I Remember When: School Days

Fri, 11/29/2024 - 11:05am

When: 1974

This once-lost episode of I Remember When includes interviews with former Ann Arbor school teachers Lela Duff and Linda Eberbach, former Ann Arbor High School students David Inglis and Bill Bishop (at their 50th reunion), and long-time school board member Ashley Clague.

Produced and directed by Chris LaBeau
Exec producer: Catherine Andersen
Graphic Artist: Eric Anderson

Special thanks to Mr. Bill Bishop, Mr. Ashley Clague, Miss Lela Duff, Miss Linda Eberbach, Mr. David Inglis, and Stone School Nursery School
Sponsored by the Ann Arbor Public Library, with help from the Ann Arbor Sesquicentennial Commission and the University of Michigan Speech Department.

Transcript

[00:00:00] TED TROST: [NOISE] School days, school days, dear old golden rule days. Readin' and writin' and 'rithmetic taught to the tune of a hickory stick. I don't think any of us can ever forget our school days. Good or bad, they are with us forever. School memories are the memories of growing up. That little gal's pigtail you dipped in the bottle of ink. The day you traded in knee pads for long ones just like your dad's, or the day you accidentally blew up the chem lab. Or the time you tried to sneak into the girls fancy dress party at the end of the year. I still remember my high school football team, and the senior prom. You know it seems as if graduation came just too quickly. I remember, do you? Do you remember when? [MUSIC].
[00:02:53] TED TROST: Most of us can't remember one-room school houses like the old stone school. The old bell, which used to call the children to school every morning is now rung only once a year and that by the nursery school children here. The first school in Ann Arbor was built by Allen and Rumsey in 1825. It was made of logs and then plastered with tiny little windows, only 8 by 9 inches in size. A certain Miss Monroe was the first teacher here of the school that was located on Ann and Main Street. She was then followed by a series of school masters. School was not the most popular place to be in those days for pioneer families, because you see they wanted their boys and girls to work at home. In 1830, for example, only 35 of 160 school aged children attended school. That must have been some job for the truancy officer. Woe to the poor schoolmaster who was unable to hold his own in a fight with some of the older boys. He was apt to hear that old doggerel, multiplication is a vexation, subtraction is as bad, t he rule of three, it puzzles me and fractions make me mad. [NOISE] The next decade of Ann Arbor's history, saw the establishment of several private academies. During this time, there were no public schools in the area, children were educated in private schools or not at all. [MUSIC] The manual laborers school was one of the most interesting schools during this period, run by the Reverend Samuel Hare and his agent master John Allen, the school offered room, board and training to boys, would work 31.5 hours a day to earn their keep. Probably the three most famous schools in this decade were, the Ann Arbor Academy, Miss Page's Female Seminary, and the Misses Clark's School. The Academy was the first of these schools established in 1831. For those of us contemplating the high cost of education in 1974, the Academy offered English, grammar and arithmetic for only two dollars a term. The movement for education for women occurred early in Ann Arbor's history. An editorial appearing in the Argus in 1835 ran, "how many of the females who strut about our streets, be essenced, be jeweled and be millinered with posies in their hands and ribbons floating from their hats, are capable of writing their names legibly. For the sake of a few shillings, their daughters are left to grow up unfit to mingle in the society in which they wish to move." Although known for strict discipline and her harshly imposed merit system, Miss Page's Female Seminary was an important step in meeting the needs of young women in the community. [NOISE] The Misses Clark's School which ran from 1839-1875, had a most important impact on the community. In its long history, the school moved several times, ending up here in what is now a rooming house on the corner of Kingsley and Division. The goal of the school run by the three Clarke sisters, Mary, Chloe and Roby, was to develop thinkers and close observers. The girls were roused at daybreak. Mary Clarke would then lead them in reading a chapter from the Bible and also a collect from the English Book of Common Prayer. Studies at the school included geometry, meteorology, history, philosophy, astronomy, theology, psychology, and criticism. The day ended with the reading of the Lord's Prayer. The Misses Clarkes seemed to keep a very sharp eye on the conduct of their girls. They were not allowed to walk unchaperoned, and they only allowed visitors on Friday and Saturday evenings in the constant presence of the vice principal. The Mrs. Clarke School, like all other academies, were inspected by a board of visitors composed of a group of ministers and university professors. The board would examine academic progress at the school. At a typical presentation for the board, the following essays might have been offered: Hopes that Blossom, but to Die, and Studies and Pursuits Best Suited to Elevate the Character of Women. [NOISE]
[00:07:48] TED TROST: [MUSIC] What was called the first public school was established in 1829, it was located on the old jail square, the site now occupied by the Masonic Temple. This school was public in that it was open to anyone but it was still financed by public subscription. Gradually the school lost money and faced a monetary crisis until public support throughout Michigan pushed the concept of graded public education. At first, the town was divided into two districts, one north of Huron and the other south. When it was obvious that the northern section could afford much better schools, citizen groups pressured town officials for a more centralized system. In 1851 the town was divided into four school districts and property was bought at the edge of town for the new Union High School. Opened in 1856, the new Union High School was the pride of Ann Arbor. It was considered the finest and most modern facility in the state. The high school was the gathering place for the community and even the university held its graduation exercises in the high school auditorium. The school accepted many students from out of town who later planned to enter the university. Because women were not yet admitted to most colleges, school courses were segregated, the boys receiving a straight academic education and the girls had training in drawing, painting, music, conversation, and similar pursuits. Famed for academic excellence, Union High School also established a statewide reputation in sports. It was the first high school in the midwest to offer baseball and also led the way in football, track and field, and tennis. In 1904, Union High School burned to the ground. Futilely, the firemen could only pump water high enough to reach the second story windows. The old bell of the school crashed and broke in two during the blaze. The following day, school administrators met to discuss the building of a new school. For the next three years, classes convened in churches, basements, and campus buildings. In 1907, the doors of the new Ann Arbor High School were opened. This high school, which is now the university's freeze building, still stands on the original site of Union High. I talked to Miss Lela Duff, an historian and author of many articles and books on the city of Ann Arbor. Miss Duff was also a teacher at old Ann Arbor High. She recalled for us a well-known colleague, Mr. Levi Wines.
[00:10:21] LELA DUFF: One Levi Wines hadn't intended to be a teacher. He had taken engineering and he had been working on the Great Lakes project of a study of the lakes. The superintendent happened to think about the young Wines and thought maybe he had heard that that job had finished, they were through with the Great Lakes study and that he was at loose ends, so he went over to Wines father's house and asked Levi who was a tall, spindly, young fellow and quite shy and apparently not too forceful if he would come and take over. Well, he did, and the first day, this is what his wife told me as a very old lady, she was much younger than he, and she told me this while I was writing the incidents that the first day some of the boys had started acting a little smart. I think some of them came into the room and laid down on the seats. He said nothing till the bell rang and then he got up and he said, I have come now to teach you people but I think I ought to warn you before anything, before we undertake our work, that my trouble is a very ungovernable temper, and he said, if anything should annoy me, if you should do anything to rouse my temper, it would take no time at all until I would have you by the collar and have you over to one of those windows and throw you out. I wouldn't be responsible. You would land on the pavement below. [LAUGHTER] That surprised and scared them that he never had any trouble after that. [LAUGHTER].
[00:12:42] TED TROST: Students and teachers both work together and learn from each other at the old high school. Miss Duff told me about one skit put on by the women teachers at the girls fancy dress party and then she summed up her feelings about teaching at Ann Arbor High.
[00:12:59] LELA DUFF: I've been in two or three little plays in [inaudible 00:13:02] . One was based on Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass, I forgot which one. The passage that starts on the walrus and the carpenter were walking on the sand and some of us were just oysters and different things in bags around the edge and then the carpenter was the secretary, Miss Kitzmiller, was a very tall lady. She was, I think, about six feet tall and the walrus was Miss Porter, this quite plump and very sedate older teacher and she entered in it with great glee and they went walking on the sand and carried on their conversation. [LAUGHTER] It was quite funny. That was up on the stage. Of course everyone was particularly delighted to see Miss Porter in such a role because she was so severe in her personality usually around the school. It was a delightful experience. Most teachers stayed a long time because they liked to teach here, it was a very coveted position because of that reason, and teachers were fairly well paid at that time, that is, it compared well with Detroit and other larger schools. There was a cooperation among the teachers and a very friendly feeling between pupils and teachers that I think all the years I taught were very pleasant.
[00:15:10] TED TROST: As we've seen throughout the history of Ann Arbor, there's always been a demand for more change, more growth. The same is true for education in Ann Arbor. The old Ann Arbor High has given way to Pioneer, Huron, and Community high schools, and the many parochial and private schools of the city, but this building will always be Ann Arbor High to the many teachers and students who worked and lived here. At the 50th reunion of the class of 1924, I talked to Miss Linda Eberbach, a former teacher at Ann Arbor High.
[00:15:47] LINDA EBERBACH: My high school, the teaching was a little different in those days from what I'm sure it is today. We, of course, knew our students probably a little bit better individually because it was a smaller school and it was a delightful situation. Many of the students would come bouncing in after school and visit with you and you felt as though you were really part of their life too.
[00:16:25] TED TROST: Do you remember any particular incidents about this particular class, any particular people in this class? Any particular things they did that were good or were a little devilish?
[00:16:38] LINDA EBERBACH: Well, of course, I don't know that I can pinpoint that kind of thing. I do know that the students that I had that were in this class were serious and fun and they really made you feel as though they wanted to learn things but they also wanted to have them lightened up occasionally, and that's either sew or cook a few fun things.
[00:17:10] TED TROST: If you had to do it all over again, would you become a teacher?
[00:17:13] LINDA EBERBACH: That's a difficult question. If I had the same situation that I had back in my teaching years, I think yes, but I don't know whether I could cope with it now or not as some of my friends in the teaching field at Pioneer have said to me like, "Linda, if you were out there now, I don't know what you'd do." I had rather a strong arm. I felt discipline was necessary, but we just exercise a little of it and we'll not overlook it.
[00:17:56] TED TROST: Well, I can tell you that if I were in your class today, I'd behave.
[00:18:00] TED TROST: The class of 1924 look back at their high school days in Ann Arbor in these words, "The class of 1924 will gather in these halls no more. As our teachers see us go, we wonder why they're smiling so. It is sad to leave you just the same and all through life, a grand refrain will ever echo, never die. Remember me, Ann Arbor High. Remember you, we surely will as through the years we climb the hill. And if our names are heard in fame, we'll know just where to lay the blame.".
[00:18:35] TED TROST: I had the opportunity to talk to two members of the Class of '24 at their reunion. Tom Inglis, a nuclear physicist, and Bill Bishop, a lawyer and professor at the U of M Law School. As they talked, the boyish grins of high school returned.
[00:18:52] DAVID INGLIS: We were in high school, Bill's dad was the director of the university library.
[00:18:59] BILL BISHOP: Dave's dad worked in Detroit, [LAUGHTER] had to to commute every day back-and-forth, I remember.
[00:19:03] DAVID INGLIS: Yeah, that's right.
[00:19:06] TED TROST: Boy, commuting in those days, that must have been something. [OVERLAPPING]
[00:19:08] DAVID INGLIS: You how he commuted? By Interurban. [OVERLAPPING].
[00:19:12] BILL BISHOP: The streetcars.
[00:19:13] TED TROST: Tell me about the Interurban. [OVERLAPPING]
[00:19:14] DAVID INGLIS: There used to be an Interurban between here and Detroit.
[00:19:18] BILL BISHOP: Trains every hour.
[00:19:19] DAVID INGLIS: Yeah. He walked over to the corner of Packard and Granger, or Packard and Wells and there like a big streetcar came along. [OVERLAPPING] They went on through Ypsilanti. It took him two hours to get into Detroit.
[00:19:35] BILL BISHOP: Went the other direction to Jackson, Kalamazoo, and Lansing.
[00:19:42] DAVID INGLIS: The talk about we ought to have mass transit, we used to have this. [OVERLAPPING]. See my dad hadn't gotten around owning a car yet. We didn't have a car in our family when we were in high school. My dad had owned one, he owned a 1902 Oldsmobile just before I was born but he and a telephone pole didn't agree [LAUGHTER] who belonged there and the Oldsmobile came to an end. Dad was afraid of them for quite a few years. These new horseless carriages. [LAUGHTER]
[00:20:09] BILL BISHOP: Yes.
[00:20:11] TED TROST: How does it seem to you? Some of these people today, you haven't seen for a long time.
[00:20:15] DAVID INGLIS: Yeah. Tom Sunderland there for example, he looks like Tom Sunderland, all right.
[00:20:20] BILL BISHOP: He does.
[00:20:20] DAVID INGLIS: We all are older, but I don't think I've seen him for almost 50 years.
[00:20:26] BILL BISHOP: I see him because he's worked for the law school fund here and so forth. [OVERLAPPING].
[00:20:29] DAVID INGLIS: Yes.
[00:20:29] BILL BISHOP: He's an attorney who was president of United Fruit for awhile. Some of the people that are around though I have been seeing for the first time and it's amazing to see some of them. I don't think I've seen Tom Nefrin, at least for a good many years, probably 40 years.
[00:20:43] DAVID INGLIS: See, the town was so much smaller then. I remember I lived about a little more than a mile from high school and I used to use my bike most of the time. Some times when it got too slippery to use my bike, we would walk. A couple of times actually, there were sleet storms and I skated to school. [LAUGHTER].
[00:21:05] TED TROST: Skating to school?
[00:21:07] DAVID INGLIS: Yeah, now I come from Massachusetts, Ann Arbor seems very flat, but we have our little hills up and down along Washington out there. You don't notice some of these hills when you drive a car but when you bicycle, or when you skate you notice them more. If you're going down a hill on skates is an experience.
[00:21:25] BILL BISHOP: It would be.
[00:21:26] DAVID INGLIS: That reminds me of the streetcars we used to have. Remember, we used to have streetcars in Ann Arbor. [OVERLAPPING].
[00:21:31] BILL BISHOP: They run from 1925.
[00:21:34] DAVID INGLIS: Those if you wanted to wait for 20 minutes to get the North Car, you could go to high school for most of the way down for a nickel then. Speaking of those hills being slippery, on Halloween, one of those stunts that I remember most that we did on Halloween was to annoy the streetcar conductor. There's a place where Lincoln Avenue dips down to Cambridge and then dips up again on the other side and the car had to stop if there was any passenger at Cambridge. If you gave a good dose of soap to the rails on both sides of that dip and a passenger to get on there, he had an awful time getting out and that was just great fun for Halloween. [LAUGHTER]
[00:22:21] BILL BISHOP: One of the other things people would do, I won't admit to ever having done it myself was to get to the back of the streetcar outside and pull the trolley off. People would take that all the time and then the motor man would have to get out and go round put the trolley on.
[00:22:36] DAVID INGLIS: That was part of the routine at Cambridge. If there wasn't a passenger getting on, that could be done also while the streetcar was in a potential minimum as we'd call it in my business. [OVERLAPPING]
[00:22:46] BILL BISHOP: Your business. [LAUGHTER]
[00:22:50] TED TROST: Someone once said, nobody can ever leave a school anymore than anyone could leave a family. Everyone is still a precious part of past and present, which are the school. School, past and present. In a rare opportunity, Mr. Ashley Clague, former chairman of the school board, answered the questions of the children in Mrs. Gishy's kindergarten class at Burns Park School.
[00:23:23] ASHLEY CLAGUE: Yes, it was a fairgrounds race track and all the other half mile and then in the center of the fairgrounds was a fence, they had a fence in there. Then [BACKGROUND] the school used to have all their athletic programs in there at that time. They had a contract with the fair association that they wouldn't hold anything as long as the school was in session.
[00:23:46] STUDENT: I have something.
[00:23:47] ASHLEY CLAGUE: All right.
[00:23:48] TEACHER: Christopher.
[00:23:51] STUDENT: When was junior high built?
[00:23:55] ASHLEY CLAGUE: The junior high over here?
[00:23:57] STUDENT: Yeah.
[00:23:57] ASHLEY CLAGUE: The other one?
[00:23:58] STUDENT: [inaudible 00:23:58].
[00:24:00] ASHLEY CLAGUE: This one here at first was a junior high. I think it was opened 1923. I think that was the time it was built. It was started two years before that. This other was built over here was at '49 where it happens now, it's present site.
[00:24:20] STUDENT: What did the schools look like?
[00:24:21] ASHLEY CLAGUE: Like it does now. They may change. Maybe they've made some changes. I don't believe they had the swimming pool. They never used that anyway.
[00:24:30] TEACHER: You tell these boys and girls where the swimming pool is. Some of them don't know.
[00:24:33] STUDENT: [BACKGROUND] I know.
[00:24:35] ASHLEY CLAGUE: You know where it is. I think the hole is down a little bit. [OVERLAPPING].
[00:24:41] TEACHER: It's under the floor, way down in a room in the center [OVERLAPPING]. You know where that is?
[00:24:48] ASHLEY CLAGUE: Down, where they come in in the center, to the left there and right down, it's a little deeper there. Two or three steps, I think. Down in. That's it. [BACKGROUND]. Yes. that hole, that used to be the race track. They had horses out here. Mullison used to have the stables. [BACKGROUND] Then this hill out here, know this hill out here they're talking about?
[00:25:14] STUDENT: Yeah.
[00:25:15] ASHLEY CLAGUE: Some of that dirt was taken out of this school and put out there. When I was at the Park Commission and we fixed that all up so you could sleigh ride out there and toboggan, is that what you do with it now in a winter time?
[00:25:28] STUDENT: I only skate over there.
[00:25:30] ASHLEY CLAGUE: I was the one that was on the park board that got that ice rink in here. Put the connection, have the connection put in here. We put one here and one in the west side park.
[00:25:42] STUDENT: Somebody said they call that Magic Mountain.
[00:25:49] ASHLEY CLAGUE: Magic Mountain. Maybe that's the name and I don't know. Maybe it's a Magic Mountain.
[00:25:53] STUDENT: When did you stop school?
[00:25:58] ASHLEY CLAGUE: When did I stopped school? I stopped school in the 6th grade.
[00:26:01] STUDENT: Why did you?
[00:26:05] TEACHER: He was hard to go to school. [OVERLAPPING].
[00:26:07] ASHLEY CLAGUE: That time things were not like this. My father worked in a mine. He had fallen down this mine shaft and he was hurt, injured. I was the sole support of the family at that time.
[00:26:21] STUDENT: So you quit?
[00:26:23] ASHLEY CLAGUE: I quit school and went to work. [BACKGROUND] I've been working since.
[00:26:28] TEACHER: Can you tell them what school is like when you went to school, did you go to school here?
[00:26:32] ASHLEY CLAGUE: When I brought Mr. Zwerdling with me today, he probably is one of the outstanding citizens in Ann Arbor. Mr. Zwerdling never went to school. He never went to school and he obtained the rank of one of the outstanding citizens of this community and his education that he picked up here in himself. He made a successful operation of his business and helped to build this city. Myself, the schools were different when I left the school. You children got it a lot different than what we had. We took our lunch, we didn't have any buses. I think we went three or four miles to school. It was near the northern part. The snow got deep in the winter time, but we went just the same and our teachers were all nice to us. My education stopped at 6th grade. After I left the 6th grade, the teacher that taught me most in school was my 6th grade teacher. She didn't teach me out of a book. She sat down, counseled with me. She was a wonderful girl. At that time I never realized what it meant. The children don't know now what it really meant to your mother and father to put you in school. These teachers here to instruct you and help you, they're the best people you're going to have in your entire life. You want to honor and respect them as they will not do you any harm, they'll just do you good. If you just listen to their wisdom, you will multiply and prosper. [MUSIC]