USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 28
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The high school of this town was established in April, 1872. From 1875 on, for a number of years, rooms were occupied in the town hall. A three-year course prevailed in the eighties, and Latin and French were
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taught. The present day schoolhouses are good and the class of teachers is excellent. The word "modern" might well be stamped upon the pub- lic schools of Saugus. The number of school buildings is fourteen ; total number of minors, 3,406; average membership for 1920, 2,210; popula- tion of Saugus, 11,007; tax rate per thousand dollars worth of property for school purposes, $14.31.
Methuen Schools-The early settlers here laid well the foundations for a good system of schools. In 1729 it voted to lay out a school lot north of World's End Pond, which was within the heavy forests at that date. At first, schools were kept at private houses. It was not until 1735 that it was voted to build a schoolhouse, eighteen by twenty feet, and it was to be near the meeting-house. The first schools did not attempt any studies except reading, writing and arithmetic. No woman was allowed to teach until after 1749. In 1775 the town was divided into seven districts. Each district built a schoolhouse, and all were built by one contractor, the price being £29 sterling each. Schoolmasters were obliged to come under the following rules, as far as possible: "The in- structor shall endeavor to govern his respective school by the skillfulness of his hand, and the integrity of his heart, with using as little severity as he shall judge will be for the best good of the school, but when mild measures will not subject the idle to the good order and regulations of the school, the instructor shall have a right to inflict reasonable and decent corporal punishment."
In 1869 the school district system in Massachusetts was abolished. In the winter of that year the high school was established, and has ever since been the leading factor in the schools of the town. Besides the high school, in 1887 there were eighteen schools in Methuen, all kept open nine months in the year. As times changed, other improved methods have been adopted, so that today the educational affairs are fully up to the splendid standard of the schools in the neighboring city of Lawrence.
Beverly Schools-There appears no record concerning the schools of Beverly until 1656, when a meeting house was erected on the town's land, and used as a school house. In 1674 a regular school house was built on town land, sixteen by twenty feet, and nine feet high; this was also used as a watch-house. The first schoolmaster was Samuel Hardie, and his salary was £20 per school year. In 1700 a grammar school was established, and Robert Hale, son of the first minister, was the teacher. In 1704 James Hale, brother of Robert, taught writing, reading, casting accounts, Latin and Greek grammar, at a salary of thirty pounds. The grammar school was discontinued in 1782, but resumed on account of the law compelling such school to be kept. In 1798 it was established in a new house on Watch Hill, the second story being fitted up for town pur- poses. About 1750, the teacher was required to return a list of the names of the parents and masters and the number of children and ser-
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vants expected to be taught by him. The selectmen were expected to tax parents and masters for the support of the schools, and the children and servants of persons who refused to pay their proportion of fuel were not allowed to warm themselves by the schoolhouse fire. In 1836 a list of books to be used, and school regulations, revised to date, were pre- pared.
In 1798 the site on Watch Hill was purchased of the heirs of Larkin Thorndike, and a school was opened under the tuition plan. Later the district bought the school house and land and gave it the name of Briscoe, in honor of Robert Briscoe. The grounds were greatly enlarged in 1873, by the purchase of several estates, and the old building was removed. Just after the Revolution a school was established by a few of the citizens of Beverly in Dike's Lane (now Elm square). This was in a small plain building, heated by a large open fire-place; the largest atten- dance was forty scholars. Tuition was four dollars a quarter. The best teachers received $500 a year at that time. Among the early teachers of this school is recalled, in record, William Prescott, son of Charles Pres- cott, of Bunker Hill fame, afterwards a distinguished judge, who estab- lished the first law office in Beverly.
Anticipating the abolition of the district system in 1866, the school- houses throughout the town had fallen into decay, and so remained till new buildings had to take their places. In January, 1875, the Briscoe building was erected at a cost of $75,000. As the years passed by, other buildings had to be provided, others remodeled and repaired, but at all times the future needs were borne in mind by those who had charge of the schools of the town. Coming down to the present, it should be said that during the recent World War period, the school children here did good work, nearly one thousand caring for gardens, the same being known as "War Gardens." They formed pig and poultry clubs, and also gathered peachstones and nut shells for making carbon for gas masks; more than a half ton was shipped from Beverly among the first requisitions made by the government. The children of public schools also contributed toward the raising of the tall Liberty pole, erected in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the incorporation of Beverly as a town. In one school entertainment, the children netted $228.89 for the benefit of the Red Cross work. Each pupil in all these schools was a member of the Junior Red Cross, and all aided in making and sending forth to the men overseas hosts of articles appreciated by the soldiers.
The teachers of Beverly in 1919 were paid about $150,000, while the janitors of the numerous buildings were paid over $14,000. The report in 1919 shows that the schools of Beverly cost for teachers' administra- tion, teachers' salaries, janitors' salaries, with an unexpended balance of $375, the sum of $168,949. The aim has been for many years in this town to employ good instructors and have suitable, comfortable and scientific school buildings and all modern fixtures in each.
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Newbury Schools-The pioneers of Newbury, as everywhere in Mas- sachusetts, at a very early date paid attention to the education of their children and youth. Teachers were scarce, and generally the intelligent parents had to instruct their children at home. Winthrop came with more than fifteen hundred men, almost all of whom were ignorant, and had children whom they were unable to teach, so in self-defense the Gen- eral Court had to provide some means of educating these children. The various pastors of churches had to assist in school teaching, whenever possible. The first schoolmaster appointed by the town was Anthony Someby, who was granted "four acres of land near the river Parker and some meadow land", as an inducement to keep school one year. It is thought that a part of the time he taught at the Frog Pond. In 1652 a schoolhouse was built and twenty pounds was appropriated for schools that year. Before 1719 there were no free schools, but all were on the tuition plan. In 1675, Henry Short was allowed five punds for teaching a half year, and six-pence for each pupil. The next year some twenty boys were taught by Mr. Short in the Watchhouse.
Up to 1691 the school was kept in the neighborhood of the old town settlement, but later it was ordered that it be kept a part of the year in each part of the town or village. In 1695, Rev. Christopher Toppan taught school in Newbury ; he was a graduate of Harvard, and afterwards pastor of the First Parish. Richard Brown, a graduate of Harvard in 1697, taught from 1700 for eleven years, then he was ordained minister at Reading. He was also town clerk. When he resigned, here is what he said :
I have served Newbury as schoolmaster eleven years and as town clerk five and a half years, and have been paid with abuse, ingratitude and contempt. I have sent nigh as many to college as all the masters before since the Reverend and learned Parker. Those I bred think themselves better than their master (God made them better still), and yet may they remember the foundation of all their growing greatness was laid in the sweat of my brow. I pray that from unacknowledgement Newbury may get them that may serve better and find thanks when they have done. If to find a house for the school two years when the town had none; if to take the scholars to my own fire when there was no wood at school, as frequently; if to give records to the poor and record their births and deaths gratis deserves acknowl- edgement, then it is my due, but hard to come by.
In 1763 the town voted to build a grammar schoolhouse near the head of Fish street, and in 1774, fifteen years after the incorporation of New- buryport, Samuel Moody made a donation of £100 to the town, in addition to a gift of twenty pounds previously given, for use in building a gram- mar school and maintaining the same until others were better able to do so than they were then. In 1821 the town was divided into districts, each looking after its own school and building.
In 1887 the number of pupils in the schools of Newbury was two hundred and forty. At present, good schools are the rule in this town. The superintendent receives $2,700; the truant officer, $800; school-
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houses, twelve in all, were in 1920 valued at $222,500. Eight of these were brick structures. The Curtis schoolhouse, with land on Ashland street, was then valued at $10,000.
Rowley Schools-In 1647 it was made an indictable offense not to maintain a school within any town in Massachusetts. It is not known when the first school here was established, but the date must have been very early. Charles Browne taught before 1650. February 3, 1656, the town agreed with William Boynton to teach school, and advanced money to enlarge his house for that purpose. He taught for more than twenty years. In 1789 the town was divided into districts, and so continued until the district system was abolished in 1869. In 1887 the town had seven schools in operation. Up to that date ninety-five scholars from the schools of this town had graduated from colleges, and more than one-half were finally ministers.
With the passage of the decades, the schools have grown and kept up to the standard of the county. In 1920 the town had a population of 1249. The number of pupils was then 228; average membership, 216; amount spent per pupil, $42.13 ; spent per pupil for text-books, $1.25; for supplies, $1.47 ; amount paid for high schools, $4,649 ; pupils transported to high school at public expense, 43. The following amounts were paid on account of the school department in Rowley in 1920: Committee, $91.77; superintendent, $486.76; teachers, $5,722.51; noon-day service, $50; school physician, $50; high school tuition, $3,938; transportation grade scholars, $570 ; on high school, $2,346.41 ; books and supplies, $593 .- 16; fuel, $927.15; janitor service, $562.37; water and electric system, $682.43 ; miscellaneous, $268.62; total, $16,196.09.
Wenham Schools-The early settlers sought to found a common school system by which rich and poor alike might become well versed in the ordinary branches. Books in those days were rare and newspapers still less in number. Before schools in Wenham were established, the common people had been quite well informed. A complaint was made be- fore the court that no school was yet organized within this town, as late as 1700, but soon the court appointed Captain Thomas Fiske to teach children and youth to read and write. As his remuneration, he was to receive whatever the parents would pay him and his taxes were to be remitted. The next year the town paid a part of the school expense. At first the school was kept in the house of Captain Fiske. In 1702 women were first allowed to teach in this town. The record reads: "voted, to let the selectmen have full power to agree with such school dames as are necessary to learn children to read." This was perhaps among the earliest instances where women were allowed to teach school. William Rogers was many years employed as a teacher in the Wenham schools. In 1735, Daniel Fiske sold the town five square rods of land in the west end of town on which to erect a school house and maintain a
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school. This building was erected in 1739, and that year thirty pounds was raised for school purposes. The selectmen then had full charge of the schools. The first school committee was appointed in 1772. It ap- pears that the custom was to rotate the school from one part of the town- ship to another. After 1817 the schools were looked after by a committee elected annually.
The present system of schools includes the following, with an account of their condition in 1920, as per the town's report: Junior High had an enrollment of 55; Center Intermediate, 42; Center Primary, 58; East school, 9; West school, 16; total, 180.
Nahant Schools-Historians have no means of fixing the exact date of the first school in Nahant. It is known that a school house was in use prior to 1812. The first school was held in the Hood house, and also one about the same date in the old Johnson estate. The schoolhouse refer- red to above was formerly used as a shoe shop. It stood where later was established the postoffice. In 1887 there was still residing in Na- hant a man (then ninety years old) who had attended that early, if not first, school in the place, and this is what he had to say of it:
The first school that I ever attended was to the Hood house, and was kept by Nancy Carter during twelve weeks in the winter. Some three winters after that we went to school in the old red school-house. There were then about thirty scholars. Benches ran across both sides of the room, so that we faced each other; long seats or benches ran be- hind these; and the teacher had a table at the end of the room, where she sat. The school was only kept in spring and winter. Clarissa Herrick was the first teacher, who later married Richard Hood. Betsey Graves, who afterward married Joseph Johnson, taught the school from 1812 to 1816.
The next schoolhouse was built about 1819, of stone gathered from the granite boulders that were scattered through the pastures. It was about twenty-five feet square, with a hip-roof. A library and a few pic- tures were donated by William Wood, Thomas H. Perkins and others. Another thoughtful person also furnished a bell. The heat for the building was furnished by a large box-stove that took in long, thick sticks of wood, which the scholars took turns in splitting and carrying into the "entry" each morning for the day's use. This building served as church and political hall, as well as the center of all attractions in Nahant, for a number of years. The records show that Joseph Johnson served many years as one of the prudential committee, and collected from Lynn the small amount allowed for the Nahant school, while the citizens of Nahant had to subscribe the remainder required. Joseph Johnson and his sons served as school committee for more than sixty years. In 1851 this build- ing was torn down and another built. This was the first well-built and then known as "modern built" schoolhouse in the county. When Nahant was set off from Lynn, this schoolhouse became the property of Nahant,
Essex-43
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the date being 1853. In 1853 a second primary school was established. In 1876 the high school was established, followed by a fourth school, in 1880, with Miss Nellie Palmer as teacher. A grammar school was also erected in 1884. Since then the school buildings and fixtures have all been of the best, while the schools have measured up to the standard found through- out Essex county in the last third of a century.
In 1921 the budget prepared by the school committee for Nahant was: Salaries, $15,000; tuition and transportation, $4,500; heating and lighting, $1,500; janitors, $1,800; books and supplies, $1,000; repairs and upkeep, $500 ; school expansion, $1,000; equipment, $450 ; physicians, $250. In 1920 the cost per pupil was $102.06. Back in 1912-13, it was $51.03 per pupil. There are now nine regular teachers. The average salary in Nahant is now $1,100. The number of scholars is about 275. These schools have departments in sewing, drawing, manual training, domestic science and cooking.
Bradford Schools-While Bradford is now a part of Haverhill, it is not without some interest in this connection to mention the beginning of educational affairs here, the present history being associated, of course, with that of the Haverhill school system. The first vote of the town upon schools was in 1701, when the selectmen were ordered to provide school and assess the town for the expense. The next year it was voted that those who sent children to school should pay two pence a week for those who learned to read, and four pence for those who learned to write, the additional expense to be paid by the town. The first school- house was built on the meeting-house lot. It was eighteen by twenty- two feet in size and seven feet high. Its cost was £25 sterling. The building committee was made up as follows: Jonathan Woodman, Rob- ert Haseltine and Nathaniel Walker. There was at least one "nooning house," where the people could warm themselves during the noon inter- mission and eat food they brought with them. In 1820 there were seven schoolhouses in the town. In 1754 it was voted that £40 be raised for the schoolmaster and his board. Having thus outlined the first schools of Bradford, the reader will find later facts for what was Bradford, but now embraced within Haverhill, in the section of this work treating on that city and its schools in the educational chapter, as well as what may be there found concerning the old Bradford Academy. Before passing to other schools, it may, be said that in 1887 the public schools of Bradford had a scholarship of 546; there were then twelve schools and fifteen teachers. The high school was established in 1866.
Merrimac Schools-The education of youth in the early days was obviously not what it is today. The first school board in Amesbury was chosen in 1792. In 1803 there were in this parish four school districts- the River District, receiving $174, with fourteen weeks; the "Birch Meadow," receiving $135; the "Esquire Sargent's," receiving $135, with
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eleven weeks, and the "Highland" receiving $92. At the time of the in- corporation of Merrimac in 1876, there were within the districts of this town eleven schools. At that time there were 367 scholars. The high school was established in 1873, Frank Wiggin being the first teacher, continuing until 1883. In 1879, Ellen Gunnison was appointed assistant and continued until the summer of 1881, when she was succeeded by Helen K. Spofford.
In 1920 the total number of scholars was 385; the high school had 71; eighth grade, 37; Prospect school, 33; Merrimacport, 25; and the various grades run about forty each. The total of regular salaries for the ten-months' school year is $16,900.
The Schools of Gloucester-For the first sixty years the only schools were those of a private nature, and not very many of them. The town took its first action along the line of schools in 1696, when the selectmen were ordered to "provide a schoolmaster in convenient time." There were a few attempts at establishing a school, but such schools were not regular nor successful. In 1701, at the quarterly session at Salem, Gloucester was brought before that body for neglecting to main- tain a school. In 1809 Joshua Moody taught a term of school lasting a quarter, for eight pounds, and in addition to the common branches "he was to teach lattine, if scholars appear." The first school house was built in 1708, and was located at the eastern side of the meeting-house. It was sixteen by twenty-four feet in size and had a six foot studding; the cost was £24. For thirty years the public grammar school was lo- cated in this building. It was too far for many of the children to at- tend, so in 1725 Sandy Bay secured land and built a building for that part of the town. The record says "to keep a good school in for the Godly instruction of children, and teaching of them to read and write good English." In 1826 a similar school was established at the Head of the Harbor.
The schools were badly broken up during the Revolutionary war period, but after that struggle much attention was at once paid to schools. In 1793 the town voted to erect a school house costing about three hun- dred pounds. It was located on Granite street; it was a square two-story house. For a time it served as town hall, school house and general pub- lic meeting place. After standing about sixty years, this building was removed to Beacon street, and there used for the primary department of the schools. In 1804, according to a new law, the town was divided into school districts. At first there were eleven districts in the township; but after once in the habit of making districts, the number rapidly increased, until in 1840 there were twenty school districts, and a little later three more were added. The incorporation of Sandy Bay in 1840 as a separ- ate town diminished the number to sixteen, but it was not many years before the entire school system was reorganized on better plans. A high school was organized and grammar and primary schools were located in
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different parts of the town. When the district system was finally dis- carded there were 1,672 children of school age in the town. The school expenses were then running about $5,600 per year. In 1887 there were twenty-two school buildings in Gloucester City; 122 teachers; 4,326 scholars. The amount appropriated at that date was $52,000. A pri- vate school at the Harbor, as early as 1790, in a building erected express- ly for that purpose, was known as the "Proprietor's School House." It did not survive many years. (For an account of other institutions of learning see later details in this section of the work).
Coming down to 1921, the schools of Gloucester are in an excellent condition. The apportionments for 1920 were about as follows: Gen- eral administration, $6,400; teachers' salaries, $150,500; evening schools, $3,000; text-books and all other supplies, $14,500; military equipment, $800; for transportation of pupils, $4,500. Every feature in a modern high and graded school may be found in Gloucester today. The public library mentioned in the city history affords a great help to the scholars of these schools.
There can be no doubt as to our ancestors' valuation of education. A law relating to common schools was passed in 1642 and in 1647 it was made an indictable offence for towns not to maintain schools. From Gage's History of Rowley we learn that although schools were probably established before 1642, there were no definite records of the same as to dates or teachers before 1656. When the town agreed with William Boynton to teach a town school for seven years, "male children from four to eight, parents were to be taxed toward paying the matter." The church agreed to loan Mr. Boynton £5, to aid him to put up "an end to his house," on condition that he keep the school seven years; then the demand against him for said £5 to be void; "but if he do not so keep the school, then he is to pay the church one-half the apprised value of said new end of the house." It appears that Mr. Boynton taught the school, not only seven, but also twenty-four years, the town usually paying him £5 per year; the residue of his compensation he received by an assess- ment upon the scholars. He also swept the meeting house, and rang the bell. "For this service he usually received £2 10s. per annum."
From 1682 to (date unrecorded) Simon Wainwright was the teacher. Then Mr. Edward Payson Colleague, with Rev. Samuel Phillips, was teacher most of the time until his death in 1696 .*
Soon after came a Mr. Richard Syle, with an increase in the salary, as it is recorded that in 1701 he received £10 per year, beside the assess- ment on scholars; and in 1702 he received £20, but had to find his wood (fuel). These terms were agreed on for many years.
In 1706 the town was fined for not keeping school as the law re- quired.
*Note-Consider the descendants of Phillips in relation to public schools. See Preface, Gage's History of Rowley.
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In 1716 Mr. Syle was to have £16, the town to furnish wood, and he was to teach three months in the "upper part of the town"-Byfield par- ish-the first record of a public school there. In 1720 the town, Old Rowley, voted to build a new school house, "26x20, 8 feet post." In 1722 Mr. Syle died, after which Mr. Samuel Payson was employed. Mr. Pay- son assisted his father in the ministry and taught many years. He re- ceived £30 per annum, and in addition had 3d. per scholar for readers and 6d. for writers, and was to keep in the westerly part of the town four months. Here we have the first record, in Gage's History of Rowley, of a town school in that part of Rowley, which more than a hundred years later became the town of Georgetown, and during which time a few im- portant changes in the management of schools should be noted.
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