USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Salem > History of Salem, N.H. > Part 17
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SALEM WATER WORKS.
The water system of Salem was installed by a private com- pany composed of citizens of the town.
The town made a contract with this company in 1903 for a term of twenty years at $1,200 per annum for municipal pur- poses and fire protection. This included thirty-four hydrants. It was believed, however, that it was advisable for the town to own its own water works. Accordingly a law which had been passed by the legislature in 1901, which gave the town authority to issue notes for the purchase of the property of the private company was taken advantage of at the town meeting in March, 1904. At this time the town voted to raise $50,000 on notes for purchasing the water works, and chose Chas. F. Kimball, K. M. Mclaughlin and Arthur C. Hall a committee to attend to the matter, then to become the Salem Water Board for managing the system. The money was obtained from E. H. Rollins & Sons of Boston on town notes.
After the system was established Mr. Elwell of Exeter, one
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
of the Board of Underwriters came to Salem, in response to a request for reduced insurance rates. The pressure was tested at both villages, with and without hose. He stipulated that in order to secure the reduction the means for fighting fires must be made more effectual by certain improvements. These were readily complied with. There was to be a fire department in each village with a chief and assistant. The Depot company, Hose No. 1, was organized first, and the house erected on land donated by Wallace W. Cole. The house, which is a two-story building, is near the corner of the Turnpike and Main Street. It is shown in cut facing page 204. The committee for building the house and purchasing the wagon were David S. Emery, Walter and James H. Hadley. This is the first equipment the town has ever had since the days of the old handtub. The second floor of the building is fitted up as a recreation room, where the members of the company can hold meetings or meet for a social evening.
The new house was formally accepted by the selectmen on May 13, 1905. Exercises were held during the afternoon and evening, and supper was served for the invited guests. The company numbers twenty men, of whom David S. Emery is chief and Walter Hadley assistant. The house for Hose No. 2 at the Center was built last year. It is a fine building, cen- trally located beside the common, and serves the double purpose of fire house and lockup. The company is not yet as fully organized as No. 1 company, because of lack of money. The chief is John Richardson.
CHAPTER VI.
Educational Matters.
The first references to schools within the limits of Salem are found in the Methuen records, at the time when Spicket Hill settlement was on the point of demanding for itself parish rights. After the province line was settled the new district took measures to provide education for its youth. At a district meeting held November 8, 1744, it was "voted to hire a man to keep a school one month or two this winter."
This precipitated a discussion as to the location of the school, since all desired to have it convenient to their own localities. A meeting was held December 21 to settle this momentous issue, at which it was decided to keep the school in four places in the parish. Although nothing is left by which we may locate ex- actly, the distribution of inhabitants at that time would lead us to infer that the school was kept near the present village a part of the winter. We must understand that the term was short for each place, as the schoolmaster went from one part of the parish to the next, giving to each about one-fourth of the time for which he was engaged. This made a very meagre education, but was as much as could be provided under, the circumstances. At one time the school was kept in the house of Abial Kelly, near the Robert I. Smith place, and it is possible that this was also the location of it at this first session. The other places were near the province line, where a considerable number of families were then living; also near the Baxter Hall place or a little farther southwest, which was the scene of some of the very old settlements. The fourth school was kept near the Atkinson line, well up toward the present No. 3 district.
Arrangements were made with some citizen for the use of a room in his house. Perhaps his children were given their in- struction in payment therefor. We find numerous bills re-
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
corded as paid to various persons for boarding the schoolmaster. And as he usually lived for the time being where he had his school, this furnishes some evidence of the location of the "throne of wisdom." At a later period the teacher was often hired for the part of the town where he lived only. This, how- ever, was when the terms were longer than at first and school was kept simultaneously in different places.
In 1755 and 1757 it was voted not to hire a schoolmaster. Money was evidently extra scarce. But the next year they "voted to raise 200 pounds old tenor for support of the schools, , every part of the town to raise its share." This last clause brought its result in the meeting of 1759. If all parts of the town were to raise the money, then all parts were to have the advantage of it. It was "voted school in the four korters of the town," and also that they "hire a riting, sifering, and reding scool master." Unless some one of these important branches was made to include spelling it would seem that a sadly needed department of the school was quite lacking.
The amount of money raised for schools, as well as the length of the term, was directly proportioned to the appreciation of the benefits derived and to the success of the crops, and inversely proportioned to the stringency of means and to the niggardly tendency of those who had no children to directly profit by the school. These factors frequently gave strangely inconsistent results. For instance, from 1764 to 1768 the amounts raised per year in pounds, old tenor, were as follows: 1764, 300; 1765, 60; 1766, 300; 1777, 20; 1778, 25. In 1770 a tremendous fight took place because of the persistence of a large number in refusing to raise money. Three meetings were held, at each of which it was voted not to raise any money for schools. At the last of these meetings the following men were so indignant that they had their dissent to this vote recorded: Maj. Joseph Wright, Moody Morss, Jonathan Tenny, Peter Merrill, Eben- ezer Page, Joshua Bayley, Richard Cresey, Day Emerson, John Hall, Oliver Kimball.
Not only were these citizens enraged, but a more serious con- sequence followed. There was a public statute to the effect that any town which did not provide suitable schools, including a
OLD STONE SCHOOLHOUSE. (M 227) (See page 218)
HENRY P. TAYLOR.
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EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.
grammar school, for at least a certain part of each year, should be liable to a fine. In 1774 a fine was imposed upon the select- men for not complying with the provisions of this law. Again the voters displayed their meanness by refusing to reimburse these officers for the town fine which they had paid from their own pockets. The vote is recorded thus: "Voted not to clear the selectmen of the fine imposed on them for not keeping a grammar schol during the whole of the year past." But this was evidently the last straw, for at the next meeting steps were taken to straighten out the tangled threads of public policy. Robert Young was chosen a committee to go before the assembly to obtain permission to substitute a reading and writing school for a grammar school. It was also voted to clear the selectmen from any fines for not keeping a grammar school, and to reim- burse David Gordon, one of the selectmen the year before, for the fine which he had paid. Young must have been successful in his errand, as no further mention is made of fines.
In 1788 the town voted 45 pounds for schools. From this time on there was more systematic management in school affairs. The hardships endured by all during the war period had without doubt been largely responsible for the spirit of opposition which had dominated the meetings of the preceding years.
For the interest of many whose families were in Salem at this early period, a list is here given of the men and women, for women were then just beginning to find employment as teach- ers, who conducted the schools between the years 1788 and 1796:
John L. Bodwell
Paul Pettingill
Caleb Morse
Samuel Dinsmore
Micah Chaplin
John Dinsmore
Son of Lieut. Samuel Johnson
Timothy Jones
Son of John Dow
Sargent Rogers
William Craig
Merriam Pattee Sally Woodbury
Timothy Ladd Jones
Jonathan Emerson
Isaac Pettingill
Pattee Hodskins
William Gage
Son of David Hall Thomas Robinson
Moses Hastings
Silas Dinsmore
15
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
John Webster
William Hall
Benjamin Poor
Paul Foster
Richard Messer
John McFarlin
Capt. Daniel Gordon
William Smith
Enoch Merrill
Simeon Taylor
Lydia Fletcher
Levi Dow
Jedediah Hastings
Susanna Colby
Moses Dole William Smith, Jr.
In 1794 the schools were taught by nine men, who received a total amount of £43 3s 4d, besides their board, which was paid by the town to those with whom they lived. It will be seen that the number of schools was becoming somewhat large to be well managed, except by some single head or superintendent, and that method had not yet come into vogue. The warrant of 1793 had an article to raise money by taxation for building school- houses in the different districts of the town. It was voted down at the meeting. Again in 1798 a repetition of the request: "To see if the town will raise any more money than the law obliges tham for the support of schools or will take any method to build school houses and divide the Town in districts." A committee, of whom Dea. Samuel Webster and Capt. Jeremiah Dow were members, was chosen for districting the town and deciding the number of houses, locations and time limits for building. Their report, however, was rejected, although it was very much like the one accepted shortly afterward.
SCHOOLHOUSES BUILT.
The article was again inserted in the warrant of 1800, this time with complete success. The committee chosen is another demonstration of the statement that the good soldier becomes the respected citizen. Nearly all of them held military titles, though not for service in the Revolution, but because of activity in the militia organized some years after the close of the war. They were Maj. Thos. Dow, Capt. Jesse Webster, John Clendenin, Ens. Edward Pattee, Maj. Jesse Merrill, Oliver Sanders, and Lieut. Thos. Smith. The instructions to the committee are ex- pressed in the vote which accompanied their appointment :
"Voted that the committee shall not interfere with any Class
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EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.
which have built a School house or are under obligations for building one-Excepting as it respects individuals within the limets of Such Class or Classes who have not Paid their propor- tion towards building such a school house, Voted that the select- men shall make an Estimate of the sum necessary to build and finish a school house in each district as made by the committee and to assess the polls and estates of the town accordingly and if any district has built a school house or are under obligations to build a school house the individuals composing such a District shall have a drawback or an order for their proportion
"Voted that the foregoing Committee shall make their return to the Selectmen of their doings in Devideing the town into Distrects at or before the tenth day of June next in writeing."
It was also voted that the selectmen should see to it that a suit- able schoolhouse be built in each district indicated before the fol- lowing December.
There is no record of the divisions made by this committee, although they are referred to in subsequent records, as in an act of 1820. But the districts were roughly the same as those later established.
To show the relative weight of the school expenditures at this time to the total outlay by the town, these figures for 1800 will be of interest. The teaching cost $217.76
board 58.71
wood 38.52
Total for schools $314.99
The total expenditures of the town were $1,022.26, of which nearly one third was for schools. This, of course, had no ref- erence to the new buildings about to be erected.
Several groups of men undertook the erection of buildings, for which their schoolhouse tax was abated. Here are some of these groups :
Joseph Wardwell Mitchell Whittaker James Page Silas Betton
Isaiah Wheeler
Hezikiah Jones
Timothy L. Jones
William Stevens
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
John Clendenin
Oliver Emerson
Wm Little
Stephen Currier
Ens. Henry Little
James Jones
Michael Emerson
Caleb Morse
John Page, Jr.
Abner B. Little
Samuel Endicott
Richard Kimball
Andrew Bryant
The total allowed on this house was $109.35. Each man gave either labor or material. This was without doubt the old house which stood where the library now is, it having been sold and moved west on Main Street when the new house was built. It is now part of the house of James E. Sloan. We have evidence that it was built prior to 1810, and probably as above mentioned.
Another building was put up at a cost of $166.33. It is next to impossible to positively locate all of these early buildings. We can, however, approximate it by the residences of those who were interested or instrumental in the erection. The following names of builders seem to indicate that this building must have been the old house opposite the "Stone House," so called, at the corner of Main and Policy streets. Certainly the schoolhouse here was very old, having been built before most of the others in town. The donors were:
John Smith
Abel Rollins
Joseph Merrill
Robert Campbell
Samuel Kelly
Jesse Merrill
David Nevins
John Woodbury
Nathaniel Gorrell
Oliver Kimball
Stephen Worth
Elija Hall
David Rollins Ebenezer Page
A bill paid at this time by the town to the amount of $21.50 to Richard Pattee, "in full for a schoolhouse built," gives us the location of another of the old buildings. Pattee lived then very near the present site of No. 9 schoolhouse. There were several houses in the vicinity, and it is not unlikely that the first building was erected convenient to these families. This suppo- sition is strengthened by the fact that in 1824, when the new districts were divided, the district here was given the name of
.
SCHOOLHOUSE NO. 1. (See page 216)
(M 24)
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EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.
the owner of the nearest house, Pattee having moved his resi- dence to the Whitebridge farm on the turnpike in 1804. If $21.50 paid the full cost of the building, this worthy citizen must have given the lumber and labor, asking pay only for such supplies as he could not supply except by purchase.
Abatement of the schoolhouse tax was made also in case of eight citizens who had together paid $44.83 toward the building of a schoolhouse. These men were:
Phineas Gordon
Peter Austin
Joshua Gordon
Jonathan Merrill
John Austin
Enoch Merrill
John Austin, Jr.
David Austin
They lived not far from the meetinghouse, and may have con- tributed toward the cost of the house at the Center.
In addition to the money thus paid, as assistance to benevo- lent citizens who were willing to bear a part of the expense, the town raised and paid out for other buildings a considerable sum. The total schoolhouse tax assessed February 25, 1801, was $1,528.10, certainly a very generous sum for those days. Several houses were built in other parts of the town than those above mentioned.
One building put up at this time was at North Salem, just at the foot of the short hill on the road leading from Atlas mill to the church, and between the road and the river on the north side of the bridge. It had a very large fireplace and long plank benches, at which five or six pupils could sit. These benches extended to the walls on both sides of the room, with a single aisle down the middle. It was a favorite trick of the boys at the back of the room to slip to the floor and crawl down toward the front of the room beneath the benches. However annoying this pastime may have been to the teacher, it of course furnished huge enjoyment to the ever expectant neighbors of the offender.
The exterior presented no artistic color scheme, never having been deprived of its pristine beauty of natural wood. About 1838, after long usefulness in behalf of the numerous offspring of the old families of that portion of the town, the old house was demolished. The passer-by today would little dream that this
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
quiet spot by the river was once the seat of culture of this formerly very active community.
On February 26, 1803, settlement was made with Israel Wood- bury for building a schoolhouse, the amount being $174.25. This was probably somewhere in No. 7 district as now divided. The men who taught the schools during the few years following this great increase in the efficiency of the educational system included :
Caleb Morse
Benj. Humphrey
Timothy Ladd
Nathaniel Haseltine
Richard Messer
Moses Herriman
John Merrill John Emerson
Jonathan McCollom
Oliver Taylor
Joshua Page William Smith
On March 14, 1809, the first "committee to inspect schools" was elected. It consisted of three members, Silas Betton, Caleb Morse and John Ewins.
In 1820 the attendance at the schools of the two north districts became so small that a request was presented to the town meeting to have them consolidated to save expense of one teacher. How- ever, the request was denied.
DISTRICTS RE-ESTABLISHED.
At the meeting held February 29, 1824, it was "Voted to dis- trict the town into school districts and have them numbered and recorded." A committee for the purpose was chosen as follows : John Clendenin, Jonathan Merrill, John Allen, Joseph Thom, Joshua Merrill, Henry Merrill, Nathan Russ, Jr., William Cluff and Joseph Taylor.
As above stated, the districts had been established in 1800, although we can find no record of their boundaries. But the make-up of this committee indicates that one man was taken from each of the original districts. At any rate nine men were chosen from different parts of the town and nine districts were subsequently defined, corresponding nearly to the locations of
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EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.
the members of the committee. The districts were recorded under the following numbers and names:
No. Name of District.
1 William Somes Kelly District
2 Joshua Merrill
3 Joseph Taylor
4 David Duston
5 Amos Wheeler 66
6 Joseph Merrill
7 Simeon Emerson
8 William Cluff
9 Henry Merrill 66
These corresponded very nearly to the ten districts of the town at the present time, the principal change having been made at the March meeting of 1852, when District No. 4 was divided into 4 and 10. A petition had been presented in 1844, setting forth that the town had not been divided into districts according to legal requirement. The selectmen reestablished the lines of the nine districts, making them more closely defined than they had been previously.
In 1830 the "Literary money" was voted to the Prudential Committee to be expended equally in the school districts. A vote along a similar line was recorded under date of 1837, to the effect that the share of surplus revenue which should come to the town be left in the state treasury, only the interest being drawn for use in the primary schools. We shall see that this money was later used to buy the town farm.
In 1835 the superintending school committee were required to do nothing but "examine the teachers." And the next year they were "released from visiting the Schools during the year."
Sales of property by the tax collectors, for default in paying the school tax, were by no means uncommon. They were auction sales and were held at Messer's Inn, Carey's store or other public places.
The dates of erection of the present buildings in some of the districts are here given in so far as they are known to us:
No. 1. After the demolition and sale of the old building here,
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
the structure now used as the library was erected. It was raised September 18, 1861, and opened December 2 of the same year. The first teacher was Charles C. Talbot, afterwards of Lawrence. Early in the 90's agitation for a more adequate building was started, but without a great deal of headway at first. In 1894 an article was inserted in the school warrant, asking that the building be enlarged or raised or a new one built. Not until the next year was the solution completed. In 1895 the present attractive building on the plateau was built at a total cost of $4,194.70. It has frequently been mentioned as one of the prettiest country schoolhouses in the state, a distinction which we believe is justified.
There is an amusing episode recorded in connection with the early endeavors of this district to obtain better quarters. In 1857, on March 28, the district voted to raise $300 to build a new schoolhouse to replace the old red building next to the town- house. A wit from one of the other districts, upon hearing the amount appropriated for an up-to-date house remarked, "Smart district that."
No. 2. This district seemed doomed to disappointment from the very first. The original building was set on land near the road, at the northeast corner of Wheeler and Poverty streets. It was the "little red schoolhouse" of which so much has been said, and which was so common in New England a hundred years ago. Thomas D. Lancaster and Stephen Webster were pupils here.
About 1835 James Webster bought the farm which included the schoolhouse lot of David Wheeler. He moved the house back into the field and then sold it to be removed to Haverhill. Through some technical oversight the district had failed to possess itself of a deed of the building, consequently it went with the land. This caused considerable commotion in the district, until the town gave permission to prosecute the parties who moved the schoolhouse. We do not know that such action was ever taken, however.
Many of the citizens of this district petitioned for permission to pay their school tax to Atkinson, Methuen or some other dis- trict in Salem, since they could obtain there better conveniences
-
GEORGE W. THOM.
FOR MSIUT TOURUS
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EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.
for their children. Many such requests were granted. Partly as a result of this and partly to the location of the division lines between districts, the number of pupils in the two first districts has been very unevenly divided. In 1862 Mr. Scott, the super- intendent, called attention to this fact in his report. No. 1 was overcrowded with ninety pupils, while No. 2 had only six or seven.
The next building erected by this district was on land donated by Leonard Merrill, a short distance north of the corner on the west side of Poverty Street. It was built about 1839, and subse- quently burned. The last building was built at the northeast corner of the road on the north side of Captain's Pond. It was used until the neighborhood had no children of school age, when it was sold and moved away.
No. 3. The original building stood about twenty rods south of the Daniel Taylor place (M 630), near the turn in the road, on the west side. It was built about one hundred years ago, and used until about 1860, when it was torn down. The present building (M 627) was erected at about that time. The school reports furnish less information in this case than in that of any other building in town.
No. 4. The original building here stood in what is now Mrs. Louise Ball's field, close beside the dam of the Atlas mill. It was torn down about 1838 and a new one built near the Thomas Duston place. This was a red building and was used until about 1853, when the brick structure now in service was built. The red one was then moved to No. 10 and made a part of that building. The brick house was finished January 1, 1853, and a dance was held to celebrate the completion. This was one of the first schoolhouses in Salem to be equipped with other than the plank benches heretofore used. Many citizens of the district held that these were "plenty good enough," but the building committee in charge, John Taylor, Kimball Gordon and Isaiah Newell, were determined to keep up to the times and take advan- tage of such improvements as were reasonable. It is needless to say that a long trial was not needed to convince even the most sceptical of the superiority of the new desks.
No. 5. There was an old building here in use up to 1873, of
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
which we have not much information. It was sold when the present schoolhouse was built in the early winter of 1873, and was used as a shoeshop by F. P. Woodbury. The new building furnished a greatly improved accommodation for the pupils of the district. It cost $1,500.
No. 6. No district in town has passed through so many changes in its home for the pupils as has No. 6. The first habi- tation of which we know was a small building on the northeast . corner of Main and Policy streets. The sill stones can still be discerned in outline, although buried beneath the sods. This was probably built at the time of the first districting of the town in 1801, and was in use for about twenty-five years. The late George Woodbury attended school there three or four terms.
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