In February 1866, the Territorial Legislature authorized a tax to support schools within each district, and in American Fork Mayor Leonard E. Harrington called a meeting where most citizens approved the plan. The school opened in November 1867 with Jos. B. Forbes, E.A. Henroid, Editha Anderson, and Elizabeth G. Griffith as teachers, and Wm. Greenwood, Wm. Paxman, and James W. Preston as trustees. American Fork thus became the torch bearer of the present free school system. As the morning bells called students to order, twenty-five young voices sang “When upon Life’s Path We Tread,” a favorite from the old Sunday School Song Book sung to the tune “Hark, Listen to the Trumpeters,” and its verses urged children to mind their parents and teacher and recalled the pioneers going west with courage, pushing handcarts and singing as they went.