Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938 Page: 75 of 264
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GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY EDITION, 1938.
AMARILLO SUNDAY NEWS AND GLOBE. AMARILLO. TEXAS.
PUBLIC SCHOOL HISTORY
(.Continued from Page 18;
6tacks of lumber In the M. T.Jones
lumber yard.
As one well known man of Ama-
rillo today tells It, the most puz-
zling thing about that playing
hooky was the fact that when sum-
mer rame along and Professor
Woodson opened his summer school
which charged tuition, this entiie
group of boys persuaded their
fathers to let them go, and all
through the hot months they at-
tended school every day and liked it.
Tliere was still another school in
Potter County during the terms of
'PI-'92, for School No. 2. District
No 1 —or the town district — was
taught bv Mrs. Louis Anthony.
Mrs. Anthony taught n Potter
County schools lor a number ol
years and was later county treas-
urer.
The location of the Amarillo
school building had one decided
disadvantage. For almost the en-
tire school term the house was in
the middle of a lake; water often
reached to Polk Street on the east
find to Tenth Street on the south,
And covered the entire school block
on both the north and west sides.
Of course, there was no city system
of drainage in those days; when it
rained the water was held until it
evaporated. Early warrants tell of
raised walks being built from the
fstile to the building, but that 010
not help much when water was
several feet deep at the stile. Once
when there was a torrential ram
during the afternoon, water got, so
deep in the lake that it seeped
through the. cracks in the flooring
and was level with the door.
* * *
It. was due to this lake that Ama-
rillo can lay claim to the first
school bus used in Texas. For sev-
eral months one year Jake Lomiller
came twice daily to carry the chil-
dren across the lake, not In a mod-
ern bus, but in a dray pulled by
Jour big horses.
it was while Mr. Woodson was
teaching that the boys decided to
bring their guns to school and shoot
the ducks off the lakp so that the
quacking would not disturb classes.
However, Mr. Woodson vetoed the
plan. . .. f
All Amarillo was convinced that
the schoolhouse was badly located,
but it seemed nothing could be done
about it; everyone talked, but when
the dry days of summer came noth-
ing was done. .
With the end of school in 92, two
n- trustors were in district No. 1, ,
P. A bell.
animal head, which was borrowed
for the play and carefully fas-
tened around Will. That the rug
slipped a bit during the play, until
the strange wolf had a head on his
side, did not really matter. Will
was a very vicious wolf, and proper-
ly ate Red Riding Hood.
There were no new additions to
school buildings during the sum-
mer, but warrants issued before
school opened showed the usual
thing—"repairs on the school build-
ing, replacing glass in schoolhouse,
scrubbing and cleaning school build-
ing," thus telling the story of abuse
of school buildings that was so
common in the early days.
There was one special thing pro-
vided for the Amarillo schools be-
was 'Town Ball," altnough a wise
history teacher had her girls play
out Texas history battles. For this
game, the girls drew places, as no
one wanted to be Santa Anna.
Close of school that year was also
a big occasion. There was a Fairy
Cantata, Sam Brown and His Ten
Little Indians, and a play, "The
Donation Party." Delia Kidd was
the minister's wife who had told
her children of the nice pies and
jellyrolls they would have when the
people "pounded" the preacher.
But. alas for the small son of the
family, some members of the con-
gregation had questioned him as to
what his father liked to eat. As
the people came into the parsonage
the pile of cabbage heads grew and
grew, for each person brought what
the preacher most liked to eat.
That year Amarillo had her first
but the town schools had no change
of teachers.
Mrs. Louis Anthony was still at
Liberty School in District No. 3. W.
D. McKinney was added to the
tynrd of trustees. A new name ap-
peared at the Independence school.
Miss Cailie Dorris, well-known in
Amarillo as Mrs. H. A. Nobles. G.
A. Law served as trustee at Spring
Grove.
• • •
The graduating class in the
Amarillo High School in 1895 was
composed of four girls and two boys,
they were Alice Lee, May Martin,
Katherlne Tannehill, Lena Thomp-
son, and David Park and John Ad-
kisson.
"he schoois of Potter County
closed March 15, 1895. because funds
were exhausted. An editorial print-
trouble developed later, the case
going to the Supreme Court. Final
decision was made in October, 1923,
the court ruling that the sale of the
four leagues of land at 75 cents an
ac e was legal.
When all monies for the land were
received the county commissioners
i vested them in bonds. Report of
the permanent school fund for Pot-
ter County on August 31, 1937,
s'lowed a balance of $15,950.
\lthough money was very scarce,
the t'"ustees in Amarillo realized
that more room must be provided
for use before fall term opened.
The building was much too old to be
spending money on, it was in a lake,
but there was no way that money
could be raised for a new building,
and children had to have school
room. So they purchased an old sa-
loon, but then came another ques-
tion, "Where can an addition be
put?" Already the original build-
ing was surrounded with additions
The answer was. "Ju.<t add an addi-
"on to the addition."
One former pupil at the school
io has a good memory says, "The
old saloon was set along the back
of the south side of the addition
that had been built back of the orig-
inal building. It extended south
about even with the addition that
had been built to the south of the
original building. After the saloon
was connected with the addition, the
partition that divided the addition
back of the original building into
two rooms was removed, and the sa-
loon made one room and the ad-
dition another large room."
This done, the Amarillo school
opened with an entirely new faculty.
L. H, Rosser was principal, receiv-
ing $90 instead of $110 per month.
Other teachers were O. B. Staples
and Mls-es Hattie Griggs, Flora
McGee and Maude E Tannehill.
Miss Daisy Martin was teacher in
District No n and M. F. Wharton
in District No. 3.
That school year was turbulent.
(Continued on Paec 20)
NOT EVEN GARBO with thp aid of Hollywood mako-up artists could achieve any
more distinctively this hairdress, which the Swedish actress revived and which you
see here adorning a teacher in Amarillo's first private school. The delicately
poised hands might be Garbo's too, but as it happens they are those of Miss Susie
Andrews. And they are resting, not on Godey's Lady's Book, as you might suppose,
but on a Montgomery-Ward catalog.
Miss Andrews' charges are, left to right, Drucille Hayden, Bessie Pendleton
(name of third girl not known) the school ma'm herself, Crissie Creamer, Mal-
comb Moore, Florence Ware and Hugh Moore. Kneeling, Carol Cornelius and David
Pendleton. Hugh Moore still lives here loo.
The photo was made sometime during the winter of 1889-90.
fore the fall term in '93. A warrant
new trustees were in
J ^ummer'of 1892 brought the first was issued io G. K. Whitcomb for
normal school to Amarillo. summer making and erecting bell tower,
normals were not conducted then ; and hanging the same. Early pic-
« fhpv are now Usually two or lures of the schoolhouse show a
three well qualified teachers got a very tall tower just si.uth of the
errotin of advanced students together 1 front door with a bell hangm
and coached them all summer as there. Evidently Mr
Ipr ,aking the stale hung the bell instead of hanging
preparation ,
teachers' examination. At the close
of the course, the state board, then
controlled by Texas University, sent
some disinterested teacher to con-
duct, the examinations from que.,
tions prepared by the board, in
these normals the
paid bv student fees, but T. R. Dun
5,p was paid for conducting a sum-
mer normal in Amarillo by the
trustees o£ District, No. 1.
Election of officers of Potter
County in 1892 placed F. C. High-
the tower.
Eakle Brothers sold the school a
nice curtain before school started.
The fall term found two new
teachers in Amarillo. M. T. Ramsey
was principal and Miss Gillian
Farley, who had taught In the
schools during '90-'91, took Mrs.
Cousin's place.
j There were new teachers in two
I of the three country schools also.
graduating exercises with four girls 1
in the class, Misses Eula Trigg,
Daisy Martin, Flora McGee and
Mary Brooks.
When school was out in District
No. 2 the schoolhouse was moved
Whitcomb I "P ,hP creek and located 0,1 ,he
Sam Dunn place. This was the
first of many moves as the years
passed.
The election of 1894 returned D. |
smith, who was elected judge, 'njanr[
Spring Grove, where T. A. Minter
J. B. Wheatley were new trus-
charge of schools. , I tees, wa.- taught by Miss Luclan
The pupils of the early aas. , Farley. Independence school had
Amarillo declare that the a c .1; ; Mr,. _ Barnes as teacher, while
to the north and south of ! le o y I Liberty was still taught by Mrs.
lnal building were to__ho_ld_ftne j Anthony.
Each new teacher had to learn
improvement was ^maoe j that this was a cow country, and
thqt ranch duties came above
to hold
schoolhouse together; now another
ovement was made and this
time both the east and west sides
were propped up. two new rooms
being built one behind the other at
the. back of the large center room,
Bnd a new porch and cloakroom be-
ing added to the front of the school-
S. B. Livingston was the contrac-
tor for the work, with Rohinson and
Abell As it happened, tins boy's parents
schooling or anything else. For ex-
ample, as one of the older boys was
driving in one morning he noticed
a bunch of horses moving south.
He knew the brand those horses
wore. When he reached the school
house he told the boy whose father
owned the horses what he had ."'.en.
furniture
were away from home, but a ranch-
, *o f,-,,. nViorl were away mini
Brothers weie paic „ o - • bred boy knew what to do. Not
and maps.
W. H. McAdams
was
trustee in District No. 1 in the sum
elected a stopping to go into the school, the
boy got his pony, hitched to the
fence, and staited south. It was
before three days before he rode in driv-
ing a bunch of horses. He was
mer.
A new district appeared
withf W.1 c" WHghtd' JDv! PottinseT , quite astonished when the teacher
accused him of playing hooky for
; three days.
In the Amarillo school, with the
| boys "Wolf Over the Hill" was the
favorite game. Dave Park usuallv
find J. N. Pettit as trustees, was
formed to serve the east section.
This eliminated the school No, 2 in.
District No. 1. There were two
schools in the new district in its
1891-92 Mrs. Cassle Price was the wolf; he was given a start
Shawn taught the Independence ,'" -he hi.l and then all the
Pi ion! and Mi ! ouis A'.iMiony was "hounds scattered to catch the
fit I therU School 'VOlf' DftVr U'SUall>' clrcled far and
r T Dulanv -till was teacher at' fast enough to come in ahead of
Sprin- Grove, in District No. 2, with the hounds each time. Many pupils
j C Brinkman and W. D. Plemons of those days declare that "Dave
scrvinc with Joseph Hall as trustees.; Park was the fastest runner that
" ... ever was.' They also say he was
Amarillo schools opened carlv in | a £ine ';broad jumper."
September of 1B92 with five teachers.
The salary of the principal had been
An impressive string of 'firsts'
has ('. R. Wilhrrspoon, first public
school teacher in Potter County,
who cant, tn Amarillo in April "t
1R89, and built the first home in
the Sanborn Addition or present
site of Amarillo.
After he left Amarillo, he helped
organize I)eaf Smith County and
built the first home in I .a Plata,
l.ater, he served as county clerk,
attorney and judge, lie received
his degree from the I'niversity of
Texas in 1898, returning to Here-
ford where he was a civic leader
for many years.
N. Quinn to the county bench. He
soon announced that the state al-
lotment for schools of Potter Coun-
ty was $3,973.96 for the
term.
ed in the Amarillo News, J I,. Cald-
well, editor, plainly stated that there
was much dissatisfaction among
school patrons. Continuing, Mr.
Cr.ldwell said, "The teachers were
paid too much by half; the money
was gobbled up and the schools have
stopped. The full term ought to
have been run for the same money.
The principal's salary was $110,00-
$75 was enough, assistants received
$65—$40 was enough, consider in z
that other laborers as a rule could
scarcely make a living. But it is
over. Let's be more considerate in
the future,'"
As was so often the custom when
schools were forced to close early,
private schools were opened. A news
item in the srme paper stated that
the private school opened last week
by Miss Tannehill had 27 or 28
pupils and was progressing nicely.
The question of another election
to raise the tax rate for school pur-
pases from 15 cents to 20 cents on
the S100 valuation was again
brought up in Amarillo during the
summer. In reality, Potter County
had a very small source of revenue
for her schools, much of her land
was still unsold school land, and of
sections filed on, many nesters for-
feited the land or were in arrears
with taxes. This was not, all the
trouble; alternate sections belonged
to the railroad, and very few sec-
tions had been sold. This railroad
land within the county was tax free
until 1900. Even with the hicher
ta rate, there would be little
money.
Too, the school land that had
been assigned to Potter County and
sold to Spavilding in 1890, was in
turn sold by him to parties whr, soon
defaulted. The county brought suit
to recover in December of 1894; the
land was sold on a judgment of fore-
closure In February, 1896, and
bought by Potter County at 70 cents
an acre. For two years the county
made strenuous efforts to sell the
land, and on July 25, 1898. a lease
contract with option to buy at 75
cents an acre was made to R. S.
Ferrell. Ferrell exercised his option
coming to purchase and transferred the land
| to C. C. Slaughter, who immediately
There were two new trustees in j paid the county $3,284 cash, signing
District No. 1 for the new term, notes for the balance Through
The favorite game of the girls Sam Brown and Thomas F. Turner, some flaw in the contract much
reduced from $150 to $100. howe\rr. i
W. C. Cousins was principal; Miss
Margaret Summers taught first
grade- Mrs. Ella F. Nicks, second
mid third; Mrs W. C. Cousins fourth
and fifth; Miss Hattie Miller had the
sixth and seventh, and Professor
Cousins taught the high school sub-
locus.
Thp name of Miss Gracifi Cole Is
also included among teacher:; for
the year as she substituted foi her
mother. Mrs. Nick -, for some time.
School closing in spring 93 Is
is .still recalled in Amarillo for the
exercises were held in the new
Opera House, with a real stage, real
curtains and painted scenery. This ;
opera house is the present BlvinS
Building at 418-20 Polk.
I,ong before school was out eacn
room was having contests In recit- ,
ing; there was no such thing as
readings then, it was recitations
The winner in each room at school
appeared 011 the program of the
closing exercises. There was much
rooting from the sidelines as the j
boys and girls from the different
rooms said their pieces, Taylor
Hayden, from Mrs. Nicks' room, won
first place and was awarded a
medal. This recitation was "While
Nancy, My Nancy, Stands Kneading
the Dough."
Following the recitations, the boys
gave a flag drill. Then came the
crowning glory of the evening, as
many Amarillo women of today w ill
tell, for as little giris tliey took part
In the flower drill. Addle Whitcomb
was a pansy. Addle Ridings a morn-
ing glory and IiRtira Potter was a
buttercup.
After the flower drill Red Riding
Hood was presented by the children.
Flora McGee was the mother. Red
Riding Hood w a s Edith Adams,
hut the actor that outshone all
others was Will Eakle, the wolf.
Mrs. J. L. Smith was the proud
owner of a fur rug with a large
OVER 12 YE \ KS
in the same location, rapidly growing from a small fruit market into
one of the finest, strictly modern fruit and grocery stores in Amarillo.
May we take this opportunity to thank the many customers and
friends who have made our growth possible.
C & C Fruit & Produce
2900 West Sixth St.
D. D. MILLWEE
Amarillo
Phone 6954
Ace Producer
C. B Rit,ten berry rame to Ama-
rillo In 1924 to develop a general
agency for The Lincoln National
Life Insurance Company and has
scored a singular success.
In January of 1921 Mr. Ritten-
berry, who has been a member of
the Consecutive Weekly Production
Club for more than 800 weeks and
who always qualifies for trips of-
fered for record production, entered
the life insurance business as a dis-
trict agent at Port Arthur for his
present company. Two years later
he moved to San Antonio and
worked in the state office of his
company for a vear and a half, tak-
ing special training in agency work.
That first, Amarillo office was one
room in the Western Building,
where Mr. Rittenberrv "started
from scratch" as his company nev-
er before had been represented here.
But the business grew rapidly and
a year later was moved to laigei
quarters in the Johnson Building
Within two years the Amarillo
agency headed by Mr, Rittenberrv
became one of the leaders in Texas
in 1928 the agency produced more
than $2,000,000 of business. In that
year the offices were moved to the
Fisk' Building and arc at present
in Rooms 416-417.
Since 1924 the Rittenberrv agency
has produced more than $14,000,000
business In life insurance and an-
nuities. The manager and members
of the agency value highly the many
thousands of policv owners they
have in Amarillo and the surround-
ing territory. During this time the
Lincoln has paid out. more than
$700,000 in death claims in this
vicinity and more than that amount
has been paid to living policy owners
In the form of annuity benefits, ma-
tured endowments and policy loans.
"During the darkest days of the
depression when the banks were
closed, manv of our policy holders
turned to their life insurance as
the only source from which they
could obtain cash," said Mr. Rit-
tenberry, who pointed out The Lin-
coln Life alr.o maintains a mortgage
loan department in Amarillo, which
is taking a definite part in the de-
velopment of the city. Loans here
total more than $1,500,000.
"At this time the Lincoln Na-
tional is making first mortgage
loans both direct and through F.
H. A.," said Mr. Rittenberry.
The Lincoln agent and manager
who has made such a splendid suc-
cess. states his company now ranks
eighteenth in si/c in America, but
only 14 other comparm. paid fm
more business than Lincoln Life last
year.
'The Lincoln National na.> more
SECTION B--PAGE NINETEEN
They Bough! the Piano
An insight into the character of
Lee Bivins, cattleman and Amarillo
builder, is found in the following
story related at the time of his
death by one of the city's leading
business men;
"The Sunday School of the First
Christian Church needed a piano.
It was decided to buy a second-hand
instrument and I was named as a
committee of one to solicit funds.
The oiano was to cost $150. I ap-
proached Mayor Bivins and told
him of the need for the piano. The
mayor asked how much I thought
he should contribute. I expected
to give $5 so I told hiir I thought
he should give at. lea:' twice aa
insurance in force than 80 per ceni much as I did With a smile, the
mayor ;;airi 'You and I have bought
the piano'."
of the companies organized before
It was. The Lincoln was organizer
in 1905 and now has more than
twice as much insurance in force
as the total in force by the other
nine companies ol the same age
The Lincoln National still is oper-
ating under the management of the
men who organized the company
and has a'.sets of more 'hsn $140,-
000,000. At the close of 1937 the
Lincoln ihowed insurance in force
in the amount of $953,696,000 and
exp'i t;. to become a billion dollar
com pan before the close of 1338."
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Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938, newspaper, August 14, 1938; Amarillo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth299921/m1/75/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hutchinson County Library, Borger Branch.