Caldwell County MO Archives History .....LITTLE BROWN SCHOOL HOUSE IN HAMILTON 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Karen Walker khw4@yahoo.com September 8, 2008, 4:30 pm

THE LITTLE BROWN SCHOOL HOUSE IN HAMILTON
	Narrators:  Mrs. Lottie Anderson and Mrs. Sarah Haggerty

     This name is familiar to people of Hamilton who are in their fifties and 
sixties.  When the north brick was built in 1873 by Professor Ferguson, the 
school board had the building, in which pupils had formerly attended on the 
site of the M.E. Parsonage, moved over to the south side, one block west of 
the Baptist church for the benefit of the little ones on the south side.  This 
at first was big enough to hold four grades, for not so many people lived on 
that side of the railroad.  The first teacher to teach in the school in its 
new location was Miss Anna Smith of Kidder who stayed there for several 
terms.  Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Anderson both recalled her as the first teacher 
and she was good.  It was a worn brown color then hence its name "Little Brown 
school house."  Once it was painted white, but that didn't change its nick 
name.  People still rejoice to tell that they went to it.
     Miss Louisa Leavitt was a favorite teacher in the early 80s and quit on 
account of failing health; she married and died out west.  One of her last 
gifts was a cabinet photo to each family in her room.  She was a sister of 
Elder Leavitt of the Baptist church.
     In 1884, they built an addition on the north to the school, as a wing, to 
make room for the increase of pupils on the south side.  That meant another 
teacher.  During the early 80s, some of the teachers in the little Brown, were 
Sarah Tuttle (Haggerty), Alice Woodford, Lucy Houghton, Jennie Alden, Fannie 
Graer.  About 1886, more room was needed for south siders, therefore the 
school board built a brick two story on the grounds (predecessor to the 
present one) and traded the old frame to the workmen for their pay.  The new 
owners pulled the building apart and made two houses of it, placing them on 
lots back of the present Presbyterian Manse, where they are still in good 
repair, as homes.
     Some of the customs used at the old Brown school, would be quite out of 
fashion now.  They used a primer, they taught children to repeat the alphabet 
by rote, they spelled down for head marks and so many head marks would get a 
reward of Merit card.  They used McGuffey's readers.  A high board fence 
divided the playgrounds of boys from the girls.  Some teachers there even used 
a dunce cap for the lazy student.
     Interviews  1933-4.


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