08/22/2022
Did you know that at one time there were 93 schools operating in McCurtain County?
The first schools to open in what is now McCurtain County were ran by missionaries within the Choctaw Nation. These included Wheelock, Apeka near Eagletown, Mountain Fork near Ealgetown Oka Achukma east of present-day Broken Bow, Norwalk on Little River, Stockbridge north of Eagletown and Philadelphia near Goodwater.
Eventually, the Choctaw Nation created a national school system and built what they referred to as, "neighborhood schools" throughout what is now McCurtain County. These little schools were held in one room buildings, usually constructed of rough or hewn logs.
During the Civil War, the Choctaw government pulled all funding from their national education system and diverted the money to the war effort as they fought along with the Confederacy. During this time, the missionaries again were the only ones offering education in what is now McCurtain County. The Choctaw Nation's national school system started back up after the war.
As a condition of the Choctaw's reconstruction with the United States after the American Civil War, it was required of them to accept their freed slaves into the tribe as citizens and to construct schools for them. In 1888 the Choctaw Nation authorized the building of two such schools, one of which being the Oak Hill Industrial School near present-day Valliant. This school began as a day school, ran out of the old two-story hewn log home of former Choctaw District Cheif, Basil LeFlore. Later the school moved, constructed a new facility, became a boarding school and changed its name to Elliot Academy to honor a donor to the school. Oak Hill Industrial School and Elliot Academy taught not only the basics of education, but also vocational classes such as soil conservation, bee keeping, dairy science, poultry production, meat processing and canning.
After Oklahoma statehood in November of 1907, schools began to spring up throughout the county. The year of 1908 saw the construction of dozens of schools. Some of them were in more highly populated areas. Others, such as Lebow School, Minniehaha School, Red Star School, Noah School and Keys School were more remote. Some schools had formerly been Choctaw Nation neighborhood schools and classes carried on after statehood.
Some of these schools were small, one-room affairs. Some were made from logs initially, others build in a, "board and batten" style. Many of these newly formed schools quickly outgrew these first buildings and by 1919-1921 there was yet another school building boom in the county. Some school districts even had two different schools serving the same district.
However, as the automobile made its way onto the scene, the world began to get smaller. Throughout much of the county, there was a school nearly every seven to ten miles. This allowed a school within walking distance of the many farming communities that dotted our early, post-statehood map. The year 1918 saw the first consolidated school district in the county. That year the Forest Hill, Oak Grove and Farmers Hill Schools consolidated to create McCurtain County School District Number One and a new school named Forest Grove School which is still in operation today.
The 1920s also saw a higher demand for higher education. Prior to this time, a great majority of students in the county only obtained a grade school education. Still more only went to school sporadically, attending three to four years, stretched out over the course of eight to nine years. After McCurtain County's fighting men of World War One returned home, there was a push for better education.
By 1920, high school classes were offered at schools in Idabel, Haworth, Gavin, Valliant, Wright City, Broken Bow, Eagletown and Bokhoma. There were no high school opportunities from Broken Bow to Heavener, Oklahoma. In that same year, the Methodist Church established the Folsom Training School in Smithvillle, at the north end of the town's Main Street. The school was a boarding school that also taught vocational skills such as dairy science, poultry production, pecan farming and carpentry.
Not everyone who applied for enrollment at Folsom obtained admission. The students had to be, "of upright moral character", they had to prove to be able to obtain and maintain good grades and they had to be able to afford to pay their way. Those not able to pay were sometimes able to work jobs at the school to help pay their tuition. Though some worked to pay tuition, all students worked. Some cut wood, some tended the pecan orchards, some tended the fruit orchards, some tended the large school gardens, some worked in the school's diary farm and many had house keeping chores throughout the school campus.
The next school to offer high school classes between Broken Bow and the McCurtain County - LeFlore County line was Battiest, graduating their first class in 1934.
Pictured is the Pleasant Hill School, Pleasant Hill Community near Haworth, taken in 1913. The names of the people in the photo are unknown. Photo is courtesy of the Kenneth Sivard Jr. Collection of the Oklahoma Historical Society Research Division.
