| To jump to the topics, click on the following: Early Day Schools | The Old County Normal School | Where Will Carlton Taught School | The Old Spelling School | Naming Schools | Reading, Writing, Spelling, and Arithmetic | Taxing Non-Residents for the Schools | The County’s First Seat of Learning | Captain Beane and Other Pioneer Teachers | Hon. E. M. Chamberlain | School Centers outside Goshen and Elkhart | Mrs. Chauncey Hascall’s Recollections | Professor Myers on “The Log Seminaries” | Joel P. Hawks Describes Education at Waterford | The Middlebury Seminary | School Legislation Previous to 1830 | Education of Colored Children | Fixing a teaching standard | Elkhart Schools | Goshen Schools | First Quarter-Century | Erection of Ward Schools | Miss Emma R. Chandler | The New High School | Goshen College | |
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It is not known who taught the first school in Elkhart count. There
were no newspapers earlier than 1837 to chronicle the doings of the earliest
settlers, so the only means of obtaining information concerning those times
are tradition and the written memoirs of people whose recollections extended
back that far. Unfortunately neither one of these sources furnishes us any
information concerning the county’s first teacher. The first teacher concerning whom we have any extended information was a man named Wester, of whom John W. Irwin wrote in his personal memoirs, which were written in the seventies when Mr. Irwin was in the prime of life and his memory perfectly reliable. This man Wester taught in 1832 in the round log school house on Col. Jackson’s farm, mentioned in another chapter. He had but one arm and was a native of Tennessee whence he had just come. He was a brother-in-law of Elias Riggs, who is also mentioned elsewhere as having located on the land which Col. Jackson chose for himself in 1812. Mr. Irwin’s quaint delineation of Wester furnishes a pretty good description both of the man and his teaching. “His foundational learning, the little he had, was gathered up in Tennessee. He wore butternut colored jeans, not then known as of later years as indicating the unwashed southern Democrat. Wester was not called as an instructor by any reason prompted by fitness for the work, but as a kind of charity toward him and also inasmuch as his employment in that capacity was a seeming utilization of one who was unable to perform any other work that could be found in the neighborhood. Besides, it took away no laboring man from the farming interests of the community. He had no knowledge of any study higher than reading with a slight acquaintance with the elementary rules of arithmetic. It is questionable if he deserved the credit of the latter for I do not remember any who attended that summer school which he taught that required instruction in this branch. He had the southern negro pronunciation, as whar—thar—tote for carry and many like violations of the English language. Then, there was no such thing as test of competency, as submitting to an examination. The teacher or his friends procured the school for him by subscribing the number of pupils he proposed to be charged with at a given rate per pupil for the term. If a number sufficient to compensate him was subscribed the school was commenced. In not the matter was abandoned and the teacher went elsewhere or found employment at something else.” No doubt the best known of all the early day teachers was Captain Henry Beane who taught for a long time in Benton. He was well educated for that time and because of his superior efficiency as a teacher, pupils came from long distances to attend his school. He taught the Irwins, Jacksons, Thompsons, Weddells, Longacres, Elseas, Boyds, Pricketts and a number of others who were children of the pioneers. Some years ago when working in the office of the Goshen Democrat, the writer had an opportunity to talk with one of Captain Beane’s pupils, the late Thomas Longacre. Mr. Longacre described his old teacher as a large, broad shouldered man, who resembled “Lum” Beane, for many years a blacksmith at Leesburgh and still remembered by some of the older citizens of both Kosciusko and Elkhart counties. The captain taught the “Three R’s” and taught them thoroughly, besides maintaining a discipline which never was forgotten by his pupils as long as they lived. He thoroughly believed in the dictum of Pete Jones, one of the characters in Eggleston’s Hoosier Schoolmasters, “No lickin’, no larnin’.” In an article in the Goshen Democrat for October 12, 1881, the late “Billy” Beane described this system of discipline better than anybody else ever had done. Believing that it will be enjoyed by those who may read this volume it is here reproduced in full: “Over forty years ago Captain Henry Bean taught school in Benton. The discipline was quite different then from what it is now. They had no grade books, blank orders and numerous other appliances that are now used. When a scholar violated the rules or would not get his lessons, he was not quietly dismissed and sent home, but the old captain would stand him out on the floor and lather him with a six foot ox gad until the dust would fly, and sometimes raise him off his feet. He always kept a bunch of hickory gads on hand, some of them ten feet long, and we have yet to find a man that ever went to school to him who did not get a taste of it at some time or other. No doubt many a boy had his jacket warmed when he did not deserve it, as the old man had a practice of ‘going the grand rounds’, as he called it. That is, he would notice a number of boys on the same bench whispering and rather than call the guilty one out he would pull down that long gad and lay it on the backs of the whole row of boys, regardless of who it struck. He would sometimes apologize for this by saying if they did not deserve it just then they would some other time. He seemed to take a delight in having an excuse to thresh the boys. Once while teaching in an old log house on the Col. Jackson farm he used to make a practice of going out doors at certain times and after he came in again he would take down that old gad and whip certain ones unmercifully. The boys wondered how he knew so well who had been misbehaving, but he never failed to hit the right one. One day a certain young man who now holds a high position in this city and who was always of a steady turn felt like unbending a little and began being agreeable to the young ladies. He was whispering and smiling on them when, suddenly looking around, he saw the captain’s big brown eyes peeping through a crevice in the wall and looking straight at him. The young man felt like sinking through the floor. He knew this fate. Nice young man as he was he had to take a thrashing. But ever after that the boys said there was no laughing or playing when the old fellow was out. That ‘evil eye’ has haunted some of them ever since. They say that even now they can see the old man peeping through that crack in the wall. “What called out these few reminiscences and reflections was the meeting last Saturday in front of C. A. Harper’s shoe store, a half dozen or more of the old scholars all of whom we used to meet forty years ago. They all had a little experience to give and enjoyed it hugely and not one denied that he had felt the weight of that old hickory whip. The following are the names of the individuals referred to; Ira Jackson, William Weddell, David Darr, John W. Irwin, Elisha D. Irwin, Nimrod Prickett, W. A. Beane and Tilman Butler.” Several years later than later than this a cousin of P. T. Barnum taught on Elkhart prairie. Able Barnum came from Sullivan county, N. Y., and the next winter taught in a little log school house a short distance west and on the other side of the road from the John E. Thompson farm. The last survivor of the pupils in that school was Mrs. John E. Thompson, youngest daughter of Col. Jackson. Mrs. Thomson lived till the fall of 1926, dying in New Paris at the age of eighty-nine years. About a year before her death she told something of Mr. Barnum whom she remembered well. He boarded at the Jackson home and sometimes when the snow was deep he carried her part of the way to school. Soon after that Mr. Barnum located in Noble county, where he was a prominent citizen for many years. A few years after Jacob Geillinger became as prominent a teacher in Middlebury township as Captain Beane was in Benton but his methods were in striking contrast to those of the redoubtable captain. He ruled by kindness and never had to resort to corporal punishment, yet he, too, maintained discipline and had perfect control of his school. His pupils, among whom was the writer’s mother, almost idolized him and when speaking of him as a teacher always spoke with the utmost respect, almost reverence. He, too, was a well educated man for his time, being especially well versed in English grammar, which might almost be called his hobby. He insisted on his pupils putting their knowledge of grammar into practical use by employing good language in their every day conversation. If any of them used incorrect expressions he kindly corrected them, at the same time explaining the principles which were violated. His own language was a model of pure English, thus keeping always before them a wholesome example. It can be truly said that no college professor ever used purer language than he did. After he quit teaching he engaged in farming in Middlebury township until his death, which occurred in July, 1876. Another of the early teachers of Middlebury township was Dr. Jacob Cornell, who was also a pioneer physician. He taught in a log school house which had previously been used for a dwelling and which was the earliest predecessor of the present Cornell school house. The building was very much like the other school houses of the early days. It had a large fireplace, benches made of slabs and without backs and a writing desk along the wall. Dr. Cornell taught there four of five terms in the forties, and was known as one of the most efficient teachers of that day. Besides being a pioneer teacher, he was the first justice of the peace for the four townships of Washington, Jefferson, Middlebury and York. After he quit teaching he practiced medicine for many years, having his office in his farm residence in the southeast corner of Middlebury township. He had a large family of sons, several of whom for a number of years were active in local politics. But one of his sons is now living, Milton A. Cornell, who is past eighty years old and who lives at the home of Guy M. Rieth northwest of Goshen. Dr. Cornell spent his last years in Goshen, his residence being on North Sixth street, just north of the postoffice. Miss Caroline Hubbell, a daughter, of Rev. Abijah Hubbell, sr., and a sister of Elisha and Abijah Hubbell, jr., taught in the early forties in the old log building which stood near the Hubbell farm afterward the Blough farm, a short distance west of where the “Eight Square” school house was afterward erected. She married the Rev. Samuel Clark, a Millerite preacher who moved to Tipton. Her youngest sister, Marjorie Hubbell, also taught the same school. She became the wife of William Hough and moved to Corning, Ia. According to the best information that has been obtained, the first lady who ever taught in the country schools was Mrs. Chauncey S. Hascall, who taught the Ulery school just west of Goshen, and located on the site of the brick school house which burned on the evening of January 26. The building is which she taught was one of the typical log school houses of pioneer days. She taught during the winters of 1839-40 and 1840-41 and received as a salary $12 a month which was considered a good salary for a woman. So it was in comparison with that of some others even ten and fifteen years after that who received but $1.25 a week. The people of the neighborhood in which Mrs. Hascall taught were “Pennsylvania Dutch” and spoke that dialect in their homes. Many of the pupils could not speak English when they entered school. The teacher boarded with the families of the district as was the custom in those days. As no lady had taught there before, it was feared by the trustees, of whom there were three at that time, that she might not be able to manage the larger boys. One of the trustees even suggested that in case of trouble she might send for him to administer whatever corporal punishment might be needed, but her work was very successful and there was no difficulty along that line. As in the other schools the “Three R’s” were taught, with one or two pupils studying geography. Grammar was unknown to those people of the backwoods. There were many classes in reading and spelling, but no recitations in arithmetic, as each pupil studied that branch by himself. There was no such ting as a black-board in the school house, but the teacher helped the pupils with their problems whenever help was needed. Many of her pupils became good readers and were able to make use of their knowledge of arithmetic. There were also among them better spellers than many high school pupils of the present day. Mrs. Hascall had thirty pupils in her school, among them the Studebakers, Mannings, Cripes, and Ulerys, names all familiar in the pioneer history of the county. One of her oldest pupils was Jacob Cline, then almost a young man, who afterward lived for sixty years on what is now the Kunderd Gladioli farm two and a half miles northwest of Goshen on the Lincoln Highway. Notwithstanding the fact that he lived until 1911, seventy years after he attended Mrs. Hascal’s school, he was survived by his teacher. Mrs. Hascall was a lineal descendant of Peter Browne, who came to America in the Mayflower in 1621. She was a daughter of Ebenezer Browne, one of the early sheriffs of Elkhart county, founder of the Goshen Democrat and for many years one of the county’s most prominent citizens. To Maria Ellis, sister of the late John Ellis, belongs the honor of being the first teacher in Elkhart. She taught in a private residence at the corner of Second and Jefferson streets in that city. The Ellis family came here in 1831, settling near Elkhart and the name is prominently identified with the early history of that section of the county. It is a matter of regret that the writer has no more information concerning Elkhart’s first teacher. Another of Elkhart’s early teachers was Ebenezer M. Chamberlain, who came to Elkhart county from Bangor, Maine, in 1833, and taught a term of school there. He located in Goshen in 1834 and began the practice of law. He served four years as postmaster, a term as circuit judge, the circuit then covering seven or eight counties and two years in congress. For over a quarter of a century he was one of the county’s leading citizens. The Chamberlain School in Goshen was named in his honor. The first teacher in Bristol was Miss Philossa Wheeler. There is no information as to the time when she taught, but it was previous to the erection of the first school house, which was in 1838. Another of Bristol’s early day teachers was Col. Henry G. Davis, who served in the Civil War and afterward operated a sawmill in Jefferson township. Col. Davis served as justice of the peace six years and a term in the legislature. He was a candidate for county treasurer in 1872, being defeated by Charles T. Green, of Elkhart. He became an active worker in the grange during the early years of that order’s existence in the county. Later he moved to Sheboygan, Michigan, where he died. He was the father of the late Charles A. Davis, well known Goshen lumberman. Fifty years ago Prof. Ambrose Blunt was a prominent figure in education circles in Elkhart county. Prof. Blunt served for ten years as superintendent of the Goshen schools and under his supervision the schools made steady progress and did some of the most thorough and efficient work in their history. He was one of the most scholarly men of his time and was also an excellent disciplinarian. The two qualities combined to make him a strong man among the educators with whom he associated. He was very deliberate in his movements as well as in his speech and this led many of those who did not appreciate his real merits to style him “slow.” But in spite of his alleged slowness his work as an educator was none the less effective and lasting. For a number of years he appeared as an instructor at teachers’ institutes. After he retired from the superintendency he engaged in the mercantile business in Goshen for a short time and then purchased what was long known as the Alfred Forst farm southwest of Bristol and engaged in agriculture for several years. He hoped to interest his sons in that occupation but in this he was disappointed. The Bristol school board prevailed upon him to take charge of the schools of that place for a year. He was afterward elected superintendent of the Ligonier schools and dropped dead while filling that position. During a part of the time that Prof. Blunt was superintendent of the Goshen schools Q. P. Kent was superintendent at Elkhart. He, too, was a scholarly man, but of a very different type. Prof. Kent, however, is better remembered as editor of the Elkhart Review, a work which he took up when he retired from the city superintendency and ontinued until his death in 1908. He became known as one of the best editorial writer in Northern Indiana and wielded considerable influence for many years in his own particular circle. He was a natural born aristocrat, which prevented him from ever becoming popular with the masses and he probably did not desire popularity of that kind. In the meetings of the Northern Indiana Editorial Association he was fully a conspicuous as he had been years before in the teachers’ institutes. Chauncey Wolfe, who died in 1874, was for a number of years a prominent teacher in Jefferson township and is still remembered by many people who resided in the township at that time. He was an associate of Dr. D. L. Miller, Joseph Lehman and Charles Gardner, sr., later residents of Goshen. The four attended the Bristol High school and roomed together when Prof. Valois Butler taught there. All began teaching about the same time and continued for a number of years, Dr. Miller teaching longer than any of the others. Mr. Wolfe taught at Jefferson Center in the old frame school house and was considered on of the township’s best teachers. He was also a carpenter and a worker with his father, Israel Wolfe, sr., when the latter built the new Center school house. The last work he ever did was on that building. His death came suddenly, just a few days after he was taken home ill. He was to have been married in a few days to a very estimable young lady of his own neighborhood which added to the sadness of his death. In addition to being a successful teacher he was active in Sunday school work and was held in high esteem in his own community. In the latter 60’s Wesley McCrory was a conspicuous figure among the teachers of Jefferson township. One of McCrory’s leading accomplishments was his ability to spell. He was fully equal to Jeems Phillips, who is known to every reader of “The Hoosier Schoolmaster,” but without Jeems’ eccentricities. He was a familiar figure at the spelling schools which were so common in those days and could always be found among the leading contestants for honors. The McCrory family lived on the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Eisenhour, for more than 30 years known as the Jacob Wicherman farm. Mr. McCrory taught the “Hog Hollow” school three and a half miles north of there and used to walk to and from school. Sometimes when the roads were badly drifted and the weather exceptionally inclement it was an exceeding disagreeable trip to make. But he never failed to make his appearance at the school house on schedule time. In those days teachers in the district schools did not receive more than $30 a month and many of them less than that. The teachers of the present day would hardly be willing to brave the difficulties that he did. Miss Mary Worthington whose home was on the Vistula road in York township, was among the pioneer teachers and taught at the Cornell school, where the Cornells and Hubbells were among her pupils, besides teaching for a long time in her home township. There the members of the Zook family were in her school. She later moved to South Bend where she lived until a few years ago and was almost a nonagenarian. Another old time teacher who is remembered by quite a number of people was William Phillips, who taught at the Braintertwon school, at the Michael school in Elkhart township, at the Culp school in Harrison township and in the vicinity of Wakarusa. He was a well educated man for his day and was quite successful as a teacher, but in his years became somewhat eccentric. Among his pupils at the Michael school were George, Paul and Louis Michael, Mrs. Callie Inbody, Chauncey and Allen Inbody, David and Jonathan Chapman and Mrs. Daniel Sanders. In the Brintertown school was D. D. Rodibaugh who learned the alphabet of Phillips. There were also Hendricks and John Clark, Marion and Wesley Rohrer, Alonzo and L. D. Rodibaugh and W. H. Hower who for a number of years was a photographer in Goshen. Among some of Phillips’ striking characteristics which are remembered by his former pupils are his ability to spell, to sing and to declaim. He would entertain his pupils with song and declamations and after he quit teaching he would be invited to entertain the pupils for several hours. Quite a number of people who were teaching 35 years ago remember a man by the name of Frederick Neubauer, who appeared at the teachers’ institutes from year to year as a book agent. In the winter of 1861-2 and a year or so after that he taught the Rowe school in Concord township, just east of Elkhart, where among his pupils were Dr. C. L. Dreese and his sister, Mrs. H/ E. Tiedemann, E. C., John M. and Augustus Bechtel, James and Sarah Mather, Wilber F. Lyons, William and Andrew Stockdale, Edwin and Mary Randolph. Neubauer also taught a subscription school in Elkhart. He was a German and was very much “set” in his way. As an instructor he was quite efficient but as a disciplinarian he was very weak and this failing greatly lessened his usefulness as a teacher. He was fairly successful at the Rowe school and a number of years later in the winter of 1876-7 he taught at Sugar Grove. When he taught his first term at the Rowe school just after the war began, he delighted in arguing about the war, taking the position that the conquering of the South would be nothing more than a before-breakfast task. During the years which intervened between the time when he taught at the Rowe school and when he appeared as a book agent, he lived at Plymouth and Angola. Dr. Dreese, who furnished the information concerning Mr. Neubauer spoke of B. F. Oakes, who taught the Rowe school in 1857-8, and also one or two subsequent winters. Mr. Oakes was an excellent teacher and was popular among his pupils. His special hobby was geography, which he taught by the time honored custom of singing the capitals, the rivers, the bays and the mountains. This method had its merits and besides furnishing the pupils a respectable fund of geographical knowledge afforded them a means of entertainment. Fifty years ago Samuel F. and George W. Spohn were among the leading teachers in the county schools. Both attended what was at that time the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. Samuel F. taught in Concord, Middlebury and Elkhart townships besides at New Paris and Goshen. George W. taught for a number of years, his last term in the county being at the Griner school in Middlebury township. Both taught in the old county normal school which was held in Goshen for many years. Both were considered as among the best instructors of their day. While teaching his last term at Sugar Grove in this township, Samuel F. was elected county superintendent, in which office he served efficiently r four years. For eight years, from 1909 to 1917, he served as mayor of Goshen, longer than any other man ever had. He is still one of Goshen’s leading citizens [1930]. George W., after finishing his course at Valparaiso, taught for several years in a normal school at Portland, then studied medicine and became one of Elkhart’s prominent physicians. He died in California in 1927. During all of the time that the Spohn brothers were teaching as well as a number of years before and after there was a lady of rare culture and refinement at the head of the Goshen high school. This was Miss Emma R. Chandler who filled the position of principal here for nearly a quarter of a century. It is quite within reason to say that no teacher ever wielded a wider or better influence in the schools of Goshen than Miss Chandler. Many of the city’s leading men and women look back today to the years when they were under her instruction and willingly acknowledge the debt of gratitude which they owe her for the part she had in the training of their minds and the formation of their characters The Chandler school in which she taught, is an appropriate memorial of her long years of faithful service and her noble womanhood. Her name deserves to be written high on the long list of splendid men and women who have honored the teaching profession in Elkhart county. Many years ago six men who grew up in Middlebury township were teaching in that section of the county and three of them afterward became honored citizens of Elkhart. These were Aaron, Samuel, Robert, William C., James A. and Able M. Work, sons of the late A. E. Work who was one of Middlebury township’s leading citizens for almost a half century. There were two other sons in the family; Isaac and John of whom enlisted in the army in the civil war and both died in the service at Gallatin, Tenn. Aaron was the first to teach which was some time in the 50’s. The taught several terms at the old Union school in Clinton township, on the Elkhart-LaGrange county line and a half mile north of St. John’s Lutheran church, or as it is known by many people, the Fish Lake church. He located in Elkhart in 1867 and considered himself an Elkhart citizen up to the time of his death in 1924. For ten years he was a member of the Elkhart school board and for five years was trustee of Concord township, so that he was associated with school work for fifteen years besides his teaching. Samuel taught first in Eden township, LaGrange county and later he taught the Cooper school in Clinton township. In that school Anthony and Benjamin F. Deahl, later prominent Goshen attorneys, were among his pupils. He afterward studied medicine and began practicing at Wolcottville, but moved from there to Vandalia, Mich., where he died twenty-two years ago. William C. began teaching in 1863 and continued in the profession for thirty-five years. His first term was at the Silver street school in Clinton township. He also taught in Middlebury township and in Newbury and Eden townships in LaGrange county. In Newbury township he taught sixteen terms. When he was teaching at the Silver Street school, Samuel Bechtel, then of Harrison township, but afterward a resident of Goshen and of Nappanee, was teaching at the Schrock school, also in Clinton township. The two united their schools in a debating society. Among those who participated in the debates were John F. Pound, Aaron and Daniel Zook, Amos Schrock and Marshall Grant. The latter was one of Mr. Work’s pupils. He afterward located in the state of Washington, where he served in the legislature. Mr. Work’s son Arthur, who has traveled extensively in the west, said that in many of the cities and towns which he visited he met some of Mr. Work’s formal pupils. Robert taught in Newbury and Eden Township, Lagrange county, and in Middlebury township. He afterward took up the blacksmith’s trade with his father east of Forest Grove and continued at that until he died. James A. taught the Fish Lake school just across the line in LaGrange county one winter and two winters at Forest Grove, in Middlebury township. He then began the study of medicine with Dr. Bartlett Larimer at Millersburg. He attended the medical college at the University of Michigan, graduating in 1870. Immediately after that he began practicing at Elkhart and continued in the practice for fifty-five years, and practices occasionally yet. He became a member of the American Medical Association in 1874 and at a number of its annual conventions read papers. He was also a member of the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, of the Tri State Medical Association and of the St. Joseph Valley Medical Association. He participated in the International Medical Congress which sat in Washington, D. C. in 1887. He is still a citizen of Elkhart, and at the age of four-score years he looks back over his active and busy life with justifiable satisfaction. Able taught in Eden township, LaGrange county and then studied for the ministry. He obtained his collegiate education at Wabash college and his theological education at Princeton, N. J. He was engaged for many years in home missionary work in the west and died ten years ago in Florida where he had gone to spend the winter. Four of these brothers, Samuel, James A., Robert and Able, attended the Collegiate Institute at Ontario, LaGrange county after finishing the work in the county schools. Aaron attended Wabash College for a short time and William obtained all of his school education in the “Little red school house.” Few families in county have a better record in the teacher’s profession than the Work family and all of them also made good in the occupation which they afterward took up. Another early teacher in Elkhart was Nehemiah Broderick, who also served a long time as justice of the peace. Mr. Broderick taught in a log school house near the St. Joseph river. It has been claimed by some people that he was the first teacher in Elkhart, but the writer is willing to accept the word of John W. Ellis that his sister was the first. The fact that Miss Ellis taught in a private home before any school building was erected would seem to establish her claim to being Elkhart’s first teacher. A school building which had been built in about 1840 at the corner of Second and Jefferson street burned down in 1866 and in 1868 a $45,000 building was completed at the corner of second and High street. Charles Conn, father of Col. C. G. Conn, and Miss Martha Bonnell also taught in the new building. She taught sixteen years. The other teachers in the new building were Prof. Valois Butler, Miss Nellie Smith, Mrs. A. M. Clark, Miss Rainey, Miss Ostrander and Miss Mary Hawley. Miss Hawley taught thirty-two years, from 1868 to 1900. Her last years were in the fourth ward school. Miss Margaret Stephens taught in the old building as early as 1861 and continued teaching the primary until 188. It is said that her room was crowded to the limit, sometimes having 125 pupils. Mrs. Pancost says of her: “Probably no one has ever taught in our public schools who is more kindly remembered than she. Many of her pupils, grown to manhood and womanhood, love the memory of their first school days with dear Miss Stephens, now eighty-five years of age.” hen she began teaching she received five dollars a week. When she had a hundred pupils that meant five cents a pupil per week. Toward the end of her term of service she received fifty dollars a month. There was then only one teacher who received a higher salary than she and that was the principal of the high school. Quoting Mrs. Pancost again: “I must speak of one more of the early teachers, Mrs. A. E. Babb. History says in 1855, those who had charge of the school found in the person of Mrs. Babb one who could teach algebra, literature and French. They threw the town into a state of agitation by offering her a salary of thirty dollars a month. The idea of giving a woman a salary of a dollar and a half a day was an extravagance not to be tolerated. The unexpected happened and Mrs. Babb taught a number of years. Later she conducted a private school, also a bookstore. How many of us bought our first slates and pencils and first readers of Mrs. Babb? I did.” Nelson Prentiss taught at Benton some time in the forties. He lived in Goshen for a while and from there he moved to Noble county. Dr. Latta used to delight in telling a joke on him in connection with his residence in Goshen. An alleged friend of his urged him to become a candidate for town clerk and accordingly his name was presented at the town caucus, but he did not receive a single vote. He reproached the man who persuaded him to run and then did not even vote for him. The man replied, “I thought somebody would surely vote for you and I was going to claim the vote.” Mr. Prentiss was very much chagrinned over the incident. After he went to Noble county he taught school for a while, served as county examiner and after the law creating the county superintendency was enacted, filled that office for a number of years. He also served as county clerk. He was a man of scholarly attainments and during the latter years of his life wrote occasionally for the press. The writer saw him once at Con Smith’s in Benton township a few years before he died. He was then quite aged, but was mentally vigorous. (Bartholomew, Pioneer History of Elkhart County, 1930) |
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The first school concerning which there is any authentic record was
held in a log cabin on the farm of Col. Jackson at the south end of
Elkhart prairie. It was located across the road from the Jackson
cemetery and just a short distance west. As nearly as can be
ascertained, it was built in 1830, and was of round logs. There is
a tradition that school was held the winter before in a cabin which
had been used a little while as a dwelling but there is no other
evidence of it than this, so the tradition will have to be taken
what it is worth. When it was determined that a school house should be built the settlers in that neighborhood came together and decided upon its location. Then they hauled the necessary number of logs to the place. The next step was the raising, putting on the roof and chinking up the cracks between the logs. This building had a large open fireplace over which was a stick chimney. The cracks between the sticks were filled with mud. The windows were of greased paper, so the school room was not very well lighted. The floor was made of puncheons, that is, logs were split in two, the flat side hewed to make it smooth. At the very best the floor was somewhat rough and uneven, because it was almost impossible to get the puncheons of exactly the same thickness or to lay them evenly and perfectly level. The benches were also made of split logs and holes were bored into the round side in which legs were inserted. Some of them were eight, some ten and some twelve feet long and all were without backs. The legs of some of the benches were short and some long, to accommodate pupils of different ages. Holes were bored into one of the logs at the side of the building, under the window, strong pegs driven into them and one of the split logs laid on them with the smooth side up. This served for a writing desk and the pupils stood up to it to write. In 1834 another school house was built on the old Fort Wayne road, (now the Lincoln Highway), and north of the boundary line between Elkhart and Jackson townships. This house was a little more aristocratic in its style, being built of hewed logs. It also had a shingle roof, instead of clapboards, a sawed board floor and loft boards laid on joists, Instead of a fireplace it was heated with a stove which was made a Mishawaka where a primitive factory had been built by that time. It was made of Elkhart county iron. The iron ore was dug along the St. Joseph river between Elkhart and Bristol and boated down the river on a raft to Mishawaka. In this school the children of the prairie settlers obtained the rudiments of their education. Many of them were among the most substantial citizens of Elkhart county. All of them are now dead. Among the last survivors was Elisha D. Irwin, son of Alexander Irwin, already mentioned. The first regular school in Goshen was held in the Methodist church on South Sixth street. Before this, schools were held for a short time in the year in private residences. One of these was a hewed log house which stood on the lot now occupied by Dr. I. J. Becknell’s residence at 112 South Fifth street. The first building erected for school purposes was located where the Episcopal rectory stands on South Sixth street and immediately south of the Episcopal church. This school was built previous to 1843, as the late W. A. Beane told of attending school there in that year. The late Dr. W. H. Thomas of Elkhart in a paper read before the Elkhart County Historical society in 899 said that this school was considered in that day as a model of its kind. Richard Lake, Sr., who located in Jefferson township in 1837, told the writer a short time before he died that the first school house built in that township as the Center school, so named because it was in the exact center of the township. It was built soon after Mr. Lake came here, on land donated by William P. Martin. The house was a small frame building and had a window on one side the whole length of it. Below the window was a long shelf, which was used for a writing desk, something after the style of the old log school house. The seats were rough wooden benches without backs. Mrs. Emeline Sigerfoos in an article in the Goshen Democrat about forty years ago had something to say of her girlhood days in that old schoolhouse. She said, “The old Center school house. Shall I ever forget its benches? It’s all the way round desk for the big boys and girls to write upon: so cut and carved and covered with initials by the scholars at each succeeding term, that the recollection of it stands out upon the walls of memory, a great scarred letter ‘A’—the beginning off life to me in and out of school. What a story of the hardships, of the toilsome journeys from A to Z, from addition to decimals up on down the long columns of Webster’s spelling book, could those old books relate?” About five miles southwest of Middlebury in Middlebury township was a school house which was built in 1850, and known for many years as the “Eight Square” school house, because it was built in octagonal form. When it became necessary to erect a new building to take the place of the old log house that was first used, a school meeting was called to decide what kind of a house should be built. John Walmer, Sr., proposed the octagonal form saying that it would have more room inside than if built square. After considerable argument it was finally decided to put up an octagonal building. It became known far and wide as the “Eight Square” school house and is still remembered by that name by the older citizens. There the Pfeiffers, the McConnells, the Perrys, the Walmers, some of the Schrocks and many other well known citizens obtained the rudiments of their education. The school terms in earlier days never exceeded three months. There was no public money for schools but they were paid for by private subscription, each patron paying in proportion to the number of children he wished to send to school. There was not such thing as an examination for teachers. Their qualifications if they had any, were judged by the patrons. The salaries of teachers were very low. In the spring terms which were usually taught by ladies, they were sometimes as low a $1.25 or $1.50 a week. The writer’s mother taught for the last mentioned salary. When the state constitution of 1850 went into effect, provision was made for a public school system. The office of state superintendent was created and also the office of county examiner. The examiner had no supervision over the schools but simply examined the teachers to ascertain their qualifications. The examinations were oral and usually consisted of only a few simple questions in grammar and arithmetic. Piebe Swart, a former county superintendent told this story about his first examination. The examiner at that time was James E. Winegar, who was working in the woolen mill at Baintertown, then known as Wyland’s mills. Mr. Swart went to the mill in the evening and found the examiner measuring off some cloth for a lady. He made known the purpose of his visit and while he was still waiting on his customer the examiner asked several questions, which Mr. Swart answered. “’Oh! H—,’ exclaimed Mr. Winegar, ‘you know enough to teach them fellers on the other side of the creek,’” and proceeded to write out the document which certified to Mr. Swart’s fitness to instruct the youngsters over whom he was soon to have authority. The following men served as school examiners; Dr. Sovereign, Dr. McMorris, Henry W. Bissell, John W. Irwin, James E. Winegar, Elbridge G. Chamberlain, John W. Gilmore, Michael C. Daugherty, L. V. Venen and Valois Butler. The legislature of 1873, enacted a law which provides for a county superintendent of schools who formerly examined the teachers and has full supervision of all the schools of his county. The county superintendents up to this time have been Aaron S. Zook, David Moury, Piebe Swart, Samuel F. Spohn, George W. Ellis, Abraham e. Weaver, Charles F. Miller and Waldo F. Adams. (Bartholomew, Pioneer History of Elkhart County, 1930) |
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After the enactment of the law which created the office of
county superintendent there came a demand for the training of
teachers in order that they might be better equipped for their
work. Up to that time and for many years later, it was possible
for a young man or young woman who had completed the eighth
grade work in either country or town school to step into the
profession of teaching, providing he or she could pass the
required examination. Under the old county examiners and for
several years under the county superintendents those examinations
were quite easy and young people fresh from their school work
could answer the prescribed questions without much difficulty.
Not many years elapsed, however, until more was required of
applicants for teachers’ licenses, not only in the way of
scholarship, but in the ability to impart instructions as well.
The state Normal School at Terre Haute had been established in
1870 and the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso three
years later, but the students who attended those institutions at
first were very few in number. In fact they could have accommodated
only a very small percentage of the teachers of the state and
besides a great majority of the young people who aspired to teach
could not afford the expense of going a great distance from home
until they had taught a term or two and earned a little money for
that purpose. To meet immediate requirements at moderate cost what
were called normal or training schools were held in the summer
months in most, if not all county seats. Elkhart county was among
the first to have one of these normals and it was kept up summer
after summer nearly a quarter of a century. The normal school was started by Professor David Moury, who was then county superintendent. He was not a highly educated man, but was a good organizer and full of enthusiasm for his work. The normal school under his direction was well attended, one year numbering nearly two hundred students. Mr. Moury was assisted in his work by Prof. Lamport who taught several of the common branches, Prof. I. N. Failor who taught mathematics and Dr. P. D. Harding, who taught physiology. The year when there was the largest attendance S. F. Spohn, who had been a student in the normal for several years before, taught the grammar classes and also had a class in German. Besides, being given an opportunity to review the common branches, as they were then called, the students were taught the theory of teaching and were also required to conduct classes in the presence of the instructors who afterward reviewed and criticized their work. This part of the instruction was in charge of Prof. Moury. For several years there were graduating classes, the requirement for graduation being that the student should be able to earn a first grade teachers’ license at the regular teachers’ examination. These were great events and attracted large crowds. They were usually held in the court room and the room was always crowded. Among those who attended at different times were: Hon. J. H. Baker, Hon. J. A. S. Mitchell, Hon. H. D. Wilson, Hon. J. D. Osborn and many other Goshen citizens of note. Mr. Moury and his several assistants conducted the normal schools up to and including the summer of 1878. The next year Prof. Ambrose Blunt had charge. He was assisted by Mrs. Blunt and Prof. Charles J. Taylor, one of the instructors in the Goshen High School. The attendance that year did not reach more than fifty. The work was thorough and efficient under those instructors and the young people who attended were well satisfied with the results. In 1880 Mr. Moury was again connected with the school, but did not do any teaching. The regular teachers were I. N. Failor and L. B. Langworthy, the latter at that time having charged of the Bristol schools as principal. He taught history, grammar and elocution and Mr. Failor taught mathematics, physics and physiology. That was the last the year that Mr. Moury was connected with the normal. The next year he was defeated in his race for re-election to the superintendency and soon afterward left Goshen. He subsequently took up the study of medicine and practised for quite a number of years at Atlanta, Ga. The next two years S. F. Spohn conducted the normal, assisted by his brother, G. W. Spohn, They had a good attendance and did excellent work. The Spohns were both hard workers and many of their pupils caught some of their enthusiasm which helped materially in making their school work a success. Among the teachers after that were E. B. Myers, G. L. Harding, D. J. Troyer, G. W. Ellis, W. H. Sims, A. J. Smith, Charles L. Kinney and several others whose names have been forgotten. Occasionally prominent educators form elsewhere were secured to deliver lectures before the normal. On one occasion Prof. Harvey, author of Harvey’s grammar, addressed the students. At another time they had the privilege of hearing Dr. James Henry Swart, then state superintendent of public instructions and afterward for many years president of Purdue University. (Bartholomew, Pioneer History of Elkhart County, 1930) |
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From forty to fifty years ago the poems of Will Carleton,
a Michigan poet, were read and enjoyed by many people in
northern Indiana. His “Farm Ballads” and “Farm Festivals”
attained a considerable popularity and those volumes are
still to be found in quite a number of public and private
libraries. After the appearance of our own James Whitcomb
Riley his popularity began to wane and has continued to do
so until his name is now known to few outside of those who
possess one or more volumes of his poems. There are doubtless still fewer people who are aware of the fact that he once taught school in Elkhart county. He taught the Bunker Hill school in Concord township. At that time it was several miles from the school house to what was then the town of Elkhart, for it was several years before Elkhart had become a city, but now it is only a short distance from the cit limits. Among those who were his pupils were Charles Dinehart, who lives south of Elkhart; his sister, Mattie Dinehart, also living south of Elkhart: Rhoda Dinehart, now Mrs. Charles DeCamp, and living in Los Angles, Cal.; Milton Scholes, who resides southeast of Elkhart; Myron E. Meader, who practiced law in Goshen for a number of years and is still remembered by many Elkhart county people; Nora Stutsman and Alice Stutsman, daughter of the late George Stutsman, both of whom live in Elkhart. The former is Mrs. V. D. Cressler and the latter is Mrs. Alice Brown. It has been impossible to ascertain just what year it was that he taught there, as several of his pupils who have been interviewed do not agree as to the time. Mrs. Cressler thinks it must have been in the winter of 1866-7 while her sister, Mrs. Brown, has it the winter of 1872-3. She says it was just after the Grant and Greeley campaign, which was in the fall of 1872. Mr. Carleton boarded with the Stutsman’s and Alice says that he and her father had many animated discussions on politics. Mr. Stutsman was a staunch Democrat and Mr. Carleton at that time was a stalwart Republican, so they found plenty of opportunity for argument. Mrs. Brown says that many of their arguments were over the merits of Grant and Greeley as candidates for the presidency and over the issues which divided the two major parties at that time. If her recollection concerning those things is correct, then she is also correct as to the year when Mr. Carleton taught there. Mrs. Brown says, too, that her father used to tell Mr. Carleton that he would be a Democrat some time, but Mr. Carleton declared that such a thing would never be. However, in later years, after a careful and thorough study of the principles of the two parties, he experienced a change of heart and became a Democrat. Mrs. Brown heard too that fro some years he edited a Democratic paper somewhere in Michigan, but Prof. Mauck, former president of Hillsdale college questioned that. However, he did not dispute the statement that Carleton became a Democrat. The Stutsman girls, now dignified matrons, still remember the heated but friendly debates between their father and their school teacher during the long evenings of that winter when the teacher boarded in their home. It was while he was teaching the Bunker Hill school and boarding in the Stutsman home that Mr. Carleton wrote his first poem, “Over the Hills to the Poor House”. The poem was first published in the Goshen Democrat, which was several years before any of his poems appeared in book form. Before its publication, Alice Stutsman, then a small girl, recited the poem at a school exhibition Miss Louise Dinehart, who was teaching at the Excelsior school, dressed her in the garb of a woman for the occasion. Afterward, by special invitation she rendered it at the Pleasant Plain school, the district west of Bunker Hill. The recitation made a decided hit and she was enthusiastically complimented by those who heard it. While teaching at Bunker Hill Mr. Carleton also wrote the poem, “Gone with a Handsomer Man.” That, too, was recited by some of his pupils and also first published in the Goshen Democrat. Both of these poems were familiar to thousands of readers for many years. The pupils who attended that school little dreamed that their teacher was destined to become in the future one of Michigan’s distinguished and popular poets. (Bartholomew, Pioneer History of Elkhart County, 1930) |
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Among the gatherings of early days up to about a half century
ago were the old spelling schools. These were held at most
of the school houses throughout the county and were attended
by large crowds, people sometimes coming many miles. As a
rule there was a sort of circuit with dates arranged so
pupils and teachers from different schools could attend
all of them if they wished to do so. In the school in which the spelling contest was to be held the time after the afternoon recess of that day was spent in practice for the evening. The entire school was drilled for a while on the lessons which were to be used that night. Then a number of the best spellers were drilled on the hardest words in the spelling book. It was generally understood that no words were to be used that were not in McGuffey’s spelling book, but some of the teachers deviated from this rule and selected a special list of hard words which they had their best spellers learn in order that somebody from the home school should be certain to “spell the school down.” Sometimes, even after a good, thorough drilling of the best spellers, somebody outside, usually a teacher of some other school would be the champion, but almost always it was one of the pupils of the home school. Occasionally several pupils of the home school would be standing when all outsiders were down and then the teacher would declare the contest closed, saying that all those who were still standing were champion spellers and it would take until midnight to spell them down. Just before school was dismissed in the afternoon before the evening when the spelling school was to be held, the teacher would ask the pupils who could bring candles for that night, as the school house was always lighted that way, and a dozen or more candles were needed. Usually some member of each family represented would agree to furnish one candle and occasionally one would offer to furnish two. On one occasion a boy who was of the “smart” type in answer to the teacher’s inquiry, said, “We burn kerosene”. Candlesticks were made by boring a hole in a block about two and a half or three inches square and nailing that to another block about twice as long and fastening it to the wall. When the momentous evening arrived the crown would assemble, usually all that the school house would hold. They came together early and the spelling school would begin at about 7 o’clock. The teacher in charge would ask the assemblage to come to order and sometimes it required quite a while to secure compliance with his request. When the audience was quite the teacher would make a few remarks, sometimes stating how the contest was to be carried on and then would appoint two of his pupils to choose sides. The best spellers were always chosen first, both from the home school and from among the outsiders. After the choosing was finished and each individual had taken his place on the side that had chosen him, one of the best spellers on each side was chosen to act as “trapper”, that is to spell the words which were missed on the other side. Somebody was also chosen to tally the words that were missed on each side and was provided with a slate and pencil for that purpose. As a rule this was one of the elderly men, a patron of the school in which the contest was held. The teacher would then take a spelling book in one hand and a candle in the other and begin pronouncing. If the audience was quiet he would stand on the rostrum, but if there was any disorder he would walk down the aisle, so that he could be near the spellers all of the time. After pronouncing for a short time he would invite one of the visiting teachers to pronounce and one after another pronounced until it was time for recess. The time spent in “spelling on sides” as it was called, was about an hour. Then the teacher in charge would ask the tally keeper how many words each side had missed. Sometimes it was a tie or nearly so and at other times there would be a wide difference. At recess sometimes games were played, but more often the half or three-quarters of an hour was spent in social commingling. As quite a number of schools were represented it afforded an opportunity for friends living in different neighborhoods to visit. After recess came the real contest, or “Spelling down” as it was called. As a matter of course the home teacher did the pronouncing at that time. He would begin with comparatively easy words and after the poor spellers were down, he chose harder words until he used the hardest words in the spelling book, those upon which his best spellers had been carefully drilled. Those teachers who used special catch words or words outside of the spelling book would always pronounce one of those words to the outsiders first and sometimes a half dozen or more would go down on a single word. Then one of his own pupils who had been drilled for days would spell the word correctly. Sometimes after pronouncing difficult words for quite a while the teacher would turn back to a lesson containing easy words and once in a while he caught some of the best spellers in that way. Those spelling schools played an important part in the education of the young people of a half century and three-quarters of a century ago. They were the means of turning out many good spellers and spelling is something that is not to be ridiculed. Good spellers are usually good readers and those two accomplishments make a good foundation for a liberal education. (Bartholomew, Pioneer History of Elkhart County, 1930) |
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In accordance with a custom which has been followed in many
other cities, Goshen has given to two of its schools manes
of individuals who were prominent in their day and who were
identified with the school in one way or another. The idea
was first suggested by Joe Hawks who for a long time had
been interested in matters relating to local history. Knowing
that Judge Ebenezer M. Chamberlain in an early day had donated
to the city the ground upon which the North Fifth street school
stands it was thought that it would be appropriate to call that
school the Chamberlain school. The writer, then a resident of
Goshen, circulated a petition asking the school board to give
the school that name. The petition was numerously signed and
duly presented to the school board, which then consisted of
George B. Slate, Dr. W. O. Vallette and Joe H. Lesh. The board
at once took favorable action upon the petition, declared that
the name Chamberlain school should be its official name, that
this name should go on the records of the board and that in the
future all references to the school should be in that name. This
was done in 1906. In 1912 officers of the Elkhart County Historical Society, who were interested in perpetuating the names of illustrious individuals who were identified with the history of Goshen’s schools concluded that it would be eminently appropriate to give the name of Miss Emma R. Chandler to what was then known as the Madison street school, and in which she had spent nearly a quarter of a century of her life as a teacher. Accordingly a petition was formulated and was readily signed by all of those to whom it was presented. Many more signatures could easily have been secured had there been time to circulate the petition further, but it was desired that it be presented to the board at the meeting which was soon to be held. As in the case of the petition for naming the Chamberlain school it fell to the writer as president of the Society to head the signatures to the petition. The matter was duly presented to the board which consisted of L. J. Brooks, Milt Wysong and Sol Dembufsky. Prof. Edgar Mendenhall, who was superintendent of the schools, gave the project his hearty approval. The board voted unanimously to grant the petition and the former Madison street school was officially named the Emma R. Chandler school. The action greatly pleased Miss Chandler’s friends, who included all of her former pupils as well as all other individuals who enjoyed her acquaintance. It was particularly gratifying that this could be done while she was still living so that she could know that her many years of splendid work in the Goshen schools was appreciated. One of the schools in Elkhart is named the Samuel S. Strong school. For a long time the writer tried to learn why the name was given to the school. Miss Ella F. Corwin, late city librarian of Elkhart was consulted and she could obtain no farther information than that Mr. Strong was one of Elkhart’s prominent citizens in his day and that this was the probable reason for naming the school in his honor. Later Frank J. Stahr, of the Elkhart Truth, was asked what he knew about it. He said that Mr. Strong was an early day merchant and that a part of the school ground was the site of his former residence. Mr. Stahr also said that Attorney James H. State probably knew more about the matter than anybody else now living, so Mr. State was called up and questioned about it. He said that Fourth street formerly extended north of Lexington avenue and Mr. Strong proposed that if the city council would vacate that portion of the street to the north, he would deed his property to the city for park purposes. Accordingly the street was vacated and Mr. Strong carried out his part of the contract. Some years later the school board decided to build a school on that ground. Mr. State said he did not know how the board acquired title to it or whether it ever did so. At any rate the school building was erected and served as a high school until the present high school building was erected at the corner of Second and High streets. It is a stone building and when it was erected was considered an imposing structure. It was eminently appropriated that Mr. Strong should be honored, even though his gift to the city had not been made, for he was one of Elkhart’s foremost citizens in his day and generation. The fact that he gave the land upon which the school stands, made it doubly appropriate that it should receive his name. (Bartholomew, Pioneer History of Elkhart County, 1930) |
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For a quarter of a century after the first settlers of Elkhart
County occupied the fertile lands in the valleys of the Big and
Little Elkhart rivers, and in the beautiful and productive Elkhart
Prairie, which stretched between, the increasing population of the
central and eastern sections struggled, often unsuccessfully, to
give the children an education befitting ambitious, intelligent
and practical Americans. During that period there was nothing which,
by the most painful stretch of the imagination, could be called a
county-broad system founded upon the township unit. The schools
and their teachings were crude and only uniform in that it was
considered useless and foolish to go beyond the drilling of the
pupil mind in any branch of learning outside reading, writing,
spelling and arithmetic. Both men and women taught simply to pick
up a few needful dollars—the males usually as stepping stones to
either medicine or the law, and often as a means of enabling them
to preach the gospel and support their families at the same time.
Everybody was poor and struggling in those days, and no blame was
attached to actual residents for the poor showing made by the schools.
(Bartholomew, Pioneer History of Elkhart County, 1930) |
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At first all the schools were supported by subscription, so that
their efficiency depended largely on local sentiment and the
onsequent liberality or financial ability of the neighborhood
settlers. This was especially true of the districts east of the
Big Elkhart River which were first settled. The lands west of
that waterway were chiefly held by non-residents until the early
“40s, when the pioneers who were engaged in actual development
commenced to vigorously protest against slaving to increase the
value of lands which were held by investors comfortably housed in
Ohio, Pennsylvania or the father East. The remedy for the imposition
was successfully applied, and is described by P. M. Henkel, who
came from Southern Ohio about the time it was devised, in 1843, and
was auditor of the county during the period when the basis of the
present township system of education was being laid. He says: “In
the early ‘40s much of the western portion of the county was still
in a state of nature. Large bodies of land were held by non-residents
with hope that by the labors of the pioneers they would become valuable.
That part of the county was then but sparsely settled. True the Walburns,
the Sheetses, the McCoys, the Pippengers and the Ulerys had penetrated
the forest, built their cabins, felled the trees and opened the roads,
to be followed by others who should take up the work after them. For the
time being they were willing to endure all the privations and hardships
incident to pioneer life for the benefit of their successors. “Dr. E. W. H. Ellis, then auditor of the county, conceived the idea of compelling the non-resident landowners to contribute by the way of taxation to the building of roads and schoolhouses. For this purpose he induced the Legislature to pass a law by which he could assess one and one-fourth cents on each acre of land for road purposes. The citizens had the privilege of working out the tax, while the non- residents had to pay the money. This money when collected was returned to the township from which it came, where it was applied to the purpose for which the tax was raised. The effect of this law was to induce the non-residents to dispose of their holdings and permit those to pass into the hands of actual settlers.” (Weaver, History of Elkhart County, 1916) |
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Elkhart Prairie was the first seat of learning in the county.
Before Goshen was even platted it is said that a little log
school stood on Wilkinson’s Lake, on that prairie, and a few
scholars were taught by one Mr. Potts. The second schoolhouse,
opened in the early ‘30s was on the school section a mile south
of Goshen. (Weaver, History of Elkhart County, 1916) |
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A few years afterward a boy of six years, William A. Beane by
name, was bought from Ohio by his parents and went to several
of these pioneer schools at and near Goshen. In his school days
the teachers of the neighborhood were Capt. Henry Beane, his
father, E. D. Smith, John Deutrow, Sylvester Webster and Nelson
Prentiss, afterward of Albion, Noble County. In the fall of
1843, young Bean, then in his sixteenth year, became a resident
of Goshen, attended the school of A. C. Carpenter, and soon
afterward became a printer in the Democrat office. Samuel T.
Young and T. G. Harris were also early teachers of Prairie
schools. (Weaver, History of Elkhart County, 1916) |
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At Elkhart Town one of the first to teach was E. M. Chamberlain,
a young Maine man who had been admitted to the bar a short time
previously. As is well known, he afterwards became an honor to
the bench, the Legislature and to Congress. (Weaver, History of
Elkhart County, 1916) |
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Then east of the Town of Elkhart and in the northern section
of the prairie region, Middlebury and Bristol opened rural schools
at an early day, while south of Goshen, Benton and New Paris came
into the educational field. The first institution of the kind at
Middlebury was a little structure, built in the late ‘30s, which
went by the unusual name of Red Schoolhouse. Private schools had
been previously taught in several residences, but this was a
village affair. Before Bristol was platted, in 1835, Miss Philossa Wheeler taught in a log cabin which stood on its site, the first schoolhouse erected in town being completed in 1838. Benton, a short distance southeast of Goshen, just beyond the southern edge of the prairie and in an oak opening, was laid out by Capt. Henry Bean, the pioneer schoolmaster. In 1836 the postoffice formerly known as Elkhart Prairie was moved to Benton and a schoolhouse rected in which said Beane presided as first master. New Paris, which is directly south of Goshen, was platted in 1838, and a log schoolhouse was one of the first buildings erected. John McGrew was the teacher who opened it. (Weaver, History of Elkhart County, 1916) |
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Doubtless other schools were thrown open away from these
centers of population, large and small, but the educational
movement throughout the county was sporadic, and not directed
along continuous channels through an organized system. Among
those who faithfully participated in such effort, and bravely
assisted in the task of tiding over the children of those
imes to the better period of organized and classified schools,
was Mrs. Chauncey S. Hascall, wife of the pioneer merchant of
Goshen. In a paper read before the Elkhart Historical Society
she says: “In the winters of 1839-40 and 1840-41 I taught
chool in the next district of Goshen. I received twelve dollars
a month which was considered at that time a high salary for a
woman. Of course it was the typical log schoolhouse, which the
young people of the present day have read of, and the older ones
hold in affectionate remembrance. The writing desks were shelves
attached to the logs on the sides of the room, and the seats were
long benches without backs, with a second row of the same kind,
but lower, for the smaller scholars. A fire in a big box stove
in the center of the room was kept in a roaring condition by the
boys, who were glad of the opportunity of getting a change of
position and a breath of fresh air. The patrons of the school
were mostly Pennsylvania Dutch and spoke their own language in
home and neighborhood intercourse; consequently English was
almost a foreign language to many of the scholars. “The Stouders, Studebakers, Cripes, Ulerys and Mannings I remember most distinctly among the scholars, as I boarded with each of their families a month, instead of taking, as was the custom, the rounds of the district. It was an experience having the winter school taught by a ‘schoolma’am ,’ and he trustees thought I might have some trouble governing it, but I had very little. The girls and boys were model children, and must have been well trained at home. Those who are living now are gray-haired grandparents, and many have passed to the other life. “John and David Studebaker, Levi Ulery and Jacob Cline were the oldest pupils and were nearly grown men. All the older residents will remember Dave Studebaker, whose residence was in Goshen many years and who died here esteemed and regretted. I think there were almost thirty scholars in the school, and among them the Bartmess boys. “The small scholars of that day, with their home-made garments, home-made from the shearing of the sheep to the last stitch in the clothes, made after the same pattern as their fathers’ and mothers’ apparel, would make a striking contrast to the little people of today, with their large collars, and knee pants of the boys, and the furbelows and fancy dress ‘fixings’ of the girls. “The three R’s were the principal branches taught; in fact the only ones. Grammar was an unknown study in the backwoods. One or two little ‘Mannings’ may have studied geography. There were different classes in reading and spelling, and the monotonous round was only varied by an occasional call to help solve some problems in subtraction or long division. In arithmetic each studied by himself and could ‘go ahead’ as fast as he pleased without being kept back by slower ones in the class. “Of course not one of the scholars could have passed a ‘high school’ examination, but the young farmers could ‘reckon up’ the value of their farm produce, read the Bible and weekly newspaper, properly sign all legal documents and spell better than half the high school graduates. “There were none of the modern aids to teachers; even blackboards were not in use in the country schools of that day. There were no normal schools for instruction in the art of teaching; no country or township institutes where teachers could meet and discuss the new ideas advanced in educational lines.” (Weaver, History of Elkhart County, 1916) |
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Prof. E. B. Myers, so long a teacher in the Elkhart city
schools when a boy of ten years was brought by his parents to
the home farm in York Township, where he had a taste of the
county school of those days. He described his boyhood
experiences and observations thus: “My first admission to
one of the ‘log seminaries’ of Elkhart county was in December,
1846. This spacious, well furnished seat of learning stood
in York township, about two miles west of the village of
Vistula. It was built of logs hewn on both sides, the cracks
chinked and daubed with clay (there was no lime for
schoolhouses at that time), a horizontal window on each
of the four sides and a stove in the center. This was an
aristocratic schoolhouse; it had a floor made of boards,
not your rough puncheons so common elsewhere, but nice
inch-boards laid loosely on the rough-hewn sleepers. The
boards were not nailed down, I suppose for two reasons:
because in those days nails were scarce and cost money,
secondly, anything that fell on the floor was pretty apt
to go through one of the many wide cracks and could be
recovered only by taking up one or more of the boards. “The desks of this schoolhouse were marvels of mechanical skill. Two-inch auger holes were bored in the log walls, and large oak or hickory pins driven in, and upon these were laid boards, which were then called ‘writing desks.’ The seats were made of slabs, two legs in each and one in the middle to keep them from sagging when overcrowded. During writing time the pupils all sat with their faces to the wall and the teacher marched around looking over their shoulders, criticizing or commanding as the occasion required. There were no shelves under the desks for books, but what few we had were piled upon the writing desks and around the corners, wherever convenient. “When not writing or ciphering we were expected to sit facing the center of the room, and could then rest our weary backs against the edge of the boards that was called the desk. In front or this and nearer the stove on each side of the room was placed a slab seat for the little folks who did not write. On these benches the little ones were compelled to sit by the hour, swinging their feet and waiting for their turn to be called up by the teacher to ‘say their letters’ or spell their ‘a, b, c’s.’ Books of busy work for beginners were not thought of. “If a child learned his letters first term he was supposed to be making satisfactory progress. Especially was this true if it was a winter term, when the larger pupils were supposed to be entitled to the greater part of the time and attention of the teacher. The range of studies was not very wide. A grammar was not seen in that school till some years afterward. ‘It wasn’t worth nothing but to learn folks to talk proper,’ and so was summarily discarded. A year later I took to the school a copy of Olney’s Geography and Atlas which my oldest sister had used in Chicago. This atlas was very instructive o me in the way of local geography. All that the northern parts of the map of Indiana contained was the word ‘Pottawattamies,’ printed in large letters diagonally across the page. The book undoubtedly saw the light long before I did. As I was the only pupil in the class I was always at the head. The recitations of those days were unique. The first class in the morning was the reading, the highest first and so on to the a, b, c’s. Then followed the writing and the recess. After recess came more work for the little folks, the lowest first, nd closing the forenoom session with the ‘first class in spelling,’ which was always an important event in the each half-day session. “There were no recitations in arithmetic. As the work consisted wholly in ‘doing sums,’ and as there was no such thing as conformity of text books, especially in arithmetic, each person worked away at his own sweet will. Such a thing as an explanation of a subject or principle was not thought of, much less considered necessary. If we couldn’t do the sums we asked the teacher to show us how, but the showing how answered for that case only and gave us but little or no strength to cope with future similar difficulties. “In those days blackboards and dictionaries were unknown in the ordinary country school. The teacher was supposed to know everything and freely gave of his or her knowledge. The teachers of those days never hesitated at the pronunciation of a long word, but spelled it through and gave the pronunciation, which was law and gospel to us.” (Weaver, History of Elkhart County, 1916) |
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Waterford Mills, now a southern suburb of Goshen, was quite
an industrial center and had gathered considerable of a population
by the late ‘30’s. Judge Elias Baker founded the settlement in
1833 by the building of his log cabin and grist mill. Several
families soon settled in that beautiful neighborhood of Elkhart
Prairie, but the place did not show a decided growth until the
coming of the Hawks families. In 1838 David Gallentine and the
senior and junior Cephas Hawks laid out the Village of Waterford.
The milling firm of C. Hawks & Sons had succeeded to all of the
Baker interests. Joel P. Hawks, the youngest son, in after years
became the cornerstone of Waterford Mills, and when the family
interests were transferred to Goshen was, for thirty years, one
of the most prominent citizens of the county seat. Mr. Hawks came to Waterford with other members of the family when he was about thirteen years old, and thus describes some of his early experiences in gaining an education: “The first school I attended in Indiana was at Waterford, in the winter of 1838. The schoolhouse was a new frame affair and had been painted a gorgeous red. William Baker was the teacher. He was a man of superior education for those days, but lacked the adaptability for a teacher. Attention was principally given to the primary classes; to spelling and arithmetic, neither grammar not reading being taught. I suggested to the teacher the advisability of a class in reading, but he could not see the use of it; then stated that if I desired to read he would hear me. Accordingly I stood up alone and read from my old English reader, while the scholars listened. At the conclusion, the teacher remarked that he did not think he could teach me anything in reading, and that was the last that I heard of the matter. This omission was quite general in the schools of that day, and it has shown in later years as the scholars if those days are very poor readers, but fine spellers.” Weaver, History of Elkhart County, 1916) |
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Among the early special institutions of learning in the county
was one a Middlebury. An advertisement in the Goshen Democrat in November,
1847, informs the public that the “Middlebury Seminary,” under the direction
of the Misses Casey, would be opened for young ladies and gentlemen on November
18th, and offered a thorough course of English instruction at a reasonable rate,
Such private institutions no doubt furnished educational opportunities to many
boys and girls of this county from that early day to the present time, and
public education, which in the last century was so materially supplemented
by private enterprise, is not yet so complete and comprehensive as to entirely
displace a school conducted by individuals of certain societies. (Weaver,
History of Elkhart County, 1916) |
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Previous to 1830, when the population of Elkhart County had
reached about 1,000 people, with perhaps 200 or 300 children of school
age...the law [passed in 1824] made the following provisions for
building schools houses: Every able-bodied male person of the age
of twenty-one years and upwards residing within the bounds of such
school district shall be liable to work one day in each week until
such building may be completed, or pay the sum of thirty-seven and
one-half cents for every day he may fail to work.” The same act
describes a school house as follows: “In all cases such school
house shall be eight feet between the floors, and at least one foot
from the surface of the ground to the first floor, and be furnished
in a manner calculated to render comfortable the teacher and pupils.”
The trustees, in lieu of work, were required to receive lumber, nails,
glass, or other necessary materials, at the current price. No funs
were provided for the pay of teachers; so the schools were not free,
but they were made open to all, black as well as white, and it was
ot until about 1830 that colored children were excluded from the
schools, and then the exclusion arose from a prejudice excited by
the slavery agitation. Under the law of 1824 the schools were kept
open just as long each year as the patrons could or would pay for
their maintenance. (Weaver, History of Elkhart County, 1916) |
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The education of the colored children was also provided
for in 1869. As stated in a former part of this work, up to 1830
the colored children were entitled to admission to the public
schools on an equality with the whites. In fact, the constitution
of 1816 provided that the common schools should be open to all,
but in 1830 a prejudice arose against the colored people and it
found its way into the legislation of the state, and into the
schools, and colored children were barred from the right to
participate in what was the common property of all, until after
slavery was destroyed and the colored man became a citizen; then
once more he could send his children to the public schools.
(Weaver, History of Elkhart County, 1916) |
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[An] impediment to popular education, in 1853-54, was
the great deficiency in number and qualification of teachers.
In some townships teachers of no grade could be obtained in
sufficient numbers to supply the schools. But few of the
persons offering themselves for examination could pass
according to law. The scarcity of well qualified teachers was well understood by those who framed the school law of 1852. By its provisions the superintendent was required to appoint deputies in each county to examine all applicants for license to teach, and to license them, if found qualified, for one or two years. The law, however, erected no specific standard of qualification. It left to the examiner the right of determining, at his discretion, the amount and variety of knowledge the applicant should exhibit in order to entitle him to a license. The examiner in each case took into consideration any peculiar circumstances that might exist in the county or township in which the teacher was to be employed. In some counties and in some townships, where schools were few and teachers scarce, and the children few, young and backward, it was found expedient to employ persons to teach who were be no means qualified to take charge of schools in advanced towns. But in this respect the school law changed in 1853. The authority to appoint examiners, by the amendment, was transferred from the superintendent to the county commissioners, and a standard of qualification was determined. The committee on education who prepared the amendatory law, while erecting a standard of qualification for teachers, at which all persons proposing to teach should aim, at the same time made provision to meet the emergencies existing at that time, and authorized a temporary license, at the discretion of the examiners, to persons who might not be able to pass a rigid examination in all the branches constituting the standard. (Weaver, History of Elkhart County, 1916) |
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In Elkhart there seems to be no definite and reliable information
as to when the first school was taught or where or by whom it has
been stated that E. M. Chamberlain taught the first school in 1836.
This seems hardly credible when we think that the town had then been
in existence some five or six years and that already a considerable
afflux of settlers had reached the village. No doubt the school children
of that intervening period had some amount of instruction at a definite
place and with more or less regular sessions. At the same time it is
true that the great educational progress so marked in the city had its
practical inception during the later thirties, and at that time the
pioneer period was largely passed and those in charge began laying the
foundation of the system which we may view with admiration at the present. |
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Several years ago Mr. D. W. Thomas, no beginning
his twentieth year as superintendent of the Elkhart schools,
wrote for publication in the Elkhart Daily Truth a
comprehensive article on the history of the public schools
of his city, and as, coming from such an authority, its
statements must stand as authentic, we herewith quote, with
the author’s permission, the principal portion of that
historical survey as affording the best insight into the
development of the Elkhart city schools.“The first schoolhouse, a one-room, one-story frame building, was erected in 1838 on the east side of Second street, between Jackson and Washington. In 1844 this building burned and a three-story structure at the corner of Main and Jefferson street—then known as ‘Tammany Hall,’ afterwards the ‘Beehive,” now demolished—was used for school purposes until 1848, when another one-story, from building was erected on the original site on Second street. “This building in 1851 was converted into a dwelling house, and 37 years afterwards was removed to a part of the city where its environments are more congenial, but it is still used as a home. “Among those who, in this early day, wielded the birchen scepter may be named E. M. Chamberlain, Sabrina Burbank, N. F. Broderick, Roland Devor, Guy Johnson, Mr. Wales, Mr. Bearupp, R. T. Bozgess, A. C. Case and R. McIllrath. It is now impossible to determine the order or length of time which these persons served as teachers, but it is reasonably certain that F. M. Chamberlain (afterwards judge and member of congress) taught the first ‘pay school’ in what is now the city of Elkhart, and that N. F. Broderick (a man noted for his goodness of both head and heart), taught the first district school in the first schoolhouse in 1838. “In 1841, a four-room frame building was erected at the corner of High and Second streets, on the site of the present school building, and this in turn was destroyed by fire in 1867. “Mr. Chas. JU. Conn, through not teaching continuously during this time, was the leading educational genius. He was a man of wonderfully quick perception and magnetic power, and his methods of instruction were original and peculiar. He conducted his school his school on the ‘high-pressure system,’ taking the pupil in his school who had the greatest ability as his standard and judging all others by it. He imitated no one and no one could imitate him—methods fairly successful with him, with any one else would have proved a dismal failure—he never got in any ruts not permitted his pupils to do so. He would stop the clock, turn it backward on forward, change the order of the program, the time and method of recitation, anything to keep pupils on the qui vive. “As an illustration, one of his recitations in grammar which has been thus described may be given. The pupil in three or four different grades are arranged about the room, who, facing inward, from a square, the teacher in the center. The pupils are divided into sections of nine (more or less according to convenience), and each in turn is given something to recite, a definition, a rule, the analysis of a sentence, or the parsing of a word, and so on to the end of the class. At a given signal all began. Amid this ‘confusion worse confounded’ Mr. Conn stands unmoved making a correction here, a suggestion there, or assigning a new part yonder, with a celerity and accuracy that to the uninitiated is truly astonishing. Mr. Conn’s school labors closed in 1867. “In 1855, the Bodley brothers, who then had charged of the schools, having found a lady in the person of Mrs. A. E. Babb who could teach algebra, literature and French, threw the town into a state of agitation by offering her a position as a teacher at a salary of $30 per month. The idea of giving a woman any kind of position by which she could make $1.50 a day was a piece of extravagance scarcely to be tolerated—but then it is the unexpected that happens, and the world moves nevertheless. Thus popularized Babb taught with success for a time in the public schools, and afterward for several years conducted a private school of her own. “Mrs. Margaret Stevens, one of the four who composed the corps of teachers in 1861, taught in the first primary department of the public schools from that date until 1884, except the four years from 1876 to 1880. Although fro the most part she was required to make ‘brick without straw,’ and although her room was always crowded, sometimes numbering 125 pupils, she filled this important and arduous position faithfully and well. Perhaps no one has ever taught in Elkhart who is remembered more kindly than she. Many of her pupils, now grown to manhood and womanhood, and who yet bear the impress of her kind heart and gentle manners, say ‘Well done, good and faithful teacher.’ |
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“After the destruction of the old schoolhouse in 1867, it was
determined to erect a building worthy of the name and commensurate
with the needs of the enterprising little town. Accordingly in 1868
was completed a four-story brick building at a cost of $45,000.
School opened in this building September 5, with the following
corps of instructors: Valois Butler, Miss Nellie Smith, Mrs. A. M.
Clark, Miss M. A. Bonnell, Miss Rainy, Miss Ostrander and Miss
Hawley. Of these, Miss Bonnell began teaching under Mr. Conn in
1866 and taught consecutively for 16 years. Miss Hawley commenced
teaching in 1868 and is now (1900) completing her thirty-second
year of continuous service in the school room. “The people were justly proud of their new building, but some bewailed such extravagance and claimed with much assurance that the time would never come when there would be children enough in Elkhart to fill the rooms thus provided. However, in 1873, only five years later, it was found necessary to provide more room, and a four-room, two-story brick building was erected in the fourth war at a cost of $10,000. In 1875 a similar structure was erected in the fifth ward. In 1877 John Weston deeded to the city eight lots in northwest Elkhart, with the proviso that a certain described schoolhouse should be erected thereon within a year. In compliance with this agreement a two-story brick (known as the Weston building), containing two school rooms and a recitation room, was erected in 1878 at a cost of $5,000. In the following year (1879) a similar building (the Beardsley) was constricted in northeast Elkhart, In 1875 lots were purchased and a one-story frame was put up in East Elkhart, but the accommodations were soon found to be inadequate and in 1883 a two-story brick building was erected at a cost of $5,500, the two lower rooms only being completed. In the same year the Christian church on Middlebury street was bought for $1,400 and a school opened. |
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“With all these additions there was a demand for more rooms and better
accommodations, especially for the high school. To meet this need,
in 1884 the school board erected an eight-room high school building
on High street, adjoining the Central building on the west; and then
the fourth story, in the now old building which included the high
school room, was abandoned. In the then new building the high school
and recitation rooms were on the first floor, the upper grammar grades
on the second, and the library, museum and superintendent’s office in
the room connecting the old and the new building. The entire cost of
this structure, including the furniture and the steam-heating apparatus
for both buildings, amounted to about $25,000. “In the years 1886 and 1887 two rooms were added to the fourth ward building and two to the fifth ward. Two rooms in East Elkhart were finished and furnished and the Middlebury street schoolhouse remodeled and one room added, the aggregate cost of these improvements being about $12,000. From a sanitary point of view the improvements in 1887 and 1888 are of the greatest importance. “It having come to the knowledge of the school authorities that there was an abundance of pure, fresh air an sunshine going to waste in Elkhart, it was determined to utilize a portion of it for the benefit of the school children. Accordingly arrangements were made and carried into effect for the proper heating, lighting and ventilating of the ward buildings. In the accomplishment of this object, the rooms were reseated, new heaters purchased, direct radiation from stoves cut off, and fresh and foul air flues provided; the blackboards were repaired and new ones made where needed, the schools were furnished with number-tables, from-models and beads, reading charts, maps and globes, supplementary readers, dictionaries and other books for teachers’ desks; some chemical and physical apparatus, quite a number of specimens for the museum, about $500 worth of books for the library, and a very fine telescope purchased form. Prof. H. L. Smith, of Hobart College, Geneva, New York, were added. The cost of these much needed improvements and supplies for the time indicated aggregated about $3,000. “In 1890 two rooms were added to the Beardsley building, at a cost of $3,500, and in 1891 a two-room building was erected at the corner of Cleveland avenue and South Seventh street, at a cost of $5,000. “The dark and poorly ventilated rooms in the Central school building, the crowded condition of all the rooms and especially that of the high school, rendered it imperative that more and better facilities be supplied. To meet this demand, in January, 1893, the new high school building was completed at a cost of $36,000. This is a two-story stone structure, located at the corner of Pigeon and Vistula Streets. The high school assembly room, with a seating capacity of 200, and four commodious recitation rooms, furnished with single desks, occupy the second floor. On the first floor are four recitation rooms, the superintendent’s office and a library room, containing more than 5,000 volumes, selected with especial reference to the needs of students in the high school and the grammar grades. “Besides, a chemical laboratory and biological and physical science rooms have been fitted up with all the modern improvements and the necessary appliances for the teaching of chemistry, physics, physiology, zoology and botany, according to the latest and most approved methods of teaching these subjects. “During 1894 four rooms were added to the Weston building, and the others thoroughly renovated, thus making a good six-room building, practically new. It is supplied with water, wire hat-racks, flush closets, and the Hess system of heating and ventilating, the whole constituting for the money expended the most convenient and the best arranged school building in the city. It cost, completed and furnished, $10,000. Five years later the over-crowded condition of the school rendered it imperative that more room should be provided. Accordingly at the request of the school board and by the unanimous vote of the city council bonds were issued and extensive additions to the fourth and fifth ward buildings were made, and improvements in way of closets, heating and ventilating apparatus in the other buildings amounting in the aggregate to more than $20,000.” The most recent additions to the school architecture of Elkhart is the new Middlebury school, replacing the old frame building. This school, which was to be ready for occupancy by the opening of the fall term of 1905, contains four rooms, is built of brick at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars, and in equipment and general plan is the most perfect of the graded schools of the city. The condition of the schools in 1905 is a matter for congratulation on the part of all concerned. While the only important change made in recent years in the school curriculum has been the addition of a commercial course to the high school, every department of the educational work has felt the stimulus of present-day progress, and in the personnel of instructors, in the character of work accomplished, and the general atmosphere of intelligence, there has been constant improvement. The high school, with its four years’ course, its faculty of ten regular instructors, under Principal S. B. McCracken, is doing work of such character as to obtain affiliation with the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan and Northwestern University. (Deahl, History of Elkhart County, 1905) |
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The grand climax of school construction in Elkhart was the
completion of the splendid new high school, or Central Building,
in 1912, at a cost of $250,000. It imposing colonnaded entrances
both on South Third and West High streets, and occupies half of
a city block diagonally across from the public library. It is a
stately three-story structure, massive in appearance, yet
architecturally beautiful, and it seems more like some important
government building than a schoolhouse. Once within, however, the
visitor sees that nothing in the way of forethought, or expenditure,
has been spared to bring to the advanced pupils of the public school
system every modern advantage of equipment. Manual training, domestic
science, laboratory investigation, business training, the latest in
sanitary precautions, good light, scientific heating and ventilation,
and tasteful and pleasant surroundings are all included in the
educational scheme as worked out in this splendid Central school,
which contains the offices of the city superintendent and is the
headquarters of the metropolitan system of education. |
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Although the Goshen College is controlled by the
Mennonite Board of Education, it “is open on equal terms to all
persons of good moral character who have an aim in live and who
enter their work with seriousness.” To the extent indicated, it
is a public institution of higher learning and is well patronized.
The institution embraces a college of liberal arts, a normal school,
an academy and school of music, business, agriculture and theology.
Summer courses are given in the normal department, in which are
especially taken up domestic science and agriculture for public
school teaching. Goshen College had its beginning in the Elkhart (Indiana) Institute, the first sessions of which were held in the Grand army of the Republic Hall during 1895. Before the end of the first year the Elkhart Institute Association was organized and a building erected on Prairie |