MANUAL TRAINING The next year after cooking was introduced, or in 1889, instruction in manual training was offered to the boys. A room was fitted up in the second story of the building at Sixth and Main with the necessary equipment. The course embraced woodworking, both bench and lathe, and mechanical drawing. This line of work elicited as much interest and popular favor as did the cooking. From the establishment of manual training until the present time eight different teachers have been employed. At first instruction was given to students of the High school and those boys from the graded school who were fourteen years of age and over. Later it was limited to boys of the Ninth grade and the High school. the work broadened as teh yeas went by, and now the Seventh and Eighth grade boys have instruction to Manual training at centers in the grade buildings which it was necessary to establish through the inability to accommodate all the pupils in one room. The utilization of these centers and the growth of teh work in the High school made necessary the employment of two additional teachers. For some years there has been instruction in hand work from the primary grades upward. In both Manual Training and Cooking Davenport was a pioneer for all this region. Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa Gen Web, Assistant CC, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ IAGENWEB: Special History Project: http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm Gerischer Family Web Site: http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/