USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Montclair > History of Montclair township state of New Jersey; including the history of the families who have been identified with its growth and prosperity > Part 19
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THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE, BUILT IN 1860.
services of a principal who should be a graduate from one of the best colleges, and whose character and attainments should secure the best results in education. The High School was to afford facilities " to edneate here at home the youth who had been previously sent away to school." and to enable " parents to retain under home influence their children during the period of the formation of character." John W. Taylor, a graduate of Harvard University, became the principal September 1, 1866, and inspired a rapid development of our school system during the four years of his supervision. Ilis tact, ability and enthusiasm in school work, his geniality and his fondness for young life, his instinct for individualizing, and his natural leadership, gave inspiration alike to teachers, students. parents and tratees. Miss Lucy M. Brown
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was appointed assistant November 23, 1867. Mr. Taylor left during the second year of his administra- tion, and Mr. Jared Hasbronek filled the position from Angust 26. 1868. to December 17, at which time Mr. Taylor returned, continuing until 1870, when Mr. John P. Gross, a graduate of Bowdoin College, became the principal. Mr. Gross continued to develop a wide public interest in the School. The increase of pupils rendered a further enlargement necessary in 1873. The first graduating class, composed of thirteen members, was guided through the advaneed course by Mr. Gross, and the first diplomas of the Trustees, given in 1874, were made significant of a thorough education. Mr. Gross was assisted in the High School department by Miss Lucy M. Brown and Mr. Edward Thatcher, a graduate of Yale College, and a son of Prof. Thos. A. Thatcher. Miss Abbey M. Munn, at that time a teacher of long experience and distinguished success, was at the head of the Primary Department. Miss Lucy Brown, who for seven years had been an efficient teacher, and was highly esteemed in the community, was called away by death in 1874. Mr. Gross continned for about a year longer, and was succeeded, in the antuinn of 1874, by Mr. Randall Spaulding, a graduate of Yale College.
Efficient as the School was at the time, Mr. Spanlding saw that there was room for further improve- ment in order to meet the growing demands of the community. One of the most important changes made by him was that of requiring the pupils then in school to remain a year longer than the previous time allotted for graduation.
Other improvements have been made from year to year, demonstrating the wisdom, knowledge and ability of the principal. During his administration of nearly twenty years, he has been assisted by a corps of excellent teachers, some of whom were old residents in the community. Among the lady teachers have been Miss Annie Brown, a very successful teacher, who served for six years; Miss F. A. Caldwell. Miss Anna S. Peck, and Miss Mary J. Turner; and of the gentlemen, R. W. Conant, Charles L. Noyes, Edwin B. Goodell. Samuel D. Eaton, Noah C. Rogers, J. Howard Pratt and Arthur E. Bostwick. Miss Eldora Eldredge is worthy of special mention. She has had charge of the grammar department, preparatory to the High School, for nearly eighteen years, and still continues in that position.
The need of increased specialization in the work of the High School led to the employment, in 1886, of Mr. Robert Cornish to take charge of the science department. a man eminently fitted for the work. Ile continued in this position for six years, and brought the department to a high state of efficiency. The classical department was assigned to Miss Eliza Il. Gilbert, who for several years had performed a part of the duties pertaining to it. Her work is characterized by great accuracy and thoroughness. In September, 1892, Mr. J. Steward Gibson sueeceded Mr. Cornish in the science department. Miss Turner, who for many years had served most acceptably as preceptress of the High School, was succeeded in 1887 by Miss Margaret A. Emerson, a conscientious and painstaking teacher, who remained three years. Her place was filled by Miss Elsie M. Dwyer, a graduate of Wellesley College, an able and successful teacher of ripe experience.
Other departments have been added-that of modern language and mathematics, in charge of Miss Harriet E. Crouch : Latin and modern history, Miss Mary A. Carter ; commercial branches and botany, Mr. William C. Gorman ; English and history in charge of the preeeptress, Miss Dwyer, assisted by Miss Lney Evelyn Wight. The unusually long and efficient service of Miss Abbie M. Munn, now in the highest grade of the primary department, and Miss Eldora Eldredge, in the highest grade of the grammar department, renders them worthy of special notice, Miss Eldredge having served eighteen consecutive years, and Miss Munn a much longer period. The names of both these worthy teachers are enshrined in the hearts of hundreds of pupils, many of whom have achieved honor and success in life, and cherish the remembrance of them as among the most delightful associations connected with their alma mater.
Since 1874 scarcely a year has passed without material change in the course of study, and new systems and methods have given place to the old ones. Even the early graduates of this school would be surprised at the great changes that have been wrought. The system of mannal training was introduced in 1852, and the trustees were authorized to expend the sum of $1,000 to test its practicability. A room was fitted up and fully supplied with the necessary tools and appliances. The manual work the first year
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in the grammar department consisted in drawing and construction of geometrie forms, and in advanced elay modeling ; to the second year was assigned a course in joinery ; to the third year, wood carving. Girls during this period were instrueted in needlework. This department has succeeded beyond the expectations of its promoters, and has been extended from time to time both upward and downward in the grades of the school. The expense of maintaining this department the first year was $726; the second, 8600; the third, $583 ; the fourth, 8681 ; fifth, 8695: and the sixth. 8687.
The total number of graduates from the High School is 206. Of these, seventy-eight have entered upon a college emrse leading to a degree. Nine graduates have taken special courses in colleges : seventeen have entered some professional school of law, medieine or teaching. Those who have entered upon a college course are classified as follows: Yale, 19; Wellesley, 11; Smith, 9; Amherst, 7: Princeton. 7: Harvard, 6; Wesleyan. 4; University of New York, 3; Oberlin, 2; Lehigh, 2; University of Minnesota, 1; Williams. 1; Cornell. 1; Evelyn, 1: Columbia, 1; Bryn Mawr, 1; Barnard, 1 ; Massachusetts School of Technology, 1.
The school census shows the number of children residing within the distriet between five and eighteen years of age in 1-56 as 1>5. In 1870 there were 450. The next decade. 598. The total number in 1893 was 1.703. The increase from 1556 to 1593 is 1,515; the largest increase in any one year was that of 1871, viz .. 150. The smallest inerease was in 1872, viz .. 6, and the year from 1584 to 1885 showed a deerease of 22.
The total unmber of scholars enrolled at the present time is 1.300, requiring the employment of 44 teachers, including instructors in special departments. Additions have been made to the old and new buildings during the past fifteen years, in order to meet the increased demands for school facilities. In 1578-9 the west half of the centre primary school was built at a cost of $12,000. In 1854, the east half centre primary, at a cost of 87.118. In 15ss a new school-house was built on Cedar Street, which cost, including the land, 86,595. In 1989-90 a large new brick building was erected on Chestnut Street, which cost, including the land, $18,503.
In 182 a large plot of land was purchased on the west side of Valley Road, about three hundred vards west of the present grammar school. On this was erected one of the finest and most completely equipped school buildings in the State. The building is 237 feet long and about $1 feet extreme width, covering an area of 15,738 square feet, including porches, etc. The design is of classie style and the exteriors are finished in buff briek and cream white terra cotta. The portion below water level is of dark red brick. All interior carrying partitions and all heating and vent flues are of brick. The floors are laid on Georgia pine joists and on iron beams. All interior walls are furred and a fire stop is at the bottom of each. The building is two stories high and the main flights of stairs are of iron, supported by brick walls, broken by landing- and covered with rubber treads. The first floor is arranged with a direct corridor from entrance to entrance, thirteen feet wide, and contains all the wardrobes, being separated for the sexes. They are built on a new plan adapted and used by the architects, Messrs. Loring & Phipps, of Boston, designers of this and many public schools and other public buildings.
Placed at intervals in the first floor corridor are three foot warmers, so arranged that the children can dry their feet and clothes in wet weather. On the south side of this corridor are seven class rooms of different sizes, each having seating capacity of from 54 to 60 pupils or more, according to size, and each room is arranged for the light to come over the left shoulder and back of the pupil. Each class room on this floor, as well as on the second floor, has teachers' closets and book elosets, and blackboards of natural slate are on all the wall surfaces not used for other purposes. On the north side of the corridor on the first floor are two recitation rooms, principal's office with fire place, toilets. closets, waiting room and depository. The reference room and connecting library are fitted with delivery desk and book raeks for many thousands of volumes. In each corridor two drinking places are furnished for the children's use, made of soapstone set on brackets with nickel self-elosing locks.
On the second floor are four class rooms, two recitation rooms, two toilet rooms, and an assembly hall with a seating capacity of 500, with two small ante-rooms and a stage 27 feet wide and 13 feet deep.
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On the south side is the chemical laboratory and also conveniences for photographie experiments. Two flights of stairs lead from the second to the third stories, in which is a furnished room for students in drawing, and a large room partly unfinished, 84 feet long by 30 feet wide for gymnasium. The finish of the entire building is of brown ash. All corridors, rooms and staireases are wainseoted in ash to a height of about four feet.
The entire eost, including the land, was $125,000.
From the beginning of the new movement in 1860 .- with the exception of his absence during the war-Dr. J. J. H. Love has been continuously a member of the Board of Trustees. To his persistent and indefatigable efforts in the cause of higher education is largely due the present sehool system, with facilities, equaled by few, and, it is believed, unsurpassed by those of any town of this size in the United States. Dr. Love led and the people followed. Having unbounded confidence in his ability, good judgment and impartial dealings, they gave him their hearty support, and freely voted the
art:
THE NEW HIGH SCHOOL.
appropriations asked for. He served for many years as President of the Board, and then took the position of Clerk, which he has held without intermission up to the present time (1894). His interest in the work has never flagged, and he has given his personal attention to the most minute details. In the erection of the new High School building, he supervised every portion of the work from the foundation to the roof, and, being daily on the spot, nothing escaped his observation.
Mr. George II. Francis succeeded Dr. Love as President, and held the position for some years.
Mr. Thomas Porter, who succeeded Mr. Francis as President of the Board of Trustees, was an enthusiast in the matter of "higher education," and an earnest and zealous worker in the cause. Hle often visited the school and spoke words of encouragement to teachers and scholars. He lived to see the " new system " firmly established and in successful operation.
Mr. Charles K. Willmer, the successor of Mr. Porter, served sixteen years as a member of the Board, for five of which he was its President. A man of fine executive ability and large business experience, he.
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directed the affairs of the school with consummate ability and taet, and gave great satisfaction to his associates and to the whole community.
Dr. C. II. Marvin rendered faithful and efficient service, as a member of the Board of Trustees, for nine years, and during 1-90 and 1-91 was President of the Board.
Mr. John R. Howard, the present incumbent. was elected in 1592. Ilis acceptance of the position was gratifying to every one interested in the cause of education. Ile has a national reputation as a writer and publisher, and since his residence in Montelair, has been active in promoting its moral and intellectual growth, having been prominently identified with the several organizations having this object in view. The erection of the new school building, and the various improvements in connection therewith, have all been accomplished during his administration.
The citizens of Montelair-even those who have no children to reap the benefit- have given their hearty co-operation and have cheerfully borne the burden of increased taxation-knowing that others were benefited thereby-and that every dollar spent in the cause of education would in time enhance the value of their property through the increase of population. Persons living at a distance from Montelair have acquired a residence here for the purpose of giving their children the benefit of its superior educational advantages usually obtainable only at expensive private institutions.
RANDALL SPAULDING.
The present efficiency and high standing of the schools of Montelair is due to the untiring efforts of Mr. Spaulding, cover- quarter of a century. The been accomplished are tory of the schools of this repetition in this sketch of ed many of the qualities cess, the difficulties which came in early life were the this was accomplished. ternal ancestors were of New England.
ing a period of nearly a methods by which this has fully set forth in the his- township, and require no his life. While he inherit- that conduced to his suc- he encountered and over- special means by which Both his paternal and ma- among the early Puritans The origin of the name from xpull, meaning shoul- The name originated in battles were fought hand sword on the coat of arms The motto borne on the
of Spaulding is said to be der, and ding, to strike. the Middle Ages, when to hand. The two-handed justifies this statement. arms is " Iline mihi salus." Edward Spaulding, the land to the Massachusetts Braintree, where he was lle had a son, Andrew, Deacon Isaac, born in moved to Townsend, Mass. tled is still in the hands of signed a petition for pro- December 31, 1740. He in Townsend, Angust 14, ancestor, came from Eng- Colony and settled in made a freeman in 1640. who was the father of Chelmsford, 1710, who The farm on which he set- the Spaulding family. He tection against the Indians, had a son, Benjamin, born RANDALL SPAULDING. 1743, who was "successful in school teaching." which occupation was followed by three of his daughters. He was known as " Lient. Benjamin." and served (probably) in the War of the Revolution. Ile had a son known as " Capt. Isauc," born in Townsend, December 24, 1779. The latter was the father of Daniel.
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
Daniel Spaulding, son of Capt. Isaae, was born in Townsend. Hle carried on a farm, and was the master of three or four trades, principally that of a cooper. He was a man of considerable in- genuity and skill. and was fairly successful. He married Luey W. Clement, daughter of John Clement, of Townsend.
RANDALL SPAULDING, son of Daniel and Lucy W. (Clement) Spaulding, was born in Townsend, Middlesex Co., Mass., Feb. 3, 1845. He evidently inherited his fondness for books and his capacity for teaching from his great grandfather. He attended the district school until he was sixteen and then went to the Lawrenee Academy, at Groton, where he had an unele, who was a practicing physician. In order to raise funds to complete his preparatory course he was obliged to resort to mechanical employ- ment, and " strike from the shoulder." The last winter he attended the academy he taught the district school in West Groton, and assisted occasionally at teaching in the academy. In all his efforts to acquire an education he was self-supporting, and paid all his own expenses. IIe entered Yale College in 1866, and was graduated in 1870. Ile earned some money at college by "coaching " students, but on com- pleting his collegiate course he found himself $1000 in debt. Hle soon after obtained a position as teacher at Rockville, Conn., where he remained for three years, and not only paid off his old indebtedness but accumulated a sufficient sum to enable him to make a trip to Europe, partly for pleasure, but mainly for the purpose of continuing his studies. Ile spent seven months at Göttingen, and was a few weeks at Heidelberg and parts of Italy, his course of study being principally history and the German language. On his return in 1874 he accepted an offer to take charge of the school in Montelair. IIe introduced many new features and raised the grade to meet the demands of the community for a higher system of education. He gradually worked the pupils up to his own standard, and induced them to remain another year in order to attain the requisite proficiency. He received the hearty co-operation of the parents, as well as the trustees, and others interested in the school. He secured the very best teachers that could be found for the various departments, and year by year he continued to advance to a higher standard. the trustees and taxpayers always keeping pace and meeting his own ideas with liberal appropriations, which culminated in 1893 with the finest and best equipped public school building in the State. All this has been accomplished in a quiet way withont frietion, and with a steady forward move- ment. No man was ever more beloved by parents, pupils and teachers. He rules by love, yet there is no laek of discipline, and the usual methods of punishment are almost unknown in the several depart- ments of the school. Of the children it may be said.
" He taught them the goodness of knowledge, They taught him the goodness of God."
Many of his pupils who have grown to manhood and achieved success in the various walks of life. look back with pride to their alma mater, and remember with gratitude and affection their faithful preceptor.
Mr. Spaulding is one of the foremost educators in the State, and has done mneh to advance the cause of edneation in other parts of the country. He has been President of the New Jersey State Council of Education, of the Schoolmasters' Association of New York and vicinity, of the Schoolmasters Club of New York and vicinity, and was formerly President of the State Teachers' Association of New Jersey.
Mr. Spaulding has added largely to his stoek of general information in his travels during his summer vacations. In the summer of 1883 he visited Arizona in company with Dr. II. H. Rusby, partly on behalf of the Smithsonian Institution, and made a large collection of plants indigenons to that locality. Besides obtaining a large variety of those well known to naturalists, he collected some thirty new species, to which no reference has hitherto been made by naturalists. The information thus acquired has been utilized to good advantage in his professional labors. A similar trip was made in 1886 among the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
As a pastime Mr. Spanlding has done some excellent work as an amateur photographer, and has
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
made a large collection of views of the many places of interest he has visited. In 1885 he visited Great Britain and made a collection of photos for the use of lantern slides in stereopticon exhibitions. Ile is the anthor of " First Lessons in Amateur Photography." published in 1855, a work highly appreciated by amateurs in this art. Accounts of his travels abroad have been given at different times through the local papers, and read with a great deal of interest.
In addition to the other societies and organizations referred to. Mr. Spaulding is a member of the First Congregational Church of Montelair, and of the Congregational Club of New York. He has been twice married : first, in 1874. to Miss Florence A. Chapman, who died in 1859, leaving two children, viz .. Raymond C. and Edith R. : secondly, to Miss Sarah L. Norris, of Hyde Park, Mass.
THE WASHINGTON SCHOOL HOUSE.
Erected in 1>25. for the education of mill children on Sunday, at the west end of the present township, continued to be used for school purposes after the close of the mills and the departure of the mill operatives. The settlement remained, and the population of this neighborhood increased. The schools at the west end of the town were located at too great a distance to enable those at the east end to avail themselves of its advantages, and this eventually became a separate school district. Isaac B. Wheeler, son of Gideon Wheeler, taught in this school for a time. A new frame building, capable of accom- modating the large increase of children in this loeality. was erected, and ample facilities provided.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
For more than a quarter of a century before the agitation of " higher education " for free schools began, Bloomfield and West Bloomfield were noted for their private institutions of learning, and some of the most prominent men in the country divines, physicians, lawyers and statesmen, were prepared for college at one or the other of these well- known schools.
From 1$10 to 153> the Bloomfield Academy was THE WASHINGTON SCHOOL HOUSE. considered one of the best preparatory schools in the State of New Jersey. In the origin and maintenance of that academic and theological institution, Israel Crane and other prominent men of West Bloomfield were greatly interested. With such preceptors as Amzi Lewis, Jr., John Ford. Rev. Humphrey M. Perine. Rev. Amzi Armstrong, D.D., and his son, Rev. William J. Armstrong, Albert Pearson, and Dr. Edwin Hall, strong college-bred men, of profound erudition and theological force, this Academy overshadowed the more common education in that part of the town. At the beginning it was financially supported by a Society for the Promotion of Literature, composed of the strong men of the town, and after Dr. Armstrong assumed the financial support by the social and moral aid of the people throughout the Presbyterian parish. Samuel Hanson Cox, and other young men from the Academy, conducted religious services in the second story of the West Bloomfield School-house.
MOUNT PROSPECT INSTITUTE .- This building. now known as the Mountain House, situated on Bloom- field Avenne, near the dividing line between Montelair and Verona, was opened as a boarding-school for boys, abont 1538, by Mr. Warren S. Holt. He had previously taught in the public school, where he acquired the reputation of a good teacher. especially in mathematics. His aim was to establish a strictly private school, with a limited number of pupils who, while enjoying the best educational advantages, would at the same time receive a thorough moral and religious training. He had also a separate department for
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
young ladies. His system of education met with the hearty approval of his patrons, but did not prove a financial snecess, and in 1844 he gave up his school, and became assistant to James H. Rundall, at the Bloomfield Academy. He remained with this institution for abont two years, when he reopened Mount Prospeet Institute, which he conducted successfully for some years. A circular issued by him about this time states that --
" The School is located in West Bloomfield, N. J., fifteen miles distant from New York City, and six from Newark, upon a commanding eminence of 800 feet above the level of the ocean, from which a clear view is obtained of New York, Brooklyn, the Bay, and the surrounding country. This location, for retirement, health, salubrity of atmosphere, and beauty of mountain seenery, is not surpassed by any in the country. It is easy of access, having direct communication with New York four times a day. The object of this institution is to prepare Young Gentlemen for entering college, or a business life, by a thorough and systematie course of instruction. The Principal does not desire a large school, but a seleet number of pupils, well disciplined, and willing to be guided in the paths of virtne and usefulness. In order to secure and retain desirable members of this School no vicions or unprincipled boy is received. and no one retained in the School whose influence is immoral or in any way injurious to his associates.
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