Chapter Twenty-Four

Early Education and Schools - Prior to 1930

By: Mary Martin

Page 418-425

The Grade I, II and III in the statement referred to the type of Teacher's License held by the teacher. To obtain a county license the person desiring to teach would go to the County Examiner's office in Yellville for a two-day examination, which was held the third Thursday and Friday in March, June, September and December. The test covered Spelling, Reading, Penmanship, English Grammar, Arithmetic, Geography, U. S. History, Arkansas History and Physiology.

A first grade license was the highest and lasted for two years without re-examination. For a first grade license the avenge on all subjects must be 75% - 85%. A second grade license was good for one year and could be renewed one time. Its avenge must be 65% - 75%. A third grade license was good for six months. The average for it must be 60% - 70%. Another examination was required for it.

The boys and girls who usually took the Teacher's Examination were those who had just finished the eighth grade. In fact some of them had repeated the eighth grade because they were not near enough to a high school to attend one. Some of them were very serious about the event and would study toward that goal. One such incident happened with a group of eight pupils from the Rea Valley school in 1917. Mr. F. C. (Flem) Gibson was the teacher. He pledged a gift of a hand bell to the boy or girl making the highest grades on the examination. Among the group taking the tests were two brothers, Bob and Arza Hall. They had the highest scores with Arza one point higher than Bob.7 He still has the school bell that he won fifty- nine years ago and apparently is as happy in 1976 about winning as he was in 1917.

In his autobiography, J. M. Keeter, born in 1857 relates that at the age of sixteen he "stood teacher's examination and made a first grade license". He taught one subscription school and three free schools in Marion County.

Records found in the vault at the Yellville courthouse show the following about Flippin School:

The school at Flippin was located north of the airport on the land presently known as the Guy McCracken or Simon Osborn place. It was built by W. B. Flippin and the land at that time was owned by Jim Lynch. Some other teachers through the years at this school were Con Huddleston, Mr. Bellamy, Houston Poynter and Raleigh Matthews.

Teachers remembered by M. 0. Gilley, as his teachers, were: Weldon Callahan - 1899 at the White School on the north fork of Greasy Creek; Ezra Lay - Asylum School on Water Creek; and Alex James - two terms at Antioch on Greasy Creek. Other schools taught by Mr. Gilley after the beginning of his career at De Soto Springs in 1913 were Dillard, Antioch, Cedar Creek and Burns."

School records prepared by F. C. (Flem) Gibson shortly before he died listed his Marion County teaching as follows:

District #1 1906-07; 1907-08; 1908-09;

Hurst, District #II 1912-13; 1913-14;

Concord, District #17 1910-11;

Flippin, District #26 1918-19; 1919-20; 1920-21; 1921-22;

Elbow, District #36 1909-10;

Oak Grove, District #41 1911-12; 1917-18;

Rea Valley, District #65 1914-15; 1915-16; 1916-17;

Yellville Summit #4 1935~36.12

Early teachers in Yellville include: J. L. Bond 1903; V. L. Webb 1909-10; J. W. Blacklock 1910-11; 0. J. Carson and Helen D. Bardeen 1911-12; Mr. Dulaney (who taught for a few months) 1918-19 and Mrs. Bardeen took his place when he left); John Coventon 1919-20; H. H. Patrick 1920-21; Mrs. Thompson "Miss Effie", 8th-9th grades 1920-21 and Miss Ella Jenkins (Rowden) taught lower grades 1920-21.

Mrs. John Q. Adams (Myrtle) taught her first school at Summit in 1923. Mr. Adams was also teaching there at that time.

Stella (Ballard) Frame, relating school experiences, said that in 1908 her family lived near Rush at the Beulah mine and that she walked 1 1/2miles to Rush school. At that time Rush was a booming mine town and had several families with school-age children. The subjects she remembers taking in school were - The Three R's plus physiology, grammar, algebra and geography. She said that they did not drop any subject as they advanced in books or grades. They had books 1, 2, 3, and 4, etc. The games they played most were baseball, town ball, cross-out and catch ball. Then there was drop the handkerchief, tag, wolf-over-the-river and others. Her schoolday remembrances were all of happy events except for one little "2-lick" whipping for "tattling". Teachers that she remembers at Rush were Frank Carson, Oscar Carson, Miss Bess Cantrell, Will Bearden and his sister Lou. Later, Stella became a teacher and taught at Cedar Creek and Number One.

It is not often that a county can have an entire family so school-minded as that of Dink and Flossie Berry. In 1900 Mr. Berry, fondly spoken of by former students, began his teaching career at Newton Flat (now Bull Shoals). He taught 46 three-month terms in this school. He taught at several other schools including Happy Hollow, Malidda, Wild Cat, Hill Top, Promise Land, Big Foot, Jones, Georges Creek, Summit, Oakland, Flippin, Duren Valley, Cowan Barrens and Bonanza.

The six children of the family all taught in Marion County. The oldest son, Victor, taught at Promise Land and Oakland prior to 1922.

In 1923 Earl taught his first school at Cave Bottom. He then went to Baxter County and taught several years. Later he returned to Marion County and taught at Flippin.

Guy taught at Number One, Yellville-Summit, Duren Valley and was the first teacher at the new Fairview school building. All of this was prior to 1930. In 1943-44 he was Superintendent of Flippin Schools.

Loyce taught at Happy Hollow and perhaps other schools before teaching several years in Baxter County.

Maude (the only daughter) taught at Bonanza and Hand Valley.

Then, Blake, the youngest son, taught two terms at Newton Flat.

Before 1900 Bruno had a two-room school with two teachers who taught grades one through eight. Then in 1902 a controversy arose between patrons of the area. Two districts were formed (Number Six and 63). They used the creek as a given line to divide them. Both schools used the same spring for their water. Sometimes little "chatty spats" arose when children met at the spring while, at other times, "love notes" were passed from one side of the creek to the other.

Dorothy (Keeter) Rose, who was a fourth grader during the divided schools era, smiled when she told of an older girl who went from her play area over to the other playground to play. Her boyfriend soon spied her, grabbed her and gave her a big kiss. She said that girl ran back to her own schoolyard "as fast as lightning."

These two schools were in existence in one small area until 1920. At that time citizens of the community began to work for a better system. Under the leadership of H. A. Holbrook, who was with the State Education Department, the first accredited high school in Marion County was established. Each student paid a tuition fee of $5.00 a month. Many students from surrounding communities came to this school to finish high school. John Q. Adams was Superintendent when the new building was completed. They finished building in time to have a five-month term.

Bruno was the first school in the state to have an Agriculture Department. It was under the guidance and teaching of Mr. J. B. Ewart, who is fondly remembered by many for his interest in the boys he worked with in the classroom and on the basketball court.

Sometime after the railroad was completed, patrons of Flippin school decided to move the school from near the airport nearer to the "new town" of Flippin. This new building was a two-story, two-room frame building located on Crane Creek, just north of town. It was set on the right side of Highway 178 opposite where Fallen Ash Road turns left off the highway. At this new site the school had three luxuries-two outhouses and a drilled well with a hand pump. When the well went dry at times, the pupils vied for the chance to walk over to the depot in town and carry large buckets of water back to school. By 1917 the attendance had grown so that there was need for two more rooms. They were added-one downstairs and one upstairs.

The school term usually was divided with three months in July, August and September, a vacation for people to pick cotton, then the children went back to school for three or four months. Some of the teachers here were Loy (Wood) Barnett, Fred Williams, Mrs. Bardeen, F. C. Gibson, Miss Mae Barnett, Miss Faye Barnett, Mrs. Ella Rowden, Dink Berry, lone Williams and Mrs. Donna (Keeter) Phillips, fondly called "Miss Don". They were interested teachers and discipline was firm.

In 1926 Mr. G. B. Keeter became Flippin Schools' Superintendent. At that time the first two years of high school accredited work was begun. 1927-28, three years of work was offered with a "D" rating. Better schools brought more pupils and a need for more room. After lengthy discussion of where to build and how to finance it, the decision was made to move to the present school site. Mr. and Mrs. Joe McCracken, better known as Joe and Winnie, donated the land. E. L. Huddleston (Hudd) drew the plans for the building and they were approved by the State Board of Education. The cost of this new rock structure was about $40,000 plus donated equipment and labor. There was no state or federal aid for the first building which consisted of seven classrooms, a large study hall and a library. These rooms surrounded the gymnasium on the south, east and west sides. The gym had a large stage on the south side and bleachers on the north side. The whole building was heated with wood. The first year in the new building showed that the school had grown to a "C" rating and offered four years of accredited work. Subjects offered included: Algebra, geometry, American and European history, Civics, Latin and English.

In 1928-29 Bruno had a "B" rating; Yellville-Summit had a "B" rating; Flippin had a "C" rating; Pyatt offered three years of work; Georges Creek offered two years and Oakland offered one year.

Communication was still slow in the 1920's in many parts of the county. The July 31, 1924, issue of THE MOUNTAIN ECHO carried the following article: "THE MOUNTAIN ECHO has been selected as the official paper for the County Department of Education. In it will appear all regular advertisements of the County Department of Education. News from the schools and from the Department of Education will be in the ECHO each week. Teachers will be expected to watch each issue of the ECHO. By special arrangements with the publishers, who are co-operating with the Department of Education, a copy of the ECHO, for school use only, will be sent to each school in the county every week the school is in session As fast as the reports from teachers come in, the schools will be entered for their copy of the ECHO. All subscriptions must be certified through the County Department of Education. FRED BOYD, Supt."