational
needs and to plant for the
Popular Education on the Western Reserve. 47
future. It was, indeed, a day of small
things; but in these small
things lay the potency of the century
that has now come to a close.
The chronicles of education often touch
the heart and cause
the lip to quiver. There is often pathos
in the efforts that young
men and women make to obtain mental
culture, whether they
are made in pioneer schools or in great
universities. Take the
story of Platt R. Spencer, the teacher
and author, who traveled
twenty miles and back again on foot to
borrow a copy of Daboll's
Arithmetic; or of Joshua R. Giddings,
the statesman, who, denied
the privileges of education after he was
a small boy, never thought
that he could have a profession until he
was twenty-three years
old, when he went regularly to school to
a Presbyterian minister
residing in the same town; or of Samuel
Bissell, the minister and
educator, who walked from Portage county
to New Haven carry-
ing his pack on his back, that he might
study at Yale College.*
In the pioneer days we come upon no
trace of a character
who is familiar in many of the Southern
States and in parts
of Ohio. I refer to the Scotch-Irish
schoolmaster. The New
Connecticut Yankees had no use for him.
The teachers of those
days were not itinerants, but resident
members of the several com-
munities. They worked for small pay, and
often received this in
forms that would embarrass the modern
schoolmaster or school-
ma'am. Thus, the late Peter Hitchcock,
of Burton, taught a win-
ter's school in Burton and received his
pay in pork and provisions.
The Presbyterian and Congregational
ministers did good educa-
tional service in those days, sometimes
teaching the schools and
sometimes private scholars in their own
homes.
It would be inexcusable to omit from
this summary the acad-
emies of the early time. The first of
these schools, and one of
the best, was the Burton Academy, opened
to scholars in the
winter of 1806-7. The building was
25x50; two school rooms
and a hallway below, and a room for a
church above. This struct-
ure burned in 1810, and was replaced
with a more commodious
one in 1819. It is said that the first
term boys attended who lived
* Dr. Julian M.
Sturtevant's Autobiography edited by J. M. Sturte-
vant, Jr., gives an interesting account
of the manner in which some Ohio
boys (1822-1826) obtained a college
education. Fleming Revell Co., N. Y.,
Chicago, Toronto.
48
Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
at a distance of five and six miles,
which they doubled on foot
twice every day. This academy flourished
and narrowly escaped
expanding into a college. "Students
came in from every direc-
tion," says the local chronicler;
"The Tods and Wickses from
Youngstown, the Austins and Hawleys from
Austinburg, the Per-
kinses and others from Warren."
Another celebrated school of
the same kind was founded at Norwalk in
1826. One authority
pronounces this the largest and most
famous institution of the
kind in all the West. Here President
Hayes, Governor Foster,
General McPherson, and many others who
attained a good de-
gree, studied. Edward Thomson,
afterwards president of Ohio
Wesleyan University, and a bishop of the
Methodist Episcopal
Church, was at one time the principal.
This school also nar-
rowly escaped becoming a college; but as
Burton had its Hud-
son, so Norwalk had its Delaware.
It must not be supposed that these
schools of higher grade
were few in number. The fact is they
were many. At some time
previous to 1850 nearly every
enterprising township had its
academy, or at least its select school,
and, collectively, these
schools exercised a prodigious influence
upon society. The best
of them were regularly incorporated
institutions, owning their
own property. They drew within their
walls the ambitious sons
and daughters of the most cultivated
families, and often attracted
students from a considerable distance.
The Wadsworth Acad-
emy, taught by John McGregor, who had
studied at the University
of Edinburg, called students from
Cleveland, Canton, and Mil-
lersburg. The teachers were often
scholarly men. While these
schools did much elementary teaching, as
we should esteem it,
they also did much real secondary work.
The Brahman families
of Northeastern Ohio towns sent their
sons to Burton Academy
to be fitted for Yale College.
These higher schools explain how it was
that the Western
Reserve became a nursery for school
teachers. The supply was
in excess of the local demand, and many
young men wandered
away to the southern part of the State
or to other States in search
of employment as teachers. Young James
Garfield went to Mus-
kingum county on such an errand. The
veteran Judge Lester
Taylor, of Claridon, speaking of Geauga
county, once said: "Ev-
Popular Education on the Western
Reserve. 49
ery township has more or less kept up
schools for the benefit of
advanced scholars, to study higher
branches, during winter
months. From all classes of these
schools there has been gradu-
ated a class of qualified teachers,
largely in excess of the home de-
mand, who have for the last forty years
gone south and west to
teach in the winter, leaving in the fall
as uniformly as the wild geese
and other migratory birds, and returning
to spend the summer
in labor."
As the public schools increased in
number and improved in
quality, the academies began to lose
ground. Wholly dependent,
as a rule, on tuition charges for
existence, they could not compete
with free schools of equal grade. The
law of 1853 gave them the
finishing stroke. Some of the buildings
were sold to boards of
education, and many of the teachers
entered the public schools;
some of the old schools struggled
bravely for existence, but in
time nearly all, if not indeed all, of
them passed into history.
There are two reasons for mentioning
another celebrated
school, which will appear in the sequel.
The Western Reserve
Teachers' Seminary opened its doors to
the public in September,
1839, being established in the upper
stories of the Temple at Kirt-
land, Lake county, which the Mormons had
abandoned a short
time before when they left the
"First Stake" for the far West.
This seminary existed about twenty
years, and for much of the
time was a very flourishing school. It
drew to itself, as teachers
and students, a number of persons who
made a name in the
world. Its foundation was mainly due to
the efforts of the
Rev. Nelson Slater, who served as first
superintendent or prin-
cipal. Dr. A. D. Lord was the head of
this school for several
years before he went to Columbus, and
with him were associated
M. F. Cowdery, Alfred Holbrook, and
other well-known teachers.
T. W. Harvey came from the printing
office at Painesville, and M.
D. Leggett from the farm in Montville,
to study at Kirtland.
Leggett was also employed for a time as
one of the teachers. The
other fact for which the seminary is
noteworthy is the great atten-
tion that it paid to the preparation of
teachers of both sexes for
the common schools. In this respect it
far surpassed any school
on the Reserve that had gone before it,
and, relatively speaking,
it has perhaps not been equalled by any
school that has suc-
Vol. VI-4
50 Ohio
Arch. and His. Society Publications.
ceeded it. It was founded only two years
after the first Normal
School in the United States was
established, that at Lexington,
Massachusetts.
In dealing with the Reserve I have been
dealing with Cleve-
land. The majority of men are so little
gifted with imagination,
or are so poorly instructed in history,
that they continually assume
that all things continue as they were
from the beginning. It is a
very great mistake. In respect to
education Cleveland is in no
way marked off from other towns and
villages until in quite recent
times. The city merely repeats the
history of Youngstown, Ak-
ron, and other places, only it has come
to do things on a much
larger scale. We can, therefore, run
over the Cleveland story
somewhat hastily.
Tradition tells of a school of five
pupils in Cleveland when
there were but three families on the
ground. Who taught this
school, as well as its exact date,
cannot be told. We hear noth-
ing more on the subject until 1814, when
a school taught by a
Mr. Chapman is mentioned: Vox et
preterea nihil. In 1817, when
the population had grown to two hundred
and fifty, a school house
was built on the lot now occupied by the
Kennard House; just
how it was built, it is hard to say.
This was undoubtedly the first
school house built on the site of
Cleveland, unless there may have
been an earlier one at Newburg or some
other of the numerous
centres that have been swallowed up by
the growth of the city.
In this school house children were
taught on the payment of tui-
tion fees. The Cleveland Academy,
afterwards called the Old
Academy, was built by subscription on
St. Clair street in 1821.
There is no trace of a public school
system until the granting of
the city charter. The trustees do not
appear to have exercised
the powers conferred by the acts of 1821
and 1825. The only
schools were private schools.
The late S. H. Mather, in a published
document, states that
in 1833 or 1834 an attempt was made to
organize a mission sun-
day school in the Bethel church; that
the children were found so
ignorant that proper sunday school
teaching was out of the ques-
tion; and that, to make good this
deficiency, a day school was
established to teach the children to
read, the teacher being paid by
voluntary subscription. This school,
says Mr. Mather, was con-
Popular Education on the Western
Reserve. 51
tinued on this basis until the city, in
1835, assumed the charge of
it and made it a city free school. So
far as existing records show,
the first public expenditure ever made
for education in Cleveland
was the cost of maintaining this school
one year, $131.12. Not a
large educational budget surely for a
city that has come to ex-
pend something like a million dollars
annually on its schools!
In 1836 Cleveland became a chartered
city. The population
was then five thousand. Two sections of
the charter related to
schools. The Common Council was
authorized to levy a tax of
not more than one mill on the dollar for
the purchase of school
sites and building school houses, and an
additional mill for the
support of a school in each of the three
wards into which the city
was divided, which should be accessible
to all white children not
under four years of age; the council
should fix by ordinance the
beginning and end of the school year,
and appoint every year a
board called the Board of Managers of
the Common Schools, in
which the particular administration
should rest. This Board
should make rules and regulations for
the schools, examine and
employ teachers, fix their salaries
subject to the rules of the Coun-
cil, make repairs of school houses and
furnish supplies, and certify
to the Council all expenses incurred in
the performance of its
duties. On July 7, 1837, the Common
Council passed an or-
dinance in accordance with these
sections of the charter, and this
ordinance is the real beginning of
public schools in Cleveland.
The ordinance was drawn on the lines of
the charter, only the
school year was made four months instead
of six. The schools
were to provide only elementary
education.
The Board of Education built its first
public school houses,
two in number, in 1839-40. In 1840 there
were sixteen teachers
and 1,040 pupils. The principal schools
were divided into two
departments, each department having a
boys' school and a girls'
school. An academical department, as it
was called, or a high
school as we should say, was opened in
1846, with Andrew Freese
as principal. This school was opposed by
some heavy tax payers,
and it was never beyond danger until it
was authorized by a special
act of the Legislature, which came in
1848-49. The West Side
High School, of which A. G. Hopkinson
was the father, was
opened in 1854. The training school went
into operation in 1874.
52
Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
The first superintendence that the
schools received was given
by a duly elected member of the Board of
Managers, called the
Acting Manager of the Schools. This form
of superintendence
lasted from 1841 to 1853. In the latter
year Mr. Freese was
elected Superintendent, and Dr. E. E.
White succeeded him as
the head of the High School. Mr. Freese
was followed as super-
intendent by Mr. L. M. Oviatt, he by
Rev. Anson Smythe, and he
again by Mr. A. J. Rickoff. These
gentlemen all devoted them-
selves with singleness of mind to the
work of the schools, and all
were rewarded by seeing the fruits of
their labors. The pressing
school questions of those years all over
the country related to
organization and system. The Cleveland
history supports this
view. Mr. Rickoff came to the
superintendency in 1867 and held
it until 1882. An educator of ripe
experience and force of char-
acter, and the possessor of the
confidence of a strong Board of
Education for many years, he impressed
himself deeply on the
school system of the city. The existing
organization is very
largely his work. Under his direction
the schools came to attract
attention from far and near, and, in
particular, they called out
some glowing enconiums from foreign
visitors.
Standing in the relation that it does to
the Western Reserve,
the City of Cleveland ought to lead in
educational matters; and
the other towns and cities would
generally, if not universally,
recognize the fact of such a leadership
almost from the beginning
of the union school movement.
At first the Board of Education was only
a committee ap-
pointed by the City Council, but since
1859 it has been elected by
the people at the popular election. Once
more, the Board was
wholly dependent upon the Common Council
for funds until
1865; in that year it became fully
autonomous, levying and ex-
pending its own revenues subject only to
the law.
For many years there has been a growing
conviction in many
American cities, if not indeed in a
majority of them, that the busi-
ness administration of the public
schools is getting, or rather has
got, into a bad way. The trouble is
thought to arise from the
character of men who are often elected
members of boards of
education, from a vicious method of
doing business, and from the
nature of the business organization of
the schools. At least this
Popular Education on the
Western Reserve. 53
was the view taken by a great number of
citizens of this city; for
in response to a popular demand the
Legislature passed, in 1892,
the Reorganization Act, under which the
schools are now carried
on. I refer to this act with no purpose
of discussing its pro-
visions or of commenting on its
operation. My aim is very dif-
ferent. The evils that it was intended
to correct have become
widespread; the act itself has attracted
very general attention;
in a sense, it is now on trial before
the public, not of Cleveland
alone, but of the country; and if
experience shall finally prove
that it accomplishes the end for which
it was devised, Cleveland
will become the teacher of the country
in the important matter of
city school administration.
One who attempts to write the
educational history of a state
or community is likely to commit the
fault of confining himself
too closely to professional educators.
It is perfectly right that
this class of persons should be
emphatically recognized. But
education has its business side as well
as its pedagogical side.
Teachers and superintendents alone, no
matter how able and de-
voted, cannot make a school system.
Educational discussions
too much tend to run on professional
lines. Accordingly, I wish
to recognize in the heartiest manner the
educational services to
Ohio of such men as Ephraim Cutler,
Rufus King, Samuel
Lewis, Harvey Rice, and others; also the
service to particular
communities of such men as Charles
Bradburn and George Wil-
ley, of this city, who not only served
as members of the School
Board for years, but actually did
efficient duty as acting managers
of the schools.
The decade 1835-45 is an important one
in American educa-
tional history. It has been called our
educational renaissance.
In this period Massachusetts created the
first State board of edu-
cation, the first American normal
school, and the first efficient
State school superintendency, with
Horace Mann in the office;
Dr. Henry Barnard of Connecticut called
the teachers' institute
into being; New York established the
first public school
libraries; Michigan laid the foundation
of her educational system
on the lines of the Prussian ideas; the
City of Providence, R. I.,
first established the local school
superintendency. German in-
fluence now began to be felt by American
scholars, teachers, and
54
Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
schools. The decade ushered in a period
of school renovation,
within and without. We shall form the
best idea of this period by
looking at it under a single phase and
by limiting our view to
Ohio.
It must be remembered that the largest
cities of the State were
once small villages, and that a single
school answered all purposes.
Time added scholars, and therefore
called for new schools and new
school districts. These schools and
school districts were wholly
separate and independent in organization
and management. The
educational world was without form and
void and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. Such
legislation as the Akron school
law was enacted to correct this state of
things, and under it the
organization of city and town schools
commenced. The schools
of Cincinnati were organized in 1840.
The facts in regard to
Cleveland have been already related.
Dayton, Columbus, Akron,
and other towns soon followed the
example thus set. The law of
1853 gave the movement a great impulse.
The name "union
school" or "union
schools" came into general use as expressing
the prevailing tendency of the new time.
If this name is now
seldom heard, it is because the great
work of unification in the
city and town schools has been
accomplished. Perhaps the new
rural school movement will bring it into
use again.
The union movement raised some difficult
external problems.
for legislators, members of boards of
education, and superintend-
ents to solve. It also raised some
internal problems that were
even more difficult. The establishment
of a system of grades and
the classification of pupils now became
a possibility. This possi-
bility involved the evolution of a
course of graded study, the adop-
tion of canons and methods of promotion,
and the provision of
suitable text-books. These problems
rested heavily on the hands
of such men as Harvey, Henkle, Rickoff,
and Cowdery for many
years. Some people now believe, perhaps
most people, that these
problems were solved too successfully.
Those who hold this view
believe that too much stress came to be
laid on system and uni-
formity. Considering the utter chaos
that had reigned, together
with the known tendency of the human
mind to value machinery,
this was in no way strange. Matters were
sometimes carried to
such a point that the schools of great
cities were regularly halted
Popular Education on the Western
Reserve. 55
once a month, that the children's minds
might be examined, their
contents inventoried and tabulated, and
reports made to the super-
intendent's office, there to be compared
and systematized. There
is now a refluent tide. The peculiar
work of that generation of
educators has been accomplished, and we
are now face to face
with a new and a still more difficult
series of problems. How
shall we find room in our school system
for freedom and spon-
taneity? How shall we adjust the
individuality of the child to
the necessity of school organization?
These are some of the
questions of the new era.
At the end of 1869 there was formed in
this city the North-
eastern Ohio Teachers' Association,
which is still in vigorous life.
It is not pertinent or necessary to
enlarge on the history of this
useful society. As soon as formed it
plunged into the discussion
of some of the most pressing questions
of the time. In his in-
augural address, Dr. Harvey, who was the
first President of the
Association, drew attention to several
of these questions. He
put first on his list a subject that, to
my knowledge, has never
seriously occupied the attention of the
Association from that day
to this. Reviewing the history of twenty
years, he said while the
schools in the towns and cities had made
marked progress, and
ranged among the best of their kind in
the Union, those in the
rural districts had not improved as they
ought to have done. In
some localities, he said, no progress
whatever had been made.
This subject is now beginning to claim
the public attention, and
there is some reason to think that we
are on the eve of changes
in the rural schools quite as striking
as those that have been ac-
complished in the town and city schools.
This topic may well
be the last one to the treated in this
address.
There are obvious difficulties in the
way of bringing the
country schools to as high a standard as
the town and city schools,
and it is by no means certain that it
can ever be accomplished.
Fortunately, however, there are some
compensating advantages.
One of these difficulties is the
sparseness of rural population and
the consequent insufficiency of pupils
to be handled in the schools,
which interferes with expansion and
tends to repress interest and
enthusiasm. This difficulty has been
greatly intensified by the
decline of population in many rural
districts. For example, every
56 Ohio
Arch. and His. Society Publications.
decennial census since 1850 has shown a
decline in the population
of Geauga county. It is now about
twenty-five per cent. less than
it was at its maximum. Medina county
also fell off for twenty
years, but has slightly recovered itself
at the last two censuses.
Trumbull county lost two thousand five
hundred people at the last
census. Many townships in counties that
have held their own in
population, or even gained, have gone
the same way. And so it is
in many parts of the country: The last
census showed that more
than four hundred counties in the Union
had lost population in ten
years for other causes than reduction in
size. These losses of
population are an important factor, not
only in education but also
in religious and social life. Many
schools once of good size, or
even large, have become small; some have
actually ceased to
exist. Schools of two, three, and five
pupils are by no means un-
common on the Reserve. My attention was
first called to this sub-
ject about twenty-five years ago. A
chart showing the size of the
schools in different parts of the State
prepared by Dr. T. C. Men-
denhall formed part of the Ohio exhibit
at Philadelphia in 1876.
This chart made it very evident that, in
this sense, not only parts of
Ashtabula county, but parts of other
counties, were "benighted."
I publicly urged the consolidation of
schools as a means neces-
sary to correct the existing evil.
Perhaps I may be pardoned for
quoting a few sentences from an address
that I delivered and pub-
lished in 1878.
"Centralization is the only remedy
for this state of things.
There must be fewer school officers,
fewer schools, fewer teachers,
and more pupils in the schools. You
cannot have a fire without
fuel or a school without scholars. The
Western Reserve Yankee
is very conservative. Having always had
a school house on the
corner of his own or of his neighbor's
farm, he cannot reconcile
himself to the idea of sending his
children three or four miles away.
But in many places it must come to that
in time; in such towns [as
those mentioned] the children will be
taught in consolidated
schools or not at all. People will not
long be so absurd as to
keep up a district school for three
scholars. When they make up
their minds to the inevitable, which is
in this case also the desir-
able, they will find that the necessary
steps are both few and short.
Popular Education on the Western
Reserve. 57
It will be found both cheaper and better
to carry the children to
the distant school than to go on in the
old way."
I now hear with no little satisfaction
that the Reserve is
beginning to move in this direction. The
necessary legislation
has been procured in several cases, and
the schools of several
towns have been more or less
consolidated. Old buildings are
abandoned if necessary and new ones
built. The schools and
teachers are much reduced in numbers and
greatly improved in
quality. A competent correspondent in
Geauga county writes me
as follows: "We carry the children
to and from the school when
necessary in closed hacks hired at
public expense. We get the
inspiration that comes from large
numbers; we can classify ac-
cording to advancement of the pupils; we
are able to have a much
better grade of teachers without any
increase of taxes; we secure
a more uniform attendance, and the
children are never tardy; the
instruction is at once better and
cheaper." He adds that some
people are opposed to the movement
(people who are always op-
posed to new methods to meet changed
conditions), but the opin-
ion is spreading that the country
district school does not measure
up to the educational demands of the
time.
This is progress. There is little more
reason in having eight
or ten district schools in a sparsely
populated Ohio or Michigan
township than there is in having an
equal number of churches.
We have now taken a general survey of
the large subject that
was set for the hour. We have considered
popular education on
the Western Reserve, both in its general
relations to the educa-
tional development of the State and in
itself. However imper-
fect the treatment may have been, I hope
the interest and dignity
of the theme have at least been made
apparent. How very credit-
able the record is to those who have
made it! Nothing in their
history does them greater honor. Born on
the Reserve, of Con-
necticut stock; reared and educated
here, and living here the
greater part of my life; familiar with
the history, conditions, and
spirit of the people; proud of what has
been accomplished on this
soil, - I have counted it an honor to be
called to participate in
the observances that mark the close of
one century of history and
usher in a new one. Forgetting for the
moment my removal
from the State, and reasserting my
rights as a child of the soil, I
58 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
mingle my felicitations with yours, that
we have behind us so
glorious a history. We do well to
recount the story of the past,-
the sacrifices of the pioneers; the
wisdom and constancy of the
later founders; the fidelity of a great
host of teachers; the educa-
tional zeal and intelligence of the
public: but we do better reso-
lutely to face the future, determine to
do our own work as well as
our predecessors have done theirs. If we
and those who succeed
us shall meet this high demand, then
those who gather here a
century hence to celebrate the second
centennial of the founding
of Cleveland and the beginnings of the
Western Reserve will see
"Another morn
Risen on mid-noon."
Popular Education on the Western
Reserve. 35
THE HISTORY OF POPULAR EDUCATION ON THE
WESTERN RESERVE.
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED IN THE SERIES OF
EDUCATIONAL
CONFERENCES HELD IN ASSOCIATION HALL,
CLEVE-
LAND, SEPTEMBER 7 AND 8, 1896.
B. A. HINSDALE, PH. D., LL. D.,
PROFESSOR OF THE SCIENCE
AND THE ART OF TEACHING IN THE UNI-
VERSITY OF MICHIGAN.
It is peculiarly appropriate that the
programme of the Cen-
tennial Commemoration of the founding of
the City of Cleveland
and of the beginnings of the Western
Reserve should embrace a
generous recognition of the subject of
education. It is fitting also
that the conferences that mark this
recognition should come at or
near the close of the commemoration
season rather than at the
beginning, suggesting, as the fact does,
the relation that educa-
tion bears to all that has gone before.
Nothing is more honor-
able to the Reserve than the prominence
of education in its his-
tory. Nothing has given more character
to its people than their
educational intelligence, zeal, and
activity. In nothing can they
more confidently challenge comparison
with other communities
than in their devotion to schools and
learning. In fact, the Re-
serve was twice dedicated to education,
- once by the General
Assembly of Connecticut, and once by the
people that have made
its history. While the history of the
first dedication belongs to
Connecticut rather than to Ohio, it will
not be unfitting briefly to
recite it as a prologue to the main
discourse.
The reservation by the State of
Connecticut, in 1786, of the
block of territory to which the names
Connecticut Reserve, New
Connecticut, and Western Reserve were
soon applied, raised at
once the question, What shall be done
with it? Several answers
were returned to this question before
the right one was finally
found.
In October of the year just named, a
month after the Con-
necticut cession, the General Assembly
passed an act that author-