1864-1900 Rosebrugh

Frances A. Rosebrugh      1864 - 1900

Frances Augusta Rosebrugh was born in Groveland, New York and graduated from high school in Tecumseh, Michigan.  She came to Freeport in October 1861 as a mathematics teacher with a salary of $5 per week (Stella, 1896, p. 22).  According to Karl Kubitz’s handwritten history, Rosebrugh formed and led the high school orchestra from 1864-1900.  Rosebrugh became Assistant Principal of the High School in 1884 with a salary of $65 per month.  She was then awarded the position of Principal of the High School with a salary of $110 per month from 1889-1891, at which point she again became Assistant Principal at $100 per month (School Board, 1861-1896).  Rosebrugh resigned on September 6, 1912 (School Board, 1912-1914, p. 30).        

            Rosebrugh is noted to have “capably instructed scholars in every study in the high school curriculum.”  Students described her as benevolent and as having a “truly philanthropic temperament.”  “She will continue to augment the progress of humanity, and she will continue to be revered” (Polaris, 1911, p. 7).  One 1883 alumnus stated, "We look back on Rosebrugh as the mental mother of so many Freeport boys and girls with a tender feeling in our hearts” (Stella, 1896, p. 97).

National Happenings:

            In the 1600s, instrumental music was rare in the colonies.  Pipe organs began to appear in churches in the 18th Century, but instrumental music was considered a social diversion, serious cultivation of which was “regarded as frivolous if not wicked” (Birge, 1966, p. 176).  Eventually, performing ensembles began to emerge in educational institutions.  A drum and bugle corps was formed at Harvard College during the Revolutionary War.  Then, in 1791, a student orchestra performed at Princeton University (Humphreys, 1995, p. 40).  America’s oldest symphony orchestra is the New York Philharmonic, founded in 1842.  In the mid 1800s, the Theodore Thomas Orchestra and European violinists such as Ole Bull, Eduard Remenyi, and Camilla Urso toured the nation.  These performances were the impetus to form community symphonies and introduce instrumental music to public education (Birge, 1966, p. 177).  The St. Louis Symphony formed in 1880, the Boston Symphony in 1881, and the Chicago Symphony was founded by Thomas himself in 1891 (Colwell & Goolsby, 2002, p. 3).                                                                                                                 

            Several high school orchestras boast being the first or oldest orchestra in the nation.  B. W. Merrill, a student, formed an orchestra in Aurora, Illinois in 1878.  Music education historian, Edward Bailey Birge (1966) recollected belonging to an orchestra of 10 members which played for a graduation in 1883.  These early orchestras were considered social groups, however, practicing outside of school, in someone’s home, and without a director (p. 166).  An instrumental teacher was hired for the high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1879.  Earlier still, in 1857, the first school “orchestra” emerged at the Farm and Trades School on Thompson Island in Boston.  This ensemble was initially comprised of tissue covered combs, three violins, and a bass viol, but was noted to perform using “real” instruments by 1859 (Keene, 1982, p. 271).  Birge (1966) reported more formal high school orchestras emerging in the communities of Wichita, Kansas in 1896; Richmond, Indiana in 1898; and Hartford, Connecticut in 1899 (p. 166).

Local Happenings:

            On March 27, 1854, Ole Bull, the celebrated Norwegian violinist, stopped in Rockford on one of his 5 American concert tours.  He had performed in Paris in 1832 with Frederic Chopin at the piano (Tilden, 1972, p. 578).  Freeport saw many musical performances with the opening of the Wilcoxon Opera House in 1869.  The 60’x50’ stage, seating for 800, and appropriate machinery and stage equipment provided a base of operations for musical artists visiting Freeport (Tilden, 1880, p. 433).  Freeport was close to Chicago by rail and provided good accommodations.  Among those performing in Freeport were John Philip Sousa, and later, Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, and Claudio Arrau (Tilden, 1972, p. 578).                  

            Local musicians also appeared frequently to furnish music for social gatherings.  Morgan Gibler, a Civil War drummer boy, founded his orchestra at the close of the war and handed it over to Joseph Gibler, who turned it over to his son William.  William H. Gibler headed the Grand Opera House orchestra in the late 1890s and 1900s.  The Rotzler family was another musical name in Freeport.  Edwin played with the Chicago and Los Angeles Symphony orchestras, and Dorothy Rotzler Robards went on to perform with the San Diego Orchestra.  William Wagner was the leader of the local Saengerbund, and his son, Oscar, was a widely renowned cellist (p. 577).  Both Edwin Rotzler and Oscar Wagner performed with the Freeport High School Orchestra.

High School Music:

The first high school graduation was in 1863.  With a total enrollment at the time of 22, the 5 graduating members were all girls.  The war had broken up school the year before, and many of the boys had left to serve (Stella, 1896, p. 93).  The written accounts of Karl Kubitz, high school music supervisor from 1924-1959, include the history of the Freeport High School Orchestra program from its inception in 1864 through the early 1900s.  Rosebrugh was asked in 1864 to form an orchestra to perform for plays, operettas, and commencement exercises.  Rosebrugh was an enthusiastic music lover and played the piano with the ensemble.  Her first orchestra consisted of 2 violins, 1 cornet, 1 clarinet, and herself on piano.  This portrayal has been printed in such publications as the History of Stephenson County and Richard J. Colwell’s The Teaching of Instrumental Music.    

            In the 1890s, high school students documented happenings in several newsletters, including The Budget, Black and Orange, and The Polaris.  In 1896, did the school have an orchestra or mandolin club, both, or were they considered one in the same?  A newsletter touts that the “Oratorical Contest brought the first appearance of our two new musical organizations.”  These ensembles met under the direction of Professor J. W. Bray, teacher of English and Literature, who was noted as a fine musician with experience at directing.  The boys’ group consisted of 3 mandolins, 2 guitars, 1 violin played by Edward Sibley, and 1 cello played by Gustave Ulrich (Budget, January 1897, p. 7). 

We are pleased to notice with what earnestness our two musical organizations are being pushed.  There are very few schools that have both a Mandolin and a Glee Club and now that we have material and are able to support both we should give them our hearty co-operation and support.  Both the societies have appeared several times and each time they have been generously received and complimented on their performance.  (Budget, February 1897, p. 8) 

The Mandolin Club played at the Germania Opera House, the Stephenson County Farmer’s Institute, and the Philomathian Literary Society.  The class of 1896 published the first yearbook, but an orchestra was not pictured.  Interested students and teachers attempted to form a school choir, but the group died at the end of the year.  The 1896 Stella captioned a “cartoon depicting the student body gathered around the coffin holding a wake for the defunct group” (p. 70).