ERA OF ELIZA HARTFORD
1886-1888.
THE HEROIC PIONEER.—FEBRUARY 14, 1886.—BOARDING SCHOOL, APRIL 15th, 1886.—PRISCILLA G. HAYMAKER.—NEW SCHOOL BUILDING IN 1887.—ANNA E. CAMPBELL.
"I'll go where you want me to go."
The story of Oak Hill as an Industrial Academy, begins with the work of Miss Eliza Hartford of Steubenville, Ohio, the first white teacher in the "Old Log house". She was commissioned by the Freedmen's Board in January, 1886, and was sent in response to the appeal of the colored people of the Choctaw Nation.
The missionaries, Reid and Edwards, had commended as the most favorable location for such an educational institution the rural neighborhood occupied by the Oak Hill church, two miles east of Clear Creek in the valley of Red river.
They referred to this as a "pivotal location" for such a school, and wrote, "Here we want to see a good school established that shall grow into a normal academy. The location is central and healthful. If in charge of white teachers, such a school will attract scholars from all the other settlements."