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Fort
Wrangel Journal |
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Fort
Wrangel Journal was a radio program that
I produced for KSTK-FM in Wrangel during
the annual Tent City Winter Festival. I
will be posting some of those stories
here under that title, as well as others
about Fort Wrangel. I hope you will
check back from time-to-time to read
more about Wrangell's history. |
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School Days at
Fort Wrangel
started by Presbyterian missionary
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copyright
1994 Patricia A. Neal
First published in the Wrangell
Sentinel, August 4, 1994 |
Phillip
McKay, a Tsmipshian convert of Father
Duncan, was the first teacher at Fort
Wrangel. McKay, whose Indian name was "Clah,"
arrived in Fort Wrangel in 1876 in the
company of his brother and a few friends
in search of work cutting fire wood. A
Christian, McKay brought the word of God
to the community and has been credited
with being the first missionary for the
Presbyterian Church at Fort Wrangel.
Stikine Village wanted to have the same
advantages as McKay and his people had
received from Father Duncan: religion
and education. So, McKay offered to
assist in teaching the word of God to
the Tlingits and started a school for
children in one of the fort buildings
which had been used as a dance hall.
By the time Amanda McFarland arrived at
Fort Wrangel in 1877, McKay's school
boasted 30 students. Mrs. McFarland
encouraged other families to send their
children to the school and thus the
enrollment at the make-shift school
began to grow.
It was shortly after her arrival at
Fort Wrangel that Mrs. McFarland founded
her school for girls in an attempt to
protect young girls who had run away
from home, were without family or who
would be otherwise sold for the price of
several blankets or other valuable gifts
offered for them. Mrs. McFarland too,
them under her wing and taught them to
sew, cook and take care of a household
as well as provided them with an
education.
The girls home began in a former
hospital building within the fort
complex. By 1880, a new building was
constructed on the site just south of
the present First Presbyterian Church.
Two years later, the building was
consumed by fire and it was back to the
old fort buildings. Just prior to that
fire, the school at Sitka was also
destroyed by fire. In 1884, it was
decided that rather than build the
structures, the girls and Mrs. McFarland
would be sent to Sitka where the school
at Sitka and the Fort Wrangel school
were combined into one school.
The Rev. S. Hall Young arrived at
Fort Wrangel in 1878 to begin
establishing a church for the
Presbyterians. The church was dedicated
August 1879 and began to grow. Fannie
Young, the reverend's wife, founded the
"Tlingit Training Academy" in 1883 to
complement the work that Mrs. McFarland
had been doing for the girls. The new
school would be for teach the young boys
a trade. The school depended upon
donations and did receive some
government funding, but never in
sufficient quantities to make it
successful. It was eventually closed in
1888, just prior to the Youngs leaving
Fort Wrangell after 10 years of service
in Alaska.
The Presbyterian Church was
virtually the only source of education
at Fort Wrangel until 1884, when the
government established schools in Alaska
for the Natives, under the "Organic
Act." In 1885, the responsibility for
education in Alaska was assigned to the
Bureau of Education--under the
Department of Interior. From 1885 to
1894, USBE maintained public schools,
and "contract schools" with the
Catholic, Congregationalist, Episcopal,
Methodist, Moravian, Presbyterian and
Swedish-Evangelical churches.
The government school at Fort Wrangel
was the first school established in the
territory under the act. Miss Lyda L.
McAvoy, a cousin of the Rev. Young,
arrived in 1885 to assume her duties as
the first teacher of the school. (She
married William Green Thomas, U.S.
Commissioner.)
The school was equipped with modern
desks, three large blackboards, as well
as the latest Rand & McNally
geographical maps. Supported by the U.S.
government, the school was de3voted to
the Native children; just not in the
numbers that Miss McAvoy had in
attendance. The school had seating for
48 students but attendance averaged
60-70 students per month.
The government withdrew its support
for the school in 1894, leaving only the
Bureau of Indian Affairs maintaining
schools in the territory after that. One
of the main reasons the BOE withdrew its
support of public schools was the influx
of white people into the territory, due
to the Klondike Gold Rush. Rather than
supporting a few schools, as it had been
dong, BOE withdrew its support for all
schools. It wasn't until after 1900 that
Congres granted communities of Alaska
the authority to incorporate and
establish and maintain schools through
taxation.
But the government-supported school
wasn't the only school for children at
Fort Wrangel. Miss Adah Sparhawk ran her
own private school for 20 students
during mid-1898 and when she left, a
Miss Day opened up her own private
school.
The citizens of Fort Wrangel started
a second school in 1899, through local
funding and no support from the
government. The government school was
run by Miss Nellie Green, who was in
charge of 114 pupils, both native and
white.
The second school was under the
direction of Mr. C.C. Cunningham, with
114 students, all white. The town
fathers, in deciding on the school for
the children, had determined that a man
would be hired for the job as teacher.
He arrived to take charge only to find
that there were no books, no school
furniture, no supplies and only a few
yards of blackboard and some chalk which
he had brought with him.
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