History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 28

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 28

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The statisties of this school most recently pub- lished are those of 1888. They show the whole num- ber of pupils belonging, on Dec. 22, 1888, to be ; Males, 204 ; females, 224; total, 428; and the per- eentage of attendance to be 94.

The pupils oeeupy ten different rooms, both sexes reeiting in the same classes, sitting in the same rooms and pursuing the same studies. The same is true of all the other schools of the eity.

However, from 1840 to 1867, the sexes were sepa- rated, and the school oeeupied only two rooms, ealled the male and female departments. The principals of the female department were as follows: Lucy E. Penhallow, 1840 to 1846; Susan E. Burdiek, 1846 to 1850; Anne B. Sawyer, 1850 to 1852. After the con- solidation of the two departments under one head the teachers who presided over the young ladies, and who. were called sub-principals, were Jonathan Kimball, 1852 to 1857, subsequently superintendent of schools in Chelsea, Lloyd W. Hixon, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and subsequently teacher of a private school in Newburyport.

My spaee will not allow me to record the long list of exeellent teachers who have assisted in the in- struction, but the friends of the school would not deem its history complete if the following teachers should not be mentioned : James S. Russell, still living, at the age of eighty-three years, truly a vet- eran teacher, who was instrnetor in mathematics for forty -three years ; Rev. George B. Jewett, a graduate

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of Amherst and subsequently tutor in that college, and pastor of a church in Nashua, N. H .; David C. Scobey, 1842 to 1850, a graduate of Dartmouth Col- lege, who died while in service, at the age of thirty- four years; Ephraim W. Young, 1849 to 1856, now judge of Probate of Sauk County, Wisconsin, and liv- ing at Baraboo; John J. Colton, 1857 to 1865, a gradu- ate of Amherst College, afterwards city physician and member of the School Committee in Lowell ; Joseph H. McDaniels, 1865 to 1868, a graduate of Harvard, now Professor of Greek in Hobart College, Geneva, N. Y .; Gorham D. Williams, graduate of Harvard, 1865-66, afterwards attorney-at-law in Deerfield, Mass .; Levi S. Burbank, 1867 to 1873, afterwards principal of Warren Academy, Woburn, Mass .; Ed- win H. Lord, a graduate of Bowdoin, now principal of the Brewster Academy, Wolfsborough, N. H.

MOODY SCHOOL .- The Moody Grammar School was established in 1841, and is the first and only grammar school in Belvidere. It received its name from Paul Moody, one of the pioneers in the great manufactur- ing enterprises of Lowell. It is situated at the cor- ner of East Merrimack and High Streets, on a very con- tracted and very irregular lot, so small, indeed, as to compel the boys of the school to find their play- ground in the streets of the city.

Its first principal was Seth Pooler, who served in his office from 1841 to 1856. He is still living, a very aged man, in Rutland, Vt. His successor was Mr. Joseph Peabody, who was principal from 1856 to 1883. Mr. Peabody died in Lowell in Nov., 1886. Upon the resignation of Mr. Peabody, in 1883, Mr. William S. Greene, the present incumbent, was elected.

On December 22, 1888, the number of pupils in this school was 239, and in 1888 the percentage of at- tendance was ninety-two. The number of assistant teachers was seven. The great want of this school is a play-ground worthy of a grammar school of a great and wealthy city.

GREEN SCHOOL .- This school was opened in 1842, in a brick building on Middle Street, now occupied by the firm of J. C. Ayer & Co. The house was es- teemed at the time of its constraction as well adapted to the uses of a grammar school, and in the School Report of 1842 it is called a "beautiful grammar school house." In process of time, however, its dense surroundings rendered the building an unfit place for a large public school. The house was sold for business purposes and the school was removed to the new and costly and elegant building on Merri- mack Street, which it now occupies, in the year 1871. This building, far the most costly of the Lowell school buildings at the time of its erection, was erected in 1870 at the expense of $106,000.

At the opening of this school, in 1842, Mr. Samuel C. Pratt was elected principal. In 1843 Mr. Aaron Walker succeeded Mr. Pratt and served as Principal till 1845, when Mr. Charles Morrill, who had been for about four years an assistant teacher in Lowell

schools, was elected principal, holding the position till 1867, when he was elected superintendent of the schools of Lowell. Mr. Charles A. Chase succeeded Mr. Morrill in 1867, and resigned in 1868. The next principal was Mr. George F. Lawton, who was in of- fice when the school removed into the new and ele- gant building on Merrimack Street.

In 1874 Mr. Lawton resigned his position and was succeeded by Mr. Albert L. Fisk. Mr. Fisk's feeble health required him to relinquish his position, and he died January 13, 1830. His successor, Mr. Albert L. Bacheller was, in 1880, transferred from the Colburn School to this school, and he still fills the office of principal.

The Green School received its name from Dr. John O. Green, who, as supervisor of Lowell schools for very many years in the earlier part of the city's his- tory, has done for them a greater service, perhaps, than any other citizens. He lived to a great age to witness the fruits of his generous labors.

On December 22, 1888, the number of pupils be- longing to the Green School was 402. In the year 1888 the percentage of attendance was ninety-one. The number of assistant teachers was eight.

COLBURN SCHOOL .- The Colburn School-house, built on the banks of the Concord River, was erected in 1848 and dedicated on December 13th of that year. At its dedication an address of great historical value was delivered by Rev. Dr. Edson. The school re- ceived its name from Warren Colburn, an early agent of the Merrimack Mills, an ardent supporter of the Lowell schools in their first years and the distin- guished author of that remarkable school-book known to every teacher as "Colburn's First Lessons."

The first principal of this school was Mr. Aaron Walker, who resigned in 1864 and was succeeded by Mrs. Fidelia O. Dodge. Her successor was Mr. Per- ley Balch, who became principal of the school in 1870. Mr. Balch had before this been, for twenty-five years, the principal of the Edson School. He was succeeded in the Colburn School, in 1874, by Mr. Albert L. Bacheller, a graduate of Middletown (Conn.) University, who, after a service of six years, was transferred to the principalship of the Green School.

In 1880 Mr. Geo. W. Howe, a graduate of Bowdoin College, succeeded Mr. Bacheller as principal of the Colburn School, and is the present incumbent.

On Dec. 22, 1888, the number of pupils belonging to this school was 321. For the year 1888 the per- centage of attendance was ninety-one, and the num- ber of assistant teachers was eight.

VARNUM SCHOOL .- This school occupies an ele- vated and commanding view in the suburb of Central- ville, which is that part of Lowell which was set off from the town of Dracut in 1851. In former years there had stood near the spot a time-honored institu- tion known as the "Dracut Academy," one of those " old academies " which in the early part of the present century, long before the modern High School was

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known, crowned so many of New England's hills, and gave to the noblest and best of her sons and daugh- ters their only means of pursning the branches of a higher education than that afforded by the district sehool.

This sehool received its name from Major-General Joseph B. Varnum, who was the most distinguished citizen of whom the town of Dracut eould ever boast, having held the high office of president pro tempore of the United States Senate.

This school was opened in 1851, in the upper room of the old academy building, with Mr. A. W. Board- man, a graduate of Harvard College, as prineipal. Mr. D. P. Galloupe succeeded Mr. Boardman in 1853, having been, for many years before, the principal of a grammar school in Salem. The new brick building on Myrtle Street was first oeeupied by this sehool in 1857. Mr. Galloupe, after a service in this school of twenty-five years, resigned his position in 1878. His suecessor was the present incumbent, Mr. Arthur K. Whiteomb, a graduate of Dartmouth College.

On Dec. 22, 1888, the number of pupils belonging to this school was 452. For the year 1888 the per- eentage of attendance was ninety-two, and the num- ber of assistant teachers was ten.

FRANKLIN AND HIGHLAND SCHOOL .- This school was called the Franklin School in the School Report for 1849, and subsequently till, in 1882, it was remov- ed from Middlesex Street to the new and elegant building in the " Highlands," when it took the name of the Highland Sehool.

It is proper herc to remark that before 1849 the grammar schools were known in the School Reports and in common parlanee as Grammar School No. 1, Grammar School No. 2, ete., but in that year it ap- pears that the names of men of national reputa- tion, like " Washington," " Franklin," etc., were ap- plied to most of them, while in later years they gen- erally have the names of citizens of Lowell who have most distinguished themselves as the patrons and friends of her schools. Such names are " Edson," " Green," " Bartlett," "Colburn."

In 1840 this school, under the name of "Grammar Sehool No. 4," was opened in a school-house on Mid- dlesex Street, with Mr. George Spaulding as princi- pal. He was sueeeeded, in 1844, by Mr. Nason H. Morse. The new brick building, erected for the school on Middlesex Street, was first occupied in 1845. In 1848 ill health compelled Mr. Morse to resign, and Mr. Ephraim Brown temporarily filled his place. In July, 1847, Mr. Ephraim W. Young, a graduate of Harvard College, was elected principal of the school, but was transferred to the High School, as teacher of sciences, in a few months after his election. In 1849 Mr. A. B. Heywood beeame principal of the sehool, and in 1870 he was succeeded by Mr. Stephen G. Bailey, a graduate of Yale College. In 1874 Mr. Perley Baleh snceeeded Mr. Bailey, and in 1878 Mr. Frank F. Coburn, a graduate of Amherst College, sue-

ceeded Mr. Baleh. In 1880 Mr. Coburn, having been transferred to the High School as teacher of sciences, was succeeded by Mr. Charles W. Morey, a graduate of Amherst, and the present incumbent.' On Jan. 1, 1882, this school took possession of its new and ele- gant building on West Pine Street, ereeted at the ex- pense of about $43,000, and beeame known as the High- land School, a name derived from its location in the Highlands. On Dee. 22, 1888, the number of pupils belonging to this school was 534. In 1888 the per- eentage of attendanee was 91, and the number of as- sistant teachers was twelve.

BUTLER SCHOOL .- This school rceeives its name from Lowell's distinguished eitizen, Gen. Benj. F. Butler. The building, which is on Gorham Street, is an elegant brick strueturc, erected in 1883, at the expense of about $56,000. It was opened in 1883, having as its principal Mr. Gco. H. Conley, who re- mained in office till April, 1884, when he was elected superintendent of the public schools of Lowell. Mr. Conley was educated at the College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Mass. He is now one of the supervisors of the sehools of Boston. His successor in the Butler Sehool was Cornelius F. Callahan, a grad- uate of the College of the Holy Cross. He entered upon his services in 1884, and is the present ineum- bent. On Dee. 22, 1888, the number of pupils be- longing to this school was 442. In the year 1888 the percentage of attendance was ninety-one, and the number of assistant teachers was nine.

PAWTUCKET SCHOOL .- This school is situated on the Mammoth road, in Pawtucketville, on land set off from the town of Dracut. The house was ereeted in 1884, at the expense of nearly $53,000. This is the only grammar sehool in Lowell which bears the old Indian name of its location. It was organized in September, 1884, with Mr. Oliver C. Semple, a gradu- ate of Amherst College, as its principal, who was sueeeeded in 1885 by Mr. Cyrus W. Irish, a graduate of Harvard College, who, in 1886, was transferred to the High School, as teacher of sciences. Miss Nellie McDonald temporarily served in his place in the Pawtucket School. In 1887 Mr. William P. Barry became principal of the school and is the pres- ent ineumbent.

On December 22, 1888, the number of pupils in this school was 116. In the year 1888 the percentage of attendanee was ninety, and the number of assistant teachers was four.

Having given a short sketeh of the history of the preseut grammar schools of Lowell, I will add a brief account of those that have, from various eauses, ceased to exist.

MANN SCHOOL .-- This school received its name from Hon. Horace Mann, the distinguished seeretary of the Board of Education of Massaeliusetts. This was the first grammar school established exelnsively for the children of Catholic parents under the agree- ment between the School Board and the parents,

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which I more fully explain under the head of " Cath- olic Parochial Schools." This school was established in 1838, and was formed by uniting two of the Catho- lic schools already existing. It was originally called the Fifth Grammar School, and was first set up in Liberty Hall, under Mr. Daniel MeIllroy as prin- cipal. In 1841 Mr. James Egan succeeded Mr. McIllroy, and Mr. Egan, in 1842, was followed by Mr. M. Flynn. In 1844 the school was removed to the new brick building on Lewis Street, and Mr. Geo. W. Shattuck became its principal.

In 1852 nearly all the girls of this school were withdrawn by their parents and transferred to the new Catholic private school under the instruction of the Sisters of Notre Dame, and under the supervision of Father O'Brien.

Mr. Shattuck resigned in 1852, and was succeeded by Mr. P. W. Robertson, who was succeeded by Mr. A. T. Young, who held the office only a few months in 1853. Mr. Samuel A. Chase succeeded Mr. Young in 1853, and served as principal till 1873, when he was succeeded by Miss Nellie M. Gallagher, who had been first assistant teacher. in the school. In 1876 Mr. Geo. H. Conley succeeded Miss Gallagher. In 1883 Mr. Conley was transferred to the Butler School, and Mr. Oliver C. Semple, a graduate of Amlierst College, succeeded him. On September 1, 1884, Mr. Semple was transferred to the principalship of the new Pawtucket School, and the Mann School no longer existed as a grammar school.

The average number of pupils belonging to this school in 1851 was 256.

WASHINGTON SCHOOL. - In 1834 a second grammar school was opened in the building now known as the Bartlett School-house, with Mr. Nathaniel D. Healy as principal. This school was called the "Third Grammar School." In the year 1838 it was removed into the South Grammar School-house, now known as the Edson School-house. Before its removal, however, Mr. S. S. Dutton had been its principal for a few months in 1835, and Mr. Isaac Whittier for a few months in 1836. At the time of its removal Mr. John Butterfield was principal, his term of service extending from 1836 to 1840, when Mr. Jonathan Kimball was elected principal. In 1851 Mr. Kimball was succeeded by Mr. A. T. Yonng, who, after a few months, was succeeded by Mr. P. W. Robertson, who remained its principal till, in 1856, it was merged into the Edson School in the same building. This change consisted in remodeling the entire house so that instead of two large rooms with a male principal at the head of each, eight small school-rooms were constructed, in one of which the principal presided. and in the other eight rooms, female teachers.

In 1855 the average number of pupils belonging to this school was 162.

ADAMS SCHOOL .- This school was opened in 1836 in the lower story of the building now occupied by the Bartlett School. Its first principal was Mr. Otis H.

Morrill. In 1851 he was succeeded by Mr. Samuel Bement. The school in the upper story of this build- ing was known as the "Hancock School" as long as there was a separate school in the lower story called the Adams School; but when the house was re- modeled in 1856, the two schools were united in one, and were called the Bartlett School. Mr. Fisk, prin- cipal of the Hancock, having resigned, Mr. Bement became principal of the consolidated school.

The history of the Hancock School is not separate- ly given, but has been treated of under the liead of the Bartlett School.

The changes in the names of our grammar schools sometimes makes their history slightly involved. For example, the names applied to the school (or schools) in this building have been, first, "Merrimack School; " second, "North Grammar School ;" third, " Hancock and Adams Schools; " fourth, "Bartlett School."

In 1851 the average number of pupils belonging to the Hancock School was 235, and to the Adams 222.

PRIMARY SCHOOLS .- Many of the best things in the world are those of which but little is to be said. The silent forces of nature are the forces that change the world. Indeed, a blessing has been pronounced upon the land which has no history. "The short and simple annals" of our primary schools do not measure their priceless value in our system of education. Even without the other grades of schools, the primary schools alone would be to any land an inestimable blessing. They can live without the other grades, but the other grades cannot exist without them. They stand at the threshold of life and guard the portals of the temple of knowledge.

But their history is necessarily a meagre history. With every change of teachers a primary school changes its character and becomes another school, and thus in one sense it has no history. Not so with the higher and larger schools which have many teachers and more fixed courses of study. They do not lose their identity and they have a continuous history.

In the year 1888 (the report for which is the latest report published) Lowell had nincty primary schools (proper), in thirty-two separate buildings. In each is a single teacher, and each is subject to the supervision of a single member of the School Board.

Of the primary schools of Lowell it may, in general, be said that they are excellent. In cases in which the teacher has been elected upon her merits this praise is almost always due.

CATHOLIC PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS .- There is, doubt- less, a wide and honest difference of opinion among Christian men in regard to giving religious instruction in the public school. Some believe that so great is the difference of doctrine among the various religious sects, the only religious instruction which it is practically possible to give in public schools is the inculcation of the general principles of morality,

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while others believe that distinctive doctrinal in- structions should be regularly and systematically taught. It is probably fair to assert that the Protes- tant Churches generally adopt the former view and the Catholic Churches the latter.

The people of Lowell have thus far had the good fortune, as well as the wisdom, to avoid any serious conflict on this subject. The children of Protestants and Catholics have sat side by side in the public schools for many years, scarcely conscious of any religious difference. The writer of this article was for about thirty-eight years at the head of one of the Lowell schools, in which many of his pupils were Catholics. He read every morning from King James' translation of the Bible before the assembled pupils and repeated a short form of prayer, and he recollects no case in which any pupil refused to attend the exercises or in which any parent offered a complaint.

These amicable relations between the two parties seem to have been in great measure the result of a mutual agreement made in the earlier days of the ex- istence of our school system. Of this agreement I will give a short account, as found in the report of a sub-committee of the School Board appointed in 1843 to consider the subject of the relations of Catholics to the public schools :

" In the first settlement of the town," says this re- port, "owing to several causes, the Irish were col- lected, and built their dwellings chiefly in one quar- ter, on a tract of land familiarly known to all by the name of 'The Acre.' A large population was here gathered, destitute of nearly every means of moral and intellectual improvement so generally enjoyed in New England. It was not to be expected that a com- munity thus situated and neglected, so near the cen- tre of a populous town, could be viewed with indif- ference ; on the contrary, it would be watched with great anxiety and apprehension. Accordingly, by the advice and efforts of philanthropic individuals, a room was soon rented and supplied with fuel and other necessaries, and a teacher placed in this school, who was to be remunerated by a small voluntary tax from the parents. From the poverty and indiffer- ence of the parents, however, the school very soon languished and became extinct. It was, from time to time, revived, but, after months of feebleness, again failed.

"Up to the ycar 1830 the attempts to establish a school in this neighborhood were sustained by indi- vidual benevolence chiefly."

At the May meeting of 1830 the town took the matter up, and appropriated fifty dollars to establish a separate school for the Irish. This school, like other district schools, was in session only a part of the year. It seems, however, that this arrangement proved unsatisfactory, for we find that in 1834 Rev. Father Conolly kept a private school under the Catho- lic Church, thus clearly indicating that the public school was not meeting the wants of the community.

The various attempts to extend the benefits of the public schools to the Trish population had thus far failed. In speaking of these attempts and failures the School Committee of 1836 use the following lan- guage: "These attempts have been hitherto frus- trated, chiefly, perhaps, by a natural apprehension on the part of parents and pastors of placing their chil- dren under Protestant teachers, and, in a measure, also by the mutual prejudices and consequent dis- agreement among the Protestant and Catholic chil- (ren themselves."

When Father Conolly sought the aid of the com- mittee in his work of educating and improving the children under his charge, the committee entered readily into his views, and a plan of establishing one or more separate schools for the children of Catholic parents was maturcd, and put into successful opera- tion.

On the part of the committee the following condi- tions were insisted on as indispensable :

"1. That the instructors must be examined as to their qualifications by the committee, and receive their appointments from them.

"2. That the 'books, exercises and studies should be all prescribed and regulated by the committee, and that no other whatever should be taught or al- lowed.

"3. That these schools should be placed, as respects the examination, inspection and general supervision of the committee, on precisely the same ground as the other schools of the town." Father Conolly, on his part, urged, " in order to render the scheme acceptable to his parishioners, that the instructors must be of the Roman Catholic faith, and that the books pre- scribed should contain no statements of facts not ad- mitted by that faith, nor any remarks reflecting inju- riously upon their system of belief." "These condi- tions," says the report, " were assented to by the com- mittee as reasonable and proper, and the books in use in our schools were submitted to his inspection, and were by him fully approved."

Accordingly, in September, two schools for the Irish children were established under the Catholic Church, and one in the vicinity of Chapel Hill.

In March, 1844, there were one grammar school and five primary schools, composed exclusively of Irish children.

By degrees, as time passed on, the children of Irish parents freely entered the High School and other schools of every grade, and no religious discrimina- tion has been recognized. For a long period both parties have seemed satisfied, and complaints of any undue interference with the religious rights of the pupils have seldom, if ever, been heard.

The rapid increase of Catholic parochial schools in Lowell during the last ten years is not to be attrib- uted to any rupture of the harmonious relations of the Protestants and Catholics of the city, but to the policy of the Catholic Church in America, which, in

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recent years, demands, more imperatively than ever, that the children of the Church must be educated by the Church, and that as religious instruction so far transcends in importance all other instruction, Catho- lic parents must no longer intrust the education of their children to schools in which no such instruction is given.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 28

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226