By 1868, Marietta had taken the position of Superintendent of Marion Union School, (the predecessor to Marion City School) about 100 miles back towards Claridon, to the northeast.

The Marion Star website, Adams named Pleasant Local superintendent, by Reporter Andrew Carter, March 21, 2017.

In between Marietta's  Lebanon and Marion positions was the Civil War.

On a visit back to Marion in 1890, the Marion Star printed this brief article which references Marietta was "at one time principal of the Marion High School...

MARIETTA AT HIRAM COLLEGE
Hiram, Ohio
"Mrs. Cuscaden is a lady of large experience as a teacher, and of excellent reputation among the teachers of Ohio."

Marietta Cuscaden photo from Hiram College Archives.

Special thanks to Rex Gordon for obtaining and sharing the photo, and to Jennifer S. Morrow, M. A. Hiram College Archivist, who provided Rex with the rare photo of Marietta seen here, along with the following information about Marietta:

In 1871 Marietta Cuscaden took a position on the faculty of Hiram College.  She probably received her college education there when the institution was the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute.  It was founded in 1850 and became Hiram College in 1867.  (Her son Arthur also attended Hiram College.)

In 1871 Marietta was named successor to Miss Jackson as Principal of the Ladies Dept. and she started in that position the following year.  She served as Lady Principal of Hiram College from 1872-76. 

According to Francis Marion Green’s Hiram College and Western Reserve Eclectic Institute: Fifty Years of History 1850-1900, the Lady Principal was responsible for the “interests and conduct of the (36) young women in the school."  

Cuscaden’s name first appears in the list of faculty in the Annual Catalogue of Hiram College for the year ending June 1872. That same source notes that Cuscaden also headed the Department of English Studies, whose courses included Grammar, Descriptive Geography, and Arithmetic. The catalogue noted that Cuscaden “is aided by competent assistants.”

In describing Mrs. Cuscaden the catalogue notes that she “brings to her position a large and successful experience as an educator.”

In the 1872 catalogue, the department that Mrs. Cuscaden headed was renamed the Department of Higher English. The description of her qualifications now includes the statement “...she having been identified for several years with public schools of Ohio.” In addition to teaching the courses listed for her department, Cuscaden is listed as teaching Algebra and Botany.

Hiram College is a private liberal arts college in Hiram, Ohio, founded in 1850 as the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute.  The college is nonsectarian and coeducational and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Hiram's most famous alumnus is James A. Garfield, who served as a college instructor and principal before he was elected the 20th President of the United States.

On June 12, 1849,  Amos Sutton Hayden and other members of the Disciples of Christ Church voted to establish an academic institution, which would later become Hiram College.  On November 7 that year, they chose the village of Hiram as the site for the school because the founders considered this area of the Western Reserve to be "healthful and free of distractions".  The following month, on December 20, the founders accepted the suggestion of Isaac Errett and named the school the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute and the school opened on November 27, 1850.

Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, Hiram, Ohio, 1858.
Photo from Wikipedia provided by Hiram College.

Many of the students came from the surrounding farms and villages of the Western Reserve, but the school soon gained a national reputation and students began arriving from other states.

During the years that it was the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (1850–1867), the school had seven principals, the equivalent of today's college presidents.

The two that did the most in establishing and defining the nature of the institution were Disciple minister Amos Sutton Hayden, who led the school through its first six years, and James A. Garfield, who had been a student at the Institute from 1851–1853 and then returned in 1856 as a teacher. As principal, Garfield expanded the Institute's curriculum. He left the Institute in 1861 and in 1880 was elected the 20th President of the United States.

On February 20, 1867, the Institute incorporated as a college and changed its name to Hiram College.

Below: James A. Garfield (left), his wife Lucretia Rudolph Garfield (right) and other faculty, 1858.    Photo from Wikipedia provided by Hiram College.

In 1870, one of Garfield's best friends and former students, Burke A. Hinsdale, was appointed Hiram's president. Although there were two before him, Hinsdale is considered the college's first permanent president because the others served only briefly. The next president to have a major impact on the college was Ely V. Zollars, who increased enrollment significantly, established a substantial endowment and created a program for the construction of campus buildings. Later presidents who served for at least 10 years were Miner Lee Bates, Kenneth I. Brown, Paul H. Fall, Elmer Jagow, and G. Benjamin Oliver.

The complete history of Hiram College is on their website.

Scenes of Hiram Campus today, from the Hiram College website.

After her last term as Principal of the Ladies Department at Hiram in 1876-77, Marietta took a position in Florence, Alabama as Principal or President at the Florence Synodical Female College some time by 1880. 

(At this point, it isn't known conclusively that she went there directly after leaving Hiram, or if she came to Tampa first with her son Arthur in 1878 and then went to Florence, then returned to Tampa to become the Principal at HCHS in 1882.   It is more likely that she went to Florence from Hiram College.)

Her absence on the 1880 U.S. Census in Tampa is anindicator that she was in Florence, Ala. at the time.

The image on the right is courtesy of D. R. Curott's "More Signs of the Past.

Commisioner's report on education 1880

These images below are courtesy of D. R. Curott's "More Signs of the Past."

Arthur W. Cuscaden
Tampa City Council President
June 5, 1902 – June 5, 1904

ARTHUR CUSCADEN

Born in Ohio on June 8, 1859, Arthur Weston Cuscaden was a graduate of Hiram College. He settled in Tampa in 1878 and planted one of the first orange groves in the city. He remained active in the citrus industry until his retirement. Cuscaden also worked in the cigar business. He ran for mayor in 1906, but lost to William H. Frecker. He served several terms as a member of the county’s school board and he had a son named Arthur Cuscaden, Jr., who also worked in the cigar industry. After his death in 1941, a park and pool in Ybor City was named in his honor. For many years the park had served as a gathering place for cigar workers in the neighborhood to play baseball, watch boxing matches, and meet up with their friends. The pool, designed by architect Wesley Bintz, opened in 1937.

Bio and photo from "The City Council of Tampa and Celebration of Old City Hall's Centennial

More about the Robles family in Tampa  More about Arthur W. Cuscaden and the park named for him

As Doris Hill's 1911 school time capsule history stated, the Hillsborough Co. High School started as a department of Tampa School No. 1 on Franklin St.  There, a high school course was introduced for the first time in 1882 when Mary (Marietta) Cuscaden was principal and Wesley P. Henderson was County Superintendent.

Mrs. Cuscaden was principal for two years. In 1884, she was succeeded by Dr. Raymond, and in 1885, the latter was followed by Mr. B.C. Graham.  

In 1884 Marietta bought 80 acres of land in Township 29 south, Range 19 east--the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter, and the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter in section 3.  Today, this land is just southwest of the former Eastlake Mall where 50th street curves into 56th Street.

Township 29 south, Range 19 east outlined in yellow.

Close up of Section 3 showing Marietta's property today.
Place your cursor on the image to see satellite view

At right is a transcription of the original article as it appeared in the Journal.  It was extremely faded almost to the point of being illegible.  Enhancement was not much more legible.

During the time the school was in this location, the U.S. became involved in the Spanish American War in 1898.  It was on April 12, 1898 that founder of the American Red Cross Clara Barton stayed a night at the Arno Hotel on Tampa St. after having left Cuba due to the explosion on the USS Maine battleship and the ensuing declaration of war by the U.S. on Spain.  She had her luggage fumigated at the Tampa Steam laundry, which on this map has replaced the old Baptist church where the high school was previously located.

A tribune reader wrote as "Patron" with a view that Tampa needs FOUR school buildings, one in each district of Hyde Park, Tampa Heights, Ybor City, and near the present Washington School.  One could house the high school until a site could be chosen and a schoolhouse built. 

Read the entire article

Thomas M. Shackleford, Jr.
A founder of the Shackleford Farrior law firm in Tampa
Photo from the publication featured at left.

On May 20, 1900, this short article appeared in the Tribune announcing that Mrs. T.M. Shackleford would be entertaining the graduates at her home in honor of her son.

Thomas Mitchell Shackleford, Jr.

Select excerpts below from:
T.M. Shackleford, Jr: A lifetime of quiet achievement (1884-1973),
by Judge Morison Buck,  Jan. 1, 2000. 

From USF Scholar Commons Digital Collection of Morison Buck's biographies

The only child of Thomas M. and Nannie Rhea Shackleford, Thomas Mitchell Shackleford, Jr. was born in 1884 in the rustic setting of tiny Brooksville.

The senior Shackleford (usually referred to as T. M.)  was a native of Fayetteville in south-central Tennessee, just a few miles south of Lynchburg.

After T.M. Sr.'s marriage to Nannie Rhea,  he did what many from the Volunteer State did before and after him; he moved to Florida, settling initially in Lake Weir.  About 1883, T. M. and his retinue moved west to Brooksville and remained there for about a decade. T.M. Jr’s mother died when he was three years of age and the following year his father married Lena A. (Jane) Wooten of Russelville, Kentucky, with whom he would have three children. One of these was R. W. (Bob) Shackleford who also became a trial lawyer in Tampa, first with his father, and later with J. Rex Farrior and others.

1884 was a banner year for the Shacklefords... after relocating in Tampa, T. M. [Sr.] quickly became prominent in Tampa, both professionally and politically. He forged a partnership with Hugh C. Macfarlane, a native Scot who began the practice in Tampa the year of T. M. Jr’s birth, and who was already a force in the legal and business community of Tampa. T. M. [Sr.] served for two years as City Attorney in Tampa before realizing his long-time ambition to gain a seat on the Florida Supreme Court. In 1902 he was appointed by his good friend and fellow Democrat, Governor William Jennings, and served with distinction and acclaim for several terms between 1902 and 1915, some of which as designated Chief Justice.

There was a lot going on in the Shackleford family as the 19th century was winding down. Number one son, T. M. Jr. was prepping for high school, and graduated from Tampa's Hillsborough High School in the first year of the 20th century. [1900 was the last year of the 19th century].

 Interviewed in 1959 by a reporter from The Tampa Times, [T.M. Jr.] he reminisced:

“When [I] graduated from Hillsborough High, there were 11 girls and 5 boys in the graduating class. We had sand streets and wooden sidewalks then, and Tibbett’s Corner at Franklin and Lafayette (Kennedy) streets was the gathering place for couples after a dance. Cocktail lounges were unknown, and an ice cream soda was a real treat. Tampa had perhaps 15,000 people then.”

The primary thrust of the Times story was that the 4th of July in 1900 was not recognized with the hoopla and festiveness common today. T. M. Jr. ventured that the Fourth was viewed somewhat suspiciously as a Yankee holiday, a remnant of the feelings engendered in the aftermath of the Civil War.

After high school, it was time to get intellectually prepared for a career in law, following the example set by his father, so T.M. Jr. attended the following secondary schools: John B. Stetson University, 1901-02; University of Florida, 1905 BA degree; University of Virginia, 1907 LLB degree. Phi Beta Kappa and Blue Key. The University of Florida, incidentally, bestowed an honorary LLD degree upon his father, Justice Shackleford, in 1910. After receiving his law degree from UVA, it was back to Tampa for the 23 year old new lawyer. Tampa was growing apace during the first quarter of the last century. So, indeed, was Shackleford’s reputation for intellect, diligence and professionalism.

In 1910 he became the junior partner in Caraballo & Shackleford, located in the old American National Bank Bldg (the bank failed during the Great Depression). Martin Caraballo and later his son were respected names in Tampa's legal community. In 1912, while living at the YMCA, Shackleford had an office in Exchange National Bank Building. The following year he took space with C. C. Whitaker in Citizens Building. The year 1915 saw his appointment as Referee in Bankruptcy, a judicial responsibility which gives him eligibility for this biographical series. He and his brother, R.W. (Bob) Shackleford, a splendid trial lawyer, and his father (who had just concluded his noteworthy tenure on the Supreme Court of Florida) teamed up for a time in the location last mentioned.

One of the longest of his early associations was with Marcus F. Brown (Shackleford & Brown) with some noted associates including: Morris E. White, J. Rex Farrior and George T. (Pat) Shannon, in what was the embryo of the fabled [Shackleford Farrior] firm which for many years featured T. M. Jr. as its head. His dearest friend was Fred Thompson, after whom his second son was named, but he was also close to L. L. Parks, with whom he practiced as Shackleford & Parks commencing in 1919 and lasting until Parks appointment to Circuit Court in 1923. About 31 years later, Bar President O.D. Howell, Jr. appointed a committee to draft a resolution recognizing Judge Parks 30 years as Circuit Judge. It consisted of Judges O.K. Reaves and T. M. Shackleford, Jr. and this humble scrivener. [Author of this biography, Judge Morison Buck.]

One of Tampa’s most historic landmarks built in 1925 is the Tampa Theatre (Building). The theater opened in 1926 and records show that Shackleford & Brown became tenants there in 1927. Shack1eford & Brown was succeeded by Shackleford, Ivy, Farrior & Shannon. Prior to its fairly recent merger with an Orlando law firm, there were periodic changes to reflect new named partners in S-F, to-wit: Corbin Glos, Norman Stallings, and Thomas P. Evans. The subject firm is now (at the time of this writing in 2000) Gray, Harris, Robinson, Shackleford, Farrior.

After moving from the Tampa Theatre Building, S-F went into the Marine Bank Building where T. M.’s last years were focused. According to Martindale-Hubbell, usually a reliable source reflecting the structure of law firms, Mr. T.W. (as he was affectionately known to members and staff alike at the firm) was until the 1969 edition listed as the first named partner in Shackleford Farrior. He is shown as “Of Counsel” in that and later editions until his death on January 10, 1973.

Read this entire biography, it contains many memories by those who knew T.W Jr. personally.

GRACEFUL, YET IMPOSING

On Aug. 2, 1900, the Tribune published the county's plans for the new high school building which was to be completed by Oct. 6, 1900.  Architect R. B. McGeckin designed it to be a 2-story frame building in the classical style, with special attention given to heat, light and ventilation.  It would be graceful, yet imposing, and have a marble block with the year of completion near the peak of the roof.  A covered porch was to run the complete length of the first floor.  It would have 10 rooms--8 classrooms and a teachers & library room, as well as an apparatus room.  The first floor would consist of 4 classrooms, the teachers room, and the library.  The 2nd floor would have 3 classrooms, an assembly room and the apparatus room.  It would be possible to design the assembly room so it could be divided using sliding doors, for use as 2 or 3 classrooms.

Read this article.

On Aug. 3, 1900, the Tribune announced names of new teachers at various schools, an update on the high school furniture being moved from the Wright building, and bidding info for the new building.

Read this article.

Aug. 8 - More new county teachers were named along with their schools, contractors began work on new high school, to be completed by Oct. 1.

 Read this article.

Aug. 9 - The building contract was awarded to Walker & Hester for $6,190. The design was by architect firm G. C. McGeckin, aided by Superintendent Buchholz regarding light, ventilation, acoustics, etc.  Construction had already begun on the brick pillars.

Read this article.

Aug. 16 - The McGeckin architectural design firm designed homes in NY for R. E. Slade of the Tampa Waterworks Co.  Read this article. 

Read this article.

Sep. 25 - All city schools opened on the 24th except the high school, which was still under construction.  Work continued with enrolling the former students and examining the new ones.  The names of the teachers and principals for the four opened schools were announced. 

Read this article.

Oct. 7 - The high school was to be completed by end of month and classes would then start. 

Read this article

Oct. 11 - The school board inspected the building and liked what they saw.  They were to have a meeting in the afternoon but Dr. Symmes of Peru (now Riverview) was sick so it was postponed.

Read this article

Oct. 12 - The BPI announced names of the new high school principal and teachers.

Read this article

At right, continued: Mrs. F. N. Clayton in charge of D class.(?) A teacher will be added later for the commercial department.

An error by the furniture supplier caused only the wood portions of the desks to arrive.  Since the iron portions would be received later, the school would be using chairs for the students. It was planned for primary & grammar school students to attend their classes in designated rooms at the new high school building due to their insufficient accommodations at their respective schools, but that plan was delayed as well due to the lack of desks.

Although it appears that the enlarging was done at the rear of the location #3 building, looking at the Sanborn maps, the front facade may have been remodeled and improved as seen in the postcard, but probably not by much. (The lack of a door could be due to the artist who created the post card image from the original photo probably could not see much detail in the photo if the porch area was shaded and underexposed.)

The 1903 map at left shows the 2nd, 3rd and 6th locations of Hillsborough County High School. 

#2 - The 1886 to 1892 combined location of Tampa School #1 and Hillsborough County High School.

#3 - The 1892 to 1896 location of Hillsborough County High School.

#6 - The 1900 to 1911 location of Hillsborough County High School seen in the photo above and the photos below.

 Oct. 25, 1900 - Despite a few "usual embarrassments" associated with moving into a new building, the operation of the new school was progressing smoothly. The lack of desks didn't cause any great inconvenience due to use of temporary furniture. Principal McClung is described as a "first-class disciplinarian and instructor."

Nov. 4, 1900 - The rest of the parts for the desks arrived and plans were in the making to assemble them and have them ready for Monday (next day.)  It was expected that then there would be enough room to accommodate the Tampa Heights Grammar and Primary school children who were unable to start school due to overcrowding in those adjacent buildings.

In late November a business course taught by Prof. L. M. Hatton was offered at the high school.  Hatton was the principal at Tampa Business College.  Complete courses in bookkeeping, stenography and typing would be offered, in addition to other commercial courses.  In late Feb. of that year, Hatton had moved the college to the Davis block, which was the west side of the  700 block of Franklin St.  Today, this is where the TECO Plaza building is located.

In early January 1901 the final details of construction were completed, and already it was noted that although the students would be comfortably and adequately housed, the new building didn't fulfill the deficiency of space needed due to the large increase in student population over the past two years. 

Professor Hatton's Tampa Business College (TBC) had its roots in a school that was started in Tampa under that same name in 1891* by B. B. Euston.  Originally on the corner of Franklin St. and Harrison, by June 1892, the college had moved to the corner of Whiting and Marion streets.  A few years later it would merge with a different business school, Tampa Business University, which was established in Tampa in in 1895 by R. N. Hadley. 

*Later ads by Euston claim TBC started in 1890.

Read more about Tampa Business College, how it became Tampa Business University, and the circumstances of a the start of a new Tampa Business College by L. M. Hatton, here at TampaPix on a separate page.

THE HISTORY OF TAMPA BUSINESS COLLEGE

and

THE HATTON BROTHERS OF SCOTLAND COUNTY, JEFFERSON, MISSOURI
 

B. C. Graham's term as county schools superintendent would end  Jan. 2, 1905.  Campaigning for the "first primary" to be held on May  10, 1904 started in early February, 1904. 

For reasons not yet determined by TampaPIx, elections in Tampa in these times were referred to as a "Primary," whether it was one to determine which candidates would run in the final election, or the final election itself.  It may have just been terminology used only by newspapers.  So as illogical as it sounds, this "primary" was the "primary primary" and there would be a "second primary" to determint the winner on June 8th.