Hastings High School - Saxon Yearbook (Hastings, MI)

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High School Faculty

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The first school building in Hastings was erect- ed in 1841. It stood on the vacant lot west of Hoffman Bros.’ store on Court street. This one- room frame building did service for ten years. The first teacher was Sophia Spalding, now Mrs. Henry Knappen of Kalamazoo, and among the first pupils were William Hitchcock; Mrs. Hitchcock, nee An- gelo Hayes; Mrs. George Heed, nee Ann Burch; Mrs. George Osborn, nee Wilhelmina Hubbell; Mrs. Ed. Reed, nee Sarah Hubbell; Mrs. Mary Geer, nee Mary Young; Hiram Jones, and Mrs. Charlotte Rus- sell, nee Charlotte Barlow'. The first annual meeting of which w'e have any record was on September 30, 1850. At that meet- ing Nathan Barlow, Jr., was appointed Moderator; H. A. Goodyear, Director, and William Temple, Assessor. The minutes of that meeting contain these entries: “Motioned and seconded, that a por- tion of the stove pipe be sold to the highest bidder. Sold to T. J. Harvey for $1.76. Motioned and sec- onded that ten dollars be raised for contingent ex- penses, which motion was carried. It was voted that the school teacher be hired in the ensuing year at a rate per month; that such teacher board at his or her expense. Motioned and carried that three hundred dollars be raised for the purpose of build- ing an Union School House.” We are told in the minutes of a special meet- ing held May 17, 1852, that “after considerable quarreling and a great many words of no account,” it w'as decided to build a two-room school building “immediately north of the cemetery”—the present Historical location of the main buildings. In the winter of ’51 and '52 “school was taught 4% months by I. S. Geer at the rate of $26.00 per month.” Mr. Geer was assisted by Mrs. Margaret Geer for twelve weeks, who drew a salary of $2.00 per w’eek. “The whole No. of Scholars in the Dis. between the ages of 4 and 17 is 155,” gives some idea of the size of the school of that day. In 1871 the school building had grown to be a three-room house, “with a large entry.” It was con- sidered a large structure, and in appearance re- sembled the old Court House which stands today in the rear of the Hastings House. During the winter of this year, the school house burned and tempo- rarily the school was held in a hall which stood near where the Herald office now is. At a district meeting of that spring, it was de- cided to build the present High School building. The contract for this structure was awarded an Ann Arbor party for $38,000, and later $6,000 more was given a second contractor to complete the work, “since the first contractor jumped his job.” It was about a year before it was completed, and the bonds which were issued for the payment of the cost ran 20 years and “were to draw 10 per cent interest.” In November, 1872, school opened in the new building, with “Mr. Samuel Dickie,” now President of Albion College, as first superintendent. Under his direction the school w'as first regularly graded. There were three teachers in the High School de- partment, who taught Geometry, Algebra, Trigono-