USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Fifty years of Boston; a memorial volume issued in commemoration of the tercentenary of 1930; 1880-1930, Pt. 2 > Part 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
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ENGINEERING
The Commonwealth has also done a considerable amount of dredging during this period and has filled various flats, greatly enlarging the area of East Boston and South Boston, to obtain land suitable for industrial and commercial develop- ment. This work has been done under the direction of engineers connected with the Harbor and Land Commissioners and the various state boards which suceeeded it.
Aside from the improvement of navigation conditions and the filling of flats, both the Government and the Commonwealth have, during this period, constructed important terminal facilities. Those constructed by the Com- monwealth, aeting through Boards of Commissioners, were built, for the most part, under the direct supervision of the late Frank W. Hodgdon, formerly chief engineer of the Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners and later of the Directors of the Port of Boston. The most important of these projects consist of Terminal Pier No. 5, a large passenger and freight terminal, which is one of the most commodious piers on the Atlantic Coast; the Fish Pier, which is utilized by the extensive fishing interests based upon Boston, and the Boston Dry Dock, which at the time of its completion was the largest graving dry doek in the world and is now the only dry dock available in the United States for doeking the largest Atlantic passenger steamers. This dry dock was purchased by the United States Navy during the World War. During the World War the construction division of the army constructed the Boston Army Supply Base. This base was intended as a reservoir and shipping ter- minal for war supplies and is one of the largest self-contained shipping terminals in the world. In spite of its urgent need for war purposes, it was designed with the expectation of commereial uses following the war and has been so used since its completion, numerous ships doeking here, while its warehouse facilities are used for storage by Boston merchants.
The period under review has been noteworthy in the world's history for the development of mechanical power and its transmission by electricity, in both of which fields engineers have played a predominant part. Notable in this latter field, as well as in the field of general construction, has been the Boston firm of Stone and Webster, organized in 1889 by two recent graduates of the Institute of Technology, and having to its credit during its four decades of achievement prior to 1930 the successful financing, design, construction and operation of engineering projects of great magnitude, located in all sections of the country. Its accomplishments in the hydroelectric field have been par- tieularly valuable. Among them may be mentioned the 378,000 horse power Conomingo development of the Susquehanna river, which is the largest power development ever made in one step; the 150,000 horse power plant of the Mississippi river at Keokuk, Iowa; the 200,000 horse power development on the Columbia river in the State of Washington, and the Osage Plant of 201,000 horse power in Missouri. It has also constructed great steam power plants, such as that of the Boston Edison Company at Weymouth, Massachusetts, and the two plants of the Southern California Edison Company at Long Beach, California, totaling 462,500 horse power.
No important water power development has been possible in the Boston distriet, but the activities of the New England Power Association, with head- quarters in Boston, have resulted in the development of extensive water power
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
projeets in New England within a radius of two hundred miles of Boston on the Deerfield and Connecticut rivers, giving.by the end of 1930 a total horse power of approximately 420,000 and providing reservoirs with a total storage eapaeity of 7,500,000,000 eubie feet, which, in addition to equalizing the power output, makes possible the control to some extent of severe floods. The leading spirit in developing this company has been Henry I. Harriman, at present chairman of the Board of Directors.
The reeent World War emphasized as never before the importance of engineers, and Boston engineers, most of them still living, played no small part in carrying the Allies on to victory. The 101st Regiment of Engineers was early organized in Boston and went overseas, under the command of Colonel George W. Bunnell, in September, 1917, with the 26th Division, the first full division to go to Franee. This was a railway engineering regiment, which fought with the infantry during the severe fighting at Château Thierry and St. Mihiel. The Construction Division of the United States Army, which took over the construction activities of the Quartermaster's Corps soon after the beginning of the war, was offieered largely by engineers drawn from civilian life and commanded by an officer of the Regular Army. One of the chief officers of this division, with executive charge of the construction of eanton- ments, army bases, ete., was a well-known Boston engineer, Frank M. Gunby. Important war projeets were built in Boston, notably the Boston Army Supply Base at South Boston and the Vietory Shipbuilding plant at Squantum. Fay, Spofford and Thorndike, consulting engineers of Boston, designed and super- vised eonstruetion of the Army Supply Base, and Monks and Johnson, another Boston engineering firm, aeted in a similar eapaeity for the Victory plant. A Boston engineer, Charles R. Gow, was commissioned as Construeting Quarter- master in general charge of the carrying out of the Army Supply Base projeet. The engineering schools in the Boston district were active in providing training for technical groups of the army and navy and in the training of the Student Army organized in the summer of 1918.
Aside from their more purely professional activities engineers have in reeent years played an important part in the administration of eity affairs. Amongst the important appointive offiees which they have filled in Boston may be men- tioned the chairmanship of the following City Commissions and Boards: Poliee Commission, Fire Commission, Transit Commission, Publie Works Commission, Planning Board, Board of Zoning Adjustment, Licensing Board, Building Commission. Engineers have also served as members of the State Board of Health and the State Commission of Publie Works. In 1929-30 the important office of Postmaster of Boston was held by a Boston engineer.
In the next fifty years, the writer believes that the engineer will play a still more important part in the administration of eities than in the past. The ever- inereasing dependenee of the modern city upon engineering works for its very existenee requires men with engineering training and understanding at the head of many departments and, while the chief executive himself may not need these qualities, he must surround himself with those who have them and depend upon them in large measure for executing his policies.
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ENGINEERING
This chronicle would be incomplete if it failed to note one significant change in the engineering profession, namely, that the engineering resources of the community are better organized now for concentration upon special fields of work. This change has come about gradually. Most of the important engineer- ing work that had been accomplished prior to 1880 had been done by engineer- ing staffs appointed for particular projects, with occasional consulting advice by other engineers more or less permanently employed. During this period few engineers were engaged in private practice and available for service for fees, as distinct from salaries, in fields in which they were qualified to give expert advice. The last half-century has, however, been marked by the development of private engineering practice of a purely professional character both in Boston and elsewhere. In some cases engineers have combined to form engineering firms or corporations, some of which have a widely extended practice. To illustrate this phase of engineering development and to show the widespread activities of Boston engineers the following brief memoranda concerning typical Boston engineering organizations, each prominent in a somewhat different field, are included in the present survey. Space does not permit covering other fields or selecting more than one organization in each field, but certain of the organiza - tions mentioned have done important work in other fields than the one ascribed to them.
INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
Charles T. Main, Inc., has been particularly active in this field and has developed and supervised construction of a large number of industrial and power plants, including large textile mills, sugar refineries and hydroelectric projects. Its activities have included work in Africa and India, as well as in the various portions of the United States.
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
The J. R. Worcester Company has been engaged in this field for many years and has been an active factor in the development in the Boston district of the skeleton type of building construction and in the adaptation of reinforced concrete to structural design. It has also served as engineers for important New England bridges.
WATER SUPPLY AND SEWERAGE ENGINEERS
The firm of Metcalf and Eddy has been prominent in these fields for many years and has served as consulting engineer for many of the large cities in the United States and Canada and in Cuba and Central America.
HEATING AND VENTILATING ENGINEERING
This important field of engineering is a specialty of the firm of Hollis French and Allen Hubbard, who designed the systems used at the Boston Army Supply Base and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in many new build- ings of Harvard and Yale Universities.
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
HARBOR ENGINEERING
A large amount of engineering work in this field has been carried out by the firm of Fay, Spofford and Thorndike, including the design and supervision of construction of harbor works, such as wharves, warehouses, railroad facilitics and the like, and investigations and reports upon port facilities. Services have been rendered to the United States Government and to many states and other public and private bodies, along the Atlantic Coast, on the Great Lakes and on the coast of New Zealand.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
This field has been especially cultivated by the firm of D. C. and W. B. Jackson and its successors, Jackson and Moreland. The work of this firm has included the design and supervision of construction for railroad electrification and for power projects and it has also served as consulting engineers on similar projects in various sections of the United States. It organized the inventory and valuation of the English elephone system made some years ago by the British Government and prepared a zoning system of telephone charges for the Boston Metropolitan District.
Such a list, incomplete as it is, reveals the variety and the quality of the talent available for engineering projects in Boston. In this array of local talent, as in the development of great technological schools and the multiplication of admirable public works, a measure will be found of the progress made in engineering science in this city in the last fifty years.
-
EDUCATION
By JEREMIAH E. BURKE and LOUIS J. FISH
Volume IV of Winsor's Memorial History presents a complete and interest- ing story of the progress of education in Boston from the founding of the town to the year 1880. The purpose of the present paper is to extend this history so as to cover the period from 1880 to 1930.
The material is divided into three parts, with subdivisions under Part I, as follows:
PART I - THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
1. The Present School Committee and Its Predecessors.
2. Progress in the Elementary Schools.
3. The Establishment of Intermediate Schools.
4. Progress in the Secondary Schools.
5. The High Schools:
Suburban High Schools. Central High Schools.
High Schools with specialized courses, including The Latin Schools; Preparation for College. The Mechanic Arts High School for Boys. The High School of Practical Arts for Girls. The High School of Commerce for Boys.
6. Special Schools:
The Continuation School.
The Boston Trade School for Boys.
The Trade School for Girls. The Boston Clerical School.
7. The Teachers College.
S. The Arts and Crafts: The Fine Arts.
Music.
Household Science and Arts.
The Manual Arts.
Co-operative Industrial Courses.
Salesmanship.
Commercial Education in General. Penmanship. Visual Education.
9. The Physical Child:
School Hygiene. Physical Education.
10. Exceptional Children: Special Classes. The Horace Mann School.
Classes in Lip Reading. Hospital Classes. Speech Improvement Classes.
The Disciplinary Day School. Conservation of Eyesight.
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
11. Adult Education:
Evening Schools. The Extended Use of Schools.
Parent-Teachers Association.
12. The Kindergartens.
13. Citizenship through Character Development.
14. Statistics of Attendance and Cost.
PART II - THE CATHOLIC FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM.
PART III - COLLEGES AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS.
CONCLUSION.
PART I - THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
1. The Present School Committee and Its Predecessors
The history of public school education in Boston may for convenience be divided into six periods, only two of which fall within the last fifty years. The fifth period begins in 1876 with a reduction in the size of the School Committee from one hundred and sixteen members to twenty-five, election at large instead of by districts as before, and the establishment of the Board of Supervisors, consisting of six members. The sixth period begins in 1906 with a complete reorganization of the School Committee, including a further reduction to five members, and continues to the present date.
The School Committee, therefore, at the present time comprises five members chosen at large. Each member represents the whole community rather than a political fraction thereof. It is a continuous body and there are always upon the committee members who have had at least two years' experi- enee. The members serve without salary. Since 1885 the Mayor has not been a member but he has had a limited veto upon appropriations. Under the committee the Superintendent of Schools and six Assistant Superintendents act as expert advisers and direct the actual operation of the school system.
2. Progress in the Elementary Schools
All the children of Boston, except the few that are privately taught, must pass through the elementary grades. For many these grades furnish the only formal schooling they receive. They are the foundation upon which rests the whole superstructure of the higher education and intelligent citizenship.
Since 1880 the publie elementary schools of Boston have undergone changes that may be called radical. The essential subjects are still thoroughly taught. Careful tests indicate that they are better taught than in the earlier periods. The methods used, especially for beginners, are more practical. The text- books are superior. The teachers have received a longer and more scientific training for their work. The average size of the classes has been reduced,- a great aid to efficiency. Health is guarded as it never was before. The build- ings are more sanitary, convenient and attractive. The school rooms, formerly bare, are now made as pleasant as possible. Play is carefully directed. Cor- poral punishment is no longer the basis of discipline. Special types are set apart for speeial treatment. Summer review schools (high as well as elementary) are helping over 8,000 pupils to make up their deficiencies and obtain regular
OLD PUBLIC LATIN SCHOOL BUILDING
BRIGHTON HIGH SCHOOL
OLDEST AND YOUNGEST OF THE MODERN PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
promotion. Vacation schools provide salutary recreation and useful employ- ment for some 10,000 during the long summer recess. Vocational guidance puts the judgment and knowledge of age at the service of inexperienced youth. Books and supplies, formerly paid for, are now entirely free.
Above all, the curriculum has been enriched, presenting a wider range of subjects and a closer adaptation to particular needs. Departmental teaching, once confined to high schools, has been widely extended. In important branches, such as physical geography, commercial geography, elementary science and natural history, the instruction has been made more vivid and effective by the use of specimens, apparatus and equipment. Music and drawing have attained a far higher standard. The manual training work, begun in 1883, is a com- plete innovation. In the later grades studies formerly reserved for the high school curriculum have been introduced with marked success. Instruction in government now lays the foundation for good citizenship. Definite periods are assigned for character training. The course in English covers not only grammar but oral and written expression and the appreciation of good books. School papers of surprising excellence have been published. School gardens raise excellent vegetables and flowers. School bands play for prizes on the Common. School classes in Spanish have conducted public exercises in that language, including unrehearsed dialogues.
The citizens of Boston have reason to congratulate themselves on the work done in their high schools and on the provisions made in the school system for exceptional children and for adults. Some account of this work and of these special provisions will be included in the following chapters. They should realize, however, that, seen in a proper perspective, the core of the educational system must be the elementary school. It is necessarily the average child, neither defective nor extraordinary, that receives most of the attention of the school authorities. We doubt if this child has ever before had such oppor- tunities for development as are now open to him in the elementary schools of Boston. Some description of these opportunities, entirely inadequate, we fear, because of the limited space available, will be attempted in the course of this article.
3. The Establishment of Intermediate Schools
The term, intermediate school, is still unfamiliar to many but the innovation itself, if such it may be called, has had a very ancient and respectable precedent. From time immemorial Boston has maintained in its Public Latin School a six-year secondary course of instruction in preparation for college. Pupils are admitted to this course upon the completion of six grades in elementary schools. This six-grade secondary course has always been popular, and on the whole is regarded as a more satisfactory preparation for college than the four-year course following eight years of elementary instruction. Since a fundamental principle underlying the organization of the intermediate school is the extension of secondary instruction downward to include Grades VII and VIII and the introduction of certain high school subjects into these lower grades, it is evident that the Public Latin School for more than two centuries has treasured within its bosom the modern intermediate or junior high school subdivision of secondary education.
453
EDUCATION
For many years school folk had been dissatisfied with the organization of the period of public education into four years of high school and eight years of grammar or elementary school instruction (or nine years in Boston and other New England cities), but the first recorded systematic agitation for intermediate schools based on the 6-3-3 plan (that is, six years of elementary study, three years of intermediate or junior high school study and three years in the senior high school) was undertaken by the present Superintendent of Schools * when, on January 14, 1913, he discussed the subject at a meeting of the Principals' Association.
As a result of his arguments in favor of the intermediate school, the first official action was taken by the Board of Superintendents at its meeting on May 2, 1913, when on his motion it was voted "to recommend to the School Committee that the Superintendent of Schools be authorized, in such districts as he may designate, to so modify the course of study as to permit instruction in a modern foreign language for the pupils of the seventh and eighth grades who intend to enter high school." This recommendation was accepted by the School Committee.
We now regard our school system as comprising six years of primary or elementary education followed by six years of secondary education, the latter period being subdivided into three years of intermediate and three years of senior high school instruction. Into the seventh and eighth grades have been introduced subjects which had traditionally been regarded as belonging exclusively to the high schools, such as foreign languages, related mathematics, clerical practice, etc. These new subjects now occupy the time and attention previously given to over-elaborate elementary programs, and appeal vitally to the needs and desires of children, who at this period of mental and physical development dislike review and crave novelty.
Thus differentiation in courses of study, in subject content and in methods of instruction occurs not at the beginning of the ninth grade as formerly, but at the beginning of the seventh. All courses of study for Grades VII, VIII and IX have been revised and the subject content of these courses has been carefully reconstructed. The intermediate school as organized in Boston continues the fundamental education of the first six grades. It is a unifying force which serves to weld together the entire school system. To realize this unification to the fullest extent, the transitional unit (the intermediate school) gives due consideration to its foundation (the elementary school) and to its superstructure (the high school).
4. Progress in the Secondary Schools
At fourteen years of age the ordinary boy or girl in Boston is about ready to leave the elementary or intermediate school. He has received a good prescribed training in the fundamental subjects. He has also had a considerable range of choice among courses in the later grades and from now on this range is widened on the perfectly sound theory that as a boy inatures he develops his individual aptitudes.
* EDITORIAL NOTE .- When this was written, the Superintendent was Doctor Burke.
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
A boy leaving the elementary or intermediate sehool may go to the local high school, which is usually eo-educational; or to the English High School, in town, which is for boys only; or to the Latin Sehool, which prepares for college; or to the Boys' Trade School, where he will learn the elements of a trade; or to the Meehanie Arts High School, which will fit him for the higher grades of mechanical work; or to the High School of Commeree.
A girl has an equal variety of opportunities open to her. She may go to the loeal high school; to the Girls' High School in town; to the Girls' Latin School, if her aim is eollege; to the Trade School for Girls, the High School of Praetieal Arts, or, after two or more years, to the Clerical School, which is a specialized post-graduate high school.
In none of these advaneed sehools is the eurrieulum wholly prescribed. The traditional branches are thoroughly taught, such as English history, mathe- maties and the languages, but in all of thein a more or less extensive variety of courses is offered, so that each type of pupil may find his or her aptitudes fos- tered and at the same time the complex needs of our social structure may be met by a constant supply of suitably trained workers.
For boys and girls at work the Continuation Sehool offers a supplementary education. For adolescents and adults there is a great ehain of evening sehools, both high and elementary. For girls who are high or Latin Sehool graduates there is the Teachers College.
Fifty years ago most of these advaneed sehools were not yet in existenee. Only the Publie Latin and the English High School, the Girls' Latin and the Girls' High, and six of the local high schools had been founded. Comparatively few boys went to high school and fewer girls. The courses were strietly prescribed. The Normal course for teachers lasted only a year. Evening sehools were in their infaney. Specialized commercial and meehanieal sehools were unknown.
The city has about doubled its population sinee 1880, but the attendanee in the higher sehools has multiplied, perhaps, ten times. The improvement in the elementary schools has been one of range and quality rather than of relative numbers, though even in numbers, owing to the raising of the sehool age, there has been a relative inerease. In the high sehools the improvement in range and quality explains to some extent the disproportionate inerease in numbers. It has been said that "our city is rapidly approaching the state in its educational development where secondary school attendance will be well-nigh universal." Only an extreme reactionary would deny that this eager floeking of boys and girls to the higher institutions is a striking evidence of educational progress.
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