Singing Schools of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

From the knowledge of Capt. Roy and Helen G. Hall: "About 1900 it was the custom .... to have 'Singing Schools.' In summer when the crops were laid by, some singing teacher usually turned up at each community and offered to teach a three week singing school to be held at the little school house. For a very small fee all the young people could enjoy not only the pleasure of each other's company, but also learned to sing by learning 'shaped notes.'"*

The photos seen below once belonged to L. J. Dodd of Alvord, Wise County, Texas. The Prairie Point Music School, seen in the first photograph, was held from July 18th through August 6th, 1904, and may have been located at present-day Rhome, of said county. L. J Dennis of Hanna, Texas, was Principal; L.J. Dodd was Assistant and W. T. Copeland was Accompanist ~ the latter of whom also hailed from Alvord.

*Roy Franklin and Helen Gibbard Hall, 'Collin County: Pioneering in North Texas,' Nortex Press, 1975, page 131.
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The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

I think it is more likely that the Prairie Point Music School, pictured above, was held in the small, Cooke-County community of that name .... located in the extreme southwest corner, north of Rosston and just above the route of the old Butterfield Overland Mail.
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The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Those are pretty old pictures. It looks like some of those boys liked to throw rocks at the windows. jocolor

Did you ever find out where they're from?

Madelyn

I thought we'd take a drive up to southwestern Cooke County when the temperature cools down. The old schoolhouse (s) may no longer be standing at the Prairie Point community -- and a general history of the county which I have does not contain photos of a similar structure in that community -- but it will be fun to explore, nonetheless. As the family from whom the photos came once lived at Alvord (Wise County), it would be a good idea to snoop around there, too.

Prairie Point is one of those place names -- 'Fairview' being another -- that occurs in multiple localities across the state. The original name for Rhome, just a county away in Wise, also was Prairie Point.

And all of those kids in the pictures look to have been mild-mannered, but .... ;-)
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The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Those are sweet. cheers

Wrangler Joined : 25 May 2007 Posts : 12

Do you know any of the kids' names?