Seven Hills High School - Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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ward into two districts. A 4'Board of Trustees and Visitorsw was formed to regulate the school hours, the courses, and the teachers' salaries. The board decided that the people should be taxed in order to pay the school expenses. This board remained until 1878 when uThe Board of Education was sub- stituted as the official title. About 1820, there was the beginning of our very excellent system of education. Our present schools have progressed greatly since the stuffy little red school house with its oaken benches, the scanty dozen well-thumbed books, the willow Whips in the rack and the uneducated master. Our modern schools offer a great variety of subjects. A few of these are Foreign languages, English, sciences, mathematics, history and current events, manual training and art. Besides the schools for the healthy boys and girls there are special schools for the blind, the deaf, the crippled and other problem children. In 1847 the first high school was established in the basement of a church on Walnut street. There were ninety-seven attendants. Three years later Woodward and Hughes were started, which was the beginning of our very fine high schools. ln 1930 the Trustees and Visitors had a meeting and drew up the fol- lowing rules: 1. The scholars must all keep their hands, faces and clothes clean. 2. They must not stop to play or loiter on the way, coming to or going from school. 3. While in school they must obey their teachers and the rules of the school. 4. They must make no unnecessary noise. 5. Must attend closely to their studies. 6. Must not study aloud. 7. Must not talk or Whisper to each other. 8. Must not leave their seats without permission. 9. Must always speak the truth. 10. Must not quarrel or injure each other. 11. Must not use profane or indecent language. 12. Must be polite and respectful at all times to every one. These rules can be applied to the schools of today as well as to those of one hundred years ago. BETTY ALLEN, Eighth Grade WL wrong, 193 Q l92l

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cussed essays, a monthly newspaper and books. It was the oldest of its kind to consider the newspaper as a source of knowledge. At the outbreak of the Civil War, this club renamed itself the 4'Burnet Riflesn and devoted its efforts to the Union Army. We can hardly realize the effort needed to interest people in any kind of book reading, now that we have at our disposal 30 Public Libraries, 89 Public Schools, each with a supply of Library books, and many other spe- cialized libraries in our own city, namely medical, law, and theological. It is hard for us to realize that in 1850 the books in our city may have num- bered 200,000 while now our main library alone has approximately 100,- 000,000 volumes. RUTH EYRICH, 1940 The Earlier Education of Cincinnati When the early settlers moved westward into the Ohio Valley, their chief implements were the plow, the rifle, the speller and the arithmetic. The rifle was necessary to protect the people from the Indians, the plow, to till the fields, and the speller and arithmetic to educate the young children. These pioneers had high ideals, and as soon as a little community was formed, steps were taken to organize a school and a church. Every settler contributed his share toward the building materials and the salaries of the teacher and the minister. This collection was the beginning of the present school tax system. The first important teacher was John Filson, who sug- gested 'the name of Losantiville for this present city of Cincinnati. While Filson was engaged in laying out a new subdivision in the wilderness fnow near the corners of Fifth and Elm streetsj he was killed or carried off by the Indians, and was never heard of again. Twenty years from this time, there were several schools and school mas- ters. Cincinnati was the first city, formed from the Northwest Territory, to start a school. The very first school was a log cabin built at Columbia-now a part of Cincinnati-in 1790. The first public school was on the river bank and the second one was on Sycamore street near Fifth street. The first model school was built in 1833, and this was the beginning of nine other schools all built alike. The land was usually acquired by donations or by the city school board buying it. At first, ordinary rooms were rented in which the classes were held. As the population increased, the city was divided into five wards, each Yfmgdone, 193 9 i911

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Music of Early Cincinnati Among the middle-western cities, Cincinnati has always been foremost in the field of music. The first music of Cincinnati was produced, in 1795, by a band of French and German players at Fort Washington. The Commander, General Wilkinson, hired this band to play there with the hope of bringing a little gayety into the dismal life at the fort. This same band played the marches for a July Fourth parade. At this time, a noted Scotchman, Thomas Kennedy, was entertaining the people with his violin. Mr. Kennedy, one of the earliest musicians in Losantiville, delighted all with his gay Scotch tunes. Later he moved across the river to a town which bore his name, Kennedy's Ferry. It is noxLthe city of Covington. In the year 1808 great strides were being made in the progress of our early music. The first organ was built by Reverend Adam Hurdus in the early nineteenth century. Already many residents had acquired pianos. Unfor- tunately there was at this time only one piano tuner, who combined his tun- ing with piano instruction. By 1815 Societies were organized. The first was the Harmonical Society, which furnished music during the intermission of performances in the thea- tres. This society also organized the first citizenas brass band. The follow- ing year the HSL Cecilian Society was founded. It was the first society of any real significance but few facts are known concerning it. We do know, however, from Greveis 46History of Cincinnatiu that it was 'cdevoted to the delightful strains of the piano and the improvement and practice of its fair votaries in the cwitching powers of song'.,' The Episcopal Singing Society now began to meet at Christ Church. Also the Haydn Society was formed of singers selected from different societies in the city. The pioneer period of early music in Cincinnati came to an end about 1820. Much music was used to celebrate Lafayette's visit to Cincinnati. Joseph Tossa was asked to conduct the orchestra while Lafayette remained here. Mr. Tossa, a Mexican, had recently returned from the Paris Conservatory. He was acclaimed by music-lovers everywhere and upheld high standards in his selections for the concerts. The Eclectic Academy of 1834 concentrated on bettering the tastes of the people and on securing more religious music. This academy had a twenty-four piece orchestra and an extremely able leader in the Swedish Victor Williams. During the Civil War, Mr. Williams did much for the extension of musical instruction in the public schools. He presented the first oratorio to Cincinnati in old Melodeon Hall. In 1864, after the Eclectic Academy and Haydn Society disappeared, a new society Wham, 193 9 i931