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     In September, 1849, a call was issued, by those interested in public education, to the qualified voters of the town of Gallipolis, to assemble and vote by ballot for or against the adoption of an act for the better regulation of the public schools, etc. - the act passed by General Assembly of Ohio on the 27th of February, 1849.
     In pursuance to this call an election was held, the result of which was in favor of the school law, whereupon the act of the General Assembly was declared adopted for the town of Gallipolis; but the opposition to public schools was so strong that the friends of the cause did not ask an appropriation for building a suitable house until the benefits arising from a system of well graded schools might become more thoroughly understood and appreciated by the people.
     In 1857 it was put to a vote of the people as to whether a tax should be levied to buy a suitable lot and build a central building.  The vote was in favor of the levy.  The result of this election was very gratifying to the enlightened and public spirited men, who, for years, had endeavored to establish in Gallipolis as excellent a system of graded schools as existed anywhere in the State.
     In the spring of the same year, Captain Alexander Vance was commissioned by the Board of Education to visit Marietta, Zanesville, Newark, Columbus, etc., for the purpose of examining school houses, and any and all matter connected therewith.  Captain Vance returned from his tour of the cities full of enthusiasm in behalf of the plan of the present union school buildings.
     July 8, 1857, the Board of Education, consisting of Thomas Wilkinson, A. W. Wood, L. J. Langley, Alexander Vance, Samuel Jolley, and D. B. Hebard, bought of Nicholas Mahew the lot where the building was completed - a fine and well built two story brick.
     Heretofore the schools of the town were graded only so far as to give the older and more advanced pupils to men teachers, and the less advanced and younger to women teachers.  Without school houses, with indifferent teachers, and with the influence of the largest number of the prosperous and more cultivated citizens against the public schools, these earnest, and early friends of popular education struggled to raise the standard of the qualifications of teachers, and procure suitable accommodations for the children.
     The union school building having been finished, the board saw that to make the schools efficient personal attention was needed.  Not being able to give this themselves, they determined to create the office of superintendent, and selected this place Stillman Rice.  His efforts, under the direction of the board, were given to the classification of the schools and the arrangement of a course of study.  He also taught some of the higher branches.  The schools were divided into three general departments - primary, grammar, and high.  But on account of the extreme apathy of the people toward public schools, the higher departments filled up slowly and came very tardily into that public favor which is so essential to their efficiency.
     In 1872 all the subdistricts in Gallipolis township were attached to the city district.  This gives six outer schools which are in session the same length of time as the city schools.  Those pupils in these subdistricts who have reached the grammar school grade attend the city schools.  In the same year the board put a third story on the main building, to make room for the increased number of scholars.  This is now divided in thirteen rooms, and a large hall which will seat 600 persons comfortably.  The building is heated by steam, generated in a boiler placed forty feet from the building, so that the entire building is comfortable and comparatively safe from any accident.
     The following points of interest are condensed from Superintendent Hard's report for 1881; Number of schools - high school, 1; grammar, 4; primary, 7; district, 6; colored, 4; total, 22; total seating capacity, 1,162.  Number of teachers - high school, 2; grammar, 4; primary, 7; district, 6; colored, 4; music teacher, 1; total, 24.  Number of pupils registered high school, 98; grammar, 181; primary, 477; district, 191; colored, 236; total, 1,183.  During the year the schools received from the superintendent 1, 787 visits; there were 1, 312 visits from citizens, and 338 from strangers.
     The present condition of the schools, as we gather from the interesting address of President Bailey, in highly prosperous.  The efforts of the more advanced and public spirited of the citizens of Gallipolis have been crowned with deserved success.  Her schools are the pride of parents, the admiration of strangers, and a sure and lasting foundation for future usefulness to the rising generation of the day; and to those that shall come after us they will be, we may hope, a guide marking the way to yet higher and greater things.
     The following is a complete list of the members of the Board of Education, giving their term of service, since the organization of the schools:  Thomas Wilkinson, 11 years; A. W. Wood, 10 years; L. J. Langley, 9 years; Alexander Vance, 3 years; Samuel Jolley, 3 years; D. B. Hebard, 11 years; James Vanden, 21 years; Henry Graham, 1 year; H. R. Bell, 5 years; S. B. Rathburn, 6 years; A. Cole, 2 years; George W. Jackson, 2 years; W. G. Fuller, 3 years; J. C. Vanden, 8 years; J. T. Halliday, 3 years; L. Z. Cadot, 12 years; James Priestly, 3 years; T. W. Hampton, 1 year; C. H. McCormick, 3 years; W. T. Minturn, 10 years; L. Perry, 4 years; James Gatewood, 3 years; C. D. Bailey, 5 years; A. W. Allemong, 4 years; W. W. Martindale, 3 years; Charles Stewart, 2 years.
     The organization of the present board: C. D. Bailey, president; Charles Stuart, vice-president; L. Z. Cadot, clerk; W. T. Minturn, treasurer; A. W. Allemong, J. M. Kerr.
     The following is a list of the superintendents since the organization of the schools:  1858-60, Stillman Rice; 1860-3, H. C. Howland; 1863-4, J. A. Smith; 1864-6; W. B. Putney; 1866-71, H. J. Caldwell; 1871-5, J. S. Wilson; 1875-9, E. E. Spalding; 1879-81, M. E. Hard.

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