Remembering Rogers

Scores of Rogers children educated on site since 1884

Photo courtesy of Rogers Historical Museum An arson fire at Elmwood Junior High in the summer of 1975 destroyed most of the original Central Ward School.
Photo courtesy of Rogers Historical Museum An arson fire at Elmwood Junior High in the summer of 1975 destroyed most of the original Central Ward School.

Recently, I asked my dentist and fellow history lover, Shawn Lee, for an idea for a column, and he suggested Central Ward School which later became Elmwood Junior High. However, to get the whole story of this beloved school, we need to go back to the very beginning and the history of Rogers.

Rogers birth was in 1881, when the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway completed its tracks to this area. The town was founded and named after the Frisco's general manager, Capt. C.W. Rogers. Homes and businesses sprang up like magic along the railroad tracks, but Rogers had no school. In 1884, a new school, Rogers Academy, was built on the site later occupied by Central Ward Elementary, then Elmwood Jr. High and, today, Frank Tillery Elementary School.

The academy was a three-story brick structure that was considered the finest school building in Arkansas outside of state institutions. It is hard to stress the importance of the academy on Rogers' early formation. Erwin Funk wrote about the first school in the Rogers Daily News on Feb. 15, 1936. "It is difficult today to give a true picture of the importance of Rogers Academy in the growth and development of Rogers, and show how for years it was the very center of its spiritual and cultural life. In those first years, Rogers had no public school, and for many years after they were opened, there was no effort to do high school work. Public schools meant higher taxes, and so many Rogers property owners favored letting a private school furnish all higher education (grades 9-12) facilities."

A mystery about the school is why would the American Home Missionary society of the Congregational Church of St. Louis selected Rogers to be the center of its work in this part of the country. The wife of Capt. Rogers took an interest in the new town and worked to establish the first church, the Congregational Church. As the town grew, there was a demand for a school, and the missionary society, with help from the residents, built the academy in 1883. The decision to pick Rogers for the site of the academy was probably influenced by Capt. and Mrs. Rogers.

The chosen site of the school was way out west of town (today between Fifth and Sixth streets and Elm and Poplar streets). The trees and brush were cleared, but there was no road to the proposed location. The school leaders petitioned city council for a road, which is now Elm Street.

The tuition rate of the new school was: primary, $1 a month; intermediate, $1.50; and language and mathematics, $2.25. Music was extra. Also, the children of Rogers' ministers, orphans and children of widows got to attend at half price.

Some of the new school's rules included no tobacco of any kind on school grounds, and each student had to attend church services at least once every Sunday. Also, no boy could date a girl more than three times during a school year. A girl needed proper permission to have a gentleman's company, and when the parents requested, no girl could have any boy friends while attending the academy.

Rogers Academy soon expanded and, in 1892, built Elizabeth Hall, a three-story modern girl's dormitory. Three years later (1895), the school proudly announced a bathtub had been installed in the dormitory, followed by a kitchen and dining hall about 1900.

The first football game played in Rogers was in 1896 between Rogers Academy and Bentonville -- Rogers lost. In 1902, Rogers Academy won the football championship of the section. The team was so good (or so rough) that Bentonville, Springdale and Fayetteville refused to play against them. A few years later in 1908, a Rogers' student died from injuries in a game, and football was banned at the academy for several years. (J. Dickson Black, Benton County Democrat, Jan. 8, 1975)

In the early 1900s, Rogers Academy was ranked at the top of all of the secondary schools in Arkansas, above the high schools in Fort Smith, Little Rock and Pine Bluff. Rogers Academy trained many of the early educators who later taught in Rogers public schools. (Erwin Funk, Rogers Daily News, Feb. 15, 1936)

The Congregational Church operated the school until it merged with the Rogers Presbyterian Church in 1911. The private school was plagued with debt and closed in 1914. For 29 years, it was the only school in Rogers that provided education for grades 1-12.

On Nov. 20, 1912, the new Rogers High School opened adjacent to the academy at the corner of Fifth and Walnut -- providing the first public high school education. In 1914, The Rogers School District purchased the buildings and grounds of the academy by assuming its mortgage of $9,000. The Rogers Academy and Elizabeth Hall were used as classrooms and other functions until they were torn down in 1936, and the site was used to build Central Ward Elementary.

Central Ward educated elementary students from 1936 until 1964, and junior high students from 1964 until 1992. Many former students remembered their experiences on a popular Rogers website:

Sandra Creech Boyd: "The grounds that it (Tillery Elementary) sits on was the original Rogers Academy. My Dad (Lee L. Creech) went there. He and his dad (Albert L. Creech) poured the concrete stage (which is still intact on the playground). Granddad also did the sidewalks and other concrete work. The academy was torn down, and Central Ward was built. In the mid 1960s, it was added onto and became the Rogers Junior High School, later named Elmwood. In the summer of 1975, it was a victim of arson, and fire gutted most of the original building. It later became Frank Tillery School."

Richard Bland: "Part of Central Ward (Elmwood) burned. I think there is still a little of the original building in the central part of Tillery, probably along the east-west section near the old office and east entrance."

Dorothy Nell Leslie Parsons: "Mrs. Roberts was our principal at Central Ward, while I was there from 1955 through 1961. On the NW corner of the playground area was a little building where Mrs. Ball taught private piano lessons to me after school. My other teachers were Mrs. Cogdill, 6th; Mrs. Babbidge, 5th; Mrs. Burris, 5th; Mrs. Fenton, 3rd; Miss White, 2nd; Mrs. Shores, 1st. And music teacher for all grades, 1 through 6, was Mrs. Nutt."

John Sampier: "I attended 1st through 6th at Central Ward. My teachers, first through six in order were: Miss Woods, Mrs. Foster, Mrs. Fentem, Miss Rich, Mrs. Cogdill and Mrs. Hackney."

Strad Will: "I spent 9 years in that place -- Central Ward 1st through 6th, then it became Rogers Junior High 7th through 9th. My mom was the secretary for J.E. Hurd (also secretary at the old, old, old, high school on Walnut). Every morning, Mom would give the morning prayer over the P.A. (You'd probably go to prison for that now.), followed by what's for lunch (usually something with red or white beans). If you got 'sent to the office,' Mom was the gatekeeper whom you wanted to see before Mr. Hurd because she might negotiate your sentence from a paddling (Probably go to prison for that, too, nowadays.) to spending the period with her and picking up tardy slips ... apparently the kids loved her. My teachers 1st through 6th were Mrs. Ross, Mrs. Foster, Mrs. Binion, Mrs. Stratton, Mrs. Watkins and Mrs. Simkins. Mrs. McCurdy and Mrs. Roberts were the principals, and I never got sent there for a whipping because I never got caught."

Mark Love: "I lettered in football in 1968, if my math is right. It was the one and only Rogers Junior High back then. The football coaches were Coach Bryant and Coach Dyer. It was Coach Bryant's first year as our new coach. He TOLD us we would be undefeated. Nothing else was acceptable. The team had good talent (not me). We were undefeated AND un-scored on for several games. We played Huntsville at their field. They got a safety on us and got 2 points. We beat them, but you could have heard a pin drop on the bus ride back because we got scored on. Key players were Roger Gregory, Jimmy Casto, Richard Newberry, Scott Campbell, Larry Davidson, Alan Curby and lots of others on both offense and defense. Again, not me -- I lettered in mostly bench warming. Having a letter jacket back then was almost like being an Eagle Scout -- it had its privileges."

In 1992, Elmwood Junior High moved, and the school became Tillery Elementary, named after long-time coach, educator,and administrator, Frank Tillery.

The historic site of Rogers first school is still used to educate Rogers' students today. (Historical info was acquired from the Research Library at the Rogers Historical Museum)

NAN Our Town on 12/14/2017

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