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Number 19 School System. I don't know very much about Number 19 School other that the general location. I will get that part covered first and then the rest of the story will be mostly guess work. The school was located across from Harvey Robinson's Old Grocery. Traveling, generally East, on Highway 1245 and leaving Echols going toward McHenry, there is a left curve at the bottom of the hill. Here, Highway 1245 intersects with Fulkerson Lane and Number 19 School Road. Harvey Robinson's grocery was located on the right at the bottom of the hill and just before the left turn curve. Harvey opened his grocery in the mid forties and Number 19 School was probably gone by then. From the mid teens until the late thirties, Number 19 school served the needs of the local community. For about twenty-five years, the area youngsters attended school at Number 19 School. In the first quarter of the twentieth century, there was several families in this area. They were composed, mostly of Fulkersons, Singletons, Stewarts, Robinsons, Bowens and Chinns. There were several other families, but not as populous as the families just mentioned. Most walked to school. There were just not any school buses in the time frame when Number 19 School was operational. Some of the students may have ridden horses and probably wagons were also used. I would guess that Number 19 school was a one-room school house and heated with one of more stoves. You can forget about Air Conditioning, lunch rooms, good lighting, electricity, and running water. The nearest thing to running water would be for someone to run outside, pump some water from a well or cistern and, run back in with the water. Lighting was probably by kerosene lamps. Rough times-Probably. The people just did not know any different and if you can find someone today that attended the school, I will bet you that they will tell you that those were the good old days. There were prayers said in school, bible verses quoted and God was not just a three letter word. Guns were certainly taken to school, but in those twenty-five or so years of the school existence, no one was shot by some student. About the worst trouble a student could get in to was to get caught chewing gum or smoking. A playground spat would have been met by a spanking by the teacher or principal and this was the same person in most cases. You can bet that none of the parents came to the school trying to get an explanation because their child was spanked. If anything, the child got another spanking at home when the parent found out about the problem at school. Good old days. For sure. Times certainly have changed and in a lot of cases for the worse. Thanks for looking and for reading. I have not intentionally written anything that I don't believe to be true. I did some guessing and will correct any errors that are pointed out to me. Otherwise, hope you enjoyed looking at some aspects of life in the early years of the twentieth century. See you.... jrd ;) |
