The following is from The Goodspeed History of Tennessee, Crockett County, published by the Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1887.
But little is now known of the very early schools of Crockett County. The principal schools of the early days were at the county seats of the four counties from which Crockett County was taken, and those schools were attended by the scholars living in what is now this county. The earliest school of consequence, of which there remains a record, was one taught in 1828 by Isaac M. Johnson, in a small log schoolhouse, at the village of Laneville. This school was taught the year around, and was well attended. Several other schools were taught in different parts of the county from that time on, but beyond the fact that they existed nothing more can be learned.
A good male and female academy was established at Cageville, now Alamo, in about 1850, and in 1867, a large frame building was erected at Bell’s Depot and a good school established. This building is standing at present, but is not in use. In 1870 a good male and female school was established at Friendship, and a school building erected. The schools of the present, other than the public schools, are as follows: Thompson’s Classical Institute, at Alamo, established in 1883 by Prof. R. S. Thompson. This school is a private enterprise, being a school for advanced pupils. The number of scholars, both male and female, is limited to thirty in number, and all the higher branches are taught. Prof. Thompson erected his present school building in 1883 at a cost of $1,600. It is a neat and commodious brick building, erected with an eye single to school accommodations. The school is the leading one of the county, and is deservedly successful and popular; the Home Institute, at Friendship, a chartered school of the four-mile law order (see note below), established as such in 1885; the Crockett Mills Academy, chartered in 1883; the A. G. Schoolhouse [should probably be Agee School House], in the Thirteenth District, chartered under the four-mile law in 1882; the Bell’s Academy, established in 1881, when a brick building was erected at a cost of about $1,400. The public schools of the county are on a par with the schools of other counties of West Tennessee. The average school term is five months, and the attendance generally good. The teachers, however, are inferior to those of ten years ago, and are chiefly young men and women, it being a noticeable fact that not a single married person applied for license during 1886. This is explained by the fact that the small and inadequate salaries paid are driving all the better teachers either out of the county or into other pursuits.
The scholastic population of Crockett County, between the ages of six and twenty-one years, on June 30, 1885, was as follows: White – male 1,954, female 1,924; colored – male 747, female 789; total, white and colored, 5,414. During the same year, the teachers employed in the county were as follows: White – male 22, female 9; colored – male 11, female 2; total white and colored, 44. At that time, there were forty-five school districts in the county, and 29 white and 13 colored schools, making a total of 42 schools in the county. During the year 1885 teachers were licensed as follows: White – male 25, female 12; colored – male 13, female 2; total, white and colored, 52. The number of pupils enrolled in the county during the same year was as follows: White – male 741, female 619; colored – male 250, female 245; total pupils enrolled, both white and colored, 1,855.
The semi-annual apportionment of the school fund received by Crockett County in 1885 was $689.64 in April, and $689.64 in October. The amount of school money on hand on July 1, 1884, in Crockett County, was $3,047.16; the amount received during the year 1885, was, from state, $1,352.34; from county, $8,482.54; making a total amount received of $12,882.04. The expenditures of money in 1885 was as follows: Salaries of teachers, $7,735.32; expended on school sites, buildings and repairs, $685.43; expended on furniture, fixtures, libraries and apparatus, $18.37; county superintendent’s salary, $337.50; paid district clerks, $111.11; all other expenses, $70.99; total amount expended, $8,958.72; balance on hand, June 30, 1885, $3,923.32. The estimated value of school property, including furniture and fixtures, of the county in 1885, was $8,800; of apparatus, $125.
Tennessee’s Prohibition Laws
Thanks to Charlie Jennings for sending the following information on the Four-Mile law:
Anti-liquor groups in Tennessee succeeded in passing laws forbidding the sale of liquor near the premises of schools, hospitals, and churches. The first such law, passed in 1824, restricted liquor sales near churches. In 1877 the legislature enacted a law forbidding the sale of alcohol within four miles of chartered rural schools, but allowing for the selling of liquor within four miles of schools located in incorporated communities. In 1887, while attention was focused on a prohibition amendment to the state constitution, the legislature amended the Four-Mile Law to prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors within four miles of any country school, virtually banning the liquor business.