Arthington and other St. Paul’s River towns benefited from the technical innovations of the local Muhlenburg Mission, a vocational school led by Rev. John Day. When Edward W. Blyden visited in 1889, the school’s large workshop was being conducted by Clement Irons, who emigrated in 1878 from Charleston, South Carolina.
Blyden noted, “they build carts and wheelbarrows, run steam engines, make farming implements, &c. Mr. Irons has constructed a steamboat for the river of native timber. It was launched from the mission a few weeks ago by the pupils only — 75 of them took hold of it and pushed it from the mission hill down into the water.” He called the school “a model for missions in this country.”
Footnote:”Visit to Arthington, African Repository, April 1889, p. 44.
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