John Daniel Hodges (1844-1936)
Private
. Captain William E. Booe's Partisan Rangers . N.C. Volunteers .
Company H, 63rd Regiment . (5th Regiment N.C. Cavalry) . N.C. Troops
"John
was born October 11, 1844, in Davie County. He was the son of Joseph W.
(b.1817 Virginia) and Mary Ann M. (b.1818 Davie County) By 1860 John's father had died and John assumed the responsibility of
helping his mother tend to the farm in the Liberty District. He enlisted
April 15, 1863. He was captured near Hagerstown, Maryland, July 12,
1863, paroled at the hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and exchanged at
City Point, Virginia, September 27, 1863. He was present and accounted
for through December 1864. He was captured again at Dinwiddie Court
House, Virginia, on March 30, 1865, and confined at Point Lookout,
Maryland, until released after taking the Oath of Allegiance, June 27,
1865.
"James W. Wall writes in his History of Davie County that 'After serving in the Civil War, Hodges returned
to his farm home in Augusta and then attended attended Trinity College
(Duke) and graduated from Yale University in 1874. He began a fifty-two
year career in education as a teacher and administrator in Union County,
served as a teacher and administrator in Raleigh and New Bern, and in
the early 1880s was professor of Greek at Trinity College.'
He
returned home to Davis County where he married Sallie A. Thompson, age
21, on January 9, 1896. Their children were John D. Jr., Paul Eustace,
Mary, Sarah and Ruth. He became county supervisor of schools in July
1900, and remained a prominent influence for education until his death
on January 4, 1936. He is buried in Concord United Methodist Church
Cemetery. Professor Hodges had served as a Private in the Civil War, but
during his long life he rose through the ranks of the N.C. Division
United Confederate Veterans to become Brigadier General of that
organization." Ancestry.com
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John
D. Hodges founded the first Monroe School in 1875, the year after he
graduated from Yale. It was a private boarding school located on
Lancaster Avenue. The school was somewhat revolutionary in that it was
co-educational. However, on March 12, 1891, this building burned down.
Newspaper March 12, 1891, reported, "Fire was discovered in
the Monroe High School building early this morning. An alarm was at once
sent in and the students of the school were aroused as soon as
possible, but it was too late to save the building and two unfortunate
young men, Thomas E. Pemberton, of Little Rock, Ark., and Albert Bost,
of Bost's Mills, Cabarrus County, N.C., perished in the flames. At the
first alarm the young ladies, who roomed on the ground floor, made their
escape. The young men roomed on the third floor and when the alarm
reached them, means of escape were partially cut off and the building
filled with smoke and flame. Albert [Jackson] Bost [17] and A.C. Rhodes
were in a room together. Albert awakened first and discovering the fire
awoke Rhodes. In trying to escape, Albert started for the west entrance,
which was in the part of the building where the fire originated. He was
suffocated by the smoke, overcome by the heat, and went down with the
building. Rhodes sought the east entrance and managed to escape after
being severely burned about the neck, head, and arms. Thomas Pemberton
[15, son of Calvin and Harriet, buried in Monroe City Cemetery] was not
seen at all and his remains were found on the wire springs of his bed,
leading to the belief that he did not awake at all. Rocks were thrown
through the windows to arouse him and tongues of flame licked through
the openings in the glass…The building was completely destroyed,
together with school furniture, four pianos and the library. The loss is
some $10,000 with small insurance. The fire is supposed to have been
incendiary." (The Landmark Statesville, Iredell County, North Carolina)
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The
Monroe City Schools were originally chartered by the N.C. Sate
Legislature on February 25, 1897. In 1900 the City of Monroe built a new
two-story structure that was later known as John D. Hodges
School.
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Photo from 1902 Stack & Beasley book Sketches of Monroe and Union County
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About 1902, Professor E.C. Brooks wrote in Sketches of Monroe and Union County:
"The
Monroe Graded Schools were organized in June, 1900. This was the third
attempt and the interest manifested in the opening of the schools showed
that all, even those who were opposed to the extra tax, were prepared
to give the institution the good will of the town and to go to any
reasonable expense that every feature might be as strong as possible.
The men who have served as members of the Board--Messrs. H.B. Adams,
R.A. Morrow, W.S. Lee, S.J. Welsh, S.W. Parham, J.C. Fletcher, A.M.
Crowell and S.O. Blair are all strong business men, and they have
administered the affairs of the graded school with the same intelligence
that they would have given the business of a private corporation.
"At
the end of the first year they realized that the salaries paid the
teachers were not sufficient to retain or secure the best teachers in
the State; and with their characteristic liberality they immediately
raised the salaries of all the teachers, and at the same time passed an
accompanying resolution that for the future no teacher would be selected
who has not had normal training or who has not had at least two years
experience in graded school work. This was a frank admission that the
board of trustees believed there is science in teaching, that teaching
is a profession requiring skill and previous training. Such a resolution
as this immediately placed the schools on a higher plane, for the
profession naturally received a higher consideration in the estimation
of the public mind.
"At
the end of the first year it was observed that several students,
ranging from the first to the tenth grades, who for various reasons
failed to complete the entire work of their respective grades must
either spend the whole of the next year in the same grade, or pass over
the work that was left unfinished. It was seen that with two assistant
teachers a bridge-work from one grade to another could be secured,
giving the delinquent students an opportunity of advancing as their
ability demanded and giving the quicker students an opportunity of
passing from one grad to another without being held back with the whole
grade until the end of the year. The board, after considering the merits
of such a plan, selected two assistant teachers. The result of this
work has been most gratifying.
"The
first two years has been spent in the building and equipping the
school. Recently the last installment of furniture was placed in the new
building. The entire property is now valued at about $20,000; $15,000
in buildings and equipment. The enrollment in the white school for the
year is 491, with 11 teachers. In the colored school, 220, with three
teachers. This school is doing work of an industrial nature.The
Graded School had ten grades. The building had two main entrances. The
boys had to stay on the left side and the girls on the right. There was a
high board fence separating the two sides at the back."
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| 1911 Postcard |
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| Early 1900s |
