On the 17th of September, in this year, the branch of the Commonwealth's Bank was robbed of $25,000 in its own notes. The robbery took place before 9 o'clock in the evening. The door communicating with an entry was opened by a false key, the iron chest quietly unlocked, the notes taken, and the front door opened without any alarm being given. A reward of one thousand dollars in specie was offered for the apprehension of the robber and also a similar reward of $1500 for the recovery of the money. These rewards did not, however, produce the desired result and neither the money nor the robber was ever discovered. During this year there was a secession of about fifty members from the Methodist Episcopal church here, who formed and established the first Methodist Reformed church. They constructed an edifice at the corner of Green and Fourth Streets, of which Mr. N. Snethen was the pastor. This church was afterwards used by the congregation of the First Presbyterian church, was then sold to the negroes, and finally torn down to make room for the immense Masonic Hall now being built on that spot. The last event of this year which will be noticed here is the erection of the first city school house. This building, still standing at the south-west corner of Walnut and Fifth Streets, was then an extremely creditable ornament to the city. It is capable of containing seven or eight hundred pupils and is divided into a male and female department, which are entirely distinct from each other. It was superintended by the Mayor and six Trustees, annually chosen by the Council. The first board of Trustees was composed of the following gentlemen: Jas. Guthrie, Jas. H. Overstreet, Wm. Sale, Samuel Dickinson, F. Cosby and Dr. J. P. Harrison. The standard of education pursued was as high as that of any private school and the terms were only from one dollar to one dollar and a half per quarter. The annual expense of this school to the city was $5,682. Several equally large schools have been since erected and the system of free-schools somewhat changed. These will be noticed at greater length in another part of this history. CHAPTER VII.