Big Bend School

     Big Bend School

         BY: Nevaeh Gilbert

 

     Big Bend School is a one-room historic building with no basement or attic. Big Bend was built in the late 1800’s. It was originally built on 80 acres of land. It was 3 miles North of Steelville and was exactly 30 feet West from Highway 19.  Big Bend was built on a foundation of native sandstone. It is a rectangular, frame building 20’ x 25’. Big Bend School’s walls are pine clapboard which was hauled from Smith’s Sawmill in Washington County, a distance of 50 miles. The school is still it’s original painted color, white. It cost $100 dollars to build the school building.

     School began in this building in 1893, serving students in grades one through eight. On February 27, 1950, the school property consisting of one acre of land was sold at an auction for $651.00 dollars. It cost more to buy it than it did to build it. On October 30, 1973, twenty years later, the Crawford County Historical Society became the owner of this historic spot. When Highway 19 was relocated, Big Bend was moved to Hoppe Spring Park, here in Steelville, Mo.

 

                                   Teachers

 

Susan McKee 1893 Hazel Clinton

Lou Adams Merle Woods

Alfred Wilburn Edna Perrigue

Chas. H. McIntosh John S. Fitzpatrick

Mannie Davidson Orpha Perrigue

Ruby Gravatt Teresa Fitzpatrick

Haney Housewright Clyde Rogan

Edward J. Becker Nettie Icenaugle

Goldie Wright Brenda Cape

Gertrude Palmer Freeman Scott

Ollie Lay Marie Fleming

 

Students of Big Bend Schoolhouse:

Family Name:

 

Achurch:

Anna, Charles, Edward, Fred, Lizzie, Mary.

Armstrong:  

Murray

Beck:

Mamie, Viola

Becker:

Chester, Donald, Edward J, Everett, George, James, Juanita, Lily, Mable, 

Mike, Nona.

Bettorf:

Cora, Haney, Mabel, May

Bobbit:

Arthur, Fred

Burke: 

Omia

Bunton:

Leonard, Sidney.

Bush:

Alice, Earl.

Cape:

Lily, Roger, Teresa.

Cassidy:

Woodrow

Cox:

Billy, Duane, George, Lois, Teddy.

Creek:

Rolla, Jim, Pearl, Bertha, Josie, Lola, Juanita 

Crook:

Ruth

Cushing:

Betty, Edward, William.

Diehl:

Ada, Frances, Mary, William.

Drennan:

Walter

Dulaney:

Beverly, Ralph W., Robert Lee.

Dunlap:

Berneal, Stephen, Wanda.

Edgar:

George, Mable.

Essman:

Lorene

Farrar:

Effie, Joe, Leffie, Otto. Eura

Faulkner:

Edward, Sarah

Goodman:

Richard

Gorman:

Irene

Grayson:

Vernon

 

Guseman:

Warren

Halbert:

Betty, Jewell, Peggy.

Hardesty:

Edwin, Frank

Harding:

Bert, 

Hanks:

Irene, Josephine

Hendrix:

Aline, Alma, Andrew, Bessie, Billy, Billy Joe, Carmalette, Clifton, Cordia,

 Elmer, Esmer, Hildred, Juanita, Martha, Raymond, Troy, Vada

Housewright:

Fern, Mary Ann, Morgan, Vivian, Clifford

Hulsey:

Bud, Catherine, Lou, Albert

Ives:

Friede, Juanita, Lester, Marie, Sarah

Jenkins:

Norris

Leezy:

Erma, Leroy, Lillie, Noah, Walter, Zelma, Corbett, John

Martin:

Wiley

Marsey:

Bonnie, Charles, Frank, Robert, William, Vivian

Mockleman:

Margaret, Roy, Vernon

McGurthy:

Norman, Virginia, Jessie, Mabel, Ethel

McIntosh:

Fern

Paulsen:

Con, Bud

Perrigue:

Ben, Clarence, Edna, Matred, Paul

Pike: 

Bill, Paddy, Paul.

Raymond:

Hildred

Reed:

Charlene

Reeves:

Alva, Catherine, Elsie, George, Myrtle

Richter:

Kenneth

Scott:

Freeman, Walter

Stone:

Wilma

Vickrey:

Wilda

West:

Doris, Herbert

White:

Clark, John, Virginia

Wilkenson:

Billy, Eloise, Junior, Margarette, Merecedes.

Wymer:

Eleanor

 

**Names written by James Ira Breuer, Nov. 19, 1973

Big Bend School

•  1882 Levisa Wood (Mrs. John Wood) procured a “patent land grant” signed by U.S. President Chester A. Arthur, dated Sept. 2, 1882.   One acre of the land was given/sold to District #6 (later known as #50), for $5.00, for building a school. This location is 2 ½ miles north of Steelville (on the hill north of today’s Hwy 19 bridge, on what is presently Becker Road, right across from Flint’s Feed Store and to the left)
• “Big Bend” stands for the meandering curve of the Meramec River flowing through the valley below.
• Original school district was District #50.
• A 20’ x 25’ structure was built on native sandstone.  The outside walls are pine clapboard that was hauled, by wagons, across muddy country trails (Hwy 19 was not yet there), from Smith’s Sawmill in Washington County (50 miles away).
• The cost to build the original structure, constructed by John Salzer, partner to James E. Hollow of the Enterprise Planing Mill, was $100.
• 1893, school began in this building in September for a term of 5 months, for grades 1-8.
• Due to the community’s farming activities, the school year in the first terms averaged 4-5 months/year.  The farming activities demanded the children’s time, so attendance was spotty.
•  Miss Susan (Susie) McKee was the first school teacher in the Big Bend School.
• At first, a wood stove was in the center of the room, with a pipe stretching to the west wall (the wall with the black board).  The longer pipe gave more heating surface on cold, winter days. There was lots of competition to get the seats under it, or near the stove, itself).
• Winter – the teacher came in early to make a fire in the big box heater.  Drinking water came from the cistern…each student had his own cup.
• The communities in the Big Bend area put higher emphasis on their livelihood-farming, than on education, causing students to be absent, often.  The students remained at any given grade level as long as it took to complete the work to advance to the next. Due to this practice, students ranged in age, from 5 or 6, to 30 years.
• During the school day, pupils in each grade level occupied the front end of the building, in succession, so that each would get the day’s lesson at the blackboard on the west wall.  At the same time, the other kids were in the back rows, studying.
• Games played by pupils of this, and other one room schools:  Annie-over, Red Fox, Softball, and climbed trees
• Most kids who finished the 8 years at Big Bend did not go on to high school (it was not obligatory at that time).
• In early years into the 20th century, teachers were paid $25/month. [Male teachers were paid $1-$2 more than females teachers]  No special training, or certification for teachers in small, rural Missouri schools. Missouri Department of Education provided an outline for a basic course of instruction.  Emphasized were: nature study and observation, seasonal studies of weather, insects, and changed in plant life in surrounding woods, simple arithmetic, American History, and world geography.
• 1949 – Big Ben closed due to statewide school reorganization.  The students joined the Steelville R-3 District in Steelville.
• 2/27/50 – School and land were sold to Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Clinton for $651
• 10/3/73 – School sold to Crawford County Historical Society for $1
• 1975 – Big Bend School was placed on the National Historic Buildings register.
• Nov. 3, 1999 – Big Bend School was relocated to Hoppe Spring Park in Steelville.  After it was in place, Aim High Extension Club, Masonic Lodge, Steelville Telephone, City of Steelville, and interested citizens helped restore it as a museum.
• During the years 1893 – 1949 (56 years)  - 150 kids were educated in the Big Ben School.