History of Schools in Monroe County

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Source: Undated article by Mrs. W.J.Vanhuss, Paris Correspondent, for unnamed newspaper. 

Generously provided by Don Duvall.

“PARIS – No records are available on the earliest schools in Monroe County. However, early history of both Monroe and Shelby counties mention opposition to public schools among early settlers in the area, most of whom were from Virginia and Kentucky, where private education was customary. Nevertheless, early in the history of Monroe County, settlers realized the need for education for their children and one room schools began to appear. A building would be built on a small plot of ground which was usually donated by a landowner in the community. There were small buildings, often not too well constructed and inadequately heated with wood stoves. Students often had to gather around the stove while studying in very cold weather. These schools usually contained a minimum of the equipment now considered necessary. A table or desk for the teacher and benches for the students made up most of the furnishings. A water bucket with a dipper which was used by everyone no doubt helped to spread many an epidemic of colds and other children’s diseases. Outdoor “sanitary facilities” were anything but sanitary.

Many persons recall with fond memories the recreation afforded by “recess”, later known as “supervised play”. Much healthy exercise went into such games as “blind man’s bluff”, “dare base”, “hide and seek”, “andy over” and the ever popular baseball. In winter, when fresh snow was on the ground someone would mark out a ring in the snow for a game of “fox and geese”. When bad weather made it impossible to play outside, speaking and ciphering bees and “fruit basket, turn over” provided pastimes for the children. In winter, ice skating and sleds were fun-filled times also. When school began in the fall and the weather was warm, the smaller girls whiled away many happy hours of their playtime in playhouses and were most indignant when mischievous boys interfered in their good times. On at least one occasion in my memory a deep sleet came in November and stayed on the ground until March. That winter some of the older boys skated all the way from their home to the school, a distance of three-fourths of a mile. Most students walked to school, with only those who lived a long way riding horses or ponies.

District schools often took the name of the family who donated the land or a prominent family in the community. Some of these in Monroe County were Anderson, Branham, Bryant, Callis, Evans, Hurd, Peak, Powers, Poage, Heavenridge, Marr, Heathman, Tillitt and Wommack. Others bore the names of the small towns in which they were located. Some were named for the timber growing the area, such as Cedar Bluff, Hickory Grove, Oak Ridge and, probably the most unusual, Wafer Ash. Some were named for the streams in the county such as South Fork and Long Branch. Perhaps the most unusual name in the county was “Cradle of Science”. Was this ambitious name the incentive that made this district consistently one of the high ranking districts in scholastic contests? District schools became the center of social life in the communities. Box and pie suppers, spelling bees, literary societies, minstrel shows and other programs put on by the pupils, as well as basket dinner on the last day of school, all afforded opportunities for social gatherings in the district.

Terms were short and usually broken to accommodate the need for the older boys to work in the cropping season. Many times a young teacher was faces with keeping order in a school where the students were almost as old as herself. Requirements for a teaching certificate were much lower then, and many young persons obtained a certificate by taking an examination after completing the eighth grade. These were usually short term certificates. Salaries were very low compared to today’s standards, and unless a teacher lived in the district, he or she had the expense of paying room and board to someone in the neighborhood. Sometimes there were rivalries between families over which would board the teacher. In some cases in the early schools, the teacher would be kept by the families who had children in school, staying a certain time with a family and going in turn to another household. 

As the need for higher education was felt, institutes or academies were started to teach the higher grades. Probably one of the best known of these in Monroe County was the Strother Institute at the village of Strother. A house in Paris now owned by the Russell Herron family was formerly an academy also. There was also a boarding school at Middle Grove. A building erected in 1892 housed this school, which taught several subjects now taught in high school. The ground for the building was given by John L. Newman. The building was provided by private funds and George Ownby donated the carpenter work, assisted by others in the community. The college was established as a private school. Professor Isom Roberts was the headmaster of the school and was assisted by Bert Roberts as primary, Miss Lilly Pollard as history and related subjects instructor, and Dr. W. Wallen, mathematics instructor. The original school had about 175 students, many of whom came from as far as Mexico, Mo., and board and roomed in the building. There were nine bedrooms upstairs and three school rooms on the first floor, so arranged that two could be grouped together for assemblies. The schools operated only a few years and around 1900 was converted to a grade school.

Middle Grove also has one of the first consolidated schools in Monroe County. This consolidation included Middle Grove, Chandler, Garrett, Ownby, and Wright districts. At this time there was usually much opposition to consolidations of schools from residents of the districts, fearing higher taxes and loss of local control of their schools. A progressive spirit was shown in this community, which was probably the first settlement in Monroe County, originally known as the Fox settlement and which was midway between New London and Fayette. In the early 1930s there were several small high schools started, at Santa Fe, Granville, Duncan’s Bridge and Middle Grove. Most of these operated only a few years as higher standards were adopted and bus transportation for students became available. 

Many changes came about in the 1920s and 1930s and, while there were almost 90 districts operating at that time in the county, many districts were soon transporting pupils more economically so that they could operate a school. By the late 1950s there was only one rural school, Sanford, in operation and it was ultimately closed. Large districts at Monroe City, Paris, Holliday, Madison and Middle Grove serving the students of the area. The day of the one room school was now past in Monroe County. The closing of rural schools made the office of superintendent of schools obsolete and it was discontinued. Mrs. Mary Acuff was the last person to serve in that capacity in the county.”