HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY KENTUCKY
by
charles
m. meacham
1930
CHAPTER XLIX
Hopkinsville’s White Way; The Davis Monument; Bethel Woman’s College Rejuvenated; The Veterans Hospital at Outwood Completed; The Modern School Systenv of Hopkinsville.
The white way street lighting system for Hopkinsville was put into effect April 16, 1918.
Princess Theatre was burned June 10, 1918, the fire starting at 4 :30
P.M. The building was promptly rebuilt.
Gen. George W. Littlefield, of Austin, Texas, who donated $10,000 to
the Davis monument, was given a dinner at Hotel Latham, June 13, 1918.
The monument was under construction, and it was visited by General Littlefield
and Gen. Bennett H. Young.
The historic Bible used by Major J. 0. Ferrell in opening his high school, from 1873 to 1903, was presented to the Hopkinsville Cemetery by Mrs. Ferrell, for use in the cemetery chapel, which adjoins the Ferrell lot in Riverside Cemetery. It was handsomely covered by Mrs. V. L. Gates, of the committee to furnish the chapel.
Dr. John W. Gaines, of Rome, Ga., elected president of Bethel Woman’s College, July 10, 1919. Work on a new west dormitory being rushed to completion.
Work begun on the Veterans’ Hospital in the northwestern part of the county at Outwood, Ky., September 1919.
THE BAPTIST CAMPAIGN
Baptist churches of Christian County participated in a statewide campaign to raise a great fund for worldwide missions. Bethel Association accepted an apportionment of $450,000, of which $246,000 was on the twenty-five churches in Christian County, over a period of five years. The amount was subscribed and eventually the campaign paid nearly a hundred per cent of $75,000,000 in the South and $6,500,000 apportioned to Kentucky. Of the amount raised, $85,000 was donated to Bethel Woman’s College and put into new buildings.
William Jennings Bryan made his last visit to Hopkinsville, October
4, speaking at the Tabernacle on prohibition.
Albert P. Crockett, a former citizen of Hopkinsville, died in Oklahoma,
where he amassed a large fortune in oil lands. He married Miss Bessie Russell,
of Hopkinsville, who survived him and as Mrs. Hayes, in 1929, presented
Westminster Church with a broadcasting equipment, making possible the broadcasting
of Sunday morning programs. -
The present city schools of Hopkinsville were established half a century ago. Prior to 1880, the city had no public schools worthy of the name. The city schools were merely a district supported by a small per capita from the meagre state funds. The boys and girls were taught separately. A frame building, with two rooms, on East Seventh Street, now used as a dwelling house, was the school house for boys, and about sixty or seventy pupils attended in the late seventies. Two young men taught the school in 1879 and 1880. The girls were taught by Mrs. Leonora Armstrong, and her sister, Miss Pattie White, in their residence in another part of town. About forty attended this school. The well-to-do classes sent their children to Maj. J. 0. Ferrell’s private military school, or to one or the other of the girls’ colleges in the city. The movement for making Hopkinsville a graded school district was started in 1880, as referred to on other pages. A vote, for an issue of bonds, was authorized, and a hard fought contest ensued. The election in the summer resulted in a small majority, and the first public school building was erected on Clay Street, with a capacity for three hundred or four hundred pupils, and the building was, after some annoying delays, made ready for a short session early in February, 1881. It started with Prof. Charles H. Dietrich, a young man from Ohio, who still lives at Lexington, Ky., as the first superintendent. There were eight women teachers. The school opened with three hundred and twenty-four pupils, and entered upon a successful career. The school building had to be enlarged in a few years. Prof. Dietrich remained in charge for nearly 17 years. As the years passed, additional buildings were erected, the first on Virginia Street, and a little later a duplicate of the Virginia Street building was erected on West Seventh Street. About this time, the Clay Street building, having become obsolete, was discarded and sold, and nearly twenty years ago the movement for a high school was started, and later the McLean College property was purchased, and became what is now known as the Belmont School. The system now consists of the high school, twice enlarged since its original construction, and three modern, well-equipped grammar schools in different parts of the city. The high school, though built by the city, admits county pupils, and the attendance in the four white schools exceeds fifteen hundred.
DIRECTORY, HOPKINSVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, HOPKINSVILLE, KY.,
Arkley Wright, Superintendent 818 Belmont
Clara Bonte, Music Supervisor 500 N. Main
Elsie Davis, Secretary Route No. 2
Mollie Martin, Truant Ofilcer 13th and Va.
HIGH SCHOOL
Pete Edwards, Commercial 918 Central Avenue
Oakley Brown, Algebra . 804 Maple Court
C. R. Uphoff, Manual Arts 1207 Walnut St.
P. D. Fancher, Biology, Mechanical Drawing 301 Bryan Street
Iva White, Chemistry, Physics, General Science 1505 S. Virginia
Frances Lander, English 209 W. 13th
Julia Arnold, Mathematics 200 E. 14th
Vera Brooks, History, Sociology (Dean of Girls) 1308 5. Virginia
Mrs. Ellen Macrae, Study Hall 207 W. 17th
Mrs. Vera McKee, Clothing 1619 S. Virginia
Ruby Taylor, Foods 2002 S. Virginia
Carolyn Latta, English 2002 S. Virginia
Miss Katherine Franklin, History 2002 S. Virginia
Honor Gray, Commercial 1500 S. Walnut
Mrs. B. J. Wall, Latin-French 1925 S. Main
Emma Wyman, Latin 1607 S. Main
Vivian Brame, English 1607 S. Main
WEST SIDE SCHOOL
Grade 6—Elizabeth Roscoe 120 McPherson Ave.
Grade 3—Bonnie Boyd Route No. 6
Grade 2—Mrs. G. B. Harris Route No. 5
Grade 4—Annie May Davis 721 W. 7th
Grade 5—Mrs. B. M. Allen Route No. 3
Grades 2 and 3—Helen Woodruff 1514 Canton St.
Grade 7—Mrs. D. W. Ledford 203 S. Main
Grade 1—Mrs. W. E. Turner 811 Campbell St.
BELMONT SCHOOL
Grade 6—Susie Rutherford 817 Central
Grade 5—Ola Foster 924 E. 9th
Grade 4—Emily Braden 711 S. Campbell
Grades 5 and 6—Elizabeth Knight 213 E. 16th
Grades 2 and 3—Ella Shadoin 818 Belmont
Grade 1—Mrs. Guy Barnett 1711 Walnut
Grades 3 and 4—Mrs. E. G. Countzler 1800 Hopper Court
Grades 1 and 2—Sarah Clardy Route No. 3
Grade 7—Maytie Barker 713 E. 7th
VIRGINIA STREET SCHOOL
Grade 1—Lottie McDaniel, Principal 1824 Main
Grade 7—Juanita Bartley 1712 High
Grade 5—Ethel Golladay 318 E. 18th
Grade 4—Lana G. Annis 318 E. 18th
Grade 2—Jean McKee 1620 S. Main
Grade 6—Mrs. H. H. Abernathy 2003 S. Virginia
Grade 1—Margaret Eckles 1606 S. Main
Grades 2 and 3—Lucy Woodruff 1514 Canton
Grade 3—Mrs. Rebecca Eckles 2003 S. Virginia
Mrs. George Duffer Cox Mill Road
Elizabeth Walker E. 7th St.
Mrs. P. F. Smithson S. Walnut St.
Helen Woodruff, West Side School, leave of absence; Mrs. W. 0. Soyars
will take her place.
Ethel Golladay, Virginia Street School, leave of absence; Mrs. Rufus
W. Stark will take her place.
Miss Lena Gray Annis, resigned; Miss Louise Butler will take her place.
SEVEN SUPERINTENDENTS
Since the opening of the Hopkinsville Public Graded Schools, the beginning of the present system, in February, 1881, there have been seven superintendents of the schools. The first was Prof. Charles H. Dietrich, who came from Ohio as a young man, and remained for seventeen years, during which time there was a wonderful growth and development in the school. It had begun with only three hundred and twenty-four pupils and eight teachers. Professor Dietrich resigned to accept a better position and eventually became a trusted employe of the American Book Co. He has retired from active life and now lives in Lexington, Ky.
The second superintendent was Livingston McCartney, who remained for a term of four years, and went to a larger field. He was a popular and efficient superintendent, and under his direction the schools prospered greatly. He was succeeded by J. B. Taylor, who held the position for three years.
Next came Barksdale Hamlett, in 1905, who was a man of great energy and ambition, and additional buildings were erected and steps put on foot to erect a high school building. Professor Hamlett became a candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction and was nominated and elected to that office in 1912, and served for four years. He died soon after his term ended. Prof. Davis A. Clark, who had been a principal in the schools, was superintendent for one year, while Professor Hamlett was engaged in canvassing.
Prof. J. W. Marion was elected in 1913 and served for five years, the
schools having been greatly developed by this time, with the new high school
completed, the graded schools, on Virginia and West Seventh streets added
to the system, and the old original building, on Clay Street, disposed
of and McLean College purchased for the Belmont School.
In 1918, Prof. J. C. Wailer came as the sixth superintendent, and remained
for eight busy years. He was a man of fine ability and superior executive
qualifications. The schools were highly developed under his wonderful management
and direction. New departments were added and the schools were made the
pride of the city and county, for arrangements had been made by which county
pupils were admitted to the high school.
Prof. Wailer resigned in 1926 and Prof. Arkley Wright, a principal,
was promoted to the superintendency. He had come to the school from Cumberland
College, where he had been dean for four years. He has proven a worthy
successor to the other highly capable executives, and the schools are still
advancing to higher records of efficiency under his control.
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