USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lawrence > Quarter-centennial history of Lawrence, Massachusetts, with portraits and biographical sketches > Part 11
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 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15
1849, January 17, Mr. Thomas W. T. Curtis was examined, and elected teacher of the High School.
The time for dedicating the new School House on Haverhill Street, was fixed for January 30th, and at a meeting of the school committee the evening previous, it was voted, "To proceed to the choice of a name for the new School House." Voted, "That the School to be hereafter kept in the School House on "Haverhill Street, in town of Lawrence, shall bear the name of the Oliver School, and
JOHN F. COGSWELL,
Cogswell & Co.'s Express, office, 5 Lawrence Street ; residence, 276 - Haverhill St. Born at Dover, N. H., March, 1835. Educated at Phillips Academy, Andover. Came to Lawrence in 1853. He was employed at the Pacific Mills four years, and by the Boston & Maine Co. two years. Entered the express business in 1859, and has con- . tinued in it since that time. Attends Grace Episcopal church. Was a member of common council in 1862-63, and is at present one of the trustees of the city library ; also a trustee of the Broadway Savings Bank. Married Esther M. Merrill in 1860 ; has two children.
1
125
HISTORY OF LAWRENCE, MASS.
that this name shall be publicly announced by the chairman of the school committee in the words of the above vote."
January 31st, the Committee met at the Oliver School House, and after examination, seventeen were admitted to the High School. September 4th, of that same year, another examination of candidates took place, but none were admitted. 1
The High School continued under the sole charge of Mr. Curtis, with about twenty scholars, until that number was increased by the admission of twenty-two scholars, September 2d, 1850, seven only without qualification. October 24th Miss Sarah B. Hooker was elected assistant teacher, whose subsequent course fully sustained the high expectations formed from her appearance and examination.
During the municipal year ending March Ist, 1850, the Amesbury Street School House, the Newbury Street School House, and the School House on Tower Hill, which was called the Pine Grove School House, were built. . During the year ending March, 1851, a better School House was built on the South Side of the river, opposite the residence of M. C. Andrews, and also the Cross Street House, and a one-story, and what was considered a temporary house on Oak Street, in the rear of the Oliver School House. A plan was also submitted by the School Committee for the enlargement of the Oliver School House, by building a transverse section, three stories in height, fur- nishing in the upper story a large and commodious hall, and in the second and first stories, eight rooms. At the close of the fourth municipal year there were seventeen distinct schools under the care of twenty-five teachers, and having an attendance of 1470 scholars.
From the first, the town met with prompt liberality every reasona- blè demand made by the School Committee, but those demands could not be properly anticipated. Neither the town authorities nor the School Committee had data by which they could calculate with cer- tainty the School accommodations that would be required in any specified time. The School report for the year ending March, 1850,
0
126
QUARTER-CENTENNIAL
says : "When the Oliver School House was planned, no idea of a Grammar School was associated with the premises, as it was supposed that the Jackson Street House would accommodate the Grammar School on this side of the river, for an indefinite period. But before the walls were up it was found necessary entirely to alter the plan, and the Grammar School was placed in its upper story, with seats for 184 scholars." And although the house was dedicated January 30th, 1849, the report further states, the accommodations it furnishes have long been insufficient. In the report of the next year, from March 31, 1850 to March 31, 1851, when advocating the necessary enlarge- ment of the building, the committee said : "It is a matter of profound thanksgiving on our part, in view of our official responsibility, that we are not answerable for the extraordinary increase of the children of this town." Our predecessors recommended that a new house should be built for the middle and primary schools now kept in the Oliver House, and the rooms they had occupied be devoted to the Grammar School, adding : This arrangement will answer, it is hoped for several years. Several years? It was not several months,-in- deed, the arrangement had not been carried into effect before the increase of scholars was such as to leave everything worse off than before. One hundred and twenty-five children, the report farther says "are now waiting for room in the Oliver School House."' With good reason, therefore, the committee urged the addition of the large transverse section.
Since that addition was made there has never been the uncomfor- table pressure of necessity, so very difficult to provide for, that for so many years harrassed the Committee. -
In the year ending March, 1852, the Unitarian Vestry, which was on Jackson Street, and had been for some years occupied as a School House, was purchased and removed to the intersection of Newbury and Eln Streets, and has been and is known as the Elm Street School House.
ALBERT DAVID SWAN,
Fire Insurance Agent. Office at No. 7 Lawrence Street ; residence, corner of Andover St. and Winthrop Ave. Has been in Lawrence since 1848, excepting from 1861 to 1866. Born in Tewksbury, Mid- dlesex Co., Mass., May 10, 1845. Attended the Oliver Grammar and Lawrence High School ; graduated at Comer's Commercial College, Boston. Married Helen Eliza Churchill, May roth, 1866 ; has no children. Unitarian in belief. Commenced as clerk in the private banking house of Hallgarten & Herzfield, New York City ; was after- wards gold paying teller and also attorney for the firm in the New York Stock Board. Started in company with his father, under the firm name of D. S. Swan & Son, in 1866, in the Fire Insurance Agency business, which he has continued to the present. The senior member of the firm died in 1874. Mr. Swan was paymaster of the 2nd Bat. Mass. Light Art., and is now mustering officer and paymaster of the Ist Bat. Light Art. A director of Bay State National Bank.
-
1
127
HISTORY OF LAWRENCE, MASS.
In the year 1854, the Hampshire Street School House, called in the late School Reports, the Pine Street House, and the Franklin Street School House were built.
In the year 1856, the small one-story School House, which, at the commencement of Lawrence was found at what is now the junction of Prospect and East Haverhill Streets, and which had been several times repaired and improved, gave place to a two story School House of a similar plan with the other wooden School Houses in the city, and the one story house on Oak Street was converted into a two story house, furnishing four rooms for one middle, and three graded primary schools, and this same year an addition of a second room for the primary school was made in the Amesbury Street house.
In 1860, the Grammar School House on the South Side was moved to the spot which it now occupies, and a large addition made to it, so that for a time the primary, middle and grammar schools of that part of the town were accommodated in that one building.
In 1861, a two story School House of wood was built at the corner of Lowell and Margin Streets, at the foot of Tower Hill, and the Pine Grove house was removed from the summit to the southern base of the hill for the accommodation of the primary school children between the hill and the river.
In 1862, the School House at the intersection of Methuen and Newbury Streets was built, the only addition made to the School Houses that year.
The School Committee, when pressed above measure for room to furnish sittings to the children clamoring for admission to the schools, have resorted to the religious societies for their lecture rooms and vestries, and oftentimes with no little inconvenience to themselves, those societies have allowed their use. Schools have been kept in the Free Will Baptist, the First Baptist, the Lawrence Street Congre- gational, the Central Congregational, the Unitarian and the Presby- terian societies.
I28
QUARTER-CENTENNIAL
In May, 1866, the following preamble and resolution were adopted by the School Committee.
Whereas, The present accommodations of the Oliver Grammar School building are insufficient to meet the wants of the school, and whereas the room now occupied by the Oliver High School is much needed for the Oliver Grammar School, therefore
Resolved, That this Board would respectfully recommend that the City Council take measures to secure a new building for the Oliver High School, at as early a day as is practicable."
In the year 1865, under Hon. Milton Bonney as Mayor, the City Government, in anticipation of this necessity, with prudent foresight, secured suitable grounds for the erection of such a building, and the City Government of 1866, under Hon. Pardon Armington as Mayor, obtained plans, contracted for and commenced the erection of such a building as shall meet the present and prospective wants of the school.
In the early part of the year 1867, anticipating the removal of the High School to the house designed for its use, alterations were made in the Oliver Grammar School House for the better accommodation of its pupils. As a commodious hall was to be provided in the High School building, which could be used by the Grammar School at its annual exhibitions, the hall of the Grammar School building was divided into three rooms, one, a large room capable of seating half of the school for general exercises in music, etc., and two other rooms of the same size as in other parts of the building for the use of a division of the school or a section of a division. In the summer "vacation, the front portion of the building was raised one story so as to bring it to the same elevation with the transverse portion, and there was built a spacious and most convenient stairway, with ample clothes rooms for the scholars of each school room. There are now in the Oliver School House sixteen rooms occupied by classes, and the large room, which can seat comfortably four hundred children.
.
ALBERT FERNANDO COLBURN,
Stationer and Newsdealer, (Colburn Bros.) 281 Essex St. ; residence, 23 Orchard St. Has been in Lawrence twenty-nine years. Born in Dracut, near Lowell, October 8, 1834. Attended the grammar school under the principalship of George A. Walton, afterwards entering the employ of Bean & Whittier, furniture dealers, and continuing in that business until the firm of Colburn Bro's was formed in 1873. For a number of years Mr. Colburn took an active part in politics, and was a member of the city council from Ward I, in 1867. He was also a member of the fire department for a number of years, prior to the advent of steamers, and was captain of Niagara Engine Co., No. 2, at the time of the disbanding of the hand engine companies. He is at present an active member of numerous secret societies, and is also a member of the Universalist society.
129
HISTORY OF LAWRENCE, MASS.
The building will allow of eight hundred and forty scholars, and is, in the arrangement of its rooms, its spacious and safe stairways, its commodious clothes rooms, indeed in all of its interior arrangements, a house which is not equalled, certainly not excelled, by any in the State.
From this general review of our schools, tve now speak particularly of the High School.
In 1848, in the second year of the municipal organization, meas- ures were adopted for the establishment of a High School. In No- vember of that year, Gen. Oliver made a donation of valuable philosophical and astronomical apparatus for its use.
January 17th, 1849, Mr. Thomes T. Curtis was elected teacher of the High School, and January 31st, seventeen were admitted to membership in the school.
September 20, 1850, twenty-two scholars were admitted, and Octo- ber 24th Miss Sarah B. Hooker was elected assistant.
July, 1857, Mr. Curtis resigned the office of Principal, much to the regret of the committee, and for the remaining four weeks of the term Rev. Henry F. Harrington kindly officiated in his place.
September, 1851, Mr. C. J. Pennel, whom the committee had elected to the office of Principal, entered upon his duties, with Miss Hooker as assistant. 1
January 21st, 1852, Miss Hooker resigned her position, a step, as the school report says, deeply lamented by the committee and the school, with the parents of the scholars, and the many who had wit- - nessed her peculiar aptness in teaching. The committee very fortu- nately obtained the temporary services of Miss Jane S. Gerrish, who was very soon elected as assistant, an office which she retained 21 years with the highest credit to herself, and to the entire satisfac- tion of successive committees.
In July, 1853, Mr. Pennel, to the regret of the committee, resigned the Principalship of the school, to take a professorship in Antioch
1 30
QUARTER-CENTENNIAL
College, Ohio, and Mr. Samuel J. Pike, then a tutor in Bowdoin Col- lege, Maine, was elected to the position, and entered upon his duties in September.
A louder call being made to Mr. Pike from the school committee of Somerville, he resigned his position soon after the commencement of the Fall term of 1856. His three years of service were faithfully and acceptably passed.
In June, 1856, Miss Harriet C. Hovey was elected as second assis- tant, and in this same month Gen. Oliver generously donated to the school department, for the benefit of the High School, a fine engrav- ing of the Landing of the Pilgrims, and also one of the Battle of Bunker Hill, together with busts of Cicero, Demosthenes, Socrates, Plato, Franklin and Washington, and statuettes of Galileo, Bowditch, Dante, Goethe, Schiller, Tasso, Ariosto and Petrarch. They have adorned the walls of the High School room in the Oliver School House, and at the donor's request they have been transferred to the school room of the new building.
For a few months after the withdrawal of Mr. Pike, the position of Principal was filled by Mr., Wm. H. Farrar, and May 2d, 1857, Mr. William J. Rolfe was elected to the office. After a service of four and a half years, on August 27th, 1861, he tendered his resignation, which was reluctantly accepted by the committee, with the following resolution :
Resolved, That the School Committee of Lawrence hereby express their just appreciation of the diligence and fidelity of Mr. Rolfe, dur- ing. his connection with the Oliver High School as Principal, of his mode of instruction, well adapted to awaken a spirit of inquiry and research, and of the high standard to which his labors have con- tributed so largely to raise the school ; and that we hereby commend him to others as a thorough and critical scholar and an excellent instructor.
-
PRESCOTT GROSVENOR PILLSBURY,
Cashier of Lawrence National Bank, Brechin Block, corner of Broad- way and Essex St. Has been in Lawrence ten years. Was born in Newburyport, Mass., June 13, 1846. He removed in early youth to Haverhill and was educated in the public schools of that city. Vestry- man at Grace Episcopal church. Spent one year in the counting room of Gooding & Johnson, Haverhill ; was for four years clerk and teller in the First National Bank in Haverhill. Came to Lawrence in 1868, entering the Bay State- National Bank, in which he served four years as teller ; was appointed cashier of the Lawrence National Bank, upon its organization in 1872 ; is one of the trustees of the Broadway Savings Bank. Appointed justice of the peace by Gov. Washburne in 1873. Mr. Pillsbury was a member of the common council from Ward III, for the years 1875-6.
-
131
HISTORY OF LAWRENCE, MASS.
For three months succeeding Mr. Rolfe's resignation, the commit- tee were enabled to secure the services of Mr. Thomas G. Valpey, a highly competent instructor in another institution then in vacation. December Ist, 1861, Mr. Henry L. Boltwood, who had been elected to the office of Principal, entered upon his duties.
May 8th, 1863, Miss Hovey, after seven years cheerful and faithful labor, resigned the situation of assistant, which was filled by the election of Miss Marcia Packard. In June of that year Mr. Bolt- wood resigned his situation, which was temporarily filled by Mr. I. H. Ward from the Theological school at Andover.
At a meeting of the committee, held August 5th, 1863, Mr. Albert C. Perkins was elected Principal, and he entered upon his duties September 7th.
No change occurred in principal till the year 1873, when Albert C. Perkins tendered his resignation to accept the position of principal of Phillips Exeter Academy. During his ten years' service in the High School he did much to raise its standard and was in every re- spect a most thorough disciplinarian. The same year Miss Packard and Miss Gerrish resigned. Mr. Charles T. Lazelle succeeded as principal and Miss Alice Birtwell and Miss Alice Carter as assistants. In 1872 Mr. Herbert S. Rice was employed as Teacher of Drawing, a position which the filled acceptably for nearly five years.
In 1875 Mr. Horace E. Bartlett was called to the principalship-a position he now occupies. The teachers of the High School the present year are Horace E. Bartlett, Parker P. Simmons, Mary A. - Newell, Emily G. Wetherbee, Alice Birtwell, Ada Leah, Katharine A. O'Keeffe.
The masters of the Oliver School following Mr. Walton were James H. Eaton, John L. Brewster, James Barrell, and the present master, Park S. Warren.
The South Lawrence male teachers have been Mr. Ayer in 1848,
132
QUARTER-CENTENNIAL
Mr. Tenney, J. B. Fairfield, W. Fisk Gile, John Orne, J. Henry Root, J. K. Cole, and the present Grammar master, Edward P. Shute. Ayer and Tenney taught in the School House on the Lowell road. Mr. Fairfield taught from January 1851 till some time in 1858 in a building that stood where Mr. A. D. Swan's residence now stands. W. Fisk Gile taught in the same place, and also Mr. Orne. The School was then transferred to where the Saunders School now is. Mr. Root taught in the new building. Mr. Cole began there and went to the present Packard School building when it was completed. Mr. Cole taught longer than any other male teacher there.
In 1869 the Cross Street School House was repaired and enlarged, and a new school house built at the corner of Woodland and Pleasant streets. In 1870 the Oak Street house was completed. In 1872 the brick School House, dedicated as the Packard School was completed. In 1873 the Woodland Street School House was enlarged to three times its former capacity, and a new brick School House containing four large rooms built on East Elm Street, and when dedicated the follow- ing season was named the Harrington School. In 1875 the Frank- lin Street School House was enlarged, a new house built on Hancock Street, and the substantial brick house on Washington Street .com- menced, which was completed the following year.
In 1876 a new building was erected in Ward Six, corner of Union and Andover Streets, and in 1877 the Franklin Street School House was enlarged to admit of four Schools.
The School Superintendents of Lawrence have been : John A. - Goodwin from 1853 to 1854; Henry F. Harrington, 1854-55 ; Geo. Packard, 1855-56 ;, and 1859-61 ; A. Williams, 1856-7; Henry K. Oliver, 1857-9 ; Joseph L. Partridge, 1861-64; John R. Rollins, January to June in the year 1864; Gilbert E. Hood, June, 1864, to January, 1877; Harrison Hume began January 1, 1877, and is still in office.
1
133
HISTORY OF LAWRENCE, MASS.
The following table will show the comparative increase of School children since the beginning of the city :
1845,
40
1862,
3,310
1847,
800
1863,
3,384
1848,
900
1864,
3,495
1849,
1,527
1865,
3,613
1850,
1,470
1866;
4,026
1851,
1,709
1867,
4,432
1852,
1,650
1868,
4,359
1853,
1,869
1869,
4,665
1854,
2,167
1870,
4,846
1855,
2,518
1871,
4,856
1856,
2,792
1872,
4,847
1857,
3,022
1873;
5,14I
1858,
2,610
1874,
5,385
1859,
2,702
1875,
5,648
1 860,
3,171
1876,
5,634
1861,
3,210
1877,
6,088
1
-
>
XI.
THE COURTS .- PUBLIC LIBRARY.
---
Along with the wheat cometh the tares. And so it was with the first comers to the new city. Violent and wicked men had to be re- . strained and punished. Town governments in their administration of justice were too slow-going coaches to take care of victims that which had to be confined in lockups from night to night. Therefore early as 1848, a Police Court was organized and Judge William Stevens of North Andover, was appointed Judge. This well remem- bered man occupied the bench from that year, 1848, to 1877, when he resigned on account of loss of eye sight. During his term the following gentlenten were consecutively clerks : Wm. H. P. Wright, Edgar J. Sherman, Henry L. Sherman, Charles E. Briggs, Jesse G. Gould, and H. F. Hopkins, the latter who still fills the position, hav- ing been recorder there since 1874.
-
After Judge Stevens retired the place was filled for about a year by associate Justice, W. H. P. Wright, when Judge N. W. Harmon received the appointment of Judge and 'assumed the duties May Ist, 1877.
On the 4th of January, 1878, Judge Stevens was stricken by apo- plexy and died in a few hours. He was buried in North Andover, a
184
135
QUARTER-CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF LAWRENCE, MASS.
committee of the Lawrence bar being chosen to attend his funeral. On the next return day, January 22d, appropriate resolutions were presented in the Police Court and entered on the records. Ad-
1
JUDGE WM. STEVENS.
dresses were made by District Attorney Sherman, A. C. Stone, C. U. Bell, W. L. Thompson, W. S. Knox, A. R. Sanborn, E. T. Burley, W. J. Quinn, and Judge N. W. Harmon. The present associate justices are W. Fisk Gile and C. U. Bell.
The Supreme Court has no session here. The Superior Court holds civil and criminal sessions.
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The history of the Free Public Library of this city dates in one sense from the beginning of the town. The Franklin Library Asso- ciation was chartered by the Legislature of 1847, and in July of that
136
QUARTER-CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF LAWRENCE, MASS.
year Hon. Abbott Lawrence gave to the library the sum of one thou- sand dollars for the purchase of "such scientific and other works as will tend to create good mechanics, good christians and good pat- riots." Captain Charles H. Bigelow was the first President of the Association. In 1847 Mr. Lawrence died. He left by his will $5000 more for the Franklin Library. The price of shares was ten dollars, with an annual assessment of two dollars, and on these terms the library was open to anybody. Finding the price of the shares too high, the Association lowered the terms in 1853 to five dollars, and the assessment to one dollar, and in 1857 the library was thrown open to anybody who was willing to pay one dollar for its privileges. Even this small sum proved a barrier, and in 1868 the library was offered to the City Government to be used as a Public Library, but the offer was declined. In 1852, Hon. Daniel A. White, of Salem, left a fund, the income of which should be appropriated to a course of Lectures free to the industrial classes of Lawrence and for the purposes of a library. The White Fund Lectures are the result of that liberal bequest, and the rest of the income has materially aided the library. In 1872 the Association again offered their 4000 volumes and nearly $3000 to the city for a Free Library, and this time the offer was accepted, the trustees of the White Fund also pro- posing to contribute $1000 the first year and an annual sum after- ward. July 20, 1872, the Council established the Free Public Li- brary of Lawrence. Shortly afterward the Agricultural Library, an association of Lawrence and Methuen gentlemen, transferred their books to the city library through the instrumentality of John C. Dow.
- August 29th, the trustees chose William I. Fletcher, Librarian. Mr. Fletcher resigned in March, 1874, and the present Librarian, Frederic H. Hedge, Jr., took charge of the library May 16th, 1874. The whole number of volumes in the library at this writing, including duplicates, is 18,000, exclusive of duplicates, 16,400.
-
T
NATHAN W. HARMON,
Judge of Police Court ; office at Police Court Building ; residence, 349 Haverhill St. Born in New Ashford, this State, 1813. Read law with the late Judge Byington, commencing practice in 1838 at Lanesboro and Adams, where he remained nine years. Was at one time law-partner with the late Ex-Gov. Briggs. Came to Lawrence - June 11th, 1847. Judge Harmon has held numerous city offices, and has been a member of the school committee under town and city organ- ization. Was in the lower house of legislature, 1857, in the senate, 1873, and commissioner under the bankrupt law of 1841. He has been a director of the Essex Savings Bank from the first. Appointed assistant assessor of Internal revenue in 1862, holding the position nine years. Was appointed judge, May 8th, 1877. Married Cornelia C. Briggs, 1841 ; has four children.
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.