I shared a few images the other day of New Cleveland, the coal mining boom town that flourished two and a half miles southwest of Lucas from 1899 until roughly 1908, when White Breast Coal Co. Mine No. 4 closed (it was not abandoned entirely until 1912 but by that time the town had nearly vanished).
Included was this image of the New Cleveland School --- two large rooms up and two down with cloakrooms and stairs in front --- built during the summer of 1900 and opened to scholars on Monday, Sept. 17.
A total of 180 elementary-age youngsters enrolled, which gives some idea of the population of the town, estimated at near a thousand when the mine was working at full capacity.
Here's a report on the first day of school from The Chariton Patriot of Sept. 20, 1900:
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On last Monday, Sept. 17, the schools in the new town of Cleveland, Lucas county, opened with a total enrollment of 180.
The district in which Cleveland is located (No. 6, Jackson township) has just completed an elegant new four-room school building of which the patrons may well feel proud. The rooms are large and well furnished with new furniture throughout, having an abundance of blackboard room so essential to the work of teaching.
The board provided teachers for the opening of three rooms, selecting Miss Elsie Douglass for principal, Miss Ora Criswell for the intermediate department, and Miss Florence Bell for the primary. The enrollment in the primary room, 70, makes it probable that another teacher will be employed and the primary work divided.
Indications of the first day's work would seem to warrant the prediction of a prosperous school year for the district, and especially does this seem plausible with the affairs of the district in the hands of a board so faithful and conscientious in the discharge of the various duties devolving upon it.
The citizens of the district met at the school house in the evening, indulging in song-singing and speech-making in commemoration of the completion of the building and its opening for school purposes. The patronage of the school should be very liberal in appreciation of such a generous expenditure of the funds of the district. Superintendent Goltry went down Monday and ratified the action of the district officers in erecting the building for the school
1 comment:
As a teacher of 25 years, I can’t even imagine what those teachers first day must have been like?! 70 primary students and one teacher!! Will they go forward and actually hire another teacher?? I sure hope they did!!!
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