| Description |
Weber Stake Academy first opened its doors for instruction at the LDS Second Ward Meeting House on the corner of 26th Street and Grant Avenue on January 7, 1889. The academy's two teachers, Louis F. Moench and Edwin Cutler, welcomed nearly one hundred students on the first day, and, by the end of its first term, 195 students in all had registered for the school. This monograph depicts the role the LDS church and its leaders played in founding the school, the background of its first educators and administrators and the financial challenges they confronted in operating the school from 1889 through 1894. Letters of appreciation for Louis F. Moench and a bibliography of primary sources are also provided. |
| OCR Text |
Show 60 Chapter XVI A Sunday School Conference of the Weber Stake was held in Ogden, November 11, 1894 at which Richard Ballantyne, Superintendent of the Weber Stake Sunday School said in addressing the audience: We need more educated teachers and I appeal to the presidency of the Deseret Sunday School Union Board for the priviledge of opening a department in the Ogden Stake Academy for the instruction of Sunday School workers. We should have at least 100 students this winter taking lessons in theology, in the theory and art of teaching and in music.1 Dr. Karl G. Maeser visited the school on November 21 of this year and in the me ting of the Board of Education spoke encouragingly and in the highest terms of the school and the work that was being done. He made a proposition to open a model Sunday School as Professor Moench called it, but which in reality was a Sunday School course for the training of teachers in the Sunday Schools and in various auxiliary organizations of the Weber Stake. The proposition was enthusiastically received because it meant money to the institution. At Dr. Maeser's request, Richard Ballantyne and Louis F. Moench went to Provo and visited for two days. At the Brigham Young University they learned many new things which helped them in the conduct of the training class. Letters were sent out to all the wards in the county and city urging them to choose some prospective teachers and send them to the Academy. This training class began on December 17, 1894. Representatives to the number of 30 were present. The First Ward had 3, the Third Ward 1, the Fourth Ward 4, Eden 5, North Ogden 4, Plain City 1, West Weber 4, Farr West 2, Harrisville 3, and Huntsville 2. Many others had sent in their names and were present at the next session, January 9, 1895. By the beginning of the new year each ward was represented with its full complement. C. C. Peterson was engaged to deliver the first lesson on the theory and practice of teaching. The course mapped out was taken from Theory and Practice of Teaching by K. C. Peterson. Beginning grammar and Theology were taught by Professor Moench and Sacred History and Geography of Palestine by William H. Jones. The establishment, by the Sunday School Union Board, of a Sunday School Course for the training of teachers for religious training in the various activities of the L. D. S. Church, was a great help to the new principal during the academic year 1894-95. 1. Deseret News, Vol. 49, p. 707, 1894 |
