Report of the city of Somerville 1899, Part 10

Author: Somerville (Mass.)
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Somerville, Mass.
Number of Pages: 430


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1899 > Part 10


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391 25


John F. Elkins, watering .


402 50


James H. Fannon, watering


433 25


Martin Gill, watering


824 49


T. A. Griffin, watering


391 25


John W. Lyons, watering


388 91


Henry McAvoy, watering .


393 58


Henry J. McAvoy, watering


414 58


Philip McGovern, watering


448 50


A. M. Prescott, watering


9 00


John B. Rufer, watering


494 66


R. M. Sturtevant, watering Thomas Tighe & Sons, watering


393 58


Benjamin Thomas, watering


497 00


Somerville Journal Co., advertising


6 00


Somerville Citizen Co., advertising


5 50


Thomas Groom & Co., book


12 25


G. W. Ryan, building shed


467 50


J. L. & H. K. Potter, repairing carts


1,170 52


Howe & Flint, repairing carts .


1 60


John B. Rufer, repairing carts .


3 50


I. B. Walker, repairing carts


45 85,


The Hale & Mayhew Co., repairing carts ·


8 00


Seward Dodge, repairing carts


20 50


Kiley Brothers, repairing carts


.


.


·


·


1 19


Mabel Dadmun, clerical services


78 67


Charles S. Robertson, premium of insur- ance


40 00


Theodore H. Finke, grading


28 00


City of Somerville, water .


5,305 04


Amounts carried forward


$17,827 95


$17,882 36


.


·


2 00


L. A. Wright, repairing carts


21 15


T. E. Littlefield, repairing carts


405 58


119


APPENDIX TO TREASURER AND COLLECTOR'S REPORT.


Amounts brought forward . Excess and Deficiency, balance to credit of account


$17,827 95 $17,882 36


54 41


$17,882 36


Water Works Extension.


CREDIT.


Water Works Income, amount appropriated


DEBIT.


Cash, paid laborers


$12,048 23


Neptune Meter Co., meters


590 70


Thomson Meter Co., meters


54 00


Union Water Meter Co., meters


371 60


Charles Brant, mason work


5 00


W. A. Sanborn, bricks


32 00


J. A. Porter & Co., wood


2 00


Boston Woven Hose & Rubber Co., washers


1 00


Metropolitan Water Board, pipe


65 70


Boston & Maine Railroad, labor


23 88


S. W. Fuller, lumber


3 92


Coffin Valve Co., check valve


50 00


Dennis C. Mahoney, grant of right of way


50 00


Water Maintenance account, stock ..


6,541 50


Highways account, edgestones


139 06


$19,978 59


Excess and Deficiency, balance to credit of account


21 41


$20,000 00


Water Works, Abatements on Water Charges.


CREDIT.


Amount appropriated DEBIT.


$6,000 00


Cash, paid sundry persons, money re-


funded


$119 18


Sewers Construction account, amount


5,880 82


6,000 00


Water Works Income.


CREDIT.


Cash, received of sundry water takers $214,280 83;


DEBIT.


Sewers Construction account, amount ap- propriated


$19,722 75


Water Maintenance account, amount ap-


50,000 00


propriated · Water Loan Interest account, amount ap- propriated


10,882 50


Amounts carried forward


$80,605 25


$214,280. 83


$20,000 00


transferred


120


ANNUAL REPORTS.


Amounts brought forward .


$80,605 25 $214,280 83


Reduction of Funded Debt, Water Loan


Bonds, amount appropriated


32,500 00


Reduction of Funded Debt, Sewer Loan Bonds, amount appropriated


8,000 00


Interest, amount appropriated


6,700 00


Water Works Extension, amount · appropri- ated


20,000 00


Water Works Abatements, amount appro- priated ·


6,000 00


Sewers Maintenance account, amount ap- propriated


8,500 00


State of Massachusetts, Metropolitan Water Supply, amount appropriated


20,975 58


Reduction of Funded Debt, Metropolitan Sewer Assessment, amount appro- priated


31,000 00


$214,280 83


TABLE D. - BALANCES DECEMBER 31, 1899.


Caslı


$71,312 12


Public Property


2,895,243 14


Real Estate Liens


2,740 09


Reduction of Funded Debt


24,091 37


Sewer Assessments .


6,046 98


Sidewalk Assessments


3,386 09


Schoolhouse. Burns, Addition


180 87


State of Massachusetts, Burial of Indigent


Soldiers and Sailors 350 00


State of Massachusetts, Indigent and Sailors


Soldiers


231 50


State of Massachusetts, State Aid Taxes


388,126 21


Watering Streets Assessments


2 88


Excess and Deficiency


$36,991 52


Fire Department, Fire Station, Clarendon Hill


32 72


Fire Department, Fire Station No. 1


1,000 00


Funded Debt


1,492,500 00


Highways


29,471 71


Highways; Paving Davis Square


5,000 00


Highways, Paving Washington street, Tufts street to Boston line 217 28


Overplus on Tax Sales .


1,668 13


Powder-house Boulevard


546 98


Property and Debt Balance


1,402,743 14


Public Library, Addition


6,058 03


Public Library, Isaac Pitman Fund


1,000 00


Reduction of Funded Debt, Metropolitan


Sewer Assessment (from Water Works Income) 31,000 00


Schoolhouse, Forster, Improvement


14,396 04


Schoolhouse, Highland, Sanitary Improve- ment


21 36


Schoolhouse. Ward Two


1,362 59


Sewers Construction


32,973 90


Sundry Persons


29,396 10


Support of Poor, "City Home"


6,000 75


Temporary Loans .


310,000 00


$3,402,380 25


$3,402.380 25


10,669 00


ALBION A. PERRY SCHOOL.


-


-


REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.


City of Somerville.


School Committee Rooms, January 10, 1900. To the Board of Aldermen of Somerville :-


Gentlemen,-At a meeting of the Board of School Commit- tec held December 28, 1899, it was


Ordered. that the annual report of the Superintendent be adopted as the annual report of the Board of School Committee, it being understood that such adoption does not commit the Board to the opinions or recommendations made therein ; that the same be referred to the Board of Aldermen, with a request to incorpo- rate it in the annual reports ; and that 1,000 copies be printed in -separate forni.


Respectfully,


G. A. SOUTHWORTH


Secretary of School Board.


SCHOOL COMMITTEE, 1899.


HON. GEORGE O. PROCTOR, Mayor, Chairman, ex-officio.


CHARLES A. GRIMMONS, President of the Common Courcil, Vice-Chairman,. ex-officio.


Members.


WARD ONE.


Term expires January.


SANFORD HANSCOM,


1 Webster street. 1900


S. NEWTON CUTLER,


28 Flint street. 1991


GEORGE S. POOLE,


. 46 Mt. Vernon street. 1902


WARD TWO.


JAMES F. BEARD,


17 Prospect-hill avenue. 1900


ALVAH B. DEARBORN,


34 Bow street. 1901


FRED W. GILBERT,


101 School street. 1902


WARD THREE.


GEORGE W. W. WHITING,


282 Broadway. 1900


*FRANK H. HARDISON,


192 Central street. 1901


QUINCY E. DICKERMAN,


S5 Central street. 1902


WARD FOUR.


MARTIN W. CARR,


74 Craigie street. 1900


GEORGE A. MILES,


249 Elm street. 1901


HENRIETTA B. H. ATTWOOD,


18 Herbert street. 1902


The Board holds its regular meetings on the last Monday evening of. each month at 8 o'clock.


Superintendent of Schools, GORDON A. SOUTHWORTH.


Office: City Hall Annex, Highland avenue.


Residence: 40 Greenville street.


The Superintendent's office will be open from 8 to 12 and from 1.30 to 5; Saturdays, 8.30 to 10. His office hours are 4 to 5 on school days and 8 to 9 on Saturdays.


Office telephone, 314; house telephone, 12.


Eleanor L. Hannay, Superintendent's clerk.


*Mr. Hardison resigned September 25, and on October 11 William P. Jones was elected his successor in joint convention of School Board. and City Council.


BURNS SCHOOL.


STANDING COMMITTEES, 1899.


English High School .- Carr, Hanscom, Dickerman, Poole, Gilbert. Latin High School .- Beard, Dearborn, Cutler, *Hardison, Miles. East Somerville District .- Cutler, Poole, Hanscom. Prospect-hill District .- Beard, Dearborn, Gilbert.


Winter-hill District .- Hardison, Dickerman, Whiting, Grimmons. Spring-hill District .- Carr, Miles, Mrs. Attwood, Proctor. West Somerville District .- Miles, Carr, Mrs. Attwood.


Additional School Accommodations .- Proctor, Hanscom, Beard, Har- dison.


Evening Schools .- Miles, Dickerman, Hanscom, Dearborn. Finance .- Gilbert, Poole, Miles, Grimmons.


Industrial Education .-- Dickerman, Carr, Cutler, Gilbert.


Music .- Whiting, Cutler, Gilbert, Mrs. Attwood. Private Schools .- Mrs. Attwood, Whiting, Poole, Gilbert.


Repairs .- Dearborn, Whiting, Poole, Mrs. Attwood.


Rules and Regulations .- Cutler, Whiting, Miles, Beard.


Salaries .- Hanscom, Beard, Hardison, Carr.


Supplies .- Poole, Dickerman, Carr, Dearborn.


Text-books and Course of Study .- Hardison, Dearborn, Cutler, Beard, Miles, Dickerman, Hanscom, Mrs. Attwood.


*By vote of the School Board October 30, William P. Jones replaced Mr. Hardison on all standing committees.


REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.


To the Board of School Committee :-


The twenty-eighth annual report of the Superintendent of Schools for the year 1899 is herewith respectfully submitted, the same being the seventh of the present incumbent of the office and the fifty-eighth of the school department of the municipality.


Fifty-eight years ago, in 1842, a thousand people occupying the farms and scattered dwellings of the northwesterly part of Charlestown became incorporated as the town of Somerville, with a million dollars' worth of assessed property. For thirty years the town prospered and grew with unexampled rapidity, until in 1872 both its people and its valuation had increased sixteen fold. Its sixteen thousand, with their sixteen millions, were then in- corporated as a city under what will hereafter be known as its first charter. Under this charter, wisely administered, prosperity and growth have continued for twenty-eight years, until sixty thousand people, with fifty-one and a fifth millions of taxable property, have become its happy and contented residents.


With the opening of 1900 a new governmental era begins under a second charter that makes radical changes in administra- tive methods. From this point will hereafter date a third period of our municipal life, one, let us hope, equal to its predecessors in whatever makes for public peace, prosperity, and purity. A this report covers the last year of the old charter, and will doubt- less be largely used for comparative purposes in the future, it will deal chiefly with facts, rather than with theories. Attention, therefore, is called at the outset to the following statement of school population and expenditures for the year :-


Summary of Statistics.


1898.


1899.


Population of Somerville


57,500


60,000


Children attending school in December


11,091


11,582


Attending private schools in December


1,454


1,507


Attending public schools in December


9,637


10,075


Attending high schools in December


871


953


Attending grammar and primary schools in December


8,766


9,122


Entire enrollment for year


11,577


11,975


Average number belonging


9,085


9,502


Average number attending


8,636


8,965


Per cent. of daily attendance .


95.1


94.3


Number of school buildings .


25


24


Valuation of school property .


$1,023,441 00


$1,069,604 00


Number of classrooms


203


220


Number of teachers in December


.


252


263


125


SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.


Salaries of teachers .


$184,543 71


$192,959 90


Salaries of officers


4,700 00


4,700 00


Cost of books and supplies


14,985 59


16,131 20-


Cost of water and light


2,074 94


2,472 18


Cost of janitors' services


17,392 60


17,830 61


Cost of fuel


9,766 83


10,821 02


Total cost of day and evening schools .


233,463 67


244,914 91


Cost for each pupil in average membership .


25 70


25 78


Cost for each high school pupil


56 34


58 13


Cost for each grammar and primary pupil


22 61


22 50.


Amount paid for new school buildings


49,983 00


72,516 11


Cost of repairs and permanent improve- ments


21,273 82


15,636 95


Entire expenditures for all school purposes .


304,722 00


333,068 00


Expended by School Board .


.


204,229 30


213,791 20


Expended by City Government


100,492 70


119,276 80


Per cent. of valuation schools


spent to maintain


.460


.478


Per cent. of valuation spent for all school purposes


.601


.655


School Buildings. Somerville schools occupy at the present time twenty-four buildings, three of which are antiquated struc- tures that should be replaced at an early day; three others are modern wooden buildings; and the remaining eighteen are sub- stantially built of brick, commodious, well ventilated, and well adapted to educational purposes, with the exception that some of them are wretchedly lighted, as will be seen by reference to sub- sequent pages of this report. These twenty-four buildings are valued at $1,069,604, and are located as follows :-


On Central hill the Latin and English High schools, with a capacity for 900 pupils.


In Ward 1 the Prescott, Hanscom, Davis, Bennett, and Jackson, with thirty schoolrooms.


In Ward 2 the Knapp and Perry, with eighteen rooms.


In Ward 3 the Pope, Prospect-hill, Bell, and Cummings, with thirty-four rooms.


In Ward 4 the Edgerly and Glines, with twenty-five rooms.


In Ward 5 the Forster and Bingham, with twenty-eight rooms.


In Ward 6 the Carr, Morse, Durell, and Burns, with thirty- nine rooms.


In Ward 7 the Highland, Hodgkins, and Lincoln, with twenty-eight rooms.


This shows two hundred and two rooms devoted to kinder- garten, primary, and grammar schools, with a seating capacity for 9,900 pupils, provided they were equally distributed over the city. In 1871 there were fifty-eight rooms-two-sevenths of the present number.


During the year our school accommodations have been in- creased by the construction of a six-room building on Washing- ton street, near Dane, and by a four-room enlargement of the Burns School on Cherry street. The former building was begun


50,739,700 00


51,202,350 00


Valuation of City


126


ANNUAL REPORTS.


in September, 1898, but was not ready for occupancy until the second week of the school year in September, 1899. The cost of the plant is as follows :-


Land, 46,080 square feet $9,357 53


Building complete


28,254 63


Total cost


$37,612 16


The building is well located, thoroughly constructed, and admirably adapted to school purposes, being fully up to date in whatever pertains to the health and convenience of its occupants.


The following description of the building has been kindly furnished by the architects, Prescott & Sidebottom, of Boston, and an elevation and plans will be found elsewhere in this re- port :---


The Albion A. Perry six-room school building, Washington street, Somerville, was built by John A. Dodge, general contrac- tor, Cambridge, and the heating and ventilating were installed by Isaac Coffin & Co., of Boston, both of whom gave excellent satis- faction.


The building was turned over to the city for use at the be- ginning of the September term of 1899. It covers about 6,500 square feet ; foundations of large ledge stones, with granite grade course and cut granite steps at entrances. The exterior is of Eastern water-struck brick laid in white mortar, with white terra cotta trimmings. The porches are of brick, with tile floors. The roof is covered with best Monson slate, with copper trimmings, gutters, and conductors.


The building is so arranged that an addition of six rooms may be made when future needs warrant it, making a completed twelve-room building, with the least possible extra expense in cutting and connecting the two portions, and making a satisfac- tory architectural effect.


The basement contains a finished wardroom, 28x31, boys' and girls' playrooms and sanitaries, boiler room equipped with double boilers, with ample coal room connected, and the neces- sary heating and ventilating chambers. The entire basement ceiling is plastered, that in the boiler and coal rooms being on metal lathing.


The first floor is divided into three classrooms, 28x32 each, equipped with best slatestone blackboards, three coat rooms, with rubber boxes, and hooks for fifty scholars, connecting corridor eleven feet wide, with a wide porch at each end. The stairways are at each end, and the rooms so connected that ample facility is provided for exit in two directions from each room.


The second floor is laid out in the same manner as the first.


The stairways, corridors, classrooms, and coatrooms are all amply lighted and ventilated. The teachers' rooms, with inde- pendent toilet connected, are located on the stair landings, half way between first and second floors, which seems to give much


127


SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.


satisfaction, and the space above is used for a storeroom for school supplies. Each classroom has a teacher's closet, with book shelves and hooks. Each corridor and playroom has a slatestone sink, with two faucets to each.


All floor timbers are of Southern pine. The inside finish is of brown ash, with ash veneered doors, and floors throughout are of rift Georgia pine. Double runs of sash are used on the north side of the building. The building is piped throughout for gas, and fixtures connected in the necessary places. All dadoes were done in hard plaster, and painted, and the walls above and ceilings were tinted. The plumbing is of the most approved modern type, thoroughly ventilated. Indirect steam is used to supply all class- rooms, direct radiators being used elsewhere, and all this, with the ventilation, up to the standard of the state requirements.


On the thirtieth of January the School Board voted to re- quest the City Council to give to the new school the name of an honored citizen who had rendered valuable services to the city in various capacities. The council unanimously acceded to this re- quest, and named the new institution the "Albion A. Perry School."


Albion A. Perry was born in Standish, Me., January 26, 1851, the son of Rev. John C. and Mary E. (Boston) Perry. He was educated in the public schools and at Monmouth Academy. He came to Somerville in. 1869, and for several years carried on the drug business with marked suc- cess. He fitted himself for the profession of pharmacist at the Massa- chusetts College of Pharmacy. After retiring from the drug business, he took up the study of law at the Boston University School of Law, and later opened an office in Somerville. In 1886 he associated himself with S. Z. Bowman, and the partnership has continued to the present time. Mr. Perry has served the city in several different capacities. He was elected to the School Board, but served only one year, 1876, resigning on account of his business, which demanded his time. He was a member of the Common Council in 1881 and 1882, being president the second term. In 1883-1884 he was in the Board of Aldermen. He was appointed on the Water Board by Mayor Pope in 1891 for two years, and was president of the Board both years. At the end of his term he was urged strongly by Mayor Hodgkins to accept reappointment. In 1895 he was elected to the office of mayor, after one of the warmest political contests ever held in this state, was re-elected in 1896 and 1897, and filled the office with an ability that commanded the respect of every one.


Mr. Perry was elected president of the Somerville Savings Bank after the death of Oren S. Knapp in 1891, a position he still holds, and he has shown his qualifications as a financier by building up a strong institution, the business of the Bank during the five years that he has held the office having had a tremendous growth; he is also a director in the Somerville National Bank. Mr. Perry has ever shown the liveliest interest in all matters relating to the welfare of Somerville, and has discharged the duties of every office to which he has been called with the utmost fidelity and conscientiousness. Mr. Perry married Mary E., daughter of John W. and Hannah W. Brooks, of this city.


The addition of four rooms to the Burns School was begun the last of May, but, unfortunately, it was not completed until the first of October. The building now contains eight rooms, well adapted to school purposes. The enlargement includes


128


ANNUAL REPORTS.


toilet rooms independent of the main building, but easily acces- sible therefrom without the use of stairways. In the second story of this addition a storeroom and a teachers' room and toilet are provided. The entire cost of the enlargement, including the heating of the entire building, was $19,680.87, the cost of the original building being $15,250.


A long-needed improvement in the sanitation of the High- land School, which for several years had been urgently brought before the appropriate committee of the City Council, was effected. during the summer vacation. A two-story structure was erected on the southerly side of the building, containing ample toilet. rooms for boys and girls on the lower floor, and on the second floor a toilet room for girls, a teachers' room, a storeroom, and an. office for the principal. These rooms may all be reached by cov- ered passages from the first and second floor-levels of the main building. They are furnished with the most modern appliances, and will prove not only a great convenience, but will also exert a. salutary influence in the promotion of good morals. The cost of the improvement was $6,463.65.


In July last an addition of 3,000 square feet was made to the- southeasterly corner of the Forster School lot, and the construc -- tion thereon of a six-room building designed for primary schools was begun. The building will not be ready for use until the first of February. Pending its completion, eight classes of the Forster school have been placed on four-hour time, a loss which might have been avoided by beginning the work at an earlier day.


The good work of renovating some of our older buildings, begun last year at the Forster, has been continued this year at the Prescott. New floors have been laid throughout, walls tinted, ceilings whitened, woodwork redressed, blinds replaced by shades, partitions removed on the third floor to provide new dressing rooms, a teachers' room, and an office for the principal. The new heating and ventilating apparatus has been got into sat- isfactory working order. All this agreeable metamorphosis has been brought about at an expense of about $2,000, and adds greatly to the convenience and comfort of both teachers and pupils. Nothing now remains to be done but to light the build- ing sufficiently.


The year has been memorable for the abandonment of three- old school buildings connected with our earliest school history, the Cedar-street, the Harvard, and the Franklin schoolhouses. The first-named was a composite structure that included the first school building erected within our corporate limits in 1842, which was removed from its original site on Broadway, at the head of Irving street, in 1868. The Harvard building was erected in 1851 on Cherry street, and bore the name of the Luther V. Bell School. In 1867 it was moved to the Franklin lot, where it remained for four years, when it was moved again to Beacon street, to replace an old house just destroyed by fire. The building has now re --


129


SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.


ceived its third and final removal, and has been changed into a dwelling house.


The Franklin building, after doing service for more than hall a century, has been in disuse since the completion of the Carr. In March last the School Board requested the City Council to fit up this building for a manual training and cooking school. The request was absolutely ignored, and, without explanation or conference, the building was sold and demolished, and the lot converted into a much-needed playground. This incident shows how utterly dependent the School Committee is upon the City Government in securing what it may deem requisite accommo- dations for the schools. A body upon which the state has placed the responsibility of managing the educational interests of the city should be given some authoritative voice in the location, con- struction, and control of school buildings. It is hoped that it is: not too late to secure this in the reorganization of the govern- ment under the new charter.


Pupils. There are now (December, 1899) 11,582 children at school in the city, an increase of 491 within the year; 1,507 of these attend private schools, and the remaining 10,075 are being educated at public expense. It is interesting to note that, dur- ing the period covered by the first charter, the ability of the city to educate its children has not increased as rapidly as the number of children to be educated. Our valuation has grown but 225 per cent. as compared with a gain of 300 per cent. in our school population. Some compensation for this disproportion, how- ever, is found in the fact that, for several years, the private schools have saved the city an annual outlay of about $50,000, including interest on the investment that would otherwise have been neces- sary.


Our high school membership has doubled within ten years, being now 953-254 of whom are in the Latin School and 699 in the English School.


The membership of the elementary schools is 9,122, dis- tributed among the grades as follows :--


Kindergartens 249


Grade V. 1,024


Grade I.


.1,607


Grade VI. 860


Grade II


.1,303


Grade VII. 732


Grade III


.1,143


Grade VIII 610


Grade IV.


1,141


Grade IX 453


These are divided among two hundred schoolrooms, giving 45.6 pupils to a teacher.


The average membership of all the schools for the year was 9,502-94.3 per cent. of whom, or 8,965, were present at every one of the 370 sessions of the schools. There were seven and one- half tardinesses and four and one-half dismissals out of every ten thousand opportunities.


Teachers. There are in the employ of the city at the present time 263 teachers, twenty-two of whom are men. There are


230 1


ANNUAL REPORTS.


eleven men and twenty-six women in the high schools, ten men and 199 women in primary and grammar schools, ten women in the kindergartens, and two men and five women as :special instructors or supervisors. During the year fourteen teachers have resigned their positions-two men and twelve women. Of these, six were drawn away by the offer of larger : salaries elsewhere, three were compelled to relinquish teaching on account of ill health, and the remaining five left us because "it ¡is not good that the man should be alone."




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