Philetus Philbrick came south from the University of Iowa, where he had helped set up the Department of Engineering and taught there for 14 years. It was Philbrick's knowledge of railroading that brought him in contact with Watkins, then south to Kinder as a railroad surveyor. Philetus wrote to his brother Franklin, telling him of the available and fertile farmland. Franklin brought his family south and bought a farm north of Kinder. There was no school then, and the state would not furnish a teacher until the school had operated for three months. Franklin Philbrick opened the school and taught without pay in the small, rough-plank building.