St. Benedict’s Abbey, Atchison, Kan.
Rt. Rev. Innocent Wolf, O. S. B.,
President St. Benedict’s College, Atchison, Kan.
FIRST GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
This church was organized in 1866 by Rev. C. F. Liebe, home missionary of the Evangelical Lutheran synod of Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, and other states. The first regular minister was Rev. Mr. Menge, who was installed in 1867. Rev. G. Landgraf succeeded Mr. Menge in December and was installed the first day of that month. The church building at the corner of Tenth and Commercial streets was dedicated at the same time. In 1869 a parsonage, adjoining the church, was erected, and the following year C. Janzow, of Weston, Mo., succeeded Mr. Landgraf, who in turn was followed by Rev. C. Hartman, who died in the fall of 1872, and after which the call was extended to Rev. W. Zschoche, of Miami county, Kansas. Under the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Zschoche the congregation increased to a membership of 130, and a day school was conducted in connection with the church by Mr. Zschoche until 1881.
Rev. C. Vedder succeeded Rev. Zschoche, who in turn was succeeded by Rev. Theodore Bundenthal, whose untimely death in the latter part of 1915 deprived the church and its congregation of one of the best ministers it ever had. Mr. Bundenthal was succeeded by Rev. Frederic Niedner, who is in charge of the church in 1916. The present church building at the corner of Eighth and Laramie streets was built in 1889. There are 500 communicants and the church is affiliated with the Missouri synod.
In addition to the churches already enumerated, there are several negro churches, of which the Ebenezer Baptist Church, organized in 1867, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, organized in the summer of 1868, are the most prominent. There are also several other denominations represented in Atchison, including the Latter Day Saints, and the Holy Rollers.
CHAPTER XVII.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
FIRST SCHOOLS, PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS—ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS—EARLY SCHOOLS AND PIONEER TEACHERS—DISTRICT SCHOOLS—STATISTICS—MANUAL TRAINING—ATCHISON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL—COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION—ATCHISON CITY SCHOOLS—PRIVATE SCHOOLS—MT. ST. SCHOLASTICA’s ACADEMY—PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS—MIDLAND COLLEGE AND WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY—ST. BENEDICT’S COLLEGE.
During the turmoil and confusion that accompanied the movement of population into Atchison when the town and county were organized, the question of schools appeared to be a secondary one. It was not until the bitter days of 1854, 1855 and 1856 had passed that the attention of the people was directed to this important question. The first schools in Atchison were private institutions, and a number of them flourished until after the beginning of the Civil war. Among those which were first in the educational field here was the Baptist Seminary, at the northeast corner of Eleventh and Santa Fe streets. It was a school for young women and was conducted by Mr. Stork. Later Mrs. Lizzie Abbott, who afterwards became the wife of Judge Cassius C. Foster, conducted a young ladies’ school at the northeast corner of Sixth and Laramie streets, and in the eighties Miss Mary Teasdale conducted a private school at the same place. Miss Lizzie Bay, the daughter of Hugh Bay, a prosperous farmer living southwest of Atchison, was also active in early day educational affairs, and so was Mrs. Amanda Blair, at that time Miss Amanda Meeker, who is a resident of Atchison in 1916. Mrs. Blair was the first teacher in Atchison county. While there was no activity in educational affairs during the period just mentioned, the first Territorial legislature did, in fact, pass a law in the summer of 1855 providing for the establishment of common schools, but the history of the Atchison county school system did not begin until 1858. The city of Atchison, District Number 1, was organized August 5, 1858. On September 13th of that year a meeting was held in the law office of Franklin B. Adams, and the following school officers were elected: James A. Coulter, director; Dr. William Grimes, treasurer, and Franklin G. Adams, clerk. O. F. Short was the other member. Phillip D. Plattenburg, who had previously served as county superintendent of Fulton county, Illinois, was elected principal of the schools and Mrs. Blair his assistant. School was opened the first week in November, in two rooms over Bury’s Grocery Store, on the corner of Fourth and Commercial streets, where the Y. M. C. A. building now stands. The next year the corps of teachers had increased to four, and Miss Lizzie Bay and Miss Melissa Kipp, who subsequently became the wife of Chief Justice Martin, became the other two teachers. The school was moved to the old Masonic building further west on Commercial street, where it was conducted for two years. Mr. Plattenburg was also appointed county superintendent, and the first teacher’s certificate issued by him in Atchison county was to D. W. Rippy, who died in Severance, Kan., in 1914, the richest man in Doniphan county. Mr. Rippy taught the first school in the Second district, organized near the Waggener farm, southwest of Atchison. Mrs. Blair had her teaching certificate when she arrived in Atchison, as one was issued to her by Dr. Plattenburg in Fulton county, Illinois, before she came to Atchison. Her school opened in Atchison the first Monday in November, 1858, and she had charge of the primary and intermediate departments. Dr. Plattenburg received a salary of $100.00 a month and Mrs. Blair a salary of $45.00, which was increased to $50.00 by Dr. Plattenburg giving her $5.00 of his own salary. Mrs. Blair had sixty-five pupils. Mrs. Blair says that the first spelling match in Atchison county took place in W. D. Rippy’s school. She participated in the spelling match, and was spelled down on the word “Poisonous.”