First day of school 1889 Guthrie, OK
Schools played a vital role in the foundation and growth of Oklahoma’s towns. Schools were a center of activity and a major focal point for community development.
Education and Light
These are the subjects that the council grappled with. Cunningham and hunter, assisted by their friends, filibuster and fight with kindly feeling towards each other. There was a meeting of the city council yesterday afternoon and when it is stated that there was a meeting, the reader will please infer that all the words can possibly imply the writer intends to convey.
It was a pleasant red hot meeting.
Mayor Dooley rapped vigorously on the desk, and clerk Paxton adjusted his borrowed spectacles and proceeded to call the roll. Messrs. Warren, Cunningham, Hart, Friedlander, Hale and Jamison answered to the regular roll call.
<From the Guthrie Daily News, Guthrie Oklahoma, Wednesday Morning November 20, 1889>
The Guthrie City Council met primarily to discuss Ordinance number 122. Members of the council committee had been struggling with framing the ordinance that would outline how Guthrie lots would be taxed in order to raise funds for a school.
After giving the writer of the ordinance a hard time about his illegible penmanship (several councilmen even suggested that the writer should attend schools funded by the ordinance in effort to improve his hand), it was decided that each lot would be taxed at a rate of $5 apiece. Several members of the council are reported to have engaged in a “vibrant discussion” with “vehemently strong language” against the $5 rate. The residents had all determined what they deemed a fair price for schools for their respective districts. They obviously did not all agree.
After about an hour long “heated exchange” the council called the vote. The ordinance to charge $5 per lot in Guthrie for the purposes of supplying funds for schools was passed with a few “NO” votes on record.
The next item for discussion was about placing electric lights in the different wards throughout town.
Getting Organized
Guthrie was originally 4 different townships: East Guthrie, West Guthrie, Guthrie Proper, and Capital Heights. While each section of town was technically separate, there was a concerted effort to work toward consolidating the sections soon after the run. The School Board of Guthrie Proper initiated the consolidation movement by inviting the other 3 boards to join in October of ‘89.
Prior to the Run of April 22, 1889, Congress had already determined that 2 sections (16 & 36) of each township should be set aside for schools. These “formed nearly as fast as churches” by the settlers. Subscription schools popped up that summer and fall until a tax base could be established. In June of 1889, Miss Margaret McConnell erected a tent on the back part of her town lot. She invited children in town to attend school a few days a week.
Most children in that time would attend school 2 or 3 times a week and then attend Sunday School. Most of the rural and subscription schools would only be in session for short terms (3 months) revolving around the agricultural planting or harvests. Parents paid the teacher $1 per month for each child attending.
The Benedictine Sisters established the Parochial school in September 1889. A night school for older children and adults was opened in December and the consolidated school board reported that Guthrie alone had 518 students. Van Antwerp & Co. generously volunteered to electrify the small school buildings in West Guthrie while over-crowding in East Guthrie forced students to attend classes in City Hall until another location could be found. A bond issue of $2500 was passed in order to meet growing school demands. In Crescent, children attended school in the blacksmith’s shop and in Coyle, they went to the granary.
In June of 1890, while preparing for the consolidation of the town, the collection of school taxes would be suspended until the consolidation was complete and the tax records could be reconciled.
The following year, the Daily State Capital Newspaper published an article celebrating the great success of Guthrie’s schools and calling for further growth. One sentence stated that citizens of a now consolidated Guthrie want to see at least 3 teachers in every township throughout the state.
The expansion of schools in the territory carried on at a rapid pace. Each family contributed what they could to provided for the children and their education. Families donated books, loaned construction materials and furniture, cooked and baked for fundraisers all in support of their local school.
