Maury County TN Archives History - Books .....Educational 1906
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Book Title: Century Review

EDUCATIONAL.



  In the early history of Tennessee provisions were made to establish common

schools through funds from the sale of public land and otherwise: but public

sentiment in the South favored academies, and public schools were treated as

pauper institutions.



  Woodward Academy.-On Nov. 23, 1809, it was enacted that Wm. Berryhill, W. W.

Thompson, L. B. Estes, Isaac Roberts, Wm. Bradshaw, Jos. Brown, Wm. Dooley, and

Saml. Witherspoon be made trustees of Woodward Academy, to be located on the

hill above Burns' Spring, in Columbia. David Wier was first principal, and Dr.

S. P. Jordan took charge in 1821. This institution flourished for many years,

and numerous scholars from Woodward became prominent men here and elsewhere.



  Jackson College.-This institution was chartered in 1833, and located near

Spring Hill. It was organized as a manual training school by Robt. Hardin and

Prof. Wm. L. Williford. The college was removed to Columbia in 1837, where it

prospered under Rev. Jos. Sherman and others until abandoned during the war.

Prior to this time the property, with fine brick buildings that had cost

$30,000, had been purchased by the county Masonic Lodges. The campus was near

the railroad depot. The building was burned in Aug., 1864, by the Federal

troops, who had used it as a hospital. Later the campus was divided into lots

and sold for residential purposes. Benj. Labarre was principal prior to Prof.

Sherman. Dr. Wm. Mack, Prof. Ragsdale, Jos. Crawford, and Benj. F. Mitchell

succeeded. Among the teachers were: J. H. McClary Blair, O. H. P. Bennett, S. W.

Mitchell, David Maxwell, and J. O. Griffith.



  The Columbia Institute for Girls was founded in 1835 by Leonidas Polk,

subsequently Bishop of Louisiana, and Jas. H. Otey, Bishop of the Tennessee

Episcopal Diocese. The elegant building of "English castle" design was completed

in 1838, since which time a chapel and other additions have been made. Col.

Lucius Polk, first president after the war, died in 1870, and was succeeded by

Bishop Quintard, who was president until 1892, when Rt. Rev. T. F. Gailor

became, and still continues, president. Rector F. G. Smith was principal from

1838 to 1852, when he was succeded by Wm. A. Hardin, who continued until the

school was suspended, in 1862. The building was occupied as a Federal hospital,

and was left in a dilapidated condition. In 1866 Rev. Geo. Beckett, D.D.,

revived the school, and became principal. He was succeeded in 1892 by Rev. F. A.

Shoup, D.D., who was a man of scholarly attainments, having long held the chair

of metaphysics at Sewanee University; but death called him to his reward in

1895, his widow continuing in charge until Jan., 1899.



  Miss Mary A. Bryant, the present principal, is a relative of Wm. Cullen

Bryant; was reared in Kentucky; received her early education in Boston; and in

1875 came to Columbia. Here she was connected with the institute as teacher for

fifteen year, subsequent to which she held the chair of psychology at Ogontz,

near Philadelphia, for two years, going thence to Leipsic University, in

Germany, for scientific study under Prof. Wundt. Miss Bryant, remembering her

old associations at Columbia, returned to the institute in 1898, where, after a

year, she was promoted to the principalship: and through her untiring devotion

the school has taken on new life, increased its membership, and is in a

flourishing condition.



  On other pages the health record of Columbia and salubrity of the "Middle

Basin" are shown. The institute is on an eminence, within a five-acre campus of

luxurious foliage and most delightful surroundings. The seasons here are void of

the continued bitter cold of the North or the monotonous relaxation of the Gulf

States. The salubriousness, with the cedar breezes from Maury Co. hills, makes a

stay at the institute as health-giving as a sanitarium, and will keep it well

filled with boarders.



  Museum.-The Museum was donated to the institute in 1878 by Margaretta,

daughter of Capt. Bowles, of Louisville. Ky., who at her death bequeathed an

additional sum of $11,000 to the school. This has recently been expended for

much-needed improvements, making the conveniences complete and the surroundings

unique. In the Museum are rare paintings by such celebrities as Cana,

Gainesboro, Carter, and others, from whom similar works of art have brought

fabulous prices. Here are numerous cabinets of minerals and zoological

specimens, anatomical and botanical rarities, and curios of many kinds, which

add greatly to the otherwise excellent educational advantages of the institute.



  Library.-This contains 11,000 volumes, among which are a large number of very

rare works. The College Preparatory and Academic Departments are conducted on

their excellent merits, rather than an attempt to secure large numbers, it being

more exclusive and better for those who attend to limit the boarders to about

fifty. By this arrangement every facility for special instruction and individual

advancement is attained, and the results made satisfactory to both scholar and

parents. The day school and kindergarten, as a separate department, has an

enrollment of about 125 pupils.







  Tennessee Conference Female College was established in 1851, under the

auspices of the M. E. Church, by Rev. J. O. Church, who secured a patronage of

125 boarders and continued as principal for many years. The frame building was

burned by the Federals in 1862, and later the brick purchased by Smith Bros.,

who conducted the Male High School there for eight years. This became a part of

the public-school system in the fall of 1881, and the structure is known as the

Andrews Building.



  Other Schools.-We shall not attempt to name all of the private schools, as

there have been numerous brief educational ventures. In the early forties

Ravenscroft Male Academy was started by Bishop Otey, opposite the present

McDowell School. Later, S. M. Arnell & Bro. had charge of this for several

years. Ingleside Academy was opened about 1870 by Mrs. S. B. Mack at Main and

Eighth Sts. She continued it, with good success, until induced to merge it with

the Athenaeum, where these educational interests were later absorbed by the

public schools.





  First Colored School.-Shortly after the Federals invested Columbia a colored

exhorter, named Cap. Jordan, obtained permission to teach his race in the old

colored M. E. Church, which stood at Garden and Second Sts. Later, when the

Confederate Army camped here, he was arrested under an old State law which

prohibited a bondman from teaching or receiving education. He was summoned

before Recorder W. J. Andrews in 1864, and sentenced to receive twenty-five

lashes. St. Ledger White, as City Marshal, executed the sentence, although he

says his conscience told him to strike lightly. For this offense against the

fourteenth amendment Messrs. Andrews and White, John Latta, Sr., Wiley George,

and Jack Porter were arrested. They were kept under guard in a rented room for

eighteen days, supplied with all necessities by friends, when they were released

on bail until the case should be called by the Federal Court. It was never called.





  The Athenaeum.-This institution was founded in 1852 by Rev. Franklin Gillette

Smith, who was born Dec. 14, 1797, at Benson, Vt. He was in educational work

from boyhood. He served as principal of the Lynchburg (Va.) Academy for several

years, and while there (1835) married Sarah Ann Davis,, who was a teacher and

continuously a helpmeet to her husband in the Athenaeum work until his-death on

Aug. 4, 1866, subsequent to which she assumed the management, assisted by her

adult children. Rector Smith and wife were held in high esteem, not only by

Columbians, but by prominent educators in distant States, for their

contributions to higher education in the Guardian and other literary magazines

and the excellent reputation which they maintained for the Athenaeum. The

Guardian was a monthly publication started in Columbia in 1841 by Rector Smith,

and continued by himself and family forty-two years; and its bound volumes are

highly prized, not only for their literary merit, but as proof of the good

printing, clean-faced type, and excellent paper that was used, here when freight

came by water to Nashville, thence by wagon to Columbia. Rector Smith and wife

built up a popular school in this place; and any young lady who earnestly sought

an education was assisted to obtain it, whether her funds held out or not.

Although having been born in Vermont, Mr. Smith's views became intensely

Southern; and from his own funds he equipped a company to take up arms for the

Confederate cause. His funeral was under Knights Templar auspices, and probably

more largely attended than any other ever held in Columbia, as he was so widely

known and highly esteemed. The Smith children had been reared in educational

lines; and after the death of Mrs. Smith on Jan. 10, 1871, Capt. R. D. Smith

became principal of the Athenaeum, assisted by Frank H., Dr. Wm. A., and Carrie

as teachers. The Athenaeum maintained its former high standard under Capt. Smith

until, through declining years and much sickness in his family, he decided to

retire from educational work; and a portion of the plant was merged with the

public schools in 1900. The Athenaeum having been designed for female students,

in 1873 Smith Bros, purchased the Female College Building and established a

school for young men.





  Columbia Male High School.- Prof. F. H. Smith was assisted in this by Dr. Wm.

A. Smith, J. S. Beecher, A. Govan Hill, and other teachers. A department was

maintained under the school Act of 1873 at a greater expense than the sum

received, as Prof. Smith was a champion for common education; and when the

Columbia Board of Education was organized, in 1881, Smith Bros, transferred the

building to the public-school system.







Public Schools.-Although numerous Acts had-been passed for the encouragement of

public schools prior to the war, the .cause of common education was held in

disfavor, general sentiment in the South favoring the establishment of academies

and private schools, while public schools were deemed fit only for those too

poor to pay tuition in others. Nashville had a graded public school as early as

1855, but this was the only one in this State prior to the war. At the close of

the great conflict Tennessee reported 70,000 illiterate whites and 300,000

ignorant negroes. In 1865 the Legislature referred this fact to a committee to

report some feasible plan for popular education; and in Mar., 1867, a law was

passed creating superintendents and boards of education; but it met with such

popular disfavor that the report of 1869 showed that thirty-seven schoolhouses

had been burned by incendiaries. Among the pupils enrolled, but one in ten was

able to read; and the law was repeated. The Constitution passed in 1870

reaffirmed the school law, authorizing counties to levy a school tax; but this

privilege was ignored by two-thirds of the counties. Through the Peabody Fund,

donated to the advancement of popular education in the South, means was secured

for the framing of the school law passed in Mar., 1873, by which County

Superintendents are elected biennially and their salaries fixed by the court.

Three directors are chosen for each district, and in cities the number is

regulated in accordance with charter privileges.



report at hand, showed a scholastic population of 776,041, of whom one-fourth

were negroes. The school enrollment was 492,776. The number of districts was

3,044; schoolhouses, 7,274; teachers, 9,-732: value of property, $4,052,881.



  County Schools.-H. T. Gordon served as first County Superintendent under the

law of 1873, succeeded by W. B. Wood, 79; J. B. Erwin, 81: Wood again, 83; W. R.

McKennon, 85: Jas. A. Smiser, 87; Jas. Miller, 89; Jesse Tomlinson. 93; P. W.

Dodson, 97-1906. Prof. Dodson, who is serving his fifth term as superintendent,

was born in West Tennessee in Jan., 1824, but has preserved his mental and

physical faculties so well that he is seemingly younger than many men at sixty.

He attributes his unusual physical vigor for one above fourscore years to

abundance of horseback riding and other exercise, avoidance of the use of

tobacco, spirits, and all excesses. He is a graduate of Yale, class of 1841, and

for forty years past has been teaching in Maury Co. The report for this county

for 1903 showed a scholastic enrollment of 8,309; average daily attendance,

5,076: length of term, 127 clays. The county has about 120 school-houses ; value

of property, $50,000; number of teachers, 173. About one-third of the pupils are

negroes.





  Columbia Schools.-From the time of the establishment of the Male High School,

in 1873, Prof. Frank H. Smith and others continuously advocated the organization

of a public-school system in Columbia; and in 1880 a convention of

public-spirited citizens was called to meet at the courthouse to discuss ways

and means, at which those present were Jas. and W. J. Andrews, S. M. Arnell, E.

Kuhn, S. G. Comstock, E. E. Erwin, W. L. Eddy, J. Gartner, Jas. L. Guest, E. H.

Hatcher, P. H. Southall, Jr., A. W. Stockell, R. D. and F. H. Smith. Theo.

Frierson, Robt. Pillow, and perhaps others, as promoters of the enterprise. As a

result, an ordinance was framed; and June 16, 1881, the Columbia Board of

Education was organized-G. T. Hughes, president; Jas. Andrews, vice president;

W. F. Embry, secretary; Jos. Towler, E. W. Gamble, J. A. Engle, Robt. Pillow,

and E. Kuhn. R. D'S. Robertson was chosen superintendent; and schools opened

Sept. 12, 1881. S. M. Arnell succeeded, 1884: T. B. Kelly, 87; C. M. Charles,

91; J. C. Meadors, 93-94, when the office was abolished. W. E. Bostick became

principal of the white schools, continuing to the present time. Prof. Bostick

was born in Rockingham, N. C., Aug. 12, 1854; attended Trinity College and

Eastman Business College, also taking a course in Webb's School, of Culleoka. He

permanently located in Columbia in 1878: started a grocery store; later was a

partner as Bostick & Cameron; but since 1894 has given his entire time to

educational work. F. W. Williams was born Aug. 6, 1879, 3 l-2 miles west of

Columbia. He attended Howard Institute, preparatory, graduating A.B. from

Vanderbilt in 1902; and has served in the High School ever since, being now

principal of that department. In addition to the principals, there are ten

teachers in the white schools, as follows: Charlotte Wilkins and Kate Bostick,

Grade 1; Addie Simms Bennett, 2; Lucy E. Floyd, 3; Inez Kelly, 4; Ellen F.

Friel, 5; Blanche Scott, 6: Carrie Walker, 7; Mrs. C. W. Mitchell, 8; Mary

Carpenter, High School.



  Prof. J. H. Kelly, who is principal of the colored schools, is a native of the

"Old Bay State," and was graduated from the High School of New Bedford, Mass.,

in 1871, coming to Tennessee soon afterwards to assist in the education of his

race. He has been connected with the colored schools of Columbia for more than

thirty years. He became principal of the colored schools in 1881, and has

continued in that capacity ever since, excepting 1884-7, when W. I. Lewis

served. Prof. Kelly is assisted by six teachers-R. G. Johnson, principal of High

School; Mrs. P. J. Armstrong, Mrs. C. B. Frierson, A. J. Dew, M. A. Bradshaw, M.

E. Kelly.





  Buildings, Etc.-Soon after the board was organized, in 1881, the Smith Bros.

Male High School Building was purchased and renamed the Andrews Building, in

honor of Jas. Andrews, who-was devoted to the cause of free education, and

continued on the board until his death, in 1902. The building and four acres of

ground is valued at $12,000; one of the Athenaeum buildings and four acres of

ground was purchased from Robt. D. Smith in 1903 for $15,000; and the building

for colored schools erected in 1885-6 is placed at $7,000-making about $35,000

as the real-estate value of Columbia school property, while the libraries and

apparatus would add considerably more. The enrollment is nearly 1,000, and, with

the McDowell District (the west-end suburb), would total 1,350.



Board of Education, 1881-1905.

-The following names have served as indicated. * signifies died in office; +

president of the board; # secretary of the board; % Mayor ex-officio:

+* Jas. Andrews, 1881-1902.

Wm. J. Andrews, 83-5.

J. B. Ashton, 93-7, 1901-3.

J. G. Bailey, 88.

A. Barr, 94-1900.

W. M. Biddle, 93-6, 1900-7.

# W. E. Bostick, 1890-4.

% J. F. Brownlow, 1904-5.

% W. D. Cameron, 1900-1,

% J. E. R. Carpenter, 1884.

Jos. L. Cowley, 94-7.

+ Frank Cox, 98-1904, Jan. 8.

J. H. Dugger, 95-6, 98-1900.

W. F. Embry, 81-5.

Jno. A, Engle, 1881.

E. E. Erwin, 86-96, 1904-6.

+ H. P. Figuers, 85-90.

+ W. S. Fleming, Jr., 94-1905.

E. S. Fowler, 95~97-

A. D. Frierson, 83-5, 90-4.

+ Geo. P. Frierson, 87-95.

E. W. Gamble, 81.

R. C. Gant, 87-98, 1901-3.

+ E. H. Hatcher, 81-6.

#% H. L. Hendley, 90-3.

+ G. T. Hughes, 81-4, 86-8.

* E. Kuhn, 81-3.

% T. E. Lipscomb, 94-S, 98-1903.

E. C. McDowell, 88. "

% Jos. Towler, 81-7.

R. M. McKay, 86-8. .

W. T. Naff, 99-1901.

% A. J. Nichols, 95-7.

Jno. A. Oakes, 95, 1901-5.

Lynch Perry, 94-9, 1902-5.

% Dr. Robert Pillow, 81-6, 88-89

Rev. W. A. Provine, 1904-7.

Dr. T. B. Rains, 84-85.

W. J. Strayhorn, 84-6.

+* P. H. Southall, Jr., 86-93.

Jas. P. Street, 85-87.

% T. W. Turpin, 1903.

% Jos. Fowler, 81-7.

* T. W. Turpin, 84.

J. F. Wiley, 94-7, 99-1907.

E. D. Wilson, 98-9.

+ J. T. Williamson, 92.

# C. W. Witherspoon, 92.

J. D. Wright, 85-7.

%# E. Yoest, 86-7, 93, 97-1903.



Additional Comments:
From:



CENTURY REVIEW

1805 - 1905

MAURY COUNTY, TENNESSEE

A Condensation of the Most Important Events of the Past One Hundred Years, and

Descriptive Sketches of the Cities and Villages





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