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During Knapp Heritage Park’s special events, the old 1910 Arlington schoolhouse is made available to the public for touring and demonstrations of what pioneer schools once were. The visit is a delight to senior guests who may recall having attended a similar school in their youth. Just entering the steps of the schoolhouse seems to bring back memories for some, who share their own personal experiences and colorful recollections. For the young, the classroom opens eyes to former days when schoolrooms were small and housed many grades at once. Children attended classes starting from ages 6 or 7, and continued up to their middle teens. Young students are surprised that school was not always mandatory, and in fact, many youngsters would prefer being at school than to be at home working on the farm. Even more surprising is that summers were not designed for going to the beach or visiting entertainment parks, but for closing down the school so everyone could pitch in and help out on the farms. And if you made it to the 8th or 9th grade, you were considered “highly educated.”

Several Arlington Historical Society members serve as docents for the school. The real life of a North Texas pioneer schoolteacher has been greatly researched and portrayed as a model of typical early educators or “schoolmarms” in this region. Annie Webb Blanton (1870-1945) - Pioneer Woman Educator: The Progressive Spirit of Annie Webb Blanton - was a public schoolteacher in Texas from 1886 to 1899, when she graduated from UT Austin, and joined the faculty of the North Texas State Normal College in Denton. “Normal” schools were designed to help educators enter their profession. Teaching school, or becoming a schoolmarm, was one of the few professions available to women during that time period. But records show that many schoolteachers rarely taught beyond one year in a district. Why? Because if they decided to get married, they were no longer qualified to teach. Few would stay in the profession for a lifetime. Annie Webb Blanton advanced to become the first female president of the Texas State Teachers Association, and attained many other outstanding achievements.

The average monthly salary for American male teachers or “schoolmasters” was somewhere from $50 to $200, but for female teachers, it began as low as $25 to potentially $125 (The Frontier Teacher: Arizona, 1875-1925). Due to low wages, men began to leave teaching as an occupation. Both males and females were instructed to exhibit a wholesome lifestyle, devoting their lives to education, church activities, and frequent visits to their student’s homes. It was not uncommon to invite the teacher home for dinner, with families serving some of their favorite recipes and finding ways to entertain their guest, perhaps word elocution or playing of a musical instrument. A rehearsed speech might impress the houseguest, who would safely be escorted back to her humble residence, or in some cases, her residence was in the homes of her students.

The teacher’s job was not an easy one. Her uniform was likely not comfortable for the tasks of the day. Most professional educators wore long, dark skirts that were full and of course, completely covered every inch of the not-to-be-revealed ankle. From there, a clean, ironed, all cotton, long-sleeve white blouse was most appropriate with hair clipped nicely into a circular pinup atop the back of the head. No jewelry or make-up would have been considered.

In the cooler months, a jacket was required because the schoolhouse had ineffective heating. The first order of the day was to equip the iron stove with coal and get a warm fire started. Unfortunately, the students who sat closest to the fire quickly became too warm, the others at the back of the room wished they sat closer to the stove. Next, she must get water ready for the class because there were no drinking fountains or for that matter, a cafeteria. Often, a large bucket of water was gathered outdoors and brought inside, furnished with a ladle or an aluminum cup for distribution among classmates. Next would be the sweeping of the floor, erasing the blackboard and student easels, and searching the area for any potential critters that might have entered the room during the previous night. She than began getting the lessons ready for each of the separate group’s instruction, based on age and abilities. There were no standardized curriculum, instead instruction often came from collected books the teacher or the students possessed. Morality and patriotism were often primary subjects, particularly due to the availability of the Bible and contemporary American literature.

Math, or numbers, was especially important for students who would rely on their own analytical skills to sell produce and livestock, buy essential farm supplies, and calculate costs for necessary equipment to be used in the home and barn. A typical schoolbook intended for starter students, First Journeys in Wonderland (HarrisWaldo, 1911), might demonstrate an arrangement of dominoes with students having to solve the problem of how many symmetrical sub-groups can add up to the total of “8”. Stones might be gathered to be used symbolically as eggs or potatoes which might be purchased at a grocery or fruit stand. What would you pay if you needed 1 dozen eggs and 18 potatoes, if the eggs are 5¢ each and potatoes are 25¢ for a dozen? Other skills might include using a measuring stick, making a paper table or chair, learning to recognize the numbers around the clock, flying a kite at a certain height, and counting chickens. All of the work was done with the assistance of the schoolmarm and the chalkboard, and the individual slates that were provided to students at their desks. The schoolmarm would be wise to keep the smaller children working on individual projects while assisting the older ones with more advanced problems to solve.

One of the favorite school activities was participation in a spelling bee. Sometimes these events were held in the evening so that families could watch their children compete, occasionally including another nearby county school. Exciting and a change from the routine, this event was taken seriously as students prepared for days to do their best to impress their families, their teachers, and their friends. Local notoriety came with being known as the best speller in the county!

Loving teaching was necessary for existence in an otherwise restrictive life. Teachers were required to attend church and serve as pillars of the community. After a long day of classroom studies, teachers were expected to spend any extra time devoted to reading their Bibles. Engaging in any unseemly conduct was reason for dismissal from the job. Smoking was not allowed, visiting pool halls and soda parlors was not acceptable, and being seen in mixed company other than members of your own family was strictly forbidden. Women were advised to dress in plain clothes, wear two petticoats, avoid exposing ankles or arms, and to come to school clean, both bodily and morally. If she had any money remaining from her meager paycheck, it was stressed that she return some portions for the good of the community, or be a wise saver and prepare for retirement.

Annie Webb Blanton was in many ways, atypical of the schoolteachers of her time. She was very forward-thinking. Author of two books (Review Outline and Exercises in English Grammar, Blanton, North Texas State Normal School, Denton, Texas 1909, and Equipment for Teaching Home Making in Texas High Schools, Blanton, Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1922), she committed herself completely to her profession and avoided romantic involvement with men. She spent more than 30 years devoted to achieving equality for women teachers in Texas, and was active in numerous women’s associations. She became (in 1916) the first female president of the Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) and (in 1918) the first female State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Later, becoming more political, she was a strong supporter of the Women’s Suffrage movement, which culminated with passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920 giving women the right to vote. Her primary political passions were to improve the quality of school buildings and resources for students, and to elevate the status of professional teaching for women and increase their wages (Pioneer Woman Educator: The Progressive Spirit of Annie Webb Blanton, Debbie Mauldin Cottrell, 1993). Her contributions to the Dallas-Fort Worth area have been historically recognized by the naming of two public schools in her honor, one in Dallas, and another in Denton county.

You can read more about Annie Webb Blanton by visiting the Handbook of Texas Online (https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbl16) and Great Texas Women (http://texaswomen.housing.utexas.edu/pdfs/blanton.pdf). On March 1, 2013, a Texas Historical Marker about her was dedicated at the Blanton Elementary School in the Denton Independent School District.