Beda School Reunion - 1907

 

African American Schools

 African American Schools in Ohio County, KY

        In 1878, there was a bill in the Kentucky Senate to authorize the building of a colored school in District 1 of Ohio County [source: Journal of the Regular Session of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, December 1877, p.764]. The bill was said to have passed due to the Democrat vote, according to the article "Colored voters remember..." in the Hartford Herald, 08/01/1877, p.2. The school teacher at the Hartford Colored School in 1880 was Joe C. H. Taylor and the school year began in September [source: Hartford Herald, "The colored school...," 09/01/1880, p.3]. Prof. McDowell from Bowling Green, KY was the teacher at the Hayti Colored School [source: "Prof. McDowell," Hartford Herald, 09/10/1884, p.3]. In 1886 there were 11 colored schools in Ohio County, according to the Kentucky Superintendent Report, and by 1899 there were 8 school districts reported in the article "Statistics" in the Hartford Republican, 06/02/1899, p.3.

        In 1892, there was an investigation by the Hartford Herald on behalf of the colored schools and the colored teachers who had not received their pay. The newspaper reviewed the bookkeeping of the Ohio County school superintendent and determined the colored teachers were owed their pay [source: "In case a suit is brought..." and "Cowering beneath the Herald's revelations" both in the Hartford Herald, 10/26/1892, p.2] The debate about the disposition of the colored school fund became a political disagreement between the Democrats and Republicans as to which had done more for the Negro.

        Other schools in Ohio County included Rockport Colored School in District 9 with P. A. Gary as the teacher [source: "Report," Hartford Republican, 11/17/1893, p.4]. The Sulphur Springs Colored School teacher was Samantha Bracken during the 1893-94 school year [source: "Program," Hartford Republican, 01/19/1894, p.2]. There was a colored school in McHenry as early as 1894 when Miss Charlotte Eidson was the teacher [source: "McHenry Colored School," Hartford Republican, 01/19/1894, p.1]. L. W. Smith was the McHenry school teacher in 1904 [source: "The Guess candle," Hartford Herald, 01/20/1904, p.3].

        In 1940, the Negro teachers in Ohio County were Delois Eidson, Kenneth Eidson, William C. Jackson, Mittie K. Render, and Ethel Tichenor [source: U.S. Federal Census]. The first schools to be listed as integrated were  Beaver Dam Elementary and High School; Hartford Elementary and High School; and Wayland Alexander School, all on p.147 of the Kentucky School Directory, 1962-63. 

·                                 Bruce School [source: Kentucky School Directory, 1961-62, p.883]

·                                 Hayti School

·                                 Hartford School

·                                 McHenry School

·                                 Rockport School

·                                 Sulphur Springs School

Source: Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

Hartford High School - 1922

 Hartford High School - 1922

Unknown school - 1923

Source:  Ohio County Times

Cool Springs School - 1923

Source: Ohio County Times

Oakland School - 1915

Source: Ohio County Times

Rob Roy School - 1913

Source:  Ohio County Times

Old Holbrook School - 1913

Source: Hartford Republican

Central Grove School - 1913

Source: Ohio County Times

Clarks School - 1910

Source: Ohio County Times

Rob Roy School - 1909

Source:  Ohio County Times

Washington School - 1902

Source:  Ohio County Times

Alexander School - 1897

Source:  Hartford Republican

Centertown School - 1909

This photo was found in the Hartford Republican/Ohio County Times.  I sure wish we had the original photo so we could scan it and then post a clearer image.  If one of you knows the Lindley family from Livermore maybe they would allow you to scan the photo - then email to me and I will repost.

1918 School Districts

School districts for Ohio County are a bit of a mystery.  Helen Keown found the 1918 districts published in the local paper.  It would be fun if we can find more of these.

It appears that most of the schools shown are "ungraded schools" and we can assume these were the typical one-room schools where all "grades" met together.  It looks like in 1918 there were 106 "ungraded schools" in the county; these include some small communities that I have never heard of, for example, New Oklahoma, Tanglewood, and Sarvis Hill. Note that the "Graded Schools" are located in the six largest towns.

Kentucky School Report 1912-1913

Kentucky School Report 1912-1913 by Barksdale Hamlett, State Superintendent. Hardback, approximately 900 pages, no index.  

Pages 133-135. OHIO COUNTY

"In making this report to you, as to the progress of the schools of Ohio County for the last two years.  I shall confine my report strictly to what has been done.  While I cannot report a complete revolution in school work and school conditions, I can say that many changes for good have been made.

Very little work, so far, has been done in the way of employment of supervisors due to lack of funds for such work.  The county board recognizes the good that can be done in that way, but have been unwilling to run the county in debt for it.

I find it very difficult to get the teachers to carry out the Course of Study fully, but many more teachers are interested in it now than have ever been before.

The compulsory school law works well until the superintendent and the teachers are mixed up with diphtheria, measles, mumps, whooping cough and small pox, all of which we had to deal with in the last year.  Then, I confess, we completely lost sight of the situation.  Still for all that, our average attendance was better than it has ever been before.  I think the law will work well enough when we can provide means with which to carry on this and many other needed reforms.

In the last two years, we have built fourteen new buildings, at a cost of approximately $7,000 and repaired thirty at a cost of $4,000.  School equipment to the amount of $1,975 has been purchased and placed in the schools of the county.

As to consolidation and transportation, nothing of note has been accomplished, except that the question has been, and is being agitated in every part of the county, with the prospect favorable to at least a trial of it soon.  I am very much in favor of consolidation, if other local conditions which are essential to its success, can be managed.

The school term has not been lengthened and there is not much sentiment in favor of it.  I am sure, that in many rural localities, an extra month would be poorly attended.  I very much prefer that means be provided whereby we can pay our teachers better salaries for the term now taught.

The salary schedule is the most perplexing thing in the whole matter and the most difficult thing for the teachers to understand.  In our county, there are quite a number of small schools and this causes us to employ many teachers, which of itself, pushes the salary down, at least for the teachers in the large district.  $35 is not too much for any teacher, but $45 and $50 is much too small for the experienced teacher.  This salary schedule has caused more dissatisfaction among the teachers, especially the best ones, than anything in the past ten years.  If you can devise some way by which we could pay our good teachers a good salary, we may hope to keep them in the profession.  If not, then we cannot.

We have more pupils in the county high school than has ever been before and the prospect is very bright.    I think the county high school is creating, and will continue to create, more interest in the rural school than any other one thing.

In conclusion, I wish to say that no decided changes have been attempted.  We have attempted and in fact have built houses, repaired those already built and furnished all buildings to such an extent that we have had little money for other things.  The school property of the county is worth many thousands of dollars more than it has ever been before.  Many wells have been dug and special attention has been given to the purity of the water supply for schools.  It will not be impossible, in the near future, to have supervision of the schools, which, I think, is absolutely necessary to the successful enforcement of the compulsory school law.

The clerical work of the office is enough for one man, and it follows that if one man has to do two men’s work, some will be left undone.

School work and school conditions are better, the people are demanding better things, indifference is disappointing; patrons, teachers and school officials are working together. Many things need to be done. We are doing them just as fast as we can."

By Henry Leach,

County Superintendent

Statistical Reports 1911-1912:

Rural students Ohio County census

White male 4,241, White female 4,032, Total 8,273

Colored male 170, Colored female 204, Total 374

Total 8,647

Ohio County Enrollment in School:

White male 3,469, White female 3,336, Total 6,805

Colored male 102, Colored female 166, Total 268

Total 7,073

Over 18 years old

Male 124, Female 150, Total 274

Average Attendance:

White male 2,141, White female 2,003, Total 4,144

Colored male 65, Colored female 103, Total 168

Total 4,312

Percent of census:

White male 50, White female 45

Percent of enrollment:

White male 61, White female 63

Graduates from Elementary Schools:

White male 31, White female 36, Total 67

Colored 0

Thanks to Helen McKeown

Horse Branch High School 1931 & 1940

Horse Branch High School 1931 - All listed LEFT to RIGHT

Top row: Clemmie Oller, Anna Bee Wilson, Elsie Stewart, Ruby Stringfield, Onis Morris, Roy Lindsey, Geoffrey Allen, Delmer Autry,  Earl Crume, Blemmer Landrum, Cary Paul Baize, Lucy Lee Edwards, Charlotte Monroe, Johnny Cummins, Lillian Arnold and Juanita Baize

Fourth row: Raymond Renfrow, Dave Lambert, Larry Wilson, Wilson Whitworth, Carson Autry and Willie Stewart

Third row: Ruby Burden, Gladys Tarrance, Ruby Sanders, Lydia Mollyhorn, Vernon Stogner, Helen Park, Erlis Simpson, Myrtle McCormack, Connie Wilson, Bessie Daniel, C. P. Davis, Elsie Jewell Payton, Anna Mary Crume, Mae Arnold, A.P. Sinclair (teacher)

Second row: Alene Leach (teacher), Virginia House, Gladys Park, Stanley Sanders, Cecil McDaniel, Beatrice Opal Tarrance, Harld Arnold, Mamie McDaniel, Ervin Minton, Virginia Wilson, Tom Ford, Edna Sipes, Natalia Decker and Gertha Oller

Bottom row: Carl Myers, Willie Logsdon, Pirtle Boyd Sandefur, Oval Baize, Randall Crume, Blummer McCormack, Paul Wilson, Delbert Logsdon, Unidentified, Smith Monroe and Cully Ford

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Horse Branch High School Freshman class of 1940 - Rows listed LEFT to RIGHT

Top row: Roderick Shain, Tommy Stringfield, Hushel L. Sandefur, Jr., Ellis Miller, Van Owen House, Jr.

Third row: Mildred Arnold, Alma Wright, Ola C. Miller, Lou Anna Daugherty, H.D. Arnold, James Autry, Willis Quiggins, Charles Beck

Second row: J.J. Turner (teacher), Barney Leach, Raymond Arnold, Lois Jeannette Beatty, Christine Underhill, Wanda Taylor, Deveria Wilson, Juanita Wilson

Bottom row: Cecil Payton, Gloria Baize, Nellie Duncan, Alice Keith, ? Faught, Gracie Maze, Mary Louise Crume, James Hines, Milton Boyd Beatty

Midway, Ohio County

Midway was located at the top of the hill on US 62 between Broadway curve and Highway 85.  From Beaver Dam, you can turn right on Midway Road which runs to Highway 69S.  As you go down the hill toward 85 on the right would have been a coal tipple.  All remnants of this little community are gone now.  Here is a photograph of the Midway School  from 1931-32:

The photographer, Emory G. Schroeter, worked in Ohio & adjoining counties. His cameras are now at Ohio County museum.  He said his pictures were so good because they were developed in river water.  He had a floating studio and would move it along Rough and Green Rivers to different locations for a few days, then on to the next stop.  Home base was the tie up in Hartford.

Class Photo - 1930

Source:  The Ohio County News, April 24, 1975

Thanks to Janice Brown

African American Schools

African American Schools in Ohio County, KY

In 1878, there was a bill in the Kentucky Senate to authorize the building of a colored school in District 1 of Ohio County [source: Journal of the Regular Session of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, December 1877, p.764]. The bill was said to have passed due to the Democrat vote, according to the article "Colored voters remember..." in the Hartford Herald, 08/01/1877, p.2. The school teacher at the Hartford Colored School in 1880 was Joe C. H. Taylor and the school year began in September [source: Hartford Herald, "The colored school...," 09/01/1880, p.3]. Prof. McDowell from Bowling Green, KY was the teacher at the Hayti Colored School [source: "Prof. McDowell...," Hartford Herald, 09/10/1884, p.3]. In 1886 there were 11 colored schools in Ohio County, according to the Kentucky Superintendent Report, and by 1899 there (were) 8 school districts reported in the article "Statistics" in the Hartford Republican, 06/02/1899, p.3.

In 1892, there was an investigation by the Hartford Herald on behalf of the colored schools and the colored teachers who had not received their pay. The newspaper reviewed the bookkeeping of the Ohio County school superintendent and determined the colored teachers were owed their pay [source: "In case a suit is brought..." and "Cowering beneath the Herald's revelations" both in the Hartford Herald, 10/26/1892, p.2] The debate about the disposition of the colored school fund became a political disagreement between the Democrats and Republicans as to which had done more for the Negro.

Other schools in Ohio County included Rockport Colored School in District 9 with P. A. Gary as the teacher [source: "Report," Hartford Republican, 11/17/1893, p.4]. The Sulphur Springs Colored School teacher was Samantha Bracken during the 1893-94 school year [source: "Program," Hartford Republican, 01/19/1894, p.2]. There was a colored school in McHenry as early as 1894 when Miss Charlotte Eidson was the teacher [source: "McHenry Colored School," Hartford Republican, 01/19/1894, p.1]. L. W. Smith was the McHenry school teacher in 1904 [source: "The Guess candle," Hartford Herald, 01/20/1904, p.3].

In 1940, the Negro teachers in Ohio County were Delois Eidson, Kenneth Eidson, William C. Jackson, Mittie K. Render, and Ethel Tichenor [source: U.S. Federal Census].

The first schools to be listed as integrated were  Beaver Dam Elementary and High School; Hartford Elementary and High School; and Wayland Alexander School, all on p.147 of the Kentucky School Directory, 1962-63.

Names of known African American Schools in Ohio County:

Bruce School

Hayti School

Hartford School

McHenry School

Rockport School

Sulphur Springs School