USA > Maine > Kennebec County > West Gardiner > West Gardiner's hundred years, Centennial 1850-1950 > Part 6
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Hopkins, Wallace E. 2,725,158
Bentley, Chester A.
1,221,682
Richardson, Ray C. 4,181,252
Cannon, Louis E .* 3,162,459 Spaulding, Donald W .*
67392
Carr, Dexter E.
2,728,836
Snowe, Aubrey E.
Dunn, James E.
2,728,853
Wakefield, Ivory W .* 3,162,438
Goldsmith, Ersley L. 4,915,995
Williams, Arthur 3,162,435
Hopkins, Leland S. 388,398
*Killed in action or died as result of service. (Registration Numbers included at request Veterans' Administration.)
Robinson, James M. Robinson, James W. Ross, George
Spear, Joseph M.
Todd, Gardiner Trafton, Joseph
51
WEST GARDINER'S HUNDRED YEARS VETERANS OF WORLD WAR II 1940-45
Adams, Guy L.
31-400-662
Ladner, Carmen S .*
31-217-634
Allen, Leon E.
31-321-081
Ladner, Lorne W. 31-116-901
Anderson, Earl K.
209-24-72
Martin, Arthur 209-33-76
Babb, Everett L. 927-01-50
Martin, Walter
31-220-268
Babb, Louis W.
31-402-568
Mason, Herbert C.
31-117-474
Babb, Maurice L., Jr. 822-95-15
McCausland, Harold L.
Beckwith, Earl W .*
39-56-54
Mooradian, Chas. J. 31-220-233
Bickford, Arnold E.
927-13-25
Mooradian, John R. 823-09-53
Bickford, Paul
209-15-25
Morse, Paul H. 11-029-333
Cain, Eldred P.
31-460-260
Nason, Donald A.
Carr, Carl E. 823-05-06
Nason, Kenneth G .* 31-220-290
Carr, Dexter E., Jr.
209-31-64
Peacock, George B., Jr. 553-597
Carr, George A .*
31-218-932
Peacock, William F. 209-38-20
Colby, George N.
31-216-426
Pierson, Thomas J., Jr. 209-41-73
Colby, Richard D.
31-400-677
Pettingill, Janet M. N722916
Cole, Melvin S. 31-322-609
Quilici, Arlene Hescock A100587 Rolfe, Laurence M. 823-1701
Dale, Theodore E.
31-321-033
Dunn, Richard E.
31-400-538
Rogers, Irvin L. 209-63-84
Emery, Donald A.
31-101-345
Shea, Melvin F.
31-153-391
Farrington, Kenneth A. 31-513-217
31-496-192
Swift, Maurice W.
1-321-041
Fisher, Allen J., Jr.
203-95-20
Small, Herbert F., Jr.
11-068-339
Fisher, Milfred D.
927-04-12
Small, Philip R. 31-220-270
Fuller, Lewis S.
11-027-971
Trafton, Fred P. 275-086
Fuller, William B.
11-122-688
Trafton, Lorimer J., Jr. 164-469
Gordon, Paul A.
11-029-476
Thompson, John F .* 31-322-585
Gosline, Arthur N.
823-04-94
Thompson, Maxwell E. 31-220-256 Thompson, Lawrence C. 31-153-970 Van Orman, Chester W. 11-016-796 Van Orman, Frederick W.
208-76-79
Howard, George W.
31-472-495
Wakefield, Forest L. 31-098-847
Ware, Elmer M .* 31-045-492
Ware, Richard I.
0-2029286
Jones, Dorothy Peacock
Wentworth, Stanley E.
11-122-056
Krumen, Alfred
11-016-624
Weston, Roger F. 0-800623
Landry, Napoleon J.
823-01-07
Wiles, Lloyd E. 11-123-146
Little, William, Jr. 705-1914
Willard, George O.
31-402-758
Long, Arthur F., Jr.
11-122-244
Williams, Fred L. 209-67-82
Long, Hope N.
753-420
Woodworth, James R. 20-145-777
Gravel, Paul J.
20-145-789
Greenleaf, Richard M.
31-400-106
Greenleaf, Robert E.
31-399-425
Hescock, Francis P.
0-696-569
Howard, Paul L.
823-0091
Johnson, Karl G.
209-0512
Swift, Carroll T.
31-116-116
Fellows, Leon R.
*Killed in action or died as result of service.
Registration numbers included at request Veterans' Administration.
52
WEST GARDINER'S HUNDRED YEARS
SCHOOLS
Some mighty fine people have lived in West Gardiner during the past one hundred years. And some of another feather, too. In that respect the town hasn't changed much, nor has the nation, nor the world, either, for that matter. From all we can make out, human nature is human nature, in whatever century it flowers.
One of the more fragrant blossomings is the universal desire on the part of parents to give their children a better chance in life than they, them- selves, had. Some pretty good examples of this trait, and its results, are to be found in a study of the school system of West Gardiner.
One hundred years ago there were 615 children of legal school age in West Gardiner. Less than half went to school. The majority, both boys and girls, worked on the farm, or elsewhere. West Gardiner was no worse than most other towns in this respect. The percentage was just about the same for the rest of the state-until the Compulsory Education law was strength- ened and stricter enforcement was begun, after 1887.
According to town records common school education in 1850 cost the taxpayers less than $2.00 per scholar. There were 264 in school that year. The first appropriation for common schools was $914.15, of which $410.18 apparently was not used. For several years the town appropriation for common schools varied between $800 and $1,000 and was sometimes as low as $500 per year. Last year it was $5,500.
High school, in the early days, was only for rich men's sons. And there weren't many rich men in West Gardiner.
In 1850 the public school system of West Gardiner consisted of nine school districts, each of which was almost like a little town in itself, in that it pretty much had the say as to what should go on in its own school. The districts had no authority to raise money by taxation, but they did decide what was to be done with the money allotted to them, as individuals, out of the town appropriation for education. Extra money was sometimes raised by holding "sociables" or by renting the schoolhouse to a singing school or the like.
At annual meetings which resembled town meetings each district de- cided what the school term should be, transacted whatever other business there might be, and elected a school agent to serve for the year. The school agent was a sort of board of selectmen, on a small scale. He listened to complaints. He bought the wood for fuel, saw that it was stored under cover. He bought the annual broom, the water bucket and the tin cup. He hired the teachers and he looked after things in general. He made an annual report to the School Superintendent, the Superintending School Committee, or what- ever authority the town might have set up for the general supervision of schools.
The school year was divided into a summer and a winter term, generally of from ten to twelve weeks each, and each district decided for itself what the duration of the terms should be. Often the winter term did not begin until early December, to permit the older boys to help with the harvest. One old record of a district school meeting contained instructions for the agent to "arrange the summer term of the school so as not to interfere with haying."
53
WEST GARDINER'S HUNDRED YEARS
Mostly, the older boys and girls attended only the winter terms-they were generally working on the farm during the rest of the year. Male teach- ers usually taught the winter term, because discipline was difficult to main- tain. The female teachers who taught the summer term sometimes were no more than a year or two older than some of their scholars. These teachers seem to have had to double as baby sitters, along with their other duties, for children as young as two years sometimes attended the summer term of school. When time came for the tot's afternoon nap the teacher wrapped it in a coat and put it to sleep on a bench.
Male teachers were paid $20 per month and females $1.57 per week, in 1850.
The schools were small, gloomy, one-room structures with an even smaller building out back, where information not in the curriculum was re- corded on the walls. The schoolroom was heated by a woodstove operated, usually, by one of the scholars, who picked up a few pennies during the winter by coming to school early and lighting the fire. Seats were benches and desks were taller benches. There were benches without desks down front, for "recitation." The teacher sat at a desk on a dais and tried to keep an eye on everything that went on, which was considerable. There were sometimes forty-five healthy, mischievous scholars. Measles often closed the schools for unscheduled vacations of two weeks or longer.
Not all of the subjects of today were taught, but when a scholar was graduated from the old common school he could spell a few every-day words and he could "cipher," and he knew something about history, and geography.
Maintenance of discipline among the older boys often was a serious problem. Joseph L. Spear, who taught winter terms at the Spear's Corner School before the turn of the century was not a large man but he was "withy." The older boys raised particular Ned, as they used to say, the first day of Prof. Spear's teaching. The following morning the new teacher addressed his classes: "Yesterday, you scholars taught the school." Then he leaped into the air and kicked the ceiling. "But from now on, I'm going to teach it!"
And he did.
The nine schoolhouses in 1850 were: Milliken School, High Street, near the Gardiner line; Mckinley School, about two miles further out High Street; Brown's Corner School; Washington School on Hallowell Road (name later changed to John F. Stevens School); Lincoln School, Litchfield Neck; Spear's Corner School; Indiana Road School; Ripps School, on Horseshoe Pond Road near Merrill's Corner; Jaquith School, Pond Road.
Reason for so many schoolhouses was to reduce the distance for scholars to walk.
A perusal of old school records reveals that most of today's gripes and complaints from scholars, parents, taxpayers and teachers were being ut- tered a century ago.
The following excerpt taken from the report of Alvin Brann, agent for District No. One in 1873 is just about the sort of thing that was said about some of our schools as late as 1948, when the new Consolidated School went into use:
54
WEST GARDINER'S HUNDRED YEARS
"We think no one would use this schoolroom as a pig pen without first stopping some of the air holes. The scholars cannot have suffered for want of pure air this winter, though they undoubtedly have from cold feet."
Report of Charles Roberts, District No. Two Agent: "The teacher for the summer term was Miss Laura E. Spear, of this town. The trouble with this school was the bountiful crop of berries, together with the apathy of the parents, who allowed the scholars to go berrying instead of attending the school. We think the teacher a good one, but the school was unprofit- able."
The report of the School Committee for the same year, 1873, has a modern sound: "We would recommend more interest by parents and better schoolhouses. Districts One (Milliken), Three (Stevens) and Four (Brown's Corner) are positively unfit for schoolhouses in their present condition. They are old, inconvenient and dilapidated, mere apologies for houses. We should take some measures immediately to replace these hovels for new and comfortable schoolhouses. We would recommend the idea that Districts No. Three and Four unite and build one house near the center of the two dis- tricts, and by that means have the same amount of money for one school that we now have to divide with two."
The School Committee members who had the "consolidation" idea more than three-quarters of a century ago were: E. P. Seavey, G. W. Blanchard and John A. Spear.
MERRILL SCHOOLHOUSE
There was doubtless some justification for the complaints of school authorities concerning the condition of some of the schoolhouses, for at least one of them was used for more than one hundred years.
This building, sometime known as the "Merrill Road Schoolhouse" was one of the first built in old Gardinerston, in 1794. It remained near the town line until 1816 and then, like so many of West Gardiner's buildings, it took up its bed and walked. The new location was further out High Street, on land then owned by Elijah Pope. In 1836 the population had outgrown
55
WEST GARDINER'S HUNDRED YEARS
the school and the district was divided, and the Milliken School was built on High Street, two miles nearer Gardiner. The same teacher taught both schools, with the hours of instruction so arranged that scholars could at- tend both sessions, thus obtaining twice the amount of instruction. There is no indication that the scholars rejoiced at this arrangement.
In 1840 the poor old building again moved its creaking joints to the site where it was later replaced by the Mckinley School, which was near the Community House, then known as the Second Freewill Baptist Church on High Street where, according to a story in the Lewiston Journal of 1897, "it peacefully rested for 57 years." According to the Lewiston Journal: "it has not only served the district and town as a schoolhouse, but its hospitable roof has sheltered many a poor tramp from the searching storms. As a result of the frequent visits by tramps the 'old knowledge box' has been on fire several times."
The interior of this old schoolhouse was remodelled a few times but in 1897, according to the Journal: "it has the identical walls, and the outward appearance is the same as it was a hundred years ago."
But even though criticism of the schoolhouses has perhaps been justified through the years, the quality of instruction has been high, as evidenced by the scholastic honors West Gardiner students consistently have achieved at Gardiner High School.
There's no way you can start an argument any quicker in the average Maine town than to say something for or against its schools, unless you say it about the roads. West Gardiner is about average in this respect, and if the paintwork in the Town House is scorched a little bit around the edges it is undoubtedly the result of some of the school debates at town meetings.
West Gardiner wasn't old enough to shave before a few courageous souls began talking about a high school for the town. Just how many whiskers were singed in the ensuing argument is not recorded, but when the town failed to vote such a school, and the funds to launch it, a few head- strong ones took the bit in their teeth and decided that West Gardiner was going to have some kind of a high school, even if it had to be an academy.
Accordingly, on the Eighteenth day of March in the year Eighteen hundred and sixty-four, the Trustees of West Gardiner Academy paid unto one Thaddeus Spear the sum of $25.00, receiving a deed for a lot at Spear's Corner, east of the Town House Road and fronting on the north side of the Lewiston Road, and a school building was erected and baptized under the name of West Gardiner Academy.
The West Gardiner Academy Trustees named in the act of incorporation which was approved March 11, 1859 were: G. D. Wakefield, Gardiner Spear, Cyrus Bran, Joseph L. Spear, Tobias Littlefield. Annual income of the cor- poration was limited by the act to $2,000 per annum, "said income to be faithfully applied to promote the cause of education."
Such records as are available are singularly lacking in mention of the Academy and it is to be presumed that it was not too successful. The build- ing was used by the First Freewill Baptist Society, Richard H. Spear Post, G. A. R., the Independent Order of Good Templars, and other organizations, from time to time.
56
WEST GARDINER'S HUNDRED YEARS
However, by 1891 proponents of an institution of secondary education within the town boundaries were able to muster sufficient strength to induce the town to have a free high school for at least one year. (In the meantime a state law had been passed which provided for payment of one-half the expenses for construction in free town high schools, up to $500.)
"THE ACADEMY"
The school committee made this succinct report of the experiment: "R. B. Parsons, of East Wilton, teacher. Mr. Parsons is a fine teacher and gave excellent satisfaction. Good order was maintained and excellent prog- ress made. Attendance, 30; wages of teacher, excluding board, $40 per month; board $3.50 per week." The Supervising School Committee which rendered this report in 1892 was comprised of Alpheus Spear, R. L. Snowe, John A. Spear.
After this unenthusiastic report there is no record of a high school in West Gardiner until the school year 1896-1897, when the experiment was tried again. The report of the School Superintendent, E. E. Peacock, for the year ending March 1, 1897, gives a pretty good picture of the circumstances under which the second, and last, Free High School was held in the Town of West Gardiner:
"The town had no suitable place for the establishment of said school, so your superintendent decided to hire the 'Academy' for that purpose. Im- mediately there sprang up, on every hand, a strong opposition to such a pro- ject. Many opposed the plan because they were laboring under a misappre- hension of what a benefit such a school would be; a few opposing it purely
57
WEST GARDINER'S HUNDRED YEARS
from personal motives. When the many had the matter made plain to them they readily acquiesced and assisted; the few gave in because they could do nothing else. The school was organized and under the efficient instruction of Principal Thomas Searles of Chelsea, Me., two terms of ten weeks each passed rapidly away. The school was a success from the start. The average attendance for the two terms was twenty-five scholars, of whom the greater part took up the higher branches of study, such as Latin, rhetoric, algebra, physical geography, civil government, advanced bookkeeping, commercial law, and the like.
"The town raised $100 and the state is to furnish $100 more, which makes $200. Mr. Searles was paid $40 per month, including board, or $200 for the terms. The rent for the 'Academy' was $18, of which $16 was raised by your Superintendent, assisted by Principal Searles, by an entertainment given for the purpose. A balance of $2 is left against the town. Compare this with the Free High School of 1891 if you please.
"In 1891 the town raised $200 and the State furnished $80. With this amount twelve weeks of High School were held, or with $80 more to do with and no rent to pay there were eight weeks less of High School in 1891 than in 1896."
In spite of Superintendent Peacock's achievement of eight weeks more of Free High School for $80 less money, the town has ever since depended upon the facilities of other towns or cities for its secondary education.
By 1904 sixteen West Gardiner students were attending high school in other towns. Nine of these, or 75 percent, went to Litchfield Academy. Three went to Gardiner High, two to Augusta, two to Monmouth Academy.
High school tuition was about $14.00 per year, at this time. West Gard- iner's secondary school bill for 1904 was $109.53, to which the state added $109.52.
For the year ending February 1, 1950 the bill for secondary education was $6,470, of which the town paid $5,400 and the state contributed $1,070. The cost per year of high school tuition had risen to more than $115 for each scholar. West Gardiner paid tuition for 56 high school students this year. Forty-three, or about 76 percent went to Gardiner High School. Five went to Hallowell High, three to Litchfield Academy, one to Erskine Acad- emy and none to Augusta High School.
But to return to the old town again.
The deed to West Gardiner Academy was acquired by the Town May 23, 1901 at a cost of $849.53, including repairs to put it in shape for school use. It was re-christened Longfellow Grammar School and operated as such until the new Consolidated School was started in 1948. In 1949 Frank and Flora Rossi of this town bought it from the town for $1000.
The old Spear's Corner Schoolhouse which had been used prior to pur- chase of the Longfellow School by the town, and which was situated where A. D. Cole's store is now located, was sold about 1902 for $15.51 and joined the great parade of West Gardiner buildings, traipsing up over Bog Hill and into honorable retirement as a carriage shed.
The New Consolidated, or Central School, has had its ups and downs just as does any other community project in West Gardiner, Maine, or any place you care to name, short of Heaven.
58
WEST GARDINER'S HUNDRED YEARS
The fireworks commenced with the now famous Article Twenty-two in the Warrant for the Town Meeting of March 4, 1946, which had to do with needed repairs to the old West Gardiner Academy building of other days, which was now the Longfellow Schoolhouse, and "to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate a sum of money ... "
During the discussion the following facts were brought out: the roof leaked; the toilets were quite awful; a new heating system was needed-in fact, conditions were just about the same as those complained of in the ancient district agents' reports quoted earlier herein-only worse.
It seemed a pity to spend a lot of money on this old building which, after all, wasn't adequate for present day needs, anyway, and-what about the other schoolhouses? They were in bad shape, too.
A committee of five was appointed to "find out what to do and to report on the cost of same," said report to be rendered at a special town meeting to be held at a subsequent date. The committee was comprised of Wendell Small, Kenneth Nott, Harry Bates, Hale Fifield, Mervyn Hatch-all com- paratively new-comers to West Gardiner with the exception of the first- named.
The committee report was delivered at a special town meeting in the Town House May 1, 1946, with Committeeman Kenneth Knott portraying the advantages which would accrue to the citizens of West Gardiner, their children, and their children's children, if the town could see its way clear to buy some concrete and pour it into the foundations of a new Community Schoolhouse instead of pouring its good money into repair of any of the existing old rattletraps. The project would cost but an estimated $30,000, complete, which could be paid over a period of years, and it would end the century-old complaints about the schoolhouses-well, for a year or two, anyway, maybe.
Some citizens thought Mr. Nott a visionary and a scoundrel for making such talk in public, and others thought he talked mighty good common sense, and just about everyone said what he thought, right out loud, which is a privilege guaranteed by our Constitution, the exercise of which provides one of the more interesting phenomena of the New England town meeting.
After the discussion the vote was put as to whether West Gardiner should have a new Community Schoolhouse. The vote was: those in favor 63; contrary minded 0.
From the floor a Special Committee was nominated comprising the be- fore-mentioned Small, Bates, and Hatch, plus Merton Colby and Roger Goodwin, to "go to the State Department of Education and get information" concerning construction. A Full Committee comprised of the Special Com- mittee plus the Selectmen, who were Harold C. Goodwin, Basil U. Gordon and Sidney M. Gray, plus the School Committee, whose members were Marion Hinckley, Nettie Hall and Merton Colby, was instructed to execute the recommendations of the Special Committee.
The town was embarked upon quite its biggest single enterprise, to date.
The first thing that became apparent was that some money might come in handy for the acquisition of land, boards, nails and other incidentals of construction.
59
WEST GARDINER'S HUNDRED YEARS
Authority to organize a school district and raise money for it, as West Gardiner proposed to do, can come only from the legislature and so the problem was set before A. D. Cole, then representative from this town. The Ninety-second Legislature being in special session, Representative Cole introduced, forthwith, Legislative Document No. 1225, bearing an emergency preamble which started out with: "Whereas, the school buildings which house the common schools of the town of West Gardiner are inadequate and un- safe .. . " which was exactly what people had been saying for a hundred years.
The legislature, allowing that something should be done "as imme- diately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore" brought out an emergency act incorporating the Town of West Gardiner School District, with authority to issue its bonds or notes to the extent of $30,000, which was the estimated cost of the new Consolidated School, the estimate having been furnished by the State Department of Education, along with the plans for the schoolhouse.
The act provided for appointment of three "Trustees of the Town of West Gardiner School District," by the selectmen, and outlined the authority and responsibilities of the trustees, which are considerable.
The act was accepted at a Special Town Meeting beholden at the Town House August 19, 1946, which was four years, to the day, prior to the of- ficial observance of the West Gardiner Centennial. The selectmen appointed as trustees Wendell Small, E. G. Wiles and Merwyn Hatch. Hatch resigned and was replaced by Merton Colby, shortly thereafter. When Colby resigned Paul C. Ware was appointed. The trustees today are Small, Wiles and Ware.
But it takes time to print and sell $30,000-worth of bonds, even if they are authorized by an emergency act born of a special session of legislature. And time was a-wasting.
Said the late Mrs. Marion Hinckley, a member of the School Board, "I bet I could raise some money to get things started, by popular subscription, right around High Street and French's Corner." And Sidney M. Gray, se- lectman, said, "I bet I could raise some money in the other end of town, too." And they did go from house to house and from dwelling to dwelling, yea, verily, each in his fashion, all throughout and up and down and around the town, and they did garner a goodly harvest of monies totalling even $400. The Grange, always to be depended upon at a time like this, con- tributed $75. There were two donations of $50 each, from Wendell Small and Kenneth Nott. Others gave from $1.00 to $5.00.
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