Trimble County High School - Elbmirt Yearbook (Bedford, KY)

Page 15 text:

The gym was added in 1923. Outdoor basket- ball courts were used prior to this gym. Trimble's schools were now well organized and fairly well attended. Each district put up its own building, provided furniture and wood for winter fuel. School boys chopped the wood and kept up the fires. Water was carried from a nearby spring. Drinking utensils were a cedar pail and gourd dipper. The first schools were of logs, covered with white oak hand-riven boards. As these began to rot down in the 90's, they were replaced with white-weatherboarded buildings. A law of 1884 required districts with more than 45 pupils to have a five-month free term, extended to all schools in ten years. In 1904 the term was lengthened to six months and subscription schools disappeared. In 1914 the term became seven months. The Trimble course of study in the 70's and 80's included fundamentals. McGuffey's six readers and McGuffey's speller were used more than half a century. Butler’s grammar was a must. Ray's arithmetics-- primary, 2nd and 3rd parts--were without competition. Adept older pupils studied Ray's High Arithmetic. Stephen's history and a two-book georgraphy course were taught. Spelling and writing were the most important subjects. There was no high school or academy in Trimble prior to 1900, only occasional private schools for those ready for advanced training. One such school was conducted during the 70's in what is now the Miles-Ward Grocery. An independent Bedford Graded School district was created in 1903. With the grading, two rooms were added to the common school erected by a Mr. Dolly Voiers on the site of the present Western Auto Store. Primary grades had one room, grammar grades one, and the third was occupied by the County's first high school--called the Bedford High School. S. S. Robinson taught all the subjects. In 1908 Kentucky enacted a law requiring every county to provide a free high school, and later a compul- sory attendance law applying to children seven to thirteen. These laws were chiefly responsible for the estab- lishment of Trimble County High School. In 1910 the independent graded and county school boards joined to provide a new four-year high school. The Bedford High School was discontinued and its property turned over to the joint board. The graded district levied a 50-cent property tax for its part of the school support. County funds supported the high school. The principal named to organize the first TCHS was R. A. Edwards, just graduated from the University of Kentucky. Grade teachers were Misses Leah White and Edith Moneyhan, and Mrs. Carrie L. Hood. I. D. Mit- chell was county superintendent. Twenty-five pupils enrolled this first year in TCHS. Nineteen were ninth graders. The school inherited a good 400-book library from the old Bedford High, and added a science lab. In 1912 TCHS was approved as a Class B high school by the Association of Kentucky Colleges. Extra curricula activities included a literary society, an agriculture club, track, baseball and basketball. The first ELBMIRT was published in 1914. But a more adequate building was imperative, and realized in 1913 at a cost of $10,000. The county's half of the cost came from the tax fund. The graded school raised its half by selling the old school to the Red Men for about $1,500 and making up the balance by private subscription. Practically everyone gave and when the building was erected it was debt free. High school enrollment increased to 40 pupils the first year. This building served until 1932 when the present home of TCHS was completed. It is hoped that a later edition of the ELBMIRT can continue reviewing Trimble school history, including Milton High School and the rural feeder schools.

Page 14 text:

T.C.H.S.’ Development in the Horse-and- (Most of the following information comes from R. A. Edwards, Richmond, first TCHS principal and now a retired professor of Eastern Kentucky State College.) The early history of public education in Trimble County is typical of that of Kentucky as a whole. Both advanced as public interest spurred new legislation. For 47 years after the inauguration of the Federal Government, no successful attempt was made to establish free public schools. Kentucky tried several times. In 1798 the General Assembly granted 6,000 acres of land to found seminaries of learning. Henry County was organized in this year, including the territory now Trimble. Many counties accepted the lands, disposed of them at low prices and mismanaged the funds. Few seminaries survived. Kentucky had no early public school pattern. The old English idea that education was a matter of private concern prevailed. People with sufficient means could afford tutors in the home. The public school bore the stigma of poverty and was intended chiefly for the poor. The average family grew up with little or no schooling. Three things of major importance to local education happened in 1836. The Federal Government appropri- ated $1,433,757 to Kentucky to equalize the grant of public lands to newer states for school purposes, the first two McGuffey readers were published, and the Kentucky General Assembly passed an act creating the county of Trimble. The Trimble County government was formally organized in March 1837. Eleven months later Kentucky set up a State Department of Education. So Trimble had its inception simul- taneously with that of the State's school system. This particular time in American history marks an epochal advance in democracy. Government was beginning to serve the masses. Children were given an opportunity to learn. An 1838 Kentucky law required counties to lay out school districts before receiving State funds. Each district must have 30 pupils, build its own school house, and support it through local taxation or tuition. At first only 27 counties organized public school districts. After 1850 the picture changed. The common school was firmly established and the three-month school became free in 1851. Parents selected their children’s texts under the first textbook law of 1847. After 1851 the State Board of Education adopted the books, but the author- ity went to a county board of examiners in 1874. Kentucky has had uniform adoption since 1904. Trimble's educational gain preceding the Civil War was not forgotten during the horror days when the County was run over with marching columns of soldiers and guerillas. At the war's end, school was resumed in Bedford in the Baptist Church, located where the Roberts Radio Shop now stands. The school then moved to the Christian Church, in a former building at the present location, and in 1869 to a brick building at the site of the Howard Egerton residence. The school furniture was typical of the day--yellow poplar plank benches, a writing shelf along the wall, a teacher's crude desk. For about 20 years after the war, the free school term was only three months. After its close, the teacher conducted a subscription term for as long as parents were willing to pay tuition. The State passed an additional property tax of 15 cents on the hundred dollars in 1869 which, with the existing 5-cent tax and school bond in- terest, increased the fund to more than $800,000, making the large per capita of $2.37. As this amount came ® from the State, some schools could afford five months free school.

Page 16 text:

Senior High JAMES CAUDILL B.S. Pikeville College Driver Training, Social Studies LUTHER CENTER B.S. Berea College Science NINA COFFIN B.A. Asbury College English, Speech VERNON CRAIG B.A., M.A. Georgetown College History, PE, Ass't. Coach DONALD HAWKINS B.S. Eastern Ky. State College Math, General Business DONALD HEILMAN B.S. , M. S. A. , Univer- sity of Kentucky Agriculture MARY EMMA PI LOW B.A. Asbury College English, Journalism GAIL RANSDELL B.A. , M.E.D. , Univer- sity of Louisville Guidance Counselor Business Education BETTY WEBSTER B.S. Berea College M.E.D. , Univ. of Louis- ville 1 2 Home Economics Junior High Faculty DONNA JO CALLIS Hanover College English, History WILLIAM HENDERSON B.S. Eastern Ky. State College Social Studies