USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Marlborough > Marlborough tercentenary celebration : historical souvenir and official program, June 10-19, 1960 > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
management of a group of citizens called "Proprietors" until 1795, they having control of unassigned lands, not only in Marlboro itself, but in Westborough, North- boro, and Southborough which then had been separ- ated from Marlboro for 170 or more years.
Of the 72 square miles that were set up by a com- mittee of the general court in 1656, the towns of West- borough and Northboro were set off in 1717, and the town of Southborough in 1725. The Indian Plantation of nearly ten square miles wsa annexed to Marlboro in 1716, and from this and a small area of original Marl- boro territory the town of Hudson was set off in 1866. Marlboro in 1660 adjoined Lancaster on the northwest, and the Indian Town on the north, but in every other way was bounded by unassigned land of the Colony. It was not until 1791 that a gore of land to the east was annexed to Marlboro, so that the town adjoined Sud- bury's west line. When Framingham became a town in 1700, it also abutted Marlboro's east line. The annexa- tion 'of the Indian Town brought Marlboro's north boundary to the town of Stow. Part of Lancaster eventu- ally became the town of Berlin, so that today the 22 square miles that comprise the City of Marlborough are bounded by Sudbury and Framingham on the east, Southborough on the south, Northboro on the south- west, Berlin on the northwest, and Hudson on the north.
11
OTRIC CRAFT RE
We extend our sincerest congratulations on Marlboro's Tercentenary celebration. A proud tradition is an asset indeed, and its very being is a contribution to its further growth.
We share with you this fine sentiment by our constant adherence to craftsmanship of the old world -
NORTHBOROUGH, MASS.
JOHNSON-CLAFLIN CORPORATION
301 LINCOLN STREET
MARLBORO
Of Books and Birch Rods
The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed an Act in 1647 requiring each town having as many as 50 families to maintain a school for teaching reading and writing, and to this later was added "the casting of accounts," all together adding up to the three R's. The court also required towns of 100 families to provide a "grammar school" where boys (not girls) could be taught Greek and Latin and other subjects necessary to college entrance. Throughout the years the General Court and the State Legislature have revised and added to the basic law of 1647, so that school edu- cation is now compulsory for all between the ages of 6 to 16.
Schools in Marlboro were not established until late in the 1600's, owing to time consumed in getting 50 families settled, and to the dangers of Indian attack, which made the assembling of children a risky thing. Children during the first years of the plantation were taught at home by parents and grandparents, as most of the settlers had had some schooling. Illiteracy was kept at arm's length at least.
Some Marlboro records have been lost, but from those available it would seem that the first one engaged to teach school in Marlboro bore the familiar name of Benjamin Franklin, and resided here with his family in 1690. He would appear to be an uncle of the famous Dr. Benjamin Franklin, patriot, printer and publisher of Poor Richard's Almanac who lived in Boston and Phila- delphia. If he were the famous man's uncle he had a high reputation for learning in England, and made more than one round trip between Old England and New England. He kept school at different sections of the town in rotation, and as there had been no school houses built he taught in private homes.
In December of 1698 Johnathan Johnson, the blacksmith, then getting into old age, kept school in his own house opposite the Meeting House, and the next year the Town built the first school house on what is now Monument Square. In 1702, John Holman from Milton, Mass., who had graduated at Harvard College in 1700 commenced teaching reading, writing and "casting accounts" for the younger pupils, and also taught Latin to the older boys.
Next William Thomas took residence here and taught for 12 or 15 years, succeeded by his son William, Jr., who was born in Marlboro and taught for 40 winter terms in school houses that had by then been built. His son, Robert Bailey Thomas, born here in 1766, taught for a short period, and then moved to the town of Boylston where he died in 1846. For 50 years Robert B. Thomas published "The Old Farmer's Almanac," and this little book of calendar, forecasts and advice to all, has been continued in annual publication without omis- sion upto and including 1960.
As the population of Marlboro grew, the town was divided into school districts; each district had its own one-room school house, and all ages were taught by one teacher. Children under three years old were not
permitted at school. Those under 16 had to attend school a minimum of 60 days each year. As time went on the entrance age was raised to 4 and then to 5, and the compulsory top age was reduced to 14, and then raised to 15 and again to 16. The length of the school year was increased to 16 weeks, and then to 24 weeks and even more, depending upon the number of stu- dents in attendance in any district, since the greater the number assembled before the one teacher, the longer it took to instruct them.
The first school houses were heated by fireplaces, . but in 1815 cast iron stoves were introduced. Furniture consisted of benches and later bench desks were pro- vided. Blackboards were an invention of the 1820's. Slates were used in preference to writing paper. Some books were furnished by the town, but most had to be bought by the scholars. Copybooks for penmanship exercises were made by the pupils, and these often were used for arithmetic also, thereby serving the dual purpose of writing practice and the recording of rules for mathematics. Goose quill pens were used and the best men teachers were proficient in sharpening the pens with a pocket knife, hence the word "pen-knife." Ink was also concocted by the teachers, and in the win- ters writing with ink could not be attempted until the frozen ink had been thawed.
Winter terms of school were the longest and best attended, for then, in spite of the difficulties in getting to and from the school house over unplowed roads filled with snow, there was not so much farm work to com- pete with school work.
13
Your Only Hometown Daily Newspaper Dedicates Its 72 Years of Success
To Marlboro
UGH
Proud To Have Served
Marlboro Daily Enterprise
In 1803 the schools were organized to have wom- en teachers for a summer term of 71/2 weeks, and a winter term of 14 weeks under men teachers, some of whom were college students earning money for their college expenses. Some Marlboro residents made a specialty of teaching -- among others Silas Felton who taught, after starting in 1795, a total of 550 weeks of 51/2 days, and Levi Bigelow, who taught at Robin Hill District 20 winters from 1815, and specialized in pen- manship. "Master" Herman Seaver taught many years in the center villages. The Goodale family furnished several teachers, including Lucy Goodale, who in 1819 married Rev. Asa Thurston of Fitchburg, and then went to Hawaii with the first Christian missionary group and spent the remainder of her life there.
The first school mistress in Marlboro was Lucy Brigham, who was teaching as early as 1798, when in her teens.
In 1803 school mistresses received $1.00 per week for teaching, and $1.00 per week for board, or total of $15.00 for the 71/2-weeks term. School masters re- ceived $1.75 to $2.00 per week and an equal amount for board, and taught a 14 week term. In 1803 Dr. Nathaniel Pierce received 84 cents "for teaching one scholar the Latin language for three weeks."
Although these wages appear ridiculous by mod- ern salary schedules, yet they were adequate for the times and there was no dearth of teacher supply. The teachers were subjected to examination by a board of the ministers and other educated men of the town, and had to prove their fitness as instructors.
In 1827 a group of Marlboro citizens formed a stock company to establish an Academy to serve the purposes of higher education, such as Dr. Pierce had been paid for. This was a private institution and the students paid a small tuition fee. By permission of the Town, the Academy building was erected on the Meet- ing House Common, which at that time, following the splitting of the Town into two parishes, was just a vacant plot of land. Silas Gates and his son, Abraham Gates, who had inherited and operated the old Williams Tavern, were members of the Academy Corporation. Silas died in 1828 and Abraham in 1830, and each be- queathed to the Academy $1,000, the income of the total $2,000 to be used for the support of the preceptor of the Academy, and for that reason the institution was called "Gates Academy." The Academy first received pupils in 1828 and during the ensuing five years was not a great success. In 1833 Obadiah Wheelock Albee was selected as preceptor and the school sprang into life, and had pupils not only from Marlboro, but from surrounding towns and a few from out-of-state. Mr. Albee came from Milford, Mass., and was a graduate of Brown University of the class of 1832.
The Academy building was a two-story wooden structure, and the second story was used briefly as a Masonic Lodge Room. The school room was on the first floor, heated by a stove in the winter, and the word "heater" is used with considerable license, since one pupil went on record as saying the temperature, by thermometer reading, was often as low as forty degrees. The furnishings were crude, the lighting by windows was inadequate, and the ventilation was by the leakage system. Toilet facilities were outside the building. The water supply was a well. If there were writing or sing- ing school classes in the evening, each one attending.
such extra classes brought his own candle for light. Yet the school was as good as any in any other town at the time, Mr. Albee was superior as an instructor, and many who completed the courses offered attained high positions in later years as clergymen, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and manufacturers.
In 1851 the town of Marlboro voted to establish a public High School, and took over the Academy, - the building itself, Mr. Albee as Principal, and the under- graduate student body. As a High School the first classes assembled September 6, 1851. Because of a considera- ble increase in population due to the shoe factories, the attendance at this school outgrew the building, even with both floors in use and an assistant instructor em- ployed; in 1860, the Town built a new High School building, on the Academy site, of three stories, and with a basement where one room was designated as a gymnasium, but which was soon declared too damp for that purpose. This new school was ready for use in January of 1861, but Mr. Albee resigned as principal and his position was filled by others; first by Mr. Game- well, and then by Mr .Claflin who resigned in the fall of 1862 to join the Union Army along with two of his pupils.
This 1860 High School was used until the older half of the present High School building was erected in 1897, the second half being added thereto in 1924. Now plans have been drawn for a new High School building to be built on the old Indian Plantation land close to the intersection of the old Connecticut Path (Union St.) and the Nashua Path (Bolton St.).
In March, 1884, the School Committee appointed a Superintendent of Schools for a period of one year, on the assumption that great good could be accomplished through this office. With true New England caution, however, they reserved the right to report to the Town if this officer should prove inefficient, while granting that a single year was hardly sufficient to determine his. true value. At this time, Marlborough schools comprised one High School of three rooms with a seating capacity of 88, four large buildings of 2018 capacity used for primary and elementary grades, three two-room build- ings within the limits of the town, and four rural schools accommodating a total of 200 pupils.
These eleven district schools have long since been consolidated into the present four elementary schools, Freeman, built in 1916, Mitchell in 1925, Bigelow in 1931, and Hildreth in 1932.
The custom of "Examination Days" at the conclu- sion of the winter term of school began in the District School. Then, the pupils, particularly the class that had completed their school education, put on an exhibition of blackboard demonstrations, recitations and declama- tions, with the School Committee acting as examiners, that Board consisting of three men, two of whom at least were clergymen and the other a doctor or lawyer or otherwise educated person. The parents, or others interested, were invited, and a gala time was spent. This practice was continued at Gates Academy and for many years at the High School
On Friday, March 20, 1868, after an all-day exami- nation at the High School, graduation exercises were held in the evening at the Town Hall and diplomas were presented to four young ladies and the one young man who comprised the Senior Class, by Rev. Mr. Start of the School Committee. This was the first time diplomas
15
MARLBOROUGH CO-OPERATIVE BANK
Marlborough, Mass.
1890
1960
OFFICERS
President Frederick W. Pratt
Vice President Harold S. Morse
Treasurer and Clerk Cecil E. Standish
Assistant Treasurer Richard K. Cogswell
DIRECTORS
Claude E. Williams
Frederick W. Pratt
Norman Forbush Fred N. Bearce
Arthur M. Forbush
John W. Temple Cecil E. Standish
Hector E. Moineau
Jeremiah J. Bradley
William F. Wingler
Harold S. Morse
SECURITY COMMITTEE
Arthur M. Forbush Hector E. Moineau
Fred N. Bearce Norman Forbush
ATTORNEY Arthur H. Bastien
Member of: The Co-operative Central Bank
Federal Home Loan Bank U. S. Savings & Loan League Massachusetts Co-operative Bank League Massachusetts Bankers Association
Giving liberal dividends on deposits and providing money for Home Mortgages since 1890, we have enjoyed the reputation of being Marl- borough's "friendly bank."
All deposits insured in full under Massachusetts laws.
were awarded in Marlboro, and the first time gradua- tion essays were read by the graduates, including the Valedictory by Miss Lilla W. Witherbee. Abner H. Wen- zell was the Principal of the High School at this time, and to him and the assistant, Miss Martha Bigelow, the class presented a card tray and silver candlesticks,' respectively, and also to Mr. Wenzell framed photos of themselves. Thus was started in Marlboro the pattern for High School graduations, in emulation of the col- leges and which has been continued without interrup- tion to the present day, except that private classroom examinations to show the proficiency of a student have been substituted for the "public" ones.
In 1873 music as a scheduled part of school work was introduced, and Prof. Francis W. Riley was engaged as instructor. Prof. Riley had had a prominent part in arranging the colossal Music Jubilee in Boston the year before, in which some Marlboro people had parts in the chorus of 20,000 voices and the orchestra of 2,000 instruments. In 1872 concerts in preparation for this Boston event had been held in Marlboro, and after the Boston performances in June of 1872 the bands from Paris and Dublin came to Marlboro and were honored. There were other musical events in Marlboro in 1872, so that the Town musically awakened, voted a course in Music in the public schools at the next Town Meeting in March of 1873.
Previous to 1873 there had been casual singing in the schools, as a break in the tedium of other studies, and there had been private singing classes over many years, and small choral groups and orchestras had been organized, but it was a wide step to include music in the schools at the taxpayers' expense. A few years later instruction in drawing was included in the school courses.
In addition to the Public Schools, there are also in Marlborough, two Catholic Elementary schools and a girls' academy. St. Mary's Parochial School, conducted by the Sisters of St. Ann, has an enrolment of 350 chil- dren. It was completed in 1952 to replace St. Anthony's School which had served the French-speaking people of St. Mary's Parish since 1889. The Immaculate Concep- tion Parish maintains two schools on Washington St., one built in 1910, and the second constructed in 1956, and both staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph, with an enrolment of about 750 children. St. Ann's Academy was opened in 1888 by the Sisters of St. Ann, as an elementary school, and soon after expanded to include High School; at present it has an enrolment of approxi- mately 350 students in grades five through High School. The student body comprises not only local pupils, but girls from all section of New England and Canada as well as some from Porto Rico and Venezuela.
Organized games had no place in the schools, al-
though impromptu outdoor games at recess time were indulged in; throwing a ball, running games, an occa- sional fist fight among the boys, and rope-skipping for the girls.
Intra-town and inter-town competitions were un- heard of as these involved preplanning which was not possible before the day of the telephone and fast trans- portation.
Games similar to baseball were played way back in the 1700's with posts instead of cushions for bases. Baseball by uniformed teams was played in Marlboro in 1860, not by school boys, except when they tried to imitate their elders, but grown-up young men. Games were played on the High School Common, which then was a steeper side hill than it is now, and the scores would be some fantastic figure like 56 to 29. In 1869 the Marlboro Fairmount Baseball Club improved a piece of land for a ball field east of Prospect St. between Rice and Lincoln Sts., which streets were non-existent then. This field had been the place where the big tent was pitched for the principal banquet and speaking program at the time of the 200th Anniversary Celebration in 1860. The Fairmounts were a sort of local World Champion Team in the 1860's and 70's and went on barnstorming tours. They were followed later by the nine Madden Brothers, some of whom had played with the Fairmounts, and were the great-grandparents and great uncles of the Madden boys in the High School of 1960.
High School athletics do not appear to have been been popular until the middle of the 1890's, when both baseball and football teams had scheduled games with the neighboring towns, some of which could be easily reached by the steam railroad lines and others by elec- tric street railway. A privately-built baseball field, called Prospect Park, with wooden bleachers and grand- stands had been built on the top of Prospect Hill in the 1880's and was used by the Town baseball teams. There was no other place suitable for athletics until Ward Park was built in 1924 by the City and about the same time Stevens Playground and Kirby Field were prepared. In 1936, Ward Six Athletic Field was built by the City.
Basketball was not played in Marlboro until about 1900, and was introduced then by young men who had learned the game at college. This game was played in the City Hall. Following a basketball game on Christmas night, Dec. 25, 1902, the building caught fire and was totally consumed.
Eight years ago, in 1952, a city Recreation Depart- ment was organized, so that there is now an excellent bathing beach at Fort Meadow with instructors for swimming. And there are baseball teams and basket- ball teams under the direction of this department.
17
JOHN ADDISON
FOOTWEAR, INC.
MARLBOROUGH, MASS.
It is our pleasure as one of the city's major employers to congratulate Marlborough on its 300th anniversary and to extend sincere wishes for peace and prosperity in the years to come.
"Mer Thanke Ther, Lorde"
The plantation that became Marlboro was settled by English "Puritans," as was the entire colony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. These Protestants differed very little in their religious concepts from the English "Pilgrims" of the adjacent Plymouth Colony. The fact that these two colonies had separate charters from the English kings, was their main reason for any difference at all, and that difference was in their politi- cal organizations. Yet the Plymouth people were a bit more lenient in regard to religious liberty, than those of the Bay Colony who would brook not even slight devia- tions from their creed, and dealt harshly with any who had religious ideas at variance with them.
At Marlboro, however, there were no discordant incidents. Even the witch craft delusions were unknown in Marlboro. Marlboro's immediate neighbors were the members of Puritan John Eliot's christianized Indian community, who, having no church or preacher of their own, often came to the Sabbath services at the Marlboro Meeting House.
A requisite of the General Court in granting the English plantation at Marlboro in 1656 was that a minis- ter be settled there and twenty-five families be resident there within three years. Rev. William Brinsmead, was ordained in Marlboro April 7, 1659, but there was not the minimum twenty-five families until after the con- vening of the General Court of that year, so that it was not until May 31, 1660, that the Court could give its final approval to the plantation at Marlboro.
From this date until 1778, there was but the one church in Marlboro, and one parish. Over the years the policies of the Puritan church had been liberalized, and in what is the State of Massachusetts many other re- ligious societies or sects had been allowed to establish themselves and live in peaceful co-existence. The Puri- tan Church and the town government continued to be hand-in-hand, although avowed members of other church bodies could not vote in Town Meeting on mat- ters pertaining to the Puritan Church, nor were they taxed for the support of that church.
In 1711 a new Meeting House had been built on the Common, but by 1805 the inhabitants decided to build a new House and the single parish split in two over the question of where to build the new edifice, with the result that in Town Meeting it was voted to build it on the site of the present Congregational Church at the edge of the East Village of the town. Thereupon the people of the West Village decided to build a church on the site of the present Unitarian Church, even though by so doing they must bear the whole expense of the West Church plus their proportionate share of the cost of the East Church, which by vote of the town was the official church.
On April 27, 1806, both churches opened for ser- vices, the West Church with Rev. Asa Pachard (who had resigned as town minister) in the pulpit, and a slight majority of the church members in the pews, while at the East Church all the deacons and a slight minority of
the church members sat to hear Rev. Reuben Puffer of Berlin who filled the pulpit that day. The East Church had been built large enough to seat the whole town, but the West part refused to reconsider their action and rejoin the East, and soon obtained a charter from the State Legislature to become a separate Parish. Later, at an indefinite date, the West Church adopted the princi- ples promulgated by some of the leading ministers in Boston, and became a Unitarian Church. The building has been altered considerably over the past 150 years, and it stands today, although the parish is not strong in numbers.
The East Village Church adhered to the orthodox principles of the Puritan Church, but encountered some vicissitudes. It had to be rebuilt to a smaller size to better accommodate the congregation. In 1833 a short- lived Evangelistic Society made great inroads on the membership, but after a three years' separation they were reunited and hence the name "Union Congrega- tional Church." The common in front of this church off Main Street still bears the name "Union Common." In 1852, immediately after some extensive repairs, the church burned, but was soon rebuilt and rededicated, as the third church on that site within a period of 47 years. This building had a lofty spire, and stood until September of 1938, when a violent hurricane toppled the spire back on to the main body of the building, taking roof and floors under it and leaving only the four walls standing but twisted. The next year it was again rebuilt, and in 1959 a large addition was completed for Sunday Schools and assembly hall.
19
.
A SALUTE TO 300 YEARS OF PROGRESS
The First National Bank of Marlboro is happy to have been a part of the growth of the city through its many services. We look forward to a tremendous industrial and residential expansion in the next few years.
This bank was organized in 1863, and has made many friends over the years. We shall always be ready to serve you most sincerely and in confidence.
OFFICERS
John G. Allen
President
Harold S. Morse
Vice-President
Roland S. DesRochers
Cashier
George H. Bill
Asst. Cashier
DIRECTORS
John A. Curtis
Harold S. Morse
Paul F. Shaughnessy
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.