History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 220

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 220

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the regular March meeting, " to see if the town will choose a committee to see what repairs, if any, the school-houses need aud paiut them Spanish brown and lye." The town voted "to pass over the article," though it has an inherent interest to the present gen- eration, since it shows what was used in those impe- cunious days as a substitute for oil iu the preparation of paint. In 1807 an attempt was made tu increase the number of school districts by certain individuals asking the town " to build a school-house in the mid- dle of the town or otherwise give the petitioners and others the privilege of building on the Commou." The town decided to do neither of the things desired. The same request was made at several times after- ward with the same result, though it appears from the records that a school building had been erected at the place designated about the year 1814, probably by private funds, for the special accommodation of the families living near. In 1809 the citizens evinced their sense of the need of more careful supervision of the schools as well as an interest in their prosperity, by choosing " a committee of four men to inspect the schools " " at the opening and closing of said schools the year ensuing." This was the inauguration of a new policy in that regard.

With the growth of the town came the demand for increased school accommodations. So far as the records show, the original plan of having four dis- tricts continued in operation till 1818, although, as a matter of fact, the people of those districts living near to the central village had for several years been privileged to draw their portion of the school-money and spend it in support of a teacher in the private school house referred to above. But in the year men- tioned, the desirableness of new districting the town became so apparent that a committee was chosen for the purpose of putting the matter in proper shape for final action. This committee reported iu favor of making six districts agreeably to an accompanying detailed plan, which provided for a district in the east, the southeast, the southwest, the northwest, the north and the central portions of the territory, each in its order, and under the name designated by its locality. These six districts included in the aggre- gate one hundred and fifty-three families,-the east one containing thirty ; the southeast and southwest, twenty-seven each, and the remaining three twenty- three each. Each district was to build its own house and to locate it, if those concerned could agree upon a spot; otherwise the town should do it. This division continued for over half a century, or until the aboli- tion of the district system according to public statute, in 1869.

Different rules prevailed at different times in regard to the division of the public-school money among the several districts. What the policy was at the begin- ning has been stated,-that is, one-half equally be- tween the districts and one-half according to the number of children between the ages of four and

twenty-one. In 1820 the town voted that "the school money be divided according to the number of families that shall he in each district on the first of May next." This method prevailed till 1837, when it was decided to divide one-third of the money ac- cording to the number of scholars in the respective districts of the ages named before, the remainder equally between the districts.

In 1840. the rule was so far changed as to have the children numbered between four and sixteen years of age. 1n 1844 one-half was divided equally between the districts and one-half according to the number of pupils, which proportion was changed iu 1850 to one- fourth and three-fourths respectively, and in 1854 to one-third and two-thirds respectively. In the same year the " Annual Report of the School Committee " was first printed and circulated among the families of the town.

The changes in the appropriations for educational purposes can be indicated only in a general way. The first sum voted was thirty pounds, or about a hundred dollars in United States currency. Up to the year 1800 the annual amount averaged thirty- five pounds, or one hundred and seventeeu dollars. In that year it was two hundred dallars. It rose in 1806 to three hundred dollars, where it remained many years. In 1817 it was three hundred and thirty dollars; in 1818 four hundred. The same figures prevailed till 1832, when they were increased to four hundred and fifty dollars, and in 1833 to six hundred. They rose to seven hundred in 1840; to eight hun- dred in 1847; to nine hundred in 1849; and to one thousand in 1852. From that time on, with the growth of the town and the increase of its inhabitants, the jucrease of school appropriations was rapid, reach- ing two thousand dollars in 1859 and 1860, but falling off somewhat during the four years of the Rebellion. After that period it went up again more rapidly than before. It was thirty-five hundred in 1867, forty-five hundred in 1871 and five thousand in 1873. In 1875 it had risen to six thousand five hundred dollars, and in 1878 to seven thousand dollars. Since that date the increase has been very rapid, reaching, in the year 1888, the generous sum of fifteen thousand dol- lars, which sufficiently indicates the degree of inter- est the citizens take in the public schools and the value at which they estimate the American system of popular education as related to the welfare of the community and to the strength, perpetuity and glory of the republic. Besides the High School, which has one principal and two assistants, there are twenty- four schools of the lower grades, each supplied with competent instructors and all in prosperous con- dition.

At the time of the abolition of the old district sys- tem, in 1869, there were six school-houses taken by the town, whose appraised valne was $19,758, of which that on School Street, built ten years before, was esti- mated at $10,666 ; the one in the Southeast District

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

at 82,550 ; and the one in the Southwest, on Broad- way, at $5,150. In 1878 a house for two schools was erected on West Street, at a cost of about $5,000, which has recently been enlarged to double that ca- pacity at an additional expense of $3,500. Within a few years, also, a two-room wooden building has been put up on Park Street (Little Canada) at a cost of $3,600; a brick house with four rooms, on Pleasant Street, costing $10,000, and a very fine brick edifice, on Prospect Street, South Gardner, with all modern conveniences, costing about $15,000. Whole school property valued at $69,000.

GARDNER HIGH SCHOOL .- For some years previous to 1856 a growing interest in the establishment of a High School had existed among the more intelligent and thoughtful people of the town, but it was not till that date that such interest assumed a definite form and crystallized into a practical effort to accomplish the contemplated result. But the time had now come when the statutes of the Commonwealth required such a school, and the matter was brought up in a meeting held February 5th, and referred to a committee of seven persons, who subsequently reported adversely to the proposition. The town accepted the report, and the subject rested for ten years. On the 2d of April, 1866, " Voted, on motion of Allen Folger, that a High School be established in town, according to law, and that the Selectmen and Superintending School Com- mittee be a committee to carry into effect this vote." Pursuant to this action a High School was opened the following autumn in the old school-house of the Cen- tral District, which had been vacated upon the occu- pancy of a new building a few years before. This house furnished the best accommodations that could readily be obtained at the time, but it ere long be- came apparent that a more commodious and better arranged one, as well as one more centrally located, was needed, and in 1872 the town took definite action looking to the supply of the need. The subject was referred to a committee of three persons, who reported unanimously that " after examining the building now occupied by our High School, they were of the opin- ion that the accommodations and conveniences which it affords are not what the best interests of such a school demand." "Its location is also unsatisfactory to a large portion of those now sending children to the school, and to others who would send if its loca- tion was more central." They therefore recommended a new building to be placed on a lot selected by them lying on Chestnut Street, below the "Atherton House," so called, in the Heywood pasture. They also conveyed to the town the gratifying intelligence that after deciding upon this location they consulted with the owner, Mr. Levi Heywood, in regard to the terms upon which it could be obtained, who gener- ously proposed to donate it to the town, if it should be accepted for the purpose specified. The report was accepted, and steps were immediately taken to carry its recommendations into effect. As a result, the

proper deeds transferring the site finally fixed upon from Mr. Heywood to the town were passed, plans for a building were secured and the present neat, commodious and attractive structure was built under the direct superintendence of Francis Richard- son, Esq., since deceased, and made ready for occu- paney December 21, 1874. It is a substantial brick edifice, with foundations of Fitchburg granite and brown sand-stone trimmings. The main part is forty- six by seventy feet with a front projection and porch seventeen by twenty-two feet, the whole being two stories high and surmounted by a tower rising to an altitude of ninety feet. It has three front entrances, reached through open porches and leading into spa- cious halls. Its internal arrangement, including a commodious basement with cemented floors, is such as to serve well the uses for which it was designed, and the grounds outside are ample and well graded, The entire structure with its furnishings and surround- ings, cost twenty-two thousand dollars, and is an or- nament and an honor to the town. The citizens are to be congratulated upon having so admirable a High School building, and upon the excellent standing the school has maintained since its establishment.

PUBLIC LIBRARIES-The South Gardner Social Library .- Some time about the year 1840 a number of ladies and gentlemen in the south part of the town became interested in a movement for furnishing themselves and the neighborhood a higher and more extensive range of reading than had hitherto been enjoyed. Enlisting a goodly number of their friends and fellow-citizens in the matter, they secured the formation of a society bearing the name of the South Gardner Social Library Association, with a constitu- tion and by-laws duly providing for the orderly gov- ernment and administration of its affairs. It was a joint stock company, each member being required to pay two dollars on every share subscribed for, to be devoted exclusively to the purchase of books, for the purpose of founding a library ; all other expenses to be met by equal assessment on the shares in propor- tion to the amount thereof. This institution started out under favorable auspices, and for many years was liberally patronized and successfully maintained, deriving support from levies made upon the stock, from annual fees for drawing books and the contribu- tions of friends. In 1852 the association received a bequest of one hundred dollars from the estate of Abijah M. Severy, who died some years before, and in the following year it began to receive an annual income of about twenty-five dollars from a fund created by the same generous donor. This has continued year by year to the present time and of late has been the principal source of supplies for the purchase of new books, the fees of members, the number of which has become greatly reduced, and of book-drawers being little more than sufficient to meet current ex- penses. The multiplication of libraries connected I with the Sunday-schools of the town, the increased

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facilities for getting reiding matter from other quar- ters, and more recently the opening of the large aud attractive library and reading room at the Central Village, have had a tendency to diminish interest in this institution aud to weaken its support. It has upon its shelves about twelve hundred volumes, to which additions are made from time to time as the condition of its finances will allow.

Some years ago a public library was started at the centre of the town, which contained many valuable books and was well patronized for a time, but no records of it have been found and none of the details of its history can be given. The public lost interest in it, and as a result it gradually fell into decay and finally disappeared.

The Leri Heywood Memorial Library Association .- A few years before the death of the late Levi Hey- wood, he became personally interested in the question of a Public Library and instituted some measures with a view of making that interest felt and of turn- ing it to some practicable account. In order to call attention to the matter, he caused a lecture to be given in town upon the value and importance of such insti- tutions by Hon. Theodore C. Bates, of North Brook- field, at which many influential citizens were present. As a result of this lecture and of the impression it made upon the hearers, a paper providing for contribu- tions to a fund for the establishment of a library was circulated and money was pledged to the amount of about three thousand dollars for the realization of the object proposed, whereupon a petition was presented to the town for a vote authorizing the erection of a building for the proper housing of the contemplated library, "to be located within sixty rods of the Town Hall." The town, probably on account of the desig- nated location, refused to grant the request. This action put the whole matter at rest for the time being, and nothing further was done about it till after the decease of Mr. Heywood in 1882.

A year or two subsequent to that event, Rev. Law- rence Phelps, then pastor of the First Congregational Church and Society of the town, revived the subject and brought it once more before the public. By per- sonal influence and effort, aided by the co-operation of other interested parties, he secured the formation of an association which took the name of the Gardner Library Club, afterward changed to the Gardner Li- brary Association, under which title it was chartered by the Massachusetts Legislature, June 19, 1884. The name of the corporation sufficiently indicated the object it was designed to promote. Under its auspices papers for subscriptions were again circulated, and pledges amounting to seven hundred dollars were obtained for the specific purpose of purchasing books and creating a nucleus of an institution, such as was hoped for at an early day. But as yet no place had been found in which to locate this germ of a library yet to be, and something must be done in that direc-

tion before proceeding further in regard to purchasing books.

Happily for the undertaking and for all concerned, while the question of a library building was under serious, if not anxious, consideration, Mr. Calvin Heywood and Mrs. Helen R. Greenwood, the only surviving children of Mr. Levi Heywood, recalling their father's interest in the matter of a Public Li- brary, and desiring to honor his name and memory, proposed, without solicitation, to erect or cause to be erected, a library building, at a cost of not less than $25,000, to be presented to the corporation, when completed and made ready for use, on condition that that body should take the name of the Levi Heywood Memorial Library Association, and provide for the running expenses and general proper maintenance of the institution,-the building to be called "The Levi Heywood Memorial Building." The corporation voted to accept the generous offer on the terms speci- fied, and work on the building began at an early day, and was carried on to completion as rapidly as possible.

Meanwhile the corporation was busily engaged in carrying out their plans as best they could with the means iu hand, and in preparing for the occupancy of the building when it was ready for use. The money subscribed for hooks was expended. An old library, belonging to the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, consisting of about two hundred volumes, was donated to the association, as was also a circulating library of James Emerson, M.D., numbering about one hundred volumes-making a collection of eight hundred books, which were properly arranged, cata- logued and offered to the public in February, 1885, in the drug-store of Dr. Emerson, under the Town Hall. The association also qualified itself for receiving the title-deed of the property to be conveyed to it, by a new act of the Legislature, passed April 14, 1887, authorizing the change of name required by the do- nors, and granting power to hold real estate to the value of $80,000.

Before the completion of the library building Mrs. Fanny B. Heywood, widow of the late Charles Heywood, son of Levi, and her children, Mrs. H. S. Stratton, Mrs. Charles D. Burrage and Charles Hey - wood, came forward of their own free will and gener- ously offered to supply an appropriate room in it, to be called the Charles Heywood Memorial Reading Room, with a good variety of magazines, papers and current literature of the day and to make adequate provision for the continued support and renewal of the same; thus greatly enlarging the field of the association's influence and much augmenting its power for good as an educating and elevating force in the community. Moreover, for the perpetual maintenance and increased usefulness of the library itself, Mrs. Helen R. Greenwood, since the death of her last surviving brother, and her husband, Alvin M. Greenwood, have laid the public under renewed

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obligations by creating an endowment fund of $25,000, the income of which is to inure, year by year, to the benefit of the institution. In addition to the means thus put at the disposal of the Library Association, the town for the past two years has voted it the amount of the dog-tax, about $440 per year, (which will, it is hoped, be continued in time to come), and numerous donations of books, pamphlets and public documents from different sources have been received.

The Levi Heywood Memorial Library Building was completed, furnished and made ready for occu- pancy early in 1886, and on Thursday, the 4th day of February of that year, was formally dedicated to the important uses for which it was erected, an ad- dress appropriate to the occasion being delivered by Mr. S. S. Green, the accomplished and widely-hon- ored librarian at the Public Library in Worcester. Since that date both the library and the reading- room have been open to the public-the former on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and evenings from two o'clock to six, and from seven to nine; the latter every afternoon and evening during the week, except Sundays, at the same hours. The number of volumes in the library is now about twenty-six hundred, seven hundred and nineteen having been added during the present year. The whole number of books loaned in 1887 was 11,404. Two hundred and thirty-six new names were added to the roll of subscribers during the same period. Miss Nellie S. Osgood has had charge of the institution from the beginning, performing the duties of her position with credit to herself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. The officers of the Levi Heywood Memorial Library Association are: Rev. Lawrence Phelps, president; Charles D. Burrage, secretary ; Volney W. Howe, treasurer; Herbert S. Stratton, James Emerson, M.D., vice-presidents; Rev. Lawrence Phelps, Alvin M. Greenwood, Martha W. Burrage, Helen R. Heywood, Helen R. Greenwood, Laura A. Heywood, James Emerson, M.D., Sarah L. Conant, Geo. W. Cann, Herbert S. Stratton, Mrs. Franklin Eaton and Charles D. Burrage, directors.

The library building is located in what is called the Central Village, directly east of the First Na- tional Bank, and is a neat and pleasing specimen of the Romanesque style of architecture, with enough original variations to give it a character distinctively its own. It is fifty by seventy-eight feet in size, one story in height, with large gables on the south and east sides fronting spacious rooms on the second floor. Its foundations, which rise five feet above the sidewalk, are of faced granite, and are crowned with a fine-cut water table. It is built of pressed brick, with brown-stone and terra-cotta trimmings. In the upper part of the front gable is a triangular panel of terra cotta, bearing the name "Levi Heywood," while underneath, on a brown-stone frieze, are the words "Memorial Building." Below this are three

large double windows, arched and flanked with deco- rated pilasters, giving ample light to the interior. In front is a massive open porch, nine by sixteen feet, floored with variegated tiles, and entered on either hand by broad circling granite steps. This porch has a large brown-stone arch in front with smaller ones at the sides, all supported by polished granite columns of a reddish hue, which rest on solid bases, and all surmounted by a terra-cotta cornice and bal- ustrade.

Ou ornamented spandrels above the main arch are the figures 1885, indicating the date of the erec- tion of the structure. The entrance opens into a spacious waiting-hall, fourteen by twenty-eight feet in size, and twelve feet high. On the right is the directors' room, fifteen by twenty feet, and on the left the reading-room, twenty by twenty-five feet in size. Back of the reading-room is a large reference- room, and, correspondingly, on the other side are there a librarian's room, lavatory and a stairway to the second floor, where there are a parlor, ten by twenty feet in size, and a hall, measuring twenty-four by thirty-six feet. In the rear of the waiting-room, below, and occupying the entire back part of the building, is the book-room, thirty-eight feet long by twenty-five feet wide, in a semi-circular form, having a height of eighteen feet, which will allow a gallery and additional shelving when needed. Alcoves ra- diating from a common centre, but not extending to the walls, afford the necessary conveniences for books. This room is sufficiently lighted both from the sides and from above as the other rooms are from the sides, and all are finished in excellent manner and handsomely decorated. The basement is divided into various apartments, having cemented floors, and devoted to such uses as convenience requires. The whole building is heated by indirect steam radiation and lighted at night by gas,-both generated in a basement room, set apart for that particular service. The architects of the structure were Messrs. Fuller & Delano, of Worcester, whose skill and efficiency in their distinctive profession this piece of work abun- dantly attests. It is unquestionably the most chaste and elegant specimen of architecture in town, a beau- tiful memorial, not only of one of its leading citizens for half a century, but of the wise generosity of its donors.

CHAPTER CXIV.

GARDNER-(Continued.)

RELIGION, HOUSES OF WORSHIP, PARISHES, ETC.

"IT concerneth New England always to remem- ber," said the pious old minister of Salem, John Higginson, " that these are a plantation religious and not a plantation of trade." And this she did remem-

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ber through all her earlier history, to her own endur- ing honor and glory and to the welfare and happiness of many generations, over whose fortunes and destiny she exercised, unconsciously to herself, magic and mighty iufluence. And so it was that the founders of the town of Gardner, sons and daughters of New England, true to their ancestral heritage, regarded well at the outset the moral and spiritual interests of the people at large and took active measures to have them properly guarded and promoted. One of the first things done by the new town as a corporate body was to provide a place for the public worship of God and a minister to serve at the altar of religion. A site for a meeting-house, with a burying-ground and Com- mon or training-field adjoining, according to the cus- tom of the time, had been selected midway between the extremes of population, so as to accommodate the largest possible number of people, probably by mutual arrangement of those most interested, and at a legal meeting held on the 7th of November, 1785, four months after the act of incorporation was granted, steps were taken to secure the same to the perpetual use of the town by proper title deed. That site was very near the spot where the present church of the First Congregational Parish stands-the burying- ground in the rear and the Common in front substan- tially as they are to-day. At the same meeting Jo- seph Bacon, John White, Captain Kelton, Moses Hill and David Foster were chosen a committee "to draw a plan of a meeting-house and to see what stuff it will take;" and Simon Gates, Elisha Jackson and Captain Kelton a committee to hire preaching. It was also voted "To hire four days' preaching." At an ad- journment of this meeting a week later, the commit- tee on a meeting-house reported, whereupon it was voted " to build a meeting-house, forty feet wide and sixty-five feet long, with three porches," the size of which was afterwards modified to forty-five feet by sixty, with two porches. The material for the con- struction of said house was divided into more than a hundred lots, according to a schedule still preserved, and let out by auction to the lowest bidder. The work of providing material for and laying the under- pinning was divided into ten lots and let out in the same way. The material was to be delivered before April 1, 1787, and the underpinning was to be completed June 20, 1787. The responsibility of erecting and finishing the building to the extent of framing and covering it, setting the glass, painting the outside, laying the lower floor and making the inside doors was com- mitted to Joseph Bacon, the leading carpenter in the place, who was to do it for £172 10s., "he assisting with his hands in raising " it. On the 27th of June, 1787, the frame was ready to be put up, and that part of the work is supposed to have been done on that day. It was a great occasion. Help from neighbor- ing towns had been sought and was on the ground in due season. A crowd of spectators gathered to wit- ness the proceedings, which began early in the morn-

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 220

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1576

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576