USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Needham > History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911 : including West Needham, now the town of Wellesley, to its separation from Needham in 1881, with some reference to its affairs to 1911 > Part 26
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Wellesley > History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911 : including West Needham, now the town of Wellesley, to its separation from Needham in 1881, with some reference to its affairs to 1911 > Part 26
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
In 1780 the First Parish twice considered building a school-house "for the Use of Sd Parish", but without re- sult, and according to the Parish records Moses Mann gave £40. "for the School" in 1793.
On March 15, 1785, on petition of Edward Jackson and others, the town chose a committee consisting of Michael Metcalf, Josiah Newell, Jr., Amos Fuller, Joseph Mudge, Jr., Moses Fisk, Edward Jackson and Ensign Eliakim Cook. Neither the petition nor the report is recorded, but presum- ably this committee divided the town into school districts, and their report was adopted on May II, the vote being on "the Report of ye Committee that was Chofen to Devide the Town into Diftricts or wards for ye better Accomodating of Schools". In March, 1787, Edward Jackson, Nathaniel Fisher and John Slack were to make "Some Alteration in the School Diftricts", and in 1789, 1790, 1791 and 1793 similar committees were chosen, and from time to time in later years. On March 8, 1790, the town chose a committee of three in each district "to provide a teacher or teachers for each School and to Procure wood". This was the be-
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ginning in Needham of the district, or prudential, committees, which were chosen annually by the town, with the exception of 1802, until March 6, 1843, when it was voted to leave to each district the choice of its prudential school committee. This action was commended by the "Superintending School Committee" in their report for 1842/3. These district committees were often inefficient, and were wisely abolished in 1854.
In 1790 the town voted to allow "the Diftrict on great plain" to spend the balance of their appropriation for 1789 in finishing their school-house. The writer is inclined to think that there may not have been any school-house in that locality for nearly, or quite, ten years after the old building was burned.
In the winter of 1791/2 Isaac Shepard taught twelve weeks "at the New School House in Needham South Dif- trict", and for more than ten years he was the teacher of this school. He furnished the wood for the fireplace, usu- ally at nine shillings per cord. Mr. Shepard had the Great Plain school several winters before the War.
In 1790 the town paid one shilling per foot for wood delivered at the Brick school-house, and on July 26 the first order for repairing a school-house was granted by the select- men, and was for ten shillings in favor of Lieut. John Tolman on account of the Brick school-house. Two years later Jonathan Kingsbery, Jr., was paid 2s., 2d., for setting glass in the Brick school-house.
Needham may pride itself on the long school terms it gave its children, not only in the first fifty years of the nineteenth century, when forty weeks was not unusual, and thirty-six rather below the average of the districts, but prior to 1800, for then many of the terms were for sixteen weeks both winter and summer, and for years twelve weeks had been the rule, with occasional exceptions. At that period the school year was much shorter in most localities, and as late as 1869 many of the Massachusetts towns main-
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tained schools for only twenty-four weeks each year. In November, 1793, Reuben Estey had fifteen shillings for the use of a room for a school in 1791. In the winter begin- ning in 1791 a school was "Kept at the Houfe where Joseph Stedman Lived", presumably the old Stedman house on the east side of Washington Street, near where Dr. Bancroft lives. The "House Improved by Joseph Stedman" con- tinued a seat of learning for some years, as the town hired a room in it for the school. In 1786 there was a school- house on what is now Church Street, but apparently in 1791 it was not available. At this period a school was kept at the house of John Willson, who lived on the Hanks place near Newell's Bridge. In 1791 the Upper Falls school was still at Colonel Alden's dwelling, and as late as 1795 the Great Plain school was at the house of Aaron Smith, Jr., on South Street. In 1796 there was a school at Enoch Parker's, on Blossom Street, and in 1797 one at Enoch Davenport's. In the winter of 1793/4 there was a school at the Upper Falls for six weeks kept by Amasa Alden at the house of William Alden, Jr. In the summer of 1792 Joseph Daniell furnished a "Room for a School" at his house at the Lower Falls for eighteen shillings for the term, and the school was there in the winters of 1793/4, '95/6. Between 1793 and 1796 this Lower Falls school was sometimes at the house of Elijah Morse, who was paid $3 for the use of a room in the summer of 1795, and also at Lieut. Zibeon Hooker's and at Ephraim Jackson's. Lieutenant Hooker received $2 for the use of his room. There is an S. A. R. marker on his grave in Saint Mary's Churchyard.
The following is the record of a School District meeting in 1791 :-
Inhabitants of the weft School Clafs In Needham on December 27th 1791 Duly notifyed and meet firft made choice of Mofes Fifk moderator Second. Voted to Build a Brick School houfe In the Senter on the Road from Theo-
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dore Broads Brook to Natick Line Near where Ifaac Coolidge now Lives and Voted to Raife Forty Five Pounds Voted that mr Thomas Broad mr William Farris and Mofes Fifk be a committee to provide meterials for the Same Gentlemen Selecmen of the Town of Needham Pleafe To Put an article In your warrant for your Next Meeting To See if the Town will Vote that forty five Pounds Shall Be affest upon and Raifed By the weft End School Deftrict For the Ufe of Building them a School houfe.
Mofes Fifk (From the original).
In May, 1792, the town authorized this assessment of £45, and in March, 1795, it was increased by £20, which was duly assessed and paid. Jonathan Bacon had then succeeded Mr. Broad on the committee.
At the meeting in March, 1795, £45 were assessed upon the South district for a school-house, which Capt. Ebenezer Fisher, Captain Newell and Deacon Shepard were to build. In 1795 the town also expended £75 for a school-house in the Lower Falls district, under the direction of Joseph Daniell, Enoch Fisk and Benjamin Slack. On September 14, 1795, there was held the first of a series of town meet- ings devoted to school matters, and progressive action was taken. The town however dismissed an article to build school-houses for the whole town, and assess proportionately each district, the money to be spent within the limits of the district where it was raised This proposition was a sort of compromise between the old and the new. Amos Fuller, Capt. Josiah Newell, Capt. Ephraim Bullard, William Farris, Enoch Fisk, Colonel Alden and Colonel Kingsbery were chosen "to see what they can purchase each School- house in the Town for". On December 7, after three ad- journed town meetings, the committee reported that the Proprietors would sell their school-houses as follows: "Center Brick School" house £52, "great plain" "Estamate" £60, South £30, "west Meeting house" £36, "west End Dif-
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trict" £65. The report was accepted, together with an- other of the same committee changing the lines of the school-districts, which matter they had also been authorized to consider. There were five school-houses, and although the town then extended to Lake Cochituate, it was proposed to escape building two new ones by reducing the districts to five. There was no school-house, or practically none, in the Upper Falls district, but the selectmen had already ordered £75 paid to the building committee in the South district. Evidently there was no new school-house at the Lower Falls in December, 1795, when the town voted to merge the Lower and Upper Falls districts into the Center Brick and the West Meeting-house districts. This plan made it as inconvenient as possible for a large proportion of the children; for example, it extended the Great Plain dis- trict westward to the present Wellesley line, although many families had for years been in the Centre (Brick) district, and were nearer to its school-house. The West End district was to extend westerly of "Broad and Stevens Brook (so Called) including Ephraim Stevens Jur". At the December meeting £350, a large sum, had been voted to repair the school-houses, and Amos Fuller, Ensign Nathan Dewing, Capt. Ephraim Bullard, Moses Fisk and Enoch Fisk appointed to "Build School house where they are needed". At the annual meeting in 1796 the vote estab- lishing the new districts was reconsidered, and a different committee on districts was appointed, whose report was accepted in May, when the committee on building school- houses was also dismissed, and that matter referred to the district committee. A committee of twenty-one, three from each district, was also chosen to meet the proprietors of the school-houses, "and to Procure a Quitclaim". In De- cember, 1796, the selectmen drew thirty orders in favor of the proprietors of the new Great Plain school-house to re- imburse them for what they had expended, eight orders on account of the house near the Lower Falls, eighteen for the
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proprietors in the South, twenty-three for those in the West Meeting-house district, and seventeen to residents in the Brick School district, most of whom represented their predecessors. Presumably the building in the latter dis- trict was the same erected in 1769 on land given by Michael Metcalf, whose nephew, Ensign Michael Harris, received in 1796 $17.45 for what his uncle did "to ye aforesaid house"; probably in addition to the gift of the land. Mr. Metcalf was an old bachelor with a remarkable talent for mathe- matics, using the kitchen floors of his acquaintances to illustrate his skill as a "Lightning Calculator".
In 1796 $216.66 were paid to William Farris, Moses Fisk and Jonathan Bacon, Jr., "which the Inhabitants of said Town voted to give the Proprietors of the west end school Diftrict (so called) in said Town, for the school House by them built for said Proprietors". Early in 1797 $200 addi- tional were voted for building and repairing school-houses. Colonel Kingsbery was the only one of the appraisers of the school-houses in 1796 that gave three full days to that duty, and he received three dollars. At the March meeting in 1797 the town voted "to build & set up a school House on Land of William Alden Jun!", but having prepared the frame the town delayed ten years, while for a long time the frame lay upon the ground. It was finally set up, and in 1807 a vote was passed to "cover" it "so as to be conven- ient for a summer school", which for many years was the only school that it was customary to keep in that district. This building stood on land owned by the late George Wright, and was on the northerly side of Webster Street. At the May meeting in 1798 the town had refused to allow the inhabitants from Colonel Alden's to "Cooks Bridge", includ- ing Lieut. Lemuel Mills, to pay school money to Newton, or to have "liberty to join Newton". At the same meeting in 1798 committees had been chosen to select a site for a school-house, and to build one, and in 1801 the building committee had been increased to five, all without immediate
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results, as already stated. Colonel Alden boarded the work- men while they were "setting up a frame near his house for a School house", and supplied them with rum, sugar, etc. Dea. Thomas Eustis, who lived near Wellesley Square, made the window frames, sashes and "glasing" for this school- house.
The Brick school-house was extensively repaired in 1799; the material, bought of Jonathan Kingsbery, Jr., alone cost about $130.
During the early years of the last century the school children appear to have increased their efforts to furnish occupation to Jeremiah Daniell, Nathaniel Morrill, Jared West, Abel Weld and others who set glass. For genera- tions the renewal of the glass in the school-house windows was a considerable expense to the town, and subsequent to 1840 the superintending school committee commented, from time to time, on the destructive disposition of the children.
A few items will illustrate the purchases of school furni- ture in 1801, and for many years subsequent :- a "Write- ing or Book Defk" $4.25, one "pair of fire Dogs". These articles were for the South school-house, which was repaired and improved in 1801 and 1802, and are typical of the equip- ment bought for other schools. A pair of andirons cost the town $2 in 1812. By 1815 stoves had been introduced into most of the school-houses, if not all of them. The stove for the Great Plain cost $15, and that for the Brick, with the funnel, $29.50. In 1814 the town voted "to furnish a Stove for the Plain school district and others if wanted", and the school committees were to apply to the selectmen "for repairs on the school-houses and for purchasing Stoves &c: this year". The box-stoves, which were used in the school-houses for half a century, and which many persons well remember, cost from $8 to $15. The benches for the children were made by the local carpenters.
After a delay of six years, and much discussion, the town in May, 1809, appointed Nathaniel Ware, Joseph Newell,
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Daniel Ware, Esq., Moses Garfield and Dea. Asa Kings- bury to build a school-house in the West district, as the district formerly the West Meeting-house district was then designated. In September Nathaniel Ware and Lieu- tenants Garfield and Gay were "to procure a spot to set the new school house on", and to dispose of the old one "when it is no longer wanted", which was not to be for some time. The new school-house was south of Blossom Street, and not far from where is now the Fiske Dormitory. The town found that considerable land went with the old one, which was on Church Street, but, after two committees had reported on the matter, it was decided in 1811 to sell. The land for the new school-house was purchased of Aaron Smith for $30, and the building cost upward of $500. The old school-house of 1811 appears to have stood about where the barn is in the rear of the tavern so long the home of the Flagg family. There was a question as to the town's title, but after investigation by a committee it was decided that the land could be sold, and the town treasurer was author- ized to execute a deed of it, when a sale was made. At the April meeting, 1817, it was voted to sell the old school- house "near Mr Flaggs" at auction at the May meeting, the moderator, or some one he should appoint, to act as auctioneer. Josiah Ware bought this old West school- house for $30.50 at the auction.
The school money was annually apportioned, among the districts, by the assessors, according to the taxes raised in each, and in 1805 the "Great plain" had $155.36, the South $98.32, the West $122.90, the "Brick School" $109.69, the "Lower falls" $94.79, and the "Upper falls" $18.18. In the succeeding years the West and Lower Falls districts grew in taxable property until they exceeded the Great Plain district, and by 1821 the South district had distanced the Brick. In the early thirties the North district grew rapidly in wealth and displaced the West, which had long led, and the Brick school, or Centre, district took the
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third place in the list. In 1836 $940 were divided among the districts as follows: North $235.92, West $216.92, Centre $141.70, Great Plain $133.40, South $III.17, East $100.89.
On page 231 of Vol. V. is recorded the consent of the Rev. Mr. Palmer and twenty-six others to have a new school- house near the East Meeting-house instead of "near neck Bridge", which latter was understood to be the location selected when the town at its last April meeting voted, on a report of the committee on altering the school districts, "that a school-house be erected for the Brick school district in the most central convenient place". In 1815 the Brick school-house was removed to the Centre from opposite the modern Convalescent Home on Forest Street, where there had been a school-house since 1769. The new house was rebuilt from the old bricks, and was not enlarged, which policy resulted in a new house within twenty-five years. On May 1, 1815, Benjamin Slack, Esq., Major McIntosh, Aaron Smith, Capt. Artemas Newell and Jeremiah Kings- bury were a committee "for the purpose of moving one of the school-houses in the Brick School district or to build a new school-house so as to accomodate said dis- trict". The Major rebuilt it that autumn by contract for $393.
In the early winter of 1816/7 Stephen Tyng gave up the South school after a brief experience, and Miss Mary Newell, who had taught there several summers, took the school and kept it for ten weeks, receiving $4.50 per week, besides board, which was a master's pay. She was the first woman to teach a winter school in Needham, with the possible exception of some early teachers.
On March 3, 1817, the town voted to "Expend the Inter- est annually of the Money Due to the Town for wood sold on the School lot in Dover, in addition to what is granted by said Town for that purpose". As some of these notes given for wood remained unpaid for many years, and the
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rates of interest were high, the schools derived substantial sums for a long time from this source.1
In 1817 the town bought planks for benches, and also shingles in Boston, which George Fisher carted to Needham. There were 8000 shingles, for which Jabez Ellis was paid $28, and Spencer Fuller $25 for laying them at the South school. At the annual meeting in 1818 a special committee of six, one from each school district, was chosen to repair the school-houses, and in October, 1825, Artemas Newell, Esq., Colonel Rice, Capt. George Smith, Elisha Lyon, Esq., and Major MeIntosh were chosen to consider the question of school accommodations, but their report appears to have resulted only in a committee to repair in 1827.
In 1822, and occasionally for some years, the Brick school district, later the Centre district, was designated as the "Middle District".
As early as 1827 the town bought many school-books, and the committee made due returns to the assessors, who added to the tax bill of the father, or guardian, the cost of the books which he had failed to provide. The town school report of 1839 calls attention to the law as to books, and that of April, 1842, reminds "Parents, Masters and Guar- dians" that they must "furnish School Books for their Chil- dren". The report of 1839 commented upon the music introduced into two of the schools, and urged that it should be taught in all of them. In this report the committee in- sisted that the text-books must be uniform, or music, black- boards, and other recent innovations, would be of but little avail. Within three years the recommendations of the com- mittee as to music were adopted in all of the districts, and were a great success when there was a musical teacher like
1 It does not appear that any wood was sold on the School Land prior to 1776, or that the proceeds were devoted to the schools until 1817, but from that year to the close of the Civil War the schools received not less than $90 each year, which was increased to $100 in 1859. Successive sales of wood created these funds. It is possible that from 1817 to 1831 there were years when the interest on notes did not equal $90.
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Solomon Flagg. There were several public-spirited citizens who volunteered to instruct the children in music when the teacher was unable to do so, and valuable service was ren- dered in this way.
In 1882 the town employed Henry Joshua Whittemore as instructor, or supervisor, of music in all of the schools, and for several years he was assisted by his daughter, Miss Mary Estelle Whittemore. Mr. Whittemore retired in 1895 from the service of the town.
In April, 1829, following the report of a committee, of which General Rice was chairman, the town established the Upper Falls School district; there had been only a summer school in that locality.1
Four dollars were added to the school money for the Brick school district in order to make up for the almshouse prop- erty, which was withdrawn from the tax list. At this period there was a tiresome controversy as to the Great Plain school-house, which some persons had hauled to near Blind Lane (Green Street), and which others later replaced on its former site near Webster Street.
In May, 1831, a committee reported on the "situation of the several school districts", principally as to the location of the school-houses, and the town voted to "Equalize the school houses" "that the best School house should be Apprised, and that all other School houses should be made Equil by the town & that Each district shall receive his proportion of money as apprised to expend as they please in building & repairing their school houses". The appraisers were Aaron Smith, Esq., Moses Garfield, Elisha Lyon, Esq., Thomas Kingsbury, Capt. Reuben Ware and Rufus Mills, Esq.,2 and their report was accepted. On June 9 a rate of $400 was voted to "Equalize", but it was all re- considered at an adjourned meeting, and in August a com-
1 There was a small amount spent on this school-house in 1829, when William Eaton, Jr., did some carpenter work, and Samuel Scott, the mason, was employed. 2 Town Clerk Kingsbury recognized fully the right of the Justices of the Peace to the title of "Esq.", although he usually omitted military titles.
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mittee of six were "to build, repair, & remove the school houses in the town agreeable to the report of the Committee at May Meeting".
Late in December, 1831, the Great Plain school-house was repaired by Joseph Colburn, and it cost about $150.
In 1833 a committee was chosen to sell the old school- house in the South district, and Charles Rice bought it a year or two later for $36. The West school-house was too small, and in April, 1833, the town, acting on the report of a committee, voted to make alterations in it, which work was done by the well-remembered Richard Boynton, whose bill, $200, was not paid till early in 1835. In 1835 the in- sufficiency of the Centre school-house became serious, and it was decided to enlarge the front ten feet, making a school- room of twenty-three square feet, exclusive of the entry. The old bricks were used, but eight thousand new ones were also required. The land for this school-house was purchased late in 1835 from the First Parish for $50 and the adjoining lot on which the old house had stood.
Lemuel Lyon, 2d, owned the building in which the school was kept in the winter of 1835/6. William Eaton, Jr., who was the principal builder in East Needham for many years, did the carpenter work, and Underwood and Train, from out of town, were the masons; the latter boarded with Luther Morse. This school-house, built in part of old material, cost not far from $800, although two years before the town had paid Paul Dewing less than $400 for building the South school-house. In April, 1837, Spencer Fuller, William Eaton, Jr., and Abijah Greenwood were chosen to build a new school-house for the Great Plain district, and $500 were appropriated for the purpose. The old school- house was sold at auction the following year, and is said to form a part of the house until recently occupied by Benjamin L. Barr.
The later thirties witnessed the beginning of a Renais- sance, or "Great Awakening", as to education, and by 1845
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there were new school-houses in nearly all of the districts, and they compared favorably with those in the adjoining towns, for they had blinds, some of them were painted, and they were equipped with stoves, and the sills were banked for the winter. The more efficient members of the school committee made upward of twenty visits a year to the town schools, for which they were paid sixty cents per visit, and there was a marked improvement in the qualifications of the teachers, and in the methods of instruction. The opening of the next decade brought maps and globes into the schools, and several district school libraries were established, as the result of encouragement received from the Commonwealth.
The prudential school committees continued to engage the teachers and to provide fuel and other supplies for the school buildings. The meetings in the different districts to choose the prudential committee were called and warned by the outgoing committee at least seven days before the time set, and were usually, perhaps invariably, held in the evening. In 1851 each district was directed to choose but one man to be prudential school committee, and three years later the old district system was abolished, although for some years subsequent a man was chosen in each district to provide wood and to take care of the school-house.
In 1839 the town had directed the selectmen to put blinds on four of the school-houses, also "the lower Falls and Upper Fall school-houses to furnish something inside to keep the sun out". The school committee in the spring of 1841 described these two school-houses as unfit for the time, and that year General Rice, Dexter Ware, William Eaton, Spencer Fuller and Abijah Greenwood were chosen a com- mittee to build a new school-house in the North district, and $600 were appropriated. The town directed this committee to call on Henry Mann, Esq., for a plan, and William Eaton was the builder. Mr. Eaton presumably had completed the house by October, 1842, when $864 were paid him. In 1844 the town decided to buy all of the land between the
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