The History of our Public Schools
Wyandotte County, Kansas

 

 

Site Navigation: History Homepage / Biographies Index / Building Index of Libraries and Schools / Ethnic History of Schools / FAQs - Did You Know? / First Things First / Historian's Roundtable of Wyandotte County / Maps and Land Records / One-Room Schoolhouses / Picture Gallery / Publications, Online Transcriptions, Links / Queries / Copyright/Disclaimer

Contact the History Webmaster - Patricia Adams

KCKS Public School System, 1819-1961
by Nellie McGuinn
Copyright USD 500, Feb 1966

When President Theodore Roosevelt crossed the state line at two o'clock on the afternoon of May 1, he found 8600 children each waving a small flag, purchased by the board, lined up to greet him.  The Mercantile Club had invited the Board of Education to join in the President's welcome.  Thousands of citizens also turned out to see the first President ever to visit the city.  Whistles blew a noisy welcome.  The presidential party rode from Riverview to Huron Place and returned over Seventh Street.

On May 9, 1903, the Kansas City, Kansas News, successor to the Wyandotte Chieftain, wondered why commercial usage of the Marconigram or wireless telegraphy was coming inland so slowly.  Armour's had carried on experiments between their Kansas City and Chicago plants.  The paper predicted that some day Armour business might fly through the air.

The greatest disaster in its existence hit the city on May 30, 1903, when the Kansas River, fed by swollen tributaries in the state, overflowed its banks. The water in the lowlands of Armourdale, and what had been old Kansas City, Kansas, rose to the second floor of buildings and swept numerous homes from their foundations.  Three schools were in the flooded districts.

For many days the daily papers were filled with accounts of the high water.  Board member Bowles and Superintendent Pearson hired a boat and went to the Armourdale School.  At the Morse School, the current was too swift for the boat to get close.  Wood was the third school to be inundated.  They feared the three buildings would have to be replaced, but Wood was the only one condemned.  Earlier it had been declared unfit for use and a new building recommended for the following year.  By July, Armourdale and Morse were being repaired.  Bruce, the colored school in the Wood district, also could be restored.

The new library was of absorbing interest to the board and other citizens of the city who eagerly watched its progress.  The Choral Society presented a concert in February for the purchase of music literature.  More dog tax money was needed, a higher percent of the amount collected.  The Federation of Women's Clubs was granted use of a meeting room in the library.  Part of each day would be assigned to the various clubs.  One resident hoped that with the library coming along so well that the city would get rid of the old barracks in the southeast corner.  The "barracks" might have been the abandoned Episcopal frame church.

The Library Association received the board's permission in September to occupy the west rooms of the second floor of the library, temporarily.  The person in charge agreed to do the janitor work.  On October 26, the board agreed to accept the library, and held the first meeting there on November 2, 1903.  One of the first rules made was that no smoking be permitted there.  C. I. Lee made a donation of clocks to the library and in December a Mr. Stockton offered an oil painting.

Although the high school at Ninth and Minnesota was not yet four years old, it was crowded.  The eighth grades of the city sent 134 graduates in January.  To accommodate them a partition was erected to divide the room at the rear of the auditorium.  In April the board turned commencement details for the first time over to the high school principal and the superintendent.  A group of high school students who abducted the senior class president on commencement night found themselves before the board for disciplinary action.  The pupils were excluded from school until satisfactory reparations and apologies had been made.  The faculty of the high school asked that desk shelves be removed, but the board ruled they should stay.  The flag pole was mounted on the high school tower on April 20.

The spring and summer of 1903 were filled with difficulties in electing a high school principal.  George E. Rose was elected on May 4.  At the meeting on June 8, the clerk recorded that Mr. Rose was offered a salary reduction which he refused.  C. H. Nowlin, a high school teacher, and Rose then tied for election at the next meeting on June 15. When Rose declined, Nowlin was elected.  J. E. Kammeyer resigned from the high school o take the chair of oratory at the Agricultural College in Manhattan.  On July 6, the board reconsidered Mr. Nowlin, then declared the position of principal vacant.  This time J. W. Winslow was elected with W. C. McCroskey as assistant.  THe opening of school was near, when on August 24 a final choice was made of Ward C. McCroskey.  No explanation is given in the records for the changes and delays.

People of the city objected to poor buildings and inferior teaching, but failed to support the board to make conditions better.  Before the flood had damaged three schools, several buildings needed replacement or extensive repairs.  Negro children in Armourdale's northeast section needed a school.  Douglass was badly overcrowded.  London Heights already had plans under way for a six-room addition, with bids due in May.  F. A. Thompson was awarded the contract at that time.  The Mercantile Club in February investigated school buildings and made recommendations.

Wood Street School (later flooded) was unfit for use and needed a building for 1983-1904.

Armourdale building was unfit and should be replaced.  A modern twelve-room building was needed in the west end.

Central should be replaced by a twelve-room modern building by 1905.

Lincoln was unfit in condition and location for further use.  Pupils could go to Douglass and Stowe, where additions could be built.

The Mercantile Club suggested two sources for money.  The legislature could authorize a special levy, or bonds could be issued.  The grade schools were caring for 9,645 pupils in 8,593 seats, and the high school soon would have to have more room.

The club offered to ask for a bond election, and Mayor Craddock agreed to call one.  The board appealed to the Mayor on May 4, and the date was set for June 2, 1903.  Mercantile Club members joined with teachers in explaining the purposes of the bonds to members and school patrons.  Circulars were ordered printed for distribution to voters.

"It would be cheaper to send our children to Yale or Vassar than to educate at home," wrote one objector.  "The board is too lavish - $150,000!"

The board knew it would be a serious blow if the bonds were defeated, especially for necessary repairs.  On the day set for the election two sections of the city lay under many feet of water, and no one had thoughts for the bonds.  The legislature would have to come to the aid of the stricken city.

It did.  The Topeka Daily Capitol on July 11, 1903, described Senate Bill Number 8, relating to issuing bonds for Kansas City, Kansas, for buildings injured or destroyed by the flood of June, 1903.  The legislature authorized bonds not to exceed $50,000 on June 24, 1903.

[Annotation:  Editor and Founder of Topeka Daily Capitol was Joseph K. Hudson, who our Major Hudson School was named after.  He was also a leader in the petition for the 7th Street Trafficway linking Rosedale to Kansas City, Kansas. -- 'Joseph Kennedy Hudson made his first journalism venture in 1873 with the purchase of the Kansas Farmer. Shortly after, he founded the Topeka Daily Capital, at which time he abandoned his former political leanings and became a staunch Republican. In November, 1888, he consolidated the Daily Capital with the Topeka Commonwealth.  An officer of the Tenth Kansas regiment, he was appointed brigadier general of the volunteer army in 1898 by President McKinley and went on to serve in the Spanish-American War. Hudson was at the head of nearly every reform political movement in Kansas for 20 years following the Civil War. Said the Jayhawker Press, "He was identified with journalism in Kansas in a prominent and very practical way and his work was such that it greatly improved its standards. "The Topeka Capital became under his management a power for good, political, and moral, not only in Kansas, but all over the country."   Hudson died May 5, 1907.]

At Third and Delaware in McAlpine's Armourdale Addition the board bought of Jenkins and Parsons a site for the colored school, a two-room frame.  A six-room brick on the site of old Wood was planned.  Rooms would be rented from W. E. Griffith at 43 North James until the building was finished.  Dr. Chapman sold 100 feet of ground next to Douglass School to make room for an addition.

On the day the bonds (to run for 10-15-20 years) were advertised for sale, September 8, 1903, four name changes were made.  Old names gave way to those of famous authors: 

• Long to Longfellow
• London Heights to Abbott
• Reynolds to Prescott
• Wood to Cooper

The Mercantile Club wondered in October about asking Andrew Carnegie to build a manual training high school.  No mention is made again of the matter.  Eventually it was dropped or discouraged by Mr. Carnegie.

After serving the board for 13 1/2 years as clerk, M. G. Jones resigned on October 5, and F. G. Houseman was elected.  In his letter of resignation Mr. Jones wrote that during his time as clerk he had handled thousands of dollars.  He had never misappropriated one dollar, nor wronged a teacher or board employee.

George McL. Miller, board member, brought serious accusations on October 26, 1903, against two fellow members, Charles M. Bowls and Frank M. Campbell.  In his demand for the resignations of members from the Fifth and Sixth wards, he accused them of "questionable dealings" and said the entire board was in disrepute.  No satisfactory explanations of some matters had been given, he said, and he felt that a board of education should be absolutely free from any taint of corruption.  A tie vote resulted and no action was taken.

The board used money, called the "Flood Bond Fund" and taken from the general fund, to make repairs.  The board room, club room, and offices at the library had to be furnished.  St. Louis was preparing an Exposition to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804, and M. E. Pearson, Miss Klippel, and E. H. Jackson were appointed to supervise the exhibits.  In 1962, some of these samples of children's school work sent to the fair were still in the vault in the Carnegie Library.

District Number 7 entered the minutes again on April 20, 1903, when it offered $500 tuition for its children to attend city schools.  The board was forced to say that no one outside the district could be admitted.  When Cissna Place and Hazel Rose (Place?) from Number 7 offered $800, the pupils were admitted.  District 2 sent 28 pupils to Reynolds (Prescott) School for which the district paid $15 in tuition.  The board later asked $500 for all for the year.  In August, the price was reduced to $300 at the request of the directors of District 2.  Oakland in District 9 paid tuition for four pupils.

Less important business was transacted.  The YMCA Settlement thanked the board for a donation from the high school at Christmas time.  So many persons attended the 8-A graduations that a program on two nights seemed advisable.  "Swede" residents of Irving district were refused the use of a basement room during the summer to teach the Swedish language.  Judge Fuller talked to the board about the purchase of the Lincoln building.

After school started in September 1903, several teachers resigned to go to Kansas City, Missouri to teach.  One, Mary Grosset at Lowell,  resigned to go to Missouri after teaching the first four days.  She then wanted pay which the board reluctantly gave her.  At the meeting on November 2, the board discussed the matter of the larger city taking our teachers to fill vacancies.

Links using reader are marked ( pdf ).
Click icon to download reader.
Use browser's back button to return

Contact the History Webmaster - Patricia Adams

History Site created on December 02, 2002
Page last updated: 02-Jan-2012