History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 81

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 81

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Rev, Mr. Jones continued as rector until February, 1875. Since then there have been three settled rectors.

Rev. Charles Morris Addison, the present rector, is a graduate of the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge, and assumed the charge of Christ Church parish on June 1, 1885,

SAINT BERNARD'S PARISH (Roman Catholic) .- Catholic services seem to have been held in Fitchburg as far back as 1842, but no society was organized un- til 1847. In 1848, under the pastorate of Rev. M. F. Gibson, a church was built on Water Street. There were then about eight hundred in the whole parish.

Rev. Edward Turpin became pastor in 1856, and re- mained ten years. He was succeeded, in 1866, by Rev. C. M. Foley, who, in 1869, built the present brick church edifice, which is one of the finest in town. Rev. P. J. Garrigan took charge of the parish in 1875. He greatly embellished the interior of the church, and dedicated it with imposing ceremonies in 1879. Father Garrigan also built the parish house on Water Street, next to the church, and the parochial

school and convent on First Street. He also pur- chased land and built the Catholic Church in West Fitchburg.

In the summer of 1888 Father Garrigan was asked to accept the position of vice-rector of the Catholic University recently established in Washington, D. C., and after much deliberation concluded to accept the position. He left Fitchburg early iu November, 1888, closing a long and valuable pastorate, and will be greatly missed by his parishioners, now numbering over four thousand,

Since he came to Fitchburg, Father Garrigan has been a prominent citizen. He has been a member of the School Committee, but is chiefly noted, as a public man, for the noble and effective work he has accom- plished here in the cause of temperance.

WEST FITCHBURG ROMAN CATHOLIC PARISH- Church of the Sacred Heart .- This parish was organized in 1878 in West Fitchburg, and Father Garrigan, as before stated, purchased a lot and built thereon the present neat church edifice. For a time it was sus- tained as a branch of Saint Bernard's Parish, but it is now self-supporting.

Its first pastor was Rev. James Canavan, He was followed by Rev. James Donahoe. The present pastor, Rev. J. L. Tarpey, began his work here in June, 1886.

Connected with these two Catholic Churches are twelve different societies, organized in the interests of temperance, doctrinal instruction and charity.

The French Catholic Society .- This society was or- ganized in 1886. Rev. C. Beaudoin has been its pastor since organization,

In December, 1886, the society purchased fifty-two thousand feet of land on Walnut Street, and a dwell- iog-house thereon was converted into a parsonage and school. A small chapel was erected, and it is the intention of the society to build a church on this land in the near future,

CHAPTER XLII.

FITCHBURG-(Continued.)

EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.

THE educational history of Fitchburg will, for the sake of convenience, be considered under two heads, viz .: Publie Schools and Libraries. Neither of these all-important departments of our history has, as far as the writer is aware, ever been written upon in a way by any means complete. It is therefore proposed, in this history, to give special prominence to the subject of education, and to place before the reader a large number of facts relating to the history of the begin- nings and progress of education in Fitchburg.

The writer is fortunate in having access to a very large number of reports and original documents and

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papers relating to this subject, collected and preserved by his father, Charles Mason, Esq., who has always been deeply interested in the education of youth, and was, for some years, prominent and active in the school and educational affairs of the town of Fitchburg.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS .- The early settlers of this town do not seem to have paid much attention, or devoted much money to the fostering of public education. The earliest mention in the town records of any public action respecting the establishment of schools in town occurs in the report of a town-meeting held September 12, 1764, and is as follows :

Voted, that there be two scools in sd town Bud that mr. John fitch and Kindal Boutwell and their neighbors shall have the benifitt of their Ecoole money io order to provide scooling among themselves.

Voted, that eight pounds be raised in order to provide a scoolemaster lo ed town.

Voted, Amos Kimball Ephm Whitney and Thos. Dutton he a scoole comite.

The amount of money appropriated was very small, being equivalent to only a trifle over twenty-six dollars.

The "two scools" appear to have heen kept, how- ever, during the winter of 1764-65,-one in William Chadwick's corn-barn, near the present Pearl Hill School-house, and the other in Samnel Hunt's tavern, -but who the "scoolemaster" was is not stated.

November 21, 1765, it was voted in town-meeting "to have 2 scools in s'd town and Mr. Poole and Mr. John fitch with their neighbors have the benefit of their scoole money in order to provide among them- selves."

" Voted, that £3 be raised for scooling. Thomas Cowdin, Kindal Boutell and Jon" Wood Com."

So the town had only about ten dollars to expend for education in the winter of 1765-66.

The next fall, however, the people returned to their first appropriation of £8, and voted "that two- thirds be laid out in the middle of the town, and the rest by the Com. as they shall think proper on the outsides of the town."

During the following three years a like snm was annually appropriated, and equitably distributed.

January 11, 1770, the town, for some reason un- known, voted " not to have any scoole this winter, but reserve their money till next fall."

Oct. 1, 1770, the town raised £5 13s. 4d. for schools, and the next fall £9 38. 4d. ; and October 19, 1772, £20 were raised; and it was also voted to build four school-honses in the town, "each quarter of the town to build their own school-house at their own expense, free from any town tax, only that each quarter have their proportion of the Town's Boards and Nails left after finishing the Meeting-house." A committee of five was chosen to fix the location of the school-houses.

During the next four years the annual appropria- tion was £20.

October 4, 1774, the following votes are recorded, showing that a sharp lookout was maintained with regard to the expenditure of the school money :

Voted, that all the quarters of the town that don't see that their part of the scool money that is not scooled out within the year be returned into the Town Stoke. (This vote is rather bliodly recorded, but one cao catch the idea.)

Voted, to add what scool money remains not yet laid out that was raised the last year to the £20 now raised to be laid out in providing a scool or scools.

In 1777 the appropriation was raised to £30.

The effect of the depreciation in the currency is seen in the amounts raised for school purposes dur- ing the next three years, which were £200 in 1778, £500 in 1779 and £2000 in 1780. In the last-named year Thomas Cowdin generously added £500, "to be, scooled out in the scool-house sot on said Cowdin's land."

In 1781 the town raised " £60, hard money, to hire school Master, Masters or Mistresses." The same sum was raised in 1782, but the appropriation for each of the two following years was reduced to £40.

In 1785 it was voted "to hire a Grammar School Master for the town; the said Grammar School to be kept four months, and each quarter to have their month, the said Grammar School to begin in town before December next." The appropriation this year was £45, and remained at that figure until 1789, when it was increased to £50.

April 5, 1790, it was voted "to new district the town," and a committee of seven was appointed for this purpose. September 9, 1790, raised £50, and voted "that the several schools in town be free schools for the use of the town."

At a later meeting the report of the committee to redistrict the town was rejected, and it was not till 1798 that a report on this matter was accepted. The town was then divided into eleven districts.

In March, 1798, £100 were raised for schools. This was the first year that the annual appropriation was voted at the March meeting.

It was necessary to build school-houses for the new districts, and at a town-meeting, June 21, 1798, a committee was appointed "to estimate the bigness of the school houses." The committee reported at the same meeting, and their report was accepted,-" that the houses be twenty-four feet by twenty feet, and finished with Gallery seats; lathed and plastered overhead, to be glassed with six windows, 12 squares of 7 by 9 glass in each, and to be finished ontside and in, all except clap-boarding." The report further provided that the old school-houses be appraised, and their valne refunded to the proprietors, and that the building of the new houses be let out to the lowest bidder. A committee of three was chosen to let out and inspect the building of the new school-houses.

September 17, 1798, the selectmen were appointed a committee to appraise the old houses, and, at an ad- journed meeting, October 8th, reported their valnation as follows:

The School house nigh Mr. Daniel Wetherbee's ... .892 00

The School house nigh Mr. Simeon Farwell's ...... 93 00

The School house nigh Mr. Amos Lawrence'e. 90 00

The School house nigh Mr. Abrabem Forwell's 80 00

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The School house nigh Mr. Elijah Carter's ... . 80 00 The School house (frame) nigh Mr. Daniel Harris' ... 6 00

At the same meeting it was voted to raise ten hun- dred and eighty dollars to expend in building and furnishing the school-houses.

In 1799 one hundred and fifty pounds were raised for schools, and the committeemen were directed "to agree with the teachers that they are not to be al- lowed anything for keeping schools Saturdays in the afternoon." The selectmen were authorized to pro- vide Jocks and keys and window-shutters for the sev- eral school-houses.

In 1800 one hundred and fifty pounds were raised, and in each of the three following years, five hundred dollars. From 1804 to 1808, six hundred dollars was the sum appropriated; and in the latter year forty dollars were added "to be distributed among those school districts the selectmen shall think most need it." A committee of eleven was also chosen in 1808 to examine schools, and it was voted "that the com- mittee be requested to attend the schools at their com- mencement and close, and it be the duty of the school committeemen to inform the examiners when the school begins." It was also voted that the School Committee furnish the selectmen, during the last week in August, an exact return of the number of scholars in their respective districts, so that the school money could be equitably divided.

In 1809 raised six hundred and forty dollars " to be laid out as last year," and chose a committee consist- ing of Rev. Mr. Barton, Rev. Mr. Bascom, Dr. Peter Snow, Leonard Burbank aud Joseph Simonds, to in- spect the schools.

In 1810 seven hundred dollars were appropriated for schools, and in 1811 six hundred and forty dollars ; and in the latter year, a committee of seven was chosen, " to consider the expediency of any alteration in the Middle School District " (District No. 1). At an ad- journed meeting April 1, 1811, this committee reported " that the district should be divided and a new district formed." This new district, as outlined by the com- mittee, corresponded to that portion afterwards called the " Old City."

The report was accepted, and in the following July it was voted to divide District No. 1, in accordance with the report of the committee, and call the new district No. 12. Also voted to give the new district ninety dollars toward building a school-house. This vote was reconsidered, and it was then voted to pay the sum of ninety dollars for this purpose in March, 1815.

In 1812 the school district boundaries were more accurately defined by a committee chosen for that purpose. The school appropriation that year was seven hundred dollars, and the next year eight hun- dred dollars.

The foregoing is an abstract of the more important actions of the town in regard to public instruction during its first half-century of existence. During

the early years of this period the town furnished very meagre facilities for the education of the children ; and, as a matter of fact, the larger part of the in- struction given in those days was furnished by pri- vate teachers.

For the first few years there were no school-houses even, the schools being kept in vacant rooms of pri- vate houses, or taverns. Fuel was gratuitously sup- plied by the neighborhood, and the teachers " boarded round." The first school-houses were probably built in 1773,-one in the middle of the town and the other three in the west, north and south parts of the township respectively.

In 1798 there appear to have been five school- houses in town, according to the appraisal report pre- viously cited, and the frame of a sixth in process of erection.

In 1800 the school-house in the " Center District," or No. 1, stood on what is now Main Street, a few rods west of the present junction of Circle and Main Streets. It was a low, unpainted wooden building, standing with its end to the road. The other ten were in locations probably closely corresponding to those now occupied by our present long-established suburban school-houses.

In 1812, the year after District No. 1 was divided, a brick school-house was built in the new district, No. 12, and still remains there, forming a portion of a dwelling-house at the upper corner of Crescent and Blossom Streets.

In 1815, by vote of the town, a new school-house was built in District No. 1. It was a wooden build- ing, painted yellow, and containing two rooms. It stood at the present junction of Main and Mechanic Streets, on the site now occupied by D. H. Merriam's house.

The early School Committees seem to have been chosen for prudential purposes only, until 1808, when an additional committee of eleven (reduced to five the next year) was appointed to examine and inspect the schools. After 1826, in accordance with legisla- tive enactment, School Committees were chosen to exercise substantially the same powers and functions as at present.

This law was passed in 1826, and at an adjourned town-meeting in that year it was voted "that the Selectmen be a committee for the superintendence and regulation of schools agreeably to an act of the General Court passed 1826." Later at the same meet- ing it was voted to add the clergymeu of the town to the committee. The first School Committee actually chosen by the town under this law was in 1827, and consisted of Rev. Calvin Lincoln, Rev. Rufus A. Put- nam, Dr. Jonas A. Marshall and Messrs. Ebenezer Torrey, David Brigham, Ivers Jewett and Abel Fox.

During the second half-century of the town's ex- istence considerable progress was made in educational matters. Fitchburg grew rapidly, and increased ac- commodations and more teachers were necessary, and

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he people seem to have been willing to appropriate honey to meet the increasing needs.

In 1830 the appropriation was eleven hundred dol- ars, and in 1840 had risen to fifteen hundred dollars. In 1819 the custom of enumerating the school- hildren in town May 1st was adopted.

About 1830 the High School Association, of Fitch- urg, was formed by a number of prominent citizens ho were interested in education. The directors of he Association were Benjamin Snow, Francis Per- ins and Dr. Charles W. Wilder, and its secretary and reasurer was Dr. Jonas A. Marshall. This Associa- ion proved to be of very material assistance in pro- noting the cause of education here, and many of our Ider citizens owe their knowledge of the higher ranches of learning to the instruction rendered avail- ble by it.

A building called the Academy was erected in 1830 y the Association at a cost of twelve hundred dollars. t stood just in front of the location of the present High School building, on land given for the purpose y Capt. Zachariah Sheldon. The Academy was let o private persons, who taught therein almost all the igher branches. At one time Hebrew was included the list of studies. Benaiah Cook, A.B., with Mr. Czra Reed as his assistant, kept the first school in the Academy, and the building was used for private in- truction until 1849, when the town purchased it of he Association and established a high school in it.

In April, 1831, a committee of one from each school istrict was chosen " to examine into the evils of our chools and point out remedies." The report of this ommittee was read June 11, 1831, and " accepted ery unanimously," and it was voted to print and istribute four hundred and fifty copies of it.

In 1835 the number of children attending the dis- rict schools in Fitchburg was 560-289 girls and 271 oys -- and the teachers employed numbered 25, of hom 14 were ladies. The average wages per month ere, in winter, $16.67 ; in summer, $4.30.

Of the Academy, which was intended only for oung persons who had already acquired a common- chool education, Mr. Torrey, writing in 1836, says in is " History of Fitchburg": " It is a commodious, two- tory building, situated a few rods easterly of the ommon. It is furnished with two school-rooms on he lower floor, the former of which will accommo- ate 65 scholars, and the latter 30. The average umber attending for several years past has been bout 30."

In 1835 an attempt was made to have the higher ranches of learning taught in the district schools, ut the town refused to sanction any such proceeding. In 1840 the need of a new school-house in District No. 1 became very evident. The "yellow school- ouse," built in 1815, was filled to overflowing, and he pupils were soon all transferred to a new brick chool-house-the pride of the town-erected on what s now School Street, near Main Street. This house

is still standing, and is occupied by schools of the primary grade. During the summer of 1888 an ex- tensive addition was built, reaching nearly to Main Street.

In 1846 the brick house in District No. 12 was abandoned and the pupils transferred to a new and commodious brick school-house on Day Street.

The first printed school report of the town of Fitchburg was for the year ending April 3, 1843. It was uot printed by vote of the town, but by the sub- scriptions of public-spirited citizens, and is an eight- page pamphlet in large type, bearing the imprint of "W. J. Merriam, Printer, Fitchburg, Mass."

It contains no tabulated statistics, but deals chiefly with the defects in the school system of that day. Some of the "causes unfavorable and, in some cases, almost ruinous to our schools, which neither good teachers nor faithful committees can obviate " are enumerated as follows :

First. Bad School Houses .- Under this head it is stated that a few of the school-houses in town are good ones, pleasantly located, in good repair and provided with suitable grounds, etc., while the rest are very bad in all these respects.

Second. Many of our schools suffer from inadequate tuition.

The committee recommended as remedies for this evil larger appropriations and a reduction in the num- ber of school districts.

The irregular attendance of pupils is spoken of as a third serious drawback to the prosperity of the schools, and also the non-attendance of "young peo- ple hetween the ages of sixteen and twenty-one," of whom there were said to be over two hundred in town, "only eighty of whom attend our public schools at all.', The report closes with an earnest exhortation that parents and guardiaus exert their utmost influence to have the young persons under their care attend school.

No school report was printed the following year, but since then annual reports have been printed, and the writer is fortunate enough to possess a complete set of them, including the report for 1842-43.

The report for the year ending March, 1845, was printed by vote of the town. It is a pamphlet of twenty-eight pages, closely printed and containing in addition six tables of attendance, &c. It was prepared by Charles Mason, Esq., chairman of the School Com- mittee, and is an exhaustive document containing much valuable information regarding the conduct and condition of the schools and useful suggestions in the way of their improvement.

The year 1845 was a lively one in the school affairs of Fitchburg. At the annual town-meeting, March 3, 1845, sundry articles in the warrant relating to the es- tablishment of a town school, new districting, &c., were referred to a committee composed of one chosen from each district, as follows : No. I, Charles Mason ; 2, Robert L. Friar; 3, John Whitcomb ; 4, Abram

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Osborn ; 5, Levi Downe; 6, Ivers Phillips; 81, David D. McIntire; 9, Asa Raymond ; 10, David Lowe; 11, John Andrews; 12, David Boutelle; 13, Isaac B. Woodward.

This committee met March 18th and thoroughly discussed the subject and adjourned to the morning of April 7th, when a report, prepared by the chair- man, Mr. Mason, was read in committee and unani- monsly agreed to. In the afternoon of the same day this report was presented in town-meeting and the measures therein recommended were adopted. Of these measures the following were a part:

That the present division of the town into school districts be discon- tinued, sneh discontinuance to take effect on the 15th day of May next, from and after which day the existing school districts of the town, in- cluding No. 1213, shall be abolished ; and that the towo purchase of the several districts, at a fair and just appraisal, their respective school- houses, and their right and interest in the land ou which the same stand, . . . and that henceforth the town provide, at the common ex- pense of the town, school-houses for the several school districts that shall be formed within its limits.

It was the portion of the above relating to school districts that produced contention. No objection was made to the purchase of the school-houses by the town, though it was an unusual proceeding in those days.

At this meeting, April 7th, a committee was chosen to appraise the school-houses and report their value to the assessors, to be by them credited to the tax- payers in the several districts toward payment of their taxes. This was attended to and the transfer dnly made to the town.

A committee was also chosen at this meeting to divide the town into suitable school districts. This committee performed their duty and presented a re- port at a town-meeting held May 5, 1845. The report was accepted and referred, together with the whole subject matter, to a special committee for revision. This committee, which consisted of Nathaniel Wood, Levi Downe, Ivers Phillips, Abel F. Adams and Levi Kendall, was requested to report August 11, 1845. This date found nothing done by the committee and the four first-named gentlemen sent in their resigna- tions. Charles Mason, John Whitcomb, Dr. Thomas R. Boutelle and William Woodbury were chosen in their places respectively, and the members of this new committee were "authorized to have their Report or Reports printed and distributed among the inhabitants of the town for their examination prior to the next March meeting."

There resulted from the labors of this committee two reports,-a majority report, signed by Messrs. Mason and Whitcomb and Dr. Boutelle, recommend- ing the division of the town into eight school districts, to be wholly under the supervision of the School Committee ; and a minority report, signed by Messrs. Woodbury and Kendall, recommending the division of the town into ten school districts, each district to

have entire control of its own school, and the School Committee to serve only for the purpose of examining teachers and occasionally visiting the schools.

In the majority report was a table of the school districts as then existing, which is, perhaps, worth inserting here :

District.

Name. Established.

Remarks.

1 .. Centre ..

1798.

2 ..

South Fitchburg

1798.

3 Whitcomb's.

1798.

4 ..

Turnpike

1798.

5 Dowue's. 1798,

Baldwinville 1798,

Williame'

1798 ..

.. United with No. 8 in 1844.

Dean's

1798.

Page's ..

1798.

Phelps'

1798.

Pearl Hill.

1798.

12 ... Old City.

1811 ...... Taken from No. 1.

121% ... Half District

1836 ...... Taken from Nos. 10 and 12.

13 ...... Crockerville.

1838. . . Takeo from Nos. 6.

These two reports were read in town-meeting, March 2, 1846, and were both accepted and laid on the table. It was then voted " to adopt the territorial limits for school districts as they existed in 1844, ex- cept the half-district." A committee, consisting of Levi Downe, Abel Marshall and William Carleton, was chosen "to assign the territory which was formerly the half-district, and fix the limits of the old dis- tricts." This committee reported April 6, 1846, and their report was accepted. The town clerk added to the record the following comment: "So ended our great effort to new district the town."

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 81

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