Goodland Academy
| Goodland Academy | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | |
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Hugo, Oklahoma USA |
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| Coordinates | 33°58′50″N 95°33′30″W / 33.980520°N 95.558416°WCoordinates: 33°58′50″N 95°33′30″W / 33.980520°N 95.558416°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Private, K-12 |
| Established | 1848 |
| Director | David L. Dearinger |
| Faculty | 18 |
| Number of students | 38 |
| Campus | 390 acres |
| Mascot | Red Hawks |
| Accreditation | National Association of Private Schools |
| Website | www.goodland.org |
Goodland Academy is a boarding school located 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Hugo in Southeastern Oklahoma. Founded in 1848 as a Presbyterian mission, it also has the distinction of being the oldest private boarding school in Oklahoma still in operation.
In 1848, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, a Presbyterian and Congregational organization, recognized the need for a permanent missionary to Good Land and sent Mr. and Mrs. John Lathrop to this mission station. John Lathrop built the first structure, a two-room log manse, for he and his wife to live. After one year of service, Mr. and Mrs. Lathrop requested reassignment. Few records have been found of their year of ministry at the Good Land Mission.
In fall of 1850, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Porter Stark were appointed by the same mission board to continue the mission work. Prior to accepting the appointment to Good Land Mission, Mr. Stark served as superintendent of Old Spencer Academy for Indians. Mr. and Mrs. Stark made their home in the manse built by John Lathrop. Mrs. Stark wasted no time in starting to teach the Indian children in the area how to read and write. The first “school” met in a side room of their manse.
In 1852, Oliver Porter Stark—with the help from Henry L. Gooding and other Choctaw neighbors—built the structure that served the community as both church and school for 42 years. Although moved several feet from the original location in 1894, the same church, renovated many times and enlarged, stands on the Goodland campus today. The original church bell given by Rev. John P. Turnbull is a constant reminder of the work accomplished by these early pioneers with meager resources. Oliver Porter Stark also dug the first well, which was still being used in 1932 when it was sealed and covered by the present concrete steps of the old Goodland High School.
Goodland school originated as a primary day school, and because children were often needed to help in the fields, average attendance for the first few years was about twenty. From the beginning, the Indian families in the area were interested in the school. Many families moved close by in order that their children might attend and in order that the old and young might worship there. The local church members opened their doors to orphan children in order for them to attend the school. The church and school grew together.
During the Civil War, two Choctaw Indian regiments pitched their tents on the campus around the well that Rev. O. P. Stark dug. Oliver Porter Stark wrote the mission board to report about the bands of robbers and lawlessness that existed in the area at the time. He requested reassignment and was transferred to Paris, Texas in 1866, where he helped to establish a girl’s boarding school and the First Presbyterian Church. This left the Goodland Mission church without an assigned pastor, but the seeds the former missionaries had planted were strong enough to endure the period of turmoil.
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Wikipedia