USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Leicester > Handbook of historical data concerning Leicester, Massachusetts > Part 2
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The next year there was no school, but a fine at the quarter sessions of the General Court was thus incurred, and the next year there is said to have been a school held in the public house of Jonathan Sargent, opposite the present Catholic church.
In 1736 the town voted to build a school- house, and, sometime, probably during the summer of 1738, the first schoolhouse in Lei- cester was built on or near the site, on the
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THE MILL ON RAWSON STREET. Once the "Wire Mill," and the first home of the Leicester Electric Light Co.
southwestern part of the common, marked now by a granite block. It was twenty by six- teen feet in size and only seven and a half feet high, and cost forty-seven dollars and eighty- four cents. In these first seventeen years John Lynde had taught school, all together, nine months.
Now there were more branches taught and a grammar school master engaged. His salary was at first one dollar and thirty-two cents per week. For the sake of comparison, note that the minister was receiving one hundred and twenty-five dollars a year. A laboring man was paid thirty-three cents a day, with half as much more for the use of his yoke of oxen on the highway.
The settlers on the proprietors' half of the town did not think it fair for them to pay tax- es for schools of so little use to them, so, al- though unwilling to abate their taxes, it was voted to move the school about to the four quarters of the town in 1842. The next year school was kept in six places, two months in each. Now for over twenty years the school appropriation for each year approximated one hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty- three cents, the incorporation of Spencer as a separate town having no effect on this sum.
In 1765 a committee favored the division of the town into districts, each to build its own
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schoolhouse, but there was so much disagree- ment that the town took the management of the entire matter, the expense to be as at first planned. Then there was so much local dis- sension about locations that five years passed by before all the buildings were completed. About this time the Center schoolhouse was sold "to the best advantage" and a new one built, a little west of where Water Street is now located. There were, in 1776, nine dis- tricts, and each had a school building. This arrangement continued as long as there was a "district school" in Leicester.
In 1766 the first woman teacher was em- ployed.
In 1791 the third schoolhouse in the Center village was erected on the northern side of the Great Road, a little west of the Rutland Road, in other words, northwest of the corner of Main and Paxton Streets. This was succeed- ed in 1828 by a house of two rooms, on the "Clappville Road" (Pleasant Street), facing the south. This has been remodelled into a dwelling house and is the residence of Mrs. Mandana Marsh.
In January, 1855, the brick building used at the present time, was opened on Pleasant Street. It had two rooms for the common school on the first floor, and one above, for the high school. It now contains six rooms and has been much altered. There are now
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THE OLD SAW AND GRIST MILL ON PINE STREET.
(1911) buildings occupied for schools in Mannville, Greenville, Cherry Valley (new in 1904), and a fine new one in Rochdale, built in 1910.
The school appropriation in 1910 was eleven thousand five hundred dollars. A school board directs its affairs with a superintendent main- tained jointly with Charlton, partly remunerat- ed by the State.
At the time of the organization of a high school in 1857, then called the "Town School," one term each year was held in Clappville, Cherry Valley and the Center. It was estab- lished at the Center about three years later. In 1865 or 1866 an arrangement was made with Leicester Academy for its use as a high school. In 1907 this was made legal by an act of the Massachusetts Legislature, a stated sum be- ing paid by the town to the academy trustees towards its maintenance.
Leicester Academy is the oldest academic institution in Worcester County, the third in point of seniority in Massachusetts. In 1783 the mansion built by Aaron Lopez on Lot No. I was purchased by three individuals and af- ter some delay in raising the necessary amount of money, the most of it from outside the town, Leicester Academy was incorporated March 23, 1784, with a governing board of fifteen trustees, self-perpetuating. Benjamin Stone was its first principal.
High School
Academy
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The Lopez "Mansion" was divided and moy- ed to Pleasant Street. One-half still stands just north of the Center school, the other to make room for the school building, was mov- ed to Cambridge Street, Worcester, and has since been demolished.
A second building replaced the Lopez house in 1816, but was replaced in 1833 by the pres- ent structure which was remodeled, renovat- ed and made strictly modern in 1911. The Academy has a long and interesting history all its own. It began with three pupils, grew to strength and fame, and has sheltered and taught some of the greatest and best known men of New England-statesmen, inventors, teachers, and public leaders of both war and peace.
Mulberry Grove
From 1827 to 1839 there was conducted in a house at the corner of Mulberry and Earle Streets, a boarding school for young ladies called "The Mulberry Grove School," which was, during its existence, as well known as Leicester Academy. It was taught by Sarah Earle until 1832, when her sister Eliza suc- ceeded her as principal. The building still stands.
Indian Wars
In all the Indian Wars from 1744 to 1763, es- pecially the French and Indian, Leicester fur- nished a large number of men. Captain Brown, of this town, commanded a company at the
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1
CORNER OF PAXTON AND MAIN STREETS, BEFORE THE DAYS OF WIRES AND TROLLEYS.
Site of the Green Tavern, the Well and the Hay Scales.
capture of Louisburg. In 1756, fifteen men en- listed from Leicester in the expedition against Crown Point and twenty-three Leicester men were at the downfall of Quebec.
The town took an active and prominent part in the War of the American Revolution. Col. William Henshaw, who in 1771 superintended the building on Mt. Pleasant, now known as the Tarleton House, and where his brother, Joseph Henshaw, lived, was the organizer of the world famous "Minute Men." From the letter of instructions which was sent to their representative at the General Court, and from later "resolutions," we are made to believe that Leicester was the home of men of unusu- al intellectual ability. Many others had been well trained in the earlier wars and now ren- dered valuable service to their country. Dur- ing one year, 1775, there were eighteen town meetings, so high did the fire of patriotism burn.
In May, 1770, a company of forty-six men was formed and was drilled, to be ready for war at a minute's notice.
Late in the afternoon of the nineteenth of April, 1775, the alarm was given by a messen- ger, riding hard, and that same afternoon, un- der the leadership of Captain Seth Washburn, the blacksmith, the company of Leicester's minute men were marching to battle. They halted at the house of Nathan Sargent in Cher-
Revolu- tion
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ry Valley (still standing near the top of the hill on Sargent Street), and obtained a supply of bullets which had been melted and molded from Mr. Sargent's clock weights. They ar- rived in time to take part in the battle of Bunker Hill, though delayed by the traitor, Dr. Church. The negro, Peter Salem, who shot Major Pitcairn, was, for many years af- ter the war, a familiar figure in Leicester. The site of his home, on Peter Salem Street, has been marked by the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution. He was buried in Framing- ham.
Between 1775 and 1781 there were twenty- eight drafts for soldiers made upon this town. There were so few men left that the town rec- ords are exceedingly meagre. Two hundred and fifty-four recruits were furnished besides the seventy-two who marched at the first alarm, the "three years men," and others sup- plied at various times to complete troops as required.
More than eight thousand dollars was paid by Leicester for war expenses, and a barrel of powder and twelve muskets furnished. Captain Washburn was for some time "muster-mas- ter" for Worcester County, and Leicester was a storehouse of supplies and ammunition.
Leicester men were engaged in many of the great battles of the Revolution, the stirring
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CAREY HILL. Birthplace of Gov. Washburn at right. Newhall House, first Leicester home of Rev. Dr. John Nelson at left.
tale of Solomon Parsons at Monmouth being a sample of their patriotism.
During Burgoyne's army's march to Boston in 1777, as prisoners of war, after the surren- der of Saratoga, an encampment was made in the grove where Grove Street, Leicester Cen- ter, is now located. Another party stopped for lunch on the Eddy Farm, in the northern part of the town. It is related that Gen. George Washington mentions in his diary having passed through Leicester on Friday, October twenty-third, 1789.
General Lafayette also went through Lei- cester. A note of this event, which "all the town turned out to see," is found in more than one diary and story. This occurred September third, 1824.
The Civil War again aroused the patriots of the town, and the first regiment to march from the state, the sixth Massachusetts, was under the command of Col. Edward F. Jones of Lei- cester. Lieutenant Joseph Waldo Denny, withı the Worcester Light Infantry, was a Leices- ter boy, and in all, probably, two hundred and seventy-two Leicester men fought in the War of the Rebellion from 1861 to 1865. Mem- orial Hall, which occupies a part of the first floor of the Town House, the Town Hall oc- cupying the entire upper floor, was set apart in memory of those who lost their lives for their country, in the War of the Rebellion.
Civil War
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Marble tablets upon the wall are inscribed with the names, and other data, of those who fell. This hall now provides a meeting place for the veterans and kindred societies.
Spanish War
The Spanish War, 1895, called forth but two or three Leicester men, but a Relief Society was organized by the women and did splendid work supplying the needs of the soldiers at the front.
Popula- tion
The Leicester of today has a reputation as a select summer resort. Its population by the 1910 census was three thousand two hundred and thirty-seven.
Railroad
When the route of the Western Railroad was mapped out, Leicester was on its line and a tunnel was contemplated to avoid the hill. This project was finally abandoned, though Leicester is on the line of the Boston & Al- bany railroad; the station is at Rochdale.
Country Club
Upon a hill overlooking a part of the Cen- ter Village of Leicester is located a flourish- ing country club house and grounds, with golf links, tennis courts, boat house and so forth. The club was incorporated in 1910, but was the outgrowth of a local golf club of years' standing.
Stonewall Farm
Stonewall Farm, in the center of Leicester, and on Leicester Hill, the residence of Col. Samuel E. Winslow, is one of the finest es- tates in Worcester County. The main house was built in 1833.
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THE OLD COMMON. First town house in central background. First High School teacher in foreground.
If an attempt should be made to enumerate the famous men and women whose lives have been linked with the history of Leicester, the task would not only be formidable, but the re- sult would forever be incomplete. It would be a list including eminent clergymen, states- men, warriors, inventors, artists, actors, poli- ticians, lawyers, physicians, scholars, philan- thropists, and financiers. The very atmos- phere of the place appears to foster intellectual acumen and business shrewdness, with an ad- mixture of patriotism.
For more extended accounts of Leicester the following references are recommended, besides the town records :
Historical Sketches of the Town of Leices- ter, Massachusetts, by Emory Washburn.
Brief Sketch of the History of Leicester Academy, by Emory Washburn.
The Archives of the Col. Henshaw Chapter, D. A. R.
History of Leicester, by Rev. A. H. Cool- idge.
Oration by Hon. John E. Russell at Centen- nial observance in Leicester, July, 1776.
Oration by Hon. Emory Washburn, July 4, 1849.
Article in New England Magazine, May, 1900, by John White Chadwick.
"A Century Old:" A history of the Card Clothing Industry.
Reference
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Reminiscences of Joseph A. Denny.
History of Leicester by Rev. Abijah P. Mar- vin.
History of the Second Congregational Church and Society, by C. Van D. Chenoweth, A. M.
History of the Tarleton House, by Mr. C. C. Denny.
Genealogy of Denny Family.
Genealogy of Earle Family, and other sim- ilar works.
Diary of Rev. Samuel May.
The Greenville Baptist Church, 1738-1888. "St. Joseph's Golden Jubilee."
Also manuscripts of Mr. Christopher C. Denny.
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BOTH SIDES OF THE HILL IN 1889.
PRESS OF W. J. HEFFERNAN SPENCER, MASS. THE LEICESTER BANNER PRINT
MAY 75
N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA
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