John Outhouse

Outhouse was born on November 16, 1828, in Nova Scotia, and moved to Portland in 1850, when he was 22.{{Cite book|url=http://www.oregon.gov/oprd/HCD/OHC/docs/multnomah_portland_education_history1.pdf|title=History of Education in Portland|year=1937|pages=14–15}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.accessgenealogy.com/oregon/outhouse-john-t-obituary.htm|title=Outhouse, John T. – Obituary|date=31 October 1889|work=Eastern Oregon Republican|access-date=15 November 2016|via=AccessGenealogy.com}}

The following year, Outhouse became the first public school teacher in Portland. In December 1851, the school board, which at the time consisted of Anthony L. Davis, Alonzo Leland, and Reuben P. Boise, appointed him to teach Portland's first public school, in a "little frame house" at the corner of SW First and Oak streets.{{cite book|last1=Crawford|first1=T. H.|title=Historical Sketch of the Public Schools of Portland, Oregon|url=http://www.pps.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=344&dataid=413&FileName=Historical-Sketch-PPS.pdf|access-date=5 May 2016}}{{Cite news|url=https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1900-12-29/ed-1/seq-8/|title=Portland's First Public School Teacher: The Late John T. Outhouse|date=29 December 1900|work=The Morning Oregonian|page=8}} The building was used for church gatherings as well as for classes.{{Cite news|url=https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1895-01-01/ed-1/seq-29/|title=The Local Schools|date=1 January 1895|work=The Morning Oregonian|page=29}} The following advertisement was published in The Oregonian on December 6, 1851:

In pursuance of a vote of the Portland school district at their annual meeting, the directors have established a free school. The first term will commence on Monday, the 15th inst., at the schoolhouse in this city, near the City Hotel. (John W. {{sic}} Outhouse, teacher.) The directors would recommend the following books to be used in the school, viz.: Sandler's Series of Readers and Spellers, Goodrich's Geography, Thompson's Arithmetics and Bullion's Grammar.{{cite book|last1=Eliot|first1=Thomas|title=History of Public Schools of Multnomah County, Oregon|date=1876|publisher=Centennial Bureau|url=http://www.pps.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=344&dataid=414&FileName=Centennial-School-History-1876.pdf|access-date=5 May 2016}}

The school opened on December 15, with about 20 pupils, who came from as far away as Astoria.{{Cite book|title=The Rose City of the World|last=Purdy|first=Ruby Fay|publisher=Binfords & Mort|year=1947|edition=1st|location=Portland, Oregon|pages=180}}{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Edward|title=The Oregonian's Handbook of the Pacific Northwest|date=1894|publisher=Oregonian Publishing Co.|location=Portland, Oregon|url=https://archive.org/details/oregonianshandbo00jone|page=[https://archive.org/details/oregonianshandbo00jone/page/141 141]}} Outhouse's pupils included John Miller Murphy, who would later found The Washington Standard in 1860.{{Cite news|url=https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1912-08-11/ed-1/seq-56/|title=John Miller Murphy Closes Long Career|last=Himes|first=George H.|date=11 August 1912|work=The Sunday Oregonian|page=2}} His income for teaching was $100 per month, and he supplemented that by laying sidewalks and unloading ships.{{Cite news|url=https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1900-01-01/ed-1/seq-24/|title=Oregon's Schools|last=Cornwall|first=Alice P.|date=1 January 1900|work=The Morning Oregonian|page=24}}{{Cite news|title=Those Dear, Dead, Early Days of Portland Schools|last=Guerny|first=John|date=19 December 1965|work=The Oregonian}} By 1852, the school was moved to a building on the corner of First and Taylor streets. Another teacher, Miss Abigail M. Clark was hired.

Outhouse retired from teaching in Portland in 1853. Soon after that, Sylvester Pennoyer, who had come from New York to Puget Sound and started an unsuccessful law firm, became the next schoolteacher of Portland Public Schools.

On October 31, 1863, Outhouse attended a pro-Union rally in Dallas, Oregon. There, according to the Oregon Sentinel, Outhouse declared himself a "Union man," and that he was "equally opposed to Secession and Abolitionism."{{Cite news|url=https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022657/1863-11-14/ed-1/seq-4/|title=Grand Union Rally|last=Smith|first=Isaac|date=14 November 1863|work=Oregon Sentinel}}

In 1865, Outhouse married C. W. Cottel.

After teaching in Portland, Outhouse moved to Polk County, Oregon, and married. He later moved to La Grande, Oregon. In 1875 he was appointed Vice President of the newly formed Teacher's Institute in La Grande, where he presented on "his method of teaching English grammar in his usual happy way of illustration."{{Cite news|title=Oregon|date=14 May 1875|work=The Oregonian|page=1}}{{Cite news|title=Teachers' Institute at La Grande|date=15 December 1877|work=The Oregonian|page=7}} He was appointed superintendent in 1880. He was described as an "unflinching democrat tree to his party" by the Eastern Oregon Republican newspaper. In 1885, he was appointed to the La Grande land office by President Grover Cleveland, and he held that position until his death.

In his later life, Outhouse had severe gout, and walked on crutches for several years. Although he had children, they all died young. He died in La Grande,{{Cite news|url=https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1914-11-09/ed-1/seq-6/|title=Twenty Five Years Ago|date=9 November 1914|work=The Morning Oregonian|page=6}} on Wednesday,{{cite news|url=https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn93051669/1889-11-09/ed-1/seq-1/|title=From Tuesday's Daily (column)|date=9 November 1889|newspaper=The Dalles Times-Mountaineer|page=1}} October 20 (or 28, or 29) 1889, survived by his wife.{{Cite news|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/image/v2:11A73E5827618330@EANX-NB-1234FD74DE257BC8@2411313-12305615A6CCA5D0@6-12D4C9459D681B50@Meeting%20Of%20O.%20%20T.%20Co.%20%255BIllegible%255D%20Stock%20Decreased%252C%20and%20Steps%20Taken%20to%20Dissolve.%20%255BIllegible%255D?p=AMNEWS|title=A Pioneer Passed Away: Death of John T. Outhouse, One of the Old Educators of the State.|date=6 November 1889|work=The Oregonian|page=7|url-access=registration }}

In February 1959, to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Oregon's statehood, an eighth grade class at Capital Hill School reenacted Outhouse's instruction at the Portland Schoolhouse.{{Cite news|title=Capital Hill School Revives Times of John Outhouse|date=13 February 1959|work=The Oregonian}}

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Category:1828 births

Category:1889 deaths

Category:People from Oregon Territory

Category:Emigrants from pre-Confederation Nova Scotia to the United States

Category:Educators from Portland, Oregon

Category:Oregon Democrats

Category:19th-century American educators