Education in Prairie township continued

 The Osage Indians did not take to missionaries ideas and demanded that the missionaries should pay them for the privilege of using their children   as pupils. Education of the children failed and the children were released to their parents. As soon as the children were released from the school they were to go back to their tribe and teach their tribe the ideas they had learned, but they continued their old customs. The school lasted from 1822 to 1836. Some of the missionaries stayed in the area and taught in their homes.

In 1835,Geogre Douglas(Superintendent of the mission) hired a teacher to teach his own children plus some of the other neighbors children in their homes. He later built a school on his property which was on Prairie Street between Main and Market streets. This was a barn built on the William Swarnes property. Education was carried on like this from 1837 to 1847. This was about the time Papinville became the county seat.

Melicourt Papin owned 70 acres and donated the land to be platted for the village of Papinville.  Many people started to come to Papinville and many businesses were flourishing. Papinville was the center of a large circle and men from miles around came to the mills and traded at the businesses.

A tract of land blocks were designated for the school. Before the school was built the  Civil War was in full swing. At this time Papinville had a population of 400 people. In August of 1863 Order 11 was issued and everything in Papinville was burnt.                                                                        

Courtesy Phyllis Stewart