BIO: Rufus DARR, Beaver County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Joe Patterson Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/beaver.html http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/beaver/bios/bbios.htm Index for this bio book. _________________________________________________________________ BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES. This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Ill.: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899, pp. 414-416. _________________________________________________________________ PROF. RUFUS DARR. The public schools are the pride of every community, and from them may be determined the character and enterprise of its citizens. Citizens of an intellectual class and those ambitious for the future of their offspring, always employ the best instructors obtainable, and elevate their schools to the highest degree of efficiency. Thus the residents of Rochester, by securing the services of Prof. Darr, in 1892, took an important step in advancement, the good results of which are evident in the schools as they exist today. He is a man of intellectual attainments, and has passed through the ordeal of practical experience, - facts which place his record as principal above criticism. BEAVER COUNTY 415 Prof. Rufus Darr was born in Rostraver township, Westmoreland county, Pa., and is a son of John Darr, a progressive farmer of that locality. He was reared upon a farm and attended the public schools and Elder's Ridge academy. He then entered Lafayette College and after graduation in 1877, began his career as a teacher, which he has since followed continuously, with the exception of a brief period spent in farming upon the old homestead. Besides teaching for a time, in the public schools, he taught successively at Elder's Ridge Academy, Greersburg Academy, at Darlington, Pa., and for several years at Laird Institute at Murrysville, Pennsylvania. In 1892, he accepted the principalship of the Rochester schools, in which he has since continued to the satisfaction of the board and the general public. He is a man of enterprise, and has introduced new and approved methods of teaching. It is an interesting matter to trace the development of the schools of Rochester from their beginning to their high standard under the present public school system. The public school system of Pennsylvania dates back to the year 1834. Prior to that time schools were maintained only by private subscriptions, and very frequently were held in private houses. Singularly enough, the town of Rochester got its first actual start in that year. Early records show that two plats were made and recorded in 1834, - one by Joseph Hemphill and the other by Joseph Hinds. In this year the canal between Rochester and New Castle was completed, and its effect was to build up the new town, which was then called "Fairport." Three years later an early directory gives a population of two hundred inhabitants. The only school house was a log structure, located on what is now the corner of Jefferson and Connecticut streets. There is no record as to when it was built or by whom. It was occupied as a school building for several years and was replaced by a frame school building now occupied by the Evangelical Association church as a parsonage. Rochester borough was organized March 20, 1849, and its first school board was named at a meeting held in this building, May 22, 1849. The board was composed of William Martin, president; Dr. Thomas J. Chandler, secretary; John Berryhill, treasurer; Robert Smith, George C. Speyerer and John McClung. The first teachers were elected May 31, 1849. They were Philip Grim, principal, and a Miss Rice, assistant. The salary of the principal was $28, and that of the assistant $14 per month. The first term of school began in June of that year. This building was used until 1862, when it was sold, the school board having purchased three lots on Jefferson street, on which a brick building was erected, which was completed in the latter year. It was a four-room structure, but was enlarged in 1868, and again during the "seventies." The steady growth of the town made a second building necessary and it was erected in 1884-1885, on Adams street. In 1891, it was again found necessary to increase the size of the school accommodations, and a four- 416 BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES room addition to the Adams street building was begun, and completed in the following year. The continued increase in population, and with it, a corresponding increase in the number of children of school age, has created a demand for a third building, and during the summer of 1899 the school board purchased two lots on Pinney street, on which a good brick building of modern design will shortly be erected. The town will then be provided with three substantial, well equipped brick buildings, located conveniently for the pupils in the various parts of the borough. The number of pupils enrolled is over nine hundred. The High School department of the Rochester schools was established in 1890, under the principalship of W. F. Bliss. It was begun with a two-years' course of study, which was soon made a three-years' course, as it is at present. The attendance in the High School has constantly increased, until there is an enrolment of over sixty pupils, nearly equally divided between the three classes. The teachers under the supervision of Prof. Darr are: S. C. Humes and Mary Stone (in the High School); and Mrs. E. C. McCoy, assistant principal; Mary Ewing, Kathryn Crane; Wilda Brown; Ada Spratly; Katie Gebhard; Kate Nannah; Kate Torrence; Martha McFetridge; Louise Taylor; Nannie Barto; Annie McCutcheon; Annie Lockhart; Fay Shanor; and Lillie Reno. Prof. Darr married Louisa Kelley, a daughter of John Kelley, of St. Louis, and they have three children, namely: Sarah A.; John; and Catharine D. Religiously, the Professor is a member and elder of the Presbyterian church. Socially, he belongs to the Masonic order.