Old school lessons ring true today

The Hillsboro Normal School, June 1893. Seated at the table is teacher, George Secrest.

School’s out, school’s out, the teacher let the students out, one went east, one went west, one went on a history quest.

The following is from the files of the late William M. Talley, Jean Rankin Denton and Rev. H.C. Northcutt and tells the story of how students in the 1800s became educated in the small town of Hillsboro Ky. The blacksmith shop of Mr. Joseph Steel was converted into a schoolhouse and for several years was also used as a place of worship and Sunday School.

Henry Clay Northcutt taught school there for five years, beginning with 14 pupils and closing with 60. He was assisted in his last year by his wife. On the north side of Hillsboro was the Nelson Fant farm and the location of what came to be named the Fant’s school house and on alternate Saturdays it was used as a preaching place for the Southern Methodists.

It’s interesting to note that Prof. Baldwin, who also taught school at Elizaville and later founded the Baldwin Piano Co. in Cincinnati, taught vocal music at Fant Schoolhouse. The home of Russell Zimmerman stood where a private school in Hillsboro was located.

The building was later moved and became the little Methodist church near Shiloh.

Miss Tippy Hainline, who later married Charles Davis, was once the head of a private school in Hillsboro and another lady who had a private school there was Miss Betty Lyons.

There was once a school located west of the present Hillsboro school, a one-room affair that was later moved to the present site of the brick building, then moved again over by the hotel.

Land for a Hillsboro school was purchased from Turner Anderson and wife on February 6, 1884. In 1918 the Rev. H.C. Northcutt published his school days recollections.

“When I was very small, there was what remained of an old school house on our farm, about 20 yards west of the dirt road leading to Flemingsburg. But there was a good school house on the farm near its southern border, about 200 yards west of the same road. It was built of logs with "cat-in-clay" chimney at each end, with fireplaces wide enough and deep enough to take in logs 4 to 5 feet long and a foot or more in diameter. It had one window on the north side made by cutting out a log and inserting a long sash of one pane depth. Opposite this, on the inside, was a writing desk extending all the way across. That is where I first used a pen. I was in my 5th or 6th year when I first went to that school. And it was said that I had attended to the other, but I never could remember it.

Douglas I. Winn was the teacher. He was a good arithmetician, a splendid penman and a good instructor. He ruled his school kindly and was generally esteemed by patrons and pupils. The morals of the pupils were cared for: profanity, falsehood, and obscenity were forbidden, and truthfulness and all other moral qualities were enforced. Morally, it was a model school. Mr. Winn taught there several years. Afterwards, one session was taught by John Walton, son of Aunt Sally. He had lost a foot by getting it caught by a tree he had cut down. It was amputated just above the ankle and he walked with a crutch. He was not a success as a teacher and did not continue long, but became a constable. The only other teacher in that school house was Samuel Moreland. He was successful, but Mr. Winn succeeded him and was the last before it was torn down. Mr. Winn did not attempt to teach grammar, geography, or philosophy.

Then followed a school house a mile south of Hillsboro, on the east side of the road on the farm of William. Crain. I think the material of the old one was used to build it. Mr. Winn taught there and my younger brother and I attended. One morning Mr. Winn asked me, "Henry, did you folks see the phenomena last night?" I told him I did not know what a "phenomena" was. He explained that great showers of stars had fallen,"shooting stars", they call them. I told him that was the first I had heard of it, and that I did not think anyone of our family saw them, and so it turned out. But many did see them and were terrified, thinking the end of the world and the Judgment Day were at hand. Such a scene would not now seem so fearful, as science has shown that this was only an unusually heavy overflow of a regular astronomical occurrence every November. I have always regretted that I did not see one of the great displays of creative power and glory. But after this time, Mr. Winn was employed at Fant's School House and we attended there. But he had become dull of hearing and could not know near all the mischief going on, even in school hours, and he was unable to maintain discipline and gave up the school. Another teacher there was a Mr. Route of Nicholas County, I think. But he was not capable of controlling such a mob of boys, though qualified in other respects.

Thomas Richeson came next, as previously mentioned, and he was the last teacher I knew at Fant's School House. Later I attended a school in Hillsboro, the school house having been transformed from a blacksmith shop, about 20 by 40 feet, warmed by a large stove in the center. Thomas M. Crain was the teacher when I attended there and I studied philosophy and improved my grammar. That was about my last attendance at school, but I was very anxious to make further progress. I asked my father if he ever expected me to get [anything] from his estate for a college education. But he said: "I did not give your brother such an education, and can not make a discrimination." I did not know that a healthy young man could work his way through college, as has often since been done, and there was no fund to help students such as is now provided by childrens day collections. So I had, as I thought, to do the best I could without. But I studied at home and added somewhat to my literary store. Now I wish to say to young men, and women also, to get the best education you possibly can”.

Like most small towns, Hillsboro has a rich and interesting history to delve into, and we will include more in next weeks edition.