Ainsworth School-Year Souvenir, 1897-98 (Part 1)

Here is the first page of another recent acquisition.


(Click on image to enlarge)

This program must date back to the era when the old Ainsworth school had only one room — otherwise, there would have been more than one teacher.

The teacher, Mabel Peterson, was the daughter of William and Cassie (Booth) Smith (and niece of Cyrus Smith). She had been born in 1872. In 1896 she married Frank Peterson (Indiana Marriage Collection), but in 1897-98 they had no children yet (1910 Census). I believe they were living somewhere near the Ainsworth schoolhouse: according to the 1908 Plat Map, they hadn't yet bought the farm in southern Ross Township; and the 1900 Census shows them farming rented land near her father and Uncle Cyrus — possibly her father's farm on 73rd Street (where Exceptional Equestrians Unlimited is now). From there, it was a walk of perhaps 2,000 feet up (present-day) Greene Street and Ainsworth Road to the schoolhouse.

Dr. Homer L. Iddings, Ross Township trustee, was a practicing physician in Merrillville, and himself a former schoolteacher, according to a 1904 biographical sketch.

Francis "Frank" Ebenezer Cooper, the Lake County superintendent of schools, was likewise a former schoolteacher (1880 Census), and a resident of Crown Point, where he is buried.


Next, we'll get to the pupils.