Neil Wilbur Rogers
NEIL WILBUR ROGERS, superintendent of the city schools of Augusta, Kansas, is a native of the state, is a graduate of Washburn College, and since leaving college has become increasingly successful in the field of education.
His family have lived for many years in the vicinity of Oberlin, Kansas. Neil Wilbur Rogers was born on his father's farm there February 24, 1888. His grandfather, John Rogers, was descended from Scotch-Irish people who have lived in the United States since Colonial days. John Rogers was born in 1820, was an early settler in Iowa, and followed farming near Laurel in that state, where he died in 1904. I. L. Rogers, the father of Superintendent Rogers, was born in Ohio in 1859 and is now living at Oberlin, Kansas. Soon after his birth his parents moved out to Laurel, Iowa, where he was reared and educated and his practical career has been that of a farmer. In 1886 he came to Kansas, locating at Oberlin, was married there and his since been a farmer. Though his home now is in Oberlin, he still owns a fine farm of 480 acres and looks after its management. I. L. Rogers is a republican in politics, an active member and elder in the Christian Church, and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. He married Flora Adelle Wilbur, a native of Indiana. They are the parents of two sons, Professor Rogers being the older. The younger is Dean Rogers, a resident of Topeka and manager of the Fisk Tire Agency there.
Neil W. Rogers grew up on the farm near Oberlin, attended the country schools of Decatur County, graduated from the county high school at Oberlin in 1907, and at this stage of his education he returned to the farm and was engaged in farming a year. After that he spent a year in Washburn College, and in order to secure the means for his full college course he taught rural schools and farmed a year in Decatur County. Re-entering Washburn, he remained three years and was graduated Bachelor of Science in 1913. Mr. Rogers is a member of the Alpha Delta Greek letter fraternity. Since leaving Washburn College Mr. Rogers has been connected with the Augusta schools. In 1913 he was made principal of the high school, and in 1914 became superintendent of the city school system. He has under his supervision two school buildings, a staff of nineteen teachers, and an enrollment of 800 scholars.
Mr. Rogers owns his home on Dearborn Street in Augusta. He is an active member of the Butler County, Southern Kansas and State Teachers' associations, is affiliated with the Oberlin Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America, and belongs to the Christian Church. He is unmarried.
A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918; transcribed 1997.