”Fort Scott City Schools —District No. 55, Bourbon county, Kansas — what is now known as the Fort Scott city school district — was organized in 1865, with Hon. P. P. Elder, now of Franklin county, and ex-Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, at that time Indian agent, as president of the board of education, Hon. C. F. Drake, now president of the Bank of Fort Scott, as clerk, and ‘Uncle Billy’ Smith, as he was familiarly known, as treasurer. At that time, including Government troops and refugees, there were about 25,000 people in the town.

The first school opened in the fall of 1865, and rooms for school purposes were fitted up in one of the old Government buildings on the plaza, now used as an omnibus barn, and in the old courthouse, recently torn down, on the corner of National avenue and Second street. A Mr. Remsburg was the first principal, employed at a salary of $60 per month. The money for school support was from Government funds, and no direct assessment was levied.

…The principals of the various schools at present are as follows: …Miss Lucy A. Ware, Eddy; …”

Reference Data:

Columbian History of Education in in Kansas, by Board of Directors of Kansas Educational Exhibit and Kansas State Historical Society, 1893, page 101