USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Bergen > Old Bergen: History and Reminiscences with Maps and Illustrations > Part 12
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An advertisement in a New York paper of August 16, 1796, states : " Agreeably to an advertisement of the 'Trustees of the Bergen Academy,' New Jersey, in April last, the grammar school was opened the first of May, and so continues. The pleasant and healthy situation of the place, its proximity to New York, and the low rate at which board may be had, are advan- tages meriting the attention of the public, especially the people of New York, who may be assured, that the best care and attention will be given to the education and morals of the children, by the teacher, Elijah Rosegrant. N. B .- The price of boarding, is from twenty to twenty-five shillings per year. The dis- tance of the Academy from Paulus Hook ferry is one and one-half miles only."
Owing to a change of conditions and government, after considerable controversy, "The Trustees of
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Columbian Academy conveyed all right, title and in- terest in the property, to the Freeholders of the Town of Bergen, for the continuance of said free school, and for no other purpose." This was confirmed by the legislature, January 27, 1814, and in after years the property passed under the state school law to the trustees of School No. I of the town of Bergen, when the present building was erected. At the time of the consolidation of Jersey City it became a part of the city's school system.
The Columbian Academy was a large, substantial stone building, two stories in height, surmounted by a cupola, on which, after the demolition of the old church in 1841, was placed the weather vane that for- merly swung from its lofty spire. The school was conducted on the special grading system, such as is claimed by some of our modern educators as being their own peculiar production, the ground work of which was simply that individuality was recognized, and ability and application encouraged. The whole second story of the building was devoted to educa- tional purposes, with the exception of a square room on the northwest corner, which was occupied by the " Ancient Order of Rechabites," whose mysterious rites kept alive among the scholars a degree of curiosity that was never satisfied.
The initiation services of this order were especially the subject of conjecture ; and " riding the goat " being part of the ceremony, a great desire was manifested to see this notorious animal. Holes were bored through the door during the daytime, in order to get a peep at
COLUMBIAN ACADEMY.
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the uncanny beast ; but beyond a faint rustling, no evidence was ever secured. He was said to be of the razor-backed, high-stepping variety, and it was sup- posed that the victim suffered untold tortures during the ceremony.
This room changed the form of the school-room from an oblong into an L-shape, a fact that was taken advantage of by the discreet schoolmaster, to place the girls at one extremity and the boys at the other, with his desk in the angle, so as to afford him general super- vision over all. This arrangement was convenient for the punishment of any refractory or disobedient pupil, who was placed between two of the opposite sex, there to remain until the fault had been sufficiently atoned for ; this proceeding was always resented by the boys, but when the process was reversed, it was received by the girls with a due amount of commendable resigna- tion. It is curious to note how often it became neces- sary to subject them to this punishment.
As there were no janitors in those days, the semi- weekly cleaning and sweeping of the school-room was performed by two of the larger girls, who were selected for this purpose by the schoolmaster, as a mark of special favor ; and one boy was detailed to assist them by carrying water, etc., as a matter of punishment. Under the circumstances, a long time was required to perform this work, and oftentimes the shades of even- ing were falling before it was satisfactorily completed. On one occasion, the schoolmaster, passing the building about nightfall, noticed an open window, whereupon he determined upon an investigation. He discovered
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that the sweeping had been finished some hours before, but that the girls had invented a new game which re- quired the most active exertion on the part of the boy to escape being kissed. It is related that the boy was in this instance found in such an exhausted condition, that this department of co-education was forthwith discontinued.
The school-room was furnished with a large stove, which in cold weather was kept red-hot, thus present- ing an attractive surface at which to project pieces of rubber, assafœtida or other substances producing pleasant perfumes when burned. In case of extreme cold, the scholars were allowed to surround this stove by details ; after one section was well warmed, at least on one side, it was followed by another, somewhat after the manner of relieving guard in a military camp, and as the process continued in an endless succession, the danger of any scholar being frozen to death was avoided.
Long benches without backs were provided for the smaller pupils, while desks with three compartments were furnished for the more advanced scholars. This division of the desk was taken advantage of by the oc- cupants, who fitted a lock on the middle one, ostensi- bly for the purpose of protecting the luncheons of those who lived at a distance, but principally for hiding contraband articles and forbidden sweets.
Underneath the corner room alluded to was a similar one, in which, according to the fitness of things, a shoemaker located himself, so as to be convenient for covering balls, furnishing whip lashes, or supplying the
-
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penny's worth of strap oil, for which the innocent youngster was sent. At a convenient distance, op- posite the old parsonage, that stood at the northwest corner of the square, was a large weeping willow, well calculated to hide those naughty boys who, attaching a string to the clapper of the old school bell, concealed themselves within its friendly branches, so that they might, unseen, ring the bell at unseemly hours, and startle the staid inhabitants from their slumbers.
On account of the size of the Columbian Academy and the difficulty of organizing a regular faculty with one head, there were often two distinct schools under its roof. On one occasion, Gasherie DeWitt had charge of the school on the upper floor, while one Gahagen was installed on the lower floor. These were both individual enterprises, independent of each other, with separate and distinct charges for tuition. The rate most frequently charged was $1.50 per quar- ter. As may be imagined, considerable competition existed between the schools, and when necessary to influence pupils, concessions from the above amount were made. The income of the principals depending upon the number of pupils they might secure, they were very active in their canvassing, and at times rivalled the arts of the practised politician to ac- complish their aims. The usual school year in the early days was divided into four quarters of twelve weeks each, with two weeks' holiday in both spring and fall. This was intended to allow proper time and opportunity for replenishing the summer and winter wardrobe.
Chapter XLIV.
OTHER EARLY SCHOOL ACCOMMODATIONS.
IN the course of time, increased school facilities were demanded, and private enterprises instituted several small schools in different sections of the town, which met with varying success. One was held in the early days, in the old parsonage that stood on the site of the present Bergen Reformed Church. Another school was opened by Sylvester Van Buren in the Van Riper homestead, which stood west of Bergen Avenue and south of Montgomery Street. He taught the boys, while the instruction of the girls came under the direct supervision of his wife and daughter.
John Welsh and his son James shortly after started a school in a small building, formerly used as a car- penter shop, that stood near the corner of Bergen and Harrison Avenues. This increased in numbers to such an extent that a long, low, one-story building was erected on Harrison Avenue west of what is now Monticello, for its accommodation. After his father's death, James Welsh became sole proprietor. His method of instruction was to a great extent of the muscular sort, and he controlled and disciplined his little flock through their fears. He was of a somewhat nervous, irritable temperament, and was oftentimes so unjust in the treatment of his scholars that open
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rebellion was frequent, in several cases resulting in their withdrawal from the school. Frequently the parents of the rebels, recognizing the justice of their active pro- tests, sustained them, and either allowed them to fin- ish their education at home, or sent them elsewhere for that purpose. Notwithstanding this severity and lack of discretion in school government, however, Schoolmaster Welsh was well versed in the require- ments of the age, and there are those still living who recognize that the foundations of their intellectual acquirements were firmly planted by him.
This building in later years was followed by another, which was erected on the corner of Harrison and Monticello Avenues. This was afterward enlarged, and under the present municipal government is known in the school system of Jersey City as School No. 16.
The first school building for upper or North Bergen section, was in the territory of old Hudson City. It was a small, one-story frame structure, located about the corner of Bergenwood and Beacon Avenues, and was the forerunner of School No. 6. During the continuance of the school in this building, a financial report was read, which ignored a balance of six cents remaining on hand at the end of the previous fiscal year ; whereupon an explanation was demanded, and it was found that at the meeting at which such previous report was submitted, after the report had been prepared, it was discovered that artificial light would be needed, and that amount was expended for tallow dips. At this time, the teachers were obliged
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to depend upon whatever could be collected from the scholars, which was supposed to amount to an annual contribution of about $2 per pupil, although this was by no means certain.
For lower Jersey City, the first school was started in a building located on Sussex Street, in the rear of the present U. S. Post Office. It was erected in 1809 on ground donated by the Jersey Associates, and was used as a town hall, lock-up and school. Several years after, the first public school, sustained by subscription, was held in this same building, and soon became quite flourishing, in evidence of which fact we have the following extract from the message of Mayor Peter Martin in April, 1840: " A Public School has been established on such liberal principles that any resident of the City, however poor he may be, may avail himself of its benefits. The highest price for tuition per quarter, demanded of any pupil, is $1.00-the lowest 50c., but children whose Parents or Guardians are not able to pay for their tuition are not on that account debarred from the privileges of the school. It is in a flourishing condition, nearly 300 pupils having availed themselves of its benefits the past year."
July 23, 1843, an ordinance was adopted by the Council of Jersey City, which recites : "That all monies that may hereafter be received from tavern licenses, the city quota of the surplus revenue, the interest of the city proportion of the Bergen Corpora- tion fund, be, and the same are hereby appropriated, to the support of Public School No. I, kept in the
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Town Hall, and such other Public Schools as the Common Council may from time to time erect and establish." The school was to be open quarterly, under the direction of the township school com- mittee, and the general supervision of the Mayor and Common Council. The pupils were to reside in Jersey City, and pay fifty cents per quarter for spelling and reading, or one dollar when writing, arithmetic and other branches were included. This school was contin- ued until 1847, and was under the charge of Albert T. Smith. Febru- ary 8, of that year, Mr. Smith became the prin- cipal of the first public free school in Jersey City, with Geo. H. Linsley as first assistant. This build- ing was located on the GEO. H. LINSLEY. site now occupied by Public School No. I.
In 1851 Mr. Smith resigned, and Mr. Linsley suc- ceeded him as principal, which position he has held continuously to the present time. Mr. Linsley is a born teacher and a close student of human nature. He inspires the love and confidence of his pupils to a remarkable degree through his sympathetic nature and conscientious performance of the duties pertaining to his position. Recognizing the individuality of every pupil, he implants within each one the desire for
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better and higher things, and teaches them that with- out self-exertion no success can be achieved. It was the exercise of these qualities that made him the successful instructor of over half a century, loved and revered by the whole community.
From these small beginnings in different parts of the territory, our present magnificent school system has grown and developed.
Other individual educational enterprises were in- stituted, and had much to do with moulding and influencing the senti- ment and policy of the whole commun- ity. In 1839 Wm. L. Dickinson, who be- came so favorably known in the educa- tional world, opened the Lyceum School on Grand Street, and continued there for many years. He afterward became a member of the School Board, and WM. L. DICKINSON. was elected City and County Superintendent. As such, by his wise and judicious action, he inaugurated many reforms and gave a decided impetus to the work of education.
Messrs. Dickinson and Linsley were near neighbors, and possessing similar tastes and congenial dispositions,
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they became close and sincere friends. They coun- selled and cooperated in all matters pertaining to educational advancement, and to them was due the early organization and development of our school system.
Other notable instances were " The Misses Graves' Seminary for Young Ladies," located at the corner of Summit Avenue and Cottage Street, adjoining the present Baptist Church ; " The Miss Chadeayne's Semi- nary," at the corner of Green and Grand Streets .; and " Hasbrouck Institute," founded as a preparatory collegiate institute for boys. Of these notable insti- tutions, only " Hasbrouck Institute "survives. It was founded by Doctor Washington Hasbrouck in 1856, and the school then occupied a small building on Mercer Street, near Wayne. Dr. Hasbrouck con- ducted this school for ten years, and many of its graduates are now occupying positions of prominence and responsibility in the city. It has since then greatly developed, and is recognized in educational cir- cles as an institution second to none in its facilities for and methods of instruction.
It is curious to note in an examination of the old records, how frequently lotteries were resorted to as a means of obtaining funds for many enterprises. The moneys needed for the support of educational in- stitutions, and even for the repairing and building of churches and parsonages, were procured in this way. The advertisements in the daily prints of 1759 to 1773 give abundant evidence of the universal practice of this method of obtaining funds.
Chapter XLV.
THE GROWTH AND CHANGES OF "OLD BERGEN."
PERHAPS no more fitting introduction to this di- vision of our subject can be found than the address delivered by Chief Justice Hornblower on the occa- sion of the dedication of the new court-house in March, 1845, as published in the Jersey City Adver- tiser of that date. He said :-
"I remember the old town of Bergen, when it had very few inhabitants except old-fashioned Dutchmen, and very few houses, except those not built for show, but for domestic comfort and convenience ; long, low, and unpretending in appearance, but durable in ma- terials, and opening upon the street some two or three hospitable doors, into which the friend and stranger might enter and find a welcome, and from which they might retire, and leave a blessing behind them. Hoboken then consisted of little besides a well kept public house, and a beautiful retreat from the noise and bustle of the neighboring metropolis " (The Elysian Fields).
" No Jersey City then adorned your shores, nothing but a large, long ferry-house, occupied successively by an Ellsworth, a Smith, and a Hunt, with here and there a boatman's or a fisherman's cabin, that stood
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upon the heap of sand called Powles Hook ; your settlements were scarce, your occupations agricultural and industrial, and your population small but healthy, peaceful and honest. You needed, for many years within my recollection, but one physician to admin- ister to your physical necessities, and but one man of God to supply your spiritual want, and not even one lawyer, to satisfy your litigious propensities, for you had none to be satisfied. Peace reigned throughout your borders. Simplicity of life and manners, and honesty of purpose, were the prevailing characteristics of the good old Dutch, who almost exclusively occu- pied the soil of your county, in the days of my boy- hood. A court at Hackensack, and a few Dutch justices at home, were all you wanted to punish the few offenders, and settle the few lawsuits that troubled you in those days. But alas! we fear those good old days have gone by, never to return. The rapidly in- creasing population of our county, the vast improve- ments in science and the arts, and the enterprising spirit of the age in which we live, have wrought a mighty change, even within the period of my memory. The facilities of steamboats and railroad cars, and the increasing spirit of trade, and commerce, and manu- facture of the arts, have brought the good old town of Bergen into contact with the world, cut up her terri- tory into small localities, studded her shores with splendid buildings, turned her farms into country seats, her cabbage grounds into pleasure gardens, and her dwelling places into workshops and manufactories. Such, in fact, has been the change in appearance and
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population, of that part of the old County of Bergen, that I can scarcely retrace the steps of my boyhood, when in my visits to my friends here or in the City of New York, I used to traverse these hills."
The changes alluded to in this interesting discourse of the venerable Chief Justice have continued with redoubled speed, and in an increasing ratio, and the great city, which has consolidated much of the ancient territory and absorbed the numerous small municipali- ties, is without doubt, destined to rival the greater New York, by gathering in all of the contiguous terri- tory, and perhaps reaching out to and including the green hills of Orange.
' The early inhabitants of Bergen were strongly im- bued with the peculiar characteristics of the Father- land, and for years clung with a persistent tenacity to the habits and customs they had brought with them. Rescued from the silt and sand of the ocean, the people of the Fatherland were endowed with a love of country and attachment for the home that were but intensified by the successive struggles and privations to which they were subjected, and they transmitted to their descendants, an intense perseverance, frugal thrift and untiring industry-qualities of no uncertain value in the settlement and development of a new country, and which have made them prominent, not only in the commercial and mercantile world, but also in civil and military life.
Until about the year 1840, or thereabouts, the town- ship of Bergen did not change much in the character or habits of its population. Possessed of the old
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Dutch characteristic of holding on to the paternal acres, inherited from their fathers, they would under- go extreme privations rather than voluntarily part with their patrimony so that it was almost an impos- sibility to secure from the original owners a plot of ground even of sufficient size on which to build a house.
In the course of time, however, owing to the pass- ing away of the original owners, and the resultant necessary division of the home acres, or the financial embarrassment of some unfortunates, the territory was gradually opened up to the investment of outside capi- tal. The increasing population of New York City created a demand for convenient homes, and Bergen, from its proximity and healthful surroundings, received much attention. Attracted by its quiet neighborhood, its primitive surroundings, and its pure sparkling water drawn with the old-fashioned well sweep and moss- covered bucket from rock-embedded springs, there were many who frequented this spot. A few suc- ceeded in securing temporary board, and being thus brought into contact with the inhabitants, dispelled the existing prejudice against strangers. Many of these, in course of time, secured plots of ground, which they improved and beautified. As it was but occasionally that such plots were thrown on the market, there could be no concerted or uniform action in relation to the improvements, but as oppor- tunity offered, these plots were laid out and built upon, to suit the tastes of the owners.
Had there been, during the early development of the
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territory, an opportunity for such united action, Ber- gen Hill would have been noted as the most attractive suburb of the commercial and financial center of the world. Commanding as it does views of unsurpassed beauty, its atmosphere purified and tempered by the invigorating ocean breezes from the east, or the fresh, pure air direct from the Blue Mountains on the west, with perfect drainage facilities, and of easy access to the neighboring city, it promised to become the choice spot for the ideal home.
The tenacity with which the old settlers held on to what they determined were their rights was marked. But though unwilling to concede to an unjust demand, they yet recognized the rights of others, and were always willing to effect an adjustment of any difficul- ties-from their own individual standpoint. Good- natured yet decided, controversies were indulged in, sometimes being only definitely adjusted by due course of law. It is related that two of the old neigh- bors, becoming involved in some differences, appealed to the old Dutch justice for an adjudication. The session occurred on one of the hot days of late summer, and the court was instituted under the shade of an overhanging apple tree. The legal talent of the day was engaged, and indulged in lofty flights of eloquence, stimulated thereto by copious cooling drinks of apple- jack. After a thorough consideration, the matter was determined in favor of one of the litigants, and a moderate amount of money adjudged to be due to him ; whereupon the whole sum was placed in the hands of the justice, and he was instructed to expend the same
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in an old-fashioned jollification, in which all the inter- ested parties, witnesses and spectators were invited to join. The narrator neglects to supply the final closing of the case. As the popularity of the old justice from this time rapidly increased, it may be safely assumed that he held the scales with an even hand.
Chapter XLVI.
GROWTH AND CHANGES CONTINUED.
ALTHOUGH the Village of Bergen was prescribed within certain boundaries, as heretofore mentioned, the name attached itself to its outlying plantations and dependencies; and as it was the seat of justice and the location of the courts, the surrounding terri- tory for a considerable extent was designated by the same name. Consequently when the province was divided into counties in 1682, it was but natural that the name of Bergen should attach itself to that por- tion of the territory including this venerable town.
As the development and prosperity of the state con- tinued, it was found advisable to make smaller political divisions, and in 1709 an Act was passed setting off the County of Bergen as follows: "That on the Eastern division the County shall begin at Constable Hook, and so run up along the Bay and Hudson River, to the partition point between New Jersey and New York, and along that division line to the division line between the East and West sections of the Prov- ince, to Pequannock River, thence by such River and the Passaic, to the Sound, and thence by the Sound to Constable Hook where it began."
The rapidly changing conditions, with increase of population, necessitated political alterations, and old
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Bergen County, in 1837, was subdivided, the present Passaic Country being taken therefrom ; and in 1840, the County of Hudson, with its present metes and bounds, was set off, leaving the remaining territory existing under the old name of Bergen County. Hud- son County contains the old village of Bergen, and the Bergen Township, practically identical with the old Indian Grant of 1658.
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