Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 66

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716

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business men. The scope of the college was extended gradually to include other commercial courses. A branch of the Bryant and Stratton Business College was inaugurated in 1863, and was developed into a college offering complete courses in business practices ; it survives after nearly seventy years of service in the present Bryant-Stratton College. Other business schools and colleges were established as follows : In Providence --- Spencerian Business College, 1862 ; Max Magnus School of Shorthand, 1892; Rhode Island Commercial School, 1898; Child's Business College, 1906; Gibbs Secretarial School, 1910; in Pawtucket-Pawtucket Business College, 1894; Kinyon's Commercial School, 1901; in Woonsocket -- Woonsocket Commer- cial School, 1897; in Newport-Newport Business College, 1898.

Berkeley School, so named for Dean Berkeley, was opened in September, 1883, in Provi- dence, by Rev. George H. Patterson, and was removed in the following year to larger quarters at Infantry Hall. It was a secondary school conducted under Episcopalian patronage, and was continued for a decade. Morris Heights School, another secondary school, was opened in 1900 in the old Homeopathic Hospital building on Morris Avenue in Providence, and con- tinued for fifteen years. St. George's School, Middletown, established in 1896, is under Episcopalian patronage; it is a secondary school. St. George's occupies an attractive site in Middletown from which its splendid buildings present an imposing appearance as seen from the Newport cliffs and beaches. Providence Country Day School, 1923, is located in East Providence. It is well-equipped with buildings and offers training leading to admission to college. It is a boys' school. The Mary C. Wheeler School, established in 1900 in Provi- dence, is a secondary school for girls. The Wheeler School and Moses Brown School became associated in administration in 1928.

OTHER PRIVATE SCHOOLS-Other private schools included a number of kindergartens organized originally as demonstration schools with the purpose of introducing kindergarten principles ; among these were the Froebel School, Providence, 1876; Stepping Stone Kinder- garten, Peacedale; St. John's Kindergarten, Providence, 1886; Hope Nursery Kindergarten, Providence, 1896. Eventually the kindergarten was accepted by the public schools, and demonstration schools were discontinued. Lincoln School for Girls, Providence, established in 1889; and Gordon School, 1910, continue. The Bronson School, established in 1897, had a long career, as did also the Fielden-Chase School, 1871. South Kingstown High School was organized as a private school in 1880, and continued as such until the town adopted it as a public high school in 1904. Eastern Nazarene College, 1902, incorporated as Pentecostal Col- legiate Institution in 1903, was conducted at the old Lapham Institute for several years. The Lapham Institute buildings are occupied in 1930 by the Watchman Industrial School, an insti- tution for the improvement of the negro. The total enrollment in select private schools has never, within the twentieth century, exceeded two per cent. of the total for the state, the trend being toward, and the average nearer one per cent.

Of private schools teaching arts and accomplishments there have been many additional to single-teacher establishments offering individual instruction, the long list of these private ventures including colleges, academies, schools and studios of vocal and instrumental music, solo and social dancing, elocution and dramatic art, riding, boxing, fencing, skating, swim- ming, general gymnastics, painting and other types of decorative art, modern and ancient languages, etc. Private teachers of music have been legion in number including artists so well known as Jules Jordan, Hans Schneider, David W. Reeves, Joseph Green, Claude B. Spary, Bowen R. Church and Lucy Marsh Gordon. The names of Spink and Haas are associated with dancing, Haupt with riding, Ashton with boxing, Servatius with fencing. Most of the long line of Rhode Island painters have been teachers as well. A free school for teaching German was maintained for several years in Providence by the German School Society; open only on Saturdays, it was conducted with permission of the school committee in the Richmond Street schoolhouse. A more pretentious school of languages was opened in Providence in

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1881 by Messrs. Berlitz, Larcher, Dubois, and Lecliqmann, and called first the Berlitz School of Languages. Known later as the Providence School of Languages, it offered instruction in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Sanscrit. The school was advertised as "conducted in a manner wholly new and original, and calculated to give all who wish fluency, ease and correctness in the use of a foreign language," but not by "an easy road lightly tripped over in a few weeks." This venture suffered, as did other private schools, from competition by graduates who undertook rival ventures, and by instructors who came and established reputation and then withdrew to start new schools with a clientage recruited in the old school. The manager of the school of languages devised a remedy in the form of a con- tract for employment which purported to bind instructors not to teach in Rhode Island within a year after leaving the school. Alas, the Supreme Court found the contract void* as a restraint of occupation contrary to public policy, because the restriction exceeded the necessity for what the court called reasonable protection !

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS-Vastly more significant for Rhode Island than the activities of select private schools has been the rise of the system of Catholic schools, established and main- tained by the Roman Catholic Church, and extending through every grade of instruction from primary elementary, to secondary and college. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that education without instruction in religion is incomplete. Inasmuch as it is not feasible to include the teaching of dogmatic religion in a system of public schools supported by indis- criminate public taxation, and open to all the children of all the people, attendance being com- pulsory for some, the Church has felt constrained to provide its own schools, in which reli- gion may be given the attention and emphasis deemed necessary or desirable by the Church. The first Catholic school in Rhode Island was organized by Right Reverend William Tyler, in 1845, in the basement of the church of SS. Peter and Paul, which occupied a part of the site of the present Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. The teachers were pious women who served without salary or other payment, anticipating the time when the Bishop might be able to bring to his diocese as teachers nuns of the order of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vin- cent de Paul, with whom he was negotiating. Bishop Tyler died in June, 1849, and was suc- ceeded, November 17, 1850, by Right Reverend Bernard O'Reilly. Bishop O'Reilly invited the Sisters of Mercy to establish a community in Rhode Island, and on March 12, 1851, a temporary convent was opened formally in a small cottage on Weybosset Street (then High Street ) in Providence. In October the sisters removed to the Stead House, Broad and Clav- erick Streets, on the same site now occupied by their convent and St. Xavier's Academy. The community, numbering five sisters at first, had increased by admission of novices to twenty within six months. Within the same period it had undertaken four distinct projects: (I) The school in the basement of SS. Peter and Paul's Church, removed later to a schoolhouse constructed on Lime Street ; (2) a new school at St. Patrick's Church in Providence, replaced in 1871 by a brick schoolhouse, and again in 1928 by a new brick schoolhouse; (3) a select secondary school, St. Xavier's Academy, located first in the convent building; (4) an orphan asylum, in a frame building on the convent estate. Three years later, 1854, a fifth charge was accepted, a school located temporarily in the vestry of St. Joseph's Church in Providence, later in a brick building on John Street. known as Cleary School. In May, 1854, a Mercy convent was established in Newport, and with it a school and academy, in connection with the Church of Our Lady of the Isle. The land for this venture was given by Mrs. Goodloe Harper and Miss Emily Harper, respectively, daughter and granddaughter of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. A new building for St. Xavier's Academy in Providence was constructed. 1855-1856, on Claverick Street, near the convent. Meanwhile requests for sisters for service in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Buffalo, New York, had been complied with; in 1858 Mother Xavier Warde, who had been the first

*Herreshoff vs. Boutineau, 17 R. I. 3.

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superior in Rhode Island, opened a new Mercy house in Manchester, New Hampshire. In seven years, the order had extended its work in Rhode Island to include two convents, two secondary schools, four elementary schools, an orphan asylum, besides Sunday school teach- ing, and other religious activities.

The Sisters of Mercy came to Rhode Island quietly and without public announcement. To the credit of Rhode Island it should be noted that the vast majority of the people of city and state, and public officers maintained Rhode Island's reputation for tolerance. The coun- try at the time was seething with bitter sectarianism, but Rhode Island was quiet, in spite of a strong organization of Know Nothings, soon to establish itself as the controlling influence in state politics .; Two drastic compulsory attendance bills, which if enacted into law and enforced would have closed Catholic schools for want of pupils, were defeated in the General Assembly in 1853 ;* Elisha R. Potter, who was then Commissioner of Public Schools, opposed both as not consistent with Rhode Island's love of religious liberty. An irresponsible move- ment to incite a mob attack on St. Xavier's Convent in 1855 was discouraged by the public press,¿ as well as by the Mayor and police of Providence. The convent was well guarded by vigilant Catholics, who had gathered to protect the Sisters of Mercy. The "Providence Jour- nal," in 1853, accused the Democratic party, then led by Governor Philip Allen, of planning to divide public school money betwixt public and Catholic schools. Stokes attributed a change in the tax exemption statute, in 1855, to opposition to Catholic schools ; the "Journal" reported the change as merely incidental to general revision. The change, limiting tax exemption to three acres in each instance, affected select private schools more seriously than Catholic schools at the time; and it was repealed a few months after its enactment.

The first general exemption statute, enacted in 1769, covered "all lands and other real estate granted or purchased for religious uses or for the uses of schools within this colony." In the Digests of 1798 and 1822 the language of the statute was practically similar: "All estates, real or personal, granted or appropriated to religious uses or to the use of schools and seminaries of learning within this state . ... are exempted from taxation." In 1829 tax exemption was limited to buildings and land actually occupied by buildings owned by incorpo- rated bodies, thus : "So much property as now is or hereafter may be invested in houses for public religious worship, or in houses for schools, academies and colleges established or owned by any town, company or corporation, and the land on which they stand, together with such other property as now is or hereafter may be specially exempted by a charter granted by the General Assembly . . are hereby exempted from taxation." Thus the law appeared in the revision of 1844, and so it remained until 1855. Section 18 of the revised general tax law of 1855 limited the exemption of land to three acres, but in May of the same year the limita- tion was removed, and it was enacted that "the land occupied by the buildings for schools, academies and colleges shall be exempt from taxation so long as the same shall be occupied and used for educational purposes, and the limitation of the land so occupied and used to a quantity not exceeding three acres, in the eighteenth section of the act to which this is an amendment, is hereby repealed: Provided, that this act shall not be so construed as to exempt from taxation any property that is leased to or occupied by persons who pay rent therefor for the use or support of any school, academy or college." The proviso was repealed in 1857, property exempt including "houses for schools, academies and colleges and all the appurte- nances thereto belonging, owned by any town, company or corporation, and the land used in connection therewith, so far as the same is held, occupied and used for, and the rent and profits thereof applied to . educational purposes." And thus the matter rested for a generation.

Bishop O'Reilly sailed for Europe in 1855, one of his purposes being to persuade the

+Chapter XXI.

*Chapter XX.

#Chapter XXI.

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Brothers of the Christian Schools to undertake the education of Catholic boys in his diocese. Bishop O'Reilly never returned ; it is believed that he was lost in the wreck of the "Pacific," steamer, which sailed from Liverpool, January 23, 1856. Under his successor, Right Rev- erend Francis P. McFarland, 1858-1872, there was a further development of Catholic schools. New schools were opened by Sisters of Mercy in St. Mary's parish, Pawtucket, 1861 ; Immacu- late Conception parish, North Providence (now Providence), 1862; an academy at St. Mary's, Pawtucket, 1868; an academy in St. Bernard's Convent, Woonsocket, and a school in St. Charles parish, Woonsocket, 1869. St. Xavier's Academy was enlarged to double its original accommodations in 1865. A new building for the Orphan Asylum, St. Aloysius, on Prairie Avenue, Providence, was occupied in 1862. A primary school, to accommodate children residing at a distance from the Lime Street School, was erected on South Street, Providence. The Christian Brothers opened La Salle Academy, a secondary school for boys, 1871; and the Madames of the Sacred Heart established the Academy of the Sacred Heart, a boarding school for girls, at Elmhurst, North Providence (now Providence), i872. Until 1872, Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts had been included in the diocese of Hartford, of which the seat was Providence. Bishop McFarland's request that his diocese be divided was granted; in 1872 he removed to Hartford as Bishop of a diocese including only Connecticut. Right Reverend Thomas F. Hendricken became Bishop of the new diocese of Providence.

St. Mary's Academy, in connection with St. Mary's Church, Broadway, Providence, was opened in 1873. St. Mary's Seminary, sometimes called Bayview because of its location on a high bluff in East Providence overlooking Narragansett Bay, occupied the Howard home- stead as a boarding school for girls in 1874, and an additional building, newly constructed in 1875. In his zeal for education and with the hope that the system of elementary and second- ary schools in his diocese might be completed by a college, Bishop Hendricken invited the Society of Jesus to take charge of St. Joseph's Church in Providence. The Jesuits came in 1879, remained twenty years, became convinced that there was then no likelihood of estab- lishing a Catholic college in Rhode Island, and withdrew in 1899. The Society of Jesus is a teaching order, and may not continue parish work otherwise than in association with college. Other Catholic schools were established as follows: St. Patrick's, in Valley Falls, 1878; Cleary School (new building), St. Joseph's, in Providence, 1879; St. Edward's at Geneva, in Providence, 1881; Precious Blood, Woonsocket, 1880; an academy in the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Woonsocket, 1884; St. John the Baptist, Pawtucket, 1886.

Discussion of tax exemption had been resumed; in 1870 exemption of property held for religious purposes was limited to $20,000. In the following year the people rejected a pro- posed amendment to the Constitution providing that "no sectarian or denominational school or institution shall receive any aid or support from the revenues of the state, nor shall any tax be imposed upon the people or property of the state in aid of any such school or institution." Four years later, in 1875, the subject of tax exemption was investigated by a committee of the General Assembly, which held four public hearings. For exemption appeared, among others, Bishop Hendricken of the Roman Catholic diocese of Providence, Bishop Clarke of the Episcopal diocese of Rhode Island, and President Robinson of Brown University. Bishop Hendricken, the committee reported, "showed that in the city of Providence the Roman Catholics provided their own schools, and thus saved a large sum annually to the city. These schools were free. .... Bishop Clarke took the ground that churches were of so much pub- lic benefit that it is just to exempt them from taxation. It might be irregular, but there was no unfairness. . Dr. Robinson claimed that the exemption of church property is recog- nized by all the civilized nations upon the globe, by all Christian nations on the ground that morals and religion must be cultivated in order to obtain a firm foundation for intellectual strength." Several other clergymen were reported as favoring exemption "on the general ground that churches and educational institutions were doing a good work in this common-

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wealth." The committee was impressed by an argument that the exemption of any property from taxation tended to increase the burden of taxation distributed on other property; and that the increased taxation on other property might be construed as a tax levied on that prop- erty for the benefit of the institution exempted, and thus become unconstitutional as a con- flict with the provision that forbids taxation for sectarian purposes. The committee in its report argued : "There is really more reason why educational institutions should be exempted from taxation than churches, on the ground that the help obtained from the state reduces the cost of education; and education should be within the reach of all. The state provides for the common school education, and many of the towns provide the higher branches at the public expense. All do not do this, however, and therefore private schools are a necessity. It does not follow, by any means, that these should be exempted." The argument should be read and reconciled, if possible, with the attitude of Rhode Island at a later date in offering tax exemp- tion to manufacturing enterprises as a privilege to induce location in Rhode Island. In the hearing it was pointed out that some private schools had been undertaken in consideration of tax exemption as a factor in estimating the possibility of success financially, and that gifts to private education had been made in the form of endowments with the expectation that the income, without being diminished by taxation, might be applied exclusively to education. The committee itself apparently was hostile to exemption or had been converted by arguments against exemption, and reported to the General Assembly a compromise reducing exemptions. The General Assembly rejected the committee's recommendation, but limited the exemption of educational institutions to free public schools, and of churches to buildings and the land surrounding the same to the extent of not exceeding one acre. What was the meaning of "free public school?" The Supreme Court, in 1878, held that "free public schools," exempted from taxation, meant only the schools which "are established, maintained and regulated under the statute laws of the state." Hence realty held by a religious corporation and used by ecclesiastics to furnish gratuitous instruction in parochial schools was not relieved from taxa- tion, although it had been shown in evidence that no tuition had been charged, and that pupils were admitted without discrimination.§ The court also held that a dwelling including within it a chapel used for devotional services is not exempt as a building devoted to religious pur- poses ;* and (1902) that land and a building thereon used in part for a chapel for religious worship and in part for a residence of Sisters of Mercy who serve as teachers in a free paro- chial school in the schoolhouse on an adjoining lot is not exempt from taxation, because exemption applies only to land and buildings used exclusively for religious or educational purposes .; In 1883 the court held that a building used for religious purposes is exempt from taxation, although used for educational purposes, so long as the use is merely incidental or occasional, or so long as the use, if habitual, is purely permissive and voluntary and does not interfere with the use for religious purposes, there being no alienation of the building in whole or in part for educational uses as, for example, by lease .¿ In the particular instance a religious edifice was used also for school purposes. In 1894 a new statute restored tax exemp- tion of private schools not conducted for profit, and the land surrounding them to an extent not exceeding one acre, so far as the same is used exclusively for educational purposes. Tax exempt schools may be visited by public school officers, on penalty for refusal to permit visitation, of forfeiture of tax exemption. The purpose of visitation is suggested as inspec- tion to determine whether or not the school meets requirements for approval for attendance under the compulsory law in lieu of attendance on public instruction.

Right Reverend Matthew Harkins became Bishop of Providence in 1887. Three years later the Tyler School, Providence, replaced the Lime Street and South Street schools pre-

§ St. Joseph's Church vs. Assessors, 12 R. I. 19.

*St. Joseph's Church vs. Assessors, 12 R. I. 19.

tCity of Pawtucket for an opinion, 24 R. I. 86.

#St. Mary's Church vs. Tripp, 14 R. I. 397.

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viously conducted by SS. Peter and Paul's Cathedral. The Tyler School, aside from being completely modern in construction, introduced two novelties in elementary education in Provi- dence-a manual training department for boys and a domestic science department for girls. A new St. Xavier's Academy began to rise on the site of the older buildings in 1894, and was completed in 1896. Other Catholic schools established included: St. Joseph's, Pawtucket, 1887; St. Charles, Providence, 1887; St. John the Baptist, Arctic, 1889; Sacred Heart, Paw- tucket, 1890; Hazard Memorial, Newport, 1891; St. Teresa's Providence, 1891; St. Ann's, Woonsocket, 1891; Our Lady of Lourdes, Phenix, 1892; Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Central Falls, 1892; St. Ambrose, Albion, in Lincoln, 1893; St. James, Manville, in Lincoln, 1893; Our Lady of Consolation, Pawtucket, 1896; St. John Baptist, Warren, 1897; Sacred Heart, Woonsocket, 1898; Holy Family, Woonsocket, 1900; St. James, Arctic, 1902; Holy Trinity, Central Falls, 1905; Notre Dame de Lourdes, Providence, 1906; St. Matthew's, Central Falls, 1908; Notre Dame, Phenix, 1908; Sacred Heart High School, Central Falls, 1909; St. Aloysius,[ Woonsocket, 1910; St. Augustine's, Newport, 1912; St. Cecelia's, Paw- tucket, 1912; Holy Name of Jesus, Providence, 1912; St. Joseph's, West Warwick, 1915; St. Mary's, Bristol, 1915; St. Anthony's, Providence, 1916; Our Lady of Good Help, Bur- rillville, 1916; St. Ann's, Providence, 1917; Sacred Heart, East Providence, 1917; St. Joseph's, Central Falls, 1917; Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Central Falls, 1918. St. Mary's Seminary, East Providence, was partly destroyed by fire in 1906, and the loss was replaced by a fireproof building in 1908. Providence. Collegeg was chartered in 1917 on the initiative of Bishop Harkins, to crown the system of Catholic elementary and secondary schools, and the work of building Harkins Hall was carried forward under his direction and that of Right Rev. William A. Hickey, who had been appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Providence and Apos- tolic Administrator of the diocese.

Right Rev. William A. Hickey, Coadjutor Bishop and Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Providence from April 10, 1919, became Bishop of Providence in his own right by succession on May 25, 1921. Because of the age and infirmities of Bishop Harkins, Bishop Hickey for more than two years had been carrying the burdens of administration of the diocese, including promotion of Catholic schools. On his shoulders had fallen the task of carrying Providence College through to successful inauguration, and one of the new Bishop's first services for education was a diocesan drive to collect $400.000 to reduce the debt resting on the college estate and to provide money for additional accommodations and equipment. The drive was so enthusiastically conducted and so generously responded to that half a million dollars were poured into the college treasury. A new athletic field, which was an extra project made feasible by an oversubscription, was named, at Bishop Hickey's sug- gestion, Hendricken Field for Bishop Hendricken, first Bishop of Providence. The college later purchased the Bradley house on Eaton Street and remodelled and enlarged it as a home for ecclesiastical students ; and in 1928 completed an addition to Harkins Hall, the original building, including an auditorium, a library, laboratories and classrooms, which practically doubled the capacity. The teaching faculty includes twenty-five professors, all members of the Order of Preachers. The initial enrollment was eighty in 1919-1920; in ten years it has increased to 800 in 1929-1930. The work of building and opening new Catholic schools and replacing old buildings with modern and finely designed, constructed and equipped school- houses went forward steadily. The following new Catholic schools were opened : St. Basil's, Central Falls, and St. Paul's, Edgewood, in Cranston, 1920; Holy Ghost, Providence, 1923; St. Edward's, Pawtucket, St. Raymond's, Providence, and St. Stanislaus, Woonsocket, 1924; Assumption, Blessed Sacrament, and St. Michael's, all in Providence, 1925; St. Teresa's, Nasonville, and Immaculate Conception, Westerly, 1926; St. Patrick's, Providence, the third

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Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 66

Author: Carroll, Charles, author Publication date: 1932 Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716