USA > Maine > Waldo County > Belfast > History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine v.I, 1770-1875 > Part 31
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When the British were in possession of this place in 1814, the Academy was occupied as a barrack by a portion of their troops. After that time and before the Unitarian meeting-house was built, it was occupied occasionally for public religious services. In the summer of 1829, it was occupied for a while by a troop of strolling
1 Now a lawyer in Portland.
2. Mr. Bates died at sea, June 25, 1841, on a voyage for his health.
8 Now pastor of the Central Church, Bangor.
4 Now a minister at Peterborough, N. Y.
5 Mr. Edson entered the ministry.
6 Now a lawyer in New York City.
7 Now a physician in Boston.
8 Now a lawyer in Boston.
9 Maine Reports, Vol. II. page 109, where the case is reported.
332
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
play-actors, who succeeded admirably well in murdering Shak- speare and victimizing all who were indiscreet enough to give them credit. For a while after that, until 1836, it was left to take care of itself; its door open day and night, as an invitation to all tramps and night-walkers to enter and take possession ; the haunt of the muses was no longer " classic ground."1
In 1836, a sale of a portion of the lands granted by Massachu- setts placed the institution in a successful financial condition, and during that year the trustees voted " that the building be put in repair, a preceptor employed, and that sixty dollars be appro- priated for apparatus." Under the new arrangement, the number of pupils was one hundred and fifty-two.2
In 1840, the building was removed to the location of the pres- ent one, and thoroughly reconstructed. The institution continued to flourish until Dec. 17, 1842, when an accidental fire consumed the edifice with a portion of its contents. In 1846,8 the present brick structure was erected, at a cost of $2,200, and occupied according to the original purpose of the founders, until 1852, when it was tendered to the town for public schools. All the land excepting the lot 4 as now enclosed was sold during the last- named year, at the rate of $800 per acre.
In 1839, an effort was made by some of the teachers of Waldo County to awake a deeper interest in the subject of popular educa- tion. An association was formed, and several meetings for discus- sion took place. John K. True delivered a public lecture at the Unitarian Church, Dec. 4. The organization did not flourish, and no movement of the kind appears to have been made again for several years.
A change in the school system of the State in 1846 was pro- ductive of many good influences. In November of that year, the first Educational Convention for Waldo County was held here ; the object being to chose a member of the Board of Education created by the Legislature. Every town but four was repre- sented. E. M. Thurston delivered an address ; and Hon. Ebenezer Knowlton, of Montville, was elected. The following month the Board made choice of our fellow-citizen, William G. Crosby, as
1 Crosby's Annals.
2 Printed catalogue, 1836. Catalogues were also printed in 1839 and 1847.
8 After the destruction of the old building, and until the completion of the new one, the academy was kept at intervals in the vestry of the Unitarian Church, in chamhers No. 2, Phoenix Row, and in the old Masonic Hall, on Main Street.
+ The trees around this lot were planted under the superintendence of Mr. Field, in 1841.
333
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.
Secretary, a position which he occupied for three years. He delivered a lecture upon common-school education at the Unita- rian Church, on the evening of May 23, 1847.
The first Teachers' Institute for this county, under the Act which created the institution, assembled at the brick school-house on Church Street Nov. 15, and continued nine days, under the charge of William B. Fowle, of Boston. During its session, evening lectures were given by the Secretary of the Board, by Mr. Fowle, Rev. S. H. Hayes of Frankfort, Rev. Stephen Thurston of Searsport, Solyman Heath, Rev. E. F. Cutter, and Rev. Samuel Souther of Belfast. There were one hundred and sixty-three pupils in attendance. Benjamin Griffin was elected a member of the Board of Education.
A second session of the Institute was held at the North Church, commencing Oct. 24, 1848. The catalogue contains the names of one hundred and eighty-five teachers. Rev. William Warren, of Windham, was principal of the Board of Instruction. Lectures were delivered by Rev. Mr. Thurston of Searsport, Rev. Messrs. Palfrey, Cutter, and Fletcher of Belfast, and Mr. Warren and J. E. Littlefield of the Board. Hon. Hugh J. Anderson was chosen to the Board of Education.
At the session in October, 1849, Dexter A. Hawkins, now of New York, presided over the Board of Instruction. Ninety-five pupils attended, and the meetings were held in the Baptist Church. During the session, public lectures were delivered by Rev. Messrs. Palfrey, Cutter, and Ricker, and W. G. Crosby, Esq., of this place, Rev. Mr. Wiswall of Brooks, and Messrs. Thurston and Rawson of the Board of Instruction.
The Institute for 1850 was held during October and November, at City Hall. Messrs. Dexter A. Hawkins, William H. Seavey of Hallowell, and Lyman B. Hanaford of Cambridge, Mass., com- posed the Board of Instruction. Ninety-five teachers were pres- ent. Soon after this year, the system of Institutes was abolished.
In this chapter may properly be given the names of all natives of Belfast who have received a collegiate education. The follow- ing list arranged in order of graduation is believed to be correct. A star designates such graduates as have deceased.
William G. Crosby, Bowdoin, 1823
*John F. H. Angier, Waterville, 1827
*Henry C. Field, Bowdoin, 1827
*Lucius H. Chandler, Waterville, 1831
*George C. Angier, Bowdoin, 1832
*Albert T. Nickerson, 1836
George W. Field, " 1837
William L. Avery, 1845
334
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
Edward M. Field,
Bowdoin, 1845
*Roscoe J. White, Waterville, 1855
*Alfred W. Johnson,
1845
Edwin B. Palmer, Bowdoin, 1856
Walter B. Alden, =
1847 George R. Williamson, " 1856 William C. Marshall, " 1847 William H. Anderson, " 1857
*William O. Stevens, Harvard, 1848
Albert B. Otis, Tufts, 1863
Ralplı C. Johnson, Harvard, 1864
Joseph Williamson, Bowdoin, 1849 William C. Williamson, Harvard, 1852 James C. White, = 1853
Horatio H. Johnson, Jr , Tufts, 1864
Engene L. White,
1854
Thomas D. Anderson, Bowdoin, 1865 John C. Harkness, 1864
*William S. Heath, Waterville, 1855
*Alfred J. Monroe, " 1871
Besides these, *William J. Read (Bowdoin, 1823), *Albert G. Lane (Waterville, 1827), *Charles C. Porter (Bowdoin, 1831), . George Gannett (Bowdoin, 1842), *William M. Baker (Bowdoin, 1847), and Hersey G. Palfrey (Harvard, 1860), resided here while pursuing their college course, although born in other places.
335
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. - SCHOOLS.
CHAPTER XXIV.
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. - SCHOOLS.
First Public Action about Schools. - Law of the Commonwealth. - Thirty Pounds raised for School Money .- Log School-house erected. - Districts established. - School-house built on Western Side. - Limits of Districts in 1810. - Proportion of School Money. - School Lands. - Schools in 1820. - Division of Districts. -- Arrange- ments in 1824. - Infant School Society. - School-books prescribed in 1827. - Village District formed. - Erection of the Brick School-house. -- Arrangements and Changes from 1830 to 1840. - Private Schools. - Changes from 1840 to 1850. - Old Court- house purchased. - Grading System adopted. - High School. - Engraving of School- houses on Church Street.
TTO public provision for education was made prior to the Revo- lution. The earliest mention of the subject in the town records appears under date of March 23, 1789, when it was voted " to have no town school this year." By a law "to provide for the instruction of youth, and for the promotion of good education," approved in 1789, every town containing fifty families or upwards was obliged to be provided with " one or more school-masters, to teach children to read and write, and instruct them in the English language, as well as in arithmetick, orthography, and decent behavior," under a penalty of ten pounds. It was probably not until 1794 that Belfast came within the provisions of the statute. The town voted, at the annual meeting of this year, "to have a school, and to raise thirty pounds to support it." About this time, the first school-house was built, by a few persons having the welfare of the rising generation at heart, and unaided by any public appropriation. It was constructed of logs, and stood on the present site of John C. Blanchard's house in Searsport, then within the limits of Belfast. The next one, built soon after, was situated on the east side of the river, between the upper and lower bridges, about fifty rods south of Amasa T. Patterson's house. William Crooks was the first school-master.1
In 1799, by reason of the dispersed situation, as well as the increase in number of the inhabitants, it became evident that the
1 Locke's Sketches.
336
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
children could not conveniently assemble in one place for instruc- tion any longer. A vote was therefore passed "to have three School Districts on the Easterly side, and two on the Westerly side of the river." The limits of these districts were not defined until the following year, when it was voted to have " Two School Districts, to include the distance from Halfway Creek, so called, at the East end of the Town, to the leading road between Messrs. Tolford Durham's and Nathaniel Patterson's.
" Voted, To Define the limits between the same two Districts, at Tuft's Bridge, so called.
" Voted, That the Third School District shall begin at the leading road between Messrs. Nathaniel Patterson's and Tolford Durham's, and to extend to the North and North-westerly settle- ments now in the Town of Belfast."
The lines of the two western districts were not recorded; and early in 1800 it was voted " to Reconsider the Division, and that Messrs. Robert Patterson, 2d, Jonathan White, and John Durham be a Committee to make a new one." They reported the fol- lowing : -
" That from Little River, or Northport line, to the north line of Mr. John Russ's land, shall form the first District on the Westwardly side of the River; and from the south line of Capt. Ephraim McFarland's land, northwardly, up the river to the north line of Capt. William Knowlton's land, and westwardly, from Sandy Beach, so called, to the west end of Joseph Hinkson's land in the 3d Division, shall form the second District ; that from said north line of William Knowlton's, as aforesaid, by the river North-westerly to the town line, and from the Narrows, so called, on Belfast River westwardly by the west line of William Patterson, the 3d's land in the Third Division, shall form the Third District; and from the west end of Joseph Hinkson's land as aforesaid westwardly to the town line shall form the fourth District." The next year, the first and second western districts were united, by a vote of the town.1
In 1802, after unsuccessfully agitating the subject for several years, the town voted to appropriate $600 for building a school- house on the western side ; and one was erected the same year, at a cost of $591.36. It stood just in front of the old meeting- house, next to the McFarland house, on the northerly corner of the lot now occupied by Mrs. Timothy Thorndike. " This school-
1 Town records.
337
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. - SCHOOLS.
house was a marvel in its day ; it was painted, the front and sides white, the rear red."1 The roof was square. The edifice was not satisfactorily located, and just prior to the war it was removed to the land at the corner of Church and Market Streets, where the Langworthy brick building stands. Here the principal town school was kept until the erection of the brick school-house on the Common. A few years after, it was removed to the foot of Spring Street, and occupied as a block-maker's shop. It was burnt in the great fire of 1873. A small school-house was built in 1812, just below the Salmond lot, at the corner of Robert White's field.2
The following were the limits of the several School Districts in 1810:3_
First Eastern, from Lot No. 1, First Division, to No. 15, inclusive; also including all directly back of those limits.
Second Eastern, from the west line of Lot No. 15, First Division, to No. 31, inclusive ; also including all back settlers.
Third Eastern, from the east line of No. 32, First Division, to Wescott Brook, including all back settlers.
First Western, from Little River bridge to the south line of No. 16 in the Second Division, including all the village, and all on the road to Greene, so far as the Whitaker and Campbell lots inclusive.
Second Western, from the south line of No. 16 in Second Division to Cochran's bridge, including those persons in West Highway districts, excepting Thos. Houston and William Lowney.
Third Western, from Cochran's bridge to the town line in each direction, including Daniel Clary.
First Back (Clark's), from Whitaker's lot to the town line adjoining Greene, including Thos. Houston and William Lowney.
Second Back (Stanley's), from the corner of the road near John Wilson's house to the town line adjoining Northport.
Distribution of the School Money voted at the Adjournment of the Annual Meeting among the Several Districts, 1810.
First Western District $296.08
Second ". "
68.84
Third " "
51.21
1 Governor Crosby. It is said that Judge Read was induced to settle here from the favorable impression produced by this school-house, the only painted one he had seen on the Penobscot.
2 Locke's Sketches. Town papers.
8 Town papers.
22
338
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
Amount brought forward
$386.13
First Eastern District
79.47
Second "
"
104.66
Third "
51.63
First Back
"
28.38
Second ,,
"
19.73
$700.00
April 6, 1807. Voted, To pass the article to see if the town will raise $100 for the support of a singing-school.
1808, May 4. Voted, To set off three [sic] persons on the Stanley road, so called, into a new and separate school district, lying at the head of lot No. 41, in the first division of lots, and that Joshua Brackett, Nathaniel Stanley, and Thos. Whittier, Jr., be the school committee the ensuing year.
1811, May 5. Voted, To divide the seventh school district, formerly called Cochran's or the third western district, by Samuel Brown's westerly line continued.
1812, May 15. Voted, To set off Benjamin Hartshorn and others living within the circle of the following lots, viz., Nos. 44, 70, 71, 73, part of 79, 80, 77, 72, 69, 64, and what is called the Braddock lot, Messrs. Whitaker and Campbell's lots, into a sepa- rate school district.
1812, May 15. Voted, To relinquish the school lands lying in the fourth division, formerly claimed by the town, to such person or persons as will defend the same.1
1815, April 3. Voted, That the several school districts, numbered from 1 to 11, inclusive, be limited, and the boundaries thereof defined agreeably to the report now made by the Select- men, viz. : -
District No. 1. Bounded southerly by the bay, easterly by the town line, northerly by the town line, and westerly by the west lines of lot No. 15 in the first division, of lots Nos. 2, 10, 22, and 32 in third division, and of lot No. 52 in the fourth division.
District No. 2. Bounded easterly by the first district as therein
1 The proprietors of the town voted in 1793 "that a piece of common land lying at the north of Benjamin Nesmith shall be school land, and the remainder of the school lot to be made out in the common land." The next year they voted "to lay out so much land for the benefit of a school as to make one hundred and fifty acres, including what was voted before." The " school lot," as it was called, adjoining land of S. W. Miller, and consisting of about fifty acres, being part of lot No. 83 in the third division, was leased at auction for many years. It was sold to Annas Campbell and William White in 1835.
339
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. - SCHOOLS.
-
described, southerly by the bay, westerly by the west lines of lot No. 31 in first division, of lots Nos. 7, 15, 25, and 35 in the third division, and of 49 in the fourth division, northerly by the town line. Also, to include that part of lot No. 32 in the first division which lies south-easterly of the north line of Samuel Parkman's land near the East Bridge.
District No. 3. Bounded easterly by the second district as therein described, southerly by the river, westerly by the west line of lot No. 48 in the second division, continued to the town line, and northerly by the town line.
District No. 4. Easterly by the bay, southerly by the town line, northerly and westerly as follows : beginning at the north-east corner of lot No. 37 in the first division ; thence, west, by the north line of said lot, to the north-west corner of John Limeburner's house lot; thence, southerly, by said house lot, to the south-east corner thereof; thence, south-west, to the north line of lot No. 41 in the first division ; thence, west, by said north line of lot No. 41, to the north-west corner of the same; thence, south, 16° east, to the north-east corner of lot No. 87, third divi- sion ; thence, south, 68° west, to the north-east corner of the same ; thence, south, 22º east, to the town line. Benjamin Eells and prop- erty, as now in the fifth district, to be in the fourth district as heretofore.
District No. 5. Southerly by the fourth district as therein described, westerly by the head-lines of the first and second division lots, northerly by the north line of lot No. 15 in the second division, easterly by the river. Also, lots Nos. 79 and 36 in the third division to be included in the fifth district.
District No. 6. Southerly by the fifth district as therein described, and by the north line of William Salmond's land on lot No. 104 in third division, westerly by the west line of William West's land on lot No. 104, and of lots 105 and 57 in the third divi- sion, and of lot No. 47 in second division, and easterly by the river.
District No. 7. Southerly by the sixth district as therein described, westerly by the west line of lots 50, 49, and 42 in the third division, continued to the town line, northerly to the town line, easterly by the third district as therein described.
District No. 8. Northerly by the north line of lots Nos. 62 and 61 of third division and of 55 in the fourth division, westerly by the town line, southerly by the south line of lots 73 and 74 in the third division, and of 13 in fourth division, easterly by the east line of lots 62, 65, 68, and 73 of third division.
340
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
District No. 9. Southerly by the town line, westerly by the town line, northerly by the north lines of lots Nos. 85, 76, 75 in third division and of lot 12 in the fourth division, easterly by the east lines of lots Nos. 76, 81, 85, 88, 93, 96, and 101 in the third division.
District No. 10. Easterly by the seventh district as therein described, southerly by the south line of 56, 59, and 60 in the third division, and of 19 in the fourth division, westerly by the town line, northerly by the town line.
District No. 11. Southerly by the south line of lots 78 and 80 in third division, westerly by the west lines of lots 80, 77, 72, 69, 64, 63, and 58 of third division, northerly by the north line of lot 58 and the north line of William Salmond's land on lot 104 in the third division, easterly by the fifth and sixth district.
1817, March 31. Voted, To divide the first school district by the following lines, viz .: beginning at the bay, at the south- westerly corner of lot No. 5; thence by the west line of said lot to the head-line of the first division of lots ; thence by said head- line to the north-west corner of lot No. 15; thence by the west line of said lot No. 15 to the bay; thence by the bay to the place of beginning ; and the district contained within those limits to be called No. 12.
William Biglow came here in 1820, and advertised to open a private school in the house of Phinehas Kellam. In the Gazette of Dec. 26, 1821, Freeman Page announces that he teaches pen- manship in the front room of Colonel Cunningham's hotel, at three dollars for twelve lessons. This was the first regular writing- school here. June 19, 1822, J. Noyes gives notice of a school for navigation and book-keeping, at his house next the bridge. The same year Misses I. and E. Gordon advertise their school for young ladies, in Captain McFarland's house. For a short time in the winter of 1822-23, Mr. Biglow and James W. Webster conducted a school together, the tuition being twenty and twenty- five cents per week. The next spring they opened separate schools. During the summer, Mr. Biglow opened a morning school, com- mencing at six o'clock. Misses Kidder and Cox give notice of a private school, to commence April 15.
1823, April 21. Voted, To divide the ninth school district, and to set off so much of it into a new district as is described in the following boundaries, viz. : beginning at Samuel Dillaway's on the road leading from Northport to Belfast village, and following said
341
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. - SCHOOLS.
road as far as Daniel Peaselee's, including all that live on the said road, and also those to the eastward of it, and that Samuel Dillaway be school agent.
1824, April 24. School lot leased at auction for a year to Moses Brier, $26.50.
1824, April 24. Voted, To divide school district No. 2, and that the division line be between lots Nos. 26 and 27 in the first division, and between lots Nos. 6 and 7, first range, and Nos. 13 and 14 in the second range, and Nos. 24 and 25 in the third range, and Nos. 34 and 35 in the fourth range in the third division, and between lots Nos. 50 and 51 in the fourth division.
The arrangements for the public schools in the village district, in the spring of 1824, were as follows : Mr. Biglow taught in the back room over Peter H. Smith's store (the Phoenix House), and instructed in Latin and Greek, if desired. Mr. Webster had charge of the school in the school-house. Their weekly compen- sation was only seven dollars each. Miss Mary Durham taught in the front chamber over Smith's store, and Miss York in Furber's building on Main Street.
1826, May 8. Voted, That school districts Nos. 13, 4, and 5 be established as follows :-
The Thirteenth School District shall consist of the following described lots in the third division of lots, to wit, lots numbered 86, 87, 94, 95, 102, 85, 88, 93, 96, 101, 100, 97, and so much of lot No. 92 in same division as is owned or occupied by Edward Wight.
The Fourth School District to be described as follows, to wit: beginning at the north-easterly extremity of Summer Street, at the shore; thence, by the middle of same street, to the other extremity thereof; thence to Miller Street ; thence, by the middle of Miller Street, to the north line of lot in the first division numbered 39; thence running west to the north-west corner of same lot No. 39 ; thence on the westerly line of the lots of the first division to the south-west corner of lot in the first division No. 52; thence by the south line of said lot No. 52 and the west lines of lots in the second division numbered 3, 2, and 1, and the line of Northport to the bay ; thence, northerly and westerly, by the bay and river to the boundary begun at.
The Fifth School District to be described as follows, viz .: bounded southwardly by the fourth school district described as above, westwardly by the head-lines of lots of the first and
342
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
second divisions, northwardly by the north line of lot No. 15 in the second division, and eastwardly by Belfast River.
In 1826, an association called " The Infant School Society " was formed. The first officers were David Whittier, chairman ; William Poor, clerk ; Daniel Lane, treasurer and collector ; and Philip Morrill, Peter Osgood, Thomas Marshall, William A. Drew, and William Barnes, standing committee. In the language of the constitution, the objects of the society were "to establish and constantly maintain a school on the monitorial system of instruc- tion for children principally between the ages of three and seven years, and to furnish instruction gratis to all children whose parents are unable to pay tuition." " The society," continues Mr. White, " with a zeal suited to the liberality of the principles disclosed in their constitution, immediately put in operation the school they had designed. They procured an able instructor, upwards of one hundred pupils were immediately collected, and the success of the school surpasses the expectations of its warmest friends." The school was held in the town hall.
In 1827, the school committee prescribed the following selec- tion of books for the schools : Washburn's spelling-book, Fowle's arithmetic, primary reading lessons, New Testament, Maine Primer, Fowle's spelling-book, Murray's English reader, Fowle's English grammar, Cumming's geography, Kinnie's arithmetic, Colburn's arithmetic and sequel, History United States. This year, Miss Durham, assisted by the Rev. Nathaniel Wales, taught a private school in Johnson's red building. "Schools for the education of youth," says White's History, which appeared this year, " have been fostered by the town from the beginning, with that solicitude so common for that interest throughout New Eng- land. Fourteen district schools are maintained, each a portion of the year; and in the village a number of subscription schools are constantly open. The number of children between four and twenty-one years of age, which by the law of the State are made the objects of instruction, in 1826 was 1,183, as appears on the town record. The number actually schooled may be estimated to exceed one thousand. And, during the summer months, one hun- dred, at least, of those under four years of age enjoy the privilege of public instruction."
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