Benjamin Horr House

Built around 1855 by the town cooper, Benjamin Horr, the a two-story, vernacular Greek Revival style Benjamin Horr House is the earliest surviving building in Hannibal used for education. The building survives as a reminder of an era before public education became a societal norm. Elizabeth Horr, who managed the school in the house, had previously taught Mark Twain (Samuel Clemons) in a log house in Hannibal, an experience for which Twain spoke fondly. During the late 1850s, the building served as the home to the Ladies Select Academy, run by Elizabeth Horr's daughter, "Lizzie."

During the 1850s, the Benjamin Horr House served as a school operated by Elizabeth Horr, who had been a teacher to one of Hannibal's most famous residents: Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). Indeed, anyone who has read Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn has been given insight into Hannibal's influence on Twain; he lived in the Mississippi River town from 1839 - 1853. 

Twain attended a private school in a small log house operated by Elizabeth Horr. A middle-aged woman from New England, she charged families twenty-five cents a week per child. Her daughter, Elizabeth N. Horr (Lizzie), helped in teaching the upper grades. Twain recalled in his diary: "There were no public schools in Hannibal in those early years, but there were two private schools in Hannibal—terms twenty-five cents per week per pupil, and collect it if you can. Mrs. Horr taught the children, in a small log house…; Mr. Sam Cross taught the young people of larger growth in a frame schoolhouse on the hill."

Although Missouri initially provided funding for one school per township during the 1840s, many towns never established or built schools. In fact, the school Twain attended speaks to the stereotypical schooling of Missouri and many states throughout the American South where there existed little in the way of public education. Instead, most of the time, only those who could pay to go to private schools received a school-based education. 

Benjamin Horr, the town cooper, purchased the lot where the historic home lay in 1845. The house arose around ten years later, likely after Twain left town. (They probably built the home around 1854 or 1855, but the exact date is unknown.) Although the Horr family built the house as their residence, Elizabeth and Lizzie continued to teach children in the home; hence, it dually acted as a home and a school. By 1859, Lizzie operated the "Ladies Select Academy" in the house. 

After the Civil War, the city organized a public school, and Lizzie married and moved away. Legislation in 1865 and 1874, a period when the state experienced a population boom, allowed it to drastically improve its public education system. The number of public schools in the state climbed from 48,000 in 1867 to 75,000 in 1870; enrollment grew from 169,000 to 280,000. By 1900, Missouri supported more than ten thousand rural, mainly one-room schools. 

Because most of the early schools are gone, the survival of the Horr House allows onlookers to see how a "school" looked in Hannibal during the mid-nineteenth century. And, as a bonus, it provides another link to Mark Twain.

Collins, E. A. "High Schools in Missouri Prior to 1870." Peabody Journal of Education 6, no. 6 (1929): 366–70. 

Hamilton, Esley. "Hannibal Central Business District Multiple Resource Nomination." National Register of Historic Places. mostateparks.com. 1985. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Broadway%20District.pdf.

O'Donnell, Bill. "One Room Schools in the Ozarks." National Park Service. nps.gov. January 5, 2018. https://www.nps.gov/ozar/learn/historyculture/one-room-schools-in-the-ozarks.htm.

"Spring 1840." Twain's Geography. Accessed November 2, 2022. https://twainsgeography.com/node/4316.

Troen, Selwyn K. "Popular Education in Nineteenth Century St. Louis." History of Education Quarterly 13, no. 1 (1973): 23–40. 

Uhlenbrock, Tom B. "For Hannibal businesses, it's all Twain, all the time Twain lovers can get their fill right down to a chair he sat on." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. stltoday.com. January 17, 2010. https://www.stltoday.com/travel/for-hannibal-businesses-its-all-twain-all-the-time-twain-lovers-can-get-their-fill/article_39de2e91-6944-54c6-86bd-4c179f922d8c.html.