McCrea reports (p. 92) schools in Florence, Safford, Ehrenberg, Yuma, and other towns in 1873. In 1879 the schools of Florence were said to be in a flourishing condition.[1]
The first schoolhouse in Globe was built in 1880 in the southern part of what was then the camp and was placed in charge of G. J. Scanlan.[2]
So much for the development of the schools in separate centers in the Territory. Although evolved under a Territorial law, there was as yet little unity among them, for they were largely supported by local funds, there was little connection with one another, and solidarity of feeling had not developed. A new stage of development and progress began with the school law of 1879.
It seems proper to add as a fitting close to this chapter the appreciation of Gov. Safford’s work written by the first historian of education in Arizona. Prof. McCrea,[3] in concluding his estimate of this period, says:
Whatever might have been his feeling in the matter, Gov. Safford had reasons for being proud of his work for education in Arizona. He was a great governor in many respects, but he was greatest of all in his labors for the public school. He had been able to lead an unwilling assembly to adopt an efficient school law, and to modify it only as needed. From a scanty population scattered far and near, and constantly harassed by the Indians, he had secured liberal appropriations for schools. Though unused to American institutions, the strong foreign element had been won over by his wisdom and patience, and the Americans were glad to follow so able a leader. At the close of his work he could point to a score of teachers employed, and to as many schoolrooms erected by the voluntary contributions of the people. Since 1871 more than $120,000 had been raised for school purposes, yet he left the Territory to his successor practically free of debt, a happy condition it has never since known. But of all the success of this period was the great heart and strong purpose of a man anxious to see a good start made on the work, not yet completed, of making good Americans of some very unpromising material through the agency of the public school. The idea seems to have been his religion, and right well did he live it. Although no school building bears his name in the town he did so much to rescue from oblivion, he will live in the affections of the people of the Territory as the “Father of the Arizona Public School.”
To this high but well-deserved praise the present writer would give his most unqualified assent.
