Old ledgers tell schools’ stories

BY NORRIS DEARMON

Recently, a couple was visiting flea markets in Thomasville and Lexington. They noticed some old correspondence and a large stack of ledgers a vendor had for sale.
The discovered the writings were from J.W. Cannon, M.L. Cannon and C.A. Cannon, who wrote with Mr. Puckett, who operated a textile mill in High Point. The ledgers turned out to be discarded from the Cabarrus County School System and dated from 1904 to 1963.
It was a treasure trove for those of us who like to dig into history. One ledger was from the County Teachers Association. Members met at the courthouse where the program was by the superintendent and stressed various subjects.
Those present and absent were noted in the roll. The ledger listed the schools in the system from 1916 to 1927.
The only school in Kannapolis in 1916 was South School, later named McIver School. It was built in 1907.
All of the 12 female teachers were single. At that time, no married women could teach school. That’s why they were called “Old maid school teachers.”
When they married, it ended their teaching professions. I heard that some secretly married and never let it be known.
The new North School, later named Woodrow Wilson, was built and occupied in 1917. That year, because of the new school, the faculty doubled.
Township No. 4 went all the way to Shankletown before it was annexed into Concord and included the following white schools:
• Patterson with two teachers, which was located in the middle of what is now Concord Lake.
• Kannapolis with 12 teachers.
• Bethpage with two teachers. It was located several blocks south of the forks of Bethpage Road and Rainbow Drive. The address was Glass.
• Furr with two teacher. The address Rt. 2, Concord.
• Winecoff with three teachers.
Colored schools were:
• Bethel with one teacher.
• Jacob’s Rock, with one teacher.
• Shankletown with one teacher.
The only addresses for the colored schools were Concord, Rt. 2 and Rt. 3.
All of the other schools in the county were listed in townships, none with as many teachers as Kannapolis. Most only had one or two teachers. Rocky River and Mt. Pleasant had four teachers. White Hall had three.
Most of the schools were probably small, with only one or two rooms.
In other ledgers, I was surprised to see the schools borrowed money from the county’s board of education. It was payable in installments for 10 years, with an interest rate of 4 percent.
Kannapolis was indebted to the board of education for $2,000 on Feb. 18, 1914, payable each year on Feb. 10, beginning in 1915.
The first payment was for $200, plus $80 interest. The last payment was $200, plus $8 on Feb. 10, 1924.
Nothing is said of what the money was used for or how they were able to find funds for the repayments.
All the schools borrowed money, some as little as $50. Some borrowed more than once in the 10-year period. Education was not as free then as it was today. Teacher pay was little and the students had to buy their own books.
I have not had time to go through the ledgers in depth and perhaps more answers can be found later. I am sure more surprises will be uncovered.
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Norris Dearmon is a Kannapolis historian.