Harmony Elementary: History of Harmony School

I will be adding the history of the school and neighborhood as I am able.

History of Harmony School

The area up to the building of the first school

It is not my intention to give an in-depth history of Oregon, the Willamette Valley or the Milwaukie area on this page, but rather a short overview as it concerns this specific area. There have been volumes written about the Oregon and the Willamette Valley and do not desire to reiterate much of those have to say. That being said:

The area that would become Harmony and its immediate surroundings had been very sparsely inhabited by the native peoples for thousands of years prior to the coming of Europeans. At the close of the 17th century, what is now northern Clackamas county was the territory of the Clackamas people, a branch of the Chinook people. The economy of the Clackamas people was primarily fishing and so they stayed fairly close to the rivers. When the Lewis and Clark expedition came through in 1806, they were found to be living in villages from the falls of the Willamette (modern Oregon City) to the Clackamas River, up the Clackamas River a short distance and apparently along the Sandy River; they would only have come to the area around Mt Scott and Phillips Creek while hunting berries, nuts and roots. At the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the population of this people was estimated at around 1800. The area which came to be known as Harmony would remain essentially uninhabited for the next 40 years.

Europeans came to Oregon in 1811 when the Pacific Fur Company established Fort Astoria near the mouth of the Columbia River. Astoria was sold to the Canadian North West Company in 1813. The North West trappers most likely had investigated the area looking for furs, but their impact in present Clackamas County would have been minimal. The Hudson's Bay Company came a little later, and merged with the North West Company in 1821. They moved the fort to Fort Vancouver in 1824. From there they were able to have more influence along the Willamette, evidenced by the founding of Oregon City in 1829. Even with the increased activity from Europeans in the neighborhood, the Harmony area remained untouched. The increase in trapping activity by Europeans was off-set by a Malaria epidemic from 1829 to 1833 that was particularly devastating to the local Clackamas people. So devastating, in fact, that by 1850, there were less than 90 left and in 1855, when the Clackamas were relocated to the Grand Ronde Reservation, there were only 55.

Settlers not working for the Hudson's Bay Company, and missionaries began trickling in slowly in the late-1830's. There were but a couple hundred in the whole territory in 1842, when the Oregon Donation Land Claim act was proposed. It wasn't ratified until a few years later, but that didn't stop the people from coming. From 1842 on, thousands upon thousands began pouring in to the state. They were given large allotments of land, and most who settled in the area would seek their claim along the Willamette River and its tributaries. The Harmony area was ignored until 1846.

By 1846, when Hiram Phillips and his family arrived in the Willamette Valley, all the land in close proximity to the Willamette and the Clackamas Rivers was already claimed. His best choice was a fairly flat parcel of 320 acres, which he filed for in Oct 1846. This plot of land became the heart of the community that would come to be called Harmony. His son, Marion, received 160 acres adjoining the northwest, and another son, William, received 427 acres adjoining to the east and south.

Harmony area survey 1852-1854

I have adapted a map of the the original survey of the area done between 1852 and 1854, adding notes (in blue) to show locations of modern landmarks. Click the thumbnail for full-size view. Each square on the map is one square mile. Below is another map to show the names of the the original claim holders. Shaded areas are those claims filed before 1860 - later claims are unshaded. On this map I have included modern roads to indicate the extent of each claim. Keep in mind that the only roads that that were in existence in this area in 1860 were the Milwaukie-Oregon City Road roughly following the modern Milwaukie Expressway, the Milwaukie & Oregon City Road to Sandy which was close to modern Price Fuller Road and the Milwaukie to Foster's Road which roughly followed modern Harmony and Sunnyside Roads.

Master Title Map of Harmony Area

On this map I have indicated all the schools were and would be built:
1 & 2 - Harmony schools [1909, 1950; closed 1988]
3 - Wichita school [1909; closed 2008]
4 - Battin School [1913; closed 1988]
5 - Hector Campbell Elementary [1957; closed 2011]
6 - Clackamas high school [1957; closed 2002]
7 - Lot Witcomb Elementary [1959]
8 - Linwood Elementary [1968].

The Beginnings of Harmony School

At first, those were the only families in the Harmony area, with a couple more to the south along present Milwaukie Expressway. After a couple of years, some of the lands began to be subdivided so that more families moved in, but the area owned by the Phillips family remained in their hands until after the building of Harmony school. At first, these families sent their children to Milwaukie school in the small town of Milwaukie to the west. Later, it would seem, that the area fell under the East Clackamas school district 9. Though I find no description of the boundaries of district 9, when the first district 49 (Harmony) was formed to the south of modern Harmony Rd. in 1868, it was immediately annexed to district 9. Then in 1874, the voters of district 9 filed a petition to split the northern portion of the district off and reform district 49 - Harmony.

That was the beginning of the Harmony school district 49. At that time, a school house was built on the Mary Phillips property (her husband Hiram had died in 1849) on the east side of Price Fuller Rd between Southgate and Sunnyside roads, roughly where the church stands now. This first school house was a one room house which served a fairly large area of sparsely-populated Clackamas county. It's boundaries were Harmony Rd on the south, Multnomah county line on the north, Linwood Ave on the west and 122nd Ave on the east. None of those roads existed then except Fuller Rd, and none extend the full length of the boundary. See accompanying map. There was also a small section one mile long and half mile wide extending south from where Harmony Rd. meets Linwood Ave. These boundaries remained the same until 1909 when the Wichita school district was formed.

Orig Harmony School Boundaries

To the right I have indicated the original Harmony school district 49 boundaries (red) on a 1978 USGS map to more easily envision the territory served by the original schools. In this map I have also marked Mary Phillips' property (blue) and her son Marion's property (purple). I have also indicated the locations of all of the Harmony schools with green dots numbered sequentially.

This was a fairly expansive territory, but at the same time there were very few families living in this area. Most of the growth in the original district was in the north along the county line and Johnson Creek in the 1890s and early 1900s. This growth was spurred by the eastward expansion of Portland and the electric rail following Johnson Creek. The southern and eastern portions of the district would remain quite rural for many more years. In addition to the founding of the Wichita school in Feb 1909, the first Battin school district 54 was built in 1913, reducing the size of the Harmony district by half.

Harmony school served children first through eighth grades; typically ages six through fourteen. That was the extent of education in Clackamas county until Milwaukie High School was built in 1907. If one sought higher education before then, the choice was to travel to Portland to attend Portland High School, which was established in 1869. Quite a trip in those days. Also, prior to 1889, there wasn't a compulsory education law in Oregon, so one would send their children to school as they saw fit. In 1889 it became law that all children between the ages of eight and fourteen must attend school at least twelve weeks of every year and eight of those weeks had to be consecutive.

A list of teachers at Harmony 1874 through 1886. Despite many years showing more than one teacher, there was only one teacher conducting school at a time. It was difficult for School District 49 to compete with some of the districts with more revenue, so often teachers would stay on until a better paying opportunity presented itself.

1874: Ms. Sarah Emma Lent [1854-1927]; married Prof. Jasper McGrew of Portland.

She was related to the Lent, Buckley and Clinton Kelly families.

1875: Ms. Ella Ross [1853-1907]; taught in Portland area and ran a business college

in Dayton, WA. married Robert R Hays. She then spent most the rest

                   of her life in Tillamook.

     1876: Mrs. Susanna Keenan [1846-?]; wife of S.M. Keenan; moved to Phoenix, AZ
                Mrs. Jane Killmor [?-?]; moved to Iowa. no info
                Ms. Mary Albright [?-?]; moved to Detroit, MI. no info

     1877: Mr. Alexander Thompson [1844-1904]; became Clackamas County

Superintendent of Schools 1888-92 and member of the Oregon Legislature

                from Clackamas Co.

     1878: Mr. Alexander Thompson

     1879: Mr. Salem Sylvester Campbell [1858-1921]; Moved to Vancouver, WA and

became Clark Co commissioner, then judge.
Mr. J. P. Wager [1850-1918]; later State Senator from Umatilla County, OR;

editor of East Oregonian, Pendleton; associate editor of Evening Telegram,

Portland.

1880: Mr. J. P. Wager

              Mr. Alexander Thompson

     1881: Mr. Alexander Thompson
              Ms. Isabel Otty [1856-1942]; born in Canada, the Otty family came to Clackamas

county in 1879. She married Arthur Mather, merchant of Clackamas.

1882: Ms. Helen Ross [1862-1933]; Sister of Ella Ross above, she married first

        Mr. Kerr, then later William Woods. She taught in Portland schools.
              Mr. William Hartson [?-?]; moved to Ft Wayne, IN, no other info.

     1883: Ms. Edith Louise Lazelle [1859-1935]; married David L. Clouse and moved to

                        Portland.

     1884: Ms. Edith Louise Lazelle

     1885: Mr. Walter E. Russell [1858-1913]; moved to Walla Walla and became a doctor.

     1886: Ms. Edith Louise Lazelle

Ms. Jane 'Jennie' Byers [1866-1913]; married John Wise and remained in the area.

Ms. Annie Smith [1860-bef 1900]; no info. died before 1900. Daughter of

Alanson P Smith, sister of Mary Ryan.
Mr. Henan Scott Gibson [1862-1938]; farmer who remained in the county,

Superintendent of Schools 1892-96.

Harmony Part 2 -- 1887-1909

In 1884, Marion Phillips donated about two acres of land to the Clackamas County school board in order to better suit their needs. This two acres was across the road on what would become the corner of Price Fuller and Harmony roads. I am sure part of the impetus was a need for more room to serve the growing population. In 1887, a new two room school house was built on this land.

With two rooms came two teachers; the primary teacher being called the principal and the secondary being called the assistant. The laws about attendance were the same until 1889 when Oregon made compulsory education between ages eight and fourteen the law; Harmony was still a first-through-eighth school. The school year was nine months, but children were only required to attend twelve weeks. Everything else about the school and its rules remained pretty stable throughout these twenty-two years.

The population was steadily growing in the north, but remaining fairly stable in the east and south. As for the growth of the neighborhood and school district, I will include maps to show the new roads surveyed in the area and new subdivisions established. One can see from these maps that the traditional Harmony area remained a rural farming community.

A list of teachers at Harmony school between 1887 and 1909 is as follows:
     1887: Ms. Annie Smith
                Principal: Mr. Charles E. Hedge [1861-1933]; moved to Portland and became a merchant.
                Assistant: Ms. Carrie Phillips [1861-1941] md William W. Jones and moved to Seattle, WA.
                        daughter of Marion Phillips.

     1888: Principal: Mr. Charles E. Hedge
                Assistant: Ms. Jane 'Jennie' Byers

     1889: Mr. J. Wing [?-?]; no info.
                Ms. Edna Ross [1871- ]; moved to Portland; sister of Ella and Helen Ross, above.
                Principle: Mr. W. B. Adams [1857-]; moved to Phoenix, AZ then California
      Assistant: Mrs. Bertie "Verse" Adams [1870-]; moved to Phoenix, AZ; wife of Mr. W. B.

     1890: Ms. Edna Ross
                Principle: Mr. W. B. Adams
      Assistant: Mrs. Bertie "Verse" Adams

     1891: Principal: Mr. Harvey Gordon Starkweather [1868-1951]; also superintendent of schools.
                        Nephew of the designer of the Great Seal of the State of Oregon, Harvey Gordon,
                        his mother's brother.
                Assistant: Ms. Ida A. Starkweather [1871-1955]; md George Derry, moved to Rockwood
                        then Damascus; Ida was sister of Harvey

     1892: Principal: Mr. Harvey Gordon Starkweather
                Assistant: Ms. Ida Starkweather
                Principal: Mr. T. C. James; no more info.
                Assistant: Ms. Madge Hill [1873-1959]; moved to Portland, OR., never married

     1893: Principal: Mr. T. C. James
      Assistant: Ms. Madge Hill
                Principal: Mr. George W. Swope [1871-bef 1930]; became student of theology in Kentucky
                Assistant: Ms. Grace Holmes [1867-1969]; married Benjamin Swope and moved to Toledo, OR

     1894: Principal: Mr. Horace G. Lake [1869-1947]; lived in Multnomah county, became an attorney.
                Assistant: Ms. Jessie R. Waldron [1871-1940]; married Millard Hyatt, moved to West Linn, OR.

     1895: Principal: Ms. Emma Sturchler [1874-1925]; moved to Portland.
      Assistant: Mrs. Lavelle Marshall [1866-1937]; moved to Portland.

     1896: Principal: Mrs. Lavelle Marshall
                Assistant: Ms. Jennie E. Rowen [1868-1938]; moved to Maple Lane, OR.; never married

     1897: Principal: Mrs. Lavelle Marshall
                Assistant: Ms. Jennie Rowen

     1898: Principal: Nelson W. Bowland [1861-1950]; moved to Portland, superintendent of schools 1898-1899
                Assistant: Mrs. Lillie Bowland [1862-1944]; wife of Nelson Bowland

     1899: Principal: Nelson W. Bowland
                Assistant: Mrs. Lillie Bowland

     1900: Principal: Mr. William H Karr [1867-1939]; went to Washington county.
                Assistant: Ms. Martha Sturchler [1880- ]; to Portland

     1901: Principal: Mr. William H. Karr
                Assistant: Ms. Martha Sturchler

     1902: Principal: Mr. Virgil A. Davis [1859-1937]; Went to Jackson and Douglas counties
                Assistant: Ms. Martha Sturchler

     1903: Principal: Ms. Laura E. Black [ - ]

     1904-09: no information at this time