USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905, Volume I > Part 24
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
Grammar ; the Art of Speaking and the Citizen's Friend, for the purpose of teaching Reading with propriety ; be considered and recommended as school books for the several masters to teach from, to such scholars as come provided with them.I
6. Voted that during the months of April, May, June, July, August & September, when the number of scholars in the Grammar School consid- erably diminishes, the master keep the Boys only two hours in each half day, & immediately after their dismission, receive and instruct, for one hour & an half in English Grammar & to read with propriety, all such Girls as are subjects, according to the restriction hereafter mentioned viz : That they read tolerably well in the Bible before admittance, that the subjects of said school be restricted by the Tax Bill to all such Inhabi- tants as pay Taxes for three hundred pounds Real & Personal Estate or under, and those who pay for more than that sum to be excluded sending any Girls : and that the master be paid twenty-six shillings & eight pence per month for his additional services.
7. Voted to establish two Charity Schools to be taught by Mistresses until the first of October next to enable poor Boys to read words of two syllables, also girls, till they attain a like qualification provided the num- ber of boys does not exceed forty in each school, and that the selectmen be desired to put this vote in execution.
8. Voted that these two school mistresses be allowed three pounds per month for their services.2
Michael Walsh, the author of Walsh's arithmetic was mas- ter of the grammar school, in the centre of the town, as early as 1794.3 He was born in Ireland in 1763, and came to America, settling in Salisbury, Mass., previous to 1785. He was naturalized by the General Court February 7, 1786.4
[March 17, 1796] Voted to allowed Mr. Walsh, the Grammar School Master, an addition of fifty dollars to his salary the ensuing year.5
1 " The Young Lady's Accidence, or a short and easy introduction to English Grammar," by Caleb Bingham, A. M., was published in Boston in 1789.
Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 49.
3 " [August 27, 1794] Proceeded to examine the Grammar School under the care of Mr. Michael Walsh, found 38 scholars present : - the whole number 50." School Committee Records.
4 Acts and Resolves, 1785-1786, ch. 43.
5 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 122.
The following advertisements, published in the Impartial Herald, indicate that master Walsh, in addition to his work as a public school teacher, conducted a private school on his own account.
" Michael Walsh, Intends to begin a Morning School for Writing, arithmetic and accounts on the first Monday in May next. Newburyport 28th April, 1795."
1
SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS
317
SCHOOLHOUSE AT SOUTHEASTERLY END OF BARTLET MALL.
April 4, 1796, the inhabitants of Newburyport voted to build a brick schoolhouse at the southeasterly end of Frog pond,' and on or about the middle of November the building was completed and occupied by the pupils of the grammar school.2 July 6, 1809, a committee was appointed to put a second story on the brick schoolhouse in order to accommodate the Centre school.
" Michael Walsh proposes to open a morning school for the instruction of young ladies in Book Keeping and in Practical Arithmetic on the twenty-second day of April [1798]."
"[March 24, 1803] Voted that in consequence of the resignation of Mr. Michael Walsh, Grammar School Master, a Committee of three be appointed to wait on him and request him to continue in his School until a suitable person be provided to succeed him ; and that the Same Committee be authorized to procure a Grammar School Master as speedily as possible." School Committee Records. In 1805, Master Walsh removed to Salisbury Point where he lived until his death.' The inscription on his gravestone reads as follows :-
" Michael Walsh, a native of Ireland, died Aug. 20, 1840, aged 77. Hannah, his wife, died June 18, 1803, aged 38. John, their son, died at St. Louis, Dec. 3, 1845, aged 51."
1 " Ould Newbury," pp. 615-617.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 139.
3.1;8
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
Meanwhile, schools for girls nine years of age, and older, were established and maintained for several years.
[April 4, 1804] Voted that four schools be established for the in- struction of female children above the age of nine years to be kept six months, from 6 to 8 o'clock A. M. and Thursday afternoon & the select- men provide masters & places for instruction.I
These schools were kept in dwelling houses between Kent and Lime streets. For the better accommodation of the boys in the north part of the town a lot of land on the corner of Kent, and Merrill, now Russia, streets was purchased and a two-story brick schoolhouse erected there in 1805.2 This building was used as a schoolhouse until 1854, when it was sold and converted into a dwelling house.
, In 1816, several additional schools for girls were established. During that year, Mary Coffin had charge of the school in Kent street, at the residence of William Tappan.
Rebecca Gallishan, who resided on Boardman street, taught school in the house where she lived. Fanny Greenough had charge of the school on Summer street, at the residence of Capt. William Lawson. Abigail Lunt taught the Market Street school, at the residence of Edmund Bartlet. Alice Stickney and Mary A. Davis had charge of the schools in the upper and lower stories of the house occupied by Joshua Greenleaf on Beck street, and Elizabeth Noyes taught at the residence of Charles Cook on Lime street. A grammar and writing school for girls was kept in the court house by Mary Chadbourne ; in the North schoolhouse " near Frog pond " by Eliza Ann Lunt; and in the vestry of the Federal Street meeting house by Susan I. Moulton.
March 24, 1817, the school committee was requested to consider the advisability of adopting the Lancastrian system of education in the public schools.3 After some delay the committee decided to test the new system in the school kept by Master Coolidge at the northwesterly end of the mall.
1.Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 298.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 316.
3 Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 3.
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SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS
March 24, 1821, a special committee, consisting of the select- men, the clergymen, and the following-named citizens : Hon. William B. Bannister, Hon. Jeremiah Nelson, Hon. George Thacher, Hon. Samuel S. Wilde, Ebenezer Moseley, Esq., Abraham Williams, Esq., John Fitz, Samuel Tenney, Eben- ezer Shillaber, Joseph S. Pike, Whittingham Gilman and John Merrill, was chosen to consider the wisdom and propriety of extending the system to other schools in the town.1
On the twenty-ninth day of March, this committee reported that the classification of pupils, the studies in which they were engaged, the appointment of monitors, the distribution of rewards, and the infliction of punishments were the prominent and distinguishing features of the Lancastrian system, and closed with the statement that having repeatedly visited the school kept by Jonathan Coolidge they were convinced that the system of teaching established there was far superior to the ordinary method of instruction. This report was accepted and the committee instructed to organize two Lancastrian schools to take the place of four writing schools. In 1822, a new brick schoolhouse was erected on School street, but the proposed enlargement of the schoolhouse at the northwester- ly end of the mall was postponed for one year.
[March 10, 1823] Voted that the selectmen procure a plan of the addition which the school committee have judged to be necessary to enlarge the school house at the West end of the Mall, occupied by Mr. Coolidge, and to contract with the person who will do it the cheapest.2
On the thirtieth day of May following, the selectmen were authorized to erect a new brick schoolhouse at the northwest- erly end of the mall instead of making an addition to the one- story wooden building then standing there.3 The new school- house was completed in October at a cost of about two thou- sand dollars.4 The Lancastrian system of education under the supervision of Master Coolidge was exceedingly popular for
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 90.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 131.
3 " Ould Newbury," p. 614.
4 It was destroyed by fire in 1868. The half-tone print on the next page is from a photograph taken a few years previous to that date.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
SCHOOLHOUSE AT NORTHWESTERLY END OF BARTLETT MALL.
ten or fifteen years, but afterwards fell into disfavor and was quietly abandoned.I
Moses Brown, a prominent merchant of Newburyport, gave by his will, proved the first Tuesday in March, 1827, "the sum of six thousand dollars as a fund for the use and support of a grammar school in said town forever," and provided, by a codicil, that this fund should accumulate until the principal and interest amounted to the sum of fifteen thousand dollars. Roger S. Howard was appointed master of the centre gram- mar school July 20, 1829. In 1831, the two-story brick build- ing, in which the school was kept, was repaired and rearranged for the accommodation of the Latin and English High school, at a later date called the Brown High school. David P. Page was appointed instructor for the English department, March 5, 1832, and Mr. Howard had charge of the classical depart- ment. Under the supervision of these teachers the grade of
1 At a town meeting held March 24, 1830, a petition, signed by Joseph T. Pike and others, was referred to a special committee who reported on the twelfth day of April following that it was inexpedient to return to the old method of school in- struction, and further consideration of the subject was postponed until several years later, when by unanimous consent the Lancastrian system was abolished.
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SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS
the school was raised and a high standard of scholarship main- tained. Mr. Page resigned in December, 1844, to take charge of the State Normal School in Albany, N. Y.1 Mr. Howard retained his position for nearly twelve months longer.
In addition to the public schools, several private schools were established in Newburyport, and well patronized between the years 1830 and 1850. In a building near the post-office
DAVID PERKINS PAGE.
1 December 17, 1844, the pupils connected with the English department of the high school presented Mr. Page with a silver pitcher, two silver cups, a gold pencil and a large unabridged dictionary as tokens of their respect and esteem. A few days later he removed to Albany, N. Y. January 1, 1847, he published a book on the "Theory and Practice of Teaching," which is still considered an authority on the subject of which it treats. It was republished in 1885, with editorial notes and comments by W. H. Payne, Professor of the Science and Art of Teaching in the University of Michigan.
Mr. Page died in Albany January 1, 1848. The above half-tone print is taken from a steel engraving in Barnard's Journal of Education for December, 1858.
322
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
Albert Pike had a school for boys and girls in 1830, and in October of that year he opened an evening school in the lower story of Washington hall on Green street.I
John R. Rollins taught Latin and Greek as well as English grammar, history and mathematics in a building on the east- erly side of Brown square, previously occupied as a school- house by Alfred W. Pike.2
Ebenezer Savory had a school for boys in the lower story of the Newburyport academy in 1840, and three or four years later he opened a school for boys and girls in the vestry of the Second Presbyterian meeting house on Harris street.
October 1, 1831, Robert Jenkins, executor of the will of John Greenleaf, conveyed to the town of Newburyport a lot of land bounded by Buck, Congress and Kent streets.3 On the fourteenth day of April, 1836, the school committee was authorized to establish two more primary schools, " if needed," and to continue one of the female grammar schools through the year in the school room on Pleasant street.4 In Decem- ber, 1838, two grammar schools for girls were begun and con- tinued through the winter. May 14, 1840, the selectmen were instructed to build a schoolhouse on Purchase street for the female grammar and primary school established in that locality.5
[May 1, 1841] Voted to build a new school house on the town's land on Congress street.6
[September 3, 1841] Voted to build a school house on the town land on Congress and Kent streets like the one now erecting on the said land.
At a town meeting held March 28, 1842, plans for estab- lishing a high school for girls were referred to the school com- mittee who subsequently reported in favor of the project.
1 Newburyport Herald, May 21, and October 12, 1830.
2 Newburyport Herald, September 7, 1838.
3 Essex Deeds, book 262, leaf 149. A part of this four and one-half acres of land is now Cushing park.
4 Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 351.
5 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 85.
6 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 110.
SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 323
[March 28, 1843] Voted to establish a Female High School with a male instructor and such assistants as may be necessary in accordance with the report of the School Committee, and that the selectmen be authorized and directed to purchase and procure a lot of land in a cen- tral situation and proceed to the erection of a suitable building therefor ; the location and plan of the same to be approved of by the School Com- mittee ; and that said Committee be authorized to adopt such measures as shall be necessary to establish said school.1
The Newburyport Female High school, Eben S. Stearns, principal, Miss S. A. Sweet and Miss S. A. Green, assistants, was organized December 18, 1843, in an engine house on
FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL HOUSE.
Pleasant street, while the school building on the corner of Court street and Union, now Washington, streets was being erected.2 Temporary benches and chairs were provided for the pupils in the new schoolhouse, and the first session of the school was held there February 5, 1844. It attracted many visitors from neighboring towns during the first ten years of its existence, and was, probably, the first female high school established in the United States.
Eben S. Stearns resigned as principal September 22, 1847.
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 146.
2 Newburyport Herald, December 19, 1843; also, notice relating to the examin- ation of schools, published in the Herald March 15, 1844.
,
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
Moses P. Case was appointed November 30, 1847, and served until August 21, 1854. William C. Todd was appointed September 24, 1854, and served until April 9, 1864. Albert Hale was principal from May 5, 1864, to 1865, and J. D. Bartley from 1865 to 1868, when the school was united with the Brown High school, and removed to the Putnam Free School building on High street opposite Bartlet mall.
Miss S. A. Green was an assistant teacher in the school from December, 1843, until July, 1868 ; Miss Susan A. Swett, from December, 1843, to January, 1845; Miss Lucy C. Allen, from February, 1845, to November, 1846; Miss Mary Ann Shaw, from November, 1846, to February, 1848; Miss Mar- garet Clarkson, from February, 1848, to September, 1858; Miss Elizabeth A. Townsend, from 1858 to 1865 ; and Miss Eunice T. Plummer, from 1865 to 1867. Miss Sophie Pike was em- ployed as an assistant for four months in 1867. She was succeeded by Miss Maria Thurston, who remained until the school was removed to the Putnam Free School building in 1868. After that date, the west male grammar school and the centre female grammar school occupied the Female High School building until it was destroyed by fire, in 1871.
After the removal of David P. Page to Albany, N. Y., in December, 1844, to take charge of the State Normal School there, Elias Nason was appointed principal of the Brown High school in Newburyport. William Reed was employed as teacher of the English department in 1851.
Two years later, a building on the turnpike, now State street, previously occupied as a town house by the inhabitants of the town of Newbury was remodeled and the school was removed there, where it remained until 1868, when, united with the Female High school, it was transferred, by an agree- ment made with the trustees of the Putnam Free school, to the school building on the corner of Green and High streets. This agreement, several times renewed, was dissolved by a decree of the supreme court of Massachusetts in 1902. In June of that year, in order to avoid further legal complications, the city of Newburyport, by the right of eminent domain, took possession of the building now used for the accommoda-
NEWBURYPORT ACADEMY
325
1
BROWN HIGH SCHOOL HOUSE.
tion of the Brown High, the Female High and the Putnam Free schools.I
NEWBURYPORT ACADEMY.
June 20, 1807, Joshua Carter, Daniel Dana, James Morse, Richard Pike, Edward Rand, Thomas M. Clark, Samuel A. Otis, Jonathan Gage, William Woart, and Edward St. Loe Livermore, their associates and successors, were incorporated by the name of "The Newburyport Academy," with power to
1 For further details relating to these schools, see The Newburyport Herald for January 5, 12, 19 and 26, and February 2 and 9, 1878, containing a series of his- torical papers contributed by Oliver B. Merrill.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
purchase and hold real estate and establish a fund for the use of the academy.'
A two-story brick building was erected on High street, opposite the head of Fruit street, and a private school for boys and girls was opened there October 20, 1807, Hon. Edward St. Loe Livermore delivering an address appropriate to the occasion.
In 1809, the following-named persons were officers of the Newburyport academy :-
Hon. Edward St. Loe Livermore, president; John Peabody, Esq., treasurer ; Seth Sweetser, clerk; Joshua Carter, Samuel A. Otis, Rev. Daniel Dana, Jonathan Gage, Rev. James Morse, William Woart, Rich- ard Pike, William Bartlet, Edward Rand, Capt. Ebenezer Wheelwright and Thomas M. Clark, trustees.
In 1811, Rev. Daniel Dana was chosen president, in place of Hon. Edward St. Loe Livermore, who had resigned. At that date, Joseph Dana was preceptor of the academy. In 1825, Alfred W. Pike had charge of the male department and Miss Philippa Call of the female department. Miss Call resigned in April, 1826, and her place was supplied by Mrs. Frances Lord of Boston, who subsequently married Dr. Richard S. Spofford of Newburyport. Isaac W. Wheelwright had charge of the school in 1 828, and Roger S. Howard, a few years later. Elias Nason opened a school for young ladies in the upper story, and Ebenezer Savory had a school for boys in the lower story of the academy in 1840. In 1842, the academy building was sold to John Osgood and Charles J. Brockway, and con- verted into a dwelling house for two families. '
PUTNAM FREE SCHOOL.
Oliver Putnam, born in Newbury November 17, 1777, died in Hampstead, N. H., July 11, 1826. In his will he gave a portion of his estate " for the establishment and support of a free English school in Newburyport for the instruction of youth wherever they may belong."2 His wise and noble bequest was warmly commended by the newspapers of the day.
1 Acts and Resolves, 1806-1807, ch. 20.
2 "Ould Newbury," pp. 193-197.
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PUTNAM FREE SCHOOL
Such a generous bequest so expressive of the liberality of the deceased and his affection for the place of his early residence, should call forth the deepest gratitude on the part of those who will share in his munifi- cence. We may be permitted to suggest that some token of our regard for the memory of so noble a benefactor should be kept as a perpetual memorial of gratitude and respect. It should be a public monument ; and measures ought to be immediately taken to effect it, tardy gratitude is more reprehensible than even tardy justice.1
April 9, 1838, Caleb Cushing, Edward S. Rand, Daniel Dana, William B. Bannister, Josiah Little, Ebenezer Stone, Henry Johnson, Roger S. Howard, and their successors, were incorporated by the name of the Trustees of the Putnam Free School.2 A lot of land on the corner of Green and High streets opposite Bartlet mall, was purchased and a convenient and commodious two-story brick building erected for the use of the school.
The word "youth " in the will of Oliver Putnam was va- riously interpreted, and the inhabitants of Newburyport ap- pointed a committee, April 9, 1845, to confer with the trus- tees of the school in regard to the proposed admission of pupils of both sexes. The committee was authorized to insti- tute amicable proceedings, if necessary, in the supreme judicial court to determine the question in dispute.3
After several consultations the committee reported, May 4, 1846, that the trustees were in favor of opening and maintain- ing a school for boys and girls in the new building, where- upon the inhabitants of Newburyport passed the following vote :-
Whereas by the munificent bequest of the late Oliver Putnam, Esq., provision is made " for the establishment and support of a Free English School in Newburyport for the instruction of Youth wherever they may belong . .. the youth to be instructed in reading, writing and arithme- tic and particularly in the English language and in those branches of knowledge necessary to the correct management of the ordinary affairs of life, whether public or private, but not in the dead languages," and whereas it is understood that the trustees appointed under said. bequest
1 Newburyport Herald, July 18, 1826.
2 Acts and Resolves, 1838, ch. 85.
3 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 217.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
propose to appropriate the fund thus bequeathed to the maintenance of a school for girls as well as boys and it is believed that the testator by his will intended to establish a school for the instruction of the male sex only. Now, in order to make sure that the intention of said testator is sacredly carried into effect, and in order to maintain the interests and honor of the town in the premises: Voted that the Committee of the Town, consisting of George Lunt, Ebenezer Bradbury, Jacob Horton, Moses D. Randall, George T. Granger, Charles H. Hudson, and Nathan Follans- bee [appointed at a Town meeting held on the ninth day of April, A. D. 1845 in relation to this question] be and they hereby are authorized to take such measures as they may deem expedient for the purpose of ob- taining the judgment of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth in regard to the meaning of the language employed by Mr. Putnam for the application of his said bequest.I
July 6, 1847, a bill was filed by the district attorney, pray- ing the court to restrain the trustees from applying or appro- priating any part of the fund, or of the income, to the instruc- tion of girls. At the November term, held in Salem, the court decided that the language of the will did not limit the pupils of the school to boys only, but was broad enough to justify the trustees in establishing a school for the instruction of youth of both sexes.
The school building was dedicated April 12, 1848. Rev. Daniel Dana made the dedicatory prayer ; Hon. Edward S. Rand, president of the board of trustees gave a brief biograph- ical sketch of Oliver Putnam, and William H. Wells, who had been appointed principal of the school, delivered an address, which was followed by appropriate remarks from His Excel- lency George N. Briggs, governor of the commonwealth.
In 1868, an agreement was made by the trustees of the school and the city of Newburyport to unite the Brown High, the Female High and the Putnam Free schools. The building was enlarged to accommodate the pupils of these schools. This arrangement was continued without interruption until 1902, when the city of Newburyport took the land and building, by right of eminent domain, and now owns the property, the trus- tees of the Putnam Free school paying a certain stipulated sum annually for the instruction of a limited number of pupils.
' Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 256.
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WHEELWRIGHT SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL
WHEELWRIGHT SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL.
William Wheelwright, by his will, proved November 18, 1873, gave to Caleb Cushing, Robert Codman, Eben F. Stone, Charles G. Wood, William B. Atkinson, "and the Mayor of Newburyport for the time being," two-ninths of his estate, in trust, the income to be applied " to the assistance of such Protestant young men of the city of Newburyport as the said trustees shall consider deserving and meritorious, in ob- taining a scientific education."
February 18, 1882, the trustees, their associates and suc- cessors, were made a corporation, by the name of the Wheel- wright Scientific School, " with all the powers and privileges and subject to all the duties, restrictions, and liabilities set forth in all general laws which now are or may hereafter be in force and applicable to such corporations.""
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