Although several private academies flourished in Franklin County during the early nineteenth century, local officials did not establish public schools until 1841. The fledgling school system resulted from state legislation and received support from a fund that had been conceived in the 1820s by a Franklin County educator and legislator.

Known during the early nineteenth century as the “Rip Van Winkle State,” North Carolina suffered because conservative lawmakers were reluctant to appropriate funds for public education and for transportation improvements. Archibald De Bow Murphey, a visionary lawyer and state senator who represented Orange County, in 1817 proposed the establishment of a public school system, but General Assembly did not act on his plan.

Charles Applewhite Hill (1784-1831), an educator who represented Franklin County in the North Carolina Senate, introduced a bill in 1825 that, when ratified, established a Literary Fund for support of public schools. Over time, this fund garnered enough money from stock dividends, taxes, and the sale of public lands to provide some funding for public schools.

Changes to North Carolina’s Constitution in 1835 ushered in an era of change. The Whig Party, which dominated state politics for more than ten years thereafter, pushed through progressive legislation that improved the lives of North Carolinians. A law passed in 1839 and amended in 1841 provided for a rudimentary system of “common” (public) schools for white children between the ages of five and twenty-one. Counties were required to hold elections to determine if the people were willing to pay taxes to support common schools. Initially, for every one dollar of taxes raised, two dollars from the Literary Fund would be allocated. Later, money from the Literary Fund was distributed on the basis of federal population, a practice that favored counties with large numbers of slaves. If election results in a county favored the establishment of schools, then the justices of the county courts of pleas and quarter sessions were required to appoint from five to ten persons to serve as superintendents of common schools. The superintendents, after selecting a chairman, were responsible for dividing the county into districts of no more than six square miles. In each district, no fewer than three men were to serve on a school committee. These committees were responsible for building schools and hiring teachers, most of whom were paid small amounts to teach for two or three months a year.

Franklin County established its school system in 1841. A minute book preserved in the State Archives of North Carolina records that on June 26 the justices of the county court appointed five men to serve as superintendents of common schools: Jones Cooke, Dr. Wood T. Johnson, Jacob H. Cooley, Thomas D. Wright, and Edward S. Fowlkes. Fowlkes was elected chairman. In July, the board established twenty school districts and appointed poll keepers in each district to oversee the election of school committees. Among the poll keepers were William S. Spivey and Solomon Cooke (Clifton’s Mill) and Robert Shaw and Richard Noble (Franklin County Courthouse). Other elections were held at country stores or at individuals’ homes. Among those elected were Nicholas Massenburg, Young Patterson, and Benjamin Foster (District No. 1).

Schools were in operation by the fall of the year. In September the superintendents noted that 1,640 students were enrolled. The number of students in each district raged from 64 (No. 7) to 179 (No. 17). Eight districts supported two schools, and the remaining twelve districts had one apiece. These small structures had been built at a cost of $25 or less. Using an allocation from the state’s literary fund to supplement taxes raised locally, the superintendents made available $24.95 for districts with one school and $49.90 for those with two.

Each year, the court appointed school superintendents and elections were held for members of district school committees. Wood T. Johnson, a founder of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Louisburg, was elected chairman of the board of superintendents in 1842 and held the position until his death in 1862.

Although a robust system of public schools for all races did not materialize until the early twentieth century, the common schools of the antebellum period reflected a desire on the part of state leaders to uplift its citizenry and to improve its economy.

Published in The Franklin Times on March 10, 2016.

Maury York is director of the Tar River Center for History and Culture at Louisburg College.