Local Americana - Two Part Story

About ten minutes from my home I sometimes ride by a house that looks pretty ordinary at first glance, but upon a closer look, one will notice an old well complete with an old hand pump in the yard.

An old well and pump in Limestone County

For months, I kept hoping to see some people in the yard so I could stop and ask about the well, but I finally gave up on that idea and a few days ago I just took my camera and drove over and knocked on the front door, and asked if I could photograph the old well and pump. The homeowner said yes and added that the well was left over from the days when that spot was the old school.

Story part 1:

The lady homeowner went on to add that at one time there was a school there called Fairmont and that if I was interested in Americana, I should look up information about Fairmont school - so I did just that.

Fairmont School was a two room frame building schoolhouse in the Capshaw area. It operated for many years in the early to mid 1900's. For most of that time it taught grades one through six. Probably it averaged around 35 to 40 students. In 1960 it closed and those students started attending East Limestone school.

This old pump still has the waterpipe running down into the well.

When I photographed the pump I noticed the name of the manufacturer on the side of the pump - F. E. Myers and Bro. Co. So I did some research on that company.

An old F.E. Myers and Bro. Co. pump

Story part 2:

F. E. Myers and Bro. was a successful business and farm equipment manufacturer in Ashland, Ohio for many years.

Just after the Civil War the American economy was growing fast, particularly in manufacturing and transportation. Around 1870, in the small town of Ashland, Ohio, a young man named Francis E. Myers left his father's farm to become a salesman in the farm equipment business. His younger brother, Philip, was a gifted mechanic and farm equipment repairman. Soon the two brothers started their own company called F.E. Myers and Bro. Co.

Philip was strong at designing and building not only pumps, but various pieces of farm equipment. He soon held several patents for his equipment designs.

The business was successful and became one of the town's leading employers. Later they would become the nation's leading producer of farm pumps. Around the year 1900 they began the production of electric pumps. Even today the Myers brand of water pumps is well known around the country and Myers equipment is sold all over the world.

Here's more information about the company: https://www.farmcollector.com/equipment/history-F-E-Myers-and-Bro/

F.E. Myers Bros Co. still operates on a track of 100 acres of land in Ashland, Ohio.

Summary:

Before I learned about Fairmont School, I knew that about 70 years ago there was a three room schoolhouse in central Limestone County called Pleasant Point school. That school had grades one through three in one room, grades four through six in another and a third room was the lunchroom. The two separate bathrooms were across the road. I know quite a bit about that school because that is where I attended first grade. It closed at the end of that school year, probably in 1963. The students attended Clements school the following year.

So now I can see that Fairmont school was a school like Pleasant Point school just farther to the east.

I remember that at Pleasant Point school we had a well and pump that looked just like well and pump that is still standing in the yard in the Capshaw community today. I have little doubt that it was an F.E Myers and Bro. pump.

It seems likely that when Francis E. Myers left his dad's farm to go into the sales business back in 1870, he planned on being successful. However, my guess is that he would have been very surprised if anyone told him that water pumps with his name on them would be pumping water for school kids in Alabama, 500 miles away, 90 years later - and more surprised to know that those pumps were discussed by people 60 years after that.

But things like that happen - they happen a lot. Stories like that reflect on American lives and American history. Stories like that are Americana.

Thank you to Betty Taylor for writing about the history of Limestone County Schools and thank you as well to April Davis at the Limestone County Archives for helping me with research.

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