The Superior Express -

None of the 15 Jewell County high schools were alike. There were different mascots and colors, some had mottos, some didn't, some had buildings built for first through twelfth grades, others had buildings dedicated to the high school. But one school had several attributes setting it apart from all the others.

Northbranch Academy didn't have a district number or a "school board." It had a charter from the State of Kansas and was governed by a nine-member board of directors. Northbranch Academy was not funded with taxes but with tuition, a foundation and support from a church.

The Northbranch Academy was a different approach to education that graduated some 220 students in the years between 1889 and 1942. Only Jewell High School and Mankato High School graduated students earlier.

A bit of history. The community of North Branch was settled by Quakers arriving in as early as 1870 but many coming in 1873. Settlers with names like Dillon, Hadley, Lamb, Folger, Moore, Hiatt and others came from Quaker Meetings in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Today Northbranch is located on what was the D. H. and Emma Folger Dillon homestead.

The first post office in the area was called Quaker Point. The name was changed to North Branch in keeping with the North Branch of the Walnut Creek Meeting. The name was then changed to Northbranch in 1894 because of postal confusion with another North Branch.

Education was important to the Quakers of the Northbranch community. The first school in Walnut Township was a subscription school taught in the winter of 1872-73. The teacher was Zimri Hadley. The school was held in a log-dugout in the northeast corner of Section 32. His pay was $1 per month per child. (Prairie Jewels, Dillon and Shute). Later, there was another subscription school in Section 29.

In 1876, in the northwest corner of the Northbranch Cemetery in Section 18 a large log-dugout, 14 by 20 feet, was built. It was used for both a meeting house and for a subscription school. All these subscription schools were "under the care of the Quaker Church" and not financed with public funds. (Prairie Jewels, Dillon and Shute).

In 1882, the Friends Meeting built a 28 by 32 feet frame meeting house. This structure was in the northeast corner of the Northbranch Cemetery. The meeting used this building until 1911. (The 125 Year History of the Northbranch Friends Church, Erma Dillon)

By 1882, students were graduating from "common school" (eighth grade) but there was no place to go to high school. The students from the Northbranch community were boarding in Glen Elder to attend a Quaker Academy there.

The interest in education continued and in 1889, community leaders met with the purpose of establishing an academy in North Branch. The plan was to add an eight-to-ten-foot space on the Meeting Building to house the North Branch Academy. A recitation room was added later.

The North Branch Academy opened on Oct. 1, 1889. The board of directors consisted of nine members. Three were appointed by the North Branch Monthly Meeting and the other six were elected by the stockholders of the North Branch Academy Association. A stockholder of the association was anyone who had donated $5 or more to the association.

The academy opened with 16 students under the tutelage of Professor H. H. Townsend. The students were in the freshman and sophomore classes. Three terms were taught that first year. Tuition was $7 per term. (Oct. 11, 1889 Salem Argus). The years moved on and in the 1921-22 school year, the academy was charging $18 per semester for tuition. (Northbranch Academy Announcement 1921-1922)

The charter for the organization was signed on July 12, 1890. This document is housed in Lizzie's House, the museum in Northbranch owned and curated by Erma Dillon. Other documents and artifacts about the academy as well as the Northbranch community are on display or available for viewing by appointment.

The first directors of the North Branch Academy were Benjamin B. Hiatt, Mahlon Lamb, William S. Stanton, D. H. Dillon, Jason Kellum, A.H. Rinard, A.A. Davis, Asa Folger and Z.M. Hadley. William S. Stanton served as the president of the board with Benjamin B. Hiatt as the vice-president. Alonzo A. Rinard was the board's secretary and Austin A. Davis the treasurer. (The Catalogue of North Branch Academy 1890 courtesy of Erma Dillon).

The aim of the institution was to give "thorough instruction." "To make the academy the stepping stone from the common schools to broader fields of usefulness, and, to higher courses of study." "Special attention will be given to fitting teachers for their work, and in preparing students for college." (The Catalogue of North Branch Academy 1890 curtesy of Erma Dillon).

In looking at catalogues from the early days of the school and other materials archived in Lizzie's House, it is thought there was no mascot for the school. Nor has a mention of school colors has been located. It seems each class had their own colors and motto, though the academy had a motto.

The June 6, 1895 Burr Oak Herald ran an item which identified the academy motto as "The Past for Example, the Present for Action, the Future for Hope." This item also shared the academy yell which was sung and not chanted.

Rawk, Chalk, Jay Hawk

Quick Quack Quakeree

North Branch, North Branch

North Branch Academy

Hurrah, hurrah!

Let it come heartily!

Three cheers, three cheers!

North Branch Academy!

An announcement in the Nov. 27, 1890 Burr Oak Herald proclaimed: "The winter term of the North Branch Academy opens Tuesday Dec. 2. There will be classes in spelling, writing, reading, arithmetic, grammar, geography, physical geography, history, American literature, natural philosophy, book-keeping, algebra and other branches. The instruction is thorough, the moral influences are good and the rate of boarding is low." It was signed: H. H. Townsend, Principal.

In July of 1892, the academy was introducing four staff members and looking forward honoring the first three graduates. Members of the North Branch Academy Class of 1893 were Edith Dillon, Gilbert Bowles and Zelma Dillon. More than 200 graduates would follow them over the next 39 years.

The frame building of 1882 was not large enough for the growing academy. With a $25,000 endowment given by D. H. Dillon and donations by many others, the Northbranch Academy Association made plans for a new structure and a new future.

The new building was called The Northbranch Academy Church. The two-story structure had a basement and the sanctuary could seat 500. The54 feet by 54 feet building cost $7,000 in cash and $1,000 in donated labor. It was dedicated in 1911, fully paid for.

Classes at the academy were never really large and in fact, some years there were no graduates. Many classes had two, three or four graduates. Carl Mitchell was the lone graduate in the Class of 1908. The 1920s saw the larger classes at the Northbranch Academy. The Classes of 1921 and 1923 both had 13 graduates, the largest classes to graduate from the academy.

By the late 1930s enrollment was dropping and times in general were financially difficult. There were no graduates in 1936, 1937, 1938 or 1939, only two in 1940 and six in 1941. The low enrollment brought about the closing of the Northbranch Academy.

1942 saw the final class to earn diplomas from Northbranch Academy. The five members of the Class of 1942 were Esther Burton, Darlene Dillon, Marjorie Dyer, Mac Gossard and Marjorie Smith. It is believed there are no living graduates of the Northbranch Academy.

The Northbranch Academy no longer exists, but in a way still lives on. The Aug. 11, 1949, Ruskin Leader reported that the Northbranch Academy .