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This is copied here
with permission from The
Weatherford Democrat, July 23, 1956 issue.
Education Second Only to Religion in County
History
Education was second
only to religion in the life of our pioneers. Not many schools
were attempted for several years because of the scattered families.
Those which existed were three or four months subscription schools
with pupils paying about $3.00 a month. There are records of schools
in Weatherford in 1858, 1860, and 1861, with such teachers as Professor
Keeler, a Miss Bounds and Miss Mary Ann Dyer (who became the wife
of Colonel Charles Goodnight). Exercises to demonstrate the knowledge
of these subscription school pupils took all day and part of the
night.
It was not until after the Constitution of 1876 provided for tax
supported free schools that Weatherford established in 1881, the
seventh free high school in Texas. By 1885, there were a number
of school districts in the county and three thousand five hundred
eighty white pupils and sixty-six colored receiving free tuition.
Also in that year, Weatherford had its first graduates from public
free schools...five of them!
The earliest schools were log cabins with no heat, no desks, no
blackboards, and no pens nor paper. The seats were split log benches
with no backs. The floors were often of dirt, and the only writing
materials were slate pencils, which were broken up and doled out,
a piece at a time. The teacher usually had the only books so the
learning and recitation caused what is sometimes known as a "blab" school,
where the pupils studied aloud.
The desire for higher learning on the part of parker citizens is
shown by its many academies and schools of college rank. The first
of these was at Veal's Station. William G Veal, associates, and
successors, first ran the school, then the Methodist Church; later,
by B.W. Akard; afterward, it was a Presbyterian school known as
Parsons College.
The Phoenix Lodge No. 275 commenced a brick two-story building
for which the cornerstone was laid on July 5, 1869 in Weatherford.
This was to be used as a Masonic Hall and a school that was to be
public but not free.
Because of some difficulties the Masonic Institute building was
not immediately completed and the Weatherford High School Association
was organized early in 1875 to accomplish this end. Its students
necessarily paid tuition, and for that reason, after free schools
were made possible, the high school was separated from the Institute
in 1881. Three years later the latter school became known as Cleveland
College for the U.S. President.
When Professor D.S. Switzer came to assume charge in 1889, it was
called Weatherford College, and entered an era of greater popularity
and prosperity. For a time early in the twentieth century it operated
as an academy, but in June, 1921, it was restored to college rank
and assumed the status of a denominational junior college, and
is now our own County-supported Weatherford College.
There were a number of other schools through this period of time.
Two of outstanding merit were located in Springtown and were known
as the Springtown Male and Female Institute and the College Hill
Institute. Two early schools were established in Whitt; one of these
was called the Parker County Institute and the other Whitt Seminary.
Another school of advanced learning was founded in the community
of Peaster and was known as the Peaster Institute.
The second such institution in Weatherford was begun in 1889 and
was attended by many of our young ladies and those from afar. It
was the Texas Female Seminary and afterwards called Fairmont. It
was located south of Weatherford on what became known as Seminary
Hill.
Another wonderful institution which still exists in Parker County
is the Texas Pythian Home. The first idea for the Home was put forward
on April 20, 1886, and the following year $2,000 was set aside for
an Independent School and Home for Children and Widows. The fund
grew until in 1905, at the Convention of that year, Weatherford
was chosen as the site. The city had offered $12,500 and 200 acres
of land... of this, 100 acres had been donated by the Past Chancellor
O.H. Gorman, of the local Lodge.
The cornerstone of the main building was laid on April 22, 1907,
and people converged on the spot from all directions. Special trains
arrived, a special holiday was proclaimed by Mayor Henry Miller,
and the town citizens assisted in the big barbecue given the visitors
from all over the state and the nation.
The official opening date was March 1, 1909, and the Winkler children
of Amarillo were the first to be welcomed into the Home. Other families
of children followed...one including the mother. A building for
the boys was added in 1914, and the girls' building in 1925, and
a completely furnished eight-bed hospital in 1930. The acreage was
increased only two years ago. From the modest beginning of $2,000,
the property has grown to valued at nearly one million dollars.
The Home as had some excellent superintendents, like the present
one, and these have helped to give an approximately a thousand children
the best kind of life and training...their material needs, moral
and mental discipline, and religious feeling. Above all, the children
have been given the love and understanding which is usually found
only in the individual home.
Page added on August 7, 2004
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