FIRST SCHOOLS, PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS—ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS— EARLY SCHOOLS AND PIONEER TEACHERS—DISTRICT SCHOOLS—STATISTICS— MANUAL TRAINING—ATCHISON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL—COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION—ATCHISON CITY SCHOOLS—PRIVATE SCHOOLS—MT. ST. SCHOLASTICA’s ACADEMY—PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS—MIDLAND COLLEGE AND WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY—ST. BENEDICT’S COLLEGE. During the turmoil and confusion that accompanied the movement of population into Atchison when the town and county were organized, the question of schools appeared to be a secondary one. It was not until the bitter days of 1854, 1855 and 1856 had passed that the attention of the people was directed to this important question. The first schools in Atchison were private institutions, and a number of them flourished until after the beginning of the Civil war. Among those which were first in the educational field here was the Baptist Seminary, at the northeast corner of Eleventh and Santa Fe streets. It was a school for young women and was conducted by Mr. Stork. Later Mrs. Lizzie Abbott, who afterwards became the wife of Judge Cassius C. Foster, conducted a young ladies’ school at the northeast corner of Sixth and Laramie streets, and in the eighties Miss Mary Teasdale conducted a private school at the same place. Miss Lizzie Bay, the daughter of Hugh Bay, a prosperous farmer living southwest of Atchison, was also active in early day educational affairs, and so was Mrs. Amanda Blair, at that time Miss Amanda Meeker, who is a resident of Atchison in 1916. Mrs. Blair was the first teacher in Atchison county. While there was no activity in educational affairs during the period just mentioned, the first Territorial legislature did, in fact, pass a law in the summer of 1855 providing for the establishment of common schools, but the history of the Atchison county school system did not begin until 1858. The city of Atchison, District Number 1, was organized August 5, 1858. On September 13th of that year a meeting was held in the law office of Franklin B. Adams, and the following school officers were elected: James A. Coulter, director; Dr. William Grimes, treasurer, and Franklin G. Adams, clerk. O. F. Short was the other member. Phillip D. Plattenburg, who had previously served as county superintendent of Fulton county, Illinois, was elected principal of the schools and Mrs. Blair his assistant. School was opened the first week in November, in two rooms over Bury’s Grocery Store, on the corner of Fourth and Commercial streets, where the Y. M. C. A. building now stands. The next year the corps of teachers had increased to four, and Miss Lizzie Bay and Miss Melissa Kipp, who subsequently became the wife of Chief Justice Martin, became the other two teachers. The school was moved to the old Masonic building further west on Commercial street, where it was conducted for two years. Mr. Plattenburg was also appointed