USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Waterville > The centennial history of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine, including the oration, the historical address and the poem presented at the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the incorporation of the town, June 23d, 1902 > Part 25
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Possibly because of the more onerous duties now laid upon the committee, the sum of eight dollars each was voted for the three members composing it the next year, on the condition that they should make the report called for by the town's vote. The same year the limits of the thirteen school districts of the town were very carefully and definitely located, the report of the selectmen on the matter covering about three pages of the town records. At this time and for many years later there was continual chang- ing of the districts, hardly a town meeting being held without taking some action in regard to setting off certain persons from one district to another. This business and the laying out or
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discontinuance of roads furnished a never-failing subject for dis- cussion and action.
The amount of money voted for schools in 1829 was $900, a larger sum by $200 than had ever been voted before. In a list of town by-laws adopted in 1830 the public school pupils were probably aimed at in a section providing for a fine of twenty-five cents as a penalty for riding upon, or taking hold of the back part of any chaise, sleigh or other carriage, while in actual use, with- out the consent of the person having charge of the same. There was also to be no ball playing or stone throwing in the public streets.
There was a decidedly "ministerial" committee chosen in 1834, consisting of the Rev. Calvin Gardner, the Rev. S. F. Smith, author of "America," and the Rev. Jonathan C. Morrill. Samuel Plaisted was chairman of the committee for the next year, which was marked by the passage of a vote to authorize the various districts to elect their respective school agents in district meet- ings. The custom thus inaugurated prevailed thenceforth unin- terruptedly as long as the district system remained in vogue.
Early in the thirties, there were in attendance at the little brick schoolhouse a number of pupils that are still living or have but recently died. The entire list included Mary and Hannah Eaton, Ellen, Elizabeth and Rebecca Getchell, Lydia and Ariana Hill, Alice, Armenia and Olivia Dunbar, Rosetta and Naomi Nelson, Hannah, Tiley Ann and Susan Hayden, Mary Jewett, Esther Shorey, Georgiana Bright, Olive Blackwell, Eliza and Martha Haywood, Mary Brown, Ellen Caffrey, Josephine Morrow, Olive Reed, Lydia Hasty, Sarah Tuttle, Climenia Blood, Mary Shep- herd, Maria Littlefield, James Hasty, Edward Piper, Eldridge L. Getchell, Leonard Hill, Burt Wells, Thomas Eaton, George Blackwell, Eleazer Getchell, Edward Dunbar, Joseph Hasty, Peter Dunbar, John Caffrey, Charles Dow, William Dow, Wil- liam Caffrey, Thomas Foster, Edmund Dunbar, Joseph and Franklin Wheeler, Augustus Hill, Oliver Wheeler, Arnold and David Getchell, Henry and John Paine, Hiram Brown, Alfred Burleigh, George Blood, Thomas, Edwin and James Nelson, David Stilson, Turiel Haywood, George and John Brown, John B. Foster, Wm. Blood, Lemuel Stilson, James Otis, Benjamin Tibbetts, Edward McKechnie, Nathan Shorey, Timothy Little-
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field, John Bacon, James Haywood, Francis Stilson, Charles White, James P. Hill. For teaching this array of pupils the teacher received the liberal salary of twenty-four dollars a month.
Schools were maintained in 1836 in fourteen districts, of which the largest were Nos. I and 5, the former having 212 scholars on its census roll, and the latter 204. The smallest district in the town had fourteen pupils. The total number of pupils returned for the town was 1,049, and the school money expended amounted to $1, 131.18. In district No. I with its eighty pupils in attendance the sum of $197.50 was paid for instruction, of which $117 went to Crosby Hinds, who got $26 a month for a term of eighteen weeks ; and $80.50 to Martha A. Sheldon, who taught twenty-three weeks at $14 a month. The average attend- ance was fifty. On the first visit of the committee thirty pupils were found present and on the second, forty-one. Seventeen pupils took grammar, sixty were found in arithmetic classes, and seventeen gave attention to geography.
In district No. 5 J. G. Dickenson received $173 for teaching, his rate of wages not being given ; and Celia A. Colburn was paid $54 for a term of eighteen weeks.
The entire teaching force for the year consisted of Crosby Hinds, Martha A. Sheldon, Thomas Wright, Adeline Tozier, Philip N. Kimball, Sophia Thayer, David Purington, Martha W. Nelson, J. G. Dickenson, Celia A. Colburn, Serena Whitman, Martha Bowman, E. M. Thurston, Mary Marston, Wm. L. Eaton, Charlotte Mathews, Jacob Tuck, Elvira Cowan, Chas. Morrill, Louisa N. Ingalls, Danforth Thomas, H. C. Warren, Mary Ladd, Lyman Corson, Caroline Pullen and Maria Libby.
The highest wages paid a woman teacher was the $14 received by Martha A. Sheldon in district No. I, which was more than was paid to some of the male teachers. In six of the districts women teachers were paid salaries of $4 a month. In earlier years seventy-five cents a week had not been considered a nig- gardly price to pay for the services of a woman teacher. The only mention of extra studies in the schools of this year was in reference to those of districts Nos. 7 and 12, in the former of which two pupils were set down as having studied history, and in the latter, six. In many of the districts the length of the
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school year was twenty-two weeks; in the village schools it was more ; in the smaller districts it was somewhat less. The whole amount paid the twenty-six teachers was $771.37. As the teachers in the two largest districts received $370.50 of this amount, it is evident that the rest of the corps were not achieving wealth at a dangerously rapid pace. The average number of pupils was reported as 502, but these figures were evidently not accurate, as in several of the districts the agents failed to make the returns necessary to determine the point correctly.
In March of 1835 a movement had been set on foot to build a new schoolhouse in the village, but nothing came of it ; and the same year an attempt to unite districts No. I and No. 5 also failed, the committee from No. I consisting of the Rev. Calvin Gardner, Alpheus Lyon, James Stackpole, Jr., Eben F. Bacon and William Pearson, reporting against the plan as inexpedient.
In 1837 it was voted that the scholars on the west side of the Crommett stream, under eight years of age, draw their money to be expended in a private school to be kept on the west side for their benefit. The next year the following classification of pupils was made for the village schools : All between the ages of four and twelve years, and no others, were to be permitted to attend the summer schools; and all between the ages of ten and twenty- one years, and no others, might attend the winter schools, or those taught by a master.
In 1841 it was voted to open a woman's school on the Plain, so called, if a suitable place could be obtained. Three schools were maintained in the village that summer. An article provid- ing for the giving up of the old schoolhouse lot for one more convenient was voted down in the district meeting of No. I in 1843. There was evidently some trouble with the management of the scholars at this time as the district meeting records show a vote of thanks extended to the schoolmaster for having enforced discipline, and to the committee for having backed him up by turning refractory pupils out of school. In 1845 by vote of the town districts No. I and No. 5 were united.
In 1846 the building of a schoolhouse on the Plains, which seemed to have failed of accomplishment earlier, was authorized at a cost of $250 ; and it was also voted to furnish two school rooms in the town hall. In the same year arrangements were
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made for having the more advanced pupils attend the academy and the institute. The next year boys under twelve and girls under fourteen were admitted to the summer schools, and it was also decided to admit "foreign" children under "such restrictions as the district committee might prescribe." It was also decided that the English elementary branches be taught in the schools of the district and no others, except at the discretion of the classifi- cation committee. James H. Hanson was clerk of district No. I for several years from 1847.
A little earlier than this the district fathers had begun a con- test over the matter of a new schoolhouse. It was a case of the north part of the village against the south, apparently, and it was waged eagerly, and not without traces of considerable bitterness.
Again and again action would be taken at a district meeting providing for the erection of a building, only to be overthrown when the opposing forces were mustered in sufficient strength at a later meeting. In 1853 it apparently became plain that nothing was being gained for either side, and the time-honored method of compromise was brought into use. A committee consisting of James Stackpole, Samuel Plaisted, Joseph Percival and George Wentworth, was chosen to name a committee of ten to consider and report upon the whole matter. This larger com- mittee was made up of Solyman Heath, Josiah H. Drummond, James Stackpole, Joseph O. Pearson, Samuel P. Shaw, R. B. Thurston, John B. Bradbury, C. M. Morse, Ephraim Maxham, and Charles H. Thayer. The committee reported in favor of two brick buildings, one for the north end, the other for the south ; and the long fight was over. One of the buildings thus provided for was the main part of the present high school build- ing ; the other what is now a brick tenement on College avenue, moved there from the present site of the North grammar school building, and used, until the Myrtle street building was erected, for school purposes.
In 1853 it was voted to sell the old brick schoolhouse and lot on College avenue, and so departed an interesting landmark of the earlier days. Two years later Latin and French were author- ized as studies in the high school. In 1859 the teachers of high and grammar grades were requested to present to parents a weekly report of the conduct and scholarship of pupils in their
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charge, and it was decided that at the end of the term a printed statement regarding the same should be printed and circulated. In 1864 pupils of high school rank were sent to Waterville Acad- emy where Dr. Hanson received $4.50 a term for their tuition. This arrangement was continued until the establishment of an independent high school in 1876.
A remarkably able series of school reports were prepared by the committees of 1864 and the following years. They were printed and distributed among the voters and must have been of no little service in gaining their attention and enlisting their sympathy in the cause of education. The report for 1864 dealt broadly and intelligently with many topics that are of as much interest to-day as they were then. Among the subjects treated in this report were: "Interest in Education ;" "School Reports ;" "Kind of Education Needed ;" "Qualification of Teachers ;" "Selection of Teachers ;" "Normal Schools;" "Interest and Co- Operation of Parents ;" "Small Districts ;" "Text-Books ;" "Selection of Studies," and others of more particular interest to the time. The comments and recommendations of this report were eminently sensible and pedagogically sound. Its author was either the Rev. W. H. Kelton, or the Rev. David N. Sheldon, Mr. Kelton's name appearing as chairman of the committee, but the thought and the language of the report frequently suggesting Dr. Sheldon as its probable author.
Other well known members of the superintending school com- mittee from 1864 until the town became a city were Prof. Moses Lyford of Colby, the Rev. J. O. Skinner, Prof. E. W. Hall of Colby, J. G. Soule, who died January 1, 1888, after a continuous service of thirteen years, Hon. S. S. Brown, Dr. A. W. Small, formerly of Colby, now of the University of Chicago, and Mrs. Martha Baker Dunn.
Just before the town became a city, its citizens had a chance to feel proud over the acquisition of a fine new school building, the North Grammar schoolhouse, which was formally opened February 28, 1888. A few years later came the erection of what is known as the South Grammar building, and in 1897 there was built for the accommodation of the upper part of the city what is in most respects the best school building in the city, the Myrtle street schoolhouse.
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With the establishment of a city form of government for Waterville there came a recognition by its new board of education of the need of a more systematic plan of supervision than had existed hitherto, and choice was made of William C. Crawford, a graduate of Colby in the class of 1882, to be the first superin- tendent of schools. The board that elected Mr. Crawford con- sisted of S. S. Brown, chairman; Reuben Foster, Charles F. Johnson, Charles H. Redington, Franklin A. Smith, D. P. Stowell, and Prof. Julian D. Taylor of Colby. Superintendent Crawford found it necessary under the circumstances practically to reconstruct the entire school system, and this he did with little disturbance and yet so efficiently that his successors in office have all realized the good effect of his labors. He remained with the Waterville schools for about four years and a half, leaving them to accept a position in Massachusetts. Those who have followed him in the office of superintendent are C. F. Leadbetter, J. E. Burke, J. H. Blanchard, W. L. Waters, E. F. Hitchings, and Elwood T. Wyman. Of the seven all except Mr. Blanchard and Mr. Hitchings have been graduates of Colby College.
The masters of the high school since its permanent organiza- tion in 1876 have been: Edward H. Smiley, Warren C. Phil- brook, Jefferson Taylor, Lincoln Owen, Dennis E. Bowman, Nowell, A. H. Evans, S. K. Marsh, and John E. Nel- son. At the end of the present school year Mr. Nelson resigned his position after holding it four years, and will be succeeded by Richard W. Sprague of the class of 1901, Colby College. It is interesting to note that every one of the masters in the list quoted has been a Colby graduate.
There are in the city to-day about 3,500 people of school age, and of these about 1,300 are registered in the various schools. These are housed in eight buildings, all the pupils from the out- lying sections being conveyed into the city. The growth of the schools in the last fifteen years has been remarkable. Within that period four new buildings have been erected, and two others have been remodeled, to provide for the accommodation of about 1,000 pupils, and yet there is a demand that must soon be met for a new grammar school building in the southern section of the city, and for a new high school building. Against the $300 expended for schooling in the first year of Waterville's corporate
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life, there is now to be set the annual expenditure of $30,000 for the school department. The schools of the city have kept pace with its growth. They have enlisted the honest efforts of faithful men and women who have served as members of super- intending school committees, of boards of education, as super- intendents, as teachers ; they have enjoyed to a remarkable degree ยท the good-will and appreciation of the community ; and they have bestowed upon thousands of boys and girls a gift richer than any other earthly possession-the gift of an education.
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COBURN CLASSICAL INSTITUTE.
CHAPTER X.
COBURN CLASSICAL INSTITUTE.
By FRANKLIN W. JOHNSON, A. M., Principal of the Institute.
The school which now bears the name of Coburn Classical Institute was founded in 1829 as Waterville Academy. It had its origin in a deeply felt need of a preparatory school for Colby, then Waterville College. Hon. Timothy Boutelle, then treas- urer of the College, had given a lot of land a year or two before and funds were raised by Jeremiah Chaplin, D. D., president of the College, and others for the erection of a school building.
The first principal of the school was Henry W. Paine, at that time an eighteen-year-old senior in Waterville College, later one of the most distinguished lawyers in Massachusetts. The num- ber of students in attendance during the first year was sixty-three, of whom forty-seven were young men. The greater part of the work of the school was in the ordinary English branches as will be seen from the fact that only seventeen students are catalogued as studying Greek or Latin. Among the students of the first year were Mrs. Rebecca Moor Drinkwater who died in March, 1902; Daniel R. Wing, long time proprietor of the Waterville Mail; John B. Foster, LL. D., for many years a professor at Colby; Eldridge Getchell, treasurer of the College for many years, and William Mathews, LL. D., the well-known essayist. Of all the students of that early day Dr. Mathews alone survives. His writings still grace the pages of our periodical literature.
Mr. Paine opened the school in August, 1829, and gave up his office at the end of nine months on account of the fatal illness of a brother. Robert W. Wood had charge of the school for the remainder of this year. Joseph Hodges, Jr., was an assistant
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teacher during this year. The next principal was George I. Chase, just graduated from Brown University, afterwards pro- fessor and acting president of that institution. He began his duties in August, 1830, but closed his work in May, 1831, after nine months' teaching. In August, 1831, Henry Paine, a grad- uate of Waterville College in the class of 1823, became principal and retained this position for five years. There is extant a cata- logue belonging to this period for the year ending July 21, 1834. The following names appear under the heading "Superintending and Examining Committee:" Rev. Rufus Babcock, Jr., George W. Keeley, Rev. Calvin Newton, Alpheus Lyon, Esq., Dr. Hall Chase, Dr. Samuel Plaisted, Phineas Barnes, J. Everett Farnam, Samuel Randall, Jr. Mr. Paine had two assistants besides a teacher in elocution. The attendance for the year was 205, of whom 131 were young men. Of these there were "attending to the Ancient Languages" for the first term twenty-five, for the second term thirty-seven, "attending to the French Language" nine. The school year contained forty-eight weeks. The fol- lowing statements from this early catalogue show how small was the expense of attendance upon the school. "The price of tuition in the common English studies is $3.25 per quarter. In Latin, Greek and French languages, in Intellectual and Moral Phil- osophy, the Natural Sciences and the higher branches of Mathe- matics, $4.25 per quarter. The expense of fuel and other inci- dental expenses is proportionated on the students. Board, including lodging and washing, can be obtained in respectable families for $1.50 per week."
Mr. Paine was followed in the principalship by a Mr. Free- man for a short time ; he was followed in turn by Moses Burbank, and he by Lorenzo B. Allen who served until 1837. Mr. Allen is said to have been "an excellent classical scholar and a true Christian gentleman." He was afterwards president of Burling- ton University, Iowa. Next Charles B. Train, later attorney- general of Massachusetts, became principal. Nathaniel G. Rogers, a graduate of Colby, became principal in 1838, but resigned after a short time. At about this time there were vari- ous men who presided over the school for four or five months each but no accurate record of their names or order of service
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is to be obtained. It is evident that during this period the school was in a most precarious state of existence. Indeed for about two years, 1839-1840, the school was wholly suspended. During this period the Waterville Liberal Institute was established and attracted many students who would otherwise have attended the Academy. This school occupied the building now used as a dwelling house at the south corner of Elm and School streets. It seems that during this period of temporary suspension the Academy building was used for at least one term of the district school. The school was revived in 1841 when Charles H. Wheeler, then a student in Waterville College, afterwards an Episcopal rector in Providence, R. I., became principal. He taught for two terms and was followed in the latter part of 1842 by Nathaniel Butler, father of the late president of Colby College. He remained at the head of the school for one year.
During the first fourteen years it will be seen that the school was conducted by young men, in most cases students or recent graduates of the College. Among the teachers not already men- tioned was Elijah P. Lovejoy, the first anti-slavery martyr. From the quality of the men who were instructors it is certain that the school must have afforded abundant inspiration to the students of these early days.
With the hope of strengthening the struggling school, in the winter of 1841-2, an act of incorporation was obtained from the legislature and a board of trustees was established to have charge of the school. The act was as follows :
An Act to incorporate the trustees of the Waterville Academy.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Legislature assembled, as follows :
Sect. I. Samuel Plaisted, Stephen Stark, Zebulon Sanger, Edwin Noyes, Harrison A. Smith, David Garland, Amasa Ding- ley, Johnson Williams, Stephen Thayer, Samuel Taylor, and their successors, are hereby created a corporation by the name of the Trustees of Waterville Academy, and, by that name may sue and be sued, and may have a common seal, and make any by-laws for the management of their concerns, not repugnant to the laws of this state ; and may take and hold by gift, grant, or otherwise, any real or personal estate, the annual income of which shall not
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exceed fifteen hundred dollars, and may give, grant, convey, or lease, the same, and may choose all officers necessary for the management of their concerns, for the purpose of promoting piety and morality, and for the instruction of youth in such lan- guages, arts and sciences as the said trustees may direct.
Sect. 2. Samuel Plaisted is authorized to fix the time and place of the first meeting of said trustees, and to give to each four days notice thereof, in writing.
Approved February 12, 1842.
It does not appear that this incorporation was of any consider- able help to the school. A far more potent factor in the revival which immediately followed was the selection as principal of James H. Hanson, a graduate of Colby in the class of 1842. Mr. Hanson took charge of the school in September, 1843. There were but five pupils at the opening of the year. Before the end of the first term the number had quintupled. In less than ten years the attendance had reached the large number of 308.
During all these years the school had no endowment and no source of income save the very low tuition fees. The income of the principal was small, the duties arduous. After twelve very successful years Mr. Hanson was worn out by his extremely hard work and resigned the principalship in 1854, going to East- port, Maine, where he remained for three years as principal of the high school.
George B. Gow succeeded him until the summer of 1855. James T. Bradbury was then principal until the winter of 1857, when Isaac S. Hamblen took charge of the school. His princi- palship extended three and one-half years, to the end of the spring term of 1861. His management of the school was very successful. The average attendance during his administration was 218 and forty-nine were prepared for college. He was forced to resign his position because of ill health. Following him as principal came Ransom E. Norton for one term, Randall E. Jones for three terms, John W. Lamb for two years and three terms, from the summer of 1862 to the winter of 1864-5, and Augustus D. Small for two terms in 1865.
In 1864 the College had received new life through the gift of Gardner Colby. Following this a determined effort was made
WATERVILLE CLASSICAL, INSTITUTE.
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to strengthen the Academy which had been declining for several years. At the urgent request of Dr. Champlin, then president of the College, James H. Hanson returned to Waterville from Port- land where for six years he had been at the head of the Boys' High school, and for two years had been conducting a private school for boys. In 1865 he again took charge of the Academy with the same success which attended his earlier principalship. At this time several of the trustees created by the act of 1842 had died and it appeared that no successors had been elected to fill the vacancies. Those who remained, at the suggestion of Dr. Champlin, gave back their charge to the trustees of the Col- lege and the separate corporation ceased to exist. The trustees of the College then placed the affairs of the Academy in the hands of the College faculty. The name was changed to Water- ville Classical Institute.
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