USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Dorchester > History of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts > Part 30
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That native wood was growing more scarce in the north part of the town, we infer from a vote passed in 1791, that it be "left discretionary with the Selectmen about purchasing wood that comes in by water, for our minister, the lower school, and the poor, this year."
The same year there was a schedule made of the available school funds, viz .: "Stoughton Legacy, £150 at 7s.6d. per ounce is £133.6.8. Lawful money ; school farm, Bridgewater, sold 12 Jan. 1768, for £351 4s., which was received and applied to the use of the Town ; school farm in Wrenthan, known by
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
the name of Hewes's Farm, was sold Nov. 6th, 1772, £156 17s .; School Farm, Dedham, sold 25 March 1790, proceeds not yet received, amt. with interest, £879 1s .; Donation of Proprietors of Dorchester, given to the Town to be applied to some publick Purpose, has been appropriated to the use of schools, £100; piece of land near Mr. John How's [the School Pasture] supposed worth £300; } a Pasture upon the neck, supposed worth, £50: Total, £1970 8s. 8d."
In 1792, a committee was chosen to consider the expediency of dividing the town into wards, for the better accommodation of the schools. They report- ed, on the 5th of March, that there were " 177 child- ren north of the meeting-house, including Dorches- ter neck; from said meeting-house to Mr. Jonathan Pierce's on the lower road, including said Pierce's, 92 ; from Mr. Thomas Leed's to Mr. John Capen, junr., & to Mr. John Dolbeare's, inclusive, 111 ; from Mr. Abraham Pierce's to Roxbury line, on the upper road and other parts adjacent, 172; total, 552 child- ren," under fifteen years of age. This is the first census of the children entered on the Town Records.
The committee proceeded in their report to set the bounds of the four wards, as also to locate the several schools ; but, as this report was not accepted, though placed upon record, it may not be worth the while to give its details.
The town voted, however, in the following May, to be divided into four wards, respecting the schools, and to appropriate £120, thirty to each ward, to- wards maintaining said schools. The next year they
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
voted to have four wards-a school in each ward- two of the four to be grammar schools, and one of these to be " near the meeting house ; " also, that " the grammar schools be open for girls, six months in the summer." These votes, at the same meeting, were reconsidered. It was then voted " to have 1 grammar school," "near the meeting-house, and that no girls be allowed to go to it."
In 1776, $250 were allowed for each school in the four wards. In 1797, two annual schools were es- tablished, " one at the school-house near the meet- ing-house, the other at the house used as a school- house in the upper road." It was also voted that there be 4 women schools kept in the four wards, during the summer season ; one in each ward, and that " the girls go to the two schools that are to be kept during the year at different hours, as the Selectmen shall determine." In 1798, the girls were to be admitted to the schools in the summer season, and $75 were voted for each of the four wards. The same year, the "new brick school-house " near the meeting-house was built, at an expense of $1287. The committee received for the old house, $88. In 1801, a committee was chosen to lay out a piece of land near the burying place, to build a school-house upon, for the inhabitants of the north part of the town, or Ward 1. The Selectmen were restricted from laying out any land for said purpose on the " tri- angular piece," " before the shop of Mr. Joseph Ca- pen." (The store of " J. H. Upham & Brother" is on one of the sites occupied by Mr. Capen.) The place selected and built upon, the house being of brick, was
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
where the engine house, " Tiger, No. 6," now stands. The same year (1802) a committee reported that the sum of $300 be appropriated to each of the four wards for building school-houses; the other parts of the town to have money in equal proportion to the num- ber of their children, whenever they should see fit to build. It was voted, in 1803, to support four annual schools that year. In 1804, a new school district was added, by Ebenezer Trescott's, and called District No. 5. The town voted, in 1805, to grant $1650 to the four district schools, and $226 to the .. fifth district. In 1806, $1906 were raised for the same purpose; in 1807, $2000 ; five persons, also, were to be added to the Selectmen, as Trustees of the Schools.
It will be remembered there were but two annual schools in the town prior to 1802, one at "meeting- house hill," in the "new brick " school-house, the other " near Mrs. Vincent's," on the " upper road," now Washington street, about a mile from the bridge at the " lower mills " village .* In various parts of the town, females, also, were employed to teach the children ; some were retained for the whole year,
* The above remark needs some qualification. As early as the year 1793 an annual school was kept in the south-west part of the late Dea- con Badlam's house, at the Lower Mills village. Daniel Leeds was the teacher. This school was continued for a few years, the old school- house by Mrs. Vincent's having been abandoned. In the year 1797, as will be seen, the old arrangement, of two annual schools, was re- sumed. A new house was built on the site of the old one by Mrs. Vincent's, and the school at the Lower Mills village was discontinued. The inhabitants of the "village " - many of them - were dissatisfied with this arrangement, and sent their children to the Academy on Mil- ton .Hill, till the year 1803, when they were accommodated with a school in their own neighborhood.
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some for a portion of the time; a part of these were public, others were private schools. The paternal grandmother of Mr. Thomas Jones Tolman, the former town clerk, taught school forty years. Her maiden name was Jones. She was no doubt a loving and faithful, as she must have been an experienced, teacher.
There was much inconvenience attendant in the various districts from the want of a sufficient num- ber of public schools. The town, therefore, was induced, as before mentioned, to appropriate twelve hundred dollars for the purpose of erecting four school-houses. Stephen Badlam, Dr. James Baker, John Howe and Moses Everett were chosen a com- mittee to carry the same into effect, and in 1803, as will be seen, there were four annual schools estab- lished. The money appropriated by the town was found, however, quite insufficient for the purchase of suitable lots of land and for the erection of the houses. It became, therefore, necessary that those who were interested in the subject of education, and were in possession of the means, should contribute towards the completion of the undertaking. John Capen, Jr., who resided on what is now River street, midway between the " upper and lower mills," hav- ing a large family of children, and himself in afflu- ent circumstances, " wishing to encourage and pro- mote the education of the youth and the building of school-houses for the better accommodation there -* of in the southerly part of Dorchester," gave to the town, by deed, dated 14th of June, 1802, a lot of land containing about five thousand feet. This gift /
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was made on condition that, within one year, a school-house should be erected on said land-" that the same be put to no other use than that of keep- ing a school therein, and such other purposes as are necessary and convenient to promote education," " and when it ceased so to be used, the land was to revert back to him or his heirs, he paying for the building at an appraisement. The land was at the time of the gift valued at about one third of the appropriation of the town. The town complied with the conditions, and the land is now a part of the school-house lot at the ' Lower Mills.'"
A house was also built the same year, probably, in District No. 2, on the "Lower road," now Adams street, near Mr. William Jacobs's. This yellow school-house has never been removed, and with the exception of an additional door on the easterly side, and a change, it may be, in the chimney from the end to the centre of the building, the old house seems, externally, the same-a memento, to many, of their school-boy days.
In 1803, also, the new school-house by Mrs. Vin- cent's was moved, standing, to a location a little south of the present post-office, on the upper road, now Washington street. The building was com- paratively small, yet the removal was attended with a great deal of expense and trouble to the town. With the facilities now possessed, much larger build- ings are moved with greater ease and safety.
The same year, the town voted " that Ebenezer Trescott and others be allowed three hundred dollars to build a school-house." The year subsequent, a dis-
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trict was formed, called the fifth school district. It ex- tended from Dedham line to Boies's Mills, afterwards " Dorchester Cotton Factory," now a Starch Factory, to Cole's Lane, now Madison Street, and to Roxbury line. The first district clerk was John Savels. The committee to superintend the building of the new school-house, were Mr. Jeremiah McIntosh, Mr. Lemuel Crane, and Mr. Jesse Ellis. The land was given by Mr. Crane for the purpose of a school- house, and for no other use. The district voted a tax of $180 in addition to the three hundred dollars allowed by the town. The old house was sold for 25 dollars, making a fund of five hundred and five dollars with which to build a new house. It was built by Mr. Jesse Ellis, assisted by Mr. William Paul, carpenters. The amount of the bill from Mr. Ellis was 350 dollars. The whole cost for house, fences, &c., was $472 86. The building was neat and commodious, containing seats and writing desks for sixty scholars. A small addition and repairs were made in 1837, and the house is a good one at the present time. Mr. William Sumner gave the district a stove, which was the only one in use for more than thirty years.
It may be well, in this connection, to give a brief account of the latter school, previous to 1803. It is situated in the south-westerly part of the town, and is now called the " Butler School."
In the year 1781, . Nathaniel Weatherby and others petitioned the town "to excuse them from paying their School Tax." " The Article was dis- missed." At the March meeting in 1783, the town
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
voted, " That Ebenezer Trescott, Nathaniel Wea- therby and others be allowed their proportionable part of the school money-they using and improv- ing it for the purpose of educating their children." Miss Polly Williams (who was afterwards the wife of Mr. Ebenezer Vose), a daughter of Dea. Isaac Wil- liams, of Roxbury, kept the first school there, in a corn-barn, before any school-house was built. Miss Williams was engaged by Mr. Richard Clarke, who moved the barn into his yard, opposite where the - present school-house stands. This corn-barn, after being used for a school-room, was converted into a hen-house.
The town from year to year made small appropri- ations for the educational wants of the district. About the year 1786, a school-house was built, near where the present one stands-" by Messrs. Trescott, George and Richard Clark, William Sumner, Lem- uel Crane, Jeremiah McIntosh, and others, inhabit- ants of the district. It was one story in height, fourteen feet long, twelve feet wide, with no plaster- ing inside or clapboards outside, and was only com-
fortable in summer. It had four small glass win- dows, and one without glass, closed with a wooden shutter. A door was in one corner, with no porch or entry. It was filled in, or lined, with brick, in the year 1791, but not plastered, and was sold," as has been stated, "for twenty-five dollars, in 1804." Mrs. Hawes, wife of Joseph Hawes, Miss Gillespie, and other female teachers, taught here in the sum- mer season. In the winter of 1790 and 1791, Mr. Lemuel Crane kept school in his own dwelling-
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house, and afterwards in the school-house in winter, the building having been made more comfortable by the filling in, before mentioned. Mr. Crane also kept an evening school, to teach the apprentices and other boys in the fundamental branches of reading, writing and arithmetic. In the year 1796, " Eben- ezer Trescott and others were allowed one hundred dollars .? ' The sums before this date, were six, nine, fifteen, and twenty pounds per annum. Miss Polly Crane, of Milton, kept the school in the summer of 1797 ; Dr. Gould, of Dedham, in the winter of 1797 and 98. They were followed by Messrs. Nathaniel Heaton, Peck, Rev. William Montague, Perley Lyon and Griffin Child. The latter kept the school of 1803 and 1804, being the last teacher who taught in the old school-house. His salary was " thirteen dollars a month and board for the six winter months. The district paid two dollars a week for his board. Miss Martha Sumner kept the school in the sum- mer of 1803." Mr. Griffin Child continued to teach the school in the winters of 1804-05 and 1805-06. He afterwards taught the school at the Lower Mills. Miss Susan McIntosh and Miss Clarissa Sumner taught in the summers of 1805 and '6. Mr. Wm. Fox, of Woodstock, Conn., taught the school about three years ; Mr. Waldo Fox one year, until the spring of 1810. The town gave the district, in the years 1804, '5 and '6, the sum of $226 39 ; in 1807, $300. The latter sum was allowed each year, until about the year 1816, when another school-house having been built at the " Upper Mills " district, an annual school was established and kept in each
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house in proportion to the number of children east and west of " Capen's brook "-fourteen or sixteen weeks in the old house, the remainder of the year in the new. This system continued until the district was divided. The westerly part was then called the seventh school district, and so continued till the district system was abolished by the town. The " new school," which is the larger one, is now called the " Norfolk School."
It would appear that some, if not all, of the dis- trict school-houses, built with the $300 appropria- tions, belonged to the inhabitants of the districts where said houses were located-the cost, over and above the town's grant, being met by individuals. These houses were afterwards surrendered to the town, to be permanently maintained by it. Accord- ingly, the town voted, May 8th, 1809, to accept the school-house in District No. 4 (now " Gibson School " district) for school uses, the Selectmen to receive a deed from the said district. This being done, it became the property of the town. The same year, $2000 were raised for schools-the next two years, $2100 each.
In April, 1811, it was " voted to accept the ces- sion of the school-house in District No. 1" (the pre- sent " Everett School " district ) " for the Town use- to be retained and kept as a school-house as here- tofore."
In 1812, the town voted to have an annual school kept in the brick school-house by the north meet- ing-house (the now " Mather School "). This school had previously alternated with the one on the lower
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road (now " Adams School " )- being kept on " meeting-house hill " in summer, and at the "lower road " in winter. The town also voted, in 1812, to raise $2700 for schools. The same sum was raised the two following years.
It was voted, in 1818, that the school-house in District No. 2 (now " Adams School " ) " be put on the same footing as the other school-houses in Town."
From 1820 to 1824, inclusive, the annual appro- priation for schools was $2300. In the latter year it was voted to raise $500 to repair school-houses.
The following, from the record, was the estimated school expenses for the year 1821 :-
Six Schoolmasters' salaries, at $400 $2400
Wood for six Schools, carting and sawing 96
School at Squantum 43
Ordinary repairs of School-houses 65
School Committee expenses
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2634
Deduct School income 257
To be raised by taxation $2377
The whole town expenses that year were estimat- ed at $653455. In 1857, the amount of tax raised in town was $87,915 90 ; for schools, $23,622 98. In the years 1825 and 1828, $2500 were appropri- ated for the schools; in 1830, $2300; so that in 1857, the money expended for schools was more than ten times as much as in 1830. In 1827, a commit- tee of the town, to whom was referred the subject of the high school, reported it " expedient to estab-
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
lish " such a school, " otherwise the town exposed itself to heavy penalties." The report was not ac- cepted. The next year there was a change made in the fifth school district at the Upper Mills, to take effect in the early part of the year 1829. " The point of division was at the place where the lane leading to Henry Bird's meets the Dedham road; and on the east side of said lane; and by a line running north and south from that point "-those west of this line to have {§ parts of the money raised, to be called the 7th school district ; the remainder, to the easterly part, the 5th school district.
Vocal music was introduced into the Gibson School by the teacher, Robert Vose, Esq., in 1830. This pleasing and healthy accompaniment to the regular exercises afterwards became general in other schools of the town.
The inhabitants of Neponset village, in Novem- ber, 1831, made a request to the town for assistance in supporting a school. The subject was referred to a committee, who reported, in the March follow- ing, that said village contained twenty-four families and thirty-four children, mostly females, of the pro- per age to attend school, but being about one and a half miles distant from any town school, they were in a measure deprived of public instruction, espe- cially in the winter season. Conformable to their request, therefore, one hundred and fifty dollars were granted them yearly, to aid in the establishment of a public school.
In the year 1834, it was reported that the aggre- gate number of children in the public schools was
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
647; and the whole number attending private schools, 233. The committee recommended to the town the support of five primary schools, one for each district, except No. 5, in addition to those already established ; these primary schools to be annual, and to be taught by females, whose compen- sation was to be three dollars and twenty-five cents a week; and all children under seven years of age to be sent to them. The report was accepted by the town, and soon after went into effect.
One word more as to the districts. On or before the establishment of the first annual schools in town, there were certain defined bounds or limits made, called school districts. In 1801, these territorial limits were more systematically arranged, there be- ing at that time four districts. Soon after this, ano- ther school district was added. In 1815, these dis- trict lines were renewed, and in some parts altered, so as to make six districts instead of five. Subse- quent to this, as has been mentioned, the seventh district was formed. Little heed was paid, however, to the particular districts in which the children re- sided, so far as their attendance at the different schools was concerned. Parents and guardians often sent their children to the nearest school, or otherwise, as their fancies, their individual prefer- ences for a teacher, or the wishes of the children, prompted.
In 1836, the several districts were "newly num- bered, without altering the former lines." The com- mittee then proceeded to number the schools in this wise : - " No. 1, North Burying Place; 2, Rev. N.
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Hall's Meeting-House ; 3, Lower Road; 4, Upper Road ; 5, Lower Mills ; 6, Upper Mills; 7, South- west part of the Town; 8, Neponset Village ; 9, Commercial Point." Afterwards were added- " 10, Little Neck ; 11, Mount Bowdoin."
Four thousand dollars were raised in 1836 for the support of schools.
In 1836 and '7, the town erected, finished and furnished six school-houses, each two stories high- one for each grammar school district, at an expense of between $21,000 and $22,000. The sale of land .. at South Boston, as before stated, which was donat- ed to the town of Dorchester, by John Clap, in 1655, with the apportionment to the town of the State surplus fund ($8842 82), furnished the means for building said houses, so that a direct tax on the inhabitants for that purpose was not required.
The Everett, Mather, Adams, Winthrop and Nor- folk school-houses were built 42 by 26 feet ; the' Gibson school-house, 45 by 30 feet.
The town, also, in 1837, increased the salaries of the then teachers-the male instructors to $450 per annum, and the female to $4 per week, with a pro- viso that the pay to those who might be afterwards employed, should be, for the first six months, at the rate of $400 per year for males, and $3 25 per week to females. After said period, the matter of salary was to be left discretionary with the school com- mittee.
In 1838, there was. a petition signed by nine of the teachers, desiring to be excused from keeping school on Wednesday afternoons. The committee
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
" voted that their request be complied with." This vote was subsequently reconsidered, more than three hundred persons having signed their names in op- position to the granting of the afternoon aforesaid.
In 1839, a primary school was established at " Little Neck," now " Washington Village," $100 having been appropriated by the town for that pur- pose.
In 1844, the afternoons of Wednesday were grant- ed to the schools from the middle of May to the middle of September. At the close of this term, the teachers desired a continuance of the grant.
In this connection it may be interesting to give the sum total of holidays allowed the children and teachers, under the " regulations " thirty years ago. These were, " the afternoon of Saturday and of all town-meeting days for the choice of public officers ; the two Election days (being the last Wednesday in May and the first Monday in June); the fourth of July, and Commencement day." The children were also allowed to go to the sacramental lectures, with- out losing their standing in the class, if their pa- rents were inclined to send them; and the master might " dismiss his school at an earlier hour," if it were " agreeable and convenient " for him to attend said lecture. In addition to this, the general visita- tions of the schools took place semi-annually, in the months of March and September, when the commit- tee would grant the children " one day of relaxa- tion," " at the time most agreeable to the teacher," which was usually the day succeeding the " visita- tion," or " examination," as it was generally called.
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
There was also a provision, that "if either of the Masters have any scholar to offer to the College at Cambridge, he shall have liberty to attend to that business." Neither was the teacher required to be present at the public catechizing, when held at his particular school-house. The catechetical exer- cises were then conducted by the minister - the usual school duties being suspended. The latter re- marks apply more particularly to the schools during the earlier part of the present century.
The aggregate of the time allowed, as above, for cessation from studies for one year, Saturday after- noons included, was scarce equal to a single long vacation granted the children now.
In 1846, there were 1354 scholars connected with the sixteen schools in town-yearly average attend- ance, 715. The town this year voted to appropri- ate $500 to purchase land and build a primary school-house near the junction of Columbia and Green streets.
It is stated, that in 1847, there were ten private schools in town-the aggregate number of children attending them, 168; at a private expense of more than $4000. This exceeded, by more than one half, the sum expended for the public schools that year. Soon after this, under the judicious management of the school committee, public school advantages be- came enlarged, and private schools were diminished.
In 1848, the town voted that the school commit- tee be authorized to establish intermediate schools in the first six districts, and also in the school at Little Neck, whenever the aggregate average attend-
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HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
ance amounted to 135 scholars, and that the sum of $1200 be appropriated for that purpose. It was voted, in addition, that an intermediate school be established at Neponset Village and other districts, whenever, in the opinion of the committee, the wants of any district might render the same neces- sary, provided there be in such schools twenty-five scholars too far advanced for the primary schools, but not otherwise. The town also voted the sum of $10,000 for general school expenses-under the direction of the school committee-together with the sum of $2,000 for buildings and fixtures for intermediate schools. In addition to this, $10,000 were appropriated and expended the same year for a school-house and land at Little Neck. Said house was completed and occupied early in December. Besides this, arrangements were made by the com- mittee for school accommodations in the neighbor- hood of Commercial Point and Harrison Square, and a house was contracted for, to accommodate 200 children-the expense of the building being a little more than $4000. The same year the committee established intermediate schools at the Lower Mills and at Neponset Village, having purchased for that purpose, at the former place, a building previously occupied by a private school. For the Neponset intermediate, provision was made by adding another story to the building occupied by the primary school. Most of the school-buildings in town were, this year, thoroughly repaired, recitation rooms added, the school-rooms newly furnished with chairs and desks, and their whole internal arrangement almost
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