USA > New York > Dutchess County > History of education in Dutchess County > Part 6
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boarding school at the northwest corner of Hamilton and Montgomery Streets that catered to Cuban boys. At 145 Montgomery Street was the School of Practical Agriculture and Horticulture, with an annex at 23 Forbus Street. On the corner of Academy and Montgomery Streets stood one of the most important girls' schools in the 1870's and 1880's, the Home Institute. On South Hamilton Street, where St. Mary's School now stands, was Mrs. Mary Herrick's Primary School. At the corner of Mill and Hamilton Streets stood Otis Bisbee's High School for Boys. The Poughkeepsie Female Collegiate Institute was located on the corner of Mill and Catharine Streets. Later, as Cook's Collegiate Institute, it was bought by Dr. Samuel W. Buck and under his guidance it flourished for years as Lyndon Hall. Just north of Garden Street on Mill
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Street there was a-"dame" school, or as we say now, kinder- garten. Also on Garden Street, near Mill Street, was the Poughkeepsie Female Seminary, incorporated in 1834. Miss Lydia Booth's Female Seminary was started about 1835 in the house of Levi Mckeon, owner of a large tract of land in present day Garden Street. Later this was taken over by Professor Milo Jewett in a school called Cottage Hill Semin- ary for Young Ladies. A little way east from the corner of Mansion and North Clinton Streets was the Mansion Square Female Academy. On Mansion Street where the Post Of- fice now stands was a school conducted by Miss Hyde, and on 12 Davies Place was a school conducted by Miss Sarah Woodcock. Other schools in Poughkeepsie at this time in- cluded Riverview Military Academy, Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie Collegiate Institute, and the State and National Law School. These private schools, attracting pupils from all over the country, helped the village to pros- per. "The Journal" of September 29, 1841, wrote,
Through boarding schools alone, not less than $70,000 per year is brought in and distributed among the citizens of Poughkeepsie. To them, more than to anything else may we attribute the fact that Poughkeepsie has suffered less than other places from the depression consequent upon spec- ulation of '36 and '37.
Thus, from obvious reasons, did the little village of Pough- keepsie come to be known as the "City of Schools." See map on page 61.
However, now we must turn our attention once again to that eventful year of 1843. The newly established Board of Education, in July of 1843, purchased a lot at Mill and North Bridge Streets, and on this built a brick building de- signed as a school of a higher grade. On January 29, 1844, the Board opened a grammar school there with one hundred nineteen qualified students in attendance. That was school No. 1, (see page 72), and there has always been a school structure on this lot, the most recent being the Poughkeepsie Trade School.
The old Lancaster School in Church Street is now occu- pied by Germania Hall. The Lancaster School property was acquired by the Board of Education and in 1856-57, school No. 2 was established. More facilities were needed, however, and in 1858 the Board appointed a committee to look for another site for a school. The "old school lot" was pur-
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chased and on it another brick building, school No. 3, was built. . This later came to be known as Christopher Colum- bus School.
sí-
E
RIVER
4 Christ
hutch School
MONTGOMERY STREET
Lancaster
TO ALBANY POST ROAD
( Free Atat)
Pak. Academy
for Young Ladies
Sc hoal fr · Practical A
Christ
Home
Church Stal
STREET
Bonne
Lesties
se heat for
Caban.
PEThow Last.
Boys
Boarding School
ACADEMY
STRESY
STREET
Pubic
IMH
Herrick's primary
CANNON
High -
CATHERINE
Booth Female seminary ( cottage til Sa)
STREET
CLINTON
Mantion Square
STREET
Fit
le froid
Map of Poughkeepsie showing location of schools in 1800's
The free school system was now firmly established in Poughkeepsie. The village was growing rapidly, and on March 28, 1854, it became a city. The public schools estab- lished in this period were basically mechanistic and rudi- mentary, and included only training in reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar and spelling. There were no high schools yet established, in the sense we know them to- day, and there were no vocational or trade schools. The purpose of formal higher education of this period was train- ing of the mind along so-called "classic" lines (Greek, Latin, etc.), and college training was primarily along philosophical and literary lines. However, in this period of 1843 to 1900,
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STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
NIYN
GARDEN
Hooker Ave.
CHURCH
MISS.
Awers
771W Bac. Female
HOISNOW
HAMILTON
Cook's In ILyndon Han
STREET
MARKETSTREET
educational opportunities were greatly expanded. A new subject was added to Poughkeepsie's public school system in 1854 *- music-and more new courses were to follow later in the century.
March 14, 1856, a motion was offered at the Board of Education's meeting that the upper floor of the new building in Church Street, school number 2, be devoted to the use of a "high school," for the admission of students of both sexes. The motion, after some discussion, was tabled. Subsequently a high school was established there and continued until 1865 when a resolution was adopted discontinuing the school for one year. At a meeting held June 6, 1866, it was unanimous- ly resolved that "the high school again re-open on the first of September, 1866." **
Meanwhile, to the north in Rhinebeck, school condi- tions were becoming crowded. The number of children of school age in the district in 1865 had nearly doubled since 1860. At the annual meetings, commencing with 1865, the question of better school accommodations and facilities was raised. This was repeated in 1866 and 1867. Nothing, how- ever, was done except talk. In 1868, Captain Van Wagenen, the president of the Board of Education, and Dr. William Cross, a member and clerk of it, convinced of the necessity for favorable action on the subject of improvements, con- sulted with several village leaders of the district to find out what was the best thing to do under the circumstances. Par- ents sending children to school wanted better conditions. Tax- payers were not for this movement, because of the fear of a higher tax rate. A large number who really favored some- thing better than the old school house were, for one reason or another, lukewarm on the issue. From this point, we will let Dr. Cross tell the story.2
Prior to the school meeting in 1868, Captain Van Wag- enen, discouraged because the prospect for improved school facilities was not favorable, but determined to make a fight to secure what could be had at the coming meeting, sug- gested that the board obtain legal advice, as to its powers and duties so as to avoid any question of illegality in its proceedings. We decided not to do so. We invited Coun- sellor Howard H. Morse to attend a meeting of the Board. He came and, hearing our statement, said that we had no
*George King was the first music instructor in Poughkeepsie schools.
** Based on annual report of Board of Education, 1892-96, City of Poughkeepsie.
2 As related in Howard H. Morse's History of Rhinebeck, 205.
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power to employ counsel in the matter. That what was needed was a leader, not a lawyer. The law was plain enough. The first step must be to find out if a majority of the voters of the district favored im- proved school facilities. If backed by a majority the board could do whatever was necessary. Acting on this advice, we canvassed the district to obtain an expression of opinion. The evening of the meeting found the school room crowded, many standing outside unable to gain admission. William Van Etten was elected trustee. The routine business was transacted. Mr. Morse, to get the matter of "improve- ments" before the meeting, moved "that the sum of five hundred dollars be raised by tax, and that amount expended by the board on such improvements to the school building as were necessary to make it suitable for school purposes." The motion was seconded and stated by the chairman.
Mr. Morse continues in his History of Rhinebeck to point out the defects and requirements, the intention being to have an amendment to his motion made to increase the amount to $2,000 ... A new school house was to be built at a cost of $8,000. It, in fact, cost about $9,000, additional sums being appropriated. Plans and specifications were prepared and approved by the Board. The contract for the erection of the building was awarded to Peter M. Fulton, a well known architect and builder residing in the village. He was the lowest bidder on the project. The work progressed rapidly, and on the 22nd day of February, 1870, the spacious new building was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies to the cause of education.
Rhinebeck abandoned in 1860 the Oak Street school, where Richard Bailey, Henry Jennings, and others taught school many years, and the district consolidated with number 5, making a district covering the village. The school prop- erty was sold and the building was used for a blacksmith shop. This village school of district number 5 became the most important school in town. For sixty years, very little, if any, change had been made in the school accommodation.
The same little oblong, one-story, two-room structure answered in 1868 the requirements of teachers and pupils as it had for thirty years or more. The teachers, Rowe, Lyman, Snyder, Mink, Cross, DeWitt, Traver, Taylor, Wilbur, Van Wagenen, Wells, Brown, and others did as best they could, and they did well, considering what they had to do it with. If there was fault to be found, it was not with the teachers."
By 1869, after much controversy, a Union Free School was erected in the village. This is now the Rhinebeck High School. From the preceding discussion we see that, similar
3 Howard H. Morse, op cit., 211-12.
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to Poughkeepsie, it was a long struggle to get better schools in the county. It was particularly hard to get the idea of free public education for all across to the general public. There were always the taxpayers fearing a higher tax rate, and thus trying to abolish the idea before it ever got started. Nevertheless, by the close of the Civil War, the general pop- ulation in the county, as well as in the rest of the Nation, was beginning to agree that there was some value in free schools, and that they should become a part of the American educational system. Thus, the period beginning with the close of the Civil War was marked by the advance of public schools, and the gradual decline of private institutions. Throughout the county, state, and Nation, this was the time of transition from Academies to high schools. Feeling the force of this movement, the old Dutchess County Academy closed its doors in 1866. The trustees after the Civil War sold the building and turned the money over to the city Board of Education. With this money a high school and library building were erected at the corner of Washington Street and LaFayette Place, the present School Adminis- tration Building. At one time, boys and girls attended classes on the second floor of the then newly built Mulreain Building on Market Street until the new High School was ready, April 1872. Many other academies were also closed in the next ten to twenty years, by 1900 there were few acade- mies or private schools in Dutchess County. It should be pointed out that Poughkeepsie had the beginnings of a high school well before 1865. It was closed in 1865, then re- opened again in 1866.
After the Panic of 1873, school budgets were drastic- ally cut and the buildings became increasingly ill suited to their purpose. However, despite the condition of the schools, the idea of free education had become firmly rooted. and the county did not revert back to the private schools after the Panic.
In 1890, Professor DeGarmo, who purchased the old Rhinebeck Academy, moved his institution to Fishkill-on- Hudson, and about 1890 the old building was turned into an Inn.
St. Peter's Church under the Reverend Michael Rior- dan, built a rectory and two parochial schools in the period between 1844 and 1870. In 1875, the parish entered into a
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unique arrangement with the town school authorities, known as the Poughkeepsie Plan, whereby a public school system was set up in both city and parochial schools. This was a decided financial gain for both church and town for a time, but was naturally abandoned later with the growth of St. Peter's parish and the enlargment of public school funds. 4
Poughkeepsie created the office of Superintendent of Schools in 1878.5 The schools of the city, and apparently throughout the county, were becoming more aware of the child, and they realized that new subjects had to be added to the curriculum. Therefore, art instruction by a special teacher was begun in September, 1883, in the Poughkeepsie School System.6 The annual report for 1893 states that the position of a writing teacher was established, as a special branch of instruction in 1890. The days of the private vil- lage school and the church school were rapidly disappearing. Academies were converting to high schools, such as the Seymore Smith Academy of Pine Plains, which became the Pine Plains Union Free School in 1894. The one-room school house was disappearing from the scene and being replaced by larger schools. Districting was converting scattered districts to a more consolidated area; the schools, as we have seen in Rhinebeck and Pine Plains, were becoming Union Free Schools.
The next few paragraphs describe what a typical school of the 1890's looked like, and as they may be remem- bered by many citizens of Dutchess County.7
The one-room school did not give the children the free- dom they have today, yet the vast majority of the children liked to go to school. They attended from nine in the morn- ing to four in the afternoon, and did precisely what they were told to do. The school house was far from beautiful in design, actually it was described as "ugly and ungainly in its high, rectangular architecture, the sternness of its as- pect without was quite in harmony with the rules it enforced within." There were two rooms, "the downstairs, or lower school, ministering to children up to ten years, the upstairs, or grammar school, attending to the needs of those from ten
4 Thrift Messenger, op. cit., 9.
5 Edward Burgess became first Superintendent of Schools in Pough- keepsie.
6 Miss Irene Weir was the first art instructor in Poughkeepsie schools. 7 Based on and quoted from "A Goodly Heritage," by Mary Ellen Chase, 247-59.
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to thirteen or fourteen." Grades were unknown in the 1890's, but were recognized and named by letters.
The furnishings of the room bore sturdy witness, not only to municipal poverty, but also to a strict regard for es- sentials only. With the five or six straight rows of double seats extending from the airtight stove in the rear to the teacher's platform, the long, hard settees for recitations before and below the teacher's desk, a globe, half a dozen somewhat obsolete maps, there was absolutely nothing to charm or to waylay. With the exception of two or three pictures hung on the wall, there was nothing in the way of ornamentation to be found in the class-room. By not having distractions in the room, full concentration upon the subject material could be maintained. The windows in the room were built so high in the walls, that anyone desiring to look out of them, did so at the peril of breaking the rule in regard to position.
The teachers were not well trained, if in some cases trained at all.
Precise and inflexible as was their instruction, which deviated little from the printed page, obsolete and probably unsound as were their methods, they yet performed their task with oneness of mind. They commanded respect toward themselves; they demanded concentration on a given lesson, and they got it. Whether the means they employed were good or ill, at least the end justified then. We learned to sit still and study even though the assignment in question could be satisfactorily discharged by a literal repeating of lines and paragraphs.
They inspired, too, or at least developed, an intense pride in learning and learning well. To fail to "hand in" one's examples, to miss a word in spelling, to be unable to locate Puget Sound or to bound Idaho when such knowledge had been required-these things were held by tacit consent to be deplorable lapses, compensated for only by fresh re- solves and seemly tears. To be kept after school was oc- casion for lowered eyes and flushed cheeks when one's classmates filed out. (Miss Chase claims to have missed but two words in spelling in her seven years at the school. Regardless of the circumstances for missing a word, the remedy for learning them remained the same; a matter of copying fifty times each word on her slate, before being al- lowed to go home that day.)
The text books in the village school changed as seldom as the teachers.
They were supplied by town funds, never in too flour- ishing a state, and so long as they held together, it wa thought neither wise nor necessary to supersede them with newer, more up to date volumes. If the geography continued to call a piece of western land a territory long after it had become a state, or lacked the division of Dakota into North and South, we remained ignorant of these milestones in progress unless the teachers or parents came to the rescue. If our history concluded its pages, as ours did, with the ad- ministration of Rutherford B. Hayes, our teacher was usually able to supply anything of importance which had oc- curred thereafter.
This unwillingness, or inability, to make frequent
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changes in text-books worked out particularly happily, for us at least, in the matter of Readers. So far as I can re- member I used the same Reader over a period of many bene- ficial years. Since reading was the only study in which I was proficient, I was promoted early to the most advanced book and continued blissfully therein until I knew it from cover to cover. Mr. Mark Sullivan, in his interesting and valuable work, "The Turn of the Century," gives unlimited credit to the McGuffey Readers.& According to him, the inspiration which gave birth to American statesmen, clergymen, and teachers in the 19th century, should be generously laid at the feet of William McGuffey.
Miss Chase, however, did not use a McGuffey Reader, but rather a Reader compiled by a Mr. Harvey. She used the fifth in a series, and therefore read such things as: Inchcape Rock, and Lord Ullin's Daughter to material like Thanatopsis, Washington's Inaugural Address, and Shakespeare's Trial Scene.
It is difficult to understand, or to state, just how such an advanced and dignified volume ministered to very young children. Surely most of its selections were far beyond our comprehension. Nevertheless, the prescribed reading and memorizing of the prose and verse therein constituted one of the inestimable gifts of the old school.
At the beginning of the term there was always the early rising, the swift performance of one's chores in order that one's coveted seat might be secured, the possible ap- pearance of oneself in a new dress, the exhibiting to one's friends of new pencil-boxes, tablets, and slates. There was an infrequent chance that a prize might be offered 'for the best map of the United States, or for a perfect record in attendance or in spelling.'
8 The McGuffey Reader is probably the most well known of any Reader used in the schools of America. However, I have not been able to de- termine if it was used in Dutchess County, at any time in its long his- tory. However, some mention should be made of the McGuffey Reader, and what it contributed to educational history. In the 1800's, books were scarce and inadequate. Those that were in existence were strict on moral and Religious topics, as well as being very dull to read. In 1836, a man became interested in this condition and decided to do something about it. His name was William McGuffey, and his name has been associated with text books ever since, although there have been no McGuffey books printed for half a century. "He taught mil- lions how and what to read and study. He taught generations of American boys and girls the joy of labor-whether manual or mont. ! " He also taught children the joy of play, and particularly fair play and sportsmanship. "He was in fact the father of sportsmanship in the classroom, the workshop, and on the playing field." As a teacher in the common schools, MeGuffey became inspired to improve the quality of education in the schools.
"While the elementary lessons of the McGuffey Readers dealt largely with problems of conduet, the more advanced lessons served to introduce the older 'scholars' to the best of the forensic, descriptive, sacred, and poetic literature of the world. The lessons constituted a complete code of ethics, a manual of morals, and manners." Based on Old Favorites from the MeGuffey Readers, edited by Harvey C. Minnich, 1936; from preface and introduction, VI-VIII.
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And if all else failed, there was every day the intense excitement afforded by the spelling classes which occupied the last fifteen minutes of school; the orderly filing forward; the preservation of the straight line by marking with one's toes the predetermined crack in the floor; the calling out and subsequent spelling of the words; the 'going above,' so fraught with anguish for one, with triumph for another; the spectacular leaving off at the head' to begin again the next day upon the long ascent; the presentation of merits, in blue or green, red or purple.
From this you get an idea of school life in the late 1800's, the public schools became more and more developed, and offered more and better subject material than the pri- vate schools. In 1877 the supervision of public schools was shifted to a school superintendent, whereas in the past, the commissioners were in charge of public education. In Poughkeepsie, in 1899, a new central grammar school was built, and the high school began to prepare students for college.
Educational ideas were changing, and the high school became more important. In the Nation as a whole, prior to 1900, the rate of increase in high schools was greater than that of any decade in the twentieth century.
Date No. Schools H. S. Enrollment#
Population of U. S. 23,191,876
1850
11 44
31,443,321
1870
160
38,558,371
1880 800
50,155,783
1890 2,526
111,000 203,000
62,947,714
This is in comparison to the following figures for Dutchess County :
1850
1860
64,941
1870
1880
1890
74,041 79,184 77,879 ***
In the decade after the close of the Civil War, which
*High school enrollment for 1850-1870 was not able to be determined by the author. Last two figures given are approximate.
## Although a thorough search was made in the State Library in Albany and The State Education Department, no figures are available for this period. However, it seems probable that the high schools of Dutchess County increased at a very rapid rate in this period, and by comparison the county kept up with the national rate.
** A-Word was received from Albany on May 28, 1957, that a thor- ough search was made of the State Library and the State Education Department and no figures are available for this period.
*** The county population dropped in this period, but the author could find no noticeable reason for this trend. However, by 1900 the popula- tion was 81,670.
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1860
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"KNOWLEDGE IS POWER" Very true, gentlemen, and so is good health
was the period of the famous Kalamazoo Case, the national increase was 500 per cent, with enrollment doubling about every ten years.10
It was also towards the end of the nineteenth century that a new concept for education was forming. Illustrative of this changing educational philosophy was the work of John Dewey. In 1896, Dewey started his experimental school at the University of Chicago. His philosophy briefly is that education is growth resulting from experience, which is basically the beginning of the modern so-called progressive movement. Before 1900, Dewey pointed out the shortcomings of the "sitting and listening school."
In other words it was becoming necessary for the child to get more than just a basic elementary education. New subjects were being offered in both the elementary and sec- ondary schools to help broaden the child's experience; this was particularly true in the area of secondary education. More will be said of Dewey in the next chapter.
A difference between the academy and the high school was the fact that the academy's purpose was to prepare a select group of boys and a few girls for both college and life activities, a different philosophy than that of the public high schools. This may account for much of the rapid rise in the late 1800's of the high school. However, there were those who still did not believe in public high schools, as seen in the report of The Committee of Ten in 1894:
The high school should be planned for that small pro- portion of all the children in the country-a proportion small in number, but very important to the welfare of the nation- who show themselves able to profit by an education pro- longed to the eighteenth year, and whose parents are able to support them while they remain so long in school.11 This indicates that even with the rapid development of public high schools and the results of the Kalamazoo Case, high schools were not fully accepted by all the population.
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