USA > Connecticut > New London County > A modern history of New London County, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 35
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BACON ACADEMY
The following narrative of this famous old school is by Mr. Samuel A. Willard, of Colchester :
The beginnings of Bacon Academy were in the will of Pierpoint Bacon, signed April 17, 1800, by which upon Mr. Bacon's death, December 30, 1800,
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his estate, inventoried at $35,000, was left to the "Inhabitants of the First Society of Colchester for the purpose of supporting and maintaining a school in said First Society at such place as the Inhabitants of said First Society shall agree upon near the meeting house in said Society."
The largest town in the State by the census of 1800 was Stonington, with a population of 5,347. Colchester had 3,163, of which perhaps rather more than one-half lived in the "First Society." Mr. Bacon's gift opened great opportunities to this small community, and at the same time placed upon it grave responsibilities. The first problem was how to manage the bequest, which was largely in lands, and to arrange for the development of the school. It was soon evident that the Society meeting was not the place to handle this business, and a committee was appointed to secure a charter from the General Assembly. For the purposes of caring for and administer- ing the fund and carrying on the school in accordance with the terms of the will, the inhabitants of the First Society were incorporated under the name of the Trustees and Proprietors of Bacon Academy.
There were two unusual features in this charter which make the manage- ment of the school unique. They are well worth attention. The first was the composition of the board of trustees. There were to be twelve trustees, five of whom were to be non-resident in said Society, and by the charter and subsequent amendments the seven resident trustees were to hold office for a term of four years, and at each election at least four of the seven must be persons who had served during the previous term. The second provision to be noted is the manner in which the trustees were to be chosen. The voters of the First Society in public meeting duly warned were to nominate the trustees ; these nominations were to be sent to the State Senate; the Senate is to appoint and the Governor to approve. Some machinery, perhaps, but the procedure gave dignity and permanence to the governing body, and sep- arated the school from petty local influence. The school is and always has been a free public school, supported by endowment. The non-resident trus- tees on the first board as mentioned in the charter were "His Excellency Jonathan Trumbull, the Honorable Zepheniah Swift, the Honorable Roger Griswold, General Epaphroditus Champion, the Reverend Henry Channing." The resident trustees named were "The Reverend Salmon Cone, Colonel Daniel Watrous, Major Roger Bulkeley, Joseph Isham, John R. Watrous, Asa Bigelow and Ichabod Lord Skinner," all men of affairs and representative citizens of Colchester. This all shows "that men eminent for their services to the church and the state thought it not beneath them to manage the con- cerns and direct the interests of the school founded by Mr. Bacon's bequest." It has been of great assistance to the school that a part of the board was able to view matters detached from local interests. Some of the other non- resident trustees during these intervening years have been Eliphalet A. Bulke- ley, first president of the Aetna Life Insurance Company of Hartford; Rev- erend Abel McEwen, of New London ; William A. Buckingham, Connecticut's War Governor; Charles J. McCurdy, lawyer, of Lyme; Morgan G. Bulkeley, another Connecticut governor; Charles N. Taintor, president of the United States Savings Bank of New York City; Edwin B. Cragin, M.D., of New
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York; Edward M. Day, lawyer, of Hartford, and Michael D. O'Connell, lawyer, and judge of probate in Stafford Springs.
With the organization complete, the next important factor in determining the success of the school was the principal, who must by his scholarship and personality interest, enthuse, develop and direct the youth committed to his charge. The first principal was John Adams, Yale 1795, and a teacher of successful experience. The choice was a most fortunate one, and the school at once took foremost rank. Two months after the school was opened, 206 students were enrolled, of whom 63 were from out of town. Mr. Adams left in 1810 to accept the principalship of Phillips Academy, Andover, Massa- chusetts. Able successors followed him, and the school continued to grow in numbers until in 1835-36 the enrollment was over 400, including 125 "scholars from abroad." The following year the attendance probably reached high water mark. The catalogue contains the names of 425 scholars, 137 of whom were from out of town, and 32 of these were from out of the State. It must have been a problem to accommodate all these pupils in a village which at that time had a population of only about 1,200 . "To accommodate these students or their families, almost every family of the village rented a part of the house or took boarders." Gradually high schools were started in other towns, and the out-of-town attendance fell off, but the school maintains its high standard, fitting for college, and also making special effort to adapt itself to the community needs.
There have been some thirty-five different principals since the school opened. All but two or three were college graduates, and twenty-two were graduated from Yale. Several of the earlier masters had served as tutors there. They were a fine body of men, and their influence and example were an inspiration to many a Colchester youth and led him to continue his studies beyond the high school. There are no statistics extant of the number who went from the academy to college during the first seventy years. One who had given some time to looking this up has a list of seventy-five Bacon Academy students who had graduated from colleges before 1870. Since Mr. Burnette became principal in 1869 up to the present, about sixty-five of the graduates have completed a course in some college or university, and some twenty others have entered but were compelled to withdraw before finishing the course on account of ill health or lack of funds. Last year there were eighteen graduates from the school continuing their studies in higher insti- tutions of learning. The enrollment of the school for the last few years has been about eighty-five.
The original endowment has been increased by gifts from Asa Otis, S. Lewis Gillette, Judah Lord Taintor, Lewis E. Stanton, Charles E. Jones, James F. Cutler, Hamilton Wallis, Charles N. Taintor, and a fund of $10,000 given at the Centennial by the alumni. The present fund is about $100,000.
The list of men and women who have received a part of their prep- aration for life work in the academy is a long one. A few may be mentioned without reference to the chronological order of their attendance at the school:
Morrison R. Waite, chief justice U. S. Supreme Court ; Lyman Trumbull, U. S. senator from Illinois ; John T. Wait, lawyer and member of Congress,
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Norwich; George Champion, missionary to Zululand, Africa; David Trum- bull and James Trumbull, who lived for years in Chili, South America; Wil- liam' Larrabee, governor of Iowa; Joseph Selden, editor, East Haddam; Wil- liam A. Buckingham, governor of Connecticut; Elisha Palmer, James D. Mowry. Lewis A. Hyde, Welcome A. Smith, Norwich; Charles Wetmore, M.D., missionary physician in Sandwich Islands; Rev. James T. Hyde, D.D., professor in Chicago Theological Seminary; Lewis E. Stanton, lawyer, Hart- ford : Silas A. Robinson, judge of Connecticut Supreme Court, Middletown ; Rev. Ezra H. Gillett, D.D., professor in New York University; John E. Gillette. Catskill Station, New York; Ralph Smith Taintor, Saybrook; Charles N. Taintor, president United States Savings Bank, New York City; James U. Taintor, secretary Orient Fire Ins. Co., Hartford; Judah Lord Taintor, publisher, New York City ; John E. Leffingwell, president Farragut Ins. Co., New York City ; Edward Sheffield Bartholomew, sculptor, Hartford ; Harriet Trumbull (Mrs. George J. Brush), New Haven; Catherine Olmstead (Mrs. Erastus S. Day), Colchester; Sebastian Lawrence, banker, New London ; S. Lewis Gillette, business, Boston, Massachusetts; James S. Foote, M.D., professor Creighton Medical College, Omaha, Nebraska; Charles W. Haines, lawyer, Colorado Springs; Rev. Curtis M. Geer, Hartford Theological Sem- inary ; Frank D. Haines, Portland, judge Superior Court, Connecticut; Park Benjamin, journalist, New York City ; Henry C. Demming, Hartford ; Henry W. Bigelow, manufacturer, Boston; Henry Marsh, California; Rev. Charles N. Ransom, missionary, South Africa; John T. Swift, professor University, Tokyo, Japan ; Rev. Florence O'Shea, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; Rev. Michael Sullivan, LL.D., Hartford; Rev. Eugene Sullivan, Portchester, New York; Rev. Timothy Sullivan, East Hartford; Edward M. Day, lawyer, Hartford; Eliphalet A. Bulkeley, first president Aetna Life Ins. Co., Hartford; Morgan G. Bulkeley, governor of Connecticut, Hartford; Theron Clark, registrar Brown University, Providence; Edwin B. Cragin, eminent surgeon and pro- fessor, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City; Michael D. O'Connell, judge of probate, Stafford Springs; Rev. James T. Champlin, president Colby College, Maine; Charles Brand, lieutenant-commander U. S. Navy ; John W. Brand, treasurer Institution for Savings, Springfield, Massa- chusetts; Martin Shugrue, assistant professor, Massachusetts Institute Tech- nology, Boston ; Almira Lathrop (Mrs. Solomon T. Swift), Colchester ; David S. Day, lawyer, Bridgeport ; Mary R. Willard (Mrs. Edwin B. Cragin), New York City ; Margaret Weeks (Mrs. J. L. Shipley), Springfield ; Leonore Bart- lett (Mrs. B. F. Parsons), Georgia; Caroline Swift (Mrs. D. W. Willard), California ; Lewis E. Sparrowe, investment broker, New York City ; Thomas S. O'Connell, M.D., East Hartford ; Richard T. O'Connell, judge of probate, East Hartford ; Rev. William B. Sprague, LL.D., noted divine, Albany, New York; Rev. Nathaniel Hewitt, D.D., Bridgeport; Frederick W. Lord, M.D., member of Congress, Greenport, L. I .; W. Henry Foote, Romney, Va .; Rev. E. Goodrich Smith, Washington, D. C .; Samuel A. Bridges, member of Con- gress, Allentown, Pennsylvania; Charles J. McCurdy, lawyer, Lyme; David H. Raymond, judge in Indiana when it was a territory; James Raymond, Westminster, Maryland ; Henry M. Waite, chief justice Supreme Court Con- necticut; Samuel A. Talbot, attorney-general, New York State; Ebenezer Jackson, member of Congress, Middletown; Charles J. McCurdy, lawyer, Lyme; Charles J. Watrous, U. S. District Judge, Texas.
These are a few of the hundreds who have had a share in the benefits of Mr. Bacon's gift to Colchester. How much such a legacy means to a place so small that otherwise it would not have had a high school! The following taken from a letter written by the Honorable Samuel A. Bridges in August,
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1853, acknowledging an invitation to attend the Semi-Centennial of the Academy, indicates the way a non-resident pupil regarded the matter :
By it they (the citizens of Colchester) have been elevated in the enjoy- ment of privileges far above many of their neighbors. To them the name of "Bacon" has given a distinction of which others would like to boast. Through his bountiful munificence the elder portion of them have lived to see their children first taught in his academic halls elevated to the pulpit, the bar, and the bench. How many important influences at the expiration of the half century radiate from that grand center! This is no less true now that 117 years have passed. The original gift supplemented during the last twenty years by the generosity of other friends does not in any way relieve the town in its support of schools, but provides opportunities for the educa- tion beyond the graded schools, for community work and for Americaniza- tion work beyond the usual lot of small communities.
THE BULKELEY SCHOOL, NEW LONDON ..
The following account of the Bulkeley School has been prepared by its principal, Mr. Walter A. Towne.
The founder of this school was Leonard Hallam Bulkeley. Mr. Bulkeley was a descendant of Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, the second minister of the Colonial church, and a son of Captain Charles Bulkeley, who was associated with John Paul Jones, who in command of the "Bonhomme Richard" harried English commerce so effectively during the war for American Independence. One is rather safe in saying, consequently, that the foundation fund of the school had its beginning in the prize moneys of these gallant but precarious adventures.
Mr. Bulkeley was a merchant of modest pretensions, whose place of business was very near the school which now bears his name. He was born December 22, 1799, and died December 19, 1849. He left an estate valued at something less than $25,000 to found a secondary school which should be free to boys of New London. In his will he provided that the funds should be kept intact until the trustees, who were named in the will, should decide that they were justified in the erection of the schoolhouse.
There were five trustees named by Mr. Bulkeley, viz. : John P. C. Mather, Nathan Belcher, Henry P. Haven, William C. Crump, and N. Shaw Perkins, who served continuously until his death in 1905. This official board decided in 1870 that the estate had increased so considerably in its careful manage- ment that they were justified in beginning operations. Accordingly, plans were secured from the famous architect, Mr. Eidlitz, and upon a lot presented to them by the city they erected a very substantial and attractive building. How little they anticipated the growth of the city may be seen from the fact that the school provided seating capacity for only forty-two boys in the main study hall.
The school was opened in September, 1873, for the admission of boys, under the direction of Eugene B. Collester as principal, who had graduated from Amherst College the preceding June. Mr. Collester resigned in 1880, and afterwards lived in Minnesota. The next principal of the school was
N.L .- 1-17
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Ely R. Hall, Yale '72, and previously a teacher in Hopkins Grammar School. Mr. Hall remained in charge of the school until 1888, when he moved to Woodstock, Connecticut, and was principal of the academy of that town until his death in 1920. The conduct of the school was then placed in the hands of the writer, who has remained in charge until the present (1921).
The ordinary custom of secondary schools in having a curriculum of four years leading to graduation was followed until 1884, when the course was changed to one of three years, with the privilege of an additional year for boys desiring to enter college. This plan was followed until 1910, when the school restored its original plan of a course extending through four years.
Bulkeley School is the successor of the New London Grammar School, established in 1713, and maintained jointly by the town and the income of a gift of two hundred and fifty acres of land given by Robert Bartlett, who died in 1676. Nathan Hale was one of the masters of this school, which was discontinued in 1873 and the Robert Bartlett foundation was given to the trustees of Bulkeley School. The funds of the school have been enhanced by various legacies and gifts, notably from Asa Otis, Henry P. Haven, and George F. Tinker. ,
The building was very much enlarged since 1873, and now accommodates about two hundred boys. The graduates number about 850, of whom 275 have entered college or other institutions of higher learning. Many of the graduates have attained eminence in public life. At the present time the school has a graduate in both houses of the National Congress as well as in the Connecticut Legislature. They are found in the faculties of the United States Military and Naval Academies and various colleges. About two hundred were engaged in the activities of the recent European war.
The foregoing facts constitute the visible history of Bulkeley School, but its real history and the apology for its foundation are to be found, like those of every school, in the lives of those who have come within its influence, and will never be known until the day when all things shall be revealed and we shall see each other face to face.
WILLIAMS MEMORIAL INSTITUTE
Mr. Colin S. Buell, principal, gives the following account of this school.
The Williams Memorial Institute is a secondary school for girls, founded hy Mrs. Harriet Peck Williams, of Norwich, Conn., as a memorial to her son, Thomas W. Williams, 2d, a whaling merchant of New London. Mr. Wil- liams died suddenly in 1855, leaving the bulk of this property to his mother. One parcel of this property was a lot on which he had planned to build a house. The mother decided to give this lot and the funds left her by her son to found a school.
The school was opened in September, 1891, with about 100 pupils, taken over from the "Young Ladies' High School," a public school of the city of New London. In order to make the school free to the girls of New London, the city agreed to pay the nominal fee charged to all girls.
As the years went by the school increased in numbers beyond all expecta-
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tion, in spite of the fact that a Vocational School was founded and flourished greatly. The number of girls at present enrolled is about 325.
The graduates of the school number about 1,100, and are scattered over the world. Over 50 per cent. of them are, or have been at some time, teachers. Many of them have attended the leading colleges, and have won the highest honors. Some are now professors in colleges of America and of foreign lands. The majority of the alumnae are, at the present time, occupying the places which are the natural heritage of women-wives and mothers.
In 1917 a member of the board of trustees bought the property adjoining that of the institute and presented it to the school. The property now con- sists of about six acres of land in the city, with two large buildings, green- houses, etc., tennis courts, out-door basketball court and room for sports of various kinds. From the very beginning the school has insisted on physical training. A teacher has been in charge of the gymnasium, and all girls go to work there twice a week.
NEW LONDON VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
The following is from the pen of Mr. F. S. Hitchcock, principal.
The origin of this school dates back to the early boyhood of its founder, Mr. William H. Chapman, and represents a plan on his part, not necessarily to lessen labor, for he believed in work, but to enable young men and women to attack the problems of life with intelligence, with a love of industry and skill, and with a greater certainty of achievement worthy of their best efforts.
William Henry Chapman was born April 8th, 1819, in East Haddam, Middlesex county, Connecticut, and traces his ancestry from Robert Chap- man, a native of Hull, England, who came to America in 1633 and settled in Saybrook, Connecticut. Another ancestor, Sir John Chapman, was at one time Lord Mayor of London. Mr. Chapman spent his youth in the country. As a boy he was normally healthy but not vigorous. He was fond of reading and inclined to seek seclusion to gratify this taste. From biographies of business men he gained help for his personal plans and problems. He was educated in the public and private schools of his native town and in Bacon Academy, Colchester, Connecticut. He keenly enjoyed historical literature.
In 1837 Mr. Chapman began as a clerk in a drygoods store in New London, which proved to be the beginning of a long and successful business career. He was president of the Union Bank (chartered 1792) for forty-six years, and was president of the Savings Bank of New London from 1866 until the time of his death in February, 1912. From 1875 until February, 1912, he was a deacon in the Second Congregational Church of New London, and active in religious work. During the Civil War he was town treasurer of New London, and throughout his life his ecclesiastical, educational and financial interests led to active participation in constructive service to the city.
About 1885 Mr. Chapman began to take interest in public education, and from reading and observation came to believe the culture and training which characterized the instruction of his youth should be supplemented by courses in the productive activities of life. About 1891 the annual reports of Charles
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B. Jennings, acting superintendent of New London schools, began to contain a plea for the introduction of industrial arts into the public schools. Manual training, mechanical arts and trades schools were being advocated and estab- lished throughout the country, and in 1901 Mr. Chapman decided to give $100,000 for a building and equipment to furnish instruction to girls in dress- making, millinery, domestic science and home economics; to boys, the tools, appliances and machinery for training in handicrafts by which all might be helped in obtaining a livelihood. The intention was to present to the city the facilities for teaching the domestic and industrial arts, but the cost of maintenance was a problem, and he later contributed securities of a par value amounting to another $100,000 to make it possible to start the institution. To safeguard the investment and to insure the carrying out of his idea, he secured from the Legislature articles of incorporation which were approved May IIth, 1903. Section I reads: "Resolved by this Assembly, that Walter Learned, Alfred Coit, Charles B. Jennings, James Hislop, George Whittlesey, Frederick S. Newcomb, Lucius E. Whiton and George H. Holmes, all of the city of New London, together with such other persons as may hereafter become associated with them and their successors, be and they are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate by the name of The Manual Training and Industrial School of New London. The mayor of the city of New London and the president and secretary of the board of School Visitors of the city shall be ex-officio members of the corporation." At that date Hon. B. F. Mahan was mayor, Dr. John G. Stanton was chairman, and Mr. Carlos Barry secretary, of the Board of School Visitors of New London.
The establishment of an institution of this type proved to be a task for the board of trustees involving thought, correspondence, visitation and dis- cussion which required time. The original building was far enough completed to be used in the fall of 1906, and the school opened October Ist of that year.
The responsibility of equipment and organization of the school was vested in Frederick St. John Hitchcock under the title of principal. He was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, August Ist, 1865, of English ancestry, educated in New England public schools and the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology. He had eighteen years of experience in teaching in high schools and technical branches before coming to New London. From this preparation and experience, and by conference with the founder of the school and its board of trustees, the present institution was developed.
The experience of other institutions was constantly kept in mind, and by inspection or correspondence the activities of technical and vocational schools elsewhere, were helpful in these early days. The Massachuestts Institute of Technology, Mechanic Arts High School in Boston, the Rindge College, Manhattan Trade School, Hebrew Technical Institute of New York, Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, the Williamson Free School and Drexel Institute in Philadelphia, Hampton Institute, Virginia, and Georgia Technical Institute, were visited and studied for ideas. A committee of manufacturers, mechanics and individual educators and teachers from New England and New York was formed for advice and suggestions. The conclusion reached was that a course should be planned for no special class or group, but for normal youth, age
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about fourteen, with the first eight grades of the public schools completed or equivalent preparation, as an entrance requirement. Students with less schooling on account of poor opportunity, but with maturity of mind and body fitting them for "catching up" and pursuing the course without being a drawback to their associates, to be admitted on six weeks' probation.
In mechanical arts and trades the fundamental principles were sought by analysis, only as much taught in a day as could be received with keen in- terest; the amount of information and skill in each subject to be compre- hensive enough to be of practical use. "Manual training" does not reside in the hand, but principally in the brain and in the mind," and "First think out your work, then work out your thought," two quotations from Dr. C. M. Woodward, represented the angle by which technical skill was approached.
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