Page 41 - OzarksMagazineFeb17

Getting an education in Boone County history
By DaVID HoLstED
HaRRIson, ark. — At the front of the classroom, the teacher glanced out with a quiet, con dent gaze. Dressed in a long, red linsey-woolsey dress, made probably 200 years ago by Laura Ledford, the teacher presented a competent, professional image.
e teacher had at her disposal all the latest in educational tools, the better to impart valuable instruction to her charges.
Behind the teacher, a large blackboard, representing cutting edge technology, spanned the width of the classroom. A smaller slate, just right for individual instruction, was propped against the blackboard.
On her desk, the teacher had such important educational tomes as “ e Pathway to Reading” and “First Journeys in Numberland.”
Her students had to keep up on the fast-changing world, so the teacher employed a globe that featured such countries as Siam, Tibet, Belgian Congo and Tanganyika. Designations like “North” and “South” being decades away, Korea was one country, as was French Indochina.
e teacher was not a real person. It was merely a mannequin, and the old-fashioned wooden desks before it were empty. Yet with a little imagination, and a large dose of memory on the part of many, the mannequin could be a favorite and/or inspirational teacher from the past, and the wooden desks could have been occupied by generations
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of Boone County students.
ey are all part of an exhibit in the
School and Music Room at the Boone County Heritage Museum, located in appropriately enough the former Harrison High School.
Since 1987, the museum has occupied the building, which was completed in 1912. e building housed the high school until 1951, at which time it became Harrison Junior High.
e School and Music Room features the history of all Boone County schools, many of which are now only a memory and a black and white photo.
Among the schools and students gracing the walls are the Ridgeway Junior High of 1933, the Bellefonte High School graduating class of 1907, the 1902 Lick Branch School student body and a group photo of the Harrison Grade School from 1888-89.
Sports teams get their share of exposure.
Members of the 1935-36 Hopewell High School girls basketball team con dently gaze out from an old photo. A program from a Harrison – Russell- ville football game in 1948 provides you with the names of all the players. In a corner hangs a 1940 Olvey High School jacket, worn by superintendent and basketball coach Joe Keeling. A 1932 American Legion baseball jersey was once worn by George Baughman. Joe Bryant’s 1958 Valley Springs letter jacket can be seen. It was proudly noted that the basketball team that year, coached
Spring 2018 | Ozarks Magazine | 41