Baker High School - Nugget Yearbook (Baker City, OR)

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RISE 8.1'1El PFUQFESS of ll'lB Baker SCl'lO0lS HQPQJ on flrst 1n a bu1ld1ng on FIISI Street between Center fBroadwayl and Wash 1ngton and then 1n a bu1ld1ng wh1ch IS now a part of the Commerclal Hotel on the comer of Flrst and Court Streets In looklng up ltems for th1s work I found a rcport card or cert1f1cate of standmg as xt was called made out ln 1877 by W Harnson at that t1me pr1nc1pal of the academy It was prmted on a p1em.e of fools cap paper cut to the d1mens1ons of about exght by ten mches 1t was so arranged that all the space was taken wlth one month s grade thereby necess1tat1ng the prmt 1ng of a new cert1f1cate each month there was no place for the parents to Slgn the1r name as there IS on the cards now Th1s academy was a pay1ng 1nst1tut1on the tu1t1on be1ng collected every eleven weeks In 1872 Prof S P Barrett took charge of the school and carrled 1t on very successfully untll 1875 when he was called to take charge of another school and was succeeded by W Harnson who taugh t1l 1878 Up to 1887 there were no school records kept and when Mr Whltney was elected as school super1ntendent he sa1d he found the superlntendent s offlce 1n a soap box All there was of 1t was a few papers and rece1pts just what was necessary to preserve In 1887 the board of d1rectors for School D1str1ct No 5 began to cons1der the propos1t1on of a new school bulldlng that would accommodate the ever contract was let for bu1ld1ng a structure to cost S30 000 When the blds were opened the lowest was S33 993 All these were relected and a not1ce 1ssued for more b1ds th1s t1me the lowest was S26 996 and was taken The old academy was sold on Iune 12 1888 at publ1c auct1on to the hlghest b1dder that person be1ng B W Levens he g1v1ng S640 for 1t he moved the bu1ld1ng down 1n Leven s Add1t1on where 1t now stands The new schoolhouse was f1n1shed on Ianuary 14 1889 the f1rst fumlsh 1ngs cost S1776 and nearly as much more has s1nce been expended for the same purpose At the t1me of IIS complet1on the new bu1ld1ng conslsted of ten rec1tat1on rooms and a lunch room th1s comprlsed the f1rst and second floors wh1le on the th1rd floor was an aud1tor1um about forty by elghty smx feet th1s was used for all school entertalnments and exh1b1t1ons At the beg1nn1ng of the flrst term 1n the new schoolhouse Ianuary 1889 there were ten teachers and 606 puplls Wllh Prof Herbert Klttredge as Pr1nc1pal and Prof Duffleld 111 charge of the h1gh school The hrst class that graduated from the Baker Clty H1gh School d1d a three years course 1n one year 1n order that there mlght be a class for the f1rst year of the school Prof Duffmeld only remamed one year and was 1n charge of the elghth grade and h1gh school He was followed by Prof Barrett who remamed one year and was followed by our present hlghly respected supenntendent Prof I A Church1ll Prof Krttredge only remamed one year longer and 1n 1892 Prof Church1ll took the supermtendency Prof Duffield was then employed as teacher 111 the h1gh school for one year and lCommued on Next Pagel Page 5 I Cffontinued from Precedl a e . . . x I . . , - - , increasing number of school children. In September of the same year the . . . , 7 , : ' ' - . ,

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RISE 8.l'lCl PPDQPESS uf lllB Baker 5Cl'lUUlS tContmued l om P ec dmg P g J Mr Mlller was Mrs Calbreath s successor About thrs t1me the f1rst regular schoolhouse ln Baker C1ty was erected on the east slde of Mam Street between Washlngton and Court Streets somewhere near the center of the present Warshauer block It was a small unpretentlous bulldlng capable of accom modatmg about flfty pupmls 1t was f1tted out wlth large h1gh desks each of wh1ch could be occupled by three students The grounds were unlmproved and the early settlers here tell that the students were obllgated to wade the dust to the1r shoetops Thxs bu1ld1ng now stands 1n the rear of Merers Hotel In the summer of 58 M1ss McCrary taught 1n thxs bu1ld1ng and 1n the wm ter of the same year Mrs Ferguson tooL her place and taught through the wmter of 69 In connectlon wrth the da1ly routme of classwork Mrs Ferguson found t1me to have the students wr1te composrtlons del1ver oratlons of the1r own wr1t1ng and leam preces and rec1te them they sometlmes gave exh1b1t1ons to wh1ch all the fnends and patrons of the school were permltted to take part It must have been a queer s1ght to see those rough and hardy old m1ners and the leamed professlonal men l1ned up w1th the youngsters to contest the1r ab1l1t1es as spellers and often we are told the spectators were much sur pnsed to see some one ln the humbler walks of llfe carry off the laurels but the settlers comlng as they d1d from all parts of the contment were often poor 1n purse only and possessed much ln the way of educat1on It was somewhere about th1s time that a young lady from New England was teachrng and after the f1rst week 1t was notlced that a certam famlly were not send1ng the1r chlldren to school and when the reason was asked the mother replxed The teacher IS from New England and I do not belleve m patromzlng forergners An explanatlon followed and the chlldren were sent to school In those days when the Baker C1ty School was 111 1ts mfancy the terms consrsted of but three months each and rnstead of s1gh1ng for vacatron the puplls counted the days t1l they agam would be permltted to gather rn the llttle schoolhouse and enjoy the blessed pr1v1lege of pursumg the1r studmes A publlc llbrary was talked of and an entertalnment glven to procure money wlth wh1ch to buy books Were they ever purchased cannot be leamed So we see that our forefathers were not altogether thoughtless of the m1nd whxle seekrng to enr1ch the1r stores of gold In the fall of 69 A H Brown R A Plerce Wlllldm F McCrary and L W Nelson as founders of the Baker C1ty Academy proceeded to erect a burld mg on the sxte of the present h1gh school bulldmg It was a two story frame structure and when near complet1on 1t caught fxre and bumed down xt was lmmedrately recommenced and thls t1me f1n1shed wlthout accldent Thls was about 1870 and 1n 1871 or 72 another bu1ld1ng though much smaller was erected for a pnmary department The above named commlttee employed as the f1rst teachers m the new academy Prof Frank Grubbs and w1fe of Salem Dunng the t1me rn whxch the academy was belng bullt. the school was carr1ed Page 4 n ' r re ae , , 1 . 1 1 1 1 1 I I - 1 1 1 1 1. 1 11 1 1 1 1 . , 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 .1 1 1 l 1 ... 1 1 I I I - 1 1 1 1 - 11 - 1 1 1 .1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 . ,. . 1 . 1 1 1. 1 1 1 1 1 1 , 1 .1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 I I - , - 1 1 1 1 1. I I I 1 1 1

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RISB and PPUQFBSS of the BEIHEI' 50110015 CContnued from P e dmg Page! was followed by M1ss Moore who held the pos1t1on for two years when Prof Barrett was recalled and remamed three years when 1ll health compelled h1m to reslgn 1n 1897 In the fall of 1898 our present h1ghly honored teacher Prof W1ll1am Hyde Stalker took the pos1t1on as teacher 1n the h1gh school At that t1me MISS Stack was teachmg rhetor1c and llterature 1n the h1gh school and conductrng the e1ghth grade 1n the fall of 99 MISS Stack was mstalled as a regular h1gh school teacher her place ln the e1ghth grade be1ng taken by M1ss Dorr In the fall of 1896 the school had grown to such d1mens1ons that lt was necessary to run two part1t1ons 1n the aud1tor1um and move the e1ghth grade and h1gh school to the thrrd floor of the bu1ld1ng In the fall of 1898 1t was found necessary to bu1ld another bu1ld1ng of two rooms and ref1t one of the old bu1ld1ngs for pnmary grades when the present h1gh school bu1ld1ng was erected 1n 1888 the c1t1zens of Baker C1ty laughed at the 1dea of putt1ng up so large a structure for a school bulfdlng but 1t seems as 1f we are not yet through bulldlng schoolhouses for 1n fall of 1900 a two story br1ck bu1ld1ng cost1ng S15 000 was erected on the East s1de and by the appearance of thlngs 1t w1ll not be long before our h1gh school rooms whlch now occupy all of 1ncreas1ng army of students who attend 1t M1ss Myrtle Tracy has been added to the l1st of h1gh school teachers mak1ng four 1n all Our h1gh school has so lmproved and so changed that a student of f1ve years ago would scarcely recogn1ze 1t Two years ago our chem1cal labor atory cons1sted of a few bottles of aclds about a half dozen evaporatmg d1shes tw1ce as many test tubes one pestle and mortar and one alcohol lamp Now we have as flnely an equ1pped laboratory as there 1S 1n the state We have a large room c1ty water gas l1ghts Bunson burners desks for our belong1ngs and m fact everyth1ng that 1S needed to make a f1rst class chem1cal laboratory We have a good football team for the boys and a class 1n physlcal culture for the young lad1es bes1des a llterary and debat1ng soclety 111. wh1ch we are develop1ng some orators and s1ngers who are go1ng to make them selves heard one of these days We carry a f1ne l1ne of study wh1ch prepares our students for a un1vers1ty course It IS dlvlded 1nto two courses the Enghsh course and the Latm sc1ent1f1c course The latter g1ves four years 1n Lat1n carry1ng the student through C1cero Each year and almost every term some new branch of study IS added to the course The attendance 1n the h1gh school has now reached the number of 150 and the ent1re school about 1260 Thus we see that ln twelve years we have 1n creased 654 and God grant our school may lncrease as much more 1n the next dozen years Thls artlcle appeared m The Nugget Volume Ill Number 4 Ianuary 1901 Page S I 1 r ce ' the third floor, will have to be enlarged in order to accommodate the ever-