Sisco Chapel School

The first schoolhouse was built of logs and was on a hill above Claylick Creek.

 Isaac Sisco gave the land,  the logs and also helped build the school in about 1860.

After the new frame one-room building was built beside the old log one, the old building was used for church services.

Miss Willie Adams taught in 1879 and trustees were B. A. Enoch, J. L. Riley and L. N. Sisco.  Other teachers through the years included: Bob Allen, Sally Moore, Reba Pigeon, Grady Sisco, Owen Davenport, Dennis Farmer, Glenna Sisco, Randall and Paul Woodall, Mabel Wheeler, Ewell Hardin, Regenia Postlethweight, Katherine Swansey, Helen Moore and Homer Davidson.

Surnames of some of the families who attended the school was Belt, Branham, Butler, Canada, Cardin, Davenport, Floyd, Howard, Riley, Sisco, Walker, Watson and Yandell.

The school closed in the school year 1950 and students were sent to Tolu School.   There is no sign of these buildings now, but a few large foundation stones are there.  The Sisco Chapel cemetery is located on the lot next to where the school and church buildings sat.

A Visit To Down Town Tolu in 1891

Tolu - one of Crittenden County early prosperous little communities.  From a Crittenden Press article written in March 1891.  It was a busy and growing town with many businesses on Main street with everything the people would need.  Now only home to a few residents, many who were born and raise here and love their town.

The topography of the town plot consists of gentle undulations, sloping gradually back from the Ohio River, without any bluff or abrupt ascent, and presents hundreds of beautiful building lots, on which we hope will soon stand lovely homes and residences. 

 It is 75 miles from Evansville, Ind, and 60 miles from Paducah, Ky., and is easily reached from the east, west and north by way of the Ohio River. 

When you reach Tolu, coming up Main Street you will find an elegant two-story schoolhouse, which is an honor to the town.  Farther on down you will find the new dry goods firm of Minner & Clark who are nice clever men, and always ready to show you their goods and ask you to call again.

 In the same house is the Tolu Hotel Kept by Dr. Carty with his tables bountifully supplied with good food.

On down the street farther we come to the new hardward store kept by Crider & Company in one of the best houses in the county.  It is a large frame structure, with a solid glass front and brick pavement, which is a benefit to one and all.  At the rear of this is a ware house 20x60 ft. filled with all the latest improved machinery, plows, etc.

An ad for the new Crider & Company Hardware Store - dated 1891

T. M. Moore, the druggist, who is very polite, and ready to mix your medicine either to cure you or to make you ready for the undertaker.

Historic Old Home For Sale

This homes' history started in August 1900, when Dr. Robert Love Moore was making plans to build a new home for his family.  Mr. G. F. Jennings, Marion contractor, was drawing up the plans.  The home was to be one of the handsomest in East Marion.

When the home was first built it was a one-story home.  A few years later two-story homes were becoming popular and since the Moore family was needing some added rooms, Dr. Moore added a second story to their home.  The interior decorations were beautiful and the hard woodwork when finish, was rich and elegant.  (The hardwood trim is still beautiful today.)

Later the home would be handed down to Dr. Moore's daughter, Roberta and her family, which was Floyd C. Wheeler and their two sons, Floyd M. and Robert M. Wheeler.

 This picture shows the way the home looked for many years.

After the Wheeler family sold the home, it was owned by several others, and in the early 1990s, J. D. and Merle Myers purchased the home and turned it into a Bed and Breakfast.  They had a nice business and folks love to stay here in their friendly home.

In 2009 they had the house re-roofed and the new burgundy colored siding put on.  Not too long afterwards the Myers had to close the Bed and Breakfast, due to their health.

Marion's Rosenwald School

Rosenwald School was an all-black school that operated in Marion from 1927 until 1965.  The school was one of 155 Rosenwald schools in Kentucky financed by Julius Rosenwald, the late president of Sears, Roebuck and Co.  In the early 1900's Rosenwald built nearly 5,000 schools for African-American children in 15 states in the South.

In 1911, Rosenwald, who was white, befriended Booker T. Washington, the noted African American educator, and together they built school for black children in the segregated South and Southwest.

Marion's Rosenwald school closed in the year 1965, due to the Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that assured that no person in the United States will be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color or national origin, nor be excluded from participation in any program or activity which is in part, or all, supported by the federal government.

 

The old school building was used as a private dwelling for many years, just until recently it sits empty and terrible condition.  Something that, if funds were available, should have been preserved for it's history.

Picture made March 23, 2013.