USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > History of Dedham, Massachusetts > Part 13
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SCHOOL FARM. Dedham, in common with other towns, had a "school farm." The proprietors of the town chose a com- mittee March 16, 1695 to lay out a tract of upland, meadow and swamp, containing three hundred acres, near Sudbury for the use and benefit of the Dedham School. The school farm was laid out but did not prove to be a source of revenue. Desiring to derive an income from the farm it was put up for sale March 13, 1699 and
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sold to Jonathan Gay for fifty pounds. The farm lay in the pre- sent town of Wellesley, about a mile from Wellesley College. A part of the money was soon loaned, but there is no evidence that any considerable income was ever derived from the school farm. In 1735 an effort was made to recover the farm by legal measures, but nothing was accomplished and the funds for the school continued to depend upon the interest of the citizens.
SCHOOL MONEY. The trustees of the school money had in their care January 1, 1744-5 the sum of £236, 2s, 8d, which was loaned on good security to citizens of the town. In March 1749 Deacon Nathaniel Kingsbury made the following statement to the town. Being desirous of the flourishing state of learning ; in this place I purpose a donation to the Town of One Hundred Pounds old Tenor* the yearly interest of which to be appropriated "to ye use of ye school." This generous gift was accepted by the town and the sum of one hundred pounds added to the school money. The Dedham School money was reported in 1749-50 as £345 8s. which was loaned to twelve men of the town in sums varying from five pounds to one hundred.
TEXT-BOOKS. The early teachers "undertook (1653) to teach to read English and the Accidence and to write and the knowledge and art of Arithmetic and the rules and practice there- of." The arithmetic of the early schools contained no problems for the pupil to solve. Under each rule one or two problems were fully explained, all others were furnished by the teacher, who had one or two manuscript books of "Sums" from which he drew for his pupils. Reading was taught the beginners from the English Primer: After the Primer the Psalter was read and by older pupils the Testament and the Bible. Spelling was not at first required to be taught. An early spelling book was the "Youth's Instructor in the English Tongue." Besides spelling it treated penmanship and reading and devoted several pages to arithmetic, business forms, and Bills of Exchange. As the subject developed spelling schools became for the young people one of the most popular winter entertainments. Choosing sides was the most prominent feature of the school. After casting lots for the first
* Old Tenor was the name given to the issue of paper money previous to 1737; that issue in 1737 was called Middle Tenor, while that issued in 1742 was called New Tenor.
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choice, they chose alternately those whom they judged to be the best spellers until all were chosen, and as fast as chosen they took their places on opposite sides of the school room. One on each side was appointed to keep the tally, after which the master put out the words from the spelling book; the first word to the one who had the first choice and then alternately from side to side. No one was allowed to try the word a second time. After spelling about an hour the tally was reported and the side having the fewest failures was declared victor. "The English Schoole Mas- ter" was in a literary sense the highest book in reading. In ac- counts "Oldcastle's Book Keeping" was the principal authority. The town records do not show how early the school was open to both sexes alike. For many years girls were not expected to study arithmetic as it was regarded as almost a useless subject for the female mind. "The Ladies Accidence" a kind of English Grammar was thought more appropriate for girls. Geography as a study was not taught in the Dedham Schools before 1784. About 1800 a small book was published accompanied by an atlas. For many years the lessons consisted largely in finding places on the map which the pupil had before him in recitations. Mitchel's Geography with its highly colored atlas next appeared, and with map drawing, did much to prepare the way for artistic work in the schools. Outline maps were generally used in teaching geo- graphy previous to about 1860.
KINDERGARTENS. From 1893 to 1896 a free public kin- dergarten accommodated the children of the Ames School district supported by private subscription. In April 1896 an appropriation was made by the town and kindergartens were opened in Ames, Avery and Oakdale districts which were continued for a number of years but finally given up.
PENMANSHIP .* John L. Howard was employed in 1904 as the first special teacher or supervisor of penmanship in the Ded- ham Schools. He was an instructor of large experience in town and city schools and teachers Institutes. His method no longer employed the exact and laborious instruction of an earlier time, when pupils were required to practise the short letters till they were correct in shading and in delicate hairlines. After a good
* No attempt has been made to give the names of all special instructors in the branches taught in the schools. The genesis of departments only is given.
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degree of excellency in the short letters had been attained the large letters were practised on. It was two or three years before the capitals were undertaken. Now pupils learn to write their daily lesson in the second year in our public schools.
SEWING. Sewing was first introduced in Dedham as an experiment in the Avery School in 1868. The first instructor was Jane S. Small who so well demonstrated the importance of the work that it was soon extended to other schools in the town. After a time however the instruction was discontinued, but was resumed in 1888, with Mary Elizabeth Cormerais as teacher, who taught very practical work as follows. The first work given was a cloth on which to practise the different stitches before making a bag to keep their materials in; a pillow slip was the next piece of work, and then aprons, towels, and skirts were made. In the third year mending, darning and button holes followed. In the early years of instruction the town did not furnish material and articles made by pupils were sometimes sold and the cash used to buy thread and needles for those who neglected to furnish their own.
MUSIC. The first to give instruction in singing was Asa Fitz an itinerant school singing teacher who once or twice a year visited Dedham Schools. He taught by note exercises sung in the primary grades and popular melodies in the other grades. Through the years music had a gradual introduction into the schools from 1871. In 1873 Charles Edward Whiting was employed to teach music in the schools two days in the week and continued in this work until 1879. Maria T. Delano, an assistant teacher in the High School from 1873 to June 1884, had charge of the fourth class and taught the whole school in vocal music. From 1884 to 1898 the musical instruction was in charge of Arthur Wilder Thayer as teacher and supervisor. After retiring from public school work, Mr. Thayer devoted his life to music as teacher, com- poser, conductor, singer and organist. Instruction in music has developed in the Dedham Schools until pupils in the High School have made such proficiency as to qualify them to give concerts and oratories that attract good audiences.
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DRAWING. In accordance with a statute of the Common- wealth, enacted in 1870, making drawing a required study in public schools, arrangement was made with Henry Hitchings,
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who had done similar work in the Boston Schools, to meet the teachers of Dedham and instruct them in the art of teaching drawing. This work continued for a number of years, but in 1877 May Flagg Taft was employed as an instructor in drawing in the Dedham High School. She was trained for her work in the Boston Normal Art School, and after a short period of teaching married Henry Hitchings, and retired from the work. In 1887 Anna Rebecca Slafter became supervisor of drawing in all the Dedham Schools. She was a graduate of the Boston Normal Art School and had previously taught penmanship and drawing in the Westfield State Normal School.
SLOYD. Believing that the adoption of industrial training, as a part of the instruction in the Dedham Schools would result in greater efficiency of the system, the School Committee in 1891 maintained a sloyd school during seven weeks of the summer vacation in the old High School building on Highland Street, with Lillian M. Elliott as tutor. The experiment proved so successful that sloyd was introduced into the public schools of Dedham in 1893 with Annie G. Spencer as instructor. Dedham was the first town in Norfolk County to introduce industrial training. Sloyd as a system aims to develop the mental and physical powers and on its material and practical side the acquisition of general dex- terity of the hand. The system has been continued in the schools under the title of Manual Training. In 1898 William Ware Locke became the instructor and director of the subject in the Dedham Schools. Instruction in manual training was not needed in early Dedham Schools. Boys were expected to rule their own copy books and to make their own rulers* as shapely and handsome as possible. Many cast their own pewter ink stands and some even made their own ink. It was the ambition of every boy to carry a well sharpened pen-knife in his pocket with which to make and mend his own quill pen. The boys framed their own slates and often decorated their slate pencils. In the winter the boys who were old enough took turns in building the morning fire an hour before the school commenced. Older girls swept and dusted the school room and its furniture. Needle work was taught in the Dedham Schools at a very early date. Patchwork, samplers and embroidery were common as early as 1780.
* Slafter's Schools and Teachers of Dedham.
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DOMESTIC SCIENCE. A course in domestic science was introduced into the Dedham High School in September 1909 with Miss Marion Spaulding as teacher. The chemical laboratory was equipped with a gas stove and necessary cooking utensils. In 1910 manual training was extended over four years and included me- chanical drawing, bench work, lathe work and pattern making. In the grammar schools manual training for the boys was put in charge of Alfred C. Cobb in 1910 who devoted one day a week to bench work in the eighth and ninth grades.
STAMP SAVING SYSTEM. A stamp saving system was in- troduced in Dedham in 1901 by Miss Margaret Warren and Miss Emily Ames (Mrs. Herbert Shreve) in the Avery and Quincy Schools. Stamps representing the value of each deposit were sold and pasted on cards. As soon as the sum amounted to three dollars it was deposited in a Savings Book and a book issued to the child. Miss Warren and Miss Ames visited the schools weekly for several years in carrying on this work. The value of this work is illustrated by the fact that in 1902 two hundred and eighty-seven pupils deposited $331.00 ..
In order to encourage savings among the children of the Commonwealth an act was passed in 1911 authorizing School Committees in cities and towns where the school is situated, to arrange for the collection of savings from the school children by the principal or teachers of the school. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the School Committee of Dedham intro- duced in 1911, the School Savings Bank system in the public schools where deposits of one cent or more are received. Collec- tions are made each week by the teachers and deposited by them, as trustees, in the Dedham Institution for Savings.
SUMMER PLAYGROUNDS. Summer playgrounds under the general direction of the Dedham Community Association were conducted for a term of six weeks on the Community Grounds in 1924. In August 1925 the Avery, Oakdale, Quincy, Riverside and Manor Districts had supervised play. This work has enlisted the aid and cooperation of the several Parent-Teachers Associa- tions of the town who furnished adequate apparatus for the enterprise.
PHYSICAL TRAINING. Physical training was introduced
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into the Schools of Dedham in 1893 with Miss Olive F. Moakler as instructor, who taught the Swedish or "Ling" system of gym- nastics, a system and scientific training of the body and second- arily of the mind through the body to product health and well developed forms.
SCHOOL NURSE. Miss Jessie M. Moulton was appointed school nurse January 1, 1912. The importance of this work is illustrated by the fact that during the first year Miss Moulton made five thousand six hundred and eighty-four examinations.
WORKS OF ART. With the school house building era, which began in 1897, an effort was made to place upon the walls of the various school rooms, suggestive and famous pictures, statuary and other works of art, that would bring to the pupils ideals of beauty, noble characters and stirring events in the world's history. This work immediately enlisted the interest of citizens and many works of art, through gift or purchase, now adorn the school-rooms of Dedham.
EVENING SCHOOLS FOR ILLITERATES. By the school census of 1895 it was found that there were thirty illiterate min- ors in Dedham, to which might be added thirty or forty illiterate adults, who desired to learn to read and write English. Under the public statute that any town may, and every town or city of ten thousand or more inhabitants shall, maintain annually evening schools for the instruction of illiterate persons over four- teen years of age, Dedham opened her first Evening School in 1896 in the Avery District.
THE LYCEUM. This was a valuable educational institu- tion in the early forties which enlisted the interest of Dedham young men, who added to its usual functions the drama which they illustrated in original plays to the great enjoyment of the people of the town.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS. The proprietors of the many private schools of the town have been men and women of fine character and often of unusual ability. The Rev. Ebenezer Wight of Ded- ham who graduated at Harvard in the class of 1776 was ordained the second minister of the Hollis Street Church in Boston in 1778. He resigned his pastorate in 1788 by reason of failing health and sight. He returned to Dedham where he opened, at the home-
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stead on Westfield Street, an academy which he conducted for several years. Judge Theron Metcalf before his elevation to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts practised law in Dedham for thirty years. Probably no member of the Norfolk bar ever exer- cised a stronger influence in elevating its professional standard. He was instructed in law by the eminent teachers at the Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, then the only Law School in the United States. At Litchfield he gained an appreciation of the Law School and in October 1828 he opened a Law School in Ded- ham and began a course of lectures upon legal subjects. He had many students* among whom were the Hon. John J. Clifford and the Hon. Seth Ames, the son of Fisher Ames. His published work on the "Principles of the Law of Contracts as applied by the Courts of Law" were originally lectures prepared for his students. A private school was opened in the "Brick School House near the Church" in 1826 by Charles Chauncey Sewell. He was a son of Chief Justice Samuel Sewell of Marblehead and a great great grandson of Chief Justice Samuel Sewell of Boston. Com- modore John A. Winslow, commander of the "KEARSAGE" and destroyer of the "ALABAMA" attended this school as a board- ing student. Caroline Whiting taught a private school at her home in Dedham Village for several years. She had previously been an assistant teacher in the Academy at Kingston, Rhode Island. In 1839 she became Preceptress of Lawrence Academy at Groton, Massachusetts. She was a woman of varied attainments being well versed in theology, genealogy, and general and local history. Miles Teel Gardner opened a private school in Dedham in 1837, which continued a prosperous institution for several years being patronized by leading citizens. Mr. Gardner graduated from Harvard College in 1834. On account of ill health he gave up teaching; later moved to Detroit, Michigan where he opened a seed store and became a very successful business man. Mary Catherine Hoffman, a native of Baltimore, Maryland came to Dedham about 1840 and established a private school in the house of Jonathan H. Cobb. Later Miss Hoffman held her school in the vestry of the First Church, and subsequently published a little book giving incidents of the school life there. She was a * Other students are recalled as follows: Horace Mann. Samuel F. Haven. Ira Cleveland, John Doggett, Ezra Wilkinson, Virgin D. Paris, and Mr. Tuxbery of Maine.
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brilliant and energetic young woman and as a teacher highly efficient especially in shaping the manner, tastes and habits of her pupils. After several years of marked success in Dedham she opened a select school in Boston. Emily Charlotte Hodges, who had been an assistant in Miss Hoffman's School, became her suc- cessor in 1843 and continued until 1871, the longest continuance of any private school in Dedham. She enjoyed the patronage of many families and gave her pupils an excellent training for more advanced studies. Private singing and writing schools were in vogue from the fifties on. Sarah Breck Baker had a private school in the Norfolk House in 1886 which she continued until 1898; her pupils ranging in ages from five to fifteen years and at one time had a maximum of thirty pupils most of whom entered the Dedham High School of which she was a graduate. Maria Antoinette Humphreys having taught in public and private schools for eleven years, five of which were spent in Miss Davis's private school in Roxbury, opened a private school of her own over Baker's Store on Court Street in 1888. She transferred the school to her own home on Marsh Street in 1900, but discontinued it in 1903 having been invited to join the corps of teachers in the Faulkner School on High Street. The Edythe Pratt Stearns School for Little Folks on Richards Street is a successful private school of today.
DEDHAM COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL. A school after the English plan of instruction was organized by Miss Frances Faulk- ner, called the "House of Education" in 1902. The school was located on High Street midway between Dedham and Westwood, surrounded by woodlands and greenfields. In 1909 Miss Faulkner transferred the school to Dedham where it was conducted by her until her death in 1918. At the request of Dedham parents the school was taken over in the fall of 1918 by Miss Bertha Hewins who had until then been conducting her school in West Roxbury. The school was incorporated as the "Hewins School" and so con- tinued until Miss Hewins resigned in 1928. Interested friends have given the school the use of a seven and one-half acre playfield located between Sandy Valley Road and Highland Street, which is to become the property of the school when pop- ular interest creates a demand for new buildings; the school was
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named in 1922 the "Dedham Country Day School" with Everett W. Ladd as headmaster. The school offers a program extending from the kindergarten through the six years of elementary edu- cation.
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NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL. This school through the years has had various locations in Boston. In. 1922 it was moved to Dedham having secured grounds of great natural beauty comprising some 140 acres, for the most part heavily wooded. About ten acres have been graded for playing fields. The property is bounded on one side by the Charles River which is used for rowing in the spring and skating in the winter. The school has both boarding and day pupils and offers a thorough preparation for entering all colleges. It is non-sectarian. Every effort is made in the school to encourage development of mental, moral and physical self control.
SAINT MARY'S SCHOOL AND ASYLUM. Martin Bates, who owned the Norfolk House on Court Street, deeded it in trust June 26, 1866 for the founding of "St. Mary's School and Asylum." Three Sisters of Charity came to Dedham in July 1866, to estab- lish the institution with Sister Catherine of Syracuse, New York, as superior. In 1867 there were sixty children enrolled in the school which included a number of orphans who had a home in the house. The Sisters had, however, many troubles and much difficulty in maintaining this institution as Mr. Bates gave no funds for its support. The Parish was poor at that time, and Father Brennan, the Parish Priest, was unable to give the needed aid in repairing the building (which was in a run down condition) and meet the expenses of the school, so with the coming of Father Johnson, who did not see his way clear to carry on the work, the enterprise was given up in June 1879.
ST. MARY'S PAROCHIAL SCHOOL. The Rev. George P. O'Conor opened in 1932, a parochial school in connection with St. Mary's Church, of which Sisters of St. Joseph were in charge. The school was at first small and restricted because of a lack of a suitable building, but plans were soon formulated for the con- struction of a modern school house giving to Dedham a parochial school second to none in the Archdiocese of Boston. The corner stone of St. Mary's Parochial School was laid on Sunday afternoon
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June 16, 1935 by the Pastor, the Rev. George P. O'Conor, in the presence of a large audience. The trowel used in laying the cor- ner stone of St. Mary's Church in 1880 was again used on this occasion. It is a gold trowel with an ivory handle handsomely inscribed. In his address, Father O'Conor emphasized the value and necessity of religion in education, while we like everything that is worthwhile in modern methods of education, nevertheless we add to this modern advancement the foundation of a thorough religious training. In building this Catholic school for the benefit of our children we are following the ideals of the founders of this country. Every man who signed the Declaration of Independence and drew up the Constitution of the United States was educated in a school where Christian teaching was the most important part of the training. All our universities established in the early history of America were dedicated to God and country.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN SOUTH DEDHAM. Martha May Guild taught a private school for thirty years in the building later occupied by the Sunday school of the Congregational Church, and still later occupied by the Norwood Advertiser and Review. She married the Rev. Caleb Kimball the "blind preacher" with a residence in Medway; she lived to the ripe age of 95 years. A private school was conducted for ten years at 459 Washington Street by Mrs. A. R. Abbott, wife of the minister of the Univer- salist Church. Mrs. Charles E. Morse (Mrs. Harriet Wales Fletcher) opened a private school in her home 880 Washington Street, in the spring of 1874, which she continued for forty years. For the most part the older pupils in South Dedham attended the Dedham High School although it was three miles away.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN WEST DEDHAM. In 1764 Sus- anna Bridenno bequeathed to the Clapboard Tree Parish all of her estate "in money, notes, bonds and bank-debts" which was to be laid out in a woman's school near the meeting house. The bequest amounted to about a hundred dollars. For a period of thirty or forty years, beginning near the end of the 18th Century a Dame School was kept in the meeting house with the proceeds of this fund. The income was from seven to eight dollars a year and with this sum a teacher was procured for a period of from three to six weeks in the summer. Many young women from
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prominent families in the Parish were teachers in this school. For the year 1830 the interest was added to the minister's salary. By this time there was no longer a need of such a school and later the fund was used for the purchase of books for the Sunday School library. The Rev. Calvin S. Locke opened in 1864 a family school at his residence on Clapboard Tree St., West Ded- ham. His plan of education embraced physical training, devel- opment of the intellectual faculties, formation of manners, and moral culture. This successful school was an institution in the community for many years.
DEDHAM ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS *. AMES SCHOOL. As previously stated, this is the original school established by the inhabitants of Dedham in town meeting assembled on January 1, 1644. As a free school supported by general taxation it is believed to be the first school of its kind established in America. It was named in 1859 in honor of Fisher Ames, an American statesman, having been previously known for many years as the First Middle School. The present school house was built in 1898 .**
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