The county supported education reform to keep current.  By 1875, 188 schools had been built, with 203 classrooms and 7,200 students.  There were also private seminaries, academies, and select schools.

Callensburg Institute was chartered in 1858.

From the 1964 reprint of Caldwell's Atlas of Clarion County, originally published in 1877:

A law requiring support of schools was passed in 1854.

From Conneration, by Warren Conner, page 86:

"Clarion County's Earliest Elementary Schools, 1803-1834"  --  When the county was settled in 1801, no schools existed in what is now Clarion County.  Early pioneers built a school house in 1803 on lands of Philip Clover in what is now Clarion Township.  In 1812, a school was opened where Strattonville Road now stands.

"Teachers of the earliest schools were generally Scots-Irish, while many of the settlers of Pennsylvania were German.  From 1840-1850, a number of Yankee teachers from Connecticut and Vermont taught in Clarion County.  They were among the first to advocate the use of blackboards in schools.

"The common schools were known as subscription schools and were usually started by an enterprising man in the community, who had children to educate.  He would call a meeting of his neighbors and the result would be the appointment of a board of trustees.  Then they would build a school house, determine the number of pupils to attnd, fix the 'tuition,' and employ a teacher.  A location for a school would be agreed upon and a committee appointed to make arrangements for the construction of a building.  On the appointed day, both old and young would gather at the appointed place and participate in the construction of their school house.  The women brought food, and the men brought axes, saws, and other needed tools.  It was a happy holiday for these pioneers, as well as a day of hard work.

"The salary of the teachers was about $12 per month.  Sometimes, teachers were paid in rye, which they, in turn, sold to the distillers.  Requirements of the schoolmaster were that he could read, write, and cypher as far as the 'double rule of three.'

"Discipline in early schools was severe, and frequiently undue punishment was administered for trivial offenses.  The rod was used sparingly.  One pupil was often required to carry an offender around the room on his back, while the teacher would administer the flogging!  For mild offenses, a stick, split at one end, was made fast to the victim's nose or ear, after which he was made to jump over benches and run around the room.

"Extracts from School Laws of 1849:  Schools must be kept open at least three months per year.  Neither school directors nor teachers can compel scholars to chop wood for the school house.  A clock in a school room, so placed that every child may see the hour, has very important uses.  It is not unlike the 'mile stone' to the traveler.  It is an encouragement to theweary and a reproof to the laggard.

"Old foggyism prevails to a great extent among the teachers in the Iron County, and many of them, forgetting that this is an age of progres, still follow the old system of 20 years ago.  Many school directors, in hiring a teacher, follow precisely the same course they would in purchasing a horse; i.e., get him as low as possible."

This section was credited to "Anonymous -- Callensburg, Penna., April, 1849."