Page:History of Public School Education in Arizona.djvu/13

There was, however, at least one such school in operation during the earlier years of American dominion, for Gov. Goodwin mentions it in his message to the first assembly in September, 1864. This was the mission of San Xavier del Bac, near Tucson.

McClintock states that a Catholic school was established at Tucson in 1866 under a teacher named Vincent, and that in 1870 the Sisters of St. Joseph organized a girls’ school there and erected buildings.^[1] Of this school for girls Hamilton says:

The first regular educational establishment was opened by the Sisters of St. Joseph, in Tucson. For years this was the only school in the Territory, and from many isolated towns and settlements parents sent their children to the Academy of St. Joseph. Although the institution was under the control of the Catholic Church, and the instruction given partook somewhat of a religious character, yet no discrimination was shown.^[2]

In view of these conditions, and with the exception of the two schools mentioned above, one of which was for Indians and the other for girls, in matters of education, the men who organized the Territory of Arizona at Navajo Springs in December, 1863, and began laying the foundations for an American public-school system, found among the white settlers of American origin a field practically unoccupied. What, then, was the origin and race of the white settlers and what were the conditions which the advocates of the American public school found in Arizona?

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1. McClintock, James H.: History of Arizona, II, 495.
2. Hamilton, Patrick: Resources of Arizona, 3d ed., 1885, pp. 247–48.
   There was another St. Joseph’s Academy located near the military hospital of Camp Lowell, near Prescott. The building was begun March 19, 1868; finished May 6, 1870; opened June 6, 1870, with 33 pupils; number now in attendance, 210; the building was 120 by 60 feet.—Arizona Miner, Nov. 18, 1824.

Statistical view of the growth of Arizona’s population, 1860–1910.

Years.	White.	Colored.	Total.	Per cent of increase.	Population per square mile.
1860	[Table 1]6,842
1870	9,581	26	9,658		0.08
1880[Table 2]	35,160	[Table 3]5,280	40,440	319.75	.35
1890	55,734	[Table 3]32,509	88,243	118.20	.77
1900	92,903	[Table 3]30,028	122,931	39.31	1.08
1910	171,468	[Table 3]32,786	204,354	66.23	1.80

1. For Arizona County, N. Mex., population not differentiated by color, race, or nativity.
2. In 1880 this included only the civilized Indians.
3. Includes Negroes, Indians, Chinese, Japanese.