the addition of Dr. L. R. Klemm,1 then principal of the Cincinnati Technical School. The school was divided into three classes, according to the three grades of certificates provided by the law of 1887. Sixty students were in attendance. The tuition fee was $10. The school served as an excellent supplement to the annual institutes. PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF WILMINGTON.2 Public education in Wilmington dates from 1829, when, under the school act of that date, the city was divided into ten districts. In the following year the eleventh district united with the tenth in the support of a school. Erastus Edgarton was appointed teacher of the boys, at $100 a quarter, and Hannah Monaghan teacher of the girls, at $75 a quarter. The first public school in Wilmington was opened in the old Academy building, on Market street. In 1834 eight of the ten districts were united and organized as the United School Districts of New Castle County; and a schoolhouse was built at the southwest corner of French and Sixth streets. In 1836 the whole number of pupils in the schools of the united school district was 716. They were instructed in all the "common branches" and some "take lessons in definitions, grammar, and English classics. In the girls' school two days of each week were devoted to needlework, which was attended with good satisfaction." At a meeting of citizens in 1851 it was unanimously agreed that "the city needed a better system of schools." An act was passed February 9, 1852, establishing the school system now in force in Wilmington. The interests of the public schools are committed to a board elected by the citizens, with power to establish schools and provide money for their support by requisition on the city authorities.3 April 6, 1852, school district No. 9 "was united with the rest of the city of Wilmington." The second story of the building corner of Tenth and King streets was granted by the city council as a schoolroom. The school building at French and Sixth streets was ordered to be repaired. On May 10, 1852, the building committee bought as a site for a new schoolhouse the lots on Washington street between Second and Third. The city council appropriated $10,000 annually for school purposes. The increased number of applications for admission to the public schools made it necessary to provide more schoolhouses, and a building on Sixth street was secured and called School No. 5. In October, 1852, 'Dr. L. R. Klemm is the author of "Chips from a Teacher's Workshop," and "European Schools; or, What I saw in the Schools of Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland." The latter was published as volume XII in the International Education Series, edited by William T. Harris, LL. D. 2 Supt. D. W. Harlan has kindly furnished many of the facts which follow. He has corroborated the sketch in Scharf, 11, 692, which has been much used. 3 Barnard's Journal of Education, xxiv, 239. Albert G. Webster was elected principal of the boys' department, at a salary of $700 a year, and Laura Osgood principal of the girls' department, at $300 a year. In 1861 there were eight schoolhouses in use in the city, six of which were the property of the board. There were then 2,052 pupils in attendance, and 32 teachers were employed. The cost of supporting the schools was $24,930. འ David W. Harlan, the first superintendent of the public schools of Wilmington, is a graduate of Oberlin College. He has served with great acceptability since January, 1871. This estimate of his services, which appeared in the New England Journal of Education, December 13, 1883, is from the pen of Rev. A. D. Mayo, the well-known educator: The city of Wilmington, Del., occupies a peculiar situation in relation to the school systems of the East. Being one of the line of cities from New York to Washington, its educational movements are largely affected by what is transpiring in this region. The chief city of the little State of Delaware-a State which has yielded slowly to the free-school idea, and is still hampered by ancient prejudice— it offers an excellent model for its smaller cities, and is the natural headquarters of progressive ideas through the Commonwealth. For this achievement it is greatly indebted to its present superintendent of schools, Mr. David W. Harlan. Mr. Harlan belongs to the same type of school superintendents as Wilson of Washington, Caldwell of Nashville, and the lamented Mallon of Atlanta; who, with a thorough grasp of all the details of a system of city graded schools, and a clear apprehension of the objective point in public education, are content to work in a spirit of self-sacrificing toil, tireless patience, reliable sympathy with teachers, and generous forbearance with obstructionists and intriguers which never fails, in the end, to secure the approbation of any well-ordered community. Wilmington has reason to be proud of her superintendent of schools; and many of her teachers, as we can testify from observation, are of excellent quality. * The following innovations have been introduced either by Supt. Harlan or through his influence: Teachers are granted time to visit other schools for the purpose of acquiring new ideas and methods. A training school for teachers has been established in which all candidates who have not had one year's successful experience are required to spend eighty days in training and on trial under the eye of a skillful teacher. For more than ten years merit has been the only road to preferment. Each teacher on the list of accepted applicants receives appointment and promotion in turn, unless unfitness has been evinced. The free text-book system is in use. The pupil is ushered into mathematics through the Grubé method. Wilmington was one of the first cities in the land to introduce object lessons into primary schools, and in 1888 drawing also was added to the curriculum. For the first time in the history of the public schools of Wilmington the teachers held an institute in November, 1889. Its marked success was in a great measure due to Supt. Harlan. WILMINGTON HIGH SCHOOL. A high-school building, one of the finest in the country, was erected in 1884-'85 at Eighth and Adams streets, at a cost, when completed nd furnished, of $70,514.88. The boys' high school dates from 1871; e girls' high school from 1872. In October, 1889, a manual training s hool was opened in the basement of the high-school building. The following is a list of the principals of the boys' high school: Loring H. Barnum, 1871-72; Albert F. Tenney, 1872-73; Stansbury J. Willey, 1873-'82; Charles D. Raine, 1882; William W. Birdsall, 1882-'85; Thomas L. Graham, 1885-'88; A. H. Berlin, 1888 -. The superintendent's report of August 22, 1892, gives the following facts concerning the public schools of Wilmington: Total population of Wilmington according to census of 1890 High school for boys.... High school for girls..... Grammar schools Primary schools............ Whole number of teachers in day schools... Whole number of pupils enrolled during the year in day schools The salaries of teachers range from $300 to $1,700 a year. Growth of the city school system from 1873 to 1890. 61, 437 27 1 1 4 19 193 9,463 6,776 |