History of Linn County Iowa: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time [1911]Brewer, Luther Albertus
History
History of Linn County Iowa: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time [1911]
Brewer, Luther Albertus
Linn County (Iowa) -- Biography; Linn County (Iowa) -- History; Registers of births, etc. -- Iowa -- Linn County
"Mrs. E. J. Lund was one of the earliest of Cedar Rapids
teachers. For many years her inspiring example and her
patient work developed good children out of bad, and she
finished her life's work by taking care of all the poor and
unfortunate of the county. The Cedar Rapids superintendents
were Professor Humphrey, 1861-4, Professor Ingalls, 1864-5,
C. W. Burton, 1865-70, J. E. Harlan, now president of
Cornell, 1870-5, F. H. Smith, the latter part of 1875, J. W.
Akers, 1875-81, W. M. Friesner, 1881-5, L. T. Weld, 1885-6,
J. P. Hendricks, 1886-90, J. T. Merrill, 1890-1901, J. J.
McConnell, 1901--, twelve men in thirty-four years. The list
shows plainly the growing tendency to keep a superintendent
for long periods at a time.
"The high school principals show the same tendency; A.
Wetherby, from 1870-1, E. C. Ebersole, 1872-73, W. A.
Olmsted, 1871-2, Miss Mary A. Robinson, 1873-86, Miss A. S.
Abbott, 1886--.
"The original high school building contained four rooms. In
1876 it had a corps of three teachers: Miss M. A. Robinson,
Miss E. J. Meade, Miss Estella Verden, and had an attendance
of 106 pupils; it now has twenty teachers with an attendance
of 838 pupils. In 1876 there were five buildings in the
city; there are now sixteen. Of the teachers thirty-one in
number in 1876, there are two left: Miss Emma Forsythe and
Miss Emma J. Fordyce. In 1876 the total number of pupils
handled by thirty-one teachers was 1,752. In 1911, with 181
teachers, there are 6,122 pupils, not quite six times as
many teachers, but showing a smaller average number to each
teacher. Evidently the school-houses have always been
crowded, since the superintendent's report of 1876 says: 'We
have in the school district five school buildings, and these
are taxed to their utmost to accommodate the pupils already
enrolled.' He also remarks pensively: 'In your wisdom for
the coming year, you have reduced the salaries of your
teachers, and in some cases the reduction has been such that
some of your best teachers have been compelled to seek
employment elsewhere.' Since no following superintendent
makes the same complaint, it is evident that school boards
do improve. As to salaries, the salary of the superintendent
in 1883 is given as $1,000; in 1911 as $3,000, which means
the magnificent increase of $42 a year; not a great
temptation. The salaries of the teachers increase in the
same period about $25 a year. Comment is unnecessary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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