USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > History of Dedham, Massachusetts > Part 12
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FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE AND WATCH TOWER
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THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY THE
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
TO COMMEMORATE THE ESTABLISHMENT
BY THE INHABITANTS OF DEDHAM
IN TOWN MEETING ASSEMBLED ON THE FIRST OF JANUARY 1644 OF A FREE PUBLIC SCHOOL TO BE MAINTAINED BY GENERAL TAXATION NEAR THIS SPOT ,STOOD THE FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE BUILT BY THE TOWN
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SCHOOL TABLET ERECTED BY THE COMMONWEALTH
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representatives from Dedham to the General Court in the early years were members of the governing board of the Dedham Free School. The first bequest to the Dedham School was made by Dr. Henry Deengaine of Roxbury, a signer of the Dedham Cove- nant, in his will made December 8, 1645. He was taken suddenly ill on the day of his death and his will was taken "by word of mouth" by the Rev. John Eliot and approved by Governor John Winthrop, September 7, 1647. In his will he gave to the School at Dedham "£3 to be paid out of his house and land there", he thus became the first benefactor of the Dedham School to be fol- lowed in 1680 by Doctor William Avery formerly of Dedham who "out of his entire love to the Church and town" gave sixty pounds for a Latin School to be ordered by the Selectmen and the elders. This fund was for many years in the hands of trustees and was used for the support of education .* The Honorable Samuel Dex- ter, who died in 1810, left in his will a legacy of $170.00 to be added to the school fund". In making this bequest he suggested that certain sums formerly appropriated for this same purpose, which were expended in hiring soldiers be refunded by the town. The bequest was accepted by the town but disappeared with other school funds in Dedham.
Under the law passed by the General Court in 1647 fines were imposed for non-compliance with the law in maintaining schools. The first fine was five pounds, raised in 1671 to ten pounds, and still later to twenty pounds. Dedham with other towns was some- times cited by the Court for failing to obey the law but for the most part the town's appropriations were liberal for the times.
While other towns in maintaining schools often charged tuition fees Dedham adopted the novel plan of assessing a poll tax on all male children from four to fourteen years of age. As a consequence the rate for the support of the school was often a mixed rate consisting of a poll tax of from three and a half to five shillings on the boys of the town, amounting to a quarter or a half of the teacher's pay, leaving the rest of the school expenses to be met by a tax on estates. The early sessions of the Dedham School were probably held in the meeting house. In 1648-9 the town took the following action. Jan. 1648-9-At a General meet-
* For other school funds see "Funds held in trust. by the Town of Dedham."
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A HISTORY OF DEDHAM
ing of the Town ... A schoole house & a Watch house is resolved to be built this next yeare the care whereof is left to the select- ment. Fortunately we have the specifications for the first school house* and the watch house combined with it. 11 mo 15. 1648. Assemb: Hen Chickering, Joh. Kingsbury, Joh. Dwight, Tho. Wight, Fra Chickering, Joshu. Fisher, & Elea: Lusher A school house to be built as followeth. together with a watch house. the length 18 foote, being 14 foote beside the chimney, the wideness 15 foote, the studd 9 foote betwixt joynts, one floore of joyce: 2 convenient windowes in the lower roome & one in the chamber, the plancher layed, the floor planked, the stayers made, the sides boarded, feather-edged & rabbited, the doors made & hanged. the watch house to be a leanto set at the back of the chimney sixe foote wide, the length thereof 2 foote & one. half mor than the house is wide, so placed that the end thereof may extend past the corner of the house, so that the watch may have an aspect 4 sev- erall wayes. & open windowes therein suitable to a watch house: & covered with board up to those windows & upon the roofe, &. a mandle tree hewen & fitted for the Chimney." The town em- ployed Thomas Thurston to build the school house at an expense of £11 and 3 pence. This school house was erected beside the meeting house, near the present site of the Parish House of the First Church in Dedham. The placing of the school house was typical of the faith of the fathers who believed that the school house and the meeting house should stand side by side, the one for intellectual training and the other for the spiritual develop- ment of mankind.
As the Ames School is the direct growth, and the other schools of the town (and the nation for that matter), but branches of the parent tree planted here on January 1, 1644, the evolution of the Ames School is here given. This school was at first called "the school near the meeting-house". Later it was called the First Middle School District; later still District No. 1, and finally it was named the Ames School in honor of the Honorable Fisher Ames. The first school house was used for nearly half a century although it appears that in 1661 the school was kept in the parlor
* During the period of King Philips War. 1674. and again in 1694, the inhabi- tants were neglectful of their duty regarding the town school, which was brought to their attention by an indictment by the Court.
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of the dwelling house of Francis Chickering, deceased. A new school house was erected on the same site in 1695 and again a school house was built in 1754-5. In 1801 this school house was replaced by a new one. This structure was built of brick two stories high and sood on the same site. In 1821 the Deacons of the First Church took possession of the building and a decision was handed down by the Supreme Court that the building was the property of the Church. In 1825 the building was torn down. In 1822 a new school house was built on the northwesterly side of School street, near the corner of Court Street and the school moved to this location. In 1837 this school house was "raised and a stay put under it." A new school house was erected, in 1858-9, on Washington Street and the old school house and land on which it stood was sold. The building was moved nearer the street and remodeled into a two family dwelling house which is now owned by Ralph E. Eaton, Principal of the Dedham High School. The present Ames School House was erected in 1894-5 and dedicated* with appropriate exercises on June 17, 1898. The memorial entrance - arch and tablet of durable terra-cotta, form an attractive feature of the building and bears the inscription :
1644 AMES SCHOOL 1897
Named in honor of Fisher Ames. A native of Dedham, a wise statesman. And a friend of Washington "With a united government well administered, we have nothing to . fear and without it nothing to hope."
What kind of a school-house was at first built? The late Frank A. Hill, Secretary of the State Board of Education, who made a most exhaustive study of early school houses, in his Dedham address in 1895, ** tells us that the old New England school houses often repeated the interior of the buildings they had known in England, the same raised platform, the same plank seats, the same wooden wainscot and the same windows high above it. In the little room the master's desk often loomed up like a pulpit, just why so exalted a throne was raised in a room often not much larger than a dry goods box, it would be hard to guess if one did not look into an ancient English school room and see there
* For proceedings see Dedham School Report 1897.
** Address 250th Anniversary of the founding of the Free Public School in Dedham
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its undoubted prototype. Today with the school house the most familiar public building it is hard to realize that the quaint build- ing built in 1649 was one of the earliest school houses in the Colony.
As colonial meeting houses were never heated the school house with its fireplace must have been a welcome addition. It was an early custom in the colony to require each pupil to furnish his share of the wood for the fire in the winter and if necessary the older boys took turns in preparing the wood for the fireplace, which · sometimes consumed a cord a week. Dedham set in oper- ation the same kind of school that the founders had known in England, the reading, ciphering and writing school, followed by the dame school. No better idea can be given of the New England Colonial School and the Dame School than that shown by models* of these schools at Chicago; Century of Progress Exposition, a description of which is as follows. The colonial school was estab- lished "to teach children and youth to read English and to write and cast accounts at least." The quaint reason given in the Massachusetts law for the existence of schools was ". .. yet learn- ing may not be buried in ye graves of our fathers .. . " The period of the Dame School extended from about 1650 to well into the nineteenth century. It existed in three forms: private, semi- public, and public. In the kitchen or living room of her home, the dame, who often had but little education herself, taught the younger children reading, spelling, sewing, knitting and deport- ment. For this she received only a pittance. The catechism and psalter were often studied and the famous New England Primer* was the textbook most used. This type of school developed finally into the public primary school. The work of these schools was handicapped by inadequate equipment, books and supplies. Setting copies, dictating sums, and making quill pens took almost as much of the master's time as did the actual teaching. The time- consuming method of individual lesson-hearing also retarded
* Ginn and Company ; Exhibit.
** The first text-book used in America was the Horn Book which the Puritans brought from Europe. It consisted of a bit of parchment, with letters printed or painted upon it fastened to a slab of wood. For preservation it was covered with a thin translucent sheet of horn. This simple book satisfied the first Colonial law concerning text-books. For many years a book was a rare and highly prized pos- session, In the evolution of the text-book it is an interesting fact that they became absolutely free in all Massachusetts public schools in 1884.
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progress. These schools eventually developed into our present grammar schools.
In 1663 the town appointed John Swinerton to teach such male children as were sent to him, "to wright and read and the use of retmitick" as they are capable and the Latin tongue as far as he can. When a school master could not be procured teachers were called from the farms. Joshua Fisher, Thomas Battle and Michael Metcalf were local teachers. As these citizens had left their regular work, it was agreed that no advantage should be taken to discount their pay for not attending the school except it be discontinued for a full week. The school hours were from 7 a. m. to 5 p. m. in the summer and from 8 a. m. to 4 p. m. in the winter. Michael Metcalf was seventy years of age when he com- menced to teach the school and agreed to faithfully teach the children that should be sent to him to read English and write. He also taught arithmetic* and the identical text from which he taught this subject is still in existence in the library of the Ded- ham Historical Society. This arithmetic was published in 1630.
The Dame school was attended by both male and female pupils. Girls were taught to sew but were not instructed in arith- metic as they were not supposed to have any use for the subject. The town school was naturally kept in the original village and while residents were exempt from the school tax if they lived more than two and one-half miles from the school house, yet as the town grew the outlying parts desired school facilities for their children so the moving school came into existence. Sessions were held in different parts of the town for a few weeks, as determined by pop- ulation and taxation. The moving or migratory school was estab- lished in Dedham in 1717 when the town voted "to have the school removed to several parts of the town." This practise continued until 1756. Pupils were not over-taxed by school attendance. At the May meeting in 1762 the town voted that the school should be kept in proportion to the tax in each precinct: First Precinct, 166 days; South Precinct (Norwood), 79 days; Clapboard Tree (West- wood), 69 days; West Precinct (Dover), 52 days. The moving school furnished better instruction than could be given in the home, or in the dame school. It prompted sectional relations of ed-
* For a description of Robert Record's Arithmetic see Dedham Historical Regis- ter July 1894.
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A HISTORY OF DEDHAM
ucation and led to the development of the district and the district school administration.
The first teacher of the moving school was Sir Joseph Belcher, a son of the town minister, and a graduate of Harvard College. The school was often held in private houses but in some parts of Dedham, privately owned school houses were built. Such was the case in the Springfield Parish where a school house, owned by indi- viduals, had been erected previous to the organization of the Parish in 1748. Tuition fees were paid as follows : Those who lived one and a quarter miles from the school house paid five shillings a year per child from 6 to 12 years of age, those living one and a half to two and a half miles away paid two shillings and six pence, while those living beyond two and one half miles paid nothing until they were benefited by the school. There was little specie in the Colony and the teachers' services were at first paid for in wheat and corn. In 1658 Michael Metcalf was paid for his services ten pounds, half in wheat and the other half in corn, Indian or rye, at the end of each half year. This practise continued until 1696 when the town voted to pay the teacher's salary in money. While the school master's salary of £20 was not remunerative yet he received other marks of public favor and respect. Dedham gave the school master the honorary title of "Sir" while most men had to go without even the distinction of "Mr." The elementary schools prepared for the town Latin school, which by Colonial law had to be supported after 1647 in all towns having a hundred householders. The Latin grammar school fitted for Harvard Col- lege was founded in 1636, the year of Dedham's settlement. To this College the new town made liberal contributions for its support.
The monument erected in Dedham to mark the site of the First Free Public School to be supported by general taxation is of interest. On June 25, 1894 a Resolve passed by the General Court of Massachusetts was approved by the Governor, appropri- ating a sum of money to procure a monument to mark the site of the first free public school supported by general taxation. Said site to be verified and approved by the Governor and Council. This question was referred to a committee of which the Lieutenant Governor was Chairman. Meetings were soon held at which sev-
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eral cities and towns presented their claims. Dedham was repre- sented by Don Gleason Hill, Esq. and the Rev. Carlos Slafter who claimed that the Dedham records are "clear, distinct and perfect and the action of the town there recorded covers every element and requirement of the Resolve." In recognition of the Dedham School the Commonwealth of Massachusetts furnished a tablet, which was placed on the Church Green, near the site of the school house erected in 1649, which reads as follows:
"This tablet is erected by the Commonwealth of Massachu- setts, to Commemorate the establishment by the inhabitants
of Dedham, on the first day of January 1644 of a free public school to be maintained by general taxation."
This tablet was unveiled on June 17, 1898 with an address by Don Gleason Hill, Esq., President of the Dedham Historical Society. Mr. Hill called attention to the fact that this monu- ment is placed within the shadow of two church spires. On the other corner of the green stands the monument erected in 1766 by the "Sons of Liberty" to commemorate the repeal of the obnox- ious stamp act of Great Britain. This monument stands in close proximity on one side, to our magnificent Temple of Justice, and on the other to the site of the birthplace of the Honorable Fisher Ames* in honor of whose memory our school in the village is named - monuments to the principles of our Republic; Religious according to the dictates of our own conscience; Free Public Schools, Liberty and Justice. Dedham has had some teachers who became prominent men in State and Nation. William L. Marcy, late Governor of New York and Secretary of State under President Pierce was a teacher here. He was connected with the political and diplomatic history of the Country and his writings rank among the ablest of their class.
SCHOOL COMMITTEES. The Dedham School was at first managed by the town, but in 1652 it was put under the care of the selectmen who continued to serve the school for many years. After the division of the town into districts in 1789 School Committees came into existence who had the future charge of public education. Clergymen of the town were elected to school boards and for the most part did the visiting and supervising of the schools. But
* Mr. Ames early advocated what was later enacted into law a statute requiring schools to be kept open a certain number of months in the year.
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with the growth of the town and the increase in the number of pupils the task became so arduous that the office of superintendent of schools was created in 1880. I. Freeman Hall was the first Superintendent of Dedham Schools. Mr. Hall had taught under the supervision of Col. Parker of Quincy and introduced into the Dedham Schools the so-called "Quincy Methods" of instruction. Mr. Hall resigned in 1885 and his successors in the office have been Abner J. Phipps, Henry E. Crocker, Guy Channel, Oscar S. Williams, Roderick W. Hine, and John C. Anthony. It is inter- esting to note that most of the improvements in the curriculum of the Dedham Schools were made during the superintendency of Mr. Hine.
School districts continued in Dedham until 1866 when the several district school houses were purchased by the town and their value remitted to the taxpayers of the districts. The eleven school houses of the town were appraised, with land and furniture, for $49,180 - less than the cost of a four-room school house of today. The abolition of school districts was slowly brought about. Horace Mann in his 8th report said: "the subdivision of towns into school districts is beyond comparison, the most pernicious law ever passed in the Commonwealth on the subject of schools."
In 1848 the Rev. Dr. Lamson in the report of the School Com- mittee showed with abundant reasons why the several school dis- tricts should be abolished and the schools administered by the town. The establishment of a High School, English and Classical, was recommended, or in lieu of which schools taught by good male teachers competent to teach the usual branch of a thorough Eng- dish education should be established in the Upper Village of the First Parish; and in the West Parish and one in the South Parish. This agitation led to the establishment of the Dedham High School. While Dedham was the first town in the Colony to estab- lish a school supported by general taxation, yet the citizens two centuries later were reluctant to establish a High School as required by the statutes of the Commonwealth. After 1844 repeated efforts were made by the School Committee for the establishment of a High School. Finally in 1851 the town instructed the School Committee to hire a building, employ a teacher, and establish a High School in accordance to law. At
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the same time the town made an appropriation of a thousand dollars for the maintenance of the school. The Dedham High School was opened on Monday, September 15, 1851, in Mas- onic Hall on Church Street, over Field's Store, where it remained until September 1854. It was then removed to the Town House on Bullard street. During the summer of 1855 a High School house was erected on Highland Street. Here the school remained for nearly 32 years until it was moved October 3, 1887 to the High School House on Bryant Street.
Charles James Capen was the first master of the Dedham High School. He graduated at Harvard with the class of 1844 and received the degree of A. M. in 1846. In 1851 he was appointed master of the newly organized Dedham High School and com- menced his duties in September. In 1852 he received his appoint- ment in the Boston Latin School, where he was fitted for college, and in September of the same year he entered upon his duties there where he continued to teach for more than fifty years. Carlos Slafter succeeded Mr. Capen. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1849 and later received the degree of A. M. from Trinity College. Mr. Slafter was well known in Dedham having taught the Second Middle School four successive winters and a summer school in 1851. He was called to Dedham from the principalship of the Framingham High School. The Dedham High School remained for forty years under the care of Mr. Slafter (1852-1892). His successors have been George F. Joyce, William D. Sprague, William W. Lee, Jr., and Ralph A. Eaton. In 1894 the Alumni Association presented the Dedham High School with a gift of three hundred and fifty books to serve as a nucleus for a collec- tion to be known as the "Slafter Reference Library." These books were selected with great care and comprise not only stan- dard reference books but complete sets of many leading English and American authors. The School Committee furnished a dur- able oak case for the books on which was placed a silver plate with the following inscription :
Slafter Reference Library Dedham High School Formed in grateful recognition of the service of Carlos Slafter
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A HISTORY OF DEDHAM
Principal of the High School 1852-1892
Given by the Alumni Association November 27, 1894
In the course of time the Bryant Street building was out grown and the first part of the present High School building on Whiting Avenue was erected and first occupied in the spring of 1916. It should be recorded that at its dedication former Presi- dent Calvin Coolidge, then Governor of Massachusetts, took part in the public exercises. The building was again outgrown and in 1932 a large wing was added containing an auditorium which was named in honor of George Frederick Joyce, for a quarter of a century connected with the school. The George Frederick Joyce Auditorium was dedicated with appropriate exercises on Sunday afternoon May 12, 1933. Miss Margaret E. Sullivan, of the Board of School Committee, presided. Julius H. Tuttle, President of the Dedham Historical Society and for many years Chairman of the Board of School Committee, gave the dedicatory address. Mr. Tuttle spoke of the rich experience that Mr. Joyce brought to his position as High School Principal and of the devotion and rare ability which he displayed in his work with his pupils. Time was given unsparingly by him to advance their future progress. His humor and originality, keen insight and good judgment, coupled with the placing of responsibility, maintained a fine discipline in his school and made him an outstanding teacher of his day. Prayer was offered by the Reverand Oliver D. Sewall. The exercises were enlivened by songs by the male quartet of Constellation Lodge, A. F. & A. M. of which Mr. Joyce was formerly Worshipful Master. The inscription on the tablet reads.
Here As in the hearts of his townspeople the memory of George F. Joyce Principal of this School 1892-1913 is honored
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. Modern psychology insists there never was a direct relation between corporal punishment and high marks in studies. The teacher who wishes to stimulate the efforts of his class, either has to make his lessons more interesting or stir
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up rivalry among his pupils. A generation ago teachers used to stimulate their pupils by flogging. The story is told of a school master famed for his use of the switch, who shouted "I pardon ignorance - often; indolence sometimes; insolence never." Whack. The strictness of discipline in the Dedham Schools was often unreasonable and sometimes brutish. It was the custom of one teacher to hang small boys out of the window, making them fast by letting the sash rest down on their backs heavily enough to hold them securely. The long and heavy ruler was carried by some teachers in the hand constantly and so became a ready instrument of punishment. In 1833 School Mistress Joanna Ward of Dedham is exonerated of a charge of beating a pupil and is told that she didn't lam the culprit half hard enough. An annual examination was held at the close of the spring term of school- when all were dressed in their Sunday clothes, and the room was filled with parents and friends, who listened to the lessons, reci- tations and singing of the pupils. About 1820 two girls for whispering to each other were tied to the teacher's chair by their thumbs and kept there for an hour or more. The fool's cap was a popular means of correction about 1825. The principal of the Ames School suggested that it would be a favor if some of the girls would make one for his use; two of the bright misses volunteered that duty and provided two caps of excellent pattern. Imagine their dismay when for whispering they were the first to wear these tokens of disgrace. Carlos Slafter reviewing the subjects taught in the early Dedham School says: How one man could teach such a range of studies we can hardly imagine. He would certainly have little time for moral suasion in managing his subjects and we can easily excuse him if he did lubricate the wheels of school government somewhat freely with the "oil of birch."
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