Sevier County Community Schools – 1915

By Beulah D. Linn County Historian

  Education improved in Sevier County in 1915.

In an editorial entitled “Raise the Standards” of June 23, 1915 Vindicator, editor William Montgomery stated, “Superintendent of Schools holds that all teachers must hereafter be examined by the state board. Present certificates are good for the time issued but after that teacher examinations go.” Under the chairmanship of H. D. Bailey the members of the County Court (Justices of the Peace) voted to increase teacher’s salaries to $41.00 a month.

Teachers were appointed by District School Directors

The new Sevier County Baptist High School (Smoky Mountain Academy) opened in 1915.

There were ninety-six public schools, three church schools, four mission schools, and Pi Beta Phi Settlement School.

  The public school opened August 19, 1915 with Alton Oliver Delozier as Superintendent of Public Instruction.

  The length of the school term was four months. After the public schools closed subscription schools opened in some of the public schools houses for another term of three or four months. Subscription schools were intended to supplement the regular school term. The teachers were the more popular public school teachers.

  Many residents of communities, which did not have subscription schools, arranged to send their children to board with relatives or others in communities, which did have subscription schools. The cost of tuition varied according to grade level.

  The emphasis on going to school at least through the eight grade resulted in 412 Sevier County students receiving an eighth grade certificate in 1915. The chief objective was for the student to receive a solid grounding in reading, writing, arithmetic, and spelling.

  Alton Oliver Delozier who had completed his second year in the Collegiate Department of Murphy College in 1913-14 served two terms as Superintendent of Instruction: 1915 to 1921 and 1923 to 1929.

  Alton Oliver Delozier was the son of Dr. Joseph Benjamin Delozier and Sarah Ellen Loveday Delozier. He married Mae E. Flanagin, daughter of Dr. S. W. Flanagin and Rachel Elizabeth Parker Flanagin on Oct. 29, 1919.  

	Alton Delozier

Alton Oliver DeLozier, a long-time Mason, Sunday school teacher, and former Sevier County Superintendent of Schools, died Wednesday afternoon at the age of 84 in Baptist Hospital.

  DeLozier was a member of First United Methodist Church in Sevierville, where he taught Sunday school for more than fifty years and attended the Men’s Bible Class.  He was also a member of Mountain Star Lodge 197 Free and Accepted Masons for more than fifty years, Royal Arch Chapter 163, Knights Templar Commandry, Kerbela Temple Shriner, and thirty-second degree Mason.

  Delozier had taught school in Bradley and Sevier Counties and was Sevier County Superintendent of Schools for several terms during the first quarter of this century.

  Survivors include daughters Mrs. Charles (Jean) McCall of Loudon, Mrs. George (Flo Lee) Barnes, Jr. of Knoxville: sons Dr. Oliver Delozier and Dr. Joe Delozier of Knoxville; 11 grandchildren; 4 great grandchildren; and a brother Luther Delozier of Sevierville.

Funeral services were held Friday at Rawlings Chapel with Reverend Stanley Harrison of First United Methodist officiating. Interment followed at Shiloh Cemetery.

  Honorary pallbearers include members of his Sunday school class, members of Mountain Star Lodge 197, and Kerbela Temple Shrine’s.

Active pallbearers were Chandler McMahan, Bill Broady, Johnny Waters, James Trotter, Mayor Cliff Davis, Joe Carr and Roy Newman.

Obituary- Sevier County News-Record, Sevierville, Tennessee.  Tuesday, December 16, 1975, Section B, p. 10

	Harrison-Chilhowee Academy (The King’s Academy)

  In 1915 the Harrison-Chilhowee Academy in Seymour, which had, became a Baptist school in 1887 under the sponsorship of Chilhowee Baptist Association, was known as the Harrison Chilhowee Institute. It was under the direction of the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Association.

  The school provided an elementary and secondary education for students who lived in dormitories and also students who lived in the community.

  Under the administration of Professor Jerry E. Barton in 1915 the school offered an elective course entitled “Teacher Training”.

  Of the ten gradates in the class of 1915 the following were teaching in Sevier County public schools in the fall:

Shelby H. Atchley – Long Springs

John H. Drake – Shiloh

A.     M. Drinnen – Pickens

W. Stuart Rule – Principal, Laurel Grove

	Murphy College

Murphy College on Cedar Street in Sevierville opened in January 1892.

The College specialized in preparing students to become teachers. Although the school was operated under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Board of Trustees and the faculty were chosen from different denominations and the students could attend the church of their choice. The school curriculum also provided instruction in music and art. It was the cultural center of Sevierville offering lectures, musical programs, and plays.

  In 1915 under the administration of Dr. E. A. Bishop the Sevierville Grammar School was located in the old frame Methodist Episcopal South Church building that had been moved to Bruce Street and converted into two classrooms.

  Murphy College on Cedar Street provided classrooms for students in the collegiate and preparatory departments. Of the 12 students in the Collegiate Department of Murphy College in the spring of 1915 the following were teachers in Sevier County in the fall:

Mae E. Flanagin – Sevier County Baptist High School

Laura Walker- Principal, Fox

Thomas Whaley- Principal, Brier

  Of the 152 students in the Preparatory Department of Murphy College in the spring of 1915 the following were teachers in the fall of 1915: Lida R. Allen, Blanche Ballard, Sallie Blalock, Mattie Bohanan, Victoria Brown, Caroll Caughron, Beecher Drinnen, Mary Elder, Lizzie E. Emert, Ella Floyd, Nelli Hammer, Craton Hicks, Cora Ingle, Sarah Husky, Lee Price, L. E. (Ledford) Sarten, Newton Townsend, Ada Walker, and John Webb.

The Following was taken from an article in the Montgomery Vindicator

Aug. 11, 1915 Entitled “Where They Teach