When Union was first established in 1834, the education of children was not foremost in the minds of these new settlers. Their primary need was building home places in a new land, an endeavor which involved all family members. The few private schools that were formed during this building period were small and tuition supported.
Documentation of schools in Union was reported as early as the 1840s. The WPA Manuscript records show that William M. McMahan moved to Union in 1842 and taught school three or four sessions. The next record shows that a small school called Kimbell Schoolhouse was opened {in the area of today’s 211 Old Decatur Road, t.b.} during the period of 1840 to the early 1860s with William H. Boyd as one of the teachers. School sessions lasted five months from late September until early February with 10 or 12 pupils from age six up (160). This record shows that while little schooling occurred during this early period, some settlers did make an attempt for a formal education for their children.
Then in 1861 came the Civil War, and only after the Civil War and into the Reconstruction period did the State Constitution of 1869 first establish a public or free school system in Mississippi and appropriate minimal funds for it. Soon after that ruling, one-teacher schools holding a four-month school year began to be scattered in communities in each Mississippi county. If the school went longer than four months, however, the remainder of the term was supported by tuition (Mabry).
On January 7, 1884, the Newton County Supervisors “ordered that there be established fourteen public schools in each Beat – seventy schools in all the county for the school year 1884.” The next year they added two more schools per beat. These community schools were located within walking distance for the children because school bus transportation did not begin until near the 1930s. Most of these early county schools taught first grade through eighth grade (Caldwell).
The State soon recognized that many of the teachers in these early state funded schools did not have the needed education themselves to meet the standards necessary to teach the students entrusted to them. Money was being wasted on many incompetent teachers. Therefore, in the 1880s, funds became available from the Peabody Foundation to form normal schools or institutes, which were teacher training schools. From that point on, teachers were required to pass an examination before receiving a certificate to teach in a public or free school (Brown, 243).
Union’s earliest schools located in Old Town on Decatur Street north of Jackson Road have little clear documentation, so the information presented in this and the next article is somewhat incomplete. Scattered information that I have collected will be submitted.
An article in the May 23, 1984, Union Appeal gives information about a normal institute in Old Town. The article states: “In January 1880, J.C. Portis and A.I. Parks organized the first school in Union in the old Primitive Baptist Church. The enrollment was about sixty pupils and the first session lasted until July. The second session began in September with three teachers: Portis, A.I. Parks and H.J. Parks. They named the school ‘The Greenwood Institute.’ This session closed the last of June. In the beginning of the third session they built a new school building and the professor was M.A. Westbrook. During these five years another two story school building was erected. There were about forty boarding students. After Westbrook left, there were different teachers until 1910 when Prof. W.E. Neff took charge. He taught seven years and during that time the first brick school building was erected.”
Further investigation on this teacher training school finds documentation from the Commissioner of Education (Washington) for 1882-1883 and also from the Journal of House of Representatives of the State of Mississippi January 8, 1884, showing that the Greenwood Normal Institute in Union, Mississippi, was organized in 1878, chartered in 1881, and incorporated February 15, 1884. It also states that the principal was M.A. Westbrook, A.B. Parks and Rev. J.C. Portis, with two male and two female instructors teaching 63 male and 44 female students.
In addition, the Greenwood Institute had an advertisement for the sixth session in the December 3, 1885, Neshoba Democrat. However, I have not found a picture that identifies a school building as Greenwood Normal Institute.
The location of the new building constructed in the beginning of the third session was not stated. However, after the Institute moved into its new building, First Baptist Church’s records show that the newly-organized Baptists purchased the vacant old Primitive Baptist Church, removed it in August 1887, and then erected a new church building on that site. The new Baptist church was located around 204 North Decatur Street, known today as the Ancle Cleveland home site. In addition, Ancle Cleveland states in his autobiography that his home was built “where the old church and school used to be” (26).
Other questions arise from the 1984 Appeal article. It states, “During these five years another two story school building was erected.” Where was this second building located, why was it built, and what happened to it? Another question surfaces about that 1870 to mid-1880s time period: Was there a public school nearby for students who were not in training to be a teacher? If you have answers to these questions, please contact me.
This article will be continued in next week’s newspaper. The probable location of the Institute and the onset of the public schools in Union will be examined.
Works Cited:
*Brown, A.J. The History of Newton County 1834-1894, p. 242-251.
*Caldwell, Bobby. The History of the Early Schools in Newton County compilation, 2009.
*Mabry, Sr., W.C. The Newton Record, April 30, 1936.
*WPA Manuscript 1872-1875. Compiled by Jean Strickland and Patricia Nicholson Edwards, 1996.
If you have further information, please contact me at teresablount26@yahoo.com or 601-774-5564.
