USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume II > Part 62
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Writing schools, generally kept in the winter by itinerating teach- ers, began to flourish soon after the Revolutionary War. Pupils were
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required to provide themselves with stationery and lights. Candles were generally used, and pupils vied with one another in the display of candle-sticks of curious designs of wood or metal, while some brought " small pumpkins or turnips hollowed out for the purpose." The master gave instruction in the making and mending of quill pens, and set the copies in blank books or on slips of paper; flour- ishes with the pen were considered evidence of proficiency, and looked upon with more favor at that time than in later years. The names of a few of the earlier teachers have been preserved. Samuel Crafts opened a school in 1794, which was continued for some years, adver- tising twelve lessons of three hours each, two dollars and fifty cents for masters and two dollars for misses. John Towne, of Croydon, was a famous teacher who began a school here in April, 1810, re- questing applicants to register at Joshua Abbot's, who lived on the site now occupied by the North church. John Smith, the " ubiqui- tous," kept school here in 1820, introducing " Rand's running-hand system of Penmanship "; twenty lessons three dollars ; register at the Franklin Bookstore. A. H. Wheeler opened a school in Decem- ber, 1823, over the store of O. P. Eaton, and an evening school over the store of A. Evans, " where penmanship will be taught in all the various branches." Wheeler conducted similar schools in Hopkinton, Dunbarton, and Bow at the same time. Allison Wrifford, of Boston, whose writing-books were sold here as early as 1810, came to Con- cord in 1831, announcing himself as the " veteran chirographer, who, by long practice and peculiar aptitude has possessed himself of the secret of successful instruction, by seizing those happy moments, when the attention of pupils can be caught and successfully em- ployed." He taught in Concord and vicinity for several years, mar- rying, in 1834, Mrs. Mary Greeley of Hopkinton. He died in the latter town ten years later, aged sixty-four. Concord papers speak of him as being " the first in his profession in the United States, and known in all New England and many of the Middle and Southern states as an elegant penman, an accomplished gentleman, and a pop- ular and successful teacher." N. D. Gould taught music and pen- manship in 1834. Moses French was another writing-master, who kept a school in the court house in 1836,-"Pen-making taught in one hour perfectly." Miss Mary Parker kept a writing school over the Baptist vestry, in 1838-'39. C. C. Hodgdon taught penmanship from 1837 to 1841; his school was held in the court house first, and afterwards in the Bell schoolhouse ; 5 p. m. for ladies and 8 p. m. for gentlemen ; " He who in writing would excel, must first with Hodgdon use the quill." It is safe to presume that his penmanship must have been as good as his poetry. In 1839 the town appropriated
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one hundred dollars for a free writing school, the money to be divided among the several districts. The first term was opened in the school- house in the center district. The teacher furnished stationery at cost. A smaller appropriation was made in 1840-'41, when consid- erable opposition arising on account of the expense, the school was discontinued. Hodgdon is thought to have been one of the teachers employed. John S. Foster was another writing-master in 1844-'45 ; Reuben Mason in 1850, and H. Jones and L. V. Newell in 1855. From 1840 to 1860 writing schools were quite numerous. Jason A. Phillips, of Wentworth, was a teacher here for many years, and a part of the time was engrossing clerk for the legislature, at its sum- mer sessions. After the last-mentioned year, more attention was given to penmanship in the public schools, and the demand for special teachers gradually diminished until in later years it has been confined almost wholly to commercial colleges.
Spelling was looked upon as not only one of the leading branches of study, but as one of the most pleasing diversions of school life in those early years which our fathers were accustomed to look back upon with so much of reverence and tender memory. It was custo- mary for a great many years, in addition to one or two daily recita- tions, to devote at least one evening in a week to this occupation ; and the first school report-printed seventy-five years ago-makes appre- ciative acknowledgment of the fact that in some of the districts "Two evenings in each week have been devoted to spelling, with gratuitous instruction by the teacher." No wonder that our fathers and mothers were proficient, as those of us who, when children, often tried to spell them down, can bear witness. The old method of teaching spelling orally, with promotions to the head of the class and an avoidance of the other and "less honorable extremity," gave to the subject all the fascination of a game of chance. It aroused an ambition to excel. A spelling-match was generally the feature of greatest interest at the close of each term, when the parents, the minister, and other interested friends were likely to be present. Two of the best spellers were allowed to choose sides, drawing, alternately, from the other pupils according to their proficiency, until all had been called to take part on one side or the other, and the whole school formed in two divisions on opposite sides. The words were then given out by the teacher, each side spelling by turn, and each pupil who missed a word dropped out of the ranks and passed to his scat, until the last on one side had disappeared, when those of the other side were declared victors amid great clapping of hands. Some- times prizes were given the best speller, suitably inscribed, and some of these simple trophies are still preserved.
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A teachers' association was organized in 1860,-the first of its kind,-for the mutual improvement of its members in whatever per- tained to their vocation. Frequent meetings were held for consulta- tion, and by discussion, friendly criticisms, lectures, counsel from the committee and others interested in education, many errors in teaching were pointed out and useful suggestions offered. The association flourished for several years, proving a valuable aid to teachers and of mneh benefit in promoting the prosperity of the schools.
The first class that completed the regular four years' course of study in the high school gradnated at the close of the spring term of 1860. It consisted of twelve young ladies, as follows: Mary Hacket Brown, 1 Sarah Elizabeth Brown,1 Arabella Maria Clement,1 Elvira Sargent Coffin,1 Sarah Eastman Coffin, Mary Isabella Greeley, Sarah Jane Leaver, Anne Avery MeFarland, Sarah Frances Sanborn, Anna Eliza Shute, Josephine Tilton, Charlotte Augusta Woolson.
In 1860-61 schools were kept in twenty-three districts,-one high, three grammar, six intermediate, twelve primary, and one mixed school were kept in Union distriet, about thirty weeks, while the schools in the other distriets were in session about half of the year in two terms, summer and winter, of about the same length. Teachers were still poorly paid; the average salary of males was only thirty dollars per month, while female teachers in the outside districts averaged about fifteen dollars per month with board, and in Union district about five dollars per week. Of the whole number of pupils enrolled during the year, two thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven, nearly nineteen hundred belonged in the central dis- triets, with an average attendance in the latter of between eleven and twelve hundred. Two new schoolhouses were built in the fall of 1861 in districts Nos. 8 and 12, at a cost of five and nine hundred dollars respectively. This year and the next two following were saddened by the events of the Civil War. The Reverend Henry E. Parker, president of the school board, was serving as chaplain of the Second New Hampshire regiment, and many former members of the schools were in the ranks of the nation's defenders. Among these well-remembered schoolmates were Major George H. Thompson, Fifth United States volunteers, whose home was in the large briek house just south of the railroad bridge, near the gas works : he re- ecived special mention for gallantry in battle, and was rapidly pro- moted, but was twice severely wounded,-first at Front Royal, Va., in 1862, and again at Kelly's Ford, in 1863, from which he never fully recovered, and died on board the steamer Santiago de Cuba, near Panama, May 2, 1868; Major George H. Chandler, of the Ninth
1 Deceased.
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New Hampshire volunteers, a brother of Hon. William E. Chandler, -of superior ability, gifted in scholarship and prominent in his pro- fession,-who died at Canterbury, August 12, 1883; Major Hiram F. Gerrish, of the Third division, Twenty-fourth Army Corps, a brave and gallant soldier; Captain S. Judson Alexander, who died of wounds received in battle, at Snyder's Bluff, Miss., July 23, 1863 ; Lieutenant Hubbard T. Dudley, another brave soldier, of the Sixth New Hampshire volunteers, who died in the same year; Sergeant Thomas B. Leaver, of whose courage every schoolmate could bear witness, was killed in battle at Oak Grove, Va., June 25, 1862; George F. Sylvester was severely wounded at Cold Harbor in 1864; John W. Odlin, of infinite gifts, and one of the most versatile of musicians, of the Second and Third New Hampshire regiments, who died in 1889. The last four, "after life's fitful fever," sleep under the waving trees at Blossom Hill. The names of Doctors Alfred E. Emery, afterward in the practice of medicine at Penacook, and a valued member of the school board there ; Passmore Treadwell, the son of a former secretary of state; and John H. Blodgett, son of a former editor of the Statesman,-all of whom served with fidelity as assistant surgeons in the navy,-must be added to those who have passed into the land of shadows.
The first attempt to establish the office of superintendent of schools was made in 1862. The members of the school board found their duties increasing so rapidly that some relief must be provided, and in the fall of that year it was arranged that Mr. Sawyer, principal of the high school, should devote a portion of his time to the lower grades of schools, and in this dual capacity he per- formed efficient service for two years.
District No. 3, West village, to provide better facilities for its schools, sold its two old school buildings by auction, and pur- chased of George W. Brown and the heirs of Levi Hutchins a large lot west of the rail- road, in the summer of 1862, and in the fall of that year erected the brick building on the hill, still in use. David Abbott, Daniel Holden, Benjamin Farnum, J. D. Knight, and George W. Brown served as building committec.
The second " Bell " schoolhouse, after a service of only sixteen years, and never a favorite, was pronounced unfit for service in the spring of 1863. After several district meetings and much discussion by the people, a vote was passed for its demolition and for the erec-
West Concord School.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
tion of one every way better in arrangement and appointments. It was further voted at the same meeting to purchase a lot and erect a new two-room building in the westerly portion of the district. Edward Dow, Moses Humphrey, Jeremiah S. Noyes, John H. George, and A. C. Pierce were appointed building committee. During the removal of the old house and the erection of its successor, the schools from the former found temporary quarters in such public halls and other rooms as could be secured. The high school occupied Rumford hall, the grammar school the hall of the Natural History society in Franklin block (afterward called San- born's block), while the lower grades found rooms in other business blocks on Main street. The new building was com- pleted in March, 1864. It was of brick with a Mansard roof. The first floor contained four class-rooms,-one each for primary and intermediate, Third High School. and two for grammar schools. The second story, designed for the high school, consisted of a main assembly room, two recitation rooms, and a room for the library. The third floor was first used as a hall, but subsequently was divided into three rooms, one for a chemical laboratory, another for an art room, and the third for the classes in physics. The cost of the building was about thirty thousand dollars, and at the time it was considered one of the best in New England. It was dedicated April 2d with appropriate exercises, including singing by a chorus under the direc- tion of Professor B. B. Davis, an historical address by Joseph B. Walker, and a dedicatory ode written by Miss Alice Rattray, a grad- uate of the school, and sung by the pupils.
A wooden building of one story, containing two rooms, since called the Bow Brook schoolhouse, was built in the fall and winter of 1863-'64, under the direction of Moses Humphrey, on land pur- chased of Mrs. Mary Ann Stickney, near the junction of Washing- ton and Warren streets, and first occupied in the spring of 1864.
Mr. Sawyer, of the high school, resigned his position at the end of
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the spring term in 1865, after a service of eight years, and as late as 1892 was professor of Biblical and ethical science in Tougaloo uni- versity in Mississippi.
Moses Woolson, an eminent teacher of long experience, was prin- cipal, 1865-'67. He was born in Concord, December 31, 1821. He was an undergraduate of Dartmouth, leaving there in 1840 to teach in his native town. He was afterward principal of the academy in Chesterfield, Vt .; organized and taught the first high school in Ver- mont, at Brattleboro; then for six years had charge of the girls' high school of Bangor, Me. While organizing and carrying forward the latter with signal ability and success, he accepted a graduation tendered him from Waterville college (now Colby university), in the class of 1847. He was subsequently for thirteen years principal of the girls' high school at Portland, Me .; then became the principal of the Woodward high school of Cincinnati, O., which position he resigned to accept the principalship of the Concord high school. In 1867 he became submaster of the English high school in Boston. After some years he returned to Concord and tutored boys for col- lege ; then he engaged in the same work for ten years in Boston, where he died January 17, 1896, aged seventy-four years. In 1856, while in charge of the girls' high school in Portland, he was married to one of its graduates, Miss Abba Louisa Goold, daughter of William Goold, of Windham, Me., in whose family tomb, upon the homestead farm of the Goolds, he lies buried. Mr. Woolson was the only native of Concord who has been principal of its high school. He was assist- ed a part of the time while here by his wife, a woman of rare gifts and an excellent teacher.
In 1865 a two-room, one-story, wooden building for primary schools was built on the corner of Franklin and Walnut (now Rumford) streets. This was called the Franklin Street school, and it was in con- stant use until its removal to another location, twenty-four years later. A school was also kept in the ward house of Ward six on State street. District No. 22, on the Plains, beyond the " Break o' Day " neigh- borhood, built a new schoolhouse in 1867, only one room of which is now used, as the population in this, as in most of the other rural districts, has been steadily growing less for the last quarter of a century. That portion of the Plains lying between district No. 22 and the Merrimack river was annexed to Union district in 1868, mainly through the efforts of Jacob B. Rand, founder of the settle- ment in that locality. The schoolhouse in district No. 16, near Garvin's falls, perhaps the identical building in which Patrick Gar- vin, from whom the locality took its name, had taught school in the days of the French and Indian wars, had grown too old in the latter
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year for further use, and the little school was held in a private house for several years thereafter.
John H. Woods (Bowdoin, 1864), of Farmington, Me., who had been teaching in the seminary at Cooperstown, N. Y., was principal of the high school for a single year, from 1867 to 1868. After leaving Concord he settled in Boston, devoting himself to music as teacher, composer, and publisher. His assistants were Misses Sarah E. Blair and Abby B. Parker. The latter afterward became the wife of Fran- cis N. Fiske, a prominent citizen of Concord.
Joseph Dana Bartley (Williams, 1859), was principal during the next seven years, 1868-'75. He came from Hampstead, was a for- mer teacher of the girls' high school of Newburyport, Mass., and in youthful years had been a student at the old Atkinson academy under the tutelage of William C. Todd. Mr. Bart- ley, who was one of the best of teachers, and is still pleasantly remembered, says,- " My associations with fair Concord, its people, and its high school were most de- lightful." After leaving here he becanic principal of the Burlington (Vt.) high school, and later of the Bridgeport (Conn.) high school, and is now an instructor in the Edmunds high school of Burlington, Vt.
Eastman School, East Concord.
The Eastman school in East Concord was built in 1870.
Schools were kept in twenty-two dis- tricts in 1870-'71. The whole number of pupils in the latter year was two thousand three hundred and sixty-nine, of which one thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven were in the schools of Union district, and six hundred and forty-two in the outer districts, with an average attendance of one thousand three hundred and thirteen in the former and five hundred and thirty in the latter. Union district contained, besides the high school, four grammar, six intermediate, thirteen primary, and two mixed schools.
The wooden school building on the corner of State and West streets, after a service of twenty-five years, once painted white, and called the " white schoolhouse," but now dingy and weather-stained, was sold for removal in the summer of 1870, and a new brick build- ing of four rooms, called the Penacook school, was erected on the same lot in the fall of that year; George A. Pillsbury, John Kim- ball, and George F. Whittredge were the building committee. A
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new brick schoolhouse in district No. 1, Horse Hill, was erect- ed the same year.
In 1872 the board of education declared the old brick schoolhouse at the north end of State street, built in 1820, antiquated, and the necessity for a new building imperative. A committee of the district pur- chased the Old North meeting- house lot, the most historic lot in town, and another committee- Joseph B. Walker, Enoch Ger- rish, and John H. George-built, in 1872-'73, the present Walker school, named in honor of the Walker School. town's first settled minister. It was of briek, three stories high, and contained four school-rooms. It is still in use, and bears upon its front, on a large sand-stone tablet, the following inscription :
" ON THIS SPOT, CONSECRATED TO RELIGION AND LEARNING, WAS ERECTED IN 1751, THE FIRST FRAMED MEETING HOUSE IN CONCORD, WIIICH WAS USED FOR 91 YEARS AS A PLACE OF WORSHIP BY THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE TOWN, AND WITHIN WHOSE WALLS ASSEMBLED IN 1778, THE NINTHI STATE CONVENTION WHICH RATIFIED THE CON - STITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. FROM 1847 TO 1867, IT WAS OCCUPIED BY THE METHODIST GENERAL BIBLICAL INSTITUTE. BURNED IN 1870, ITS SITE WAS PURCHASED BY THE UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT WHICH IIAS CAUSED TO BE ERECTED THEREON THIS STRUCTURE, A. D. 1873."
The present schoolhouse on the Plains was built in 1873, and the old Fair Ground school, which stood so many years on the corner of Broadway and West streets, was moved there and put in order the same year. John Kimball, Moses Humphrey, and William Shack- ford served as building committee for the former, and John Kimball, George A. Pillsbury, and Charles P. Sanborn for the latter. A new schoolhouse was also built in district No. 13, Scwall's falls, in the same year.
Amos Hadley, a member of the board of education, was elected to the principalship of the grammar schools in the fall of 1873. It was understood that he should also exercise 'a general supervision over the schools of other grades-in reality perform the duties of a superintendent of schools. The administration of Mr. Hadley, though brief, proved of much value. He delivered a course of lec- tures before the high school on the history of New Hampshire; in- stituted written examinations for promotion, and introduced the
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study and practice of penmanship in schools of primary grades. He resigned after a service of a single year; and the necessary legisla- tion authorizing the employment of a superintendent having been obtained in June, Daniel C. Allen, another member of the school board, was elected to that office at the beginning of the fall term of 1874, and continued in that position until December, 1881.
Corporal punishment was practically abolished in September of the former year, when the school board issued an order forbidding the infliction of punishment upon the head of any pupil, that no punishment shall be administered within twenty-four hours of the committal of the offense, and requiring every case of bodily punish- ment to be reported to the board in writing within two days of its occurrence. "Irresistible persuasion " might be termed the method of discipline employed thereafter.
John Lefavour Stanley, of Beverly, Mass., for six years principal of the high school at Bradford, Mass., was at the head of the Con- cord high school for seven years, 1875-'82. The average number of pupils in the school when he took charge was about one hundred and forty, and about one hundred and eighty in the year of his retire- ment. He was a very efficient and popular instructor.
In 1876 Miss Kate P. Blodgett, of Franklin, began service as a teacher in the higher grammar schools of this city, in which she con- tinued for twenty-five years, with a loss of but three weeks' time. Firm in discipline but kind of heart, she will long be remembered as the dean of grammar school teachers in Concord.
The Chandler school, on the old Burgin lot, corner of South and Fayette streets, was built in 1877-'78 by James R. Hill, Charles C. Lund, and Joseph Wentworth, a committee of the district. It was named in honor of Major Timothy Chandler, a prominent citizen and a manufacturer of clocks in the early years of the century, and Abial Chandler, formerly of this town, whose generous legacy of fifty thou- sand dollars was the means of establishing the Chandler Scientific school, a department of Dartmouth college. With the completion and occupancy of the Chandler; the smaller schoolhouse on Myrtle strect was given up for school purposes, and sold, in 1881, to the late Dr. B. S. Warren, and converted into a tenement house.
In 1879-'80, thirty-one schools were kept in Union district; three in district No. 3; four in district No. 20; and fifteen in the other districts, making a total of fifty-three in the whole city. The aver- age number of pupils in Union district was 1,712; No. 3, 115; No. 12, 80 ; No. 20, 155; and the outside, or " melon-rind " districts, as they were frequently called, 140,-making a total of 2,202. "Within the last twenty-five years," said Mayor Horace A. Brown, in his inau-
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gural address in 1879, " the first cost of new school buildings in this city has aggregated more than $125,000."
A petition of Nathaniel White and others was presented to the board of education in January, 1880, asking that a check-list of legal voters of the district be made and used at the annual meeting in March ; such a list was made and posted ; it contained five thousand three hundred and eighty-four names. At the latter meeting a very spirited contest ensued for the election of members of the board; a variety of tickets were in circulation and three ballots were necessary for a choice, in the last of which, at an adjourned meeting, two thou- sand one hundred and sixty votes were cast, distributed among seve- ral candidates of both sexes, of whom Messrs. Cogswell, Thompson, and Crippen, the retiring members and candidates for re-election, had a majority, and were again elected,-a triumph for the "Old Board."
In the spring of 1881 there were six hundred and sixty-two cases of measles among pupils of the schools, involving a great falling off in regular attendance.
Daniel C. Allen, superintendent of schools and financial agent of the district, after seven years of faithful service, resigned December 1, 1881, and Warren Clark, a member of the school board, and an ex-judge of probate of this county, was chosen his successor.
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