An Historical Study of the Negro Schools of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, 1888-1938

        School Buildings
        Teachers and Salaries
        Enrollment, Attendance, Length of Session

MAPS
I. Original Nineteen Parishes of Louisiana
II. Old Calcasieu Louisiana
III. Calcasieu Parish Schools and Oil Fields
IV. Lake Charles, Louisiana Schools 1938
V. Louisiana Parishes and Amount of Money Spent On Negro Schools 1937

Historical Background. Several studies have previously been made which directly or indirectly concern the schools of Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana. In 1924 State Superintendent Harris (1) wrote a short story of Louisiana schools. In this treatise he showed the changes in the whole system from the time of the earliest establishment of schools in the Parish to 1924. Statistics of Negro schools throughout the state were given. All phases of the school work of the State were fully dealt with. In 1926 Assistant Superintendent Ford (2) of the Calcasieu schools made a survey of retardation in the schools of the Parish. No attempt seems to have been made in this study to show retardation in Negro schools, and statistics considered in the study did not include Negro pupils. Except for this omission, the study seems very full. S. F. Furgerson (3) made a study of the history of the City of Lake Charles. The school system of the City was given only incidental attention and the Negro schools were not at all treated. This treatise covers almost every phase of the city life of the white citizens of Lake Charles.

Superintendent H. A. Norton (4) made a very comprehensive administrative survey of Calcasieu Parish Schools in 1932. This treatise was limited to the white schools of the Parish. Other studies which dealt with Calcasieu schools were made by I. D. Bayne (5) of Sulphur, Louisiana, and T. J. Ratliff (6) of DeQuincy, Louisiana.

None of these studies, with the exception of that by Superintendent Harris, dealt, even superficially, with the Negro schools of Calcasieu Parish. In his book, however, State Superintendent Harris gave considerable space to Negro schools as they are affected by State regulations and offered some information regarding the faculty, students, and the work of Southern University, the State School for Negroes.

Purpose of this Study. The purpose of the study is to trace the history of the schools of Calcasieu Parish, noting especially the development of the Negro schools from their earliest available records to the present time, June, 1938.

After setting up the data which show how the schools of Calcasieu Parish had their beginning, and after noting the particular economic conditions which made the system possible, facts will be presented to show the historical development of these schools under four major headings for certain significant periods of years:

Method of Research and Sources. This study employs the historical method rather than the experimental and normative methods. Material for this study will be gathered from the following material sources:

Limitations of the Problem. This study is concerned primarily with the Negro schools of Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana.

The burning of the parish court house and city hall in 1910 makes it difficult to find some of the primary sources of data to that year.

Three private schools that operated for a number of years have been discontinued for several years. Some difficulty has been experienced in getting information from records of schools or industries which no longer exist. Wherever this difficulty has arisen interviews with responsible individuals have been resorted to.

In 1918, a severe windstorm completely demolished the two Negro school buildings of the City of Lake Charles, destroying many records pertaining to these schools. It has been necessary to resort to secondary sources whenever primary sources were not available.

The city schools of Lake Charles were legally separated from the Calcasieu Parish schools in 1906. (8) The whole of Calcasieu Parish was divided into four parishes in 1913. (9) These two occurrences affected the schools and will be treated fully in Chapters three and four.

Definition of Terms. The word parish as used herein means one of the civil sub-divisions of the state of Louisiana. It has the same meaning as the word “county” when used to denote the sub-divisions of the any other state of the Union.

The term “South” as used herein is considered as comprising the seventeen Southern states and the District of Columbia (sometimes called the eighteenth Southern state (10) where separate schools for the races are maintained.

Value of the Study. This study will have value in three significant directions. First, it will acquaint teachers, and parish and state educational authorities with the history and development of the system that has grown in Calcasieu Parish. Second, it will afford data pertaining to the statement one hears on every hand that support of public education is slowly passing from the parish to the state and from the state to the nation. Third, it may provide an example of the kind of study of Negro schools which might profitably be undertaken by other Negro communities.

We know that the Federal constitution says nothing directly as to how the schools of the nation should be operated and financed. However, the preamble of that great document states that Congress may act for the “general welfare.” (11)

State Superintendent Harris of Louisiana, in a statistical report shows that the State of Louisiana allocated to the parishes out of state funds in 1923, just fifteen years ago, a sum equal to about one sixth of the total schools expense. (12) In a review of the school work of the state in a public radio address in January, 1938, (13) Mr. Harris showed a remarkable increase in state appropriations. He said that the state will have paid out to the parishes by June, 1938 an amount equal to about half the school expense for the year. Other evidence will be given later that will throw more light on this subject.

We cannot predict just what the documentary evidence that is to be presented throughout this study will show. However, to be able to pin down definitely one reliable truth as showing a tendency toward established educational trends will certainly be worth doing. If the truth can be generalized as a result of historical data herein presented, this treatise will have served a definite purpose. This purpose may prove significant to educational workers who must grapple daily with the problems which condition educational trends. These trends may, in turn, throw some light on the manner in which new social and economic conditions affect the learning processes. This illumination may enable the teacher more effectively to approach his problems.

Dean Russell (1) of Teachers College, Columbia University, makes the following statement relative to the inter-dependence of schools and local economic conditions:

In one locality, the dependence is upon a single crop, wheat or tobacco, corn or cotton. The market drops out of sight, so do the schools. In another, we find a notoriously bad banking law and practice causes financial chaos, and the schools collapse. Here, there is a struggle between a city, a county and state legislature which causes taxes to go unpaid for one, two or three years! A century of progress culminates in a broken down school system, a demoralized student-body and a teaching force ready for any mischief.

The conditions described in the quotation above may apply to a temporary economic situation in almost any community. In some school systems, the economic background of the community is so well established and the social and political affairs of that particular civic division are so well managed that schools seldom suffer. Dr. J. J. Tigert (2) seems to think that there is little need for any state to seek outside help for the support of it educational system, since no state, even in its prosperous times, spends more than a trifling proportion of its resources on its schools. However, the claim is generally made that very few school systems receive enough money from local sources to meet the varied demands of first class school standards. This seems to show according to Dr. Tigert’s view, that most local communities are more able than willing to appropriate necessary funds for school purposes.

The Calcasieu Parish schools, as is true of the schools in many other sections, suffer from the factors set forth in Dean Russell’s statement as quoted above. They are dependent upon market fluctuations, upon political factors, and upon the presence or absence of a wholesome interest on the part of the public.

The economic growth of Calcasieu Parish has been rapid, but the growth of its schools in the midst of rich economic development has been slow in comparison. Schools, however, can hardly be expected to be much better than the economic conditions about them. The schools we see should reflect the economic stability of the community in which they are located.

A careful survey of the parish and city records shows that timber, furs, fisheries and sulphur mining gave stability to the early economic background of Calcasieu Parish. Up to the late 80’s lumbering had been the principal industry, as about sixty per cent of the parish was covered with what the settlers thought to be an inexhaustible supply of yellow pine. These industries, especially lumbering, have since been either augmented or wholly succeeded by deep water shipping, oil and sulphur mining, rice culture, and packing houses. Stock raising has developed so rapidly that it was thought at one time that this section would soon vie with Kentucky in this regard. (3)

The economic and political background of this section will be studied and presented according to the following outline:

Let us now examine the data that are concerned with the first of these factors. As shown in Figure 1, Calcasieu Parish was not one of the original nineteen divisions of Louisiana. It was a part of the Opelousas Country which extended from the Atchafalaya River on the East to the Sabine River on the West and from Rapides and Natchitoches Parishes on the North to the Gulf of Mexico on the South.

Although originally known as the Opelousas Country, this entire section of the State was later recognized as St. Landry Parish, with the town of Opelousas, situated on the eastern boundary of the territory near the Atchafalaya River, as its parish seat.

Taxpayers of this vast section of the state, especially those who lived near the Calcasieu River in the vicinity of what is now Lake Charles, were far removed from the center of parish activities. They had to go a distance of almost a hundred miles to get to the parish seat at Opelousas. They evinced a dislike for this remoteness and sought to remedy it by petitioning the State Legislature for a new parish.

The petition was acted upon favorably March 14, 1840 by the passage of the following Act: (4)

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened, that from and after the passage of this act, all that territory in the parish of St. Landry within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at he mouth of the River Mermentau, thence up said river to the mouth of Bayou Nez Pique, thence up said bayou to the mouth of Cedar Creek, thence due north to the dividing line between the parishes of St. Landry and Rapides, thence along said line to the Sabine, then down said river to the mouth, thence along the sea coast to the place of beginning, shall form and constitute a new parish to be called Calcasieu. (See Figure 1)

Thus the parish was created with the assurance that her political well-being would be developed contemporaneously with her economic possibilities, the latter of which were well grounded in rich natural resources yet to be discovered and exploited.

While there were many little settlements here and there prior to March 14, 1840, they did not exist as a part of Calcasieu Parish. With its birth in 1840, the parish began to build up the stable industrial foundation that has since served it as the economic background of all it has to offer for its commercial and educational importance today.

Louisiana history shows that this state has been the pawn of European nation for many years. She was first French, (5) then Spanish. (6) She was French again (7) and finally she became English. Since this last transfer was made, Louisiana enjoys the distinction of having lived under three flags in less than one day. (8)

When Louisiana was ceded to the United States by Napoleon in 1803, the authentic history of Calcasieu may be said to have begun. According to one authority on the history of the parish, (9) “all historic data prior to that time were mere tradition and Indian lore.”

Calcasieu Parish derived it name from the Calcasieu River. This river is shown on some old maps as “Bayou Quelqueshu.” This name was later, for the sake of euphony no doubt, contracted to Calcasu or Calcasieu. Much authority is found for assuming that the word is derived from an Indian word meaning “eagle.” (10)

One of the first acts of the Police Jury of the new parish after its creation was the settle on a seat for the parish government. It decided on Moss Bluff, and as the new parish seat, its name was changed to “Marion,” then later to Lake Charles. (11) (See Figure II)

The first settlers seem to have been French, Creoles and Acadians, Americans, Africans, Indians, and Mexicans. (12)

The following places are some of the early points of settlement: Lake of Charles, Bagdad, Niblett’s Bluff, Sugartown, Choate’s Prairie, Dry Creek, Marion, West Ford, Westlake, Hickory Flat, Bird’s Nest and Vincent Settlements. (See Figure II)

The period from 1860 to 1876 was noted for the rapid development of saw-mills along the river, and in or near the parish seat. These sawmills were the centers of industry which furnished the towns and villages with large payrolls, and incidentally schools, churches, banks, stores, and all other activities. (13)

These early mills were placed along the streams down which logs could be floated to them. With so much cutting and milling, timber soon began to disappear along the river banks. In this way, the timber supply grew farther and farther from the streams. Railway tracks were laid far out into the timber lands. From these so-called “Fronts” thus created, log trains brought daily supplies of logs overland to the mills or brought them to the river where they could be floated downstream. A skidder that dragged the logs from a distance of one-half mile on either side of the track and loaded them on cars was indispensable in this overland transportation. (14)

Mr. Nathan B. Bradley, a lumberman from Michigan, came to Calcasieu Parish in 1882. He bought thousands of acres of land from the Untied States Government at $1.25 per acre. He also bought and developed Calcasieu’s largest saw-mill. In 1883, Mr. Jabez B. Watkins, from Lawrence, Kansas, came to Calcasieu and purchased one million acres of land from the State of Louisiana and the United States Government. Mr. Watkins was a pioneer who gave his attention not only to timber but to railroad building, bank organization, schools, etc. (15)

Parish Organization. When the parish of Calcasieu was created in 1840 the Governor was authorized to appoint a parish judge. The State Legislature also ordered all necessary records and documents brought over from the parent parish, St. Landry, from which Calcasieu was divorced. (16) In this organization, the parish judge, sheriff and assessor executed the government for five years, after which all parish affairs were transferred to the district court. (17) This continued until 1868 when the parish court was again established. (18) This court served with various changes in its function until 1879 when it was again abolished and judicial powers vested in the district court. Many of the records of these early courts were destroyed by fire in the burning of the court house, April 23, 1910.

In the present parish organization there is a police juror elected from each ward. The sheriff is the highest officer in this governmental organization and the coroner is next in authority. The sheriff, besides his many other duties, is ex-officio tax collector. In this capacity he collects and allocates all taxes in the parish for state and local purposes. Up to 1934, each voter paid a poll tax of one dollar a year. This was turned over directly to the school board. The sheriff’s office collects all taxes of the parish levied by the police jury, including special taxes levied to retire bond issues for schools, etc. This parish organization as it now stands is identical with the organization in the sixty-four parishes of the State.

Incorporation of Lake Charles. The town of Lake Charles has existed since its removal in 1852 from Marion, just six miles northeast of its present site. (19) (See Figure II) The ideal situation of the village and the great number of saw-mills that were established in its vicinity, made it grow very fast. In 1867 it was incorporated into the thriving town of Lake Charles. (2O) As parish seat and as industrial center of lumber, it grew rapidly in population and commercial importance.

Growth and Character of Parish Population. As has been shown, data seem to prove that many of the old settlers were directly from France, or from other parts of Louisiana. It is interesting to note, however, that many of the people that had most to do with the industrial development of the parish came from other parts of the United States. Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Georgia, Mississippi, etc., made their contribution to this section. (21) The timber industry drew most of these people to Calcasieu Parish and the present economic standing of the parish is due largely to the foresight and planning of these early Western and Southern pioneers.

Among those who came were many Western lumbermen who soon established commercial relations between Calcasieu and the Northeast and the West. Common laborers, among them many Negroes, came to work at the saw-mills and logging camps. According to one of the oldest Negro settlers, (22) certain pioneer Negro families had received government patents for land. Many of these homesteads were landed estates. They cut the timber from these lands, hauled it to the stream on ox wagons, floated it down stream, and sold it to the mills.

Among some of these Negro land owners were Pierre Marks of Edgerly, James Moss (23) and Eli Vincent of Choates Prairie, Leon Vidrine who owned 1300 acres at Lockport, and Ellen Pujo of Sulphur. The following persons homesteaded land in or near what is now Lake Charles: Daniel Bates, William Stokley, Kaye Ryan, Louisa Bilbo, Freeman Hamilton, Isom Washington, Charles Prater, Onezime Sallier, Millie Reon, Fletcher Campbell, etc.(24)

The wages paid Negro laborers at the saw-mills were much better than those paid in many other parts of Louisiana at that time, especially on the farms. Many points in Calcasieu were quickly populated because of this desire on the part of the common laborer to get a higher wage. The financiers from the West and South became richer by their investments in the lumber industry. The common laborer, black and white, made money, lived better, and got a substantial start in life. (25) The pay of some Negroes in the mills was as high as $2.50, $5 and $10 per day. Some of these were skilled and semi-skilled laborers, serving in many instances as sawyers, block-setters, lumber graders, foremen, and in other capacities. (26)

The Lumber Industry. The search for data that would give a true account of the early development of Calcasieu Parish revealed that the lumber industry stands out as number one in its progress. (27) Immediately after the Civil war, according to a Lake Charles paper (28) this industry enjoyed a rapid increase. Through shipments to various port cities this section soon became known as the home of yellow pine. The Lake Charles American said further: “An extensive trade was built up with practically all the coast wise points from New Orleans to Tampico.”

The first great venture in this lumber trade for better mills and a more extended market was the forming of the Bradley-Ramsey Lumber Company in 1882. (29) This company, composed of Michigan capitalists, together with several other large mills started an economic boom in this parish. The Southern Pacific Railroad was completed about this time. Shortly after this, 1889, the oldest banking house in Southwest Louisiana, the First National Bank of Lake Charles, was established. The Bradley-Ramsey Lumber Company made the first deposit of $6,584.20, November 13, 1889. (30) These industries brought laborers by the hundreds to this section. Many of them were transients who made the labor turnover at the mills very heavy; however, some of the best and most influential Negro families came to this section as workers in the mills.

The following quotation may serve to show the great importance of the lumber industry to the development of this parish.

The principal industry up to the present time has been that of lumbering. The immense pinery which covers about sixty per cent of our territory is an almost inexhaustible source of the very best quality of yellow pine timber. (31)

Thus, the lumber industry of Southwest Louisiana, which had its beginning in 1855 (32) held the spotlight as the leading industry in Calcasieu Parish for about three quarters of a century. Banks, railroads, homes, churches, schools, parks, libraries and all kindred interests came to this parish through the means of this industry. Substantial enterprises were built during the lumber period. These same establishments are still doing a great business through the industries that have succeeded lumber. Lake Charles grew up with the industry and still holds its own as the commercial center of Southwest Louisiana.

Lumber is now gone as an influential factor in commercial circles of Calcasieu. The last big saw-mill cut out its timber and left this parish when the Long-Bell Lumber Company ceased operation in 1927.

The Lake Charles Chamber of Commerce was not asleep during the heyday of lumber activities. It foresaw the time when the forests would be depleted. During this time it developed and put through successfully a deep water project which has brought sea-coast and ocean-going vessels to Port Lake Charles. Most of the large saw-mills had ceased operations in 1924. Shipping cargo began to pass through the Lake Charles Port in 1926. That year the value of this shipment was approximately one and one half million dollars.

Even while lumber was of immense importance in the development of Calcasieu Parish, this was definitely not a one-industry section. It did not depend on lumber alone for its varied commercial connections. Sulphur was developed almost simultaneously with lumber. Rice had made and was yet to make a still greater contribution to sectional accomplishments. Cattle raising and trading was an early occupation that had been felt throughout Calcasieu history. Rice is an old industry that developed with the mills, and with the oil development it is now making history at the port. Despite the fact that the lumber industry is shown by data collected from all reliable sources to be the foremost factor in the development of Calcasieu, these other interests had grown strong and gained volume enough to make the effect of forest depletion on payrolls less serious to this parish when it finally came. There were several successor industries to lumber.

In 1855 and for seventy-five years thereafter the felling of stately pine trees, the roar of the log train, the humming of the mill buzz-saw made up the music of pine forests which soothed the feelings and filled the pockets of thousands of workers who stayed with the industry until the end.

A few small mills, most of which are hard-wood, and lumber yards in the towns and cities, are all that is left of seventeen pine mills which at one time held sway in this parish.

Sulphur Mines. Great difficulties attended the efforts of those who first attempted to develop the Sulphur Mines of Calcasieu. In 1868 a well was sunk to a depth of 418 feet. A flow of oil was struck. Further development of this well revealed a stratum of sulphur 125 to 250 feet in depth that was almost pure. A wood curbing was sunk to a depth of 90 feet, but the appearance of quicksand caused its abandonment. In 1870 a French Company tried to overcome the quicksand trouble by sinking steel rings rather than wood curbing. At a depth of 100 (190?) feet they encountered quicksand and foul gases, which make further operations impossible. (33)

Salt had been mined here for some years by being dissolved in water and the brine pumped to the surface to again solidify through the process of evaporation. Shortly after the French company failed, the Union Sulphur Company was organized. Mr. Herman Frasch, one of its stockholders, decided that Sulphur could be dissolved and pumped to the surface as was the salt. Upon this theory, boilers were installed and water, heated to 350 degrees, was pumped into the well. After continuing this process for about ten days, the yellowish liquid began to appear on the surface. The problem of mining sulphur had been solved. The sulphur proved, upon examination, to be 99% pure, and worth $20 per ton. (34)

The working of these mines from 1894 to 1904 was rather experimental in its operation. The commercial value of the mines began in 1905 and ended in 1924. (35) During this time the local mine authorities voted for every special tax proposed and especially threw their influence to carry every school tax and bond issue. (36) The assessment of these mines was approximately fifty per cent of the entire parish assessment, making this industry pay into the parish treasury about half of all moneys (sic) raised for school purposes (37) as shown in the following table:

TOTAL ASSESSMENTS FOR THE PARISH OF CALCASIEU AND THE UNION SULPHUR COMPANY, 1913 TO 1938

* Calcasieu Parish Superintendent’s Annual Reports to the Louisiana State Board of Education

Before the most important school bond issues and other special taxes were proposed, the parish authorities would first find out the opinion of the Sulphur Mine leaders, (38) as no tax could be passed without their cooperation.

The Oil Industry. The first oil field in Calcasieu was developed at Jennings about 1902. This field has produced consistently since that time with a peak production of over nine million barrels in the year 1906. (39) Today there are twenty fields in the coastal oil belt with Lake Charles as the center of this development. The following figures indicate the increase in production during the past few years:1943 - 8,792,447 barrels; 1935 - 12,280,935; 1936 - 15,423,628. (40) Most of this development has come since 1924 when the Lockport Field just south of Lake Charles was discovered. Oil men feel that the future oil development for this section is great. (41) (Figure III)

The Calcasieu Docks at Lake Charles where many oil tankers land for crude oil shipments is the nearest Gulf port to such cities as Kansas City, Omaha, Minneapolis, Davenport and St. Louis. Four large division offices are maintained at Lake Charles, in which headquarters the leasing of the greater portion of the 5,000,000 acres of oil land in Southwest Louisiana is centered. (42) These four division offices employ thousands with an annual pay roll of $5,000,000.

No refinery has yet been built in the Lake Charles section. Large ocean-going oil tankers ply through the deep channel to the big oil terminals at the port, moving 2,000,000 barrels of crude oil monthly to the refineries. (43) According to the U. S. Army Engineers, there were in 1936, 448 tankers moving oil from this port, and 11,926 barges handled oil and general cargo. In the same year 5,294,296 tons of oil passed through the Ship Channel. (44) Oil did not come into its own as a major industry in this section until sulphur went out in 1924.

About this time the great lumber industry had about spent its force. Oil now holds the spotlight and is the leading industry of Calcasieu today. (45)

Rice. It has been shown that approximately sixty percent of the area of Calcasieu was taken up by the pine tree timber growth. The most important crop that covered that covered a portion of the remainder of this parish was rice. The Calcasieu rice production is the most extensive of the whole Gulf Coast rice industry, from New Orleans to Mexico.

As early as 1892, before Calcasieu rice was developed enough to be considered seriously, Mr. Gustave A. Johns and his New York associates built the largest rice mill in the world at Lake Charles. This venture was so far ahead of rice development in this section that their friends thought the attempt foolhardy. After ten years, however, canals had been built in every direction, and practically every foot of Calcasieu prairie land was adapted to rice growing. Other mills were established and Lake Charles came to be the center of the rice industry. (46)

Calcasieu Parish ranks fourth in the State of Louisiana with 50,000 acres under rice cultivation. Four canals, The Sabine Canal Company, the Farmers’ Land and Canal Company, The Sweet Lake Land and Oil Company, and the Louisiana Canal Company furnished water through three hundred miles of main canals and laterals. Calcasieu is the only parish in the state where rice can be grown, milled, and shipped to foreign markets without crossing the boundary lines into another state. (47)

As one of the major industries of Calcasieu, rice has had a long and useful history. It came before the development of sulphur and oil. Its growth was contemporaneous with that of lumber and it has outlived that industry. About a decade before the beginning of the twentieth century, 1892, this industry was found claiming the attention of northern capitalists, and now rice production in the Lake Charles area exceeds four million bags a year, which are shipped to every state in the Union and to many foreign countries. (48) In 1937 the State of Louisiana produced 5,906,000 barrels of rice. Of this amount 639,000 barrels were produced in Calcasieu and 910,000 barrels of the State crop were milled at Lake Charles. (49)

Deep Water. Before railroads came to Calcasieu in the wake of the great lumber development of this section of the State, transportation of the products of the forests over rivers, lakes, and smaller streams had long been practiced. (50) Even as early as 1893, the pioneers of that day were seeking deep water from Lake Charles to the Gulf. The shallow Calcasieu Lake lying between that city and the Gulf precluded the passage of ocean-going vessels. A Lake Charles daily paper reported in 1906: (51)

Twelve years ago an appropriation of $100,000 was received from the federal government but this was not much more than was necessary to keep the pass open. With this small amount, however, the east jetty was completed and the work begun on the west, when the appropriation was exhausted.

Another federal appropriation was received a few years later, which was sufficient to finish the jetties and give deep water facilities to Cameron Parish. The shallow lake, the main obstruction lying between Lake Charles and the Gulf, had not been touched. (See Figure III) Therefore, deep water to Lake Charles was yet quite far away.

Before making the above appropriation, Congress as early as 1871, upon recommendation of her engineers saw the obvious advantages of Port Lake Charles as an outlet to the sea from the Southwest. It recognized and provided for Calcasieu Pass as a channel for schooners and other shallow draft vessels. Up to and as late as 1888, United States engineers repeatedly adopted favorable reports on a projected outlet to the sea from Lake Charles. Further than taking this step, nothing was done. Much data were compiled and presented to Congress in argument for this deep water project but the Government refused to endorse it. (52)

When the pioneers in this deep water movement failed to get the sanction and help of Congress for their project, they took the matter to the State Legislature of Louisiana. The result of these efforts was that the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District was created and ratified by that body and signed by the Governor July 7, 1924. The State Legislature had previously shown interest in the navigation of Calcasieu River as early as 1848. (53)

Unaided by the Federal Government, this port has been built at a total cost of $6,600.000. The route to the sea as finally settled on by parish and state authorities was not the one approved by the Federal Government engineers through Calcasieu Pass in 1872. It was by way of an intra-coastal canal to the Sabine River, thence to the Gulf, a distance of 75 miles. (54) (See Figure III)

The port was formally opened November 30, 1926. (55) Regular service is now established and maintained between the city and all Pacific and most Atlantic Coast ports, as well as to European, South American and West Indies ports. There are frequent sailings to the remaining ports of the world.

The shipments from Lake Charles Port, consisting of general cargo of lumber, salt, naval stores, fertilizer material, cotton, cottonseed products, canned goods, and paper, have grown steadily. The largest single commodity now shipped is rice, with more rice clearing through this port than through any other port in America. (56)

The wisdom of the Calcasieu deep water pioneers and the Louisiana Legislators in opening Port Lake Charles in spite of the lack of government aid was shown by its rapid growth. The United States Engineers in 1929 stated:

Lake Charles as a World Port has had a life of only four years, but when due consideration is given the length of time necessary to secure freight rate adjustments and to educate shippers as to the particular advantages of a new port, the growth in commerce has been remarkable. Being the natural outlet for a large area, due to its geographical location and favorable railroad connections, it is apparent that the Port of Lake Charles has a natural, healthy growth ahead. (57)

General cargo has constantly increased its movement through this port. In 1926 it was 45,000 tons, valued at $1,418,000. By 1937 it had increased to 3,308,595 tons, valued at $45,791,464.00 (58)

The passing of the saw-mill industry and the closing down of the Sulphur Mines were two heavy blows to the industrial stability of Calcasieu. Local parish leaders saw in the deep water movement the creation of another major industry that would partially off-set the loss of these substantial payrolls.

The port opening was well-timed, giving employment to hundreds of workers thrown out of employment at mills and mines, and likewise keeping up the commercial prestige of the parish in foreign quarters.

A decade after the opening of Port Lake Charles the Federal Government saw the economic value of the project and approved the expenditure of $9,300,000 on the Calcasieu Ship Channel. This will make a direct route through Calcasieu Lake to the Gulf, rather than by the Intercoastal canal to Sabine River to the Gulf. It will reduce the distance from 75 miles to 33 miles and the sailing time of vessels from eleven to four hours. (59) (See Figure III)

Other Industries. Besides the major industries discussed above, Calcasieu has many other enterprises which have added greatly to her economic importance. Some of these have a longer history than many of the major products. Cattle raising, meat packing, caustic soda and soda ash production, cellulose manufactured from rice hulls by the Lake Charles Products Company, (the only one of its kind in the world), (60) fisheries, construction of tugs and barges, cotton compresses, manufacture of fertilizer, brick and concrete pipes, farming, (61) fruit growing and machine shops are other industries.

Some of these industries are not so important in themselves, but when taken together, the aggregate volume of business by these small companies will certainly be equivalent to another major industry for this section. They do their share to increase employment and bolster up the total commercial activities of Calcasieu Parish, making and assuring the stability of her varied industries.

Economic History and the Schools. The school and church, as the earliest forms of social activity, soon followed in the wake of the lumber industry. While some of the very early settlements of Negroes had some form of school even as early as 1890 when the lumber industry was fast coming into its own, (62) these schools took on new life when the lumber camp and the saw-mill came bringing in new laborers, more money and some new schools.

The data presented thus far show that Calcasieu, like other parts of the South and the Nation, had its beginning in the midst of resources from land and water. E. C. Kirkland (63) shows the economic structure that is back of the United States as a nation, how it grew, and to what industries the young nation owes its first contact with the outside world, when he says:

On every side there was opportunity. The New World encouraged the fur and timber trades by its forests, resources, the fisheries through the proximity of inshore grounds and off-shore banks and agriculture through the untaxed fertility of it soil.

A survey of Calcasieu shows that she is not altogether unlike the average American Southern Community, but very unlike many of them. It is especially unlike the one-crop community portrayed in the beginning of this chapter. All through her history since the early 90’s Calcasieu has had varied resources from which to draw and build commercial and educational standing. The commercial may have outstripped the educational; still the two cannot be very well divorced if complete understanding of schools and the conditions attendant upon their sequential growth is to be thoroughly understood.

A careful survey of the data on Calcasieu schools in the next chapter will show the extent to which this parish has used her rich resources to build a good school system, and especially how her Negro schools have fared in this process.

The data to be presented in the following chapters in the light of the economic situation discussed herein, should show the manner in which Calcasieu Parish schools for Negroes have developed. They should show also the extent to which this development had been retarded or accelerated by local conditions. The generalizations which may be formed from the facts about Calcasieu schools gathered herein may not be sufficient to substantiate a single educational trend. It is hoped, however, that where historical data are insufficient and where facts are lacking, the inclusion of factual evidence from similar situations elsewhere may serve to increase the scope of this treatise. In this way something worthwhile as to the source of future financial dependence of education on parish, state or nation may be shown.

Calcasieu has had and still has much wealth. A small portion of this wealth has gone to her schools; still the new demands in school operation have made it necessary for the State to meet fifty percent of her school bills for maintenance. Then, too, National Government agencies have come in to help in the Louisiana building program as they have in other states.

The manner and growth of Calcasieu schools, their development under local support and the extent to which they have or have not profited by state and national funds will be brought out in the chapters to follow.

There are no available records in the parish showing the exact beginning of the Calcasieu schools. The earliest authentic mention is by State Superintendent T. H. Harris (1) who said,

Over in Calcasieu, John McNeese, a teacher, was elected Superintendent in the 80’s and held the office until his death, thirty or forty years later. How the money was raised for his salary in the face of a law that placed the maximum salary at $200 is not known, probably the police jury in spite of the law; but at any rate Superintendent McNeese gave his entire time to the work of his office and set a pace which gradually stimulated other sections to public school effort.

This statement by Mr. Harris is unquestionably based on annual reports made by earlier superintendents to the General Assembly of Louisiana. Some of these reports show that as early as 1854, Calcasieu Parish had 754 pupils enrolled and that the teachers were paid $4,164.00, all of which sum came from the State Treasury. At this time the school work of the parishes had hardly crystallized into a system. These early state reports, from the 50’s to the 80’s can hardly be accepted as presenting actual conditions in the parishes, for, as State Superintendent Harris stated further, records sent in by politicians were not always reliable.(2)

The $200 salary mentioned in Superintendent Harris’ quotation was a mere pittance, for it is altogether probable that this sum represented the annual stipend; still, it was sufficient to keep the Superintendent working hard to build up the schools to the point that educational activities in his parish were worthy of emulation elsewhere. By August 1900, this salary was $100 per month, (3) and by 1904 had increased to $1800.00 a year. (4)

The first record of the Calcasieu Parish School Board meeting was in November 1887. (5) The minutes and all other proceedings of the parish board up to April, 1888 seem to contain nothing but routine matters. There is no mention of Negro schools. The proceedings of the meeting held April 7, 1888 has the following item which is probably the first step taken to demonstrate in a tangible way the sound interest of the public in education. (6)

Eleven hundred dollars set aside for the construction of a school for white children.

Whereas this body having had under consideration the preamble and resolution adopted at their last meeting, and recommending the use of public school funds for the white school of Lake Charles to be used as a public house fund for the Town of Lake Charles, therefore:

Be it resolved: That we do set aside Eleven Hundred dollars of the public school fund of Lake Charles. Said amount to be taken from the funds for the white school and to be used in building a public school house in the Town of Lake Charles for the education of white youths. (7)

Obviously, there were no buildings in the parish for Negro youth. This was the first appropriation for an adequate building for white children. Separate schools for whites, Negroes, Indians and Red Bones were taught in churches, halls and shacks of various descriptions. (8)

In some instances troubles arose as to the racial identity of certain children, and the school board had to make decisions in several instances.

A case arose in the town of Sulphur in which the school board was called to pass on the racial identity of two children in attendance at that school. (9) A committee was appointed to investigate. After investigation, it reported the children were of Caucasian birth. A later case arose in which the school board’s decision was not accepted and a long drawn out trial in district court failed to clear up the matter.

Schools were developed for all races as time went on, for as early as 1889, the following resolution was adopted by the Board of education. (10)

Moved: That the following resolution of Professor A. Thompson be adopted as the sense of this board.

Now in addition, I would as soon as possible establish two or three central schools and run them for-say nine months so that when the country schools close the children can then come to these central schools and carry on their studies without interruption.

It is understood that these schools shall be opened to all children of the parish who are of the same color of those by whom school buildings have been donated to the parish.

Resolved further that Professor Thompson, J. W. Ryan, and James P. Geary be appointed a committee to place the matter before the Police Jury and petition for necessary aid for such schools.”

The average school ran three, four, or five months. The central schools served to give pupils a longer term. The above resolution was worded to off-set racial conflicts.

Moreover, the resolution shows that there were colored schools. One Indian school was established in this parish and as late as 1902 the second school for Indians was granted. (11)

While the records bear out the fact that there were schools for Negroes, whites, Indians, and Red Bones as early as 1888 and 1898, we shall examine the data for the Negro schools as to origin, number, buildings and equipment, teachers, educables and enrollment.

As mentioned in Chapter I, Calcasieu Parish was divided into the parishes of Calcasieu, Beauregard, Allen and Jefferson Davis in 1913. In this same year, the present system of Calcasieu schools had its official beginning. The history of these schools could well begin there and give the reader a fair conception of the events pertinent to the Negro schools of this parish. So many implications, however, which may preclude and understanding of events prior to parish division have already arisen in this discussion that consideration of testimonial data of events that happened previous to 1913 is obviously essential.

All of the available data from the earliest times of Imperial Calcasieu have therefore been sought out and placed in evidence so that a true picture of the educational development of Negro schools here may be seen. In the compilation of these data it seems convenient as well as logical to consider the facts in terms of certain blocks of years centering around the year 1913 as a main division point. Therefore, periods of ten and fifteen years respectively will be considered. The periods, 1888 to 1898 and 1898 to 1913 will furnish material for the first half of this chapter; those of 1913 to 1923, and 1923 to 1938, will pertain to the second half.

The early records of Calcasieu Parish schools during the decade, 1880 to 1890, made practically no direct reference to the existence or condition of Negro schools. It was not until April 1890, that a direct statement in a resolution of the school board is found dealing with school funds for Negro children.

Lake Charles as the principal city in the parish received first consideration in school. The records up to 1898 have shown that a new school building was erected here for the education of the white youth during the first decade of school history. It was here, too, that the first school for colored pupils was erected by the School Board.

The following resolution showed that the Negro pupils enjoyed the use of school funds of the parish as far back as the middle of the decade prior to 1890:

Resolved that the president be authorized to appoint a committee of two members of this board who with the secretary will make an estimate of the amount of school funds accumulated since 1885, for the account of the white children of Lake Charles, also Ward Three outside of corporation of said city. They are also required to apply to the same rule to the colored children and estimate the amount to their account. (12)

In this stock-taking of accumulated funds the fact is brought out that the money for schools of the two races had been kept in separate funds. This is significant in that most of the information gathered up to 1898, simply gave the reports in a way that it is difficult to know what schools were colored and what were white. In his annual report for the year ending December 31, 1888, the Parish Superintendent said that there were sixty-three schools in operation, and that the average length of session was four and one-half months; funds expended since November, 1889 amounted to about $6,705.00; number of pupils was 1,951; average monthly salary was $38.65; number of school houses constructed by School Board, 1; number of log and frame buildings utilized for school purposes, 46; estimated cost of the building erected by the Board, $6,250.00. (13)

No mention is made of colored schools in this report. They are very likely included in the number reported. The one school house mentioned above must have been the new building in Lake Charles. The log and other poorly constructed frame building seem not to have been considered real school houses; perhaps, however, the report meant that they were not the property of the parish board.

These early school boards often found themselves in a quandary as to how to finance the schools. In 1890 the Calcasieu Parish School Board asked the police jury to pass a tax of one and one half mills, a request that the jury honored. The teachers as well as the school board were anxious that this tax should meet a great portion of the needs of the parish schools. They were anxious, too, that the great industries of the parish should bear their just share of taxation on 100 percent assessment. The following resolution was adopted by the Teachers’ Institute in session at Welsh, Louisiana, April 18 & 19, 1890. (14)

Whereas the State of Louisiana is second to none in its natural resources and should be second to no other in its enlightened citizenship and education; and

Whereas, we believe that a liberal education is absolutely necessary to prepare citizens of any free government for he proper exercise of their rights of citizenship; and

Whereas, we believe that the public school is the best means of furnishing such education to the coming generations of the State; and

Whereas, the funds necessary to carry on successfully the public schools are inadequate; and

Whereas, there are large bodies of land held by non-residents for speculative purposes which have been enhanced in value by labor and improvements made by citizens resident in the parish, therefore,

Be it resolved that we most respectfully and earnestly recommend to the Police Jury to assess all lands held by non-residents at their full market value that speculators may bear their just part of the burden of public improvement and public education.

Teachers as well as tax-paying patrons wanted to see that the large mill companies with their vast timbered landholdings, the Union Sulphur Company with its millions of dollars in sulphur deposits, the rice companies with their vast prairie lands and mills, should bear through assessment and payment of taxes their full responsibility to education. This great interest in schools and in taxes on all property for their maintenance shows just how fast public opinion was crystallizing for their proper support.

Schools. It is not possible to judge the number of schools in existence by the number of school buildings. During this period, and even much later, in almost every case schools were taught in churches, halls, or some shack given over by the community for school purposes.

Before a school district was created in any community one pre-requisite seems to have been that the community making application for a district must furnish a site and some sort of a building free of cost to the school board. Some of these buildings and sites were later deeded to the parish. Many schools were therefore established with no adequate school building belonging to the school board. (See Table II)

The records of this decade give no direct information about the very early colored schools. The earliest mentioned is in 1890 when a committee (15) was appointed to determine how much money had been accumulated of the Lake Charles schools since 1885.

While the colored school at Lake Charles is mentioned first as a school in this discussion, a personal interview with one of the pioneer teachers (16) who began work in this parish in 1891, and who is still teaching here, substantiates the fact that the school at Choates Prairie (Now Mossville) is probably the oldest of all Negro schools in the Parish. Some other early schools besides Lake Charles were Hickory Flat (Morehead), Bird’s Nest, Vincent and Sugartown (Hoy). These early schools have been in operation for some years when taxes were levied and money appropriated for a building in Lake Charles.

There is no direct evidence in the records studied to show just how many and just where colored schools were located.

Information received from personal interviews with principals and teachers who taught in the parish as early as 1891 substantiate the fact that schools where located at the following points during this decade: Choates Prairie, Lake Charles, Westlake, West Fork, Bird's Nest, Hickory Flat (Kinder), Bancroft (Friendship), Vincent, Sugartown (Hoy) and Clear Creek. (See Figure III) These early schools had short terms of three or four months. Local directors for three of the above early schools were the following Negroes of their respective communities; Clear Creek, Mssrs. Henry Dunnings, Sam Willies, William Meer; West Ford, Messrs. Abe Beasley, Harvey Ecter, Isaac Param; Lake Charles, Messrs. Kaye Ryan, Collins Graham, Edmo Sams. (17)

	1910	1911	1912	1913
Receipts (Parish)	$129,684.92	$153,251.73	$221,924.80	$239,067.33
Receipts (State)	$16,748.09	$21,570.64	$22,590.72	$26,533.15
Av. Mo. Salary (colored)	$38.10	$ 40.16	$44.10	$ 42.50
Av. Mo. Salary (white)	$72.18	$74.76	$70.05	$67.21
Houses Owned	8	8	8	8
Houses Not Owned	10	13	13	13
Value of Equipment			$1,100.00	$1,382.00
Volumes in Library		193	193	193
Value of Volumes		$67.00	$67.00	$67.00
Linear Ft. Blackboard			372	372
No. of Patent Desks		60	107	201
Total Enrollment		1,484	1,366	1,494
Average Attendance		806	967.2	1,167.7
Percent Att. On Enroll.		.54	73.0	78.0
Percent Att. On Educable		.48**	52.5	63.3
Percent Educable Enroll.		63.8	74.2	81.1
Length session (Colored)	3.8	3.9	4.2	3.8
Length session (White)	7.5	7.8	7.96	8.6
Total No. of Teachers	14	15	15	15
Teachers First Grade Cert.	0	0	4	3
Teachers Second Grade Cert.	8	11	8	6
Teachers Third Grade Cert.	6	4	3	6
Av. Mo Cost per Pupil***	$0.75	$0.92	$1.12	$0.96
Av. Mo. Cost (White)	$1.88	$2.14	$1.98	$1.79

* The data in this table and the accompanying graphs have been taken from the Parish Superintendent’s reports to the State Board for years named.

School Buildings. It was not until 1898 that a new State constitution gave the various communities of the State of Louisiana the privilege of voting taxes for maintenance and school buildings. (18) The same Calcasieu Parish, however, which paid its superintendent a fair salary back in the 80's, despite a state law to the contrary, was passing a special tax for its schools as early as 1890. Not only was this tax voted and collected, but we find that the following motion adopted by the parish school board shows how equitably it was used:

Adopted-that the parish treasurer of school funds, be authorized to make the apportionment of one and a half mills collected from the town of Lake Charles by prorating it between the white and colored children of Lake Charles. (19)

The next important data give a record of steps taken to secure the first school site for Negroes. There may have been other sites elsewhere in the parish, but if there were, they were those owned by the communities and later donated to the school board by these communities. As stated earlier, these buildings were of log or rough plank construction. This site under discussion was purchased by the board and Calcasieu Parish then had its first decent building for Negro pupils.

Adopted. That the secretary be authorized to make necessary arrangements by which a site can be purchased for the colored people of this city (Lake Charles), said site to be within the corporate limits. (20)

No specific record was found of the cost of the building that was placed on this site by the school board. The following action of the board probably shows that money was set aside for the building that was constructed later.

Adopted. That the treasurer be authorized to transfer from the Lake Charles colored school fund to the Lake Charles colored contingent fund the sum of $600. (21)

All previous transfers to this fund for such incidental expenditures as have thus far arisen have not been more than $40.00 at any single appropriation. The amount of the consideration named above, while it is not so large, leads one to infer that it must have been intended for a building, or as part payment on a building.

Upon further investigation through personal interviews with citizens now living who took part in school affairs during this decade, the writer learned that the work of the committee to select the site for a colored school was carried on in a series of meetings. As a result, the site was purchased. The appropriation of the $600 for the building in 1892 resulted in a two story, two room frame building, 30 x 50 ft. constructed with a cupola on the top at the front end. This represents the first school building for Negroes in Calcasieu Parish.

Previous to the construction of this building, the school for colored children at Lake Charles was taught in the Knights of Pythias Hall. There it was necessary to move the seats around every week-end for the regular Saturday night public dance that was held there.

The site for this new school was selected on the Boulevard, on or near which most of the Negroes lived at that time. This building served the community well and in 1898 we find the school moving smoothly along with Principal J. S. Jones at its head. The following actions of the board give some idea of the cost of the buildings:

Adopted. That the following amount reported upon by the finance committee be received approved, and the president authorized to warrant against funds set apart for the payment of the same, Lake Charles Colored School.

There was a balance due the above company on this lumber as shown in another motion by the board in which a committee was appointed to make terms with Bradley-Ramsey Lbr. Company for the payment of this balance.

Teachers’ Salaries. Well qualified teachers were hard to find during the decade, 1888-1898. Many of the schools named above were taught during the vacation, that is, from May to October, when college students on vacation were given employment here as teachers. In this way the parish secured the services of many high school and normal graduates. There were, however, many less prepared teachers who were regularly employed.

B. C. Garret was one of the first teachers. He taught at Choates Prairie about 1888-1890 and was at that time the leading colored teacher in the parish. The following table is a list of the teachers who, no doubt, did a commendable work according to their preparation as teachers. They possessed abilities ranging from a mere knowledge of the Three R’s to that of normal graduates. Some of them had attended college in New Orleans or in some of the cities of Texas.

LIST OF CALCASIEU TEACHERS, GIVING YEAR, SALARY AND THE BEGINNING PLACE OF SERVICE FOR THE PERIOD 1888 TO 1898

NAME	YEAR BEGAN	MONTHLY SALARY	SCHOOL
B. C. Garrett	1888	$35	Choate’s Prairie
John Captain	1889	$35	Hickory Flat
Susie Mobley	1890	$30	Choate’s Prairie
Jack Williams	1890	$35	Lake Charles
William Johnson, Jr.	1890	$35	Choate’s Prairie
W.O. Boston	1891	$40	Choate’s Prairie
Celestine Estes	1891	$25	Lake Charles
J. H. Harding	1891	$40	Lake Charles
J. T. Cotrell	1892	$40	Lake Charles
J. S. Jones	1893	$50	West Ford
Dan Thomas	1893	$35	Sugar Town
John W. Dozier	1894	$40	Lake Charles
C. S. Johnson	1894	$35	West Lake
L. T. Porter	1895	$35	Bird’s Nest
A. V. M. Morrison	1895	$40	Lake Charles
Ezora Moss	1895	$35	Lake Charles
Annie Green	1895	$35	Choate’s Prairie
E. D. Walker	1896	$30	West Lake
Medora Hartman	1896	$25	Wasey
Betty Haman	1898	$35	Lake Charles
Minnie Prescott	1898	$25	West Lake

Superintendent McNeese, in order to secure good teachers would write the college presidents for these prospective teachers. (23) Institutes were held in which these college people gave some inspiration to and also encouraged a desire for improvement on the part of the older and less prepared teachers.

Salaries that seem small today were rather inviting at this early period. The range at this time was $25 for the lowest grade of teachers to $40 for the highest, giving an average salary as early as 1889 of about $30.

Enrollment, Attendance and Length of Session. A report by the Parish Superintendent in 1893 shows that there were eleven Negro schools taught by seven male and five female teachers who instructed 263 males and 258 females. There was an average attendance of 397.

In 1891 the average attendance for all schools was 37 percent of the scholastic population. In the same year the average attendance was 70 percent of the enrollment. In 1892 the average attendance had reached 75 percent of the enrollment. Superintendent McNeese made the following statement in his report to the board:

You will see that our percentage of children enrolled compared with number of educable children in the parish lacks only 2 percent of being up with the national standard. This is not bad; and next year with continued educational interest will show a higher percentage in this direction.(24)

There are no complete reports for each year of this decade, but the few statistics given above will serve to give the reader an idea of the standing of Calcasieu Schools at this early period. While these early reports are not in themselves exceptionally noteworthy, still, by comparison they seem flattering, for in many parishes of this State and in much of the South there were no schools for Negroes. In Lafayette Parish, just 75 miles east of Lake Charles, there was but one school for Negroes in the whole parish as late as 1910. (25)

The fifteen years covering the period 1898-1913 brought about many improvements in the schools. These additions were made possible because of increased revenue that resulted from the great economic development of sulphur and lumber. The improvements which came to Negro schools during this period were not proportionately great; especially in this so when the total amount spent on them is compared with the total receipts and expenditures for the whole system.

Schools. The record shows that eight new school districts were organized during this period. This would make a total of 21 schools in the parish. According to (Table II), there were only fifteen teachers up to 1913. It must be born in mind that the school term was short and some of the teachers taught more than one school.

As was the custom, each district had to secure and furnish some kind of a site and house where the school could be conducted. In some instances, these schools were in permanent settlements; in others they were organized for mill companies, only to be discontinued when the mill had exhausted its timber in a given locality.

All of the old schools that operated during the past decade were in permanent settlements and are at this time still being conducted. The one at Lake Charles, the parish seat, was the best organized. September 10, 1902 it was opened for a five months session with four teachers.

The schools at Jennings and Sulphur had been organized but there was no record showing the exact time. Jennings was probably the first and Sulphur was hardly much younger than Jennings. The school at Sulphur was called by some other name when organized, for the records show that on December 20, 1909 the name of this school was changed to Sulphur Colored School.

In 1908 the board adopted a motion authorizing Superintendent McNeese to accept assistance from the Anna T. Jeannes Fund for Rudimentary Schools for Southern Negroes. This is the first instance shown in the records of acceptance of funds outside of the State for Negroes. These funds were to be secured through Dr. J. H. Dillard and were to be used at the Westlake School in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the schools of the parish. (27) The board seemed to have had in mind at this time the establishing of a training school in the Westlake district.

Buildings. Wherever there was a Negro school, there was some kind of a building. The parish did not authorize a school district unless the local people secured a building in which to conduct it. (28)

As has been previously stated, the building at Lake Charles was the first constructed. When this building was first mentioned there was nothing which gave any true idea of its value. An item in a later record shows that it was insured for $1,000. (29) From this insurance valuation it may be inferred that the building was worth about $1,500 or $2,000.

In 1903, under the direction of Principal Jones, the colored people of the city raised $650 and added an annex of two rooms to the Lake Charles building. (30) This six room house served the needs of the growing school population.

There were eight new school districts created between 1898 and 1913. In only one district was a building mentioned at the time of the creation of the district. While there is no detailed record of the actual construction of this building at English Bayou when the school district was organized, (31) the writer taught the school in 1909 and knows that the present building was there at that time.

This school, usually called the Cove School, is just about a mile north of the city limits of Lake Charles. As far as the records show, this is the second building for the parish. The Superintendent’s Annual Report for 1913 shows, however, that there were eight buildings owned by the parish and thirteen buildings not owned by it at the time of parish division, 1913.

Teachers and Salaries. The teaching force of the parish had changed in some instances from what it was in the 90’s. The faculty of the Lake Charles school in 1902 was as follows: Professor J. S. Jones, Principal, Professor O. Rigmaiden, Miss P. Coker, Miss Lillie Pecot. (32) Many other teachers were added to the list for the various schools of the parish at different times during this decade and a half. (See Table IV) Significant, however, was the fact that the qualifications of these teachers were determined by examination and that John S. Jones was appointed on the committee to examine the colored teachers in the regular State examination of July 29, 30, 31. (33)

As far back as 1890 the qualification of teachers was arrived at by means of examinations. From these examinations, three grades of certificates were issued, viz.: 50% to 60% Primary; from 60% to 80% Intermediate; from 80% to 100% Grammar. This method of certification seems faulty if it means that teachers holding Primary certificates must teach Primary grades. This seems to mean that these grades would always have the least prepared teachers.

During this period the salary range was from $25 to $60, according to the position held, number of years of experience, and grade of certificate held. Regardless of the school from which the teacher came, he had to take the examination. Standing in the examination determined position, salary, and length of term for a particular teacher.

The number of teachers increased from twelve prior to 1898 to fifteen by 1913. They received an average monthly salary of $42.50. During the 1912-1913 session, four of these teachers held first grade certificates, eight held second grade and three held third. The type of certificates had changed from Primary, Intermediate and Grammar to First, Second and Third Grades.

Enrollment Attendance and Length of Session. This fifteen year period had seen an increase in enrollment from 521 prior to 1898, to 1,494 in 1913; and attendance from 397 to 1166.7, and the average length of session changed from 4.3 months for all schools prior to 1898 to 3.8 months for colored schools alone. At the close of this period the attendance was 78 percent of the enrollment and 63.3 of educable.

LIST OF CALCASIEU TEACHERS, GIVING YEAR, SALARY AND THE BEGINNING PLACE OF SERVICE FOR THE PERIOD 1899 TO 1913

Teacher	Year Began	Monthly Salary	School
J. S. Jones	1898	$60.00	Lake Charles
W. O. Boston	1899	$60.00	Lake Charles
D. J. Thomas	1899	$30.00	Ward Two
O. L. Rigmaiden	1899	$40.00	Ward Six
Tenny Lyons	1899	$20.00	Ward Three
Catherine Campbell	1899	$25.00	Ward Three
Dora Moss	1899	$25.00	Ward Three
Amelia Roberson	1899	$25.00	Ward Three
Agnes R. C. Reed	1899	$30.00	Ward Two
Celestine King	1899	$25.00	Ward Eight
J. R. Lavan	1899	$25.00	St. John
H. D. Estuque	1899	$30.00	Ward Three
E. D. Walker	1899	$35.00	Ward Seven
A. V. Morrison	1900	$40.00	Cedar Creek
J. H. Yates	1901	$50.00	Bellon
Frances Campbell	1901	$25.00	Ward Three
J. H. Davis	1901	$28.50	Ward Seven
Lillie Pecot	1901	$35.00	Ward Five
Cornelia Rigmaiden	1901	$25.00	Choates Prairie
Annie E. Green	1901	$25.00	Choates Prairie
M. M. Hartman	1901	$25.00	Choates Prairie
Dora L. White	1902	$25.00	Ward Three
Belle Smith	1902	$30.00	Choates Prairie
Chas. N. Robertson	1902	$30.00	Ward Ten
Hannah Carey	1903	$45.00	Ward Eight
Jesse T. McDonald	1903	$55.00	Jennings
Erane Captain	1903	$35.00	St. John
Maude Captain	1903	$35.00	Ward One
Gertrude Ford	1903	$30.00	Ward Six
R. W. Franklin	1903	$30.00	Ward Three
B. C. Garrett	1904	$50.00	Vincent Settlement
Pauline Coker	1904	$30.00	Lake Charles
Edna Taylor	1906	$35.00	Carson
Emily Flowers	1907	$35.00	DeRidder
Beulah Nichols	1907	$45.00	Merryville
R. C. McDonald	1907	$55.00	Beckworth
Zurline Sharky	1907	$40.00	Bellou
C. W. Gibson	1907	$45.00	Bird's Nest
Mrs. Joe Beverly	1909	$25.00	Jennings
Ethelyne Moss	1909	$40.00	English Bayou
R. C. Reynaud	1909	$55.00	Cove
Mrs. E. N. Stewart	1909	$35.00	Edna
Beulah Glaze	1909	$35.00	St. John
Pinkie Yates	1909	$35.00	Jennings
Ida W. Hayes	1909	$40.00	Ward Four
A. A. McKay	1910	$35.00	Edna
C. A. Henderson	1911	$35.00	Center Hill
Annie M. Marrow	1911	$35.00	Norwood
Paul Simon	1911	$35.00	Roanoke
J. W. Thurman	1911	$45.00	Elton
E. L. Joiner	1911	$45.00	Lake Arthur
Bessie King	1912	$35.00	Mermentau
F. M. Boley	1912	$60.00	Jennings
J. E. Henderson	1912	$45.00	Jennings
Selina Cutno	1912	$35.00	Jennings
Lizzie Barnet	1912	$45.00	Bright Hand
Penelope Posey	1912	$40.00	Choates Prairie
Geo. W. Frazier	1912	$45.00	Merryville
Irma B. Williams	1913	$40.00	Westlake
Dora Morrison	1913	$35.00	Lake Arthur
N. E. Hickey	1913	$50.00	Westlake
W. A. McMahan	1913	$50.00	Choates Prairie
Verna E. Jackson	1913	$35.00	Vincent Settlement

On April 4, 1907, the City of Lake Charles was set apart as a separate parish in all matters pertaining to its school affairs by the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana. From that date onward the history of its school affairs will not be discussed in this chapter. They will be dealt with in detail in a separate chapter to follow.

The foregoing history of the Calcasieu Parish Schools covers school activities of the parish to and including the 1912-13 session. On January 1, 1913, Imperial Calcasieu was by Act Number 432 of the State Legislature of Louisiana divided into the parishes of Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu and Jefferson Davis. From that time on, this discussion will deal only with the schools of the New Calcasieu Parish. (See Figure III) January 1, 1913 represented the official beginning of Calcasieu schools.

The Superintendent's Annual Report July 1, 1913 represented the last report of Superintendent John McNeese, the grand old man who worked so faithfully and effectively for the Calcasieu schools. Mr. McNeese died June 3, 1914. His successor, Mr. F. M. Hamilton was elected a year prior to Mr. McNeese’s death, January 3, 1913 and succeeded to the office of Superintendent on July 3, 1913.

The year 1913 is rather memorable in the history of these parish schools, not only because of the death of the man who had most to do with their development but also as the year in which the great Imperial Parish of Calcasieu ceased to exist as a vast domain.

For twenty-five years the recorded history of the schools is shown by facts found in the school board proceedings which tell of the educational activities of people scattered over 3,650 square miles of territory. The quarter of a century of school history closed with a four-way division of the parish. It closed also the books on the history of Negro schools which saw a reasonable growth in school districts set up, new buildings completed, fairly competent teachers employed, a short average session but one in which a fair percentage educables were enrolled, and a growing interest on the part of a public which paid into the treasury local taxes for school purposes alone $190,000 in 1909. (35) Total expenditures for 1913 were $265,052.34 and of this sum $4,265.01 (36) was expended for colored teachers’ salaries.

While the Negro children during this long period received no training beyond that of the elementary level, still these schools were fairly accessible and fairly well taught, despite the lack of well organized supervision. The data covering the next quarter century of these schools, which will be treated in Part Two of this chapter, does not pertain to a territory as extensive as that treated in this part of the chapter, but may perhaps be somewhat more intensive in its nature and organization. The schools, too, may be found more in keeping with the needs and requirements of the people they served.

The first quarter of a century of Calcasieu schools ended July 1, 1913. These years marked an epoch of school history in which well kept minutes of school board proceedings offered reliable data from which the first part of this chapter has been compiled. This compilation is affected only in a minor way by the absence of some reports that were very likely lost in the burning of the parish court house in 1910.

The second part of this chapter which covers the quarter-century of these schools marked by the years from 1914 to 1938 inclusive had no unfortunate happening which destroyed any records. The only mishap was the storm of 1918 which destroyed some school buildings. This was in the summer and records had been removed. Therefore, it is likely that there will be fewer missing links in the discourse and fewer blank spaces in the tables. In addition to the same sub-topics discussed in Part One, the more available, accurate, and complete records will permit the discussion of School Revenue and it Sources as another sub-topic.

Part Two of this chapter, beginning with the school session 1913-14, is significant mainly because it treats the beginning of school history after parish division.

Superintendent F. M. Hamilton, who succeeded the late John McNeese as head of Calcasieu schools, published a special pamphlet on Calcasieu Schools in 1915. (37)

The following paragraph from the foreword of this pamphlet give an idea of just how new the present system of Calcasieu schools was at that time:

Calcasieu Parish as it now stands is just two years old so far as its schools are concerned, for while the division of “Imperial Calcasieu” became effective January 1, 1913, the schools of the four parishes created from the former parish of Calcasieu continued under the administration of Superintendent McNeese of Lake Chares, until July 1, 1913.

The parish was so large and there was so much for the parish superintendent to do that the great amount of the work in looking over and developing the schools of such a vast area may be accepted as one of the reasons why the Negro schools received so little attention. Even with this handicap, Superintendent Hamilton, whose pamphlet on Calcasieu schools contained fifty pages and who devoted only two-thirds of one page to Negro schools, had the following to say on the subject of Negro schools. (38)

During the past not very much attention has been given to the education of the Negro. The idea has seemed to prevail that the Negro should remain ignorant and that to educate him would only tend to make a fool of him. We are glad to see signs that this idea is rapidly disappearing and we feel assured that within the next few years ample and wise provision will be made for the proper education of the Negro youth. The average length of session of Negro schools in Calcasieu Parish is 6.8 months. This is really below the standard set by the Board, and eight months term being granted to all Colored schools maintaining an average of ten.

Imperial Calcasieu comprised 3650 square miles. The territory was so vast and the schools so far removed from the parish seat (Lake Charles) that the superintendent of education was kept busy even during summer months visiting them, using the horse and buggy as means of travel while school officials of smaller parishes were on vacation. (39)

By an act of the Louisiana Legislature, this vast section of the state was divided into four parts creating as many separate parishes and diminishing the area of original Calcasieu to its present size of 1086 square miles. The original parish had 21 colored schools (Table II) There had been a larger number of schools during the twenty-five year period just closed, but some of them existed only during the life of a saw-mill town. As a mill cut out its timber, the school there would invariably cease to exist. Sixty-three colored teachers taught at different times and for a varied number of years during the fifteen-year period ending in 1913. (Table IV). The total number of white and colored educables in the original parish was 12, 341.

The first work of the new school board in order to set the machinery in operation for the school system of the four parishes is shown in the passage of the following resolution. (40)

Whereas the parishes of Allen, Beauregard, Jefferson Davis and Calcasieu have been left without an enumeration of educable school children as a result of the divisions of Calcasieu Parish into the above mentioned parishes; and,

Whereas such enumeration is necessary in order to apportion the State school revenues; and,

Whereas at a meeting of the superintendents of the four parishes above named, in the office of the Calcasieu Parish School Board, the records were carefully examined, and the following arrived at:

Therefore, resolved, that we adopt as the enumeration of the four parishes named, the following figures, to wit:

This resolution was adopted by the school boards of the four parishes. These numbers formed the basis on which activities were reckoned in each parish.

Schools- The 21 schools of Calcasieu prior to parish division in 1913 were scattered over a vast territory which placed some of them many miles apart. The number of schools in the new parish of Calcasieu in 1914 was twelve. The number of these schools had increased to fifteen by 1918. (41) As most of the schools of Imperial Calcasieu were near the parish seat, the increase in schools in the new Calcasieu would naturally be very slow. Schools were being planned and operated in the new parish just about as they had been run in the old.

A communication came to the Board in 1914 offering to sell forty acres of land near the Westlake school for $600. Some time previously the board had considered establishing an industrial training school at this point. With this idea in mind it agreed to purchase this forty acre tract. This was the first step in the parish toward training of Negro youth on a higher level.

An average of thirteen schools was maintained throughout the ten year period beginning in 1914. At the beginning of this decade the purpose of the Board in purchasing the Westlake property seemed to have been not to increase the number of schools but to make those already in existence better in the type of work done and in the extent and number of courses offered. The purchase of the Westlake property and the acceptance of Jeannes’ Funds for the school there seemed significant in this regard.

As far back as 1909 the board went on record in the effort to improve its Negro schools by empowering the superintendent and Dr. Perkins, a school board member from that section, to consolidate the Lockport, Westlake and Choates Prairie schools and secure a site for the same. (42) The purchase of the forty-acre tract at Westlake seemed to have been the next step toward consolidation and inauguration of higher courses. For some reason, however, a school of higher level did not materialize during this decade.

School Buildings- The new Calcasieu Parish owned only three buildings in 1913. Nine other buildings used for school purposes belonged to churches, lodges, or individuals and had not yet been deeded to the Parish School Board. There were fifteen buildings by 1918, five of which were owned by the parish. The storm of 1918, however, destroyed some of those and during the 1919 session there were only eight school buildings in the entire parish.

Summary of Selected Data on Calcasieu Parish Schools Taken Directly from Parish Superintendent's Annual Reports to the State Department of Education

The buildings and equipment increased in number and value each year up to 1919, when there was a decrease in both over the numbers of the previous years. This may be due to the effect of the 1918 storm. By 1923, however, there were fifteen buildings, twelve of which were state owned. The Superintendent of education recommended the building of a teacherage on the Westlake Industrial school grounds in order to obtain appropriation which the General Education Board was willing to make for the school. (43)

This period of school history and especially during, the year 1920 seems to have been the time for the construction of many new school buildings for the parish. Two room frame buildings were constructed at Newton and DeQuincy, and three room buildings were erected at Mossville and at Westlake. These were all Rosenwald buildings. (44) The board adopted a motion to build a two-room school at Vinton as soon as the patrons there would secure a site. (45)

The School Board seemed ready to erect buildings in all communities that had not been supplied. It is possible that the building program was being held up in communities where the patrons were slow or indifferent about securing and deeding school sites. In 1922 we find the board appointing a committee to investigate the cause for delay in selecting sites at Chloe, Vinton, and Starks. (46)

Teachers and Salaries- The biggest single item of expenditure for education, except when there is a special building program going on, goes for teachers’ salaries. A glance at Table V and VI will show the amount spent on colored teachers’ salaries is comparatively small; still there was a steady increase in the total amount each year as well as an appreciable monthly salary increase up to that time.

LIST OF CALCASIEU TEACHERS, GIVING YEAR, SALARY AND THE BEGINNING PLACE OF SERVICE FOR THE PERIODS

Teacher	Year Began	Monthly Salary	School
S. P. Sneed	1914	$35	Vinton
Cleopatria Joshua	1914	$35	Chloe
R. C. Reynaud	1914	$50	West Fork
J. H. Yates	1914	$55	Westlake
E. Hickey	1914	$35	Westlake
B. Glaze	1914	$40	Sulphur
Verna E. Jackson	1914	$35	Vincent
C. W. Gibson	1914	$45	Cove
Penelope Posey	1914	$40	Mossville
Lydia Placide	1914	$45	Bird's Nest
B.C. Garrett	1914	$40	Lockport
W. A. McMahon	1914	$50	Mossville
E. P. Smith	1914	$40	West Fork
Florence Reynaud	1914	$40	St. John
Minnie Prescott	1914	$40	Starks
Celina Cutneaux	1914	$45	Lockport
Mae W. Reed-Harris	1914	$50	Lockport
Viola Clark	1915	$50	Mossville
Naomi Hickey	1915	$50	Westlake
Gertrude Williams	1915	$45	West Fork
A.M. Strange	1915	$60	Westlake
Louise Melton	1915	$45	Westlake
Florence Longs	1915	$40	DeQuincy
Mrs. H. L. Strange	1915	$50	Westlake
Ezora Lyons	1916	$50	Mossville
Valeria Coleman	1916	$50	Westlake
Cedonia Williams	1916	$50	DeQuincy
R. B. H. Yates	1916	$50	Vinton
Minnie Peyton	1917	$50	Westlake
Antoinette Bell	1917	$50	Cove
Ruth Williams	1917	$60	Starks
Alice Hunter	1917	$60	St. John
Mabel McMahon	1917	$40	Mossville
Bessie Owens	1917	$50	Mossville
TeBertha Smith	1918	$55	Willow Springs
Edmonia Hawkins	1918	$50	Oak Grove
J. L. Keller	1918	$45	Iowa
Marion Jackson	1919	$45	Chloe
Viola Brown	1919	$45	Taylor
Fannie Simpson	1919	$60	Cove
E. O. Jenkins	1919	$60	Mossville
A. M. Thompkins	1919	$70	Westlake
P.O. Rogers	1919	$70	Mossville
Goldie Evans	1919	$50	Sulphur
Te Etta Smith	1919	$45	Westlake
Beatrice Lemmons	1919	$60	DeQuincy
C. B. Caston	1919	$70	Vinton
Jessie Davis	1920	-	St. John
Alberta Reddix	1920	$50	Willow Springs
Lethia Carey	1921	$45	Willow Springs
Sadie Williams	1921	$60	DeQuincy
Etta Mae Davis	1921	$45	Chloe
Ollie Donat	1921	$50	Vinton
Emily Jefferson	1921	$50	Hayes
Edward Colston	1921	$50	Starks
Sadie Earls	1921	$45	DeQuincy
Geneva Menkins	1921	$60	Iowa
Ida L. Green	1921	$60	Vinton
Florence Clark	1921	$50	St. John
Zelyah Clifton	1922	$50	Willow Springs
Ida B. Spivey	1922	$60	Chloe
S. A. Shannon	1922	$70	Vinton
Amelia Jones	1922	$45	Hayes
B. A. Walthall	1922	$60	Iowa
Theresa Jackson	1922	$60	DeQuincy
Eugenia Reynaud	1922	$60	Cove
Zillah F. Whitt	1922	$60	Himount
D. C. Crimer	1922	$75	Mossville
A. B. Rowe	1923	$85	Mossville
Gertruce Hart	1923	$50	Willow Springs
Bertha Williams	1923	$50	Willow Springs
Carolyn Marrow	1923	$50	West Fork
Mary B. Williams	1923	$60	West Fork
Alma Jones	1923	$45	Starks
Alberta Hackett	1923	$50	Oak Grove
P. E. Porter	1923	$85	Cove
Alma Smith	1923	$50	St. John
Martha Johnson	1923	$60	Higgins
Beatrice Williams	1923	$50	Lockport
C. N. Rowe	1923	$60	Mossville
Lena Ledet	1923	$60	Lunita
Rosetta Bolen	1923	$60	Starks
Lillian Veal	1923	$60	Vinton

The qualifications of teachers is no less important than the salaries they receive. From the data shown in Table V, it seems that salaries were not commensurate with qualifications.

The number of teachers increased from fourteen in 1914 to twenty in 1923. These teachers received an average monthly salary of $42.50, then $63.83 in 1920 and $58.40 in 1923. This was an improvement over the previous decade in which the highest salary ($44.10) was paid in 1912. No teachers of college or normal training are listed prior to 1913. During the ten year period ending in 1923, however, from 1917 to the end of the period, over half the average teaching force for these years had some normal or college training. The records show that of the average faculty from 1917 to 1923 (16.6 teachers), 10.1 percent of them had normal or college training. Only 3.1 percent of them held third grade certificates.

The total amount paid for colored teachers’ salaries in 1914 was $3,714. By the year 1923 this amount had increased to $7,826.25. This aggregate salary amount had more than doubled during this decade; however, only six additional teachers had been employed during that time. The average monthly salary schedule of this period over the average monthly salary for the period of years ending in 1913 showed a gain of $12.11.

Enrollment Attendance Length of Session- Before parish division 1,494 Negro pupils were enrolled in Calcasieu. This number would naturally be increased in 1914 when the area of the parish had been reduced to less than one third its original size. In that year, the enrollment was 559. This number represented 74% of the educable. The average attendance for this year was 374. By 1917 this enrollment had grown to 944. The average attendance that year was 627. While the enrollment increased, the percent of attendance remained about the same, 67%.

The was a great falling off in enrollment and attendance in 1919, due to the 1918 storm which destroyed many school buildings. In that year only 224 were enrolled and the average attendance was only 16. This depressed condition of the schools was only temporary, for by 1923 the peak enrollment and attendance of the whole decade, 992 and 630 respectively, are shown. The percentage attendance, however, fell during this year to 62.6%.

During this period the Calcasieu Negro schools had their longest length of session. Starting in 1914 with a session of 6.5 months, they reached the high point of 7.8 in 1918, falling to 6.7 in 1923. The average length of session for the decade, however, was 7.1 months. This was a great advancement over the years prior to 1913 when the average length was less than four months. (See Table II and V).

Superintendent F. M. Hamilton resigned in 1917 to take a position on the faculty of the Southwestern Louisiana Institute, Lafayette, Louisiana, and was succeeded by Mr. F. K. White, principal of the school at Sulphur, Louisiana, July 5, 1917. Mr. F. A. Ford served as Assistant Superintendent under Messrs. Hamilton and White, and had direct charge of Negro schools.

Sources of Revenue- As this period represents the first decade of the present Calcasieu schools and as more records are available than there were prior to 1913, it is possible to give the sources and amounts of funds used to operate Calcasieu schools.

In 1914 the parish received from its non-revenue sources $123,263.19. The state and federal government paid the parish treasury $9,506.55.

State appropriations have shown a gradual gain. The amounts for each year of the five-year periods not mentioned above have been a little larger than the year before, totaling about $10,000 for the first period and approximately $23,000 for the second. The parish receipts during this decade did not have a gradual rise but rather fluctuated from year to year, reaching their lowest value of $110,566.66 in 1916 and highest value of $436,459.67 in 1921. The above table shows the receipts at the beginning, middle and end of this decade.

Calcasieu history during the past decade has shown 70.1% of the colored educables of the parish enrolled. The attendance during this time was not keeping with the enrollment, for there was only a 42.2% of attendance based on educables, or a 66.2% of attendance based on enrollment. The percentage of the educables enrolled in the schools is not a bad condition when it is considered in terms of the whole state. In 1922 Superintendent F. K. White read to his board a letter which he received from State Superintendent T. H. Harris in which the latter stated that there were 85,000 white educables and 130,000 colored educables in the state out of school. It is hoped that the data for the fifteen years upon which we now enter will show, among other improvements, a better attendance.

Schools. There were fifteen schools in the parish in 1923. During the present period six new schools were established. These were at Higgins, Holmwood, Brownville, Prairie Farm, Iowa and Cupples. School was discontinued at Himount just south of Lake Charles, and the pupils of this district were given permits to attend the city schools. (47)

The school at Lunita was discontinued when the school at Cupples was established. At the close of this period in 1938 there were nineteen schools in operation. (See Figure III)

Data seemed to point to the establishment of a high school for the parish during the past decade. A committee for consolidation had been appointed, a forty-acre tract had been purchased, a three room building had been constructed, a teacherage had been built so as to get the funds which the General Education Board had agreed to furnish; still no step has yet been taken to establish a high school.

Assistant Superintendent F. A. Ford resigned his position September 15, 1928, to take a position in the State Normal College at Natchitoches, Louisiana. Mr. H. A. Norton, one of the parish teachers, was elected to fill the place for the remainder of the term expiring June 30, 1929.

Parish Superintendent F. K. White resigned October 2, 1928, to take effect December 31, 1928. He was leaving the schools to go into business.

Assistant Superintendent H. A. Norton was elected as superintendent by the Calcasieu Parrish School Board beginning January 1, 1929.

The idea of a high school for Negroes was still in the minds of the people. The patrons of the school at DeQuincy, the largest Negro school in the parish, sent in a petition to the Board signed by themselves and other residents of the town asking the Board for a nine months term and the establishment of a junior high school. It was received and ordered filed. (48)

Apparently not satisfied with results of their petition of June 7, the patrons of DeQuincy sent in a second. In this they asked that the Board supervise high school instruction for Negroes at DeQuincy on conditions that the patrons pay all costs of teachers’ salaries and building facilities for such grades.

The Board granted this request, and for one year the first high school work was carried on by sanction of the Parish School Board, but at the expense of the patrons. The teacher of this junior high school was given elementary work at Westlake the following year. There, his salary was paid by the Parish Board. The high school work at DeQuincy automatically ceased after one session.

While no available data seems to indicate the there are even remote plans for the establishment of high school work anywhere in the parish, it must be said that the elementary work in the nineteen schools now in operation is carried on by better trained teachers, had more supervision from the central office, and that these schools are doing a much better work in general than was done by schools on the elementary level a decade ago.

School Buildings. As the data concerning buildings for this period are reviewed, what seems to be a clue to the failure of the Westlake high school project to materialize is apparent. While there are no data to substantiate the fact there may have been some ill feelings among the people of the three communities (Mossville, Lockport, and Westlake) that had been considered for consolidation at Westlake where the high school was to be established, still some events point in that direction.

I regret to report on the evening of October 26, fire of unknown origin destroyed the Westlake Negro School. (49)

This building was practically new and whether the fire was of incendiary origin or not, the incident was sufficient to dampen the spirit and lessen the force which sponsored the high school movement and naturally made it harder for those who fostered the movement to carry on.

The impetus for the erection of new schools increased during this period. These buildings in almost every case were not new, but consisted largely of the dismantling of old buildings in white communities and rebuilding them in Negro communities.

The old LeBleu building was torn down and re-erected in Westlake; the old building at Niblet’s Bluff was dismantled and rebuilt at Mossville. The old building at Sargent was rebuilt at Holmwood. The old buildings at Buhler and Marcantel were dismantled and rebuilt at DeQuincy. The Burel School was rebuilt for Negroes at Brownville. The Prairie land white school was given over to the colored people and put in usable shape.

Teachers and Salaries. During ten years of this period ending in 1933, five additional teachers were employed, bringing the number to twenty-five. The fifteen-year period closed in 1938 with twenty-six teachers on the parish list. Thirteen of the twenty teachers in 1923 had college or normal training. In 1923 eighteen of the twenty-five, in 1938 twenty-four of the twenty-six had such training. Throughout the fifteen years the preparation of teachers employed showed a decided improvement, however, there was very little change in the salaries as shown in Table VIII.

The average salary for the ten year period ending 1933 was $58.79. This shows a slight improvement over the previous decade. Negro teachers received higher salaries in 1926 than in any year before or since. In that year the aggregate salary was $10,634.26 or an average of $63.17 per month per teacher. The monthly average for the five years ending with 1938 had been $49.06. This is almost $10 less than it was during the previous decade. For the whole fifteen-year period ending in 1938 the average monthly salary was $44.12.

During the session 1934-35, the parish had to extend the term for colored schools two weeks in order to meet the requirements of the State equalization fund. This gave a term of 6.4 months and each teacher received an additional $29.13 for the two weeks work.

LIST OF CALCASIEU TEACHERS, GIVING YEAR, SALARY AND THE BEGINNING PLACE OF SERVICE FOR THE PERIOD 1924 TO 1937

Teacher	Year Began	Monthly Salary	School
Ethel R. Breckenridge	1924	$50	St. John
M. T. Jackson	1924	$50	Oak Grove
Carolyn Stemly	1924	$50	Oak Grove
L. H. Harris	1924	$85	Mossville
Cornelia Wilford	1924	$60	Mossville
R. S. Austin	1925	$85	Mossville
R. W. Calvin	1925	$75	St. John
L. A. Austin	1925	$60	St. John
Thelma Moultrie	1925	$60	Westlake
Maude Shorter	1925	$50	Lunita
Lubertha Mackey	1925	$50	Lunita
Lillian McCain	1925	$65	DeQuincy
Martha Andrew	1925	$60	DeQuincy
Pearl Smith	1925	$60	DeQuincy
Gladys Wells	1925	$60	Vinton
Ruth Pollard	1925	$50	Vinton
Beatrice Dunnings	1926	$60	DeQuincy
Ella Towner	1926	$45	DeQuincy
Ethel Porter	1926	$50	Westlake
Ruth Russel	1926	$50	Vinton
Victoria Singleton	1926	$45	St. John
Mabel Green	1926	$60	St. John
Eleanor Henderson	1926	$60	St. John
Evelyn Dean	1926	$60	Brownville
LaMaude Bellamy	1927	$60	Mossville
Mae Reed	1927	$50	DeQuincy
Rachel Jones	1927	$50	Chloe
Beatrice Holloway	1927	$50	Starks
Maxie Hubbard	1927	$50	Iowa
Martha Johnson	1927	$50	Brownville
Lawrence Griffith	1927	$50	Vinton
Hattie Whitt	-	$60	DeQuincy
Maggie Freeman	1930	$50	Oak Grove
Lorena Verdun	1930	$45	DeQuincy
C. C. Sompayrac	1930	$45	Vinton
Helen Guidry	1931	$50	Willow Springs
Louise Hall	1931	$50	Sulphur
H. S. Williams	1932	$85	Mossville
Gladys Johnson	1932	$50	Mossville
Gladys Bell	1932	$50	Willow Springs
Roxie Pollard	1932	$50	Vinton
Ezora Lyons	1932	$50	Sulphur
Ruth Russel	1932	$50	Willow Springs
L. W. J. Frazier	1932	$85	Westlake
Effie C. Frazier	1933	$60	Westlake
Evelyn Ratcha	1933	$50	Iowa
J. M. Satterfield	1933	$45	Westlake
Elnora LeDoux	1933	$45	Prairie Land
Ruth Pedesclaux	1934	$45	DeQuincy
Ivy Tanner	1934	$45	Cove
Rebecca Richards	1934	$45	Iowa
Mamie Paul	1934	$45	DeQuincy
Florence Laws	1934	$45	Mossville
Naomi Joshua	1934	$45	Sulphur
Birdie Hartmen	1934	$45	Vinton
B. G. Griggsby	1935	$85	Westlake
Hazel Jones	1935	$45	Willow Springs
Marguerite Green	1936	$45	Cove
Edith LeDoux	1936	$45	Oak Grove
Medora Marchand	1936	$45	St. John
Neatrice Vital	1936	$45	Hayes
Hattie Hayes	1936	$45	Iowa
Elva Nita Dials	1936	$45	Willow Springs
J. B. Henderson	1936	$45	West Fork
Dorothy M. King	1936	$45	Holmwood
Pharie Mae Dupree	1937	$40	DeQuincy
T. F. Scott	1937	$60	Westlake

Enrollment, Attendance, and Session. There was a slight increase in the enrollment during this period. During the previous period, the 992 pupils enrolled in 1923 was the high mark of the decade. During the present period the highest enrollment, 1,187, was reached in 1936. The lowest enrollment during this whole period, 994 in 1928, was higher than the highest in the previous decade. During the five years ending in 1938 the average enrollment has been 1,145.4. The average length of session for the present period of fifteen years was 5.9 months. The period ended with a session of 6.9 months in 1938.

The schools of this period had a shorter average length of session than did those of the previous decade. The longest session was in 1918 when the length was 7.8 months. The average length of term for this ten year period was 6.1 which is 0.2 month more than the average for the period ending in June, 1938.

Revenue and its Sources. The revenue from local sources for the ten-year period ending in 1933, according to Table IX, reached its highest amount in 1926. In this year it amounted to $369,620.13. The years 1924, 1925 had smaller amounts, and in each year to the end of the decade there were reduced receipts, and in each year to the end of the decade there were reduced receipts, ending in 1933 with $116,193.96. Only in one year prior to 1926, and that was during the previous decade in 1921, were the local receipts higher. In that year these receipts amounted to $436,459.67. (See Table V)

In the five year period ending 1938 local receipts for school purposes increased from $169,382.62 in 1934 to $182,716.03 in 1938.

In the same years that the local revenue decreased from the amounts named above in 1921 to the amount in 1926 and to the amount in 1933, showing a general decline from $436,459.67 to $116,193.96 to again rise to $182,716.02 in 1938. State appropriations rose gradually from $38,167.80 in 1921 to $41,375.62 in 1926, then $46,390 in 1933, and finally to $144,960.00 in 1938. (See Table X)

In 1932 the parish received its first Equalization money from the State when it received $20,155.74. In 1935 the amount allocated to this parish from this State Fund was $38,254.62. Because of this appropriation, the Negro schools of this parish were permitted an extension of 0.5 of a month to the term of the 1934-35 session, giving each teacher an addition to her annual salary. In this instance, data showed an immediate result of a State appropriation as it was equitably applied by Calcasieu Parish authorities.

The following tables IX and X, gives the revenue and other information for certain years of this period:

SUMMARY OF SELECTED DATA ON CALCASIEU PARISH SCHOOLS TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM PARISH SUPERINTENDENT'S ANNUAL REPORTS TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

** Data in this table were taken from the Parish Superintendent’s report to the State Board.

SOURCES OF SCHOOL REVENUE FOR CALCASIEU SCHOOLS FOR THE FIVE YEAR PERIODS FROM 1924 TO 1938

One of the most historic settlements along the Calcasieu River in Southwest Louisiana was founded by Charles Sallier about 1770. It was situated near that part of this river that widens out into a beautiful lake. This lake was called Lake of Charles from the name of this early settler, and both lake and settlement became known later as Lake Charles. The founder built his home near the south end of the lake at what is now the old Barbe place. (1)

The city of Lake Charles grew with Calcasieu Parish. It was settled and made the parish seat when the court records were brought from the town of Marion six miles up the Calcasieu River in 1852. It was incorporated into a town 1867, chartered in 1886, and its commission form of government was adopted in 1913. (2) It is now the leading city in Southwest Louisiana with a population of 21,000.

The economic and political background of Lake Charles is the same as that of Calcasieu of which it is a geographical part. The commercial interests of each major industry of the whole Calcasieu Parish-lumber, rice, cattle, sulphur, shipping, oil and other minor industries-have always been centered in this city. Lake Charles needed Calcasieu for the raw material which kept its wheels of industry turning, and Calcasieu needed the city of Lake Charles because it served as a gateway to the world markets that were so necessary to its commercial development.

There are sixty-four parishes in the state of Louisiana. Each parish functions educationally by means of it own separate school board. The city of New Orleans has its school board, but the city covers the entire parish of Orleans. For this reason the city school board is also the parish board. In three other cities of the state that do not cover the whole parish, their school boards are organizations separate from the respective parish boards. Thus, in the parish of Ouachita the city schools of Monroe were separated from those of the parish in 1921. In Washington parish there is the separate school board of the city of Bogalusa, and in Calcasieu, the city of Lake Charles had had a school board entirely divorced from the parish for the past thirty-two years.

Of these three cities, however, Lake Charles is the only one that is a complete school parish within itself in every school particular.

By act of the State Legislature in 1921, the schools of Monroe were officially organized into a system separate from the schools of the parish. In this school set up, the city was given a city school board to look after its affairs. All parish boards of the state receive certain funds from the State Department of Education for partial operation of their schools. In this important matter of school funds, the city school board of Monroe receives no such appropriation directly from the State Board. All state funds are sent to the Ouachita Parish Board which, in turn, allocates to Monroe her portion of the appropriation as a school district of that parish.

In the Monroe school organization the board is not all together separate from the city council. The act which called it into being made the mayor of Monroe the City Superintendent of Schools. (3) This may be one of the features which distinguishes the Monroe Board from the boards of the parishes and prevents it from attaining parish status.

In all parishes of the state the Superintendent is a person who is not connected directly with any political office. He is treasurer and secretary of the board and gives his full time to the organization and development of the schools. He is elected by the majority vote of the school board members.

The status of the Bogalusa School Board is somewhat like the Monroe system. It, too, receives no state funds directly from the State Board of Education. The amount intended by the State for this city is always sent out to the Washington Parish Board. By agreement the city of Bogalusa does not receive the special amount sent out annually by the State for each educable of a particular school district, but it receives 39% of all state funds sent to Washington Parish. With these and other local funds the city operates and administers the affairs of its schools. (4)

The school board of the city of Lake Charles is distinctly different from the boards of her sister cities. She receives her appropriations of state funds directly from the State Board of Education. She operates all her school affairs as a separate parish. This will be seen by studying the conditions which led up to divorcement of the city and parish schools, and by noting the provisions of the Legislative Act which made the city system possible.

Several conditions in Lake Charles and Calcasieu may have been responsible for so affecting the school situation that the changes finally culminated in the complete separation of parish and city schools. The schools of Lake Charles had grown and apparently needed much attention. The parish was so large and some of its schools were situated so far from the parish seat that it took too much of the Superintendent’s time trying to visit all of them. The Calcasieu Parish Board previous to separation had passed resolutions creating the “Board of School Directors of the City of Lake Charles.” The records show that this body was functioning under the direction of the Parish Board as early as 1904 with the principal of the City High School, Mr. L. L. Squires, acting as City Superintendent. (5)

Even though the city had this little school board of its own authorized by the parish; still it found it movements and its powers greatly limited by the parent body. The city board found it necessary to complain time and time again because of restrictions placed upon it by the parish board. The city board, it seems could do no more than act as a committee subject to the will of the parish body.

As a culmination of the many complaints and especially, it seems, because of some new restrictions passed in resolution by the Parish Board affecting the city and further curtailing the latter’s powers, the city board passed the following resolutions: (6)

By Mr. J. A. Williams-Resolved by the Board of School Directors of the city of Lake Charles that it protests against the limitations of its powers recommended by the finance committee of the Parish School Board, that it regards such resolution passed by said Parish Board creating the Board of School Directors of the City of Lake Charles, which action was received in good faith by the people of Lake Chares and was one of the considerations upon which they voted the special school tax. That he adoption by the Parish Board of such a resolution would lay arbitrary, annoying and unnecessary restrictions on the actions of the body … That these resolutions be presented at the next meeting of the Parish Board.

By Mr. Mutersbaugh-Duly moved, seconded and carried that the above resolution expressed the sentiment of this body and that they be adopted as such.

In a personal interview with Mr. E.F. Gayle the following condition were brought out as the leading factors which contributed most to a complete separation of Lake Charles and Calcasieu Parish schools.

First, the parish authorities felt that the city was getting too large a share of local school funds. Second, the city always had trouble passing special taxes as the rest of the parish could out-vote her. Third, as a part of the Calcasieu Parish, there was no way of preventing large numbers of children from attending the city schools, while yet maintaining their residence in the parish outside of the city.

With the constant airing of the above conditions and because of the effect of some petty jealousies which these conditions engendered, it was necessary to make a change as would remove the basis of the contention that arose between parish and city officials over these conditions and yet not impair the work of parish or city schools. With this in mind and, as it seems, to satisfy the wishes of his Lake Charles constituents, Representative J. Sheldon Toomer offered and put through successfully the following Act in the State Legislature. (8)

To provide for public education in the City of Lake Charles, especially by providing a school board for that city; by providing for the appointment and election of said Board and the qualifications of the members thereof; by providing for said Board’s obtaining its pro rata of the public funds, and by prescribing its powers and duties. Satisfactory proof having been adduced of the publication of notice of intention to introduce this Act, as required by Article 50, of the constitution, and the city of Lake Charles having, a population exceeding 2,500.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana, that in order to provide for public education in the city of Lake Charles, a School Board is hereby created for said city. Said Board shall consist of five members who shall be elected at large by the qualified voters of said city. Each member of said Board shall be able to read and write the English language, and shall be duly qualified elector of said municipality. The election for the members of said Board shall be held under the general election laws of the State, and the members when elected shall be commissioned in the same manner as parish boards of school directors. They shall hold their offices for terms of four years, and until their successors shall have been duly elected and qualifies, except as hereinafter provided. All vacancies that may occur in said Board, whether caused by failure to qualify, by resignation, or by death shall be filled at an election duly called within thirty days after said vacancy has occurred. Each member shall qualify within thirty days after he has been commissioned, otherwise the office to which he is elected shall be deemed vacant.

Section 4. Be it further enacted etc., that said School Board shall possess and may exercise, within the corporate limits of the city of Lake Charles, all of the powers conferred and that may hereafter be conferred by law upon parish school boards, and shall within such territory discharge all of the duties incumbent upon such boards and shall be governed by all the restrictions imposed upon the same.

Section 10. Be it further enacted, etc., that all laws or parts of laws in conflict herewith be and the same are hereby repealed:

This legislative act dealt solely with school affairs of the city of Lake Charles. The sections omitted were concerned the following matters:

Sections 2 and 3 dealt with members of the board to be elected and officers of the board, respectively. Sections 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 were concerned respectively with school funds to be paid over to the Lake Charles board, establishment of pro rata funds to be paid by parish board to city board, provisions for periodic reports to City Council, exclusion of city officers from membership on school board, and provision for periodic reports to State Superintendent of Education.

The Lake Charles School Board of Directors that the Parish Board had maintained as a creation of the Calcasieu Board during the few years preceding the enactment of the above legislative act was now succeeded by the Board created by the above Act. This action of the Legislature suddenly gave the city the status of a school parish. Its powers and its privileges were now on a parity with the Parish Board that had first called it into being. It was free to plan, build and otherwise develop its schools like other parishes of the State.

Up to the time of the Legislative Act which gave it legal existence in the State, this city board was composed of three members. The Legislature organized it as a board of five members, the personnel of which was follows: Mr. Leon Locke, President; Mr. A. A. Wentz, Secretary; Mr. Jas. A. Williams, Mr. Frank Haskell, and Mr. Jesse Nelson.

One of the first acts of this board was to pass fitting resolutions thanking the previous board members for their services in the interest of the city schools. Each member of the present Board was given a sphere of supervisory influence over the school needs and interests of a certain section of the city. In this arrangement the colored schools fell under the general direction of Mr. Leon Locke. (9)

While it does seem that the city lost no time in setting the machinery in motion which placed the management of its schools in its own hands; still the Parish seems to have taken its own good time about making the separation complete. The actual direction, supervision, and control of school activities previously carried on by the three Lake Charles school directors was immediately taken over by the new city school board. It was not until the spring of the following year that the parish board acted so as to make the separation complete in every detail.

Almost a year after the passage of the Legislative Act which created the Lake Charles School Board, the Calcasieu Parish School Board passed the following resolutions:

Resolved that whereas the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana has by Act. No. 90, approved July 7, 1906, created a school board for the city of Lake Charles, to provide for public education, and who shall possess and exercise within the corporate limits of said city, all the powers conferred and that may be conferred upon the parish school board and who shall within said territory discharge all said duties incumbent on said board; and,

Whereas there are a number of public schools maintained in said City of Lake Charles on public school property and owned and acquired for public school purposes within said corporate limits of said city, funds belonging to the public school children of said city, or donated for school purposes to the school children within said corporate limits, belongs and is subject to the control and supervision of said school board of said City of Lake Charles, in accordance with said aforesaid Act of the Legislature of the State:

Be it resolved that the Parish Board of School Directors of the Parish of Calcasieu do hereby authorize the transfer of all said property in said corporate limits of said city of Lake Charles, together with the buildings and improvements thereon to the Board of School Directors of the City of Lake Charles (who) shall reimburse the said parish board of school directors the sum of $3,557.50 borrowed from the 16^th section fund under the control of said Parish Board of School Directors, to pay for and improve the property known as the high school, situated an lots six and seven, east of Boulevard and south of Broad Street, and lying in the south-west quarter of the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter section 5, Township 10, south range 8 W. La. M., known as the college grounds situated in said city of Lake Charles, La. As shown by plot recorded in conveyance records of Calcasieu Parish, La.

And that said Parish Board of School Directors are authorized to retain the aforesaid amount out of the funds now in their hands allotted to said public schools of the City of Lake Charles, and apply the same to the extinguishment of the debt due to the 16^th Section Fund.

Be it further resolved, that the president of the Parish Board of School Directors of Calcasieu Parish is hereby authorized to transfer by regular deed to said city board of school directors for city of Lake Charles, acting through its president, all and singular, the right title and interest which the said Parish Board of School Directors has in its said official capacity to all and singular the public school property situated in said corporate limits of said City of Lake Charles, and also shall transfer all policies of insurance held by said Parish Board of School Directors on said property to said Board School Directors for the City of Lake Charles, upon payment as aforesaid of the said balance due to the 16^th Section Fund borrowed as aforesaid to purchase and improve said high school situated in said lots of blocks six and seven. (10)

With the adoption of the above resolutions, every impediment seems to have been removed for the complete and harmonious operation of both the parish and the city boards without friction. The conditions which led to the divorcing of parish and city schools had now been removed for each section was now a complete school parish within itself. Each could now carry on its school as it saw fit so long as each kept within the bounds of State regulations. Neither could any longer interfere with the passage of each other’s special taxes, any longer compel the schools of the one to admit pupils living in school districts of the other, any longer feel that the one was getting the larger proportionate share of school funds. All these conditions were now taken care of by state regulations which forbade one school parish encroaching upon the rights of the other.

While the Legislative Act which created the Lake Charles School System was enacted in 1906; still the actual transfer of school properties and the full functioning of the city as a school parish seams not to have taken place until 1907. Therefore, the two year period from 1906 to the end of the session ending in 1908 apparently may be best considered as a period of adjustment for the new school system of the city.

During thirty-two years of its history the Negro schools of Lake Charles have had chance to grow in every phase of school organization. For the decades named above, historical data will be presented to show how the system has developed in the following phases of its efficiency:

Year		Total Assessment	Taxes
1913	Parish of Calcasieu	$21,914,260.00	$457,523.15
1913	Union Sulphur Co.	$12,000,000.00	$255,000.00
1914	Parish of Calcasieu	$23,107,510.00	$497,139.31
1914	Union Sulphur Co.	$11,992,200.00	$266,982.20
1915	Parish of Calcasieu	$22,899,880.00	$510,296.79
1915	Union Sulphur Co.	$11,992,200.00	$266,693.00
1916	Parish of Calcasieu	$23,179,940.00	$523,435.19
1916	Union Sulphur Co.	$12,499,780.00	$287,495.64
1917	Parish of Calcasieu	$26,366,600.00	$692,483.79
1917	Union Sulphur Co.	$12,500,000.00	$256,208.17
1918	Parish of Calcasieu	$31,178,550.00	$786,142.83
1918	Union Sulphur Co.	$15,483,680.00	$411,478.75

School District	Date
Jennings	(Approximately) 1903
Sulphur	(Approximately) 1903
Welsh	May 20, 1904
Lake Arthur	October 8, 1904
Hudson River Mill Co.	November 11, 1905
Carson	June 19, 1906
Lockport	July 18, 1908
English Bayou (Cove)	July 18, 1908

Parish	No. of Educable Children
Calcasieu	3671
Allen	2689
Jefferson Davis	2836
Beauregard	3145

	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919	1920	1921	1922	1923
Local Receipts	$123,263.19	$129,760.08	$110,586.66	$97,828.77	$138,443.10	$152,051.03	$237,740.10	$436,459.67	$213,692.77	$211,011.23
State Receipts	$7,508.54	$8,926.57	$13,481.64	$12,174.38	$18,293.90	$18,566.74	$24,569.87	$38,167.80	$30,360.75	$53,724.07
Average Monthly Salary (c)	$42.50	$44.41	$48.75	$49.08	$51.50	$51.66	$63.40	$63.83	$58.71	$58.40
Average Monthly Salary (w)	$66.18	$70.13	$81.08	$81.32	$84.88	$110.33	$142.52	$175.98	$131.45	$126.61
Teachers with College or Normal Training	-	-	-	9	12	3	8	14	12	13
Teachers - First Grade	7	5	8	3	2	3	-	-	-	1
Teachers - Second Grade	2	2	3	2	2	1	2	1	1	4
Teachers - Third Grade	5	9	7	5	4	5	2	1	3	2
Total No. Teachers	14	16	18	20	10	14	17	16	16	20
Total Enrollment	559	745	895	944	877	224	750	821	853	992
Aver. Annual Attendance	374	488	598	627	578	161	505	585	518	630
Percent Educables Enrolled	74	101	66	76.8	-	71.4	32.3	67	73.5	-
Aver. Cost per Child Based on Enrollment (c)	$1.33	$1.36	$1.37	$1.35	$1.44	$2.03	$1.99	$1.41	$1.42	$1.30
Aver. Cost per Child Based on Enrollment (w)	$2.37	$3.34	$2.82	$3.89	$2.99	$3.70	$4.14	$1.90	$5.60	$5.53
Aver. Length of Session in Months (c)	6.50	6.8	7.6	7.4	7.8	6	7.6	7.1	7.4	6.7
Aver. Length of Session in Months (w)	8.4	8.4	9.1	8.9	8.2	8	8.2	8.2	8.6	8.8
Houses Owned	3	3	4	4	5	5	8	8	11	12
Houses not Owned	9	11	10	10	10	4	4	4	3	3
Value Equipment	$595.00	$678.13	$891.41	$925.83	$1,305.33	$366.90	$600.00	$600.00	$1,000.00	$1,000.00
Volumes in Library	49	49	280	387	387	95	95	115	120	195
Value of Volumes	$20.03	$20.03	$172.59	$213.68	$218.68	$35.00	$35.00	$69.00	$72.00	$107.62

Outside Help	1914	1918	1923
State Appropriation	$7,508.54	$18, 293.90	$53, 724.07
Rental, 16th Sect. Federal	$1,998.01	$1,998.01	$1,998.01
Total	$9,506.55	$20, 291.91	$55, 722.08

Local Receipts	1914	1918	1923
Police Jury Appropriations	$52,821.17	$51,746.17	$112,799.52
Town Council Appropriations	$77.64	-	-
Poll Taxes	$2,956.09	$3,622.64	$7,933.51
Fines and Forfeitures	$2,929.21	$1,650.52	$6,190.20
Interest on Daily Balance	$1,473.51	$56.17	-
Special School Taxes	$58,878.68	$121,829.83	$77,044.78
Donations to Library	$291.50	$255.78	-
Other Sources	$2,069.46	$1,203.66	$6,968.22
Rent of School Lands	$8.00	$2,244.10	$75.00
Total	$121,505.26	$182,608.87	$211,011.23

	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933
Local Receipts	$270,676.89	$267,818.20	$369,620.13	$288,375.98	$214,043.43	$207,760.01	$197,577.44	$189,985.07	$168,871.13	$116,193.96
State Receipts	$41,046.72	$31,377.06	$41,375.62	$61,438.52	$55,506.36	$55,932.24	$53,660.88	$62,105.64	$40,610.95	$46,580.00
Aver. Monthly Salary (c)	$60.89	$53.54	$63.17	$60.20	$57.56	$60.36	$59.79	$58.86	$58.00	$51.40
Aver. Monthly Salary (w)	$125.30	$125.73	$140.80	$122.40	$115.19	$122.94	$126.50	$126.85	$129.48	$115.34
Equalization	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	$20,155.74	$16,415.04
Funds for 16th Section	-	-	$758.93	$1,758.92	-	-	-	-	-	-
Federal Voc. Funds	-	$1,224.99	$1,224.99	$408.33	$2,925.68	$2,406.34	$2,785.50	$2,377.17	$1,998.01	$1,998.01
Total Amount Spent	$331,384.00	$230,690.13	$361,141.29	$240,541.04	$246,687.08	$270,764.73	$276,202.41	$279,336.52	$284,143.05	$256,135.47
Teachers with College or Normal Training	14	12	9	13	16	12	13	17	11	18
Teacher with less than College or Normal Training	6	10	12	7	5	10	10	8	14	7
Total No. of Teachers (c)	23	23	21	20	21	22	23	25	25	25
Total No. of Teachers (w)	138	139	130	133	135	143	150	154	152	154
Total Enrollment	1,052	1,109	999	917	994	1,076	1,049	1,103	1,104	1,089
Aver. Annual Cost Based on Enrollment (c)	$1.68	$1.46	$1.57	$1.64	$1.40	$1.37	$1.46	$1.44	$1.55	$1.32
Aver. Annual Cost Based on Enrollment (w)	$5.46	$5.28	$6.07	$6.02	$5.67	$6.11	$6.04	$5.94	$5.99	$5.17
Average Attendance	728	718	733.6	725.7	870.05	796	810	861	869	850
Attendance Percentage Based on Enrollment	68.2	64.7	73.6	79.1	87.5	64.7	77.2	78.1	78.7	78.1
Length of Session of Months (w)	8.8	8.8	8.8	8.8	8.8	8.8	8.9	8.9	8.8	9.0
Length of Session of Months (c)	6.8	6.6	6.8	5.8	5.8	5.9	5.9	5.9	5.9	5.9
No. of Schools	18	18	18	15	15	16	17	18	18	18

	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938
Federal Receipts	$1,998.01	$1,998.01	$1,998.01	$1,998.01	$1,998.01
State Receipts	$86,971.98	$115,904.62	$134,669.74	$137,347.70	$144,960.00
Parish Receipts	$169,382.63	$146,234.01	$166,054.17	$163,070.09	$182,716.03
Teacher's Salaries (c)	$6,790.84	$7,500.00	$7,868.50	$8,620.15	$9,068.30
Teacher's Salaries (w)	$145,374.57	$146,401.91	$180,903.53	$176,755.30	$186,385.85
Mo. Aver. cost per pupil (c)	$1.07	$1.22	$1.33	$1.54	$1.39
Mo. Aver. cost per pupil (w)	$4.33	$4.24	$4.08	$5.05	$5.05
Teachers-Normal or College Training	19	21	21	22	24
Total No. of Teachers	25	26	26	26	26
Total Enrollment	1,176	1,161	1,187	1,126	1,087
Aver. Attendance	895	954	936	867	908
Aver. Monthly Salary (c)	$46.04	$46.87	$51.29	$50.98	$51.10
Aver. Monthly Salary (w)	$99.94	$85.59	$104.24	$110.55	$110.47
Length of Term (w)	9	9	9	9	9
Length of Term (c)	5.9	6.4	5.9	5.9	6.9
No. of Schools	18	18	19	19	19

	1924	1928	1933	1938
Federal	-	$2,825.58	$1,998.01	$1,998.01
State	$41,046.72	$55,506.36	$63,005.04	$142,360.24
Total	$41,046.72	$58,331.94	$65,003.05	$144,358.25

Parish:
Constitution Tax	$14,682.96	$58,626.01	$31,464.64	$46,674.36
Special School Tax	$129,950.51	$118,772.45	$62,928.72	$77,870.03
Poll Taxes	$7,951.63	$7,999.67	$7,776.86	$432.00
Fines and Forfeitures	$1,721.70	$375.30	-	$1,316.90
Rent of School Lands	$21.00	$1,045.79	$5.00	-
Sundries	$16,349.09	$13,290.88	-	-
Interest on Balances	-	$7,710.21	$3,775.04	-
Donations to Library	-	$729.30	$365.72	$23.00
Tuition from Other Parishes	-	$5,493.82	$6,491.18	$50,892.85
Total	$270,676.89	$214,043.43	$116,000.46	$182,716.00