Considering the longevity and outcome of most other private schools in Humboldt County’s history, the fine reputation and success of the Eureka Business College is more than noteworthy. Continuing with the high standards established by the school’s founder Prof. N.S. Phelps, C.J. (Chan) Craddock piloted the school through nearly 45 successful years before his retirement. The old-timers I’ve talked to have lost track of dates and particulars, but they have been unanimous in relating the exceptional reputation the academy and its graduates enjoyed.

The Eureka Business College had its roots in the Humboldt County Young Ladies Seminary. This was a day and boarding school for young women. The school building, located in the vicinity of Eureka’s Fifth and K Streets, was a large three-story frame building built in the mid-1870s with financial help from Joseph Russ. The Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Lathrop were in charge of the school at that time and reportedly established a high standard of scholarship in literature, art and music. After several years the Lathrops left and the school was taken over by Miss Mary and Isabel Prince. These prim and proper spinsters were apparently hard working and capable, but because of low attendance were forced to close their doors. Announcement of the closure appears in the November 11, 1886 issue of The Humboldt Times. In that same issue an advertisement is found for the soon to open Eureka Academy and Business College.

This school, to be located in the Seminary building, was described in the article as being a “boarding and day school for both sexes.” The advertisement was signed by Prof. N.S. Phelps.

Prof. Phelps, already known in the community, gave the school its initial boost into notoriety. As a young man he had taught in the country school at Grizzly Bluff. He later became the principal of the Ferndale Grammar School, a position he held for some time. For the four years just prior to establishing his private school. Prof. Phelps served as Humboldt County Superintendent of Schools. With capable leadership as well as the fact there were no public schools above the grammar level in the area, the time was right. The school experienced phenomenal growth.

After only the first session, the already large building had to be added to and the staff increased. In time, the reputation of the college grew to the point that nearly half of the enrollees were from out of the area.

The curriculum of the Eureka Academy and Business College was impressive. It consisted of five departments; preparatory, academic, normal, music and commercial.

The preparatory department included the work ordinarily covered by the primary and intermediate grades in the public schools. Phelps advertised that he could “… provide a much more thorough and careful training than the public schools.”

The academic department was designed to meet the need for high school level course work in the Humboldt area. At that time parents who could afford to do so were sending their children away for high school. The second issue of “The Academy Record,” a quarterly promotional publication of the school, stated the following in regard to the academic department:

It is our intention in this department to furnish; 1st, an English high school course; 2nd, a thorough course in the modern language; 3rd, to prepare students for any department of the University.

The normal department of the Eureka Academy was designed and established to give teachers of the county and those persons contemplating teaching a place of training here at home. The expense involved in leaving the area for training was prohibitive to all but a few. Prof. Phelps promised that “… the student who satisfactorily finishes this course is grounded in the theory and art of teaching, and is able to demonstrate his ability as a true teacher wherever he goes.”

The department of instrumental and vocal music was a special feature of the school. “The Academy Record” stated, “We have no hesitancy in saying that there is now no private school in California that can boast of as thorough a course in music as we offer in the Academy.” The courses offered in this department included: music theory, chorus singing, individual voice culture and classical piano.

The most extensive and popular area, however, was the commercial department. The course of study included bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic, applied grammar and correspondence, commercial law, rapid business penmanship and spelling. The foundation of the commercial department was a teaching method introduced by the first department head. Prof. Charles L. Ellis. This method, called the “Actual Business System,” and is described in “The Academy Record.”

The student upon becoming a member of the school, receives instruction in penmanship until he has acquired a rapid, plain hand, when he enters upon the regular course, and assumes at once the responsibilities of a business man. He is furnished with the necessary blank-books, and a complete outfit of business forms, comprising Notes, Drafts, Receipts, Invoices, Deposit Tickets, Bank and Check Books, Freight and Shipping Receipts, Insurance Policies, Deeds, Mortgages — in short all forms ordinarily used in business, all of which are printed neatly and in mercantile style. He is also furnished with a cash capital of at least $1,000, which he deposits in the College Bank, and takes a Pass and Check Book. He now leases a place of business, and pays the rent, and takes his place among the merchants of the school as a General Jobber. He is instructed how to buy to the best advantage from the different students in the school, for cash, on time, and on note, draft, etc., being careful to make the proper entries in his books for each transaction as it occurs. After having purchased in this way a sufficient amount of goods to begin selling, he solicits customers among the teachers, and sells to the best of his knowledge and skill.

In describing the general atmosphere of the school, the 1890-91 issue of “History and Business Directory of Humboldt County” has this to say:

One of the most pronounced features of the school is to surround the students with the pleasant and refining influences of a well ordered home. Students and members of the faculty occupy the same building, meet at the same table for their meals, and are intimately associated together as members of one large family. Everything combines to make the school a constant object lesson in politeness and good manners to those who have been prevented from acquiring the manners and customs of a polite society.

Within the first few years of the Phelps Academy, Chauncey J. (Chan) Craddock was hired as a teacher. He apparently demonstrated great ability because by the year 1890, Prof. Ellis had left to teach at the San Francisco Business College and C.J. Craddock was given charge of the commercial department. On May 23, 1893 (some say 1892, others 1894) the school burned to the ground in what was reported as the largest Eureka fire of the year.

Shortly thereafter, Craddock reopened the school himself in the upper floor of what became Horel’s Second Hand Store at 312 E Street. Craddock cut the school’s curriculum back to business courses only and called it Eureka Business College. An article in the weekly newspaper Redwood Christian, dated January 18,1901, described the curriculum as including bookkeeping, shorthand, typewriting and commercial law and theory of contracts. The article states:

… There are in the school three teachers and nearly three score pupils, with additional constantly coming in, as the course is completed by the retiring graduates. From six to ten months to complete according to aptitude, time and course taken.

While this commercial college is a benefit to our city, to our young people, and the business interests of commercial centers, let us as citizens uphold all such institutions by patronage, a kind word, and our influence.

With the public schools continually increasing in quality and the career options for young people expanding each year, it was no small task for Craddock to keep his school producing. He was reportedly active in recruiting new pupils. A form letter sent to various high school graduates in 1906 read: “Are you satisfied to rest on these well earned laurels? If you are not, perhaps a thorough course in a practical and up-to-date business college would interest you.”

Something that contributed to the school’s success was the distinguished reputation of Craddock himself. He was active in community affairs and local government, and was highly respected in the community.

On June 17, 1929, when Eureka city council members were for the first time, to be selected by popular vote, Craddock won the position of councilman. Third Ward, by a considerable margin. He held that position for several terms. We again get an indication of the reputation of C.J. Craddock and his business college by reading an unsolicited preelection endorsement by local businessman Willard Wells appearing in the June 15, 1929 issue of The Humboldt Standard. It read:

… today it is a general business practice among our business houses when in need of competent office help to call on “Chan” Craddock to supply the students to fill the requirements. Eureka Business College under his management has grown and prospered. Its product has been such as to reflect credit, not alone for his efforts, but has been recognized throughout Northern California as an accredited institution of business education, where the system of teaching business methods in a practical business manner emphasizes the business judgment of its principal.

On the lighter side of “Chan” Craddock, he was reportedly quite proud of the baseball team that he could sometimes work up amongst his students. His team was appropriately called the Eureka Business College Club and when they faced another club Craddock was always in the rooting section.

The Eureka Business College played a unique and influential part in the local history. Many of its graduates were and still are found in the higher levels of Humboldt County’s businesses and institutions, where they continue to have impact.

In 1938, C.J. Craddock sold the Eureka Business College and retired from teaching. A few years later, in 1941, the Eureka City Directory appeared for the first time in fifty years without the name C.J. Craddock. Prof. “Chan” Craddock was gone.

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SIDEBAR: Eureka Business College Rules and Regulations 1887

1. Students must be punctual in attendance, diligent in study, respectful and courteous to their teachers and fellow students.
2. Day pupils must reside with their parents or guardians, or room at such places as the Principal will approve.
3. The use of profanity, tobacco in any form, in or about the institution, loitering or collecting in groups in any of the halls or entrances, defacing the walls or furniture in any part of the building, is strictly forbidden.
4. Regular pupils will not be permitted to leave the school premises at any time without the consent of the Principal or Preceptress.
5. Only persons of good moral character will be permitted to enter or remain in the school.

Additional rules for boarding pupils:

1. Ladies and gentlemen may receive all friends and callers in the parlors at any time not later than 10 p.m.
2. Students must be in their rooms during all the hours designated for study, and must maintain absolute quiet during such times.
3. Each student is responsible for any injury to the walls or furniture in his or her room.
4. Rooms to be open, i.e., unlocked, so that the Principal or Preceptress may see that all are comfortable before retiring.
5. Outside doors will be fastened at 10 p.m., and all students must be in their rooms at that hour, unless by special permission.
6. All the study hours are from 9 a.m. until 12 a.m.; and 1 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.
7. Students will be provided with hooks on etiquette, and will be required to practice politeness toward all at all times, but especially toward one another.
8. All pupils must answer promptly to the appointments of the daily program.

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The story above was originally printed in the November-December 1982 issue of the Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society. It is reprinted here with permission. The Humboldt County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to archiving, preserving and sharing Humboldt County’s rich history. You can become a member and receive a year’s worth of new issues of The Humboldt Historian at this link.