OCR Text |
Show 4 :WxJMF.OGOSrTIMES......... ' . My 21, 2010 ' - - - PG School Burns, Then Gets Rebuilt Again 3" ' " " '."j T l" . w mj. ii' f --- . 4 ; - -. .. ... . - ( ."' v.t ; - ' -i .. J?, I v 1 j r' ' "The Old Bell School," the third school house of the town, was built about 1861. It was constructed from adobes which had been used in the walls of the first school house and again in the second one. Photo courtesy of Timpanogos Times Originally written by Lucile Harvey in 1947 and published in "Pleasant Grove Begin-nings." Understanding that in ap-proximately five weeks school will be starting anew, the Tim-panogos Times thought it would be interesting to look back at the educational system and schools in Pleasant Grove from its be-ginning. The history of the Mormon people always brings out the fact that as soon as the people established homes, they started schools. Pleasant Grove was no ex-ception to this rule as school was held in the Stevens home during the winters of 1850, 51, 52, the teachers being John Wil-son and Mrs. William G. Sher-rit- t. The Stevens home was locat-ed at Cold Spring, a little over a mile west of the current Pleas-ant Grove business district. The adults as well as children attended the school as often as possible, as they were anxious to gain an education. Pleasant Grove was made School District Number Five on April 19, 1852. The district included all the territory from a point about halfway between American Fork and Pleasant Grove, south to the Provo City corporation line. The construction of a school-hous- e was begun at once. It was built of adobe and stood just north of the spot where the Union Pacific Railroad crosses the state highway in the west-ern part of town. It was needed by these sturdy pioneers for the erection of the school build-ing, as the adobes were made, log sawed and hauled from the mountains, and the actual con-struction was also done grastis by the people. Oiled paper was used for the windows, and the benches and desks were of slabs with legs fitted into holes at each end. A large fireplace was built in one end of the room to heat in the winter. On extreme-ly cold days, children took turns standing before the fire to keep warm; while one group studied, the other stood around the fire-place. The teachers at the school where Alonzo Winters and Wil-liam M. Frampton. In 185.3, following instruc-tions from Brigham Young, the people built a fort and moved from their homes into the enclo-sure for better protection from the Indians. The school build-ing was torn down and the ado-bes and lumber hauled into the fort and used in the construction of a new building, which stood on the property just south of the old Mayhew home. This build-ing was built with the end fac-ing the street and a door open-ing on the south wall. A bowery was also built and together they were used for church, school, and recreational activities. About 1 860 the school house burned down and for a time it was held in the basement of the meeting house and in a number of private homes, Mrs. Laura Liston being one who conduct-ed school in her own home. Soon the third school house of the town was begun. The first room was built about 1861. It was constructed from ado bes which had been used in the walls of the first school house and again in the second one, and now were salvaged for use in another institution of learning. The school building was also used as community center. It had a small stage at the east end, across which curtains hung for entertainments and dramatics. Preparations for a stage play had to be made after school, and then all cleared away so school could be held the next morning. By 1871 the school popula-tion had increased, making the building over-crowde- d, so that it was necessary to hold some classes in the City Hall, which was across the street south of the schoolhouse. John C. Sw-ens-recalled attending school in 1878 in a one-roo- m cabin where Larena Nelson's house now stands. Jim Young was the teacher. In 1880 the second room (middle) was added to the schoolhouse. It was arranged with a stage in the new edition, with sliding doors between the seats in the west room. Knud Swenson, a school trustee, was overseer of the construction. William H. Adams, assisted by his son, Joseph H. Adams, laid up the adobes. Mr. Swenson 's diary tells of the formal opening December 3, 1880, with parents and children of the town in at-tendance. The primer, first, second, third, and fourth graders were taught in the school. Anyone who could read the fifth reader was considered well-educate- d. About 1886, 87, a third room was built on the east side of the building. J.L. Harvey, trustee, was supervisor of the building. Olaf Monson was mason. This building is now old but is still in a good state of pres-ervation and stands as a monu-ment to the careful workman-ship of the early pioneers. But more than this, it stands for the culture and ideals which have been so much a part of the community from its beginning. Within the school, many hun-dreds of boys and girls received the fundamentals of a good edu-cation. Perhaps no other small town has sent so many students to institutions of higher learn-ing. In 1878 the need for more teachers led Dr. Carl G. Maeser to persuade the board of trustees of the Brigham Young Academy to grant to scholarships each year to each town in the county. Rose Hayes and Chastina Hol-ma- n were awarded the scholar-ships and graduated in 1880. In 1884 Flora Harvey and Laura Larson were chosen to attend. In 1893 the school again had to be expanded, and a new building was constructed on the site where the old Third Ward Meeting House stood, until re-cently, the church was remod-eled from the old school build-ing The early schools had classes only during the winter, then later extended to five or six months, and still later to a longer-ter- Those early teachers had to col-lect their own salaries. Single teachers could live in homes of . children or collect salary and produce. Joseph Clark was the first man to go away for higher learn ing. He graduated at Salt Lake City and came back to Pleasant Grove to teach. The following list of teach-ers who taught in Pleasant Grove before 1900 was taken from Joshua P. Terry's biogra-ph- yt supplemented by Rose B. Hayes, Alvira Olpin, and others: First teachers, 1850 to 1851 were John Wilson and Mrs. Wil-liam G. Sherritt. Private home teachers, 1853 were Laura Frampton, Mary Ann Winters, Catherine Iver-so- n, Harriet Woolley, Fanny E. Stewart, Harriet West, Susanna Woolley. Early teachers were Alonzo Winters, William M. Frampton, "School Burns" Continued on page 5 Thursday Evenings from 5:00-9:0- 0 PM July 1 st --September 30th, 201 0 Spend your Thursday evenings this summer at Downtown Pleasant Grove Park (200 S & Main St.). Bring your family and come enjoy live entertainment, food, shopping, and fresh produce. FREEPOPSICLES!!!! Bring this ad to the Promenade and receive free popsicles for the entire family from Mayor Bruce Call during the month of August. Mayor Call is there each Thursday evening to meet the citizens of Pleasant Grove! Contact us with any questions: infopgpromenade.com 801-224-26- 78 |