USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 77
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Mr. Alfred E. Burr, editor of the " Hartford Times," writes : -
"In the winter of 1821-1822 I attended the Blue Hill (now called Gravel Hill) school. The school-house was a small frame building, with one room. It was situated on the south side of Albany Turnpike, near the Adams Tavern. The teacher was paid $10 a month, and he 'boarded round,' each family board- ing him a certain number of days for each scholar it sent to the school. The school-room was warmed by a square box-stove, in which wood was burned, some of it green, furnishing as much smoke as warmth. The tax-payers paid a part
638
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
of their taxes in wood, most of it green. All the scholars, about thirty in number, were in one chilly and dreary room. Reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught. There was no class in grammar or in geography. Scholars were pun- ished for failing in their lessons, for coming late to school, for whispering, laugh- ing aloud, or for not responding to the bell-call at recess. The punishments were by the ferule on the open hand, or by stout sticks upon the legs or across the back. The blows were laid on severely. From the first of May till November there were no sessions.
" Two or three years later I was sent to the Up-Neck school. The district embraced all the territory now belonging to the Arsenal and Northeast Districts. The old school-house, of brick and of the plainest construction, stood in the road- way opposite the dwelling of Captain George Cook, now about No. 942 Main Street. It had but one room and a vestibule. It was warmed, so to speak, by an old-fashioned Franklin stove, - the wood furnished by the tax-payers, a little jag at a time. The studies and discipline were about the same as at Gravel Hill, except that a small class recited from Morse's geography every morning. About forty scholars attended. The teacher received the same pay, $10 per month, and ' boarded round' among the different families of the district. He mended all the pens, wrote the copy lines in the writing-books, usually, 'Many men of many minds,' and 'Birds of a Feather Flock Together.' The classes were directed to ' stand up,' and their lessons were rapidly disposed of. Then followed an hour in close attention to writing and arithmetic, Due credit should be given to those old-time schools for the thorough manner in which they drilled the scholars in the addition, multiplication, and subtraction tables. I fear our modern schools are hardly equal to them in the thoroughness of their teaching of these rudimen-
tary but very important rules. The teachers of the olden time appeared to rely largely upon corporeal punishments to subdue the scholars and bring them up (or down) to their own standards of discipline. I once witnessed the whipping of a small boy upon the bare hand till it was black and blue, his offence being in picking up a dead robin at recess which a young man in the neighborhood had shot ; and I have seen the jackets stripped from boys and lashes laid upon their backs for slight offences committed against the rules of the school. The school- boys were required to make the fire, sweep the room, and close it."
Such was the condition into which the common schools of the town had drifted under the operation of the District System, without the con- trolling influence of direct intelligent central supervision, and the stimulus of a public High School, to which all the districts could look as the common standard of attainment, and for the completion of a thorough practical education. So inadequate was the provision deemed by the few families who cared most for the education of their children, that more money was expended by them on private schools and acade- mies and seminaries out of the State, than was spent by the rest of the community on all the public schools within the town.
In 1838 a systematic agitation was begun for improved school- houses, teachers, and supervision, and a public High School, which in the course of a generation resulted in a complete revolution of the popular idea of the common school as to buildings and teachers, and in the establishment of a public High School by which a systematic course of study, in advance of anything before offered to the few families by select and academic institutions, was secured to the whole community ; and although gross inequalities of school privileges be- tween different districts still exist, the possibility of a good public- school education is now secured.
639
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION.
The accompanying statistics exhibit the condition of the different districts and of the whole town at the close of the year 1885-1886.
School-Houses.
Teachers.
Number
Schools.
Rooms
occupied.
Sittings.
Valne of
Buildings
and Sites.
Children enu-
Children regis-
Average attend-
ance.
Female.
Music.
Drawing.
1. First School District
2
23
1272
$218,000
2211
1417 2470
856 1599
5
26
1
1
2. South School
5
37
2073
190,000
3255
1330
732
459
4
13
1
1
4. West Middle
1
12
560
154,000
920
553
386
2
14
1
1
5. Arsenal
1
9
489
20,000
933
624
379
4
10
1
1
6. Washington
2
7
350
25,000
458
410
265
8
7. Southwest
1
1
46
1,200
70
57
27
1
8. Northeast
1
6
341
30,000
429
321
251
2
6
1
1
9. Northwest
1
2
112
10,000
145
72
51
2
1
1
1
17
120
6432
$1,006,200
9775
7306
4754
27
132
Financial Statement.
FUNDS AND ENDOWMENTS.
OTHER RESOURCES.
Total.
School Fund.
State Appro- priation.
Town Deposit.
Town Tax.
District Tax.
Other Sources.
1. First School District
$1,769
$3,317
$319
$10,335
$17,765
$1,151
$34,656
2. South School
2,604
4,882
469
15,683
11,465
827
35,930
3. Second North
1,064
1,995
192
3,158
5,669
3,419
15,497
4. West Middle
736
1,380
133
2,149
16,925
2,385
23,708
5. Arsenal
746
1,400
134
4,492
4,217
83
11,072
6. Washington
367
687
66
2,140
2,825
89
6,174
7. Southwest
56
105
10
2,068
5,108
63
8,288
9. Northwest
66
116
217
21
700
1,524
12
2,590
10. Gravel Hill High School
119
36
3
15
.. ..
7,017
32,017
$7,920
$14,663
$1,409
$65,740
$65,498
$15,046
$170,276
Number and Name of District.
Districts, List of 1884.
Rate of Tax.
Teachers' Salaries.
Fuel and Incident- als.
New Build- ings.
Repairs.
Other Objects.
Total.
1. First School District
$22,246
$2,510
$1,151
$2,639
$28,546 $12,797,747
13
2. South School
30,924
6,236 $44,060
855
1,551
83,627
12,781,320
1
3. Second North
13,590
777
364
974
15,704
6,140,950
1
4. West Middle
10,190
3,311
697
8,486
22,684
10,935,979
5. Arsenal
8,390
187
1,836
10,413
2,188,300
23
6. Washington
3,450
271
46
2,043
5,810
1,025,570
3
7. Southwest
=
412
133
...
40
1,919
6,990
9. Northwest
1,030
86
....
66
216
1,399
1,133,678 101,626
5
10. Gravel Hill High School .
304
45
46
395
21,726
3,585
4,641
499
3,014
33,465
1
1
3. Second North
1
12
604
40,000
10. Gravel Hill High School . .
1
1
30
3,000
24
26
14
1
10
555
315,000
..
624
467
8
8
173
....
...
. .
25,000
....
544
8. Northeast
4,375
656
...
13
. .
$116,637 $17,610 $48,701 $3,905 $22,714 $209,577 $47,105,172
EXPENSES.
171
8. Northeast
343
644
62
Mills
Number and Name of District.
merated.
tered.
Male.
42
2
. .
Number and Name of District.
640
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Hartford has enjoyed every year, from the first year of its settle- ment in 1636-1637, the services of a teacher whose ability to " fit young persons resorting to him for the university" made the school a Gram- mar, or Latin school, - such a school as the law of the State, until 1798, made obligatory on every town having one hundred families, and which the law of 1672 designated a County Free School. To the support of this school has been applied the income of various bequests, - of Mr. John Talcott, in 1649; of Mr. William Gibbins, in 1654; and more largely of Mr. Edward Hopkins.
Governor Hopkins died in London, in April, 1658, having by his will, dated London, March 7, 1657, after sundry legacies (to his pastor Rev. Mr. Hooker, and others), made the following bequest : -
" And the residue of my estate there [in New England] I do hereby give and bequeath to my father Theophilus Eaton, Esq., Mr. John Davenport, Mr. John Cullick, and Mr. William Goodwin, in full assurance of their trust and faithful- ness in disposing of it according to the true intent and purpose of me, the said Edward Hopkins, which is to give some encouragement in those foreign planta- tions for the breeding up of hopeful youths both at the grammar school and college, for the public service of the country in future times."
" My further mind and will is, that within six months after the decease of my wife, five hundred pounds be made over into New England, according to the advice of my loving friends, Major Robert Thomson and Mr. Francis Willoughby, and conveyed into the hands of the trustees before mentioned, in further prosecution of the aforesaid public ends, which in the simplicity of my heart are for the up- holding and promoting the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ in those distant parts of the earth."
This last bequest of £500, which, according to the plain reading of the will, on the death of Mrs. Hopkins in 1699 should have been paid "into the hands of the trustees above mentioned," or their assigns, and been applied as was by them provided in their deed of distribution, did find its way, by decision of the Master of Rolls, in 1712, into "the Uni- versity chest " of Harvard College, where it has been carefully adminis- tered in the interest of classical studies, the Divinity School, and the Grammar School of Cambridge. After many hindrances, the trustees (the members surviving in 1664) made distribution of the estate in their hands ; namely, £400 to the town of Hartford, and the residue, " both, that which is in New England and the £500 which is to come from Old England," to New Haven and Hadley, for the support of grammar schools according to the will of the donor. New Haven realized £412, and Hadley, where Mr. Goodwin resided, £212. These sums, though small when measured by later endowments, were adequate as a stimulus to keep alive three preparatory schools for nearly two hundred and fifty years ; and in spite of all sorts of devices to divert both principal and interest to elementary instruction, the Hopkins funds in Hartford, New Haven, and Hadley are not only intact, but represent, for Grammar School purposes, a capital of at least $80,000. The treasurer of the Hartford Grammar School reports the market value of the fund, in the hands of the trustees, at $47,664.
Some of the purposes of a Public High School had been realized in Hartford by the original Town School, and afterward by the Endowed County Free School and Grammar School, until the latter after 1798
641
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION.
became a strictly Classical School for boys only. Although the school under the new organization was much better taught, and its financial affairs more satisfactorily managed, and in all respects realized the pur- poses of its original and principal benefactors, as well as the objects set forth in the memorial of the town asking for the act of incorporation, down to 1828, still it did not answer the requirements of the population, and did not stand in proper relations to the public schools. Its curricu- lum was narrow, the building entirely inadequate, even for the small number of pupils (25 to 30), and its best training was limited to a few boys fitting for college. The new building, completed in 1828, with an able corps of teachers and enlarged course of studies was a vast im- provement on the old order of things ; but in its best condition, from 1828 to 1836, the Grammar School fell far short of a Public High School for the town. It included pupils and studies and teachers of every grade. There was no admission for girls, and it stood in no rec- ognized relation to the common schools, on which its direct influence was depressing. In this state of things an agitation was begun in 1838 by the Secretary of the State Board of Commissioners of Com- mon Schools, which culminated in 1847 in the opening of the Hartford English and Classical High School, now known and seen of all men as the Hartford Public High School. The first building was on Asylum Street, but when that was found too small a larger one 1 was built upon Hopkins Street.
In the report of the School Visitors of the First School Society of Hartford, submitted by Rev. George Burgess, Oct. 7, 1839, we find the first fruits of the agitation inaugurated in 1838. All the topics sug- gested in the first circular of the Secretary of the Board, addressed to school visitors, teachers, and the friends of school improvement gener- ally, in August, 1838, are introduced, and several of them discussed at some length, - such as the influence of select schools in the absence of good public schools, and especially one of the highest grade; the neces- sity of substituting property taxation for the rate-bill as at that time made out ; the visitation of schools by parents ; and the establishment of seminaries for the education of teachers. To this document is ap- pended a report of the Hartford Town Association for the Improvement of Common Schools, which had been established "under the recom- mendation of the State Commissioner of Common Schools ;" and the results of the inquiries and deliberations of the Executive Committee are submitted "in discharge of a duty committed to them by the high- est authorities." This report points out the advantages of a system of public schools for the city or society, " under the provision of the exist- ing laws of the State (Act of 1839), which allows the union of two or more districts for the purpose of establishing a school of a higher order; and also permits any school society, as such, to establish within itself, and maintain by tax, any number of schools of different grades ; and this committee believe that one or other of these provisions of the law may be advantageously employed at present in this society." The committee therefore "respectfully suggest that a single school of a higher order than either of those which now exist should be established by a vote of the society ; or, if it should be preferred, that the several dis- tricts embraced within the limits of this society should be invited to
1 For picture of the High School, see page 495.
VOL. I. - 41.
642
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
unite for the purpose of establishing such a school ; and in that event, should the districts without the city decline such a union, it be still proposed on the part of those within the city."
In 1840, with enough else to do to occupy all my time, I consented to go on to the Board of School Visitors, with a full understanding with my colleagues (some of the best men in the city) that the Board would investigate thoroughly the condition of the public schools, and education generally in the city, and would not hesitate to grapple with the prob- lem of reorganization, if the facts should call for it. 'With that view, for the first time the condition of the schools as to attendance, and special character of each private school, were carefully ascertained, and the results were presented in a series of propositions which were accepted by the Board, together with a plan for consolidating the three city districts into one, and establishing a system in which two High Schools, or one with two departments, one for boys and the other for girls, formed an essential feature. The following are the features of the plan submitted by me for the city districts : -
1. To consolidate the districts into one, for the purpose of bringing all the schools into one system of management, studies, and books, and of making the school interest one of the leading interests of the city.
2. To establish such a system of gradation of schools as shall secure as thorough a course of instruction for all the children of the city, rich or poor, as is now provided in the best private schools. The committee propose for considera- tion the following outline : -
First. - Primary schools to be located in different parts of the district, for the young children, where all the arrangements of the school-room, the play- ground, and the exercises, shall be adapted to promote the health, manners, moral culture, and the gradual harmonious development of the mind of the young. The alphabet, easy lessons in reading, oral instruction in respect to real objects, maps and figures, habits of observation, vocal music, and drawing on the slate, would form the course of instruction for these schools. They are to be taught by females, and we would add, they should be under the supervision, in part at least, of the mothers of the district.
Second. - Intermediate or secondary schools. These schools are to take up the education of children, where the primary schools leave it, and to carry it for- ward to as high a point as is now attained in the first classes of the present schools. Two schools of this class, if properly located, would answer ; but owing to the location of the present district school-houses, three might be necessary at first. Each school would require a male principal of the first order of qualifica- tions, a female principal, and a sufficient number of female assistants.
Third. - Two High Schools, or one with two departments, one for boys and the other for girls, to which the pupils who shall be found qualified in the studies of the secondary schools, on due examination, shall be admitted, and there taught the higher mathematics, mechanical and natural philosophy, natural history, physiology, moral and mental philosophy, political economy, the Constitution of the United States and of Connecticut, American history and biography, book- keeping, rhetoric, and drawing with reference to its use in various kinds of business. To these, or to so much of them as might be deemed advisable, a preparatory classical course could be added without increasing the expense. This department, if established at all, should be capable of giving a thorough English and a pre- paratory classical education, so that those who know what a good education is, may be anxious to avail themselves of its advantages, and the poorest parent who has worthy and talented children may see the way open to them of all the advan- tages of a good and eventually of a liberal education.
643
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION.
3. The studies, books, discipline, and supervision of the schools, and the management of the property and concerns of the district, are to be intrusted to a Board, two thirds of whom shall be elected annually, and the other third hold over. It is also proposed, for the purpose of giving efficiency to the action of the Board, that they elect a superintendent, who shall visit the schools, employ the teachers, meet with them for instruction, visit the parents and guardians of such children as are not sent to school at all, or attend irregularly, see to the repairs and management of the school-houses ; in fine, to devote his whole time to the prosperity of the schools.
4. The schools are to be free, and to be supported like any other great public interest. The education, so far as it goes, is to be as good as money can secure ; and then, like the air, light, and water, it is to be open alike to rich and poor.
The plan for the reorganization of the city districts, and summary of the condition of the common schools generally in the Society, were approved by the Visitors, and on my motion the plan was referred to a sub-committee to elaborate, and commend in a special report to the intelligent and effective sanction of the Society and city districts. The general features of the two reports were approved by the School Society, and the question of consolidation was referred to the districts directly interested, for their action. The report of Dr. Bushnell was such a masterly discussion of the whole subject, - the policy of a con- solidated in place of distriet or divided administration ; the advantages of a closely graded system for the whole city, terminating in a Public High School, in place of a more loose and differing gradation in the three districts, without scholars enough in either to constitute a school of the highest grade; the right and policy of property taxation for school purposes ; the evils of the early withdrawal of children from school from the want of additional instruction which a high school would afford ; the advantages of a union of the Hartford Grammar School with the City High School to both, in a more full realization than has yet been possible, of the intent of the donors of the fund by which the Grammar School is supported ; the evils of private schools covering the same ground with the public schools, and attended by the wealthy and educated only, and thus creating a separation, when the whole law of American citizenship requires harmony of views and inter- est. So satisfactorily were these and other topics treated, that I printed the document, with an account of the school systems of Boston, Nan- tucket, Charlestown, Roxbury, Lowell, Portland, Philadelphia, Cincin- nati, and Louisville, for gratuitous circulation in other cities of the State, - New Haven, New London, Norwich, Bridgeport, Norwalk, Stamford, - where the same suggestions were applicable, and where the general policy recommended for Hartford has been since adopted.
The district meetings which followed in the winter of 1842 will not soon be forgotten by those who participated in the discussions or wit- nessed the grim satisfaction which interested tax-payers seemed to take in blows given and returned in a cause so domestic and peaceful, theo- retically considered, as that of education : "vested rights," " steady habits in the good old ways," "no taxation for other people's children," " let well enough alone," "what was good enough for the father was good enough for the son," "none of your high schools for me," - these were the phrases and topics which abounded in the nine meetings which were held in the three city districts before the votes were reached by
644
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
which two of the districts assented to the proposition of consolida- tion. Governors and ex-governors, judges and senators, lawyers, doc- tors, clergymen (and none did better service than Drs. Bushnell and Burgess), representatives of all occupations, editors, bankers, mechanics, shared in the discussions ; but owing to the political connection of some of the prominent advocates and opponents of the scheme, the vote actu- ally given, especially in the South District, where the vote was adverse to the union, was not always on the merits of the question.
In 1845 the plan of a reorganization of the public schools of the town was resumed, so far as the establishment of the High School was concerned, which in its indirect action was calculated to effect most of the improvements contemplated by the union of the districts. This agitation was inaugurated and continued mainly by Mr. James M. Bunce, who for nearly one year gave up his whole time to the enterprise, as- sisted by A. M. Collins, chairman of the committee, D. F. Robinson, and others. The first meeting was held Jan. 5, 1847, notice having been given January 1. No pains was spared to inform and interest the public in the enterprise. Public meetings were held in which animated debates were conducted ; individuals were seen and conversed with ; the ignorant informed; the indifferent aroused, - the rich to feel that prop- erty would be more secure in a well-educated community, and the poor to feel that they could not have the advantages of good schools unless those schools were also cheap. The press was enlisted, and pamphlets published and distributed, in which the whole subject was fully ex- plained. Finally, the plan was carried by an overwhelming vote of the largest town-meeting ever held in Hartford. Much of the expense of all these preliminary movements was borne by Mr. Bunce; and to the completion of the building he personally contributed $1,000.
An arrangement was effected with the trustees of the Grammar School, by which that institution was practically incorporated with the High School, to form its classical department, they to appoint and sup- port one teacher, and to limit their pupils to thirty-five. Mr. William B. Capron, then rector of the Grammar School, removed with his pupils to the new High School building, and had charge of that de- partment until 1853, when he was succeeded as rector of the Grammar School and associate principal by his brother, S. M. Capron.
Joshua D. Giddings was called from a grammar school in Provi- dence to take charge of the High School, but resigned after a few months on account of impaired health. He was succeeded by Thomas K. Beecher, who remained until 1850. In an interregnum of a few months the school was under the care of McLauren F. Cook and Cephas A. Leach, who was followed in July, 1851, by T. W. T. Curtis, under whom the school prospered greatly for a decade.
In September, 1861, Mr. H. A. Pratt, previously at the head of the Suffield Literary Institute, was called to the principalship, followed in April, 1865, by S. M. Capron, who had been rector of the classical de- partment since 1853. Under Mr. Capron, to avoid the possibility of friction, it was arranged between the trustees of the Grammar School and the High School committee, that both schools should be under his sole charge. This arrangement was continued under Mr. Joseph Hall, who had been assistant since 1864, and was appointed principal after Mr. Capron's death, Jan. 4, 1874.
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