Studabaker School House, Greenville, OH

     From the fall of 1793 to the spring of 1794, General Anthony Wayne erected Fort Greenville on the western frontier of the Northwest Territory.  The historic "Treaty of Greenville" was made here in 1796.  The fort burned later in 1796, and the present city of Greenville, OH, the seat of Darke County, was laid out on this site in 1808.  In 1840, Abraham Studabaker donated land now lying along Ohio State Route 49, three miles south of the original site of Fort Greenville, for construction of a schoolhouse.  The first brick schoolhouse in Darke County, OH, was erected there, about 1846.  The Studabakers deeded the building to School District 14 in 1860 and to the Greenville Township Board of Education in 1869.  It was known as the Studabaker School and also the Beehive School.  The schoolhouse was presented to the Fort GreeneVille Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution by Frank Travis Conckling and was restored with financial aid from the Works Progress Administration.  Restoration was completed in 1957.  Rededication services were held in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial celebration.  The schoolhouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.  It is currently used by the local D. A. R. organization.  When we lived in Dayton, OH, from 1987 to 2002, we visited Greenville many times and often drove past this school building.

Little Red Schoolhouse, Oberlin, OH

 

     The Little Red Schoolhouse, located at 73 S. Professor St. is the oldest building in Oberlin, OH, and the only one known to have survived from the city’s first decade.  Built as a one room school house in 1837, it was replaced in 1858 and has been moved three times since its erection, serving as a home and a tailor shop.  After being restored by Cliff Barden in 1958, it was taken by the Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization in 1968 and became a musseum filled with varied relics of nineteenth-century public education, serving as a reminder of simpler days.  We lived in Medina, OH, from 1980 to 1987, and had occasion to pass through Oberlin a few times, although I do not recall having seen the Little Red Schoolhouse.

Across the Continent: “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way”

 

     The Currier and Ives print Across the Continent: "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way" was painted in 1868 by British-American artist Frances (Fanny) Flora Bond Palmer (c. 1812-1876).  Ewell L. Newman, a Currier and Ives specialist, said, "It is likely that during the latter half of the nineteenth century more pictures by Mrs. Fanny Palmer decorated the homes of ordinary Americans than those of any other artist, dead or alive."  HYer work also appeared on books, calendars, and greeting cards.  It is estimated that she did over 200 scenes for Currier and Ives, but she did not always sign her work.  We saw an original print of this pictrue on display in an exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library while on a visit to Springfield, IL, in the summer of 2007.  The one-roon log building towards the front is labeles "Public School."  This popular print extols the idea of American progress, and putting the school in front symbolizes the importance of education to that progress.

Pass Creek School

     Pass Creek School is located at 3747 Pass Creek Rd., Belgrade, MT 59714, in Gallatin County.  Robin Hoffman, Editor of Country Magazine, wrote in the Aug./Sept., 2007, edition of the magazine, "Hunkered in the shadow of the Bridger Mountains 25 miles north of Bozemann [MT], Pass Creek School looks like the classic one-room schoolhouse every country kid in America once attended.  In 1918, there were more than 190,000 one-room schools in the U. S.  We hae about 400 today, and with less than 1 million people spread over 147,000 square miles, Montana accounts for one fourth" (p. 16).  The original Pass Creek school building burned down in the 1950s, but the citizens moved the current building down from the mountains and kept going.  When the article was written, there were fourteen students, from kindergarten to eighth grade.  Miss Lauren Wing taught grades K-3, and Mrs. Sid Rider taught grades 4-6.  Patty Larios taught band in the new community center across the road.  Hoffman noted, "Seems to me they’re also noticeably less…squirrely, let’s say, than a typical roomfull of grade-school kids.  The younger ones look up to the older ones; the older ones take the responsibility seriously.  And they’re a lot of fun to be around, even for a cranky old editor" (p. 17).  After graduation, the students go to high school in Manhattan.

Schoolhouse in Lincoln’s New Salem

     The schoolhouse in Lincoln’s New Salem was originally the "Hard Shell" Baptist Church, located about a half-mile southwest of the village of New Salem, IL, where Abraham Lincoln lived and worked as a young man.  Mentor Grahamaaaaaa, athe village schoolmaster, received permission to use the church as a school.  He circulated a petition for interested parents to sign up their children.  He taught reading, writing, and ciphering (arithmetic).  Mr. Graham ran a subscription school, and received his pay in goods such as corn, wheat, firewood, chickens, and meat.  His school was called a "blab school" because the students learned by repeating their lessons out loud, over and over.  People reported that the sounds from the school could heard a mile away.  This is the only building on sige that was not originally located in the village.  This reconstruction was moved to New Salem in 1968.  We visited Lincoln’s New Salem, outside of Springfield, IL, a couple of years ago while on vacation and enjoyed it very much.

a medley of matters

     The Moonshine Store: No, I’m not going to tell you where you can purchase moonshine! Moonshine is a little community in east central Illinois, south of Casey. It was named from the reflection of the moon in a puddle of water (so they say!!!!!). When we come across interesting historical sites, I try to report them for others who might be interested. The Moonshine Store is not a "historical site" per se, but it is a slice out of history. The store was founded in 1889 by William St. Martz. The original building was located just north of the present site, but when it burned, a new store was built in 1912 at the current location. The store has served as a gathering place, a grocery store, and a place for farmers and oil field workers to come for lunch. Enid Misner was the first to start making cold cut sandwiches and hamburgers. Helen and Roy Lee Tuttle bought the store from Enid in 1982 and added a variety of other sandwiches. Until the early 1990s, the hamburgers were cooked on small electric griddles. The first gas grill replaced them in 1993 and a second grill was added in 2004. A friend drove us past the store back in 2004 when we were visiting in the area, but the grill closes at 12:30 so we didn’t eat there the. However, on our way home recently from a trip to Indiana, we decided to leave early enough to stop in for lunch. The hamburgers were excellent, and Jeremy said that the hot dog was really good too. Bottled drinks, chips, and other snacks are also available. The Moonshine Store is located at 6017 E. 300th Rd., Martinsville, IL 62442; phone: (618) 569-9200. It is not easy to get to, but it is worth the effort!

     Good reading: The Aug./Sept., 2009, issue of Home Educator’s Family Times: American’s Leading Homeschool and Family Newspaper ( www.homeEducator.com/FamilyTimes ) has interesting articles by Naomi Aldort about "How Children Learn (and Don’t Learn) Manners, Barbara Curtis on "A Parent’s Advice on How to Raise Responsible, Hard-Working Kids," Barb Frank on "When Kids Use the Internet for Research," by Rachel Gaathercole on "Swimming and Schooling," Karen Andreola on "Living Books for the Mind and Heart," and Lisa Russell on "The Trap of Choosing a Homeschooling ‘Method,’" plus an excerpt from Linda Dobson’s book The FIrst Year of Homeschooling Your Child, commentary be Deborah Stevenson of National Home Education Legal Defense about the dangers to parental rights in the Health Care Bill, and Todd Wilson’s homeschool humor.

     Oh, and did you know?: The American Bar Association House of Delegates has approved a resolution calling on Congress to repeal a section of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, that denies federal marital benefits and protections to same-gender couples married in states where it’s legal.

“The Last Day of School”

 

     "The Last Day of School" was painted by Marie Fox.  "For any child the last day of school means that fun and play await.  We can still hear the cheers of these children from a century ago as they gleefully dash toward freedom.  One grabs his bike, another kicks skyward from the blossoming apple tree swing."  Marie grew up near the Bluefish River.  Sailing a red catboat she took in visual stimulation from the historic structures of Duxbury, MA, and a landscape painted by the seasons.  She began her folk art paintings in 1985 after ten years in Southern California as an art restorer and quiltmaker, professions which trained her in patience and precision.  On returning home to New England, she was newly entranced by its history, weather, whimsical architecture, and intimate spaces.  She says, "When painting an image, I live in its world where meaningful details speak to my senses.  I can retrieve a childlike quality which animates these small dramas.  I try for a story frame which rewards many viewings and hope my work will create a sense of well-being as it reminds viewers of their own favorite people, places, and times.  I have that same feeling in creating it."  Copies of the print are available for sale at www.mariefox.com/print_details.cfm/pid/3039 .

Sweden outlaws home schooling

     Pete Chagnon of OneNewsNow reported on 8/19/2009 that the founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association says home schooling in Sweden will soon be banned altogether, with a few minor exceptions. Mike Farris says that Sweden will ban all home schooling except for children with medical exemptions and foreign workers with the appropriate work visas. "That’s it. People who have religious convictions or are home schooling for religious reasons will not be given one of these very rare exemptions," he points out. "And so for all intents and purposes, home schooling is going to be banned in Sweden. They’re following the German statute, following the German model." In Germany, parents face stiff penalties if they are caught illegally home schooling their children. The Romeike family recently left Germany and is seeking asylum in the U.S. after facing stiff fines and the potential loss of custody rights for home schooling their children. The Home School Legal Defense Association is offering them legal help. Editor’s note: Obama and the Democrats want the United States to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which would supercede any constitutional guarantees or judical precedents that we have in our nation. Most European countries, such as Sweden, have already done that. What if some unelected, unaccountable U.N. bureaucracy, and that is who will administer the CRC, decides that homeschooling should be banned everywhere? For a society like ours, founded on individual freedom and parental rights, this so-called "treaty" is a VERY bad thing!

The Old Schoolhouse

The Old School House

 

Park Benjamin

On the village green it stood, And a tree was at the door, Whose shadow, broad and good, Reached far along the floor Of the school-room, when the sun Put on his crimson vest, And, his daily labour done, Like a monarch sunk to rest. How the threshold wood was worn! How the lintel post decay’d! By the tread at eve and morn, Of the feet that o’er it stray’d By the pressure of the crowd Within the portal small By the ivy’s emerald shroud That wrapped and darken’d all.

That school-house dim and old, How many years have flown Since in its little fold My name was kindly known! How different it seems From what it used to be, When, gay as morning dreams, We played around the tree! How we watched the lengthened ray Through the dusty window-pane! How we longed to be away And at sport upon the plain, To leave the weary books And the master’s careful eye, For the flowers and for the brooks, And the cool and open sky.

Alas! where now are they, My early comrades dear, Departed far away, And I alone am here! Some are in distant climes; And some in churchyard cold Yet it tells of happy times, That school-house dim and old!

     Park Benjamin (1809-1864) was an American journalist and poet.  He was born in British Guiana (now the nation of Guyana in South America) on Aug. 14, 1809, but was early sent to New England, and graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, CN.  He practiced law in Boston, MA, but abandoned it for editorial work there and later in New York City, NY.  As owner and editor of the New England Magazine, he merged it in 1835 with the American Monthly Magazine of New York and became associate editor with C. F. Hoffman.  A prominent journalist of his day, he is best remembered for helping to found in 1839-1840 The New World, a periodical that ran until 1845.  After other brief editorial ventures, he became a lecturer, public reader, and periodical writer.  He is now known only through his shorter poems, of which "The Old Sexton" is a favorite of the anthologist. 

Now, we know exactly where the Obama administration stands

      As if we didn’t before, but now, I guess, it’s absolutely and finally official. In a news item headlined "Obama administration says marriage law unfair" on Aug. 16, 2009, the Associated Press reported that the Obama administration has filed court papers claiming a federal marriage law discriminates against gays, even as government lawyers continue to defend the law. Justice Department lawyers are seeking to dismiss a suit brought by a gay California couple challenging the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. The administration’s response to the case has angered gay activists who see it as backtracking on campaign promises made by Barack Obama. Yet in the most recent court papers, the administration urges the repeal of the law but says in the meantime, government lawyers will continue to defend it as a law on the books (that way they can have their cake and eat it too–tell the homosexual activists that they’re trying to overturn the law while telling the rest of us that they’re defending it–do they really think that we’re that stupid!). The government’s previous filing in the case angered gay rights activists who supported Obama’s candidacy in part because of his pledge to move forward on repealing the law and the "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy that prevents gays from serving openly in the military. "The administration believes the Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and should be repealed," said Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler, because it prevents equal rights and benefits. However, the Justice Department, she added, is obligated "to defend federal statutes when they are challenged in court. The Justice Department cannot pick and choose which federal laws it will defend based on any one administration’s policy preferences." The law, often called DOMA, denies federal recognition of gay marriage and gives states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Obama has pledged to work to repeal the law.