USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Monson > History of Monson, Massachusetts > Part 3
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North Monson School, located on Palmer Road, now used as home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Faulkner.
No pictures available of following schools:
No. 1 School was a 4-room building at Ely Road and High Street and was in use from 1830 to 1910.
No. 7 School, commonly known as the Mer- rick School, was on the Aldrich property near Fay's Bridge.
No. 10 School was known as the Silver Street School. This building was destroyed by fire in 1941.
No. 14 School - North Factory School -- near the site of C. F. Church Mfg. Co. No. 7 and No. 14 Schools were closed and a compromise School erected opposite Tilden Hill Road on the Palmer Road. The building now owned by Thomas Faulkner.
No. 15 School in Fentonville was at Fenton Road and Brimfield Road. Building now owned by Pasquale Cardaropoli.
Two years later, 1869, provision for a High School education for Monson pupils was made possible. The town School Com- mittee was authorized to select resident pupils of the town who were qualified in scholarship, and to report their names to the Selectmen as persons entitled to receive tuition as High School pupils. Arrange- ments were made with the Trustees of Mon- son Academy for the town pupils to attend the Academy. Thirty-two pupils entered that year at a total cost of $449.27.
Under the new system of school man- agement, whereby the School Committee as- sumed all the duties which had been per- formed by the Prudential Committee, it seemed necessary to enlarge the committee by the addition of six members, making a total of twelve.
Page 23
STATISTICAL TABLE.
DISTRICTS.
No. Persons be-
twcen 6 and 15.
Length of School
Whole number of
Schools.
Average
attendance.
Percentage of
Aggregate
Amount of money
appropriated to each District.
Wages of Teach-
ers per Month.
| No.
NAMES.
S.
W.
S.
W
S.
W.
S.
W
S.
W.
SUM.
WIN.
SUMMER.
WINTER.
Center High,
2
3
28 38
22
130
21
21
5G 283
$30 00
$40 00 Addie C. Keep,
Charles A. White,
Center Intermediate,
182 24 33
4141
31 34
24|17
233
432
$675 00
28 00
28 00 Esther E. Gilmore,
Esther E. Gilmore,
Center Primary,
24 34
54 48
37
138
21
108
96
26 00
22 50 Rosa M. Converse,
Lizzie P. Merrick,
2 Colton Hollow,
22
1333
25 31
19 26
24
9
16
127 00
17 00
25 00 Elvira Day,
Annette C. Calkins,
3 Pease,
13 31 3
9:16
14
22
12
5
58
127 00
24 00
30 00 Ophelia S. Chapin,
Charles H. Hobby,
4 Grout,
16 333
16 16 13
18
18
29
13
127 00
25 00
28 00 Jane T. Pease,
Louisa C. Newell,
5 Warriner,
29 3
13
24 16
17
13
18
47
19
127 00
25 00
28 00 Mary E. Nichols,
Mary E. Nichols,
6 Munn,
18 243
15 18
11
13 27 28
20
127 00
25 00
24 00 Jane L. Shippey,
Lottie E. Nichols,
7 Merrick,
29 14 2
16 18
15
13 6 28
9
4
127 00
24 00
24 00 L E. Howe,
Jane Harvey,
Hampden High,
24 29
58 39
52 36
10
8 135
147
32 00
34 00 Julia M. King,
Julia M. King,
8 Hampden Intermediate,
119 212ª
65 44 57
140
9
89
426 55
28 00
30 00 Esther W. Needham,
Esther W. Needham, Ellen P. Leonard, Eliza Tupper,
9 Moulton Hill,
11
13
3
16 16 13
14
18 12
5
15
110 00
32 00
28 00 Rosie E. King,
10 Silver Street,
36
14
31
33 34 28 26 12
22
45
140 00
32 00
28 00 Kate E. Sutcliffe,
Isaac H. Packard, Jr.
10 North,
14 3
3
11 17
8
13 27 24
8
5
90 00
18 00
20 00 Julia D. Burleigh,
Lucia E. Burleigh,
11 |Childs,
22 213
15 21 10
18 33
14
3
110 00
18 00
24 00 Mary L. Bliss,
Frances Carew,
12 Gage,
23 3
3
16 24 11
23 31
4
45 348
125 00
28 00
40 00 Biancy V. Pease,
George S. Pelton,
13 Butler,
11 313
-1
9
G
7
14
8
1
110 00
14 00
19 00 Joanna Carew,
Joanna Carew,
14 |N. Factory,
18 2- 3
13 19 |11 15
15
21
15
27
110 00
16 00
20 00 J. Alice Holt.
J. Alice Holt.
SCHOOL PROGRESS
1883 Drawing was introduced into the schools. Sixteen town pupils enrolled at Monson Academy.
District School System abolished by the Commonwealth on January 1st.
1889-1890
School year was lengthened to 35 weeks, in- cluding three terms.
1890-1891
Monson and Brimfield formed a Superin- tendency Union.
C. W. Wasson of Friendship, New York, was appointed superintendent.
Teachers' Association was organized for study and professional growth.
School Committee was reduced to nine members.
Green Street School (No. 15) was built. 1891-1892
Monthly Teachers' Meetings were held on Saturday mornings.
1892-1893
Resignation of Superintendent Wasson was accepted.
Miss Clara A. Wood of Springfield (Mrs. Charles Jackson) was appointed to fill vacancy.
Flags were provided for schools by patriotic friends.
Three supervisors were employed (Music, Drawing, Penmanship).
Town schools were crowded. 1893-1894
New school was built on State Street (No. 16).
STATE ST. SCHOOL, MONSON, MASS
District school on Hovey Hill moved to Quarry Road at a cost of $1000.
A room in Day's Block was used for Grades 7 and 8.
Hampden Primary,
42
32
24
31
16 00
12
51
1G
7
13
29
31
Absence.
Tardiness.
NAMES OF TEACHERS.
in Months.
HISTORY OF MONSON
120
23
Page 24
HISTORY OF MONSON
Report cards were introduced.
A course in Nature Study was introduced.
Grammar school pupils were allowed to enter the Academy on recommendation rather than examination.
1895-1896
School Committee was composed of seven members.
Schools in Districts 11 and 14 were not opened.
New state law voted that every school shall be provided with a flag.
Vertical writing was introduced.
An appeal for instructive books for school libraries was made.
1896-1897
School Committee was reduced to six mem- bers.
School No. 4 was closed.
Kindergarten was opened in the School Committee's room in Memorial Hall.
Committee wished to go on record in a pub- lic way, that it voted a unanimous and emphatic protest against the further licensing of the sale of intoxicating liquors in Monson.
1897-1898
Nineteen teachers and one Music Supervisor employed.
Enrollment was 696.
Cost of schools was $13,343.
School No. 11 opened in September but closed in December.
Evening School was established in January in Green Street School building - av- erage age 20.
Committee suggested that a curfew law should be invoked for the benefit of children and schools.
1898-1899
Frank J. Sherman appointed superintendent. New spelling books were introduced.
1899-1900
Consolidation of schools considered - Dis- tricts No. 3 and 13, Districts No. 11 and 9, and District No. 7 to Center. 1900-1901
School Committee members, salaries were $35 and $20.
Mr. Sherman resigned and Mr. James Mac- Dougall of Northampton was appointed superintendent.
North Monson School was closed.
1901-1902
Reopened North Monson School.
State law relative to vaccination complied with.
1902-1903
Mr. MacDougall resigned and Mr. F. A. Wheeler of Fair Haven, Vermont, was elected superintendent.
Schools were crowded - No. 14 was re- opened. No. 1 unfit for use.
1903-1904
Teachers' Study Club reorganized.
Lengthy report by School Superintendent in regard to the advantages for pupils in a central school.
1905-1906
School year was increased to 37 weeks.
Vertical writing system abolished and a medial writing system adopted.
Miss Esther Holmes furnished 1400 packets of vegetable and flower seeds to pupils in the schools.
350 entries in the fall exhibit at Memorial Hall.
Penny Savings System was established. 1906-1907
Tuition at Monson Academy advanced from $27 to $36.
Quarry School was crowded.
Second flower show was held in the fall.
A school physician was appointed.
Eye and ear testing were introduced. Fenton and Childs schools discontinued. 1908-1909
School year was divided into four terms. Dental examination introduced. Manual Training course established. Dr. Soule's Hall was used for a sixth grade. Aldine Reading System was introduced.
Page 25
HISTORY OF MONSON
1910-1911 Mechanic Street School built - four rooms.
MECHANIC ST. SCHOOL, MONSON, MASS.
Basement room at Green Street was used for Manual Training and Sewing classes.
First sanitary drinking fountains were in- stalled.
Munn and East Hill schools were consoli- dated at East Hill.
1911-1912
Academy tuition was increased from $36 to $50.
Total school enrollment was 649.
1912-1913
Salaries for School Committee members abolished.
Three school physicians were appointed.
1913-1914
Library Extension Service was established in district schools for use of families in the district.
1915
Mr. A. D. Ellis extended an offer to the town relative to a new building at South Main Street.
Enrollment 616 pupils in nine districts.
Money from annual school entertainment was applied to playground expenses.
1916
Services of Visiting Nurse in the schools was accepted.
Evening school at Green Street School held with twelve adults attending.
North Monson School was closed.
1917
New South Main Street School opened. Total cost was about $45,000, of which Mr. A. D. Ellis contributed $25,000.
uth Main Street School Monsun, Mav.
No. 8 School was closed and later razed.
Summer Cooking and Canning classes were held at Green Street School.
Manual Training classes were moved to South Main Street School.
1918
Schools were closed two and one-half weeks in January to conserve fuel.
Schools were closed from September 26 to November 13 because of the influenza epidemic.
Library sub-station was installed at South Main Street School.
Commercial Course was added to curricu- lum at Monson Academy.
Junior Red Cross work carried on in schools. 1919
Superintendent Wheeler resigned and was succeeded by Francis Brick.
Seven district schools in use - Quarry, Col- ton Hollow, Pease, State Line, Moulton Hill, Munn, and Silver Street.
1920
Summer school for pupils above the fourth grade was held.
1921 Nine district schools in use - East Hill reopened.
Joseph R. Burgess appointed superinten- dent.
American Education Week observed for the first time.
Town was notified that State exemption from the maintenance of a High School would cease July 1, 1923.
Page 26
HISTORY OF MONSON
Ninth grade was eliminated and Junior High School established.
Hot lunches were served at Green Street. 1923
School Committee composed of five mem- bers.
Summer School for teachers was suggested. Childs and State Line Schools closed.
High School classes were held at the Acad- emy Building with Henry O. Holley as principal.
Parent-Teachers' Association was organ- ized.
Hot lunches served at South Main Street and Mechanic Street.
1924
North Monson School sold for $950.
Fenton School sold for $300.
Purchased land for High School for $2,500.
Class of 1924 first to make Washington Trip.
Total school enrollment was 780 - five dis- trict schools in use.
1925
School Committee composed of six members. E. J. Best appointed superintendent.
New High School opened September, 1925 - construction and furnishings cost $102,087.
High School
Monson, Mais.
1927 Silver Street School was closed. 1933 Pease District School was closed. 1934 Munn District School was closed.
1935-1936
Rural schools were abolished. Reginald Kimball appointed superintendent.
1937
Monson Teachers' Club was formed and affiliated with the Massachusetts Teach- ers' Federation.
Works Progress Administration renovated various school buildings.
Greater attention was given to organized play on the playground.
1938
Transportation costs amounted to $8,675 -- About one-eighth of total school cost. 1939
Reginald Kimball resigned and Jesse J. Mor- gan was appointed superintendent.
An auditorium for the High School was sug- gested.
1940
Teachers' Manuals and plan books were in- troduced and report cards were revised.
1941 East Hill School was sold for $325.
Munn District School was sold for $190.
Pease District School was sold for $55.
1942
Jesse J. Morgan resigned and Harold M. Ladd was appointed superintendent.
At war - difficult times - teachers re- signed to enter war work.
School supplies were limited and gasoline was restricted for transportation.
Teachers assisted in O.P.A rationing pro- gram.
Pupils' Savings Accounts were discontinued. 1943
Only urgent repairs were made.
War Stamps were sold to pupils in the schools.
Students conducted various salvage cam- paigns.
1945 Peace came abruptly on V.J. Day, September 2, 1945. 1946 School Health Program was emphasized.
Page 27
HISTORY OF MONSON
1949
Legislature passed a law making it manda- tory to teach local history in the public schools.
Average salary of Elementary teachers was $2387 and of High School teachers, $2631.
An average of 80 meals were served daily at Monson High School cafeteria.
1950
School population was increasing. Emer- gency class room was built at South Main Street School for Grade I.
Beginning of Federal lunch program.
1951
Additional school housing was needed - room built at South Main Street for Grade III.
1952
Total enrollment was 751.
1953
Miss Christine Batten was appointed school supervisor for Union No. 6, comprising Monson, Brimfield and Wales.
Double sessions were held for Grade I.
1954
Inservice-training program for teachers was instituted.
1956
Hillside School was opened in January with twelve classrooms for Grades I through IV
Cost of Hillside School including furnishings was $441,218.
High School athletic field was rehabilitated after the 1955 flood damage.
1957
Emphasis was placed on Science in the school curriculum.
Monson Free Library established a branch library at Hillside School.
1959
Total school enrollment was 944.
School Department costs were $273,977.68.
1960
Five buildings are now in use: Hillside School covering grades 1 through 4; Mechanic Street School covering fifth grade and part of grade 6; State Street School covering grade 6; South Main Street School now contains the Junior High School; and Monson High School houses grades 9 through 12.
No school history would be complete without paying tribute to the school com- mittees, superintendents, principals, and teachers who have successfully promoted the education of the pupils of Monson.
Edward T. Sutcliffe served on the school committee for twenty-seven years; Fred- erick Wheeler served as superintendent for sixteen years; Harold M. Ladd has been superintendent of the Brimfield, Monson, Wales Union for eighteen years; and Henry O. Holley has been principal of Monson High School for thirty-seven years. Surely these years of service are commendable, and worthy of recognition.
HENRY O. HOLLEY Principal of High School
Page 28
HISTORY OF MONSON
P
Harold Ladd, Supt. of Schools
Helynn Haley, School Union Secretary
Monson Academy
Unlike most independent schools, Mon- son Academy does not owe its origin to a single founder. From the first it has been a co-operative effort. If we must point to a single great influence behind the school, we might go back to the first president of the Board of Trustees. It was the Reverend John Willard, D.D., of Stafford, Connecti- cut, who joined with the local innkeeper, Joel Norcross, and the local parson, Jesse Ives, in rousing public interest to the point of getting a state charter for the founding of Monson Academy. Mention should be made also of the Reverend Alfred Ely, one of the first Trustees and an active member from 1806 to 1866.
Dr. Willard, who was graduated from Harvard as far back as 1751, was the broth- er of the most famous President Willard of Harvard (1781-1804) and was able to inter- est many of the leading scholars of the day in his Monson project. Under an act of 1797 the Massachusetts legislature had un- dertaken to endow with lands in the prov- ince of Maine any preparatory school built by the industry of the local people, if that particular area needed such educational facilities. For the location of such a school in this part of Western Massachusetts the
citizens of Monson and Brimfield competed, and after some debate Monson was chosen.
The Act of Incorporation of Monson Academy was passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives on June 21, 1804, and half the Township of Monson, Maine, was granted as an endowment. A fund of over four thousand dollars was collected among local citizens. Records show the names of some of the contributors as being Joel Norcross, Rufus Flynt, Timothy Pack- ard, Amos Norcross, Deacon Royal Merrick and Deacon Haskell. The first Academy building was opened in 1806 with an enroll- ment of twenty-one students.
First Monson Academy --- Opened in 1806
Page 29
HISTORY OF MONSON
Though the school was and still is close- ly associated with the local Congregational Church, there has been no official religious affiliation with any group. All creeds and races were welcome. The founding fathers had hoped for a school which would attract students from all over the state, in addition to functioning as a secondary school for the Monson area. In a very few years it had a national reputation; after its first quarter- century, students were coming from all over the world.
The first headmaster, Simeon Colton, who left after his first year, in 1807, re- turned in 1821 and stayed for nine years. During the decade 1820-1831 the school graduated such famous men as Sophocles of Harvard, America's greatest classical schol- ar, who came here all the way from Smyrna in Asia Minor; Dr. Henry L. Barnard, the first United States Commissioner of Educa- tion, regarded as second only to Horace Mann in the development of the American public school; Professor W. A. Larned, late professor at Yale; and the Reverend Rich- ard S. Storrs, D.D., of Brooklyn, New York, commonly and affectionately referred to in those days as "Prince of Preachers." A glance at the catalogues of the eighteen- twenties show students from England, Greece, Turkey, and many parts of North America. Men went out from the Academy to open up the West and to carry the Gospel to the South Seas. The Reverend Cushing Eels and the Reverend Charles B. Summer were instrumental in founding, respectively, Whitman College in Washington and Pomona College in California.
The golden age of the school was the half-century between 1835 and 1885. This was, indeed, the period of the greatest flow- ering of the New England academy, and many fine old schools that made history then are no longer in existence. Only a few of the private schools survived the rival growth of the public high schools. In the middle of the last century, however, Monson built up the prestige that was to carry it through the years up to the present day, though no longer as an academy for young ladies and gentlemen, but in its new role as a prepar- atory school for boys.
In 1835, Charles Hammond, of Union, Connecticut, entered Monson Academy as a student. He was zealous and idealistic, one of his idols being Dr. Arnold of Rugby. In due course he was graduated and went to Yale, but in 1839 he was back in Monson --- as principal. He served as principal from 1839 to 1841, from 1845 to 1852 and
again from 1863 to 1878 - a total of twenty- four years. This great man educated more distinguished personages than many a col- lege has turned out. He towered above his fellows in the educational field. All kinds of reforms were introduced in his day, and the old dictum of "spare the rod and spoil the child" was abandoned. Like Thomas Arnold he preferred to trust to his students' honor, and he once said he would do his best to "make of Monson a smaller Rugby." Dur- ing his administration the enrollment of the school was frequently above three hundred drawn from all parts of the world.
About one hundred thirteen years ago, in 1847, the first Chinese students to come to the United States enrolled at Monson Academy. Nearly a generation later the first Japanese students came, and until the end of the century there was always a fair sprinkling of Orientals amongst the student body.
The physical plant of the school, in the meantime, increased with the student body. In 1819 the first dormitory was built for the boarding students. In 1824 the first labora- tory was erected and espensively equipped with apparatus "specially imported from England." The site of this old laboratory, one of the first in the country, is now oc- cupied by the Holmes Gymnasium. In 1845, at a cost of four thousand dollars, Dr. Ham- mond had the entire school renovated and modernized and spent another thousand to re-equip the English department. As in the case of the original building, this large sum was raised by the townsfolk.
During this golden age of the Academy, many great men were graduated from Mon- son Academy. The class of 1850 was partic- ularly brilliant. In that year Jacob Strong left to enter Williams College and even- tually he became an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. The brilliant young Chinese, Wong Afun, left Monson to enter Edinburgh University and to become eventually one of his country greatest doc- tors. Another young Chinese, Yung Wing, was graduated, only to return to America some years later as Commissioner of the Chinese Educational Commission and as Chinese Minister to the United States. Only two years later, in 1852, Henry Billings Brown, another future United States Su- preme Court justice, was graduated. Judge Reuben Chapman, a Trustee from 1828 to 1873, and Judge Marcus Knowlton, a Trus- tee from 1874 to 1918, both later became Chief Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme
Page 30
HISTORY OF MONSON
Court. The Reverend James Tufts was one of the outstanding principals of the Acade- my, his administration covering the period from 1852 to 1859. His son, James Hayden Tufts, who attended the Academy in his early teens, later became Vice-President of the University of Chicago.
The Civil War caused a temporary clos- ing of the Academy in 1862, but it reopened the following year after two additional wings had been added to the old building.
This brief survey would not be complete without a few words about the missionary endeavors of Monson graduates. The Rev- erend James L. Merrick, one of the first American missionaries to Persia, was grad- uated in 1826, and he later established an endowment fund entitled the Persian Fund. Gilbert Rockwood, class of 1834, went to the South Seas, and William Benton, class of 1839, to Syria. The zealous young Samuel Marsh, who was graduated in 1840, died while preaching the Gospel to the Zulus in South Africa. It was the work of such men as these that helped to attract students to Monson from so many parts of the world.
The rise of free secondary education in the latter part of the last century did a great deal to decrease the need for the pri- vate school. Some establishments, includ- ing Monson Academy, served the purpose of the local high school in many rural commun- ities. Until regular high schools were built, these private schools accepted local students, whose tuition was paid by the town. This somewhat altered the character of the older academies, but in many cases it was the means of survival.
A disastrous fire in 1886 completely de- stroyed the old Academy Building, but later in the same year a more substantial granite and brick building was erected. The Holmes Gymnasium was built in 1900 by Miss Esther R. Holmes in memory of her father, Cyrus W. Holmes, Jr., and Cushman Hall in 1904 by Thaddeus L. Cushman in memory
MONSIN ACADEMY PIONSØN MASS,
Second Monson Academy Building - Opened in 1886
of his nephew, Frank Chapin Cushman.
Cushman Hall
An older dormitory, Hammond Hall, was at the same time torn down to make room for a headmaster's residence, Ham- mond Place. This building is now a dormi- tory. Cushman Memorial Field was given in 1911 by Edward C. Cushman and Rufus P. Cushman as a memorial to Grace Sedg- wick Cushman and Frank Chapin Cushman.
Old Hammond Hall Dormitory
After the first World War the town of Monson decided to build a high school. This action meant that virtually all of the Acad- emy day students would transfer to the new institution. Consequently, the school was again temporarily closed in 1923, while ar- rangements were made to revert to the old status of a century before. During the next two years the Trustees granted the use of the Academy buildings to the town for use as a high school.
Page 31
HISTORY OF MONSON
In 1926 the Academy was reopened as a college preparatory school for boys. The headmaster, Bertram A. Strohmeier, an- nounced in the catalogue that the school would be "developed on an American adapta- tion of the English house plan. By this ar- rangement the boys live in small groups in separate houses under the immediate care of one or more masters." In keeping with this plan an additional dormitory, Morris House, was deeded to the Academy by Miss Esther R. Holmes in 1927, and yet another house, The Homestead, in 1937, through the generosity of Miss Hattie F. Cushman.
New Hammond Place Dormitory
No historical sketch of Monson Acad- emy would be quite complete without a trib- ute to Thaddeus L. Cushman, who was a member of the Board of Trustees for thirty-
Homestead
eight years, Treasurer for thirty-six years, and Secretary-Treasurer of the Monson Academy Alumni Association for forty years. His deeds of unselfishness and benev- olence afforded him great pleasure and satisfaction, besides providing necessities and comforts to others less fortunate than he.
In 1935 Dr. George E. Rogers became
Thaddeus L. Cushman
headmaster. Under his administration the size of the student body has greatly in- creased.
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