5 September 1904: Classes Begin at East Athens Night School

On this day in 1904, East Athens Night School had its first day of classes. New students could enroll during the first two weeks of school, and the Weekly Banner noted at the end of the first week:

The outlook for the school is the brightest in years and the attendance promises to be a record -breaker. The scholars return to their books with great enthusiasm and the teachers look for a year of splendid results.

All young men or young women, boys or girls, who work through the day, are cordially invited to register for the fall term. Tuition and books are provided free of charge. The only expense is for pencils and exercise books. A lecture course will be arranged, bookkeeping taught to the more advanced, and special attention given to mathematics and penmanship.

The library has been overhauled and a number of new books added. The bath room will be open every evening and all day on Saturday.

All young people who would like to improve themselves during the evening hours will be given a cordial welcome by Miss Louie Lane, the teacher in charge, and her assistants.

This institution is one of the best in Athens and is doing a vast amount of good, and the people of the city naturally take a great deal of interest in it.

The East Athens Night School was located "in the factory district," and during the day, the building was used for the Athens Women's Club's kindergarten. Though the school primarily was a way for those who had worked from childhood to gain a basic elementary education, the addition of bookkeeping was no doubt a response to the demand for competent office workers in the expanding economy of the early 20th century.

Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, August 1902 - December, 1905 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• 1904 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• 1909 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• History of Adult Education in Georgia, edited by Leonard A. Hampton in the Heritage collection.
• Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall in the general collection.
• The Men and the Mills: A History of the Southern Textile Industry by Mildred Gwin Andrews in the general collection.
• Child Labor: An American History by Hugh D. Hindman in the general collection.
• Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor by Russell Freedman in the children's collection.
• January, 1905 by Katharine Boling in the children's fiction collection.