Kanawha County Schools, West Virginia This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm History of Education in West Virginia Prepared under the direction of the State Superintendent of Free Schools 1904, Charleston: The Tribune Printing Company, 1904 pgs. 209 - 212 Kanawha County BY M. H. EPLIN, SUPERINTENDENT Kanawha county was a strong free school county. There were some good schools at Charleston as early as 1818. About the year 1829, Colonel David Ruffner donated a lot in Charleston for a church and an academy, and contributed to the erection of suitable buildings. This county, along with other counties, was named in the special act passed February 25, 1845, to establish free schools in certain counties, and. adopted this act in 1847. In obedience to the strong free school sentiment prevailing in this county, its representative in the Legislature, Dr. Spicer Patrick, took an active part in securing the passage of the act afterwards- adopted by this county. Notwithstanding the fact that Kanawha county had taken a leading part in the movement for the establishment of tree schools, and had adopted the act by more than two-thirds of the vote of all qualified voters in the county, before it could be put in operation, strong opposition by large property owners must be met and overcome. In 1853 the firm of Dickinson and Shrewsbury brought suit against James H. Fry, the sheriff of the county, who had levied on the property belonging to this firm to secure the payment of school tax due from it to the amount of $350.82. The suit was decided in favor of the sheriff. Kanawha county is divided into ten school districts, a description of each of which will be found below, commencing with the earliest days of the educational facilities in the county and carried up to the present day. LOUDON DISTRICT The territory, which was laid off on the south side of Kanawha river opposite Charleston some time after the war for a magisterial and school district, is now London District. In that territory there were, or had been, fine old log school houses. At Brownstown, which is now Marmet, the old log school house had rotted down, and the first school taught there after the war was in the Southern Methodist Church. There are now in Loudon District a three-room, graded school at Marmet; a four-room, graded school at Fernbank; a two-room building at Kanawha City; and a two-room building at Lick Branch. There are thirty-three school rooms in the District, and they are fairly well furnished with patent desk seats, blackboards, maps, charts and globes. Total value of school property, $21,450. WASHINGTON DISTRICT In 1865 Washington District had three log school houses, two of them being 15 feet by 16 feet by 7 feet high, built of round logs, a board roof held on with weight poles, chimney built of sticks and mud, and a fire place five feet wide. There was one writing bench ten feet long, and a log was sawed out of the side of the building to give light, the writing bench being used as a shutter for the opening in cold weather. One school house was built of hewn logs, with two glass windows, which was considered a model school house at that time. It was built in 1839, and is now occupied as a dwelling house by S. Pickens. The house is fairly well preserved. Washington District, the smallest in population, now has twelve good framed school buildings, furnished with patent desk seats, blackboards, maps, charts and dictionaries. Total value of school property, $5,322. JEFFERSON DISTRICT Steven Thomas Teays, of St. Albans, gave the following sketch showing how they did things when he was a school boy. The people were most all Methodists in that community, and built a beech log house 40x60 feet, and used it for a church and school house. Mr. Teays remembers seeing more than a hundred horses hitched near the old beech church on various occasions. The people came from Elk river, Coal river and from up and down the Kanawha river, and took part in old-fashion Methodist meetings. Mrs. Joplin taught the first school in the old beech church in 1845, and also taught in 1846 and 1847. A teacher, whose name was Kirkum, taught in 1848. During that year, Teays, then a boy of ten years of age, full of fun, to vary the monotony of a dreary school day, blew the ashes off the top of the wood stove into the eyes of a boy schoolmate, who yelled considerably, and under the excitement, the teacher seized a piece of stove wood and struck Teays a blow on the head, which disabled him for some time. The teacher started for parts unknown, and has not yet returned. Steve's father was away at the time, but his uncle got his gun and started after the teacher, but the uncle soon found that he could not carry a gun and catch a scared teacher who had no gun to carry. Mr. Teays is one of the many good citizens of St. Albans, and is engaged in the mer- cantile business. He still carries the scar made by the teacher Kirkum. There have been great developments in Jefferson District since the days of the old church school house. There are twenty-five framed school rooms in the Jefferson District at this time, and all are furnished with patent desk seats, charts, maps and globes. The school building at Fairview is a four-room framed house, well arranged and well ventilated. Four teachers are employed and there are 118 pupils enrolled. Total valuation of the school property in the District is $8,475. ST. ALBANS INDEPENDENT DISTRICT The school building in the Independent District of St. Albans is a splendid four-room building, with basement and steam heaters. Four teachers are employed, and there are 166 pupils enrolled. Total valuation of school property is $11,510. CHARLESTON DISTRICT Charleston District is one of the smallest in territory, and is back of the city of Charleston. There are twelve school buildings in the Dis- trict, two of which are framed buildings with four rooms; one building with two rooms, and eight one-room buildings. The buildings are fairly well supplied with desk seats and other fixtures. The total value of school property in the District is $11,500. BIG SANDY DISTRICT Big Sandy District has seventeen framed buildings, furnished with patent desk seats and other fixtures. The total value of school property in the District is $5,485. ELK DISTRICT Elk District has thirty-one framed school buildings, furnished with patent desk seats, maps, charts and globes; and also has two rooms rented this year. The total value of school property in the District is $15,352. MALDEN DISTRICT Maiden District has seventeen framed school buildings, with twenty rooms, and one room rented. The school rooms are fairly well furnished with patent desk seats, maps, charts and globes. The total valuation of school property in the District is $9,090. UNION DISTRICT Union District has twirty-two framed school buildings, furnished with patent desk seats and other fixtures. Union is a farming district, and the people seem to take considerable interest in the school work of their district. The school property of Union District is valued at $8,860. POCA DISTRICT Poca District has twenty-four framed school buildings, furnished with patent desk seats and other fixtures. The school property of the District has a valuation of $5,800. The teachers of Poca District met at Sissonsville, October 31, 1903, and organized a very interesting teachers' district institute. The school work of the District is progressing very well. CABIN CREEK DISTRICT Cabin Creek District is the largest in territory and population in the county. It has a larger number of pupils enrolled than twenty-three of the counties. There are ninety-three teachers employed in the District, and there is a growing demand for more school houses and more teachers. A. G. Montague has served as Secretary of the Board of Education from July, 1881, up to the present time, and it requires his entire attention during the time the schools are in session. The school property of the District is valued at $34,200.