Nathaniel C. Bruce
Nathaniel C. Bruce (1865 - June 27, 1942) was the driving force behind the school's founding. He was born in Virginia and had worked previously at a high school for African Americans in St. Joseph, Missouri. He described plans for it to become the "Tuskegee (Tuskegee Institute) of the West". Plans for the school were met with opposition from white residents who protested. A June 26, 1909 article in The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune advanced fears the school would bring additional "Negroes" to the area and establish them in the majority. It described plans for the school as being driven by people from St. Joseph.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. In 2021, a plaque at the Dalton Cemetery was added commemorating Bruce.
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ Andrew M. Halter (July 2001). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Dalton Vocational School Historic District" (PDF). Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved November 1, 2016. and site map
- ^ Monitor-Index, For the Moberly. "Chariton County honors Nathaniel C. Bruce with memorial marker". Moberly Monitor-Index.
- ^ "Bartlett Ag school - Nathaniel Bruce". July 21, 1914. p. 9 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Bartlett Ag & Industrial School; J F Grinstead on the Board". June 26, 1909. p. 5 – via newspapers.com.
Further reading
- Huber, Patrick J., and Kremer, Gary R. "Nathaniel C. Bruce, Black Education and the 'Tuskegee of the Midwest'." Missouri Historical Review 86 (October 1991): 37-54. online