USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > Town annual report of Braintree, Massachusetts for the year 1891 > Part 14
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Plan number three, is to build a new structure near each of the Pond and Union schools. Some of our citizens advocate for such structures if built, six rooms each, others suggest four rooms. In our opinion, we ought not to consider less than six rooms in each building. This plan would, if adopted, give room enough to take care of the prospective increase in our school population for many years, but is open to the serious objection of large first cost and large yearly operating 'expenses ; and it seems to us altogether unadvisable to go to the expense of two new buildings, with two lots of land, two corps of teachers, two ventilating systems, two heating systems, and two janitors, when all we shall need for many years in all grades of our schools, primary, intermediate, gram- mar, and high, can much more simply and cheaply be obtained by plan number four, which is to appropriate a sufficient sum of money to build one carefully designed school building, containing at least eight large rooms, and to be located about half way between the Pond and Union schools.
This latter plan is the one that your committee, after the fullest and most careful consideration, recommend.
If the town adopts this plan, and builds this large centrally lo- cated school, we should when it is completed, remove the inter- mediate and grammar classes from the Union and Pond schools,
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improve the heating and ventilating systems of the latter in order to bring them to the modern standard, and use these schools in the future, for the primary grades alone. They are large enough to provide room for the primary scholars of the north and south sec- tions for many years to come; and the separation of these very young children from the older children is sure to produce good results.
The new building will afford ample accommodation for all the scholars of the intermediate and grammar grades for the increase in these grades for many years ; and whatis a most important point, it will also provide most excellent quarters for at least five years. for our High School ; consequently a new high school will not be a necessity for at least five years and possibly a year or two longer, the length of this period depending on the rapidity of increase in the intermediate and grammar grades, which increase will, sooner or later, need the rooms that we propose to put the High School into for the present.
At the expiration of this period of, say, five years, the develop- ment of our town by new industries, and the steady increase of our population will have shown the direction that future settlement is going to take, and thereby enable our citizens to arrive at a juster decision as to its proper location, than can possibly be made now.
One striking advantage of the plan we propose is, that it will allow this postponement of the question of the location of the new High School, a question that it really seems impossible to decide at present, while at the same time it obviates the necessity of the continuance of the High School classes in their present unsatisfac- tory quarters, during the time that matters now in embryo are developing, and without additional expense, it gives these classes accommodations that will be as pleasant, as modern, and as con- venient as they could possibly be, in a special high school building. Thus, this plan of a single eight-room building solves every prob- lem in regard to our schools that we have pressing for immediate solution, and solves them in' a way that will fit into any plan for further extension of the schools that may be necessary either five or twenty-five years from to-day, as a building of this size and in this location will always be a necessity without regard to the direc- tion that the future growth of the town may take.
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In order not to let our enthusiasm for this plan befog our judg- ment, we have carefully considered all the objections that can possibly be urged against it, and, in order to show that our judg- ment has been impartial, we think best to briefly state them in our report.
One objection is the increased distance that some of the children will have to walk, but as the distances are not excessive anyway, compared with those in many towns, and as transportation can easily and cheaply be provided from the most distant homes in stormy weather, and, as the new schools would be for the larger children who will really be benefited by the walk, this objection does not in our minds weigh against the plan.
Another objection may be made to the combination in one build- ing of grammar and high school grades. Full consideration of this point has convinced us that this objection is more sentimental than real ; and we are assured also by the agents of the State that the results in practice of such combination have been beneficial rather than harmful ; and it will always be a very simple matter, if any objection should develop on this account, to use one of the entrances exclusively for the High School scholars and to fence off a sepa- rate playground for them. We therefore consider this objection of no moment.
Another objection to this combination of high and grammar schools might be urged. It is, that the disturbance resulting from the different lengths of session of the two schools would be annoy- ing, but as the same remedy of a separate entrance would obviate this, and as the noise could never be as great as that surround- ing the schools in any city, which has never caused any trouble, we do not attach any importance to this objection.
Besides the solution of all our school problems by building this single large school, this plan also gives the important educational advantage that large schools of the grammar grades always possess, as in such a school it will be possible to make a closer classification of studies, and thereby enable our teachers to do better work than is possible at present.
If the single large school plan had no other advantage, this increased efficiency of our teachers' work would be sufficient to cause us to heartily indorse the plan, but the saving in first cost
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and in operating expenses, is so great, that there is no question in our minds of the advisability of its adoption.
We wish to say that since preparing this report we have dis- cussed every feature of it with the School Committee and it will be seen by the following letter that they heartily approve the plan we recommend :-
THOMAS A. WATSON, EsQ.,
Chairman of Special Committee on Educational matters.
My Dear Sir, - It gives me great pleasure on behalf of the School Committee to say that the recommendations contained in your report, relating to school matters, meet with the cordial approval of all the members of the board.
The adoption of the plan you suggest which we understand to be substantially this : to purchase a lot of land midway between North and South Braintree upon which to erect an eight-room building for use of all pupils who would attend what at present forms the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in the Pond and Union schools, and to use part of the proposed building for High School purposes, would furnish the pupils in the grades above mentioned with adequate school accommodations for many years to come. It would provide a suitable place for the High School at least for the present. It is a feasible and excellent method of settling our existing difficulties.
The consolidation of the two schools in the manner contemplated in your plan would permit a more perfect system of grading in the case of all the pupils from the Union and Pond districts, some- thing which the School Committee for a long time have been anxious to carry into effect.
Finally by placing the four upper grades in the proposed build- ing and leaving the present Pond and Union schoolhouses for the exclusive use of the primary grades, your plan would effect the separation of the older from the younger pupils which, in the eyes of many people, is considered a great advantage.
Idesire to assure you that the School Committee fully appre- ciated the untiring zeal that has resulted in devising a plan which, although not entirely free from objections, is still most excellent in its general purpose.
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The Committee individually and collectively will not fail to give you their hearty co-operation, not only by urging its adoption by the town, but afterwards in living up to the spirit of your sugges- tions.
Yours respectfully,
ALBERT E. AVERY, Chairman School Committee.
BRAINTREE, Feb. 23, 1891.
We have also received the following letter from the office of the Chief of the District Police which is of importance as indicating the spirit with which they look at the contemplated improvement.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF THE DISTRICT POLICE. COMMONWEALTH BUILDING.
BOSTON, MASS., Feb. 25, 1891.
MR. THOMAS A. WATSON, Braintree,
Dear Sir : - Your request as " Chairman of the Committee to examine into the educational needs of the town of Braintree" that should the town appropriate money for the erection of a new school-house the orders heretofore issued to the School Committee to make certain changes in the old buildings be held in abeyance, has been given due consideration ; and after consulting with Mr. Wade, Chief of the District Police, I have to say that should the town make an appropriation at its next annual meeting for the erection of a new building during the present year with a modern system of ventilation, then the orders heretofore issued to the School Committee will be held in abeyance until such schoolhouse is completed and occupied, it being all that we could reasonably expect in any one year, after which time a further examination will be made as to the conditions then existing in the old buildings.
Very respectfully, JAMES H. L. COON,
State Inspector of Public Buildings.
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The originals of these letters are attached to this report.
We will now consider the relative cost of the three principal plans that we have outlined.
The plan that calls for the building of two new schools is by far the most expensive.
We estimate the amount of money that would be needed to build two six-room schools, to be $40,000, including the cost of two lots of land, but as neither of these buildings would have surplus room enough to take care of the High School classes, the High School building would have to be built at once, and as the estimated cost of this is $25,000, the total expenditure required by this plan would be $65,000.
The cost of the plan that would enlarge the two old buildings, has been estimated at $18,000, and as this plan would leave the needs of the High School entirely unprovided for, we must add to this the $25,000, which would make the total of this plan, $43,000.
The cost of the plan that we recommend, viz., the single eight- room building, we estimate at $33,000, including the cost of the land, a modern heating and ventilating system, and furniture, and the cost of the needed improvements in the Pond and Union schools.
This shows a saving in favor of our plan of $10,000, as com- pared with the plan that proposes the alteration of the old schools and the building of the new High School, and a saving of $82,000. as compared with the plan requiring the two new six-room build- ings and the new High School.
Our estimates on all the new buildings, are based on figures fur- nished us by the State Board of Education, and although the actual cost may vary somewhat from our estimates, yet as they are all based on the same set of figures, the actual difference in the cost of the three plans could vary but little from the amounts we have stated.
Besides the difference in first cost, there will be a saving in the janitor's wages, fuel, repairs, etc., that we should estimate at, at least, $1,000 a year, almost enough to pay the interest on the cost of carrying out the plan we recommend.
In conclusion we recommend that the town appropriate $33,000, to be used to build a schoolhouse that shall have on its first and
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second floors, at least eight main rooms. This building to be sit- uated as nearly as is practicable midway between the Pond and Union schools, and that this sum of $33,000 be raised by author- izing the Town Treasurer to borrow it on the credit of the town, by issuing ten notes of $3,300 each. These notes to be issued as fast as payments shall have to be made to the contractors as the building progresses ; the lengths of time that these notes shall run, to be so arranged that one of them shall become payable in each of ten consecutive years beginning one year from the date of the first note ; and we further recommend that a committee of five be ap- pointed that shall select several lots of land in the vicinity desig- nated, and shall submit a description of them, with the prices for which they can be purchased, to a town meeting for final decision, in accordance with the State statutes that applies to the selection of school lots by towns ; and this committee also to have power to do everything needful to carry out our recommendations.
THOMAS A. WATSON. DANIEL POTTER. JOSEPHUS SAMPSON.
Voted, That the town accept and adopt the recommendations of the committee, appointed at the last town meeting, relative to the educational needs of the town, as presented in their report, and that a committee, consisting of the present special committee on the subject, with two others to be appointed by the Chair, be a committee who shall select a lot or lots of land in the vicinity designated in said report, subject to the approval of the town, in accordance with the statutes ; and said committee shall have full power to do everything needful to carry out the recommendations ofthe said special committee ; and after said committee shall have reported to the town upon the location, and said location shall have been accepted, they shall carry out the recommendations made in their report.
The Chair appointed, as the additions to the committee, George D. Willis and Alva S. Morrison.
Voted, That the thanks of the town be presented to the com- mittee for their valuable report.
Article 23 laid on the table.
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Article 7 taken up.
Voted, That the following jury list, as made by the Selectmen, Feb. 8, 1891, be accepted : -
Hiram E. Abbott.
George E. Ludden.
Joseph M. Allen.
Frank G. Lunt.
William Allen.
Henry A. Monk.
Richard L. Arnold.
Alverdo H. Mason.
James Frederic Allen.
William H. Macgreggor.
John M. Arnold.
Michael McDermott.
Franklin E. Arnold.
William B. Merritt.
Timothy D. Bagley.
R. Elmer Morrison.
Elisha A. Belcher.
Daniel Potter.
Charles A. Belcher.
Henry Arthur Pierce.
Onslow Q. Ball.
Edward O. Pierson.
Joseph D. Bradford.
Artemas S. Pennock.
William H. Cobb.
Rodolphus Porter.
Henry F. Crane.
John Reed.
Thomas J. Cain.
James A. Reynolds.
F. Eugene Dyer.
John V. Scollard.
Lewis Dyer.
Arthur J. Shaw.
George A. French.
Alfred Southworth.
George G. French.
William H. Stevens.
William G. Full.
George W. Stevens.
Henry Gardner.
Caleb Thompson.
Edward A. Hale.
Foster F. Tupper. William A. Tupper.
Charles A. Hayward.
Jonathan P. Hayward.
Amasa S. Thayer.
Ellis Hollingsworth.
Henry B. Vinton.
Elijah C. Hall.
Thomas A. Watson.
Peter D. Holbrook.
Jonathan F. White.
Henry M. Hollis.
Joseph Whiteley ..
Bradford Y. Knight.
Ezra H. Waite.
Frederic P. Lothrop.
Edward M. Wight.
Charles H. Loring.
B. Herbert Woodsum.
Article 14 taken up.
Voted, That it is the sense of this meeting that an overhead bridge at the Elm Street crossing is not necessary, and that the
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Selectmen are hereby instructed to oppose the building of the said overhead bridge.
Article 8 taken up.
The committee on appropriations made their report, and it was voted to appropriate the following sums of money for the expenses of the town for the current year : -
Voted, That the income from the dog tax, State and town school funds be appropriated for schools.
Schools .
$10,400 00
School incidentals
500 00
Schoolhouse incidentals .
.
1,000 00
Text-books and supplies .
800 00
Superintendent of schools
1,200 00
Support of poor
3,500 00
Soldiers' relief, Chap. 298, Acts of 1889 .
500 00
State aid, Chap. 279, Acts of 1889 .
400 00
Repairs of highways
4,000 00
Repairs on Union Street bridge
250 00
Stone roads
3,000 00
Flag-stones ·
500 00
Removal of snow
500 00
Fire Department
1,500 00
Janitor
600 00
Town lands
100 00
Public library
800 00
Repairs on public library
250 00
Distribution of books
100 00
Town officers .
2,525 00
Abatement and collection of taxes
600 00
Incidental expenses
1,200 00
Sewerage committee
150 00
Interest on town debt
1,200 00.
.
Article 8 laid on the table.
Article 9 taken up.
Voted, To appropriate the sum of $175, and pay the same to General Sylvanus Thayer Post, G. A. R., for the purpose of assist- ing them in defraying the expenses of Memorial Day.
238
Article 11 taken up.
Voted, To appropriate the sum of $650 to purchase new hose for the Fire Department.
Article 15 taken up.
Voted, To appropriate the sum of $250 to paint the Town House.
Article 13 taken up.
Voted, To appropriate $2,000 for the sinking fund, established for the payment of the water bonds.
· Voted, To appropriate the sum of $2,500 to pay the interest on the water bonds (in addition to accruing interest on money now on deposit) .
Article 16 taken up.
Voted, To appropriate $200 to paint the almshouse.
Article 19 taken up.
Voted, To appropriate the sum of $300 to drain River Street.
Article 24 taken up.
Voted, To appropriate the sum of $200 for conveying pupils to and from the public schools.
Article 2 taken up.
Voted, That the report of the Selectmen be referred back to them with instructions to amend as regards the Superintendent of High- ways.
Article 18 was taken up.
Voted, That said Article be referred to the Selectmen, who shall report thereon at the adjourned meeting.
Voted, To adjourn to Monday, April 6, next, at 2 o'clock, P.M.
SAMUEL A. BATES, Town Clerk.
BRAINTREE, APRIL 6, 1891.
The meeting was called to order by the Moderator in accordance with the adjournment.
Article 2 taken from the table.
Selectmen made their amended annual report which was accepted.
Article 5 taken from the table.
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Town Clerk reported that Josiah Penniman, elected fence- viewer, Henry Gardner, measurer of lumber, and Edward W. Hobart, surveyor of wood, had not taken their oath of office, and the offices were declared vacant.
C. Herbert Doane, elected measurer of grain, and James H. Finegan and George F. Hussey, weighers of hay, declined to serve.
Voted, That the Selectmen be authorized to fill the above vacancies, if in their judgment necessary.
Article 5 laid on the table.
Article 6 taken up.
Voted, unanimously, That the Treasurer be authorized, with the approval of the Selectmen, to hire money in anticipation of taxes of the current fiscal year, and to issue notes of the town therefor, and the debts incurred under the authority of this vote are hereby made payable from said taxes.
Article 6 laid on the table.
Article 3 taken up.
Voted, That the highways and bridges be repaired in accordance with Chap. 98 of the Acts of the Legislature of 1889.
Voted, That the Superintendent of Highways shall not be a member of the Board of Selectmen.
Article 4 taken up.
Voted, That it be indefinitely postponed.
Article 10 taken up.
Voted, That the engineers and members of the Fire Department be each paid the sum of fifteen dollars for their services the cur- rent year.
Article 12 taken up.
Voted, That all taxes assessed the current year shall be payable on or before the 1st day of December, 1891, and on all taxes not paid on or before said 1st day of December, interest at the rate of six per centum per annum shall be charged and collected from the' said 1st day of December until the tax is paid; and that the col- lector is required, immediately after the 1st day of February, 1892, to exert all the power vested in him by law for the collection of all unpaid taxes.
Article 15 taken up.
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Voted, To refer the furnishing of the Town Hall with new seats to a committee of three to be appointed by the Chair.
Chair appointed George D. Willis, E. Watson Arnold, and Elmer E. Abercrombie, said committee.
Article 17 taken up.
Voted, To lay Article 17 on the table.
Article 18 was taken up.
Voted, To appropriate the sum of $4,000 to widen Quincy Avenue and Commercial Street as ordered by the County Commissioners.
Voter, To adjourn until 4 o'clock P. M.
Met in accordance with adjournment.
Article 20 taken up.
Voted, That it be indefinitely postponed.
Article 21 taken up.
Voted, To choose a committee of five consisting of the Modera- tor, Town Clerk, and three citizens to be appointed by the Chair, to revise the by-laws of the town, and report at the next annual meeting. John V. Scollard, Albert E. Avery, and Charles C. Mellen were appointed said committee.
Articles 22 and 25 were indefinitely postponed.
Article 26 taken up.
Voted, That the Board of Water Commissioners be authorized to make extensions of the water system at such points and in such sections of the town as they may deem necessary, and pay the expenses thereof from any funds available for the purpose ; provi- ded that no pipes shall be laid, and no expense incurred unless said commissioners shall be satisfied that the income will pay not less than four per cent annually upon the cost of construction of said extensions.
Article 27 taken up.
Voted, To accept Mount Vernon Avenue as laid out by the Selectmen, and appropriate $500 to complete the same.
Article 8 taken from the table.
Voted, That so much of the bank and corporation tax, to the amount of $7,000, be applied to the payment of the above appro- priations.
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Voted, To raise hy taxation the sum of forty-seven thousand six hundred and fifty (47,650) dollars.
Voted, That we elect a Collector of Taxes for the current year, and that he be paid for his services one per cent on the amount assessed and committed to him for collection. Upon ballot, with the use of the check list, David H. B. Thayer was elected Col- lector of Taxes for the current year, and was sworn by the Town Clerk.
Voted, to pay Francis A. Hobart the sum of $25 for his services as Moderator.
Article 30) taken up.
Voted, That it be indefinitely postponed.
Voted, that we adjourn sine die.
SAMUEL A. BATES,
Town Clerk.
NORFOLK, SS. To either of the Constables of the Town of Braintree, GREETING :
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby required to notify and warn the inhabitants of the town of Braintree, qualified to vote in town affairs, to meet at the Town Hall, in said Braintree, on Tuesday, the twenty-fourth day of March, 1891, at seven and one-half o'clock in the evening, to act on the following Articles, namely : -
ARTICLE 1. To choose a Moderator to preside at said meeting.
ART. 2. To see if the town will vote to issue one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) in bonds, as provided by Section 11 of Chapter 269, of the Acts of 1886, viz. :- An Act to Incorporate the Braintree Water Supply Company.
ART. 3. To see if the town will appropriate a sum of money to pay the interest on the bonds under said Act of 1886, and to establish a sinking fund, as provided by said Section 11 of Chap- ter 269, of said Acts of 1886.
ART. 4. To see if the town will vote to apply the money, or any portion thereof, derived by the sale of bonds under the pro- visions of Section 5 of Chapter 217, of the Acts of 1885, for the extension of the present system of water works, and for the pay- ment of the award as made by the Commissioners appointed by
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the Supreme Court under the provisions of Section 10 of Chapter 269, of the Acts of 1886.
ART. 5. To elect a Board of Water Commissioners as provided by Section 15 of Chapter 269, of the Acts of 1886.
ART. 6. To see if the town will vote to petition the Legislature for the right to issue additional bonds, and for such legislation as may be necessary to conform to the decree of the Court, and such as shall be for the best. interest of the town.
ART. 7 To choose any Committee, or hear the report of any Committee, and act thereon.
You are to give notice of this meeting by posting true and attested copies of this warrant in not less than nine public places in this town, seven days, at least, before the time of said meeting, and by publishing once in the Braintree Observer.
Hereof fail not, but make return of this warrant with your doings thereon to the Town Clerk before the time of said meeting.
Given under our hands at Braintree, this sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety- one.
ANSEL O. CLARK, NATHANIEL F. HUNT. J. FRANKLIN BATES, Selectmen of Braintree.
NORFOLK, SS. BRAINTREE, March 21, 1891.
Persuant to the within warrant, I have notified the inhabitants of the town of Braintree, herein described, to meet at the time and place, and for the purposes within mentioned, by posting up at- tested copies of this warrant at more than nine public places in said town of Braintree, seven days before the time set for said meeting ; and I have caused the said warrant to be publisbed in the Braintree Observer once before the time set for said meeting. ·
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