Cleveland Past and Present

M >> Maurice Joblin >> Cleveland Past and Present

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Under the general school law a portion of the taxes collected was set
apart for the support of the schools, while a special fund for school
buildings was raised, from time to time, by direct taxation, or by
loan, and buildings erected in the different Wards as the city
increased in extent.

In 1846, the East High School was opened in the basement of the old
Universalist Church (now the Plymouth Church) on Prospect street, near
Erie street. A strong opposition was made to this advanced step. It was
objected to as illegal, which it actually was, though that was soon
remedied; and as unnecessary and unreasonable.

It is gratifying to know that many of those strenuous opponents are
now among the warm friends of the High Schools, and justly proud of
their success.

Richard Fry, then Principal of the West St Clair school, distinguished
himself by his writings through the press, and his speeches at public
meetings, in advocating the claims of the High School, and thus powerfully
sustained its friends in their unpopular contest. The law authorizing a
High School limited the whole course to two years, and required one year's
previous attendance at one of the grammar schools.

In 1851, a regular course of instruction was adopted, extending to three
years, but still confined to English studies. In 1856, the Latin and
Greek languages were introduced, and in 1859, the German was added to
the full course. These ancient and foreign languages were optional with
the students, as well as the French language, which was introduced some
years later.

The first graduated class consisted of ten scholars, eight of whom
afterwards became teachers. Indeed, it soon became evident that the High
School was not only the best, but almost the only reliable source of
supplying teachers for the subordinate schools, which were fast
increasing. The extreme difficulty of procuring competent and reliable
teachers had, all along, been one of the greatest embarrassments in
carrying forward a course of instruction, extensive, thorough, and
heretofore almost unknown west of the mountains.

The original design of one central High School was found to be unsuited to
the extended territory on both sides of the river, and two High Schools
were substituted.

The East High School building was completed and opened in 1856. The West
High School was first opened in the Kentucky street building, and
continued there for several years, until in 1861, the new building was
completed.

In 1861, Mr. Freese was relieved from the superintendency which had become
too laborious for his declining health, and L. M. Oviatt took the
management for two years, when he was succeeded by Anson Smyth, formerly
State Superintendent. On his resignation, Mr. Andrew J. Rickoff, of
Cincinnati, was called to the position. Under his management important
changes in the classification and management of the schools have been
introduced.

The prominence given to Messrs Bradburn, Willey and Freese, in the history
of the public schools, is not intended to disparage or undervalue the
services rendered by many others, without whose hearty and efficient
co-operation the whole undertaking would have failed. Prominent among these
cooperators were J. D. Cleveland, J. Fitch, Dr. Maynard, Harvey Rice, Bev.
J. A. Thome, T. P. Handy, W. D. Beattie, (since deceased,) R. B. Dennis,
Ansel Roberts, L. M. Oviatt, and Thos. Jones, Jr.

In 1868, there were eighteen male, and one hundred and thirty-nine female
teachers employed in the public schools of the city, making an aggregate
of one hundred and fifty seven. The total number of pupils enrolled was
10,154. The average number belonging to the schools, 7060, and the average
daily attendance, 6623.

[Illustration: Yours Truly, Harvey Rice]

Harvey Rice

In the Ohio Educational Monthly for April, 1860, appeared a pretty full
biography of Hon. Harvey Rice, who has filled an important position in
connection with the educational interests of Ohio. From that account we
learn that Mr. Rice is a native of Massachusetts. He was born June 11th,
1800. In 1824, he graduated from Williams College, and the same year
removed to Cleveland. He came to Ohio a stranger and without influential
friends here or elsewhere to aid his efforts for advancement. When he
landed at Cleveland he owned nothing but the clothes he wore, and three
dollars in his pocket. At that time Cleveland contained but 400
inhabitants.

Making no disclosure as to the low state of his treasury and the rather
dull prospect for an immediate replenishing of the same, he took lodgings
at the best public house the town afforded, at the rate of two dollars and
a half per week. At the expiration of one week he paid his board bill and
removed to a private boarding-house, with but fifty cents left, and
commenced teaching a classical school in the old academy on St. Clair
street. About the same time he commenced the study of the law under the
direction of Reuben Wood, then a prominent member of the Cleveland Bar,
and at the expiration of two years was admitted to practice, and entered
into copartnership with his former instructor, which continued until Mr.
Wood was elected to the Bench.

In 1829, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and in 1830, elected to
represent his district in the State Legislature. Soon after, without
solicitation on his part, he was appointed an agent for the sale of the
Western Reserve school lands, a tract of fifty-six thousand acres,
situated in the Virginia Military District. He opened a land office at
Millersburgh, in Holmes county, for the sales, and in the course of three
years sold all the lands, and paid the avails, nearly one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars, into the State Treasury, as a school fund for the
exclusive benefit of educating the children of the Western Reserve, the
interest of which is now annually paid by the State for that purpose.

In 1833, Mr. Rice returned to Cleveland, and was appointed Clerk of the
Common Pleas and Supreme Courts, an office in which he faithfully served
for seven years, and in 1834 and 1836, was nominated by the Democratic
Convention as a candidate for Congress, and received the united support of
the party, though without expectation of success, as the Democrats were
largely in the minority. He was the first Democrat ever sent to the
Legislature from Cuyahoga county, and, while serving in that body, was
considered one of its ablest and most influential members. He was
appointed by the House one of the select committee for revising the
statutes of the State, and while in that capacity, introduced and
advocated with acknowledged ability many new provisions, which still
retain their place upon our statute book.

The natural abilities of Mr. Rice are of a very high order. His mind is
thoroughly disciplined and cultivated, and for the comparatively short
time he practiced at the Bar, he obtained an enviable reputation for legal
ability, sound, practical, discriminating judgment and gentlemanly
deportment.

He is well known as an able contributor to many of the best periodicals of
the day, and is a graceful and exceedingly vigorous writer. His
imagination is rich and glowing, and his mind well stored by a long and
judicious course of mental training. We have seen some articles of Mr.
Rice's which compare favorably with those of the best writers of the day.

The following, which we find in the "Nineteenth Century," we take the
liberty of publishing here, and look upon it as a meritorious and
beautiful poem:

The Moral Hero.

With heart that trusteth still,
Set high your mark;
And though with human ill
The warfare may be dark,
Resolve to conquer, and you will!

Resolve, then onward press,
Fearless and true:
Believe it--Heaven will bless
The brave--and still renew
Your hope and courage in distress.

Press on, nor stay to ask
For friendship's aid;
Deign not to wear a mask
Nor wield a coward's blade,
But still persist, though hard the task.

Rest not--inglorious rest
Unnerves the man;
Struggle--'tis God's behest!
Fill up life's little span
With God-like deeds--it is the test--

Test of the high-born soul,
And lofty aim;
The test in History's scroll
Of every honored name--None
but the brave shall win the goal'

Go act the hero's part,
And in the strife,
Strike with the hero's heart
For liberty and life--
Ay, strike for Truth; preserve her chart'

Her chart unstain'd preserve,
'Twill guide you right.
Press on and never swerve,
But keep your armer bright,
And struggle still with firmer nerve.

What though the tempest rage,
Buffet the sea!
Where duty calls, engage:
And ever striving be
The moral hero of the Age!

In the fall of 1851, Mr. Rice was put in nomination for the State Senate,
and was elected by a majority exceeding seven hundred votes.

The General Assembly to which he was now returned, was the first that
convened under the new Constitution. Upon this body devolved the
responsibility of reconstructing the statutes of the State, and adapting
them to the requisition of the Constitution, so as to secure to the people
the practical benefits of the great reforms which had been achieved by its
adoption. Mr. Rice contributed quite as much as any other member to the
important legislation of the two sessions held by that General Assembly.
It was said of him that he _was always at his post_. The degree of
influence which he exercised as a legislator, was such as few have the
good fortune to wield.

Among the variety of measures which engaged his attention, he took a
prominent part in procuring the passage of the act which authorized the
establishment of two additional lunatic asylums in the State.

His course in relation to the subject of common schools attracted public
attention throughout the State, and called forth from the press
commendations of a very complimentary character. The correspondent of a
paper published at Newark, writing from Columbus, remarks as follows:

Senator Rice, of Cuyahoga, has in charge a bill for the reorganization
of schools and providing for their supervision.

No better man than Mr. Rice could have been selected for this work. He
is a model man and a model Senator. Clear headed, sound minded,
carefully and fully educated, with a painstaking disposition, he is the
ablest chairman of the standing committee on schools that any Ohio
Legislature ever had. Deeply impressed with the great importance of the
subject--of the stern necessity which exists for basing our whole
republican form of government on the intelligence of the people, he has
carefully provided a bill, which, if enacted into a law, will give a
good _common_ school education to every child in the State, and in so
doing, has been equally careful that the money raised for that purpose
be not squandered. The bill provides for a State Commissioner of Common
Schools, and it has been mentioned to me as a matter of deep regret,
that the Constitution excludes Mr. Rice from being a candidate for that
office--no member of the Legislature being eligible to an office created
while he was a member, until one year after the expiration of his term
of office.

On the question of the final passage of the bill, Mr. Rice addressed the
Senate in a concluding speech, which was published, and very generally
noticed by the press. Among these notices, a leading paper published at
Cleveland, with a magnanimity rarely possessed by a political opponent,
makes the following comments and quotations:

Mr. Rice made the closing speech on the School Bill, in the Senate, on
the 24th. It was his Bill. He had labored over it, and for it, a long
time, and given to it every consideration, and gained for it every
counsel, which, by any possibility, he could gain.

The text of his speech was the language of the Constitution itself; the
duty of securing 'a thorough and efficient system of common schools
throughout the State.'

Mr. Rice goes into detail on the school bill, and, regretting that we
have not room for the detail, we close our synopsis of his very sensible
speech by quoting its conclusion:

"It is certainly much cheaper, as well as much wiser, to _educate_ than
to _punish_. How much of crime would be prevented if a higher order of
education were generally diffused among all classes. A well educated and
enlightened people will have but little occasion for criminal courts,
jails and penitentiaries. The educated man has ordinarily too much
self-respect, too much regard for moral principle and the value of a
good character to stoop to crime. In short, sir, the perpetuity of the
government, and security of the citizen, and of property, depend upon
the virtue and intelligence of the people.

"By the provisions of this bill, it is intended to make our common
schools what they ought to be--the colleges of the people--'cheap enough
for the poorest, and good enough for the richest.' With but a slight
increase of taxation, schools of different grades can be established and
maintained in every township of the State, and the sons and daughters of
our farmers and mechanics have an opportunity of acquiring a finished
education, equally with the more favored of the land. And, in this way,
the elements of mind now slumbering among the uneducated masses, like
the fine unwrought marble in the quarry, will be aroused and brought out
to challenge the admiration of the world-Philosophers and sages will
abound everywhere, on the farm and in the workshop. And many a man of
genius will stand out from among the masses, and exhibit a brilliancy of
intellect, which will be recognized in the circling years of the great
future, as

'A light, a landmark on the cliffs of time.'

"It is only the educated man who is competent to interrogate nature, and
comprehend her revelations. Though I would not break down the
aristocracy of knowledge of the present age, yet, sir, I would level up,
and equalize, and thus create, if I may be allowed the expression, a
democracy of knowledge. In this way, and in this way only, can men be
made equal in fact--equal in their social and political relations--equal
in mental refinement, and in a just appreciation of what constitutes man
the brother of his fellow man.

"In conclusion, sir, allow me to express my belief, that the day is not
far distant when Ohio, in the noble cause of popular education and of
human rights, will 'lead the column,' and become, what she is capable of
becoming--a star of the first magnitude--the brightest in the galaxy of
our American Union."

A proud hour now came for Mr. Rice! A good and glorious one for the
State! The roll of the Senate was called, and that body, on the 24th day
of January, 1853, proceeded to cast its final vote upon the bill, when
only two negatives were announced.

Another bill, of scarcely less importance than the school bill, was
introduced into the Senate by Mr. Rice, near the heel of the adjourned
session, which with him was a favorite measure, and which seemed to meet
with the hearty approbation of the public. It had for its object the
establishment of a "State Reform School," expressly designed for juvenile
offenders.

But owing to the late day of the session in which the bill was introduced,
though very favorably received by the senate, a motion was made to
postpone it until the next session. In reference to this motion, without
attempting to make a formal speech, Mr. Rice explained briefly the object
contemplated by the bill. His remarks relating as they did to a subject of
public interest, were reported and published. The bill, at a subsequent
session, resulted in establishing the present Reform Farm School.

The eminent services which he has rendered the State in the promotion of
her educational interests will be long and gratefully remembered by those
of his fellow citizens who properly appreciate the true objects of life,
and who wish to secure to themselves, to their children, and to the
generations which will follow them, the social blessings which flow from a
high degree of refinement, intelligence and moral virtue.

While a member of the City Council, in 1857, Mr. Rice took the lead in
establishing the Cleveland Industrial School, and was chairman of the
committee that put it into successful operation. It has now grown to be
one of the most important charitable institutions in Cleveland. Mr. Rice
is still active in extending its usefulness.

In the same year he originated the project, and introduced the resolution
into the Council, authorizing the erection of the Perry Monument which now
graces the Public Park of the city. The cost of the Monument, by the terms
of the resolution, was made to depend on the voluntary subscriptions of
the citizens. Mr. Rice was appointed Chairman of the Monument Committee,
and after three years of persevering effort, succeeded in carrying the
object of the resolution into effect. The Monument was inaugurated with
imposing ceremonies, on the 10th of September, 1860, the anniversary of
Perry's victory on Lake Erie. Mr. Bancroft, the historian, delivered the
Inaugural Address. As carefully estimated, not less than one hundred
thousand people attended the inauguration. In carrying out the programme
the battle of Lake Erie was reproduced, in a mock fight, on the Lake in
front of the city. It was a proud day for Cleveland. Both the Monument and
the inauguration were pronounced a perfect success.

In 1861, Mr. Rice, being elected to the Board of Education, was appointed
President of the Board, and during his term of office rendered essential
service in promoting the educational interests of the city. In fact, he
has always been a zealous friend and advocate of popular education. In his
literary career he has become widely known as the author of "Mount Vernon,
and Other Poems"--a volume containing two hundred and fifty pages which
has reached a fifth edition.

In 1862, Mr. Rice was appointed by the Governor of the State, with the
concurrence of the War Department, a commissioner for Cuyahoga county, to
conduct the first draft made in the county during the late civil war. In
executing this delicate task he acquitted himself with firmness,
integrity, and discretion. While in the discharge of his duties he found
his office one morning suddenly besieged by some five or six hundred
excited citizens, who were armed with pistols and other weapons,
threatening to demolish the office and destroy the records. They had been
instigated to make this demonstration by false rumors regarding the
fairness of the draft. Mr. Rice met the crisis firmly, sent to the
military camp on the Heights for a detachment of soldiers, infantry and
artillery, who came to his relief on the "double quick," and dispersed the
riotous assemblage. To satisfy the disaffected that all was right and just
in relation to the draft, Mr. Rice proposed that they should appoint a
committee of their own to investigate the state of affairs in the draft
office. They did so, and with his aid an elaborate examination was made,
and the committee reported that the draft had been conducted fairly and
justly in all respects. Mr. Rice then proceeded with the draft, and as
luck would have it, two of the committee, who had been ring-leaders in
getting up the demonstration, were drafted on the spot, and every body
seemed pleased with the result.

In 1867, Mr. Rice, wishing to express his regard for the cause of
Missions, as well as for the college where he graduated, erected at his
own expense, and with the approval of the college authorities, a beautiful
marble monument in Mission Park, at Williamstown, Mass., commemorative of
the origin of American Foreign Missions. The park is a part of the college
domains, and within it there is a maple grove where a few pious young
students of the college, in the summer of 1806, held occasional
prayer-meetings. At one of these meetings a shower of rain compelled them
to seek the shelter of a neighboring haystack, where they continued their
exercises, and where one of their number, Samuel J. Mills, first suggested
the idea of a mission to foreign heathen lands, as being a religions duty.
In this noble and philanthropic thought his associates all concurred, and
there, while at the haystack, consecrated themselves in solemn prayer, to
the great work. From this circumstance originated American Foreign
Missions. The monument was planned by Mr. Rice It is erected on the spot
where the haystack stood, is twelve feet in height, and surmounted with a
marble globe three feet in diameter, and cut in map lines. The face of the
monument has the inscription, "The Field is the World," followed with a
haystack, sculptured in bas relief, and the names of the five young men,
who held the prayer-meeting, and the date 1806. The monument was dedicated
July 28th, 1867, at the maple grove, in the park. A large audience was
present. Mr. Rice, by special request, delivered the dedicatory address,
which was received with a high degree of satisfaction, and afterwards
published, with the other proceedings, in pamphlet form.

Mr. Rice has accumulated a reasonable share of "this world's goods;" has
been twice married--first in 1828, and afterwards in 1840.

He has a wife, three sons and three daughters still living, and now
leads, comparatively, a retired, yet not an idle life.

He still has the appearance of a well preserved gentleman, he is six
feet in height, erect and of good proportions, and his general personal
appearance is pleasing. In manner he is a true gentleman,--modest and
kind, but prompt and decided. Two of his sons, Capt. Percy W. Rice and
James S. Rice, are settled in business at Cleveland. The youngest son,
Harvey Rice, Jr., resides in California. The three daughters are
married and settled--one in California and the other two in Cleveland.
Mrs. Rice is a lady of refinement, exemplary, and much beloved and
respected. As a family, but few have been more highly favored, or lived
in more perfect harmony.

Andrew Freese

The name of Andrew Freese will always hold a place of honor in the
scholastic records of Cleveland. No educator in the city is held in such
affectionate esteem by a large class of former pupils, and none better
deserves the grateful tributes paid to his abilities as a teacher and his
worth as a citizen.

Mr. Freese was born in Levant, Penobscot county, Maine, on November 1st,
1816. His father was a farmer, but Andrew was of such slender frame and
weak constitution that he was completely unfitted for farming life. His
father destined him to be a printer, and took him to the nearest printing
office to show him how types were set and newspapers printed. The boy was
not favorably impressed with what he saw, and begged to be allowed to
enter college. This was considered out of the question, his father being
too poor to provide the necessary funds. But the boy's heart was set upon
it, and he thought that by teaching school for a time he could obtain
money enough to complete his own education. This idea he carried into
execution, and had no sooner entered on the business of teaching than he
realized that he had found his true vocation. He continued to teach and
study until his collegiate course was completed, and then he resolved to
fit himself for the business of teaching by studying the best systems of
education, as laid down in the most approved books and practiced in the
most successful schools. He examined the best school buildings, and
brought away plans of construction, and models of their furniture. The
most thorough teachers were consulted as to the results of their
experience, and when he had thus acquired a thorough mastery of the whole
science of teaching, instead of setting out as an educational empiric, he
resolved to seek the West as a better field for turning his knowledge to
account, than was the East, where educators were far too numerous to make
the business profitable.

[Illustration: Yours Truly, Andrew Freese]

Mr. Freese came to Cleveland in 1840, and offered his services to the
Board of School Managers as a teacher. His rare ability was appreciated,
he was immediately engaged, and was at once recognized as the head of the
schools. There was then only the general school law to work under. The law
as then understood, made it almost a crime to give instruction in the
higher branches of even an English education. There was then no high
schools, or graded schools in the great State of Ohio. To Cleveland, and
to Mr. Freese, belong the honor of establishing the first free high school
in the State. The scholars from that school may now be found in almost
every State in the Union, eminent in all departments of life. They have
been met with as Governors, jurists, mechanicians, and artists, and the
first inquiry from them _all_ has been, "Is Mr. Freese still with you? All
I am, and all I have, I owe to him; may God forever bless him."