Preston 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. 230 - 231 Preston County BY ARTHUR W. CARRICO, SUPERINTENDENT The public schools of Preston county have had a steady growth from the time the State was admitted into the Union in 1863, when there were fewer than 25 school houses in the county. There are now 170 school buildings in the county, the majority of which are of frame construction, except those of Kingwood and Terra Alta, which are built of brick and are of modern construction and conven- ience. These two schools employ 13 teachers. Nearly all the school build- ings in the county are furnished with modern seats, and the majority are supplied with maps, globes, mensuration blocks and reading chart's. Seventy-five per cent. have slate blackboards. Recently constructed houses are built with a vestibule or cloak room, and are finished throughout in hard oil. Quite a number of houses have recently been painted with three coats of paint inside and out. All the town and village schools have libraries, and also a small num- ber of district schools have started libraries. The total valuation of all school property in the county in the year 1903 was $150,000. The county expended in the year 1903 for all school purposes ?33,000. The total enumeration of white and colored youths in 1903, was 7,439. Of these 6,033 or 80 per cent. were enrolled in the public schools. The county employs 197 teachers, of whom 78 hold first grade certifi- cates. The average salary for first grade certificate this year (1904) is $36 per month. Of the 197 teachers in the county 38 have been teaching more than 10 years, 28 more than five years, and 30 more than three years. All the schools of the county have a five months term. Teachers' District Institutes have added materially to the educational advancement of our county and are looked upon as indispensable. The natural wealth of the county is just beginning to be developed, and perhaps no county in the State will witness greater advancement within the next five years along educational lines than Preston. It may not be amiss to say that the schools of Preston county are experiencing a season of prosperity, and that they are not surpassed by any schools of similar nature in the State. The list of County Superintendents is large. Among the records may be found the names of James P. Smith, Thos. Fortney, John H. Feather, deceased, Peter R. Smith, now living at Kingwood; W. S. Bayles, Jos. H. Hawthorne, now Circuit Judge in Illinois; Aaron W. Frederick, B. M. Squire, Ben H. Elsey, now teaching in the public schools; Wm. O. Conley, now prosecuting attorney for Tucker County; Lorain Fortney, now Princi- pal of West Liberty State Normal School; Horatio S. Whetsell, editor ot The Preston County Journal, and Frank W. Gandy, now Principal of Terra Alta school's.