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Page: of 12
6 The Nevada County Nugget: Wednesday Oct. 18,
=7
.
*3
1972
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Early Schools in Nevada City
As early as June, 1851, a private school was opened in
Nevada City by Mrs. Sampson; it was kept in a little building
on Broad Street near where the Methodist Episcopal Church
was later located. There were then only about fifteen or twenty
families in the city or near enough thereto for the children
to attend the school, and the number of pupils was necessarily
quite small, but twenty in all, and chiefly young children; the
older ones found something to do that kept them from school.
This and other private schools were all that the youth of Nevada
City had to depend upon until 1854, when a successful effort
‘was made to open a public school.
The ladies had taken a great deal of interest in this matter,
as they always do; while the men were absorbed in the cares
of mining and business, or were so infatuated with the lure of
the exciting times that they gave but little thought to such matters.
The ladies, therefore, gave a banquet in Temperance Hall,
on the evening of December 6, 1853, the proceeds of which
were devoted to the building of a schoolhouse. More than Zuu
people sat down to the repast, one-half of them being ladies—
a very unusual occurrence in those days. The amount realized
by this entertainment was added to a liberal subscription made
by the citizens, and a schoolhouse was erected where the Episcopal Church was later built. This was used until the growth of
the school demanded more ample accommodations, the number
of children having largely increased, and the proportion of those
attending school being much greater than formerly. In 1859
the lot located back of the Washington schoolhouse was purchased; and a new building, twenty-eight by thirty feet in size
and containing two rooms, was erected. The lot and structure
cost $2,911.02, of which sum $1,019.78 was donated by the relief
committee, being the residue still remaining in the 1856 relief
fund.
The large increase in the size of the school again rendered
a new schoolhouse necessary, and in 1868 the legislature passed
an act authorizing a tax levy of one percent of purchas' za
, Site and erecting a school building. Thenew and elegant structure
was completed in 1870 at an expense of $19,798.47. In 1867
a gift enterprise was conducted by the Cosmopolitan Benevolent Society, to pay the debt upon the Washington Public School.
Fifty thousand tickets were issued, and the drawing was commenced at the Nevada Theater on December 18, and continued
until January 26. The highest prize, for $10,000, was drawn in
La Porte, Plumas County, After the completion of the Washington schoolhouse the old building was for several years used
for a school for colored children. The colored children were
later taught with the others, and the old schoolhouse was then
used by one of the departments.
Private schools were still maintained, some of them being
—————
History of Ne
Published
W.B. Lardner
of quite an extensive character, such as the boarding and day
school opened by Miss Phillips in 1858, and maintained by her
and others for a number of years.
Early Schools in Grass Valley
In the matter of schools, Grass Valley took the lead of the
towns in the county, having by 1879 thirteen schools and nine
schoolhouses in the district, all but two of these being within
the corporate limits of the city.
The first school was opened in the spring of 1851 by Miss
Rosa Farrington, later Mrs. J.P. Stone. long a resident of the
city. This was a private enterprise, and was attended by all
the children in the town, some fifteen in all. The house in which
the school was taught stood on the corner later occupied by the
Lola Montez cottage. The school was soon moved to Church
Street, where the M.E, Church now stands, the building in which
it was kept being used for religious services.
In August, Miss Farrington closed her school, and another
was opened on School Street by Miss Marion V. Compton, in
a house built for the purpose by her brother, Andrew Compton.
The first public school in the city was opened in 1853,
a small house being built on School Street. Pupils were few
and funds were scarce; and for several years maintaining a
school was a difficult matter. By means of private subscriptions, entertainments, etc., the scanty funds were added to, so