Henderson Settlement School Records, 1925-1984

Methodist minister, Hiram Frakes, founded Henderson Settlement in 1925, chiefly as a community center and educational institution.  It is located in southern Bell County, Kentucky, a few miles northeast of Jellico, Tennessee. The area was quite isolated at the time and had come to be known locally as “South America.” Frakes, was educated in Kansas and southern Indiana and before becoming a miniser, had worked as a telegraph operator for the Santa Fe Railroad.  A chance hearing of despairing remarks about the community by a Bell County judge piqued Frakes’ interest in the area as a possible mission opportunity. Local residents were accepting of his proposal to start a school. Several donated land for the project, including Scott Partin (16 acres) and Bill Henderson, (68 acres). Bertha Reil, graduate of the Chicago Training School, heard of Frakes’ project and came to work as a teacher.  By fall of the first year, a class of 13 students was meeting in an old plank house that belonged to the Partin Family. The institution was first called Partin Settlement School, but the name was soon changed to Henderson in order to honor two men named Henderson who were instrumental in the school’s founding. These were Bill Henderson, who donated the largest piece of land, and Bishop Theodore Henderson, of the Ohio Methodist Conference, who had backed Frakes’ efforts from the start.  Dormitories and boarding facilities soon followed. Frakes organized a traveling quartet named the Sunbonnet Girls who appeared with him as part of quite successful fund raising efforts over a wide area. A U.S. post office was eventually established at the Settlement School and named after Frakes. Developments after World War II lead to a change of program focus.  Improved roads and the assumption by county school districts of more responsibility for public education programs lead to the boarding facilities becoming used as a center for the care of dependent children (the main program focus at the time this collection was compiled in the early 1980s). During the 1950s, Henderson Settlement responded to unemployment resulting from coal mine automation by helping develop services for “the immediate physical need of the people.” These services included a day care center and used clothing store. In 1966, staff became involved in efforts to attract location of new business to the area.  When a new county elementary school was built in 1970 to complement the existing Settlement owned high school, aid was provided to the Bell County School System to provide specialized teachers in areas such as languages, arts, and guidance counseling.  Other community betterment efforts have included the establishment of a volunteer fire department, primary care clinic, crafts marketing outlet, and lending library.