USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > Portland city guide > Part 12
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Perhaps no better indication of a generally healthy relationship between labor and the employer could be found than in a substantial growth of labor organization, coupled with a relative freedom from strikes or re- fusals to meet with employee representatives. Portland strikes have been comparatively short and peaceful. They have usually been entirely local in character and application, with the exception of those participated in by the National Maritime Union, an Atlantic seaboard organization negotiat- ing on a coast-wide basis.
Greatest excitement in the labor history of the city was caused by the streetcar strike of July, 1916. This was occasioned by the discharge of several employees on account of their activity in organizing a union; the strike lasted five days, completely tying up the streetcar system. On July
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17, the day the strike was settled the Portland Evening Express and Ad- vertiser reported: "The dominant note of comment on the street is satis- faction over the settlement of the trouble and great commendation for the attitude of the striking carmen throughout the whole trying period. That out of a group of over 400 men not one had resorted to any but legitimate means for gaining the ends they sought was considered a feature of the strike of which few cities in America have been able to boast."
Along with the rest of the nation, Portland workers have enjoyed the benefits of the Fair Labor Standards Act passed by Congress guaranteeing minimum wages and a set maximum of hours; so well have Portland em- ployers and employees co-operated in the enforcement of the Wage-Hour Act, that since its inception there has been but one case of local violation. In this case government inspectors were able to obtain evidence that resulted in the conviction of the firm and a restoration of wages to the employees involved.
Portland, at the time of the Federal Census of 1930, had over 30,000 gainfully employed workers, approximately 75% of whom were wage earners; these Portland figures compare favorably with those of the State which show 308,603 gainfully employed workers, 72% of whom were wage earners. According to the figures in the Federal Census of Manufacturers for 1937, the total annual pay roll for the 4,000 employees in manufacturing industries was slightly over $4,000,000. The Federal Census of 1935 re- cords that an annual average of 4,627 retail employees received a total of $4,755,000 in wages; an annual average of 2,441 employees in wholesale establishments received during the year $4,678,000; and an average of 739 employees in service establishments received $736,000. While these figures cover very few of the relatively large groups of people occupied in trans- portation and communication, domestic and personal service, and profes- sional and public service, they do show that in Portland more wages are paid per person employed, in average figures, then in any other city in Maine.
The 1937 Federal Unemployment Census reported 3,000 wage earners totally unemployed, in addition to 450 new workers; nearly 1,900 were part- ly unemployed; and 921 were emergency workers. An annual average, dur- ing 1935-39, of about 1,000 Portland people have been employed on the various projects of the Emergency Relief Administration, Works Progress Administration, and the Work Projects Administration.
HUMISTON-
EDUCATION
A century after the first settlement of The Neck' early Falmouth grudgingly conceded the necessity of formal education. Evidently fear of the law rather than the urge for book learning spurred them on, for the first notice on the subject is in the town record of September 15, 1729, when the Puritan fathers of Massachusetts Bay Colony ordered the local select- men "to look out for a schoolmaster to prevent the town's being presented." Thus, grudging obedience to the Massachusetts law was the foundation of present-day Portland's 41 public schools, with an attendance during 1938- 39 of 12,537 students and an investment of $4,500,000 in school build- ings. There are also 11 parochial schools, with approximately 2,300 pupils, as well as numerous academies and colleges offering all branches of learn- ing and vocational guidance.
Popular education in Massachusetts had begun as early as 1647 by the enactment of a law requiring elementary schools to be established in every town of 50 families, and secondary schools where there were 100 or more. Although under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts from 1658, Maine did not feel the effect of this mandate for nearly three-quarters of a century. The early inhabitants were more interested in procuring means of physical support than in considering the need of intellectual improvement. Dwellings were widely separated, and continual danger from hostile Indians kept the children closely at home. The result was that the children were solely de- pendent on their parents for any instruction they received. Not until the town fathers were threatened with severe penalties for evading the law did they finally submit. In 1733 they hired a blacksmith named Robert Bayley
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as schoolmaster at the annual salary of £70. His contract called for six months teaching at 'The Neck,' three months on the Cove, and three months at Purpooduck. In view of this munificent salary it was thought that he might also preach on Sunday.
In addition to the 'three R's,' Mr. Bayley taught a little geography and grammar, and tempered the various outbreaks of the day with cowhide, rattan, and ruler. A most important feature of his corrective methods was the dunce cap. Always worn by some child who sat in a corner in full view of the class, the cap painted the miscreant as a horrible example of mis- behavior. Girls were barred from attending school, as their sole art was that of becoming useful housekeepers which could be taught at home; parents saw no necessity of girls engaging in scholastic pursuits.
A salary increase of £6 a year to Mr. Bayley, in 1736, is the first inti- mation of the serious enforcement of the Massachusetts law, although the population of The Neck' had reached 100 several years previous. The following year the grammar school became a separate unit; higher branches of learning were taught by Nicholas Hodge, then a student at Harvard College. After graduating in 1739 he resumed his teaching at 'The Neck,' at the same time studying for the ministry under the instruction of the Reverend Thomas Smith, the journalistic pastor of the First Parish Church.
Notwithstanding the sincerity of these early teachers education was at a low level. The money appropriated was not sufficient to attract the undi- vided attention of qualified instructors, and as a result the schools were neglected or left to men who divided their time between teaching and studying to obtain their degrees in law or divinity.
The town took steps to secure its first full-time teacher when the follow- ing invitation was sent to Stephen Longfellow by Parson Smith:
Falmouth, November 15, 1744.
Sir, we need a schoolmaster. Mr. Plaisted advised of your being at liberty. If you will undertake the service in this place you may depend upon our being generous, and your being satisfied. I wish you'd come as soon as possible and doubt not but you'll find things much to your content.
Your humble ser't Thos. Smith
P.S. I write in the name and with the power of the selectmen of the town. If you can't serve us pray advise of it per first opportunity.
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Mr. Longfellow, great-grandfather of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was a graduate of Harvard College. He had made teaching his profession, and was in charge of the school at York. Longfellow accepted the invita- tion and became the principal instructor at Falmouth, his salary being paid mainly in cordwood and produce. As there were no local newspapers in that day, the following notice was posted each year on the schoolhouse door:
Notice is hereby given to such persons as are disposed to send their children to school in this place, the ensuing year, that the year commences this day, and the price will be as usual, viz., eighteen shillings and eight pence per year for each scholar that comes by the year, and eight shillings per quarter for such as come by the quarter.
Steph'n Longfellow.
Longfellow's school was the first of many private schools which were to flourish here during the late 18th and early 19th centuries; to them the more affluent families sent their children. It also seems that free public schools, attended by those who lacked the necessary shillings and pence, were in operation during Mr. Longfellow's period of local teaching. While Longfellow was paid by the town, and also by the parents of his scholars, his system seems to have been in direct contrast to the liberal methods later adopted, which guaranteed equal educational opportunities to all.
Sometime in 1756 Jonathan Webb came here from Boston and opened a private school on India Street; in a very short time he was given the un- dignified name of "Pithy Webb," from his practice of putting in his mouth the pith of his quill when he cut it. Edward Preble, one of his scholars who became one of America's naval heroes, is said to have broken him of this habit by making the quill unpalatable.
Massachusetts adopted in 1789 a law requiring liberal instruction for all children and a college or university education for schoolmasters. The settlers of the District of Maine, however, were of a different stamp from the Puritans of Massachusetts Colony; in this region education was some- what in the background, since it still required the more practical efforts of young and old alike to wrest a living from virgin forest and surging sea. After the passage of the 1789 law Portland began to expand its school system into the field of academies and schools of more advanced curricula.
A newcomer to Portland in 1795 was the Reverend Caleb Bradley who purchased an inn on Free Street and opened a school. Among those who attended it was Nathaniel Hawthorne, who doubtless contributed his share
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in all sorts of pranks that were played upon the easygoing teacher. Brad- ley's custom of propping his chair back against a door was a constant source of temptation to his students. Several of them, including his own son, would prearrange the latch so that, when pressed lightly, the door would fly open, sending the Parson sprawling with feet waving comically aloft.
Portland was becoming a recognized and thriving town; the standard of living had increased materially, and it became important to raise the stand- ard of education. A few of the influential men took measures to establish a higher school and secured an act to incorporate an academy. The Gen- eral Court granted a half township of land, providing that $3,000 could be raised. After considerable effort this was done and Portland Academy for boys were opened in 1803 in a two-story wooden building under the in- struction of Edward Payson, who later became pastor of the Second Parish Church. Five years later a new brick schoolhouse replaced the old build- ing, and here the poet Longfellow prepared for college under the supervi- sion of Preceptor Bezaleel Cushman and his assistant, Jacob Abbott, author of the familiar "Rollo" books. Longfellow had come to admire the irrit- able old schoolmaster, with whom he always associated the odor of tobacco and indiarubber, but the Preceptor's farewell lament on the tribulations attendant on his work intensified Longfellow's dislike of making teaching his profession, and may have tended to bring into flower the budding genius of the young poet.
The Portland Latin School for boys opened in 1821 with 20 scholars drawn from the three grammar schools then in the town; eight years later it was divided into an English high school and a Latin high school, with separate masters. Some time before 1834 they were reunited under the name English High School, and in 1863 joined with the Girls High School. The resultant Portland High School had an entrance on Congress Street and another on Cumberland Avenue; boys and girls were effectively separated by a solid brick wall dividing the building, the only connecting passageway then being on the ground floor. A new principal, who came in 1864, called it the "wall of prejudice" and persuaded the school board to have a door on every floor. Partially destroyed in the fire of 1866, the building was re- paired and in use until again burned in 1911. Once more put in usuable condition, it was replaced in 1918 by the present modern structure.
From 1824 until 1849 Master Henry Jackson taught in Portland, and the old adage of 'spare the rod and spoil the child' was put into everyday use
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in his grade school where a good switching was his favorite form of punish- ment. However, when switching grew monotonous, he had other original methods, his jail corner, where unruly students were forced to sit perfectly rigid or be clipped on the ankles, and his punishment rail were heartily dis- liked by the pupils. The latter punishment was almost torture to these ac- tive youngsters, because misbehaving pupils were made to lie on the rail in front of the teacher's desk, suspending a piece of wood on their ankles, and balancing it for a certain length of time before it could be picked up. One of Jackson's pupils, knowing he was due for a switching, thought he would outwit the school teacher and placed a codfish under his flannel shirt; he took his punishment until the fish began to prick his spine, when he wiggled and howled in pain.
"What's the matter?" demanded Master Jackson, wielding the switch. "The bones," roared the boy.
"What bones?"
"Fish bones," screamed the pupil, removing his shirt and pulling forth the codfish. Whereupon he was switched even harder while the teacher shouted, "Come here and let me take the dust out of your jacket!"
Westbrook Seminary, now the Westbrook Junior College, was incor- porated in 1831, and a building was erected three years later. This was the first institution of learning established in Maine under the patronage of the Universalist denomination, and one of the first in the United States to offer co-educational facilities. At the time of its opening the Portland Eastern Argus commented that "males and females will be admitted to equal privileges." In 1925 the name was changed to the present title, and it became an institution exclusively for women. Today with an annual stu- dent body of over 300, the college offers a curriculum of five major courses: Transfer, preparing students for specialization in science, liberal arts, pre- education, secretarial science, and commerce; Teacher Training, leading to baccalaureate degrees in commerce and art; Terminal, providing two-year courses for medical secretary, secretarial science, business, junior college general, and recreational leadership; Pre-professional, giving certain speci- fied course requirements in pre-occupational therapy, pre-merchandising, and pre-nursing; Exploratory, with courses in music, art, and journalism.
As a result of a consolidation that had been in effect from the turn of the 19th century a local school system was created. In 1832 this consisted of a high school for boys, four monitorial schools (schools in which honor pupils, as monitors, assisted the teacher as instructors), six primary schools, one
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school for colored children, two island schools, and one infant charity school, to which the city contributed $150 annually. The average attend- ance of these schools was 1,074 out of a population of 12,000.
The Portland Academy continued until 1850. With a population of about 21,000 the town realized that the girls needed more in the way of knowledge than that offered by the grammar grades, and a high school for girls was temporarily established on Brackett Street with Moses Woolson as principal. On January 6, 1851, the new high school quarters were opened on Chestnut Street, the first class being graduated in 1854. The school was discontinued in 1863, when it joined with the English High School; the new school became the Portland High School. This identical building, al- though enlarged at a later date, still serves the city as the Woolson Primary School.
An increasing desire for education on the part of many adults deprived of early education resulted in the establishment of an evening school. The first was held in the basement of Preble Chapel, and from 1851 night classes have played an important part in the city's educational program. The present evening school, held in Portland High School, has five distinct de- partments which deal with citizenship, elementary and high school sub- jects, vocational training, home economics, and discussion classes. Many nationalities have been represented, some of whom could not speak Eng- lish upon registration. In addition to these, industrial and commercial workers and college graduates may secure aid in better fitting them for their work.
The Maine School for the Deaf was started in 1876 when Doctor Thomas Hill and Frederick Fox opened a school in a room on Free Street, their first three pupils being residents of this city. Interest in the work grew to such an extent that in 1897 an act of the Maine Legislature made the school a State institution. It is open to children whose hearing is seriously impaired, and who desire an education; all such handicapped children throughout the State, between the ages of five and twenty-one, are educated free of charge. Out-of-State pupils are eligible by paying a nominal fee, and courses are given which range from kindergarten to regular high school grades, in- cluding vocational training.
In 1881 St. Joseph's Academy (Roman Catholic) for girls was opened, and taught by the Sisters of Mercy, under whose guidance it still con- tinues. It combines elementary and high school grades, the latter offering Classical, Latin-Scientific, and English-Commercial courses. Difference of
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Deering High School
La 31, 1937.
Currenta Vecesto :
$15,127
Gerente Recusado
50 17 9,798
Portland Junior College
Life Class at Portland School of Fine and Applied Art
Portland Junior Technical College
Public School Manual Training
Public School Mechanical Training
-
-
Public School Kindergarten
May Day at Waynflete School
Maine School for the Blind
St. Joseph's Convent and Academy
Westbrook Junior College
Portland High School
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Education
religion is no obstacle to admission provided the applicants are willing to conform to the general regulations of the school. In 1915 St. Joseph's Col- lege was established in conjunction with the academy and is the only ac- credited Roman Catholic college for women in the State. Courses are of- fered in languages, mathematics, natural and social sciences, philosophy, and education. A division of the college is an accredited normal school.
The private Waynflete School for girls, established in 1897, has inherited the tradition of a series of local private institutions. Today the school is divided into two sections: the Lower School for primary and intermediate grades, and the Upper School for junior and senior high school classes. The Upper School, specializing in college preparatory work, has consis- tently maintained high scholastic record.
In 1909 two Roman Catholic parochial schools were established in the city: the Roman Catholic Institute, for boys, which became the Catholic Institute High School eight years later; and the Cathedral High School, for girls, which has continued since its inception under the same name. About 1924 the boys' school adopted the name Cheverus Classical High School, and today offers a four-year course in commercial and classical sub- jects. Cathedral High School opened with a strictly commercial course, but this method was modified in 1922, and the curriculum broadened to in- clude classical and general courses.
Hebrew and Greek are both taught in the city at their respective schools, the former under the auspices of Portland Jewry, who contribute toward its support, and the latter sponsored by the Holy Trinity Church (Hellenic Orthodox). Classes in both instances are held after regular public school sessions, and boys and girls are taught to read and write the ancient lan- guages as they study the history, grammar, and religion of their ancestors.
The Lincoln Junior High School offers the adolescent opportunity to select more intelligently courses of study for which they are better fitted when entering high school. This is provided against a suitable background of student clubs, shops, library, assembly hall, and a gymnasium. Portland's two senior high schools offer college, scientific, general, commercial, house- hold, and practical art courses, together with a wealth of extra-curricular activities. Shop work of all kinds is taught in these public high schools from printing to the dismantling of an automobile, and the girls may select courses in home hygiene, care of the sick, and even laundering.
The chief objectives of the Portland public schools have been often stated as follows: (1) to educate the children so that they will get the greatest
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values out of life by helping them to develop their individual talents and abilities and overcome their handicaps; (2) to implant in them a genuine and growing desire to give as much as possible to the lives of others and to become worthy American citizens; (3) to help them prepare for the kinds of life work for which they are adapted and by which they will most enjoy making a living.
The city's public schools have many social organizations, which include foreign language, debating, dramatic societies, glee clubs, and units of the Junior Red Cross. The major sports are baseball, football, basketball, and track, and facilities are provided for tennis, swimming, and hockey. Physical fitness test equipment has been installed, which includes machines for measuring height, weight, chest expansion, lung capacity, and even strength of hand grip, back, and legs.
An example of the modern methods employed in the city's high schools, is the vivid manner in which journalism is correlated with a study of Shake- speare's Julius Caesar; this requires a thorough study of the text notes, and develops an interest in Roman history and customs. Articles are written and sent to the 'city' desk where they are corrected and converted into a com- plete newspaper with typically modern headlines: "THOUSANDS KILLED AS WORST STORM IN HISTORY SWEEPS ROME-GODS VENT ANGER ON IM- PERIAL CITY." The quarrel between Cassius and Brutus is written as today's war correspondents would cover it. Commercial advertisements are not for- gotten as a "Used Chariot for sale" item may appear, and even Portia's death notice has its place in the 'Obit' column. In decided contrast to earlier methods the student is getting a deeper knowledge of the English classics and newspaper training as well.
The Parent-Teacher Association, which today is so closely allied with our schools, has brought a new fellowship between parents and teachers in the interest of the children. Chief among its objects has been a health survey or 'summer roundup' of preschool children; a cultural course is given, com- prising musical concerts, educational movies, art collections, and lectures suitable for children of various ages. Another important part of their works is the Child Welfare and Safety Program, through which under- nourished children are provided with milk during the winter months; cloth- ing is also provided for needy children.
A general interest is taken in the schools and their activities by alumni associations, the Portland Chamber of Commerce, service clubs, women's clubs, welfare and medical associations, and various other civic bodies, as
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well as individual citizens. Many organizations act as sponsors for school contests, entertainments, and sports, and assist in the vocational guidance programs. Funds are contributed for library books, school scholarships, and prizes. Several bequests have been made for free care in convalescent homes for teachers who have become ill, or who may be in need of financial aid.
Portland's school system employs a group of special teachers who give instructions in the homes of children physically unable to attend the regular schools; an attempt is made to accustom these pupils to their environment, eliminating any possible sense of inferiority they might acquire while seg- regated from group educational activities. Pupil health is stressed in the present local school system, and when the public, parochial, and private schools combined for a tuberculosis survey in 1935, so much interest was aroused that an X-ray machine was purchased by the Portland School De- partment and through the direction of the Superintendent of Public School Buildings a developing room, commodious and fully equipped, was installed. General physical examinations, teeth examination, vaccination, toxoid for the prevention of diphtheria, tuberculin tests, cardiac examination, audiometer tests, and examination of the eyes are all included in the general health pro- gram. Some of the special classes maintained in the Portland Public schools are: a Sight-Saving Class, Lip Reading classes, Open Window Room classes, and Ungraded classes which have been organized to give some children special aid and direction in their school work. Safety activities of the Port- land public schools include: courses of study in safety, safety films, safety playlets, safety radio talks, the School Boy Patrol to assist in directing traffic, fire-drills, and lessons in accident prevention.
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