First Union School "The Institute"

https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-net/45840/archive/files/fdfc2c23c1ece28c22f284bb8bc583f6.jpg

The Institute was buildt arount 1875.

"The Institute" was built by Churchill County as a boarding school around 1875. W.H.A. Pike was the first teacher and the county superintendent of schools. The boarding school could house around 30 students, most of whom could only attend for three months at a time. This building was later bought by the Seventh-day Adventists to use as a church. In the History of Nevada, 1881, by Thompson and West they write, "In 1872 the county was divided into two school districts, the one being at the upper sink, and the other at Stillwater, the county seat. In 1874 a third district was organized. In 1876 the three districts were combined into one, known as the Union School District. Soon afterwards a fine school house, costing $4,000, was erected on the upper sink; a teacher and matron were employed, and from forty to sixty pupils attended. The consolidation continued until 1879, at which time the county was subdivided into four districts, the Union School House being used as District No. 1. E. P. Hall was first Superintendent of Schools. Up to 1878 W. H. A. Pike was Superintendent of the Union School...The first meeting of the Seventh-day Adventists was held in the Institute Building on the first of June, 1876, under the leadership of Jackson Ferguson, with a membership of forty-four persons."

https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-net/45840/archive/files/b881a2a4ae80515ec01f54e554187534.jpg

Rev. Pendleton First Preacher in Churchill Co.
In 1876 He Preached in Four
Counties; Rode Horseback
7000 Miles in 2 Years
Inquiry comes from Oakland con. cerning Rev. J. W. Pendleton, the first man to preach in Churchill county. The call for information comes from Chaplain H. J. Winsor of the Retiree Methodist Ministers' association in Oakland. The letter being addressed to Rev. Stephen C. Thomas, pastor of the Fallon Methodist church, who state that Rev. Pendleton resides there and they would like certain details concerning his early ministry in Nevada.
Rev. Pendleton came to Nevada when but twenty years of age and in 1876 held service in Mason valley. In 1876 he came to Churchill county and preached at the Union schoolhouse, which was located not far from what was later known as the Vaughn hall and still more recently the Beckstead Store, the schoolhouse being located south of the old cemetery and southeast of the present adobe building, known as the Post Bros. ranch house.
Mrs. Mary Wightman, who came to Churchill county in 1880, states that the Union school of that time was a two-story structure and had been conducted as a boarding school. However, the building had been remodeled to a one-story structure, the second floor being taken out and made in form of an "L". The late Judge W. H. A. Pike formerly taught at the Union School.
The schoolhouse was later acquired by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was really the first church to be organized in Churchill County. The "L" was later torn away from the building and the main part of the church was moved to Fallon, though the Baptist church was the first church edifice to be built in the town, and other church buildings followed. That old Union schoolhouse that filled the needs of the Adventists for many years, was later sold to the Lutheran church and now stands in the block south of the Oats Park School.
But returning to the subject of this story, Rev. Pendleton preached in four Nevada counties, the letter from Oakland states, being Esmeralda, Lyon, Washoe and Churchill. Of Mr. I Pendleton the letter says: "His was the first religious service in Churchill County, his the first prayer, and later, his the first and only Prohibition vote in the county. For two years he traveled this wide circuit. Leaving home on Saturday morning, rode sixty miles and held a service that evening. On Sunday morning he traveled twelve miles, conducted Sunday school and preached and then rode back to Mason valley for the evening service. All this travel was on horseback and in the two years he rode over 7,000 miles. The people were hungry for the Word. They came, some of them, twenty miles to a meeting. They said to him, "this is the old-time religion; we were brought up on this kind of faith, and they received the messages with joy."
According to the dates and figures given, Mr. Pendleton is now 81 years of age. It is possible that Mr. Pendleton was the preacher referred to in a series of reminiscences published in The Eagle during 1915. One of the pioneers told of a preacher coming along to the Grimes ranch. Hill and Grimes kept a toll bridge across the slough and when the preacher offered to pay the toll, Hill dropped his head for a moment, then, looking up, waved his hand and said, "Preachers and Paiutes go free. Ride on."
There are many interesting stories of experiences in those early days that become history if chronicled in the press, but how soon the years fly past until there is no one left to tell the story of those who helped to lay the foundation of the "Battle Born" state of Nevada.

The Fallon Eagle June 2,1934

First Union School "The Institute"