Early
History of the Oneida Stake Academy
 Late
in the 19th century, the Edmunds-Tucker Act prevented
Mormons from holding public office, including that of
teaching in public schools. Mormons were concerned about
the anti-Mormon philosophies their children were receiving
in state-run schools, so they began an intensive effort
to build their own educational facilities from Canada
to the Mexican colonies.
Over 30 academies were built for this
purpose, including the Brigham Young Academy in Provo
(which was recently restored into a magnificent public
library for the community) and the Oneida Stake Academy
in Preston, Idaho. The Oneida Stake Academy is one of
the oldest, having been organized in 1888 in Franklin.
It was held in a room above a store there for 3 years.
In 1890 Solomon H. Hale was called by The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be the superintendent
over the construction of a new, rock building five miles
north of Franklin, in Preston, for the academy. A year
later, classes were held in its just-completed basement.
The building was finished in 1895, dedicated by Moses
Thatcher on July 28, 1895.
Hale was an ecclesiastical leader in the Oneida Stake
presidency. He was the first counselor to George C.
Parkinson. Mathias F. Cowley was the second counselor.
His assignment included raising funds locally and, in
the case of subscriptions obtained in the form of livestock
and produce, convert them into building materials and
labor.
Hale not only supervised this project until its completion
five years later, but served as a member of the board
of education of the institution for 15 years afterward.
His children attended the school.
At the time he was called to be the superintendent of
the project, he and his family lived in Gentile Valley
where he ran cattle and horses on his ranch. Due to
his involvement with the academy he soon decided to
move his family to Preston. He built and sold three
homes in the city of Preston and ran a ranch with his
son three miles south of Preston.
John Nuffer was the head stone mason. He and his young
wife, Louisa Zollinger, were living in Glendale (about
five miles from Preston) amongst other members of Nuffer’s
family who homesteaded there.
The calling required his full attention, so the young
family moved to Preston as the Hale family did.
Although the plans for the academy came from church
officials in Salt Lake City, Nuffer, who apprenticed
in the city of Stuttgart, Germany, “modified the
design considerably, accounting for its beautiful Gothic
appearance,” stated one of his sons, Myron, in
a letter to Newell Hart and reprinted in the Cache Valley
News published by Hart between 1969 and 1982.
The stone from the building came from Nuffer’s
brother, Fred. He ran a quarry on his property 10 miles
up Cub River Canyon from Franklin (six miles from Prestion)
on Sheep Creek. Stone from the quarry was used “on
the better buildings going up throughout the neighboring
towns,” including Logan, where it was used to
build the college.
“The contract to build the academy called for
2000 cubic feet at 25 cent per foot. The stone was used
for corners, sills and watertable.
“All work was done by hand. ... We used 12-foot
churn drills and blasted large blocks loose from the
main ledge. We had to be careful how much powder we
used so as not to shatter or cause seams in the stone.
“We usually had to put a second charge in the
opening made by the first charge to dislodge the block
from the man ledge. The block so dislodged was from
six to seven feet thick and about 20 feet long. From
then on all tools used were hammers, axes, wedges and
squares.
“Grooves were cut with axes where ever we desired
to split the block, then wedges were set in the grooves
about 10 inches apart and driven in with hammers. Then
we dressed them down to the right measurement, allowing
one half inch for the stone cutters to take out all
the tool marks we made.” (Statements of Fred Nuffer
published in Cache Valley News #45, 1972.)
Nuffer and Joseph S. Geddes built many buildings in
Franklin County.
They built several residences, the Weston Tabernacle,
the Preston First Ward chapel and several school houses.
He was the architect for most of the older business
blocks in Preston, the Opera House, the Idaho State
Bank Building and the Oneida Stake Science Building
(now called the ag/art building at Preston High School.)
Except for the Weston Tabernacle and the ag/science
building, all the public buildings are now gone. The
ag/science building is slated for the wrecking ball
in the next couple of years to make room on the school
campus for modernized buildings.
Former student, Scott Nelson, who graduated in the 20s,
wrote the following to Newell Hart:
“My father, while a student at Brigham Young Academy,
was called into Dr. Karl G. Maeser’s office and
told that he had been nominated to open a new academy
in Southern Idaho. But he had “a choice of accepting
or continuing his studies at BYA.” Next day Father
reported his decision: He’d rather not go. But
Prof. Maeser shook his head and said it was too late.
The Lord, through his Servant here on Earth, had decided
that Bro. Nelson was just the man of the Preston Assignment.
“Having thus “volunteered” Father
and his wife, Almeda, with year-old-daughter, Mae, headed
north ...
“We arrived,” Father recorded, “in
what the conductor announced was Preston, but there
was no depot in sight as our trunk was tossed into a
barrow pit beside the track.
“Father and young Meda, my mother, was the entire
faculty. Nobody raised the question of teacher’s
pay, and the new teachers probably had to depend on
money volunteered for tuition.
Father was not specific about the salary paid, but it
couldn’t have been over $50 a month, if that.
All church property had been confiscated by the Government
and no appropriations were possible from that source.
[Edmunds Tucker Act] Students paid “tuition”
they felt they could afford, and nobody was denied admission
for lack of money. (Many failed to pay a cent for their
entire stay at the academy, although several of these
students went on to acquire doctorates, Father implied).
Townspeople brought wood for the stoves, and on a specified
day the boys chopped the wood and the girls set up food
for the workers.
“All social functions were school-supervised and
“were of such a high order people deemed it an
honor to be invited.”
“...Students came from Pocatello, Gentile Valley,
and all settlements south to the Utah Line. Father described
his students as roughhewn diamonds form cattle ranches
and farms who were transformed form shy and awkward
youths into cultured students.
“Most of the charter members
came back for the second and third years and from this
group emerged bishops, counselors, mayors, county and
stake leaders...”
“The basement of the new school
was sufficiently ready to house the school in 1891-92,
and the upper building was finished by 1895. Other teachers
were added, but Father ruefully observed, “ I
taught in this school for several years with scarcely
any pay.”
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