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Clay County, TXGenWeb Project
Museum Memories
Submitted by Lucille Glasgow
Courtesy of Clay
County 1890 Jail Museum - Heritage Center
The following are "Museum Memories" from the archives
of the the Clay County 1890 Jail Museum - Heritage Center,
where a collection of stories, newspaper articles and memories
are located. These articles have been published in the
Clay
County Leader and are there for copyrighted by the Clay
County Leader & authors. All articles are reprinted
with permission as well as the articles posted on this site.
Please do not copy or redistribute any articles without the written
permission of the Clay
County Leader or authors.
If you would like to visit the the Clay
County 1890 Jail Museum - Heritage Center,
please contact Lucille Glasgow
for more information about the museum.
Digging into the archives has
turned up some more interesting writing that reflects such things
as teaching methods. Mrs. Mable Glasgow Pope, a long-time history
teacher at Henrietta High School (and some rural schools earlier)
believed in her students writing a bit of history in their times.
A sheaf of essays her students wrote in 1931 on different aspects
of the county’s history has been unearthed. The originals
are in the archives of the University of Texas, sent there by
Mrs. Pope to Winnie Allen, who taught in Henrietta before she
became librarian in the Texas collection at the University.
Christine Royer wrote the history of the Henrietta Public Schools.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF HENRIETTA
Written by Christine Royer
"In the year 1884 the first
movement was made toward establishing a public school in Henrietta.
(Up to that time the only educational facilities were private
schools, the best of which was conducted in a private home located
just east of where F.F.. Green’s grocery store now stands.)
At that time there was no board of trustees, so the city council
formulated plans for the erection of a school building.
"Since the city council was the founder and supervisor of
this first building and on account of some technical ordinance,
it had to be built for a city hall, but was used for a public
school building until the enrollment of the school outgrew the
capacity of the building.
"This building occupied the northwest corner of the block
on which the Gentry houses now stand.
"The council at this time was composed of W.A. Squires,
mayor; John F. Conn, secretary; Cliff Easley; Norman Snearly;
Sandy Worsham; and L.H. Koethe, councilmen.
"The town’s people took great pride in the erection
of this building, and some made daily trips to see how the work
was progressing. One of the councilmen, Cliff Easley, spent all
of his time overseeing the work that was done to make sure that
only the best material would be used. Once when he did not think
that the material was up to the standard, he had the workmen
to tear down what they had done and to do it over properly.
"This building was built of red brick and was in the shape
of a cross. The lower floor consisted of four class rooms, the
superintendent’s office, a large cloak room and two halls.
The upper floor was given over to class rooms, of which there
were six in number, the halls being used for cloak rooms.
"The lower floor was used by the high school departments
and since the work was not departmentalized, one teacher taught
all the eighth grade subjects; another all the ninth grade subjects;
and so on through the tenth and eleventh grades.
"This building was not equipped with a furnace but each
room was heated by a stove in which coal was burned. There were
no drinking fountains; a well about thirty-five or forty feet
in front of the school house furnished the drinking water for
the school children.
"A high board fence enclosed the school grounds and this
furnished much amusement for the children, because by placing
a long board on the horizontal boards of the fence an excellent
see-saw was produced. The smaller pupils placed their board on
the lower board of the fence and the older the pupils got, the
higher they would place their see-saw plank.
"Recess time was enjoyed by all, from the youngest to the
oldest and no one was allowed to stay indoors when the weather
was nice. The girls amused themselves by playing jacks, town
ball, jumping, blackman, and see-sawing inside the school yard,
while the boys were allowed to play baseball on a big open space
just southeast of the school yard.
"Teachers were not required to do ground duty but all took
part in play, even the superintendent and principal. There were
only a few houses between the school building and Dry Fork and
in the spring the girls were allowed to go flower picking. Sometimes
they would go as far as the creek and bring back great bouquets
of daisies and violets and plum blossoms.
"In the fall the boys would go to the creek during the noon
hour and get their pockets full of pecans. Even in those days
the boys knew how to play hookey and some would forget to come
back to school in the afternoons but remained on the creek to
gather pecans.
"There was an immense bell on the top of the school house
and when rung it could be heard all over town. This same bell
can still be heard from the Catholic Church.
"The subjects taught in the elementary grades were about
the same as are taught now; but the subjects taught in high school
were not so many or so varied as are now taught in our high school.
There were no electives in high school; all subjects that were
taught were required. These subjects were history, English, algebra,
geometry, Latin and science.
"After six or eight years, a frame building, consisting
of two immense rooms, was built northeast of the brick building
and this was used for the primary grades.
"But in the course of another few years, the school enrollment
became so large that plans had to be made for the erection of
a school building adequate to accommodate the growing school
population of the city. The result of this movement was the present
ward school, which was named the Lulu Johnson Building.
"When the old building was vacated, it was sold to the Catholics,
who used it as a hospital for a while. It was well insured and
the priest who was in charge at that time decided that they needed
the money worse than the building, so he set it on fire.
"It burned one evening about six o’clock and was the
largest blaze that the town had ever witnessed. In some mysterious
way it was found out that the priest had caused the fire; he
was arrested, tried and served a term in the penitentiary.
"The new building, Henrietta’s second public school
building, which is now known as the ‘Lulu Johnson Building,’
was begun in 1909 and was completed and ready for use by September,
1910.
"Professor J.L. Gragg, who was superintendent of the Henrietta
Public Schools during the terms of 1909-1910 and 1910-1911, deserves
much credit for the erection of this building, because it was
through his interest and influence that the citizens of Henrietta
were made to realize the need for a more modern and more commodious
school building.
"This building is located three blocks north of the first
school building. It is built of red brick and concrete. It is
considered as a three story building, the first being the basement.
"Until 1928, when the present high school building was completed,
the basement of the ‘Lulu Johnson Ward School’ was
used by the primary grades; the second floor by the grammar grades;
and the third floor by the high school grades.
"This building is modern in every respect; it is heated
by a furnace, lighted by electricity, has drinking fountains
on every floor, and has fire escapes from the second and third
stories.
"The campus is enclosed by concrete walks and curbs. A giant-stride,
a slide and swings furnish playground equipment.
"The auditorium with a stage, dressing rooms on either side,
and a seating capacity of about five hundred, is on the third
floor. This auditorium was also used for a study hall for the
high school pupils.
"After about ten or twelve years, this building would no
longer accommodate the enrollment, so an annex was built on the
east side. This added four class rooms to the building and enlarged
the auditorium.
"In 1926 it again became necessary to make plans for more
teachers and more class rooms. Bonds were voted in 1926 and the
erection was begun in 1927. In the early spring of 1928 the present
‘Walker High School Building’ was completed, and the
high school grades moved over into their new home and spent the
last six weeks of the 1927-1928 term in it.
"This new building is located on the block directly southwest
of the ‘Lulu Johnson Ward School.’ There was much discussion
concerning the location of this building because some of the
citizens thought that it should be located in the opposite side
of town from the other school building, but it was deemed best
from several economical standpoints to erect it on its present
site. First, by having the buildings close together, one superintendent
could better supervise both; and second, it was economical to
the science equipment and department in the Lulu Johnson Building.
"This last building was named the Walker Building in honor
of C. F. Walker, who was superintendent of the Henrietta Public
Schools for sixteen years.
"It is built of cream-colored brick, has a red tile roof
and is two stories high. The auditorium serves a double purpose
because by taking up the seats it can be used as an indoor gymnasium.
This auditorium extends across almost the entire north side of
the building and is as high as both stories combined.
"South of it on the first floor are two class rooms, the
superintendent’s office, the principal’s office and
double home economics rooms.
"On the upper floor there are three class rooms, a study
hall and a library.
"In the halls there are steel lockers in which the pupils
keep their hats, wraps, and books.
"The walks and curbs enclose the ground and the campus is
well sodded with Bermuda grass. A drive is now on for planting
shrubs and flowers which will enhance the beauty of the grounds.
Each class has charge of a special plot of ground.
"A number of new subjects have been added to the curriculum
this year and many extra-curricular activities are participated
in by a large per cent of the student body." |
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