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THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN LAKE CHARLES |
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(Transcribed by Leora White, January 2007)
A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master if Arts In The Department of Education
By Leila Aline Scarlett B. A., Louisiana State Normal College, 1931
1938
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The writer wishes to express her appreciation to the following persons for their assistance in the preparation of the study: Dean C. A. Ives, for his advice and suggestions during the preparation; and to the following for their aid in furnishing sources of information: Superintendent Ward Anderson of the Lake Charles Schools, Superintendent H. A. Norton of Calcasieu Parish, and A. M. Mayo. Special tribute is paid to her sister, Mrs. W. V. Carman, for her constant assistance in all phases of the work.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
LIST OF TABLES
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER
I
CHAPTER II
The
Period of Private Education from 1820 to
1890 CHAPTER III Development of Public Education in Lake Charles, 1841-1907
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIOGRAPHY
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE I Members of the Calcasieu Parish School Board, 1841-1860
TABLE II Public Schools between 1871 and 1875 (white)
TABLE III Enrollment in the Lake Charles Public Schools (white)
TABLE IV Teachers and Schools in Lake Charles (white)
TABLE V Length of School Term (white)
TABLE VI Curriculum of the Lake Charles Schools (white)
TABLE VII Events and Administrative Principles of Lake Charles Schools
TABLE
VIII Monthly Salaries of Teachers in the Lake Charles
Schools ABSTRACT
This study attempts to trace the history of education in Lake Charles, Louisiana, from its earliest beginnings until the city system separated from the parish system in 1907. The data were secured from personal interviews, private letters, scrapbooks, newspapers, school board minutes, and reports of the state superintendent of education. The earliest efforts at education were by the private schools of which there were at least thirty - most of them of short duration - before 1890, when approximately all teacher and pupils were absorbed by the growing public school system. The few public schools before the Civil War were one-teacher schools held in rented rooms. Educational activities practically ceased during the War. After the War, the struggle was to create sentiment for schools adequately supported by the public, which culminated in the erection of the first public school building. Also provision for schools for Negroes became necessary after their emancipation. The real beginning of the school system of Lake Charles was with the election of John McNeese as parish superintendent in 1888. His administration of the city schools was characterized by: the opening of the first high school and an increase of public schools to a total of seven; development of teacher certification and provision for teachers training; a continuous and varied struggle for support, partly solved by the three-mill city levy for schools; and the development of the city board as a separate institution.
INTRODUCTION
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to trace the history of education in Lake Charles from the earliest times to 1907, when the city and parish school systems became separate institutions.
Limitations
The history of the Calcasieu Parish Schools is included only when it pertains to the Lake Charles schools as schools of the parish system. The records of the Negro schools are very inadequate; however, some information was obtained and is presented. The study, therefore, deals principally with the history of Lake Charles schools for white children.
Sources of Data
The data for the study were secured from rare and incomplete records. Missing information has at times been supplied by inference from authentic sources. Several elderly teachers and residents of the parish, through personal interviews, furnished information that was used when it could be verified. Private letter were likewise used. The earliest compiled source was the minutes of the Police Jury of Calcasieu Parish, which were on file in the office of the Police Jury. Files of the Lake Charles Echo and the Calcasieu Gazette from 1860 to 1890 proved very valuable sources of information; they were located in the Mayo Abstract Office. The minutes of the Calcasieu Parish School Board prior to 1887 were found in the Echo which was the official journal of that body; subsequently, they were filed in the office of the board. Minutes of the local school board, from the time of its existence, were filed in the office of the city superintendent of schools. The minutes of both boards furnished much of the data for this study. Another valuable source of information was the scrapbook assembled by Miss Maude Reid during the last fifteen years. The remainder of the data was gathered by a close perusal of the annual reports of the Superintendent of Education of Louisiana and of the Acts of the Louisiana Legislature.
Procedure
An attempt was made to select from the mass of information the facts which present as accurate and orderly account of the development of the educational system in the City of Lake Charles.
For the purpose of presentation the data are
assembled in three chapters. The first chapter is a
treatment of the foundations for the school system of Lake
Charles; the second chapter is devoted to private school
within the city; and the third chapter traces the
development of the public school system. Chapter III is
divided into four periods, set up by historical events
affecting school development or by events within the
educational system. For each period, various factors are
treated; they are discussed under separate headings so
that the steps of development will not [be] lost one among
the other. Related Studies
Several studies which in some way pertained to the school system of Lake Charles have been made and reported, principally as graduate research problems. One of the earliest of the studies is Ferguson’s (1) history of the city, which naturally treated the school system as one of the many phases of the city’s development. Bayne’s (2) study of education in the parish dealt with the Lake Charles system in general as included in the parish system of schools. Ulmer (3) gave brief treatment to the Lake Charles schools as one of the many phases of the history of Calcasieu Parish.
CHAPTER 1
FOUNDATIONS FOR THE SCHOOL SYSTEM OF LAKE CHARLES
Lake Charles is situated in the southwestern part of Louisiana, in Calcasieu Parish. The city is on the Calcasieu River, which in its course to the Gulf of Mexico passes through several lakes. On one of these, Lake Charles lies the city of the same name. Since it is on the east bank, its growth has been eastward necessarily. The city is fifty-five miles from the Gulf of Mexico on the south and thirty miles from the Texas border on the west. Probably the first settler in Calcasieu Parish was Martin LeBleu, who in 1781 established his home on English Bayou about six miles east of Lake Charles. (1) The four-room log house he built there is still standing. Mrs. Joe LeBleu, granddaughter-in-law of Martin LeBleu, likes even now to boast about the time when her family was forced to give something to eat to Frank and Jesse James, desperadoes of those days. She tells the story that one of them stood outside on watch while the other ate. And, as if the famous James brothers were not enough in the history of one family, she further tells of the fact that Jean Lafitte made Lake Charles his headquarters for a number of years. His vessels sailed up the deep rivers or silent bayous into sparsely settled districts, hiding for the eyes of the law, while they discharged cargoes of contraband and stolen slaves. He sold two salves to Joe LeBleu’s father and often stayed in his old log barn, possibly because it was easy to guard. (2) Such is the kind of passing tale told of the parish where Lake Charles stands today. The next real settler was Charles Sallier, for whom the city was finally named. He was the first white man to build a home in what is now the city of Lake Charles. His log cabin was located on the bank of the lake on land which was purchased from the Indians. (3) In 1802 he married Carolyn LeBleu, the daughter of Martin LeBleu. They formed the first permanent family in Lake Charles, and have many descendants there. George Ryan, son of Jacob Ryan, states that in 1846 his father built a small sawmill on the lake at the foot of the present site of Division Street. (4) Immediately it was discovered that sawmills would be most profitable on the lake front. The lake provided an excellent place to catch and anchor the rafts of logs as they came down the Calcasieu River, then called the Rio Hondo, (5) and in addition it provided a fine shipping point for the finished lumber. The surrounding territory was rich in yellow pine and other woods. It is no wonder that Lake Charles was a city built of wood. As the city continued to grow, through the lumber industry particularly, the people became more and more dissatisfied with having to make the long hard journey to Opelousas, the nearest seat of government. As official and other business began to grow with the lumber business, it was felt that a parish seat was [needed] near home. As a consequence, in 1840 the General Assembly granted the request of the citizens of this far southwestern part of the state to establish a parish government of their own. Thus Calcasieu Parish was created by an act signed on March 24, 1840. (6) On the same date the first police jury assembled at the old Arsend [Martin] LeBleu home. For the first parish seat, they selected a place on Comasque Bluff, which they named Marion. (7) In 1852 the parish seat was moved to the settlement on Lake Charles, (8) which by the time had become the largest in the parish. Long before, this site on the lake where Charles Sallier lived had become known at wayfarers as “Charles’s place” and Charlie’s lake.” But during the time the parish seat was at Marion, it was called Charleston. (9) On October 4, 1850, [a] post office had been established for this area under the name of Lake Charles. (10) Therefore, the police jury naturally accepted the name Lake Charles. (11) Soon a little cluster of houses grew up around the courthouse and the Ryan sawmill. Two or three stores were built, and now [and] then a schooner stopped at he little community in the backwoods settlement. The only professional man in the community at the time Lake Charles became the parish seat was Samuel Adam Kirby, who, before 1824, had come from Vermont. He was a man of considerable legal prominence and could sometimes be persuaded to drop his farm work to unravel some problem of law; naturally, be alone held the practice of Calcasieu Parish. In 1855 there came to Lake Charles a man who proved to be one of the most important citizens, Captain Daniel Goos. (12) At the time of his arrival, there were six other families in the settlement; the Salliers, Kirbys, Ryans, Hodges, Pithons, and Bilbo’s. In Lake Charles today there are important streets named for each of these families, and a whole section of the named for Captain Goos. (13) The new settler soon established a sawmill, which sliced the logs into a strip with the bark adhering to the sides. This kind of lumber brought $18.00 in gold per thousand feet. As the only chance to reach the outside world was by water the river and the lake the wise old pioneer naturally extended his activities to schooner building. The Goos fleet of schooners, tugboats, and steamboats soon became large and important. Captain Goos was the most important man in the settlement and he had unbounded energy and interests in this town where he established himself and he worked hard for it until the time of his death in 1898. With the coming of Captain Goos, the industrial life of Lake Charles began. The increasing productions of his sawmill and that of Jacob Ryan caused a considerable trade to spring up between Lake Charles and Galveston about 1858. (14) Schooners were the means of transportation; they carried lumber away and brought back goods to be retailed by the merchants. The freight charges of these cargoes were so low that the merchants of Lake Charles soon gained an advantage over all the communities within the section. People from the backwoods who had been accustomed to making the long trip to Opelousas for their yearly supply of goods now turned to Lake Charles. Thus, during the later fifties, Lake Charles changed from a frontier hamlet to an enterprising village with a population of between three and four hundred people. By 1857 (15) Lake Charles was ready for incorporation. The town seemed to be on the threshold of great prosperity, both on account of its ideal location on an artery of trade and of the rich surrounding territory, which was good for rice, lumber, cattle-raising, and , as was later found, oil. At this period, however, came the call to arms in the War for Southern Independence, and it was not until 1867 (16) that the town was incorporated. By the close of the year 1870 the population of Lake Charles had increased to about seven hundred. The reason for this sudden growth was the revival of interest in the lumber business after the war. The ideal location of the town and the lake was particularly attractive to men of this vocation. The first influx of Northerners and Middle Westerners came at this time, and it was their coming which differentiated Lake Charles from the rest of Southern Louisiana. It became predominantly Middle Western instead of Louisiana French. In the years from 1865 to 1876 the foundation of Lake Charles future prosperity was laid. It was a period characterized by the increasing hum of the sawmills. In 1876 there were in the town twelve sawmills in addition to many logging companies, all of which provided quite a large pay roll. (17) Communication with the outside world was maintained for the most part by the schooners which came in to take the sawmill products away. The stagecoach line was established a short time before 1869. This ran from Niblett’s Bluff, over the Old Spanish Trail, to New Iberia and made an overnight stop in Lake Charles. The government used it for the transportation of the mail. The services must have been unsatisfactory; however, for an item in the local newspaper (18) stated that no mail had been received in seven weeks. Usually the mail for Lake Charles was sent to F. W. Moeling in Galveston, who forwarded it to Lake Charles on the first schooner coming to this port. Such conditions were certainly the first steps in the evolution of railroad transportation for the new town. During the period from 1876 to 1881 the old ox carts gave way to smart carriages for travel and the stagecoach was superseded by the railroad. The comment of the people with respect to the new railroad, which was steadily creeping toward Lake Charles, showed how this means of transportation well satisfied a long-wanted need. The Echo, March 26, 1880, stated: “Everyone feels like shouting! At ten o’clock this morning the gap in the railroad between Lake Charles and Orange was closed. Lake Charles is now connected with Houston and all parts of the world. It is almost too wonderful to be true.” The trip from New Orleans to Houston could then be made in twenty-four hours. (19) On August 31, 1880, the first through train from New Orleans to Houston was run. (20) The railroads gradually absorbed the schooner trade but shipbuilding continued. The excellence of Lake Charles ships had drawn business from far-away places. J. J. Clooney made large contracts with Mexican ship owners, which kept his force busy. (21) The year 1879 brought Leopold Kaufman (22) who proved to be one of the greatest benefactors of the Lake Charles schools. He states that:
By 1879 Lake Charles had started to show some progress, but still retained back woods atmospheres. All of the stores sold anything that a customer might desire. The town had approximately six hundred people. The first National Bank was the only bank in town and its transactions were confined almost entirely to the owners of the lumber mills. The present site of the bank was occupied by a livery stable. Just north of the bank was a large cornfield. Back from Ryan Street, about a hundred feet, stood an old wooden building which was the town’s hotel. There were two or three stores, one of which had a boardwalk extending across the front. The courthouse which stood nearly in its present location was a medium sized frame building. The residential section was centered about Ryan Street and almost in the shadow of the sawmills. These were in what is now the northern part of the city.
The settlement was primitive but L. Kaufman thought he saw signs of promise and he remained. At least, he had enough faith in the place to invest in real estate; soon he became one of the largest property owners of the town. Later, when taxes were to be voted for the maintenance of schools or for improvements of any nature, it was the vote of the Kaufman property that assured an issue. Fortunately for the schools, L. Kaufman was always on their side; not only did his taxes make up the largest part of a bond or tax issue, but he was influential enough to persuade other property owners to his point of view. Thus, it has been that no school tax or bond issue has ever failed to carry in Lake Charles. The period from 1880 to 1890 is largely characterized by what is known as “The Northern Immigration.” Immigrants from Kansas, Nebraska, Vinton and Iowa, they gave the names of the sections from which they came. Lake Charles received a large number of these people, which accounts to an extent for the northern atmosphere in the city today. Always Calcasieu Parish had been emphatically a white man’s parish, the ratio of whites to blacks having been about 7 to 1. After this immigration it was not only white but also northern white. The population of Lake Charles increased more than 400 percent during this period. At the beginning of the decade there were less than 800 inhabitants in the town; at its close there were more than three thousand. (23) No other city in the state grew as fast as this. Perhaps this accounts for the fact that Lake Charles is commonly known as a “new town.” Before the coming of the northerners and the railroad, Lake Charles had been primarily a lumber and sawmill town; afterwards, it soon had a large and varied number of industries which made growth possible despite the deceasing production of sawmills. Rice production and the raising of cattle, fruits, vegetables, and general farm produce were all brought to points of successful development. The best evidence of the profits from rice alone in Calcasieu Parish is from an account in the Echo, “The fact is that for three years past the crop has increased annually one hundred percent - the crop of 1878 doubling that [of] 1877, that of 1879 doubling that of 1878, and that of 1880 doubling that of 1879. The same enormous increase promised the crop of this year.” (24) Also, much of the new growth of the city during this time may be attributed to the influence of an easterner, J. B. Watkins. Through his work and enterprise Lake Charles began to develop into a real city. He began an extensive campaign of advertising, for which special purpose he founded a newspaper in Lake Charles. This paper, the American, was always very florid in its description of the Calcasieu country. In addition to the distribution of many pamphlets, circulars, and other forms of advertising, forty thousand copies of the American were published monthly. These were sent to the middle, western, and northern states and, also, Canada and Europe. (25) It is said that Watkins spent two hundred thousand dollars, (26) at that time in advertising Calcasieu Parish, making Lake Charles the best advertised city in the United States. He invested especially in land, being one of the greatest property owners in the section. Through him the grounds for the Central Grammar School (27) and for the High School (28) buildings were made possible; he sold the land for both places at prices so reduced that it was almost given away. Lake Charles was distinctly on the boom at the close of 1888. In that year the Echo (29) said of the industrial and agricultural resources of the section: The principal industry up to the present time has been that of lumbering. The immense pinery which covers an out about sixty percent of our territory is an almost inexhaustible source of the very best quality of yellow pine timber. The next most important industry is that of stock raising, which is developing rapidly and promises in a few years to rival our lumber interest …. Rice, cotton, corn, peas, potatoes, and cane are the principal field crops while fruit and vegetables of all kinds are raised in abundance. Between 1890 and 1900 Lake Charles passed from its status as a country town to that of a small city. It more than doubled its population and became more than doubly important as the financial, industrial, and agricultural metropolis of an increasing territory. The following is an evaluation of its progress as given in 1890:
Lake Charles is the largest town in Southwest Louisiana. Previous to the war, it was only a village of one or two stores, a crude sort of Court house, and a log jail. New stores were added after the war, and as the superior merits of Calcasieu Lumber became known, it began to assume important [importance] as a business center, and today has a population somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 people and all are engaged in milling, merchandizing and all other pursuits that men follow in making a living. Northern capital in the last few years had found out that here is a good place to invest its surplus capital, and Lake Charles numbers among her staunches citizens’ today Northern men who were attracted here by the superior location and soil for which this parish is noted. Lake Charles has ten large sawmills, three shingle mills, an ice factory, a rice mill, two shipyards, seven hotels, two banks, one large opera house, two machine shops and about 50 miles tram road of narrow gauge that is used in carrying logs to the lake and the river. All lines of merchandise are represented here. (30)
In March, 1890, the Lake Charles Echo was sold to a stock company. (31) Few papers have played as large a part in the development of a town as this paper has played in the making of Lake Charles. The editor, Captain J. W. Bryan, who had once a private school in Lake Charles, fought strenuously for whatever he believed to be right, and most especially for the public schools of the city. To him alone goes much of the credit for establishing and popularizing the public schools. As will be noted later, the steady growth and development of Lake Charles did not at first include the public schools, for the first public school building for this purpose was not erected until 1890. Such have been the founding, rise, and growth of the City of Lake Charles in the far southwestern part of Louisiana. Founded on lumber, it has grown to rely upon various industries. By location it is part of a state in the Deep South; yet by racial content it is not part of a state in it. Inaccessible for many years, it is yet removed from many other centers. These were the foundations of the school systems of Lake Charles which are treated fully in the following chapters.
CHAPTER II
THE PERIOD OF PRIVATE EDUCATION FROM 1820 TO 1890
Colonization in America by any of the Latin countries of Europe was always attendant with, and in most cases preceded by, the advent of the priests for the purpose of spreading religion, especially, and education, incidentally. In the Louisiana Territory and more particularly that part which retained the name of the whole, it was through the efforts of the French and Spanish priests that any kind of schooling, formal or informal, was brought to the children of the pioneers. Since the desire for education is ever present in all civilized peoples, it is not surprising to find that, in addition to the priests, private teachers soon arrived in Lake Charles. They came from France, Germany, England, and the New England region. Instruction by these “Tutors” and “governesses” as they were termed was given in the home; naturally it was limited to the children of the more affluent families. The next step in this educational development was the cooperation of two or more families in employing a “Master.” The master taught in the home of one of his employers. The contribution of this type of education is not to be underrated; the masters were influential and important people in the small community and their knowledge and education were greatly respected. Out of the privately-employed master system grew the private educational institutions, with stated fees for instruction, for the masters soon began to set up their own schools. They selected their homes or available small buildings for centers and solicited pupils for their privately-owned schools. By 1820 this method of education, which was spreading throughout Louisiana and the surrounding regions, was being reflected in Lake Charles.
Rigmaiden as Master
The first formal school of any kind in Lake Charles was taught about 1819 in the home of the old pioneer, Jacob Ryan. The classes were composed of his children and those of his sons-in-law, Henry Moss and Pierre Vincent. (1) The school was conducted by Thomas Rigmaiden, a young and cultured English gentleman who had come from Virginia to work in the Ryan sawmill. After working at the mill all day, Rigmaiden taught the children their A B C’s and slightly more advanced work at night or in the late afternoons. Life at that time in the new and raw community was so full and hurried with the mere existence and living of the new citizens that not much time could be spent in going to school. Eating and housing had to come before education. (2)
The First School Building
The next school in Lake Charles of which there
is any record was in 1820. Also it appears to be the
first school taught in a separate building. Its
description, as preserved by a citizen of those days, is
as follows: In the 1820’s Samuel Adams Kirby taught in a crude one room building made of logs and floored with the dirt where it was built. It was the task of the children to go to the lake each morning for water with which to sprinkle the floor. After that it was swept. This process made it as hard as concrete, almost. There were fourteen children in all who attended this first school. And this was the entire number in the settlement, who were old enough to go. (3)
This first schoolhouse was built on the property of Samuel Adams Kirby. It was made of squared logs, and the cracks were chinked with mud. The children sat on solid homemade benches. The only textbook of which there is any mention (or memory) was the old blue backed speller. At this time, as well as many years later, a teacher’s ability was measured by his power to maintain discipline, mostly with a good stout birch rod. Discipline was the thing that all parents demanded, and the children usually received it. (4)
Lake Charles Male and Female Academy
Neither the memory of old citizens nor the records extant give any further light on the schools until 1857. However, it is not too much to presume that some system of private schooling persisted, for the Bryan School, which opened in 1857, certainly had a full attendance. J. W. Bryan, who had given instruction in the homes of several parents, had been so successful that in 1857 he opened a school of his own, for boys only. (5)
His school house, rather school room, was the
same building Samuel Adams Kirby taught in on the old
Kirby property just east of what is now the Central Fire
Station. Bryan closed his school in 1861 and organized
the Militia of Calcasieu Parish. When the Civil War ended
he returned home and resumed teaching.
Lake Charles Male and Female Academy
The present session began Monday, September 23, 1867, and will close about the last of July, 1868. Charges in specie or its equivalent in currency, payable monthly. Board and lodging and washing per month for children $8.00. For young men and ladies $9.00. Tuition in English department $2.00. Students furnish their own bedding, lights, soap, table and toilet napkins. Strict attention paid to moral instruction. (6)
The school building was also the owner’s residence and he boarded the pupils who came in from the surrounding country. In September, 1868, he added the word “Private” to the name of the school, (7) and in March, 1869, employed a lady teacher for the girls. (8) In August of the same year, (9) Mrs. Bryan opened a mercantile business which occupied so much of his time that he was compelled to employ a man to do the teaching. However, he continued to act as principal. Thus the school opened September 13, 1859; the change is described as follows:
The instruction of pupils will be conducted exclusively by W. R. Ruthland Esq. but J. W. Bryan (former Principal) will exercise a personal supervision over the system of tuition and discipline of the students and will frequently visit the pupils at the Academy for that purpose. (10)
The academic year was divided into two sessions of five months each, the first to end the last of January, and the second, the last of June. In 1871 Mr. Bryan became editor of the Echo. This newspaper and his mercantile business required all of the time he had, and so he closed the school that year, 1871. (11) Miss Delia K. Singleton, who was the female teacher in the Academy, and J. W. Bryan were married September 9, 1869, (12) and Mrs. Bryan gave up teaching. Her daughter, Miss Lea Bryan, states however, that as soon as her first child was old enough to attend school she began to teach again. She taught all her children and with them the children of other families. At first she taught at her home, but as her children grew older and her class increased, she taught in a small, old unpainted building on the east side of Cole Street near Iris Street. (13) This continued until September, 1888, on which date she opened her school in the Marsh building because the little house on Cole Street would no longer accommodate all the pupils. She continued to teach in this school until the erection of the public school building, at the site of the present Central School, in 1890. The Lake Charles Echo of September 1, 1888, carried the following:
School Notice - I urgently request that scholars meet me in the afternoon sessions to be held two weeks before the regular opening of my school. These sessions are for examining and classing pupils and other preparation which creates the usual delay and confusion at the beginning of school sessions. This work will begin September 3rd and regular opening will take place September 17th. We will occupy the Marsh School House on Ryan Street just below the Baptist Church. Tuition: $2.00 per month. Miss Rose Allen of Orange, Texas, who comes highly recommended, will assist.
Mrs. Dick Gunn states that Mrs. Bryan was very religious and had a wonderful and lasting influence on her pupils. Mrs. Gunn also states that Mrs. Bryan used unique methods to impress ideas. She recalls a device used to eliminate the much used word “can’t.” The teacher lined up all the pupils, marched them out into the yard, and made them walk around a hole dug in the ground. As each pupil passed the hole, he or she pretended to drop something. When all had dropped the imagined object, Mrs. Bryan stooped and filled the hole with dirt. Then she said, “Now we buried “can’t.” Mrs. Gunn says that this word was never used in that school again. (14)
Lake Charles Seminary
The Lake Charles Seminary opened in November 1860, and probably closed in 1861. George Ryan, (15) resident of Lake Charles, stated that he attended this school during the 1860-1861 session. The status of the school is given by the following advertisement in a paper of the parish:
Lake Charles Seminary
The exercises of this Institution commenced on the 1st Monday in November under the sole management of the undersigned, with the assistance of competent Male and Female instruction. Having been a teacher by profession for many years, not only of advanced students by also of beginners in the paths of learning, he believes he can give entire satisfaction to all who may favor him with their patronage.
Courses of Studies
1st Class Reading, writing, spelling, mental arithmetic, per session of five months, $15.00.
2nd Class Reading, writing, practical arithmetic, grammar, geography, history, philosophy, physiology, $20.00
Text Books
McGuffey’s readers, Ray’s arithmetic, Smith or Butler’s grammar, Mitchel’s geography, Worchester’s history, Parker’s philosophy, Miss Swift’s physiology.
3rd Class Reading, writing, practical arithmetic, grammar, ancient geography, ancient history, chemistry, algebra, geometry, trig., surveying practical and theoretical, analytics shades and shadows and perspective, moral and mental philosophy, geology, mineralogy. Also Latin and Greek. $25.00.
Text Books
For Latin, Could Adam’s grammar, Reading books, regular course -Authors immaterial. Greek - Fisk’s grammar, Reading regular courses Authors, Similar everywhere. Sciences-Such as can be most easily obtained as they are taught mostly by lectures. Mathematics - (Davies’ Course), surveying (Grammar) is preferred, geometry (Davies’ Legrende), Moral Philosophy (Poley or Cobe) Mental philosophy (Abercrombie) political economy (Votel), rhetoric (Whatley), logic (Hedge & Whatley), astronomy (Burret’s geography of heavens), botany (Mrs. Lincoln).
Arrangements have been made to board any number of students here that may attend, either male or female. As soon as a class of eight can be formed in music, a music teacher will be employed. Every facility will be had in this school for acquiring a practical knowledge of the sciences and mathematics and the Principal trusts that he will prepare his school with every means of Instruction that his Institution may find a liberal support in the adjoining parishes. Board, washing, and lodging per month (lights and fuel included), $12.50.
Discipline
As schools should cultivate not only the intellectual, but also the moral powers, my system of discipline is to implant in the minds and hearts of my students a high sense of honor, a just appreciation of the intention of all laws and a proper regard for the powers that be. Hence, insubordination has never existed in my schools and confidence reigns between teacher and pupils. Public lectures by the principal will be delivered weekly. Vocal music daily. Composition and declamation strictly regarded.
D. A. Bland, Principal Lake Charles, LA. (16)
George Ryan states that D. A. Bland did not teach reading, writing, and arithmetic to the tune of a hickory stick; he does not recall a single time that any child was corrected. He says that Bland controlled them by making them love him. (17)
Mrs. Harrington’s School
During the Civil War, Mrs. Joe Harrington taught in a building located on the Ryan property at the northeast corner of Broad and Bilbo Streets. George Ryan recalls that he attended this school after the Lake Charles Seminary closed. He further states that, to his knowledge, it was the only school operating during the period 1861 to 1865. (18)
Lake Charles Male and Female Institute
In 1868 Reverend M. Scarborough, the Baptist minister, opened a school in the Masonic Hall which, at that time, was also used by him as a church. He came to Lake Charles with the best of recommendations as a gentlemen and a very able teacher. Reverend Scarborough had hopes of eventually presiding over a college in which all the higher branches would be taught. (19)
This school went out of existence in the summer of 1870 when the minister transferred to a church in another community. Ben Harmon, a resident of Lake Charles, says that he attended this school in 1868 and that the Friday programs were excellent - the whole town “turned out” to see then. (20). The following advertisement indicates the length of term, expenses, and policies:
The exercises will open on the first day of September next, for a term of ten months in the lower department of the Masonic Hall. A very suitable location. It is out of the business part of town and in full view of the residence of the principal.
Terms
Primary Department $2.00 Academic Department $2.50 to $3.00 Board and Tuition $10.00 Board and tuition due monthly. Students received at any time and charged to end of session. No deduction except in protracted sickness. Students to furnish own bedding, lights, bowls and pitchers, towels, looking glasses, etc. Those having books to purchase will please consult the Principal before buying. Patrons are invited to attend Friday evening exercises after first quarter. (21)
Lake Charles Academy
Reverend L. I. Daves, assisted by his wife, (22) opened the Lake Charles Academy in September 1870 and continued to operate it until April 1873. (23) John R. Poe, (24) a resident of Lake Charles, attended this school. Classes were held on the lower floor of the Masonic Lodge, which building occupied the lot where the present Temple stands. According to Mr. Poe, there were no grades in the same sense in which the schools are divided today. Pupils might take any subject they wished, and as a variety of textbooks were used, instruction was an individual matter. Reverend Daves, being a Methodist minister, was subject to the will of the Conference, and so he had to leave Lake Charles and the Academy when he was assigned to a church in another community.
Educational Services of S. O. Shattuck
S. O. Shattuck came to Lake Charles in 1869. (25) He taught at Lake Charles and in different parts of Calcasieu Parish from that date until 1884. (26) According to Mr. Shattuck, rural schools in the early seventies were in session for only six months of the year - the time between crops, three months in the spring and three months in the fall. However, an effort was made to compensate for some of the teaching time lost by opening the classes very early in the morning and teaching straight through the day until dark. He said that the school day of the children of the pioneers was referred to as lasting from “can see” to “can’t see.” The following is his enthusiastic description of a drill that was given in writing, using for an example the capital letter N: “It was worth going miles to hear. The teacher would say, ‘Repeat in unison: N begins at the writing line, carry it up to fifth space, bring it down to the writing line and give it a rolling pass.’ Oh! They were beautiful!” (27) In September 1879, S.O. Shattuck took charge of the discipline of the Lake Charles Institute for Male and Female while the principal, S. D. Reed was electioneering. (28) In December 1879, when Reed was elected District Judge, (29) S. O. Shattuck became principal of the school, (30) but in September 1880, he opened a private school on the Lake front, just beyond the Barbe place. (31) With respect to the schools at that time, Mr. Shattuck relates:
The method employed in those days to organize a school was simple. We would just call on each family individually to ascertain the approximate number of children that would attend the school. In this manner we would determine just how much to charge for each. This however, never exceeded $2.00. Now, as to how we teachers received our pay is another question. I remember well, for quite a period, when I had a splendid enrollment of pupils, the only families that paid money were the Barbe and Moss families. The others paid me with whatever they had in surplus, such as sweet potatoes, corn or other products. In some cases we had no great need for money and made a very comfortable living. Money was a scarce article in those days, which is easily accounted for. For instance, even the men who made logging a business were advanced provisions by the mills. (32)
McClelland School
Mrs. M. A. McClelland, as related by her daughter, conducted a school in her home which is the present Holloman residence, on the north side of Iris Street between Kirkman and Common. Here from the fall of 1874 to the summer of 1881she taught about fourteen children. From September 1881, to the summer of 1882, she taught about twenty children in an old store on the corner of Front and North Court Streets. (33) In 1875 Mrs. McClelland was reported by the Superintendent (34) as one of the teachers employed in Lake Charles. Ben Harmon, a resident of Lake Charles, sent his two oldest children to her school in 1879 and he tells that they made remarkable progress - “They received a much better start than my younger children who attended a more modern school.” (35)
Mrs. Theodule Landry’s School
On March 14, 1874, (36) Mrs. Theodule Landry advertised that “she had opened a private school for girls in Lake Charles. Tuition in French and English. Terms $2.50 per month.” She taught in a small house formerly used by Captain Bryan on Kirby Street, just east of the Central Fire Station. (37) This school was of sufficient importance to be reported by the State Superintendent in 1874, (38) as follows: “Mrs. Theodule Landry, at Lake Charles, has a fine private school, and is highly esteemed as a teacher.”
Mrs. Lize Landry’s School
According to her niece, Sister Hyacinth of the Lake Charles Academy, Mrs. Lize Landry opened a school on South Court Street in the fall of 1874. (39) Of this school, the Superintendent said in 1875: (40) “Mrs. Lize Landry and Mrs. E. F. Dade conduct the flourishing schools of Lake Charles. Both teachers and schools are necessarily popular.” In 1875 Mrs. Lize Landry added needlework, embroidery, and other fine arts for young ladies to her curriculum. The Echo (41) calls special attention to the advertisement by Mrs. Lize Landry, which follows:
Private
School by Mrs. Lize Landry, Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Tuition in French and English. Geography, History, and
lower Branches of Mathematics, Private Lessons in needle
work embroidery etc. Terms, $2.50 per month, payable at
the end of each month. Apply at the office of Louis
Leveque, Esq. Mrs. Lize Landry was a highly accomplished and experienced teacher and her school was well patronized. (42) In August, 1876, (43) she began to charge fifty cents per month extra to pupils who took lessons in French. This school closed permanently in May 1877. (44)
Dade and Kearney Schools
In September 1874, (45) another of the many privately owned schools was organized by Mrs. E. F. Dade, a graduate of Winston-Salem College. She taught both boys and girls. Her terms were $1.50 a month in the primary department and $2.00 in the grammar department. Since she lived with relatives, she did not board pupils but she found places for them at from eight to twelve dollars per month. (46) She did her first teaching in the small log cabin on Kirby Street formerly used by Captain Bryan. The land on which the cabin stood had been donated by Samuel Adams Kirby for a public school, with the reservation that it was to revert to the heirs if not used for the specified purpose. The small building was used by many, free of charge, in which to teach private schools. Mrs. Dade’s daughter states that in the summer of 1876, after the death of Samuel Adams Kirby, Mrs. Mary Kirby Howard asked Mrs. Dade to pay rent for the use of the building. Mrs. Dade then jointed Mrs. Kearney. In 1876 (47) Miss Maggie R. Kearney, daughter of Judge A. J. Kearney, opened another of the small schools that were helping at that time to make Lake Charles a real educational center. She and Mrs. E. F. Dade pooled their interests in 1877. Their term closed with a public exhibition Friday night, July 6, (48) which was thus described:
The house was crowed with visitors and the verdict of approbation was unanimous, emphatic and sincere. Indeed we do not remember to have witnessed before such a high degree of proficiency in rhetorical exercises in pupils so young. (49)
The summer vacation had been for six weeks only. (50) Mrs. Dick Gunn, a resident of Lake Charles, attended this school, which she says was located on South Court Street near Front Street in the upstairs of an old two-story dwelling. (51)
Eady School
J. H. Eady opened a private school in the Masonic Hall in April 1874, (52) when Reverend Daves left town. He was well qualified for his position but did not meet with the success of his predecessor.
Spencerian School of Writing
It is recalled by Mrs. J. A. Bel (53) that writing schools were very popular in the seventies and eighties and were well attended. The writing teacher taught for a few months in one community, then moved to another. A person’s education was judged by his writing. Many people who read poorly wrote beautifully. The Spencerian School of Writing operated for a short period. The classes were held in the courthouse. A notice in the Echo carried this information:
Prof. W. R. Laughlin will open a writing school here next Monday, in the upper story of Court House, or Temperance Hall. He teaches the Spencerian system of penmanship, now in general use and has certification of his ability and good character from the leading citizens and officials of various parts of Texas, from Big Woods in our parish where he recently had a class of 22 scholars. Everybody is invited to inspect the school daily, and to call on the professor in person before and after school opens. He can be found at the residence of Mrs. John McCormick on Pujo Street. (54)
A later report was to the effect that Laughlin’s writing school was quite a success. In addition to the twenty-two day pupils he had organized a night school. (55) In 1881 (56) Laughlin returned to Lake Charles and opened a writing school at the former residence of Mrs. Hayes, near the Courthouse Square.
Lake Charles Male and Female Academy
One of the outstanding schools of the seventies was the Lake Charles Male and Female Academy opened by Captain O. M. Marsh, August 30, 1875, in the Masonic Building. (57) Captain Marsh came to Lake Charles from Lafayette Parish with an excellent reputation as a gentleman and as an educator of youth. (58) His daughter, Mrs. Grant Mutersbaugh, states that he was a graduate of Norwick University in Vermont. (59) He advertised (60) that all branches of a thorough English education would be taught and that special attention would be given to higher mathematics. Lessons were given in the languages also. Soon after work was resumed, following the two-week Christmas holidays, Captain Marsh opened a night school, which was announced as follows:
Capt. O. M. Marsh, Principal of the Lake Charles Male and Female Academy, requests us to announce that he has just opened (at the Academy) a course of night lessons in book-keeping. The pupils of the Academy will be taught gratis. Other young gentlemen may attend the night sessions $1.50 per month. Bookkeeping will be taught on Monday and Thursday nights commencing at early Candle light. (61)
The second session of the Academy opened August 21, after a short vacation of six weeks. (62) In 1878 Captain Marsh closed his academy and took up another line of work, but he never lost interest in the schools of Lake Charles. He often spoke at public gatherings in their behalf, and in 1882 he built on one side of his lawn a schoolhouse which was used by many private teachers. (63)
Lake Charles Institute for Male and Female
Judge Stephen D. Read, a law graduate of Baylor University, who had been practicing law in Cameron Parish since 1873, and who, according to Mrs. Dick Gunn, had taught from 1876 to 1878, with an attendance of forty-five pupils in an old building on Pujo Street, (64) organized in 1878 the Lake Charles Institute for Male and Female. (65) This was the first local academic institution which offered young people an opportunity to prepare for a college course, in addition to embracing those branches of education taught in grammar school, generally regarded sufficient for the ordinary business pursuits of life. The institution also had a primary department for young children. Before this time pupils had entered school at any time during the session and paid tuition for the remainder of the term. They were permitted to use any textbook they happened to have. Read not only would not allow a pupil to enter late but also insisted upon uniformity of texts. His terms were higher than those of other masters. The following was his advertisement of the Institute:
The Lake Charles Institute for Male and Female will commence regular session on Monday November 18th. Every effort will be made to secure rapid progress in learning. The Courses of Studies will include all branches usually taught and necessary to a thorough practical or finished education. No new classes will be formed after those for the session have been organized, and uniformity of authors will be strictly required.
Terms Cash Primary Branches, per month $2.00 Elementary English Branches, which will include Arithmetic, Grammar, Composition, Elementary Philosophy and Geography per month $3.00 Advanced Mathematics, with ancient or modern Languages, and other studies to correspond, per month $5.00 Drawing, Sketching and Music Extra Applicants from the country will find comfortable board on reasonable terms. (66)
In December the editor of the Echo, who always took an active interest in the schools, plead with the people to support the Lake Charles Institute:
Pro Bono Publico. - The Lake Charles Institute for Male and Female has now been in successful operation for several weeks. The propriety, not to say necessity, of the strong and permanent support of the Institute seems obvious to require a comment. If there is a town in Louisiana where there is a greater necessity for an educational institution like the one we speak of than there is here, we are not aware of it. Scores of boys and girls are growing up here who will very soon be required to undertake responsible duties of life, and where parents are unable to send them to college, a liberal and steady patronage by these parents, of the Lake Charles Male and Female Institute would prove of lasting benefits to our community. Without such patronage, no educational enterprise will ever succeed in Lake Charles. (67) In December Read announced through the columns of the Echo 68 that from and after January 6, 1879, four weeks would constitute a month according to the general terms adopted as the Lake Charles Institute, in place of the calendar month previously observed, and that the tuition fees from that date would be reduced accordingly. Each department of the Institute was comprised of four distinct graded classes, and each pupil was expected to enter that class nearest to his standard of scholarship. In April (69) the principal of the Institute was obliged to employ an assistant teacher on account of increased patronage. He secured Reverend G.C. Hyde, formerly of St. Landry Parish and then of Cameron Parish. Reverend Hyde was well known as one of the oldest and best teachers in the state. On Monday, July 21, the Institute had its first examination and exhibition. An account of both follows:
Read’s School Exhibition Programme of the Lake Charles Institute Monday Evening, July 21, 1879
1. Salutation - Miss Izora Lyons 2. Peroration of Serg’t Buzfuz, in Bardel vs. Pickwick - E.L. Wells 3. What I Love - Miss Ora Moss 4. Common Schools - Allen J. Perkins 5. Dialogue on Schools - Miss Viana Perkins, Inez Richard and Minnie Read 6. What I Know - Sammie Clement 7. Reputation - Stephen M. Read 8. Dialogue - Miss Minerva Lyons, Adele Lyons, Zora Lyons 9. Battle of Waterloo - Bennie Stagg 10. I am Ten Years Old To Day - Miss Hattie L. Clements 11. Dialogue - (Pry and Sly) Allen J. Perkins and Brenton Richard 12. Legacy of Lafayette - Lee H. Moss 13. Snider’s Ride - Ed. L. Wells 14. Paine’s Age of Reason - Joe A. Lyons 15. Fuss at Fires - Clement J. Moss 16. Mariner’s Dream - Stephen M. Read 17. Epilogue - Sammie Clements Exercises began at 7 o’clock p. m. sharp.
A crowded house witnessed the exhibition of the Lake Charles Institute on last Monday night, and every one present seemed delighted at the performance. The Principal deserves great credit for his untiring efforts to establish in our town a school, of which its citizens may feel proud; and the exhibitions on Monday justify the belief that he will prove successful. The selection of pieces for the different pupils exhibited admirable taste, and the manner of their delivery showed great pain had been taken to prepare the pupil. We noticed with pleasure, that the pieces were well learned, and there was none of the stammering and hesitation, so frequent at exhibition of the kind.
Where all did well, it might seem invidious to select any for special notice, yet we cannot forbear mentioning several who deserve partial praise. Master E. L. Wells, son of the Hon. Geo. H. Wells, in his delivery of the Peroration of Serg’t Buzfuz, in Bardel vs. Pickwick, seemed to enter fully into the spirit of the author and exhibited all the earnestness of a lawyer pleading his case before a court. He also elicited great applause by his rendition of “Snider Ride.”
Little Sammie Clement brought down the house by telling them “What he knew,” “What he didn’t know,” and “What he guessed.” Master S.M. Read, son of the Principal, and Joe A. Lyons, son of Mr. O. S. Lyons, deserved to be specially mentioned for the easy and graceful delivery of their piece, the latter at the close of the speech selected for him, in a pleasant, agreeable and eloquent manner delivered an original valedictory to the teacher and scholars, which might have elicited praise for one much older than himself. Having been requested by S. D. Read, Esq., Principal of the Lake Charles Institute, to examine the classes of that school on the closing day of the session ending Monday July 21, I append the following report of the results: The different classes were examined with ridged impartiality, both with and without textbooks. And not one of the pupils, taking them through the entire range of their studies, made a lower average than seventy-five percent, while the majority averaged ninety-five percent.
All the classes acquitted themselves most creditably but I would particularly mention those pupils in the branches of Natural Sciences, Philosophy, and English Grammar, as many distinguished themselves by ready, accurate and often original replies.
The examination commenced at 9 a. m. and continued with but little intermission until 6 p.m. A class in English Grammar, one in History, one in Latin and one in Zoology, were uncalled, but knowing from their eagerness to encounter the test, and the satisfactory examination of the same pupils in all other branches taught during the session, that they were fully prepared on these branches also. I assured them of this, and with difficulty prevailed on them to forego the ordeal for this time.
The entire school bears evidence of careful and judicious training. Sim O. Shattuck (70)
In December 1879, Read was elected District Judge (71) and the discipline of the Institute was placed in charge of S. O. Shattuck, (72) a gentleman who had acquired an enviable reputation as a successful, vigilant, and benevolent instructor of youth. Read continued to give personal attention to the higher mathematics and modern languages until an instructor for those subject was employed. With respect to the change the Echo stated:
Prof. Shattuck, now in charge of the Institute, has succeeded in securing the services of Prof. A. Severance, and accomplished and experienced teacher from Kentucky who will take charge of the department of Higher Mathematics and Modern Languages ….It is intended to make this school second to none in the State, but in order to make it such it will be necessary to have the higher cooperation of all good citizens in this great important enterprise.
Let everybody be aroused on this important subject, and we can soon have such a school as will be incalculable to this entire community. (73)
The fall term of 1880, under the principal ship of Reverend Severance was thus announced:
Lake Charles Male and Female Institute
The regular session of this Institution will commence August 30, 1880, and continue ten months with a vacation of two weeks at Christmas under the charge of Prof. A. Severance, Principal, with such assistants as the interest of the school demand, at the Masonic Hall.
It is centrally located in the pleasant and healthy part of the town of Lake Charles and no pains will be spared to make it a first class school.
The Prindipal has had over 20 years experience as a teacher in all grades of schools, and is prepared to teach those branches usually taught in colleges, including Higher Mathematics, Latin, Greek and French.
Tuition (74)
Primary Department - Month $2.00 Higher department $3.00 Languages $4.00
Reverend Severance operated the Institute until the summer of 1881. (75)
Hyde
School In 1881 Reverend G. C. Hyde, who had taught with Stephen D. Read in 1879 and with John McNeese in 1880, opened a school in the Masonic Lodge. He was an accomplished and successful teacher. Of his school, the Echo carried the following advertisement:
Mr. G. C. Hyde will commence his school at the Masonic Lodge, on the first Monday of September. Terms: Primary studies $2.00 - Intermediate studies, such as German, Practical Arithmetic etc. $2.50 - Natural Sciences, such as Philosophy, Chemistry, etc. and the ancient languages $3.50. It is expected that the tuition will be paid at the end of each month. (76)
Reverend Hyde’s school met with much success until the spring of 1883, at which time he had only nine pupils, consequently he closed it that summer. (78)
Women
Teachers in 1879 and 1880 The Misses Emma and May Helen came to Lake Charles in the latter part of 1879 to act as teachers in private homes. Miss Emma taught in the family of Captain Daniel Goos; Miss May taught in the family of W. L. Hutchins. These ladies taught until the end of the year 1880. (79) Mrs. Whitney taught a school during the 1879-1880 session. After a very successful year, her school closed July 22 with an excellent entertainment, (80) the gross receipts of which were $31.30.
The Lake
Charles Common School The Lake Charles Echo, August 28, 1880, carried the announcement of a name that later was to mean much in the history of education of Lake Charles - that is John McNeese. The advertisement of his school was:
Lake
Charles Common School On Monday, August 30, I will begin the regular session of the Lake Charles Common School. All the Branches pertaining to a practical education taught with persevering care.
I am also prepared to organize classes in the Ancient Languages, Higher Mathematics and in the science, for the benefit of those susceptible of such advancement. The Spenserian System of Penmanship to be taught, synthetically and analytically to all the departments with professional energy for the further Prosperity of the school every care will be taken by the undersigned, during his efforts to work concurrently with his patrons, in maturing and substantiating the essential moral requisites, as so indispensable to the proper development of a sound and beneficial culture.
Tuition For all branches peculiar to common school $2.00 For Sciences, Philosophy, Chemistry $2.50 Languages, Higher Mathematics, Algebra and Geometry $3.00
J.M. McNeese, Teacher in Charge (newspaper article actually says Jno. McNeese)
Mrs. Grant Mutersbaugh attended this school. She says it was taught in an old store building on the corner of North Court and Front Street. The old counters were still in the building. The large children sat on benches behind the counters, the little children on the benches in front of the counters. Reverend G. C. Hyde taught English and Latin, and John McNeese taught the other subjects. (81) Later, the school moved to a large place at the corner of Pujo and Front Streets and finally to the Masonic Temple on Hodges Street. Mr. McNeese conducted the Lake Charles Common School through the years 1880 to 1885. Mr. Jennings Gill of Lake Charles was a pupil in this school throughout the time of its existence, and attended classes in all three buildings. (82) This is not the first time that McNeese was directly associated with Lake Charles: it was not his first educational contact with the people of that vicinity. He taught a public school there in 1877 (83) and for many years he had been teaching in various parts of Calcasieu Parish. He was well known in the town long before he actually reached there, and his excellent work in education made for him a very favorable reputation. Of him the editor of the Echo said: “We feel assured in saying that anyone trusting their children to his care and teaching will not have cause to regret it.” (84) His part in the advancement and achievements of education in the growing city of Lake Charles several years later was so important that an entire section of this study has been devoted to him.
Status
and Needs of Education It would seem from a study of records, interviews, and items in the paper that there were enough private schools about 1880 in the small town of Lake Charles to have satisfied a whole parish. However, the facilities provided must not have been equal to the desire for education, as is revealed by several editorials in the Echo at this time, some of which were the following:
Our
Scholastic Wants At present a high grade of teaching is not so much needed as a more progressive style of teaching. Many men of high intellectual attainment are unsuccessful teachers. Teachers require tact no less than talent. The ability to impart knowledge is quite distinct from the ability to acquire it. With manly men and women for teachers, having the capacity and disposition to impart mental and moral instructions to their pupils supported and encouraged by a liberal patronage and united sympathy we can have a guarantee of permanent improvement in mind and morality and society. (85)
The Good
of Society Lake Charles is a growing and prosperous little town and there is no reason why it should not continue to progress and increase rapidly in population unless the leading citizens, who are directly interested in its advancement, neglect one of the essentials of a permanent and lasting property and that is education. The great secret of the rapid growth and wonderful prosperity of the great Northwestern states is due to the fact that the first thing the immigrants did after settling was to build school houses and churches and any man in that section would blush to own that he lived in a town of 800 people that did not have a school house. The time has come when we want a better grade of schools at Lake Charles and this can be accomplished by a concert of action on the part of all who feel the least interested in the up building of society in out midst …. (86)
Education in Our Town We know a gentleman who wishes to come to Lake Charles for the purpose of establishing a permanent private school of a high grade. He has devoted his time and attention to teaching for the last 12 or 14 years, and he is thoroughly up on all that is necessary to constitute a first class Academy. The only difficulty at present is the lack of a suitable schoolhouse. If a stock company could be formed among our citizens and a suitable house built, our town would soon become as noted for its educational advantages as it is for general thrift and industry. Lake Charles supports five private schools. This surely is a strong argument why people should build and maintain an academy or a high school. (87)
Schools
in Lake Charles In the town of Lake Charles we have two free schools and 6 private schools. Our free school system is not what it should be. Lake Charles presents a fine opening to some thorough going educated man to found a flourishing high grade school. Our people will meet such a man, who comes among us to stay, determined to give this his whole attention, more than half way. Ground will be donated for the erection of buildings and two-thirds of the amount necessary to build will be subscribed. (88)
The grade schools of the city were apparently receiving little attention in the year 1881, for the Lake Charles Echo stated that a “certain man had offered $500.00 for the erection of a grade school for boys.” (89) The editor went boldly on to say that the conditions of whatever grade schools there were at the time were a reproach to the community. (90) Evidently the editorial bore some fruit, for it was the following year that a more determined effort was made to get better schools throughout the town. Captain J. W. Bryan, the editor of the Echo, was unceasing in his efforts to attract attention to this problem. S. O. Shattuck wished to have a special tax levied to support the schools. (91)
Small
Private Schools, 1881-1883 One of the many schools opened at this time was that of Miss Julia Hennington Barnes, resident of Lake Charles, today states that she opened this school the first Monday in September, 1881, and closed it the second Friday in July,1882. The Bryan-Howard-Landry school building on Kirby Street was again used. It consisted of one large room and one very small room. Mrs. Barnes taught in the large room, her instruction being for girls only, while her sister Lizzie taught music in the small room. (92) There is a notice in the Lake Charles Echo, September 2, 1882, of the opening of still another school; “Miss Lizzie Barry will open a private school for girls on Monday September 4, in the building recently occupied by the Misses Hennington as a school room.” This school closed in July 30, 1883. (93) Another of the schools of mushroom growth was the one announced July 30, 1881: A Select School for girls will be opened September 5, by Mrs. J.B. Demere in connection with her large class of music in Lake Charles. The school room will be in charge of an accomplished and experienced lady assistant, and no effort will be spared to further the interest of the scholars.
Terms per month, for common branches $2.00 Music lessons instrumental $5.00 Music lessons vocal $5.00 Vocal in class $1.50 Daily use of piano $1.00 (94)
Katherine Munns Perkins, (95) a resident of Lake Charles, studied music under Mrs. Demere and she says that she was most efficient. She also states that Mrs. J. B. Demere taught music for years, but that the Select School for Girls ran only for 1881 through 1882. Altogether, in September 1881, there were five private schools in Lake Charles, as shown by the following comment:
There will be no lack of educational facilities for the young people of this vicinity this fall and next winter. There are five schools in successful operation at Lake Charles taught respectively by Rev. George C. Hyde, Mrs. Lewis L. Bourges, Mrs. M. A. McClelland, Mrs. J. B. Demere and Miss Julia Hennington. Mrs. Demere also gives lessons in vocal music and on the piano and besides the above schools Miss Lizzie Hennington has a school exclusively for instruction on the piano and in vocal music. (96)
In October the Echo (97) notes that these schools were well attended.
The St. Charles Academy
The St. Charles Academy opened for girls on September 11, 1882, (98) and in January 1883 boys were admitted, (99) and the demands for urgent measures to assure adequate schools were quiet for a time. The Academy fulfilled the long expressed desire of the people for a real educational institution. It was under the supervision of the Sisters Marianites of the Holy Cross. Three of the sisters had established themselves in a small cottage on Pujo Street; thus, in four little rooms, the first convent in Lake Charles had its beginning. For a long time Father Kelley had been trying to raise funds for remodeling the old church for a school building. His plans were thus announced through the Echo in February:
Father M. Kelley is improving very much the church property opposite our office. The old church has been moved further to the north of the lot, and is enlarging through repairs, and when completed will be used for a school house. The house measures 35x52 feet and will certainly be a commodious school building. (100)
The building was near completion in November. (101) After it was finished the Sisters taught in it but lived in the cottage on Pujo Street. On the first day, twenty-eight pupils registered. These were classified and divided into classes. (102) This attendance was thus evaluated: it is a “most flattering one, taking everything into consideration, and established the fact at once that the school will be maintained.” (103) Six months after the opening the following favorable note appeared in the daily paper:
It is now just six months since this really first class institution was opened and it has fifty-nine scholars in regular attendance under these competent teachers, entirely and absolutely devoted to the cause of education. It is really the best school for young ladies that can be found anywhere. French and English courses, music and needlework, fancy, useful and ornamental, are taught at reasonable figures. (104)
In the spring of 1887 the Academy graduated the first class of one student, Miss Julia Leveque. (105) In 1904 a handsome, brick, Gothic structure was built on the site of the original wooden structure. This served until 1910 (106) when the great fire that swept the city destroyed it. Temporary housing was provided until the present Academy building on Ryan Street and Miller Avenue was completed in 1914. (107) One of the major goals of the institution was attained when the following communication was received from Charles F. Trudeau of the State Department of Education (108): “This is to inform you officially that the St. Charles Academy of Lake Charles is now an approved secondary private institution with the same rank as state approved four year public high schools.” The Lake Charles Female Seminary
Another figure who passed briefly across the local educational horizon was Miss Mary Rawls. In 1882 (109) Captain O. M. Marsh erected a school building on the east side of Ryan Street, south of Kirby Street. In this school Miss Rawls opened the Lake Charles Female Seminary, January 2, 1883. Miss Alice Keller took charge of this school, February 12, 1883. (110) The latter, a graduate of Readville Seminary in Baton Rouge, (111) came to Lake Charles from Washington, Louisiana. She was a “lady of long experience in teaching, of rare scholarly attainment and fitted in a marked degree to excel in her high calling.” (112) From September 1882, until she became connected with the Academy, Miss Keller had conducted a school for boys and girls in the Touchy Building on Kirby Street. There she had taught English in all of its branches, and Latin, (113) and had given “special attention to pupils desirous of perfecting their musical education.” Mrs. Andrew Cook, a resident of Lake Charles, states that Miss Keller was her music teacher and that she was a brilliant woman. (114) The Seminary was very successfully operated by its talented principal until September, 1886, (115) at which time she accepted a position in Sylvan Academy where she taught until June 4, 1887. (116)
Myrtle Kennedia Institute
In the winter of 1881(117) Miss Mollie Burt came to Lake Charles from Orange, Texas. She opened the Myrtle Kennedia Institute, January 2, 1882, (118) in the two-story wooden building formerly occupied by the office of the Lake Charles Commercial newspaper on Pujo Street between Ryan and Front Streets. Miss Burt was well qualified to teach. She had been recently engaged in the public schools of Calcasieu Parish, and had given satisfaction to the School Board and to her patrons. (119) She taught all English branches, paying particular attention to mathematics. She gave private lessons in algebra. Her sister, Mattie, taught with her. The usual routine at the close of a session is thus described in the Echo, June 30:
The regular Scholastic session of the Myrtle Kennedia Institute closed Friday with a public examination and promotion of classes. The commencement exercises of the school will be held on the 4th of July. The evening’s entertainment with conclude with a hop …(120)
These exercises were often so well attended that it was necessary to hold them in the Opera House in order to accommodate the crowd. The Myrtle Kennedia Institute was a graded school. The members labored “assiduously to gain this step, and attained the desired standards after untiring efforts.” (121) Pupils in the upper grades were required to make higher averages than pupils in the lower grades. Pupils above the fifth grade were promoted by written examinations. Pupils in the fifth grade and below were tested by oral examinations. Textbooks were not to be end but the cause of knowledge. (122) The name of Miss Mollie Burt was associated with all things educational until the time of her death. She conducted the Myrtle Kennedia Institute until the popularity of the public schools made it impossible for a small private school to survive successfully. Continuing her educational career, she became a teacher in the growing public schools, where she worked for many years. After her marriage and retirement from public school work, she taught many pupils at her home, giving them private instruction in subjects in which they were weak.
Other Schools in 1884-1885
Reverend M. Kellis of the First Baptist Church, who had been teaching in his office for two years, opened a school in the basement of the Masonic Building in April 1884. (123) He taught there until 1885, (124) when he was sent to Beaumont, Texas. His school enjoyed the patronage of some of the most substantial citizens of the town and vicinity. (125) Also, he was instrumental in getting the Masons to improve the grounds for a playground. (126)
F.
Drollar taught the first commercial school in Lake
Charles. He was an excellent teacher and many young men
wishing to refresh themselves in “their commercial
attainment attended his school,” (127) which extended
through the summer of 1884. (128) In 1885, J. H. Gardiner, who had been teaching a public school in Lake Charles, opened his English and Classical Boarding and Day School. (131) His institution, known as “A Select Home School,” was located in the “large, commodious and elegant building with the ample and beautiful grounds known as R. H. Nason residence.” (132) Both boys and girls were instructed in the ordinary and higher English branches, the Latin and Greek languages, advanced mathematics, and in music - piano, organ, or guitar. Rudimentary instruction in vocal music and voice culture was given to all music pupils. Pupils were prepared to enter any regular college, and special attention was given to those desiring to fit themselves for teaching. Board was $20.00 per month; tuition $5.00; and music, $5.00. The teachers were J. H. Gardiner, Mrs. J. H. Gardiner, Miss Virginia St. J. Gardiner, and Miss Mary Gardiner.
Lake Charles College Preparatory and High Schools
On January 4, 1886, (133) Miss Marilla J. Crossman and Miss Minnie Knapp, both of whom held the bachelor’s degree, established the Lake Charles College Preparatory and High School. This school for “young ladies and gentlemen” (134) was located on Hodges Street opposite the Bank, in the fourth building from Broad Street. It was designed to give a thorough course in common English. Under this head were included reading, spelling, grammar, arithmetic, geography. Also, a full course in higher English was offered: this included algebra, geometry, rhetoric, criticism, elocution, bookkeeping, history, and natural philosophy. In addition to the above, the college preparatory class took botany, geology, entomology, zoology, chemistry, and Latin. The monthly terms were: Common English; $2.00; higher English, $2.50; botany, zoology, entomology, geology, chemistry, and Latin, each $.50. Lessons in drawing were twenty-five cents each, and those in oil painting, piano, and organ were $.50 each. This school had more pupils than it could accommodate; due to the large enrollment the 1887 fall session opened in the Masonic Lodge with Miss Crossman as principal. (135) The institution continued operation until the fall of 1890, at which time Miss Crossman accepted a position in the Lake Charles Central and High School. (136)
The Giles School
In September 1887, Miss Sarah Giles and her niece, Miss Moore, opened a private school in the building on Hodges Street formerly occupied by Miss Crossman. Miss Lois Wentz, a resident of Lake Charles, states that she attended the 1888-1889 session of the Giles School (137) and that there were about twenty-five pupils. The readers taught were from the primer through the seventh reader. Nearly all the Episcopal children in Lake Charles attended this school.
Dancing School
“Dancing schools were the most popular and best attended schools of this period,” declares Mrs. J. A. Bel, a resident of Lake Charles. (138) According to her statement, the dancing teacher opened a school in a town and remained until the dances were learned; then he moved to another place returning in a year or two years. Mrs. Bel recalls one school in particular that was taught by J. McClelland and J. C. LeBleu, and everybody in town and for miles around attended. Perhaps this was because fancy dances were being taught for the first time in Lake Charles. The location was O’Brien’s Hall. (139) The dancing masters taught “all the fashionable dances of the day, consisting of the Waltz, Polka, Mazurka, Schottische, Spanish Dance, Cotillion Quadrille, and all the fancy dances taught in the large cities. Also, lessons were given on the banjo and guitar.” (140) The tuition was $5.00. (141) A fine dancing Academy was established in 1893 by Willie B. Mayo. Classes were held twice a week, and a great deal of progress was made by the young folks and some old ones, too. Probably much of this was due to the fact that the first phonograph was used in teaching classes. The American reported: “A loud speaking phonograph is in town, and everyone and his girl is going to hear it. It is the talk of the town, and is a wonderful machine. We don’t see how they get it to talk like they do.” (142)
Glendale Institute
In September 1885, Lake Charles was fortunate in getting two fine teachers, the Misses Alice and Ella Usher of Baton Rouge, to open another private school, and the name of Usher continued to feature in the history of education of Lake Charles for many years. The first advertisement for their school appeared in the Lake Charles Echo as follows:
Glendale Institute: - Thorough instruction in English, French, Latin, and German. Also music, drawing, painting, hair jewelry, embroidery and ornamental work. References: Messrs. Reed and Goodale, Judge J. W. Burgess, Baton Rouge, La. For terms apply to: Misses Usher, Moss Street, near the corner of Church Street. (143)
As early as 1886 the two sisters found the accommodations in the one-room building on Moss Street, near the German Methodist Church, too small, and moved into a two-room building of their own on the same street between Pine and Mill Streets. They taught in one large room and lived in the other. It was at this time that their school received the name “The Glendale Institute.” An announcement in the Echo carried this information:
Glendale Institute has continued to grow in favor with our people until the principals, the Misses Usher, have found it necessary to engage another instructor, Professor Blenchy, who will in the future teach French and Music. He is from Jefferson College, St. James Parish, where he has been teaching seven years. (144)
That fall the announcement was:
Glendale Institute will reopen September 1st, 1887. The French classes will be under the instruction of Professor J. Schils. This will be the third opening of the Institute by the young ladies. They have given such satisfaction to their patrons in the past as to keep their school filled. (145)
When the
Institute opened, the building would not accommodate the
pupils, and so Miss Alice Usher moved with some of the
children into the building formerly used for Sylvan
Academy. (146) Her school was known as Glendale Branch
School, and was to be in session two terms of five months
each. For many years the Misses Usher had the largest and most popular school in Lake Charles. The fact that every effort was being made in the town to assure a free public school seems to have affected the growth and popularity of the Glendale Institute not at all, and it was not until 1892 that it was officially closed, due to the opening of the free school. There is no doubt that the great success of this private school was due largely to the personality of Miss Ella Usher. She took great personal interest in each pupil - helping, praising, and encouraging; she had the happy faculty of keeping both child and parent pleased and satisfied. It was part of her policy to praise her pupils unreservedly to their faces and to speak very favorably of them to others. Her remarks led one to believe that she considered each individual a prodigy. Even after the closing of the Institute Miss Usher did not cease to do her best for education in the city. Furthermore, she was certainly abreast of her time, for she went to New Orleans in 1892, took a course in typewriting and shorthand, and came back to teach a business course. She used the same building on Moss Street and continued this work until she married in June 1911. Sylvan Male and Female Academy
On
August 30, 1886, (148) W. M. Thompson opened the Sylvan
Male and Female Academy. This school was located in the
Marsh schoolhouse on Ryan Street, the building previously
occupied by the Lake Charles Female Seminary. (149) From
March 1883, to July 3, 1884, Thompson had conducted a
private school for boys, but had given it up on account of
lumber interests; it was located in the Touchy Building on
Kirby Street.(150) In the Academy, H. B. Allen,
(151) a former principal of Norvilla Institute,
Greensburg, Louisiana, and a graduate of Georgetown
College in Kentucky, taught the mathematics classes. Miss
Alice Keller (152) who was formerly principal of the Lake
Charles Female Seminary was also a teacher Daves Training School
The
first Monday in September, 1887, (156) Reverend Joel F.
Daves, a Methodist minister who had charge of the local
Methodist Church, opened a school for boys and girls on
what is now Broad and Kirkman Streets, in a building which
had been erected for that purpose. Daves was a son of
Reverend L. I. Daves, who was principal of the Lake
Charles Academy in 1870-1873. (157) The Dolby School From 1889 to 1890 O.S. Dolby, a graduate of Hillsdale College, Michigan, (160) established and conducted a school in the old Marsh Building on Ryan Street, between Iris and Clarence Streets; the site is that of the present Jitney Jungle Building. Mr. Jennings Gill, who “went to school to Professor Dolby,” speaks highly of the school and the quality of the teaching. (161) Miss Willie Mae Cunningham, graduate of Judson, taught algebra, elocution, and primary work. Mrs. Delia K. Bryan taught in the intermediate department, and Mrs. O. S. Dolby taught piano. Other Schools in the Late Eighties
In 1885, a schoolhouse was erected under the
supervision of the pastor of the German Methodist Church;
it opened September 1, 1885, (162) for the reception of
pupils of both sexes. The English department of this
school was under the management of Mr. John I. Bell until
September 12, when John McNeese, (163) who had been
teaching a public school through the summer at Dry Creek,
returned to Lake Charles and took charge of the German
School as principal. Mr. Bell, who was the vice principal
then, resigned. German was taught by Reverend M. Blanz. The Lake Charles College
One of the leading educational institutions of
this period was the Lake Charles College. It was in the
extreme southwestern part of the city, on the site of the
present Lake Charles High School. At that time this
location was outside of the city limits and seemed to be
almost in the country. The college was established by the
Congregationalists of the New England States. (166)
However, a few of the wealthier citizens of the City of
Lake Charles aided the enterprise. A large and imposing
building was erected by Frank Siling in 1890. It was
thought to be a magnificent building at the time, with its
three stories, twenty-seven rooms, mansard, and high bell
tower cupola. The building stood in the center of the
sixteen acres of ground. (167) CHAPTER III
DEVELOPMENT OF
It is not to be supposed that during the
development of the private schools of Lake Charles nothing
was done toward the construction of public school system;
rather, many of the plans for public education were put
into practice concurrently with those for private
schools. The Lake Charles City Schools have evolved from
schools under the Calcasieu Parish system in 1841, which
were stimulated by the state laws and acts that affected
all communities and parishes of the state, to the present
system, which had its beginning in 1907 with the
segregation of the city and parish systems.
The political events of the times influenced greatly the
development of the school system. The history of the
schools of Lake Charles to 1907 seems to fall naturally
into four periods; 1841 to 1860, from the administration
of public schools of Lake Charles to the Civil War period;
1861 to 1876, Civil War and Reconstruction; 1877 to 1887
the period following Reconstruction; and 1888 to 1907,
John McNeese’s superintendence terminated by the
establishment of the separate city system. Section I The Period of 1841 to 1860 The period of 1841 to 1860 begins with the first attempt at public administration of the schools and continues through the period preceding the Civil War. It marks the beginning of several factors in the history of the schools of Lake Charles. The School Board The legal foundations for the public school system of Calcasieu Parish, of which the Lake Charles Schools were a part, date back to the state legislative ordinance of 1821, (1) which gave the police juries of the state the power to select five administrators of public schools for their respective parishes. The Act defined their duties as follows: It shall be their duty, as often as may be necessary and at least twice a year to visit the schools in their respective parishes, and report the general situation of the schools and the number of scholars in each, and to divide the amount of money appropriated by the state among such schools as they may judge to be of public benefit.
It was not until 1841, (2) however, that Calcasieu Parish was affected by this legislation. In that year the first police jury was elected, (3) and it immediately proceeded to appoint the requisite number of members of the school board. Table I presents a representative list of the members of the parish school board for the 1841-1860 period. The members for District Two only, which includes the City of Lake Charles, (4) are named when it was possible to distinguish them: otherwise the entire parish board is listed.
Members of the Calcasieu
Parish School Board, 1841-1860 (a) Years of Appointment
(a) Calcasieu Parish Police Jury Minutes: November 2, 1841, p. 33; June 5, 1843, p. 40; June 8, 1846, p. 114; January 1 and 2, 1855, p. 6; June 12, 1857, p. 18; and January, 1860, p. 69.
(b) Members from District Two only are named. The Parish Superintendent The creation of the office of Parish Superintendent of Public Schools for Calcasieu Parish did much to render the work of the school board more effective. This office was authorized by the police jury in 1846, (5) a year prior to the state legislation providing for similar offices in the other parishes of the state. According to the state Act, (6) the parish superintendent must have: …. a high degree of executive ability, having as his duties, supervision of all schools in the Parish. He must also apportion the tuition for the number of pupils actually instructed, examine the candidates for teaching, issue certificates, as no person could be employed without first obtaining a certificate from the Parish Superintendent … Other duties, that he must visit each public school at least once in every three months, and examine the records that must be kept by each teacher, make quarterly reports to the State Superintendent, fill all vacancies in the District Boards, and with the aid of the Police Juries, divide the Parish into school districts. The first superintendent of Calcasieu Parish was Samuel Adams Kirby, who in 1846 was appointed for a period of one year with an annual salary of $50.00, payable quarterly. School Support
Financial support of the schools was meager in this period,
since the people had not been entirely convinced as to the
wisdom of the public school. The system of financing the
schools in Lake Charles was necessarily subject to state
regulations, since the power of distributing the funds
derived from land grants by the federal government and
raised by taxation of the people were vested in the state.
Be it enacted that an annual appropriation of $600.00 be made for supporting a school or schools in each parish of the State, except Orleans, the said sum of $600.00 shall be at the disposal of the Police Juries of the respective Parishes and shall be drawn semiannually from the State Treasurer by each Jury… The administrators of the Parish Schools hitherto established shall be, and they are required to account to the Police Juries of the several parishes, where in the said county schools are now situated: for the full amount of all funds hitherto paid by the state.
The legislative Act of 1821 (8) which provided for the
parish trustees also provided for financial support of the
schools by the parishes. It authorized the police jury of
each parish to levy a tax of $1,000 on lands and slaves for
the promotion of education in its parish. In 1843, (9) the
Calcasieu Police Jury appropriated $150 of the parish money
for the tuition of indigent children. In 1846, (10) it was
resolved that the parish tax should be 65 per cent of the
state tax for 1845 and that $200 of it should be laid aside
for public schools. In 1846 (11) the police jury required
that a certificate be sent to the governor, claiming the
amount due to the parish for the support of the common
school. Such procedure was legal, since the Constitution of
1845 ordered the State Legislature to establish free public
schools and provide for their support by taxation. (12)
Several instances of the payment of such funds in Calcasieu
Parish are recorded: in 1847 the sheriff was ordered to
turn over to the parish treasurer the $200 school fund which
he had “in his hands;” (13) according to the annual report
of the state superintendent in 1855, which contained the
first report of the Lake Charles schools, $600.00 was paid
the teachers of Lake Charles the preceding year; (14) and in
1858 the parish treasurer reported $211.95 paid to the Lake
Charles teachers from public funds. (15) Certification and Training of Teachers The development of a method of certification of teachers within the parish began when the authority to issue certificates was delegated to the parish superintendent. To facilitate the testing of teachers, the parish superintendent in 1865 (17) created a board of examiners, composed of Charles A. Hardy, William Haskell, and Sam N. Nolley, who were to examine teachers in the following branches: “Orthography (Webster’s); Reading (McGuffey’s); Penmanship (Dolbear’s); Geography (Olney’s); Arithmetic (Davies’); and English Grammar (Kirkman’s).” In 1857 (18) William Haskell was appointed to examine teachers of the public schools in the English branches, and Louis Frangel and Paul Pujo to examine in the French language. No teacher was employed who could not present the proper certificate. This list of subjects for certification gives an idea of the curriculum of the time and of the textbooks used. Housing of Schools The problem of providing suitable housing for the schools of Lake Chares was a pressing one. In the early days, rude shacks or log huts had been used or instruction had been given in the homes of the masters or of the pupils. Since public schools did not have a large attendance and rarely more than one teacher, one room was all that they needed. In 1854 there were seventy-five pupils in the two public schools. The schools were held in rooms rented from the school board members. For the most part, the housing facilities of this period were inadequate and highly unsatisfactory. (19) Section 2 The period of 1861 to 1876 The uncertainty of the times and the stress under which the adults labored caused practically a cessation of educational activities during the period of the Civil War. Too, since school funds were diverted to other channels, financial support was lacking. It is to the credit of the citizens of Lake Charles that progress was postponed instead of stopped entirely; after the War, the schools began where they had stopped and went forward with renewed vigor in spite of the period of Reconstruction. The School Board The records kept during the Civil War were scant, but it is known that school directors were appointed for 1861 (20) and 1862. (21) A local newspaper reports an account of the school board’s proceedings in 1871 (22) in which the following members are mentioned: Jacob Ryan, Eli A. Perkins, John A. Spence, John Iles, James A. Perkins, George Ryan, and J. W. Bryan. The board elected John Spence as president and J. W. Bryan as treasurer and decided that the regular meetings of the school board would be held in Lake Charles on the first Monday in January, April, July, and October of each year. School Support
With respect to finances during the Civil War very little
was recorded. One account was the requirement by the police
jury that the parish treasurer convert the school funds into
Confederate money. (23) Another account tells of a new
police jury regulation which required the parish treasurer
to post bond. (24) The exact date of this is not recorded,
but it was between 1858 and 1865 and was probably occasioned
by an incident of 1858. (25) Ansel Sallier was made parish
treasurer and as such served as depository of the school
funds. At his death in 1858, the police jury resolved to
pay his heirs $1,000 for his five years of service, but an
examination of his vouchers revealed that he had used
certain of the school funds for other parish purposes;
accordingly, this sum was deducted from his estate and
directed to James Hodges, his successor. I favor public schools and the law should be so framed as to give every tax payer … equal opportunities in its benefits. I favor allowing the funds belonging to the thinly settled neighborhoods to accumulate in the hands of the treasurers so as to give them the means of reaping the advantages from a public school arising out of this general fund instead of cutting them off entirely. I know that there are some who favor concentration of the funds of each district upon one point, so as the keep up a permanent school, and demands of those living remote from the central point to board their children; by this means you defeat the object of the free school system, and the favored few who happen to be centrally situated, receive all the advantages of the fund, at the expense of the many who should have an equal share in this public provision, (30) By 1876 nothing constructive had been done. Treasurer A. H. Moss reported as follows to the state superintendent: The parish, so far, has done nothing toward raising a school fund, and we have depended upon the state apportionments which have not been sufficient to keep up the schools any length of time …. The people at large seem to be more or less interested in education, but they have not yet reached the point of being willing to pay for it. (31) Certification and Training of Teachers The method of certification of teachers changed a slightly in this period. Certificates were grouped in three classes: first-, second-, and third-grade. At first, the basis for issuing the various classes of certificates was rather vague. There were in Lake Charles in 1874 (32) four male teachers, two with first-grade and two with second-grade certificates, and one female teacher with a first-grade certificate. In 1875 (33) there were two male teachers with second-grade certificates and three female teachers, one with a first-grade, one with a second-grade, and one with a third-grade certificate. Schools for Negroes
One phase of public education which had not been considered
previously was education for the Negroes. The emancipation
of thousands of colored people with rights and liberties
equal to those of the white people created an extra burden
on the school system. Money that had been used solely for
the education of the white children had to be divided so as
to provide education for the colored children also, and it
had been scarce enough before. The new set-up did not seem
to stop the progress of the white schools; however, the
schools for the Negroes began to grow also. Statistics on Schools No mention is made of the Lake Charles Schools in the annual reports of the State Superintendents from 1858 to 1871. The report of January, 1871, (35) stated that in Lake Charles there were two public schools, with two teachers, A. H. Moss and Miss Fanny Gray, both of whom held second-grade certificates. With respect to Calcasieu Parish, the report stated: “Some Parishes are worthy of mention for the remarkable progress made. Calcasieu, for instance…. The excellent Secretary of the Parish Board, Honorable J. W. Bryan, has made for himself a noble record, as also has Honorable President J. C. Spence. Some unusually good teaches are in their employ.” The Echo in 1871 (36) carried the following item about Miss Fanny Gray’s school: The examination of the pupils of Miss Fanny Gray’s Female School in this place last week (Friday) was highly creditable to both teacher and scholars. In every sense Miss Gray is fully competent for the discharge of her delicate and responsible trust and we are glad to hear that her valuable services are highly appreciated. As this is the only female school in our parish, we hope its patrons, during the August vacation will enlarge and improve the school room, a reform most urgently needed. We are gratified to learn that Miss Gray will re-open her school on the first Monday in September.
Statistics relating to the number of schools, teachers,
educables, enrolled students, and money received for the
public schools reveal an increase in the scope of the public
schools. The data for four years are shown in Table II.
TABLE II
(a) State Superintendent’s Report, 1871, pp. 13, 14, 124, 163. (b) Ibid., 1873, p. 265. (c) Ibid., 1874, pp. 14, 54, 82, 83.
(d)
Ibid., 1875, p. 275. The number of educables remained nearly the same; the decrease in 1875 is probably explained by the lowering of the age limit from 21 to 18 years. The number enrolled increased nearly fourfold from 1871 to 1875. The number of schools remained the same, but the number of teachers more than doubled. The appropriation did not increase in proportion to the membership, but the amount per educable child increased from fifty cents to fifty-five cents.
Section 3
The Period of 1877 to 1887
The leveling influence of the War and the release of the suppressed vigor of the white people during the period following the Reconstruction Era caused more interest in public education during the 1877-1887 period. The General School Act of 1877 was responsible for the advances made during the ten-year period following, as it authorized most of the changes made in the school system.
The School Board
The method of selection of the school board has varied greatly since its beginning. The first members of the parish board were appointed by the police jury of the parish. In 1871 the parish board authorized the president and the secretary of the board to appoint three trustees for each school on the recommendation of the teachers and patrons of the school, such trustees to be assigned the task of superintending the school and making monthly certified reports on its condition. By 1878 the trustees were selected in the following manner: one by the teachers of the schools, one by the patrons, and one by the two trustees already selected. The legislative Act of 1877 (37) provided for the appointment of the parish board by the state board of education, thereby bringing the schools of the parishes into closer contact with the state. The state-appointed boards were directed to appoint district boards, which approximated the trustees. The powers of the school board, as defined by the legislative Act of 1821(38) and that of 1841, which also provided for the board’s creation, were restricted to an extent by the police jury. At first, the duties preformed by the board were considered the responsibilities of the police jury; consequently, the reports of their activities were embodied in the police jury minutes. By 1871, however, the importance of the board had come to be recognized, and the “School Board Proceedings” appeared separately in the Lake Charles Echo. In the same year the board was empowered to elect its own officers, the president and the secretary, the latter to serve as parish superintendent. In 1878, the board voted to give the superintendent a yearly stipend of $100.
The Parish Superintendent
The Act of 1877 provided for a Parish Superintendent whose salary should be limited to $100. His title was “Secretary of the Board and Ex Officio Superintendent.” Due to the double title and the frequent use of “Secretary” only, it’s often difficult to determine who was the official superintendent. The minutes (39) of the same year of the school board for August 1877, named Thad Mayo as “Secretary,” but in the report of the state superintendent of the same year the name of S. D. Read was given as secretary of the Calcasieu Parish School Board. The Constitution of 1879 (40) increased the maximum salary of the Parish Superintendent to $200 annually. Secretary Read was the first to receive the salary increase. His splendid work was the subject of an editorial in the Echo in 1879; (41) “The public school of Lake Charles reflects credit on the Superintendent and on the intelligence of our people. The public school under the supervision of Professor S. D. Read has an average daily attendance of 70 scholars.”
School Support
The general school Act of 1877 provided that the school funds received by the parish should be divided among the school districts on the basis of the number of educable children in the district. The funds were to be raised by a state school tax limited to two mills and an optional police jury tax of two mills. The direct state control of funds must have proved irksome and restricting, according to a statement of David J. Reid, candidate to the Constitutional Convention, to the effect that there be recognition of the “public school system so as to give the people in each parish control of the public funds.” (42) The constitution of 1879 marked an advance in school support; it provided that the poll tax receipts and the proceeds of the sale of school lands and of vacant lands to be set aside for the public schools. Police juries were authorized to appropriate money to the public schools if they kept within the parish limit to taxation, and authority was given regularly on the voting special taxes for building purposes. Regular school funds were supplemented to some extent in Lake Charles by public subscription, (43) the sum of money on hand was small, and necessarily the expenditures were small. The chief items of cost were rent and teachers’ salaries, with some outlay for fuel and repairs. In 1887 the Lake Charles School Fund showed a balance of $385.10. (44)
Certification and Training of Teachers
Under provision of the legislative Act of 1877, (45) the school board of the parish resolved that all applicants for certificates of qualification to teach in the public schools of Calcasieu Parish present themselves before the committee which would examine applicants and issue certificates. (46) By 1878, the examinations were given regularly on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month. (47) There is an indication that in 1881 the board raised the standards required for teachers. In this connection it was resolved that “The president of the Board be instructed not to contract with any teachers of public schools in the Parish, who do not hold certificates of qualifications of grammar or Academic grade, until further notice of this Board.” (48) Qualified teachers were scarce, however, for there were few teacher-training institutions and teachers of high qualifications were extremely rare. In an attempt to remedy the situation with respect to the training of teachers, the parish board followed the lead of the state superintendent in a new movement of education that of holding teachers’ institutes. The institutes were announced by the state superintendent as follows:
In a series of institutes to be held under my supervision during the months of October and November, teachers will be instructed in the science and art of teaching, and also in school management, by the Rev. A. B. Horne who has been principal of Key Stone State Normal for six years and who has been engaged in conducting institutes ever since 1859 ..… Let all teachers understand that the institute is not to be an examination, but let them know at the same time, that preference will be given to teachers who seek progress of their vocation. (49)
One of the institutes was held in Lake Charles on November 12, 13, and 14, 1883. The board requested all teachers of the parish to attend. (50) Apparently the results obtained were highly satisfactory, for the institutes were continued. The meetings of 1885 were described in the Echo as follows:
Last Monday the following named distinguished educators arrived in Lake Charles and opened a series of Teachers’ Institute at the Rink. Honorable Warren Easton, State Superintendent of Education, Dr. E. E. Sheib, President of State Normal School, and Professor Earle Grace of Mansfield Female Collage …. These gentleman are able educators and forcible speakers and the past five days has been a glorious time for education in Calcasieu Parish, notwithstanding a great majority of the Public School Teachers were not present, which demonstrates the fact plainly that the rising generation cannot be duly benefited under the tutorship of such teachers if indifference cannot be ignored. The following private school teachers together with their schools have been in attendance off and on during the Institute lectures, Miss A. Keller and Miss Burt. Public School teachers present: J. H. Gardiner, Lake Charles Graded School. (51)
In 1887, when the State Normal School sponsored a series of meetings, (52) there seems to have been an increase of interest in the institute. In order to insure a full participation the board resolved to allow those teachers who attended full pay for the days they would be absent while attending the lectures. By 1890 the institute had become a yearly instead of a biennial feature. (53)
Housing of Schools
The rapid increase in the membership of the public schools necessitated some provision for housing of schools. The sole interests of the early boards had seemed to be the certification of the teachers and the provision of the money necessary to support the schools. The Constitution of 1879 authorized the police jury to vote special taxes for building purposes, but public sentiment did not develop rapidly in that direction. Several attempts were made before such a tax was finally passed. Meanwhile the schools had to be taught somewhere. Special mention of housing facilities was made in 1879. (54) The proceedings of the parish school board reveal that William H. Haskell had made claims for the rent of Haskell Hall as a schoolhouse and for the damage done while it was thus used. The board was evidently still renting halls in 1881, for there is further mention in the Echo (55) that the sum of twenty-seven dollars was paid out of the Third Ward funds to Lake Charles Lodge for the housing of the public school. The newspaper enlisted on the side of those interested in the construction of a building for the schools, and printed article after article urging the people to support the movement. In 1882, an editorial appeared in the Echo (56) deploring the fact that there were only two free schools in the city, which were entirely inadequate, despite the existence of six private schools. It also pointed out that many school patrons were ready to help by donating grounds and subscribing two-thirds of the amount necessary to construct the requisite building if a leader should come forth. The following record (57) of the proceedings of the school board showed that in 1883 the school still had no place of its own:
On motion, resolved that the following accounts contracted and approved by the Subdirectors of the 3rd Ward be paid out of the funds due the Public Schools of the town of Lake Charles. Lower story, Masonic Hall, rent for public schools for 3 months at $6.00 …. $18.00 to Julian Richard … rent for public schools for three months at $10.00 … $30.00. Ryan and Geary, lumber for school furniture….$7.50, Jerry O’Brien … labor and material for making furniture …
Later in 1883 the town council passed an ordinance requiring the mayor to order a special election to determine whether people would agree to a special tax of five mills for a period of two years for the erection of a public school building. (58) Nothing decisive came of it, although the public interest was aroused to a certain extent and many speeches were made in favor of the tax. The Lake Charles Free School for boys opened in the fall of 1883 in the lower story of the Echo Building on the Clement property, under the supervision of W. M. Thompson, a “most worthy instructor and disciplinarian.” (59) Apparently the quarters were not entirely satisfactory for the Echo on November 10, of the same year advertised that Thompson would move his school on that day to the building on the southwest corner of the public square. The minutes of the school board showed the following claims at the end of the session. (60)
J. W.
Bryan, rent for School House for 3 months
From the
statement of claims, it seems that the Thompson school must
have secured quarters from J. W. Bryan for the second term.
The Keller Public School referred to was for girls. We have been requested to advocate a school tax for the purpose of building a public school house in the town of Lake Charles. The necessities of such a house in our town, no one can deny. This is a matter in which every citizen should feel a deep interest and take a just pride. Just think of this town, a young city and without a suitable public school building within her limits. There is a town within our knowledge and with less number of inhabitants than Lake Charles whose city authorities took the matter in hand, raised money and built a $6,000 house and for years this has been a central point of education …. We hope this will stir up a feeling on the subject of schools in our town and something may be done before the time for school to open in the fall. (62) In 1887, D. B. Gorham addressed the Teachers’ Institute with arguments in favor of a high grade school building. C. M. Marsh, at the meeting, showed a feeling of despair with respect to Lake Charles ever getting a graded school but expressed the belief that if “as many as eight citizens interested in the matter should unite and pull together on this question, their efforts would be crowned with success and Lake Charles would then have a graded school. (63) At another educational meeting at about the same time, G. H. Wells (64) moved that a committee of five be appointed by the chair to submit to the taxpayers of Lake Charles the question of levying a special ad valorem tax on all real and personal property subject to taxation to raise $3,000 for the purpose of purchasing a suitable lot, fencing it, and erecting a public school building thereon. S. A. Knapp moved that the amount be increased to $4,000 to build two school houses. The motion was adopted, but the results were negligible. Schools for Negroes According to existing records, there were at least two Negro schools during this period. In 1877 (65) the board approved the application of John Bass for a colored school in Reeves Chapel, Second District. In 1881 (66) the board passed a resolution recognizing the claim of Mrs. Henry Brown (colored) for serving as teacher in the Freedman’s School at Lake Charles, and authorized the secretary to pay her the sum of $15.00 from funds of the Third Ward. Of the Negro schools of this period, William H. Perrin stated: “There are several schools for colored children in our city …. A very excellent graded school ….The Colored people are manifesting considerable interest in educational matters.” (67) Statistics on Schools
In
1877 the number of schools which could be established in
Lake Charles was limited to two. (68) The white school was
John McNeese’s Lake Charles Male and Female Academy; (69)
the colored school was at Reeves Chapel with John Bass as
principal.
In 1879
the average pupil attendance at the school of S. D. Read was
76.2. (71) In 1881 there was one school each for the white
children and the colored children, but by 1882 a second
white school had been started. In 1883 there were two white
schools. (72) The one for boys, taught by W. M. Thompson
and his wife, was variously known as the Public School for
Boys and as the Lake Charles Free School for Boys. Miss C.
A. Keller’s girl’s school was known as the Lake Charles
Female Academy. These schools had two terms of three moths
each, a total of six months for the year. Section 4 The Period of 1888 to 1907 The period of 1888 to 1907 is the period of the parish superintendence of John McNeese, a man who accomplished much for the school system of Lake Charles. This period was terminated by the separation of the Lake Charles and the Calcasieu Parish school systems in 1907. The School Board
The authority vested in the school board was greatly
expanded by the legislative Act of 1888 (74) which provided
that the members of the school board should hold office for
period of four years, and that they should have the
following powers and duties: to sue and be sued; to hold
property; to elect the president and parish superintendent;
to apportion the parish funds among the individual schools;
and to visit schools or appoint a visiting board for this
purpose. It was the Calcasieu Parish School Board created
under this Act which elected John McNeese as secretary and
superintendent and launched a great career; too, this board
was responsible for the idea of enumerating the educables of
the parish so that the obtaining of the full quote of school
funds from the state might be insured. A bill providing for complete separate control of the school affairs of the city to be vested in the City Board was drafted by City Attorney Overton at the request of the City Board of School Directors. The bill, in substance, provided for a Board of five members to be elected at large from the city. All members are required to read and write the English language and to be qualified voters of the city. They are to be elected under the general election laws of the State. The Board is to have power to elect a Superintendent and fix his salary, and the Superintendent is to have the same general qualifications as the Parish Superintendent. His is to be the Secretary of the City Board and the Treasurer of the City School finances. The City Board can create no debt and no city official can be a member of the Board. (77) This Act was passed almost exactly as drafted, and still exists today. Separation took place officially on April 19, 1907, although it had been in effect actually since December 1906. By the middle of the year, 1907, the city system was fairly well established as a separate institution, with all school property in the possession of the local board. The Parish Superintendent The election of John McNeese as parish superintendent in 1888 was the real beginning of the modern school system in Calcasieu Parish. T. H. Harris, in his history of public education in the state, says: Over in Calcasieu, John McNeese, a teacher, was elected Superintendent in the ‘80’s and held office for 30 years. How the money was raised for his salary in the face of the law that placed the maximum salary at $200.00 a year, the writer does not know, probably by the Police Jury in spite of the law; but at any rate, Superintendent McNeese gave his entire time to the work in his office, and set a pace which gradually stimulated the sections to public school effort. He raised money and built a better class of school houses than the other parishes were building, he attracted to the Parish the best available teachers; he lengthened the school session; he conducted wisely planned institutes for the improvement of the teaching staff and he brought his public into intimate contact with the best educated speakers of the nation. Superintendent McNeese was the Grand Old Man of the profession of teaching. (78) By 1900 the duties of the “Grand Old Man” had become so complex that he began to urge the parish board to create a city superintendent, (79) as shown in his report to the school board:
I urge the necessity of a city Superintendent and desire to
call attention to the fact that in each district or ward
school, one teacher has to do the work of three in the
Central School. The city District schools are now entirely
peculiar to rural conditions.
Although the board did not see fit to accept his
recommendation, they did recognize the magnitude of the task
which he had to perform. In the same year, (80) 1900, he
was unanimously re-elected secretary of the board and parish
superintendent of schools for four years. The words ex
officio were eliminated from the title of
“Superintendent” for the first time: the board had come to
believe and admit that the Superintendent might really
superintend and not merely keep records. In addition, they
raised his salary to $100 a month and provided for an
assistant at $30 a month. In 1902 (81) the board
appropriated $125 to pay the traveling expenses of the
Superintendent in visiting schools of the parish. Evidently,
the job was then considered a very important one. Further,
the board voted to increase the amount received as secretary
to $50 a month (82). School Support
The chief sources of revenue from 1885 to 1889 were the
police jury tax, donations by the City Council and Police
Jury, and interest on the proceeds of the sixteenth section
lands. The school board did not have authority to levy taxes
directly for school support, but the police jury, the
governing body of the parish, was permitted to make
donations to the school funds. In each year from 1887 to
1890 a donation of $3,000 was made to the parish as a
whole. In 1890 the amount was increased to $5,000 and later
to $7,500. We find that the 3rd Ward has received from all sources since 1885, the time when the last public school was taught in the town of Lake Charles, the sum of $6,894.50. We find from the census of 1888, white and colored educable children 1,186. Of this number there is in the town of Lake Charles 576 white educable children …. We find from the amount received by the ward that the per cent due each to be $1.29 1/5 per annum. 576 white at $1.29 1/5 for four and a half years equals $3,348.85. There has been disbursed to the credit of the white children of Lake Charles the following amounts:
Lot to
build house on $800.00
There is
still to the credit of the white children of the town of
Lake Charles on January 1st, 1890, $1,154.85.
Your committee would recommend that the sum of $154.85 be
deducted from the above amount, to supply any access for
overdraw that could possibly exist in the half year of 1885,
still leaving to the credit of the white children of the
town of Lake Charles, the full sum, January 1st,
1890, of $1,000. (93) To contribute to the finances for the building and equipping of the schoolhouse, the women patrons gave a benefit entertainment. It proved so successful that the board adopted the following resolution: Moved that the teachers of the public school of Lake Charles be authorized to give such entertainments as they may deem fit for the purpose of better furnishing the necessary helps for teaching, such to be subject to the sanction of the board. (95) Another ingenious device was employed to assist in case of shortage of funds: a plan was adopted by which patrons were required to pay one dollar a year to provide fuel and incidentals. The resolution pertaining thereto was as follows: Whereas, section 10 of Act No. 81, session ’88 provides as follows: that the School Board shall have the authority to assess and collect one dollar per annum from each family, surviving parent or guardian, who actually sends a child or children to the common schools of the district, to be collected in such manner as said Board may determine, which amount shall be used in providing the school house with fuel, and defraying the expense necessary for the comfort of the school. There fore, be it resolved, that the Local Directors of each school of this Parish are hereby empowered to make the assessment and collect the same in accordance with the foregoing section. And it is further resolved that the local Directors, being delegated with sufficient authority in the premises shall proceed in case of nonpayment to collect the same by such process as the Parish Board may determine upon. (96) In spite of the new sources of revenue, the Board still seemed to be in need of money; in 1891 it appealed to the City Council of Lake Charles, which voted to allot one and one-half mills of the city taxes to the support of the public schools, but the board seems to have had some difficulty in collecting the money. At a special meeting held in April, 1891, the following letter from District attorney R. P. O’Brian was read; it shows the results of an attempt to get funds:
The undersigned begs leave to submit this, his report
concerning matters entrusted to him, and against C. Brent
Richard, tax collector for the town of Lake Charles,
Louisiana. In pursuance of your resolution, suit was
instituted in the name of your president against said
Richard and judgment was rendered in your favor for the sum
of $492.75 with five percent interest thereon from February
2, 1891, until payment, and judgment of non-suit was given
you for the remainder of your demand. The case was appealed
to the Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, where the judgment
of the lower court was confirmed. Mr. Richard has exhibited
to me the receipt of the school treasurer for this money,
less his five percent commission, which I presume the report
of the treasurer shows. In accordance herewith, I present
my bill for services rendered amounting to $45.15, being
five percent of $903.00. (97)
From First to the Sixth Grade inclusive $1.00 In 1897 the board, in order to pay back the amount borrowed from the sixteenth section funds in 1890, as authorized by resolution of July, 1889, passed the following resolution which effectively diminished the possibilities of the accumulation of a surplus school fund: From this date all pro rata revenues derived from the State current fund and the poll tax apportioned to the Lake Charles School District, shall be placed to the credit of said district as a contingent out of which shall be paid all the contingent expenses of the district, and the amount over and above said contingent expenses shall be placed to the credit of the sixteenth section interest fund, at the end of every six months until the amount now due to said sixteenth section interest fund from the Lake Charles district be paid. (99) The financial condition of the city in that year can best be seen from the report of the finance committee, as follows: September 7, 1891 to April 1, 1897 Receipts since Sept. 7, 1891 $41,780.72 Disbursements $41,780.72 Liabilities $2,001.33 (100) There seemed to be some doubt during the summer of 1897 as to whether the schools of Lake Charles would open that fall. (101) The police jury could not pay its appropriation, thereby causing the school board to be still shorter of funds. Plans were worked out whereby the banks of the city would advance enough money to operate the schools for two or three months, or until taxes began to be paid. All salaries in the parish were cut for the session, and teachers were not appointed until September. On January 4, 1898, A. Thomson and H. C. Gill were appointed by the president of the board to interview the police jury regarding funds to insure to the Lake Charles Schools the money to which they were entitled from pupils outside the district, (102) and which funds were supposed to have been paid into the parish treasury as tuition. On the 15th of the month it was decided that the sum of $600 be divided into three payments of $200 each to be made in 1898, 1899, 1900, respectively, to reimburse the Central and High School for the expense of the tuition of pupils throughout the parish. The following, November, (103) another committee requested from the police jury the balance of $2,500 due from the parish taxes of 1895. The sum of $963.14 raised in 1899 by private contributions and entertainments was very little in the face of the $12,000 needed for the city schools for the following session. (104) In spite of this lack of funds, McNeese, driven by the crowded condition of the schools, determined to secure additional quarters for the high school. With this in view he had conferred with Governor Murphy J. Foster in 1898 regarding a special tax. The Constitution of 1898 embodied an article which provided for the levying of special taxes in school districts and municipal corporations for the maintenance of schools and the erection of school buildings. (105) The law to carry out the article of the Constitution was passed in July, 1898. (106) It provided that (1) the police jury could order an election to levy a special tax for the support of the schools on the petition of one-third of the property owners; (2) the petition should designate the object, amount, and duration of the tax; (3) the tax should have the majority in number and property vote; (4) the police jury should have a right to levy and collect the tax annually, if carried. The legislature of 1902 made it easier for such a tax to be levied by allowing one-fifth of the taxpayers to make the petition. (107) An odd gift was made to the schools in 1902. (108) H. C. Drew was a public spirited capitalist who ran for the state senate, because he thought he would be able to render a service to the people of his district. In keeping with a promise made while a candidate, he donated his salary of $250 to the public schools of his district. In December, 1903, the board decided to exercise the privileges with respect to the special tax for school purposes. (109) The superintendent was authorized to employ four men, one from each ward, to obtain the requisite number of signatures to order the election. These men were to be paid from the Lake Charles contingent fund for two days at $3 per day.
Meanwhile, McNeese issued a financial statement of the
schools in July, 1904, and asked the public for relief.
(110) In this statement he showed that the sum of $15,870.01
had been received but that $15,878.01 had been paid out for
teachers alone. There existed an outstanding liability of
$7,000 and the needs for the session 1904-1905 were
$6,749.45 for building and repair and approximately $20,000
for teachers - a total of $33,749.45 was needed, when
$5,878.61 was the amount due from the state. The city
council on July 16, 1904, budgeted $12,000 to the schools,
but this was not nearly enough. It was finally arranged that
the parish treasurer be authorized to negotiate with the
bank for a credit of $3,000 to pay the bills incurred by the
city schools for the following session. (111)
FINANCIAL
STATEMENT
School
Warrants at Calcasieu National Bank
$9,071.06 DUE AS FOLLOWS:
On
$7000borrowed from 16th section
funds $1,400.00 AVAILABLE RESOURCES TO OCTOBER, 1905
From
State, poll tax, bonds and
fines $5,500.00
The Fourth Ward decided in favor of the special tax, and
threatened, if the tax failed, to form its own district,
vote a tax, erect a building and operate an eight-grade
school for a full term. The board was determined to pass
the tax or close the schools. In the end, the schools were
kept open that year through the cooperation of the city
council and the teachers. Particularly was the year of
1905 a period of struggle in the school history of Lake
Charles. First, it was thought that the schools could not
open. The three-mill tax proposed in December, 1904 was
being promoted, but the outcome was still uncertain. At a
meeting of the city council early in September, 1905, the
local school committee asked for $25,000 but received only
$10,000. (116)
Popular vote total
402 Even with sufficient funds in the school treasury, the old question of out-of town pupils arose. In 1906 the board set the tuition as follows: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades - $1.50 per month: 5th, 6th, 7th grades - $2.00 per month; and high school - $2.50 per month. (119) A month later the subject demanded attention again. In an address to the Calcasieu Parish Board, Superintendent Dudley of the Lake Charles Board stated that the city board was desirous of making some arrangements whereby the children of the parish could be admitted to the city schools without having to pay tuition. In response, the following resolution was adopted:
The resolution previously adopted establishing outlying
school districts as part of the school districts of
incorporated towns be revoked. And be it resolved that the
Parish Board of Directors shall authorize the payment to the
Lake Charles School Board and to all incorporated towns
taxed for the maintenance of their schools the sum of $70
per month of the school session for every forty children who
reside in the Parish without the city limits and are
enrolled in the town schools. For any number more or less
than forty, the parish shall pay at the rate of $1.75 per
month for each child. (120) Certification and Training of Teachers
The increasing opportunities for better preparation and
training of teachers probably caused the parish board to set
higher standards with respect to the qualifications of
teachers. Be it enacted that to obtain a third grade certificate the applicant must be found competent to teach reading, spelling, primary mental arithmetic, rudiments of practical arithmetic through fractions and simple interest, elementary geography, primary lessons and laws of health … To obtain a second grade certificate, the applicant must be found competent to teach arithmetic, geography, English grammar and composition, United States History, elements of Natural Philosophy, physiology, and elocution … To obtain a first grade certificate, the applicant must be able to teach elocution, spelling, grammar, rhetoric, literature, and geometry. All examinations must be taken annually, except for teachers who have taught for three years. (122)
The system
of grading inaugurated was also useful in case of two or
more applicants for the same position. Formerly the
applicant was required to have the recommendation of a local
director or patron, which usually meant that the teacher who
had more “political pulls” was named for the job, regardless
of qualifications. Superintendent McNeese applied the tests
in a competitive manner - that is, the applicant who made
the highest grade was the one employed. My new list of teachers is composed of 40, examined since October 1, 1890, to comply with the enactment of 1888, in regard to physiology and hygiene. Most of the teachers have considerable experience, having been educated in states where have been evolved the best systems of education …. All certificates issued since October 1st, 1890 have at the bottom the percentage in each branch including physiology and hygiene. There are three grades, the primary, intermediate, and grammar… Most of my teaching force now, attend all Institutes and I have furnished each one a certificate to show attendance. It being generally understood that said certificate will be considered in every case for future promotion … The compensation of services of teachers is regulated by the grade of certificates, primary teachers being paid $30, intermediates $40, and grammar, $50, meaning in all cases where local directors do not make terms with teachers for less, in which case, length of term is increased in proportion. (123)
In 1892 a change was made in the qualifications required for
certificates. In his annual report to the parish board,
(124) McNeese suggested that teachers without experience in
the “theory and art of teaching” should be granted
certificates of primary grade only. Under this system
McNeese’s teachers compared favorably with those of other
parishes; yet he continued to raise the standards of
qualifications demanded of them. The following year, 1893,
upon his recommendation the board adopted a resolution (125)
that the teachers should hold certificates of intermediate
grade for the primary department, and grammar certificates
for the intermediate department. The teachers were required
to hold the certificates before receiving the contracts.
Teachers, who attended the full week Institute in June,
1897, are and will be entitled to have their certificates
renewed without further examination providing that each one
of such teachers conclude to and do attend a full session of
the summer Normal of 1898 commencing in June. While all
teachers not attending the Institute aforesaid will be
required to undergo the regular examination, all teachers
holding evidence of degrees from institutions of this state
authorized to issue the same will be exempt from
examinations and license granted providing their license be
not expired by the four year limit. (130) Whereas, realizing that a teacher interested in self improvement is of more value to the Parish than one who has reached perfection and for whom growth has ceased, and in order to establish a method of advancement that will give credit to the deserving and extend only to those who stay in the profession, be it resolved that all teachers who present an unbroken record of attendance upon the monthly Teacher’s Association meetings of their district, and who receive a certificate of credit at summer Normal school of the State next summer, shall be given an increase of $5.00 per month on their salaries for the next school year. (134)
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