USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 2 > Part 30
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municipality. The school was given the name, Townsend Industrial School, in honor of Miss Townsend.
In 1893-4 a manual training teacher was employed by the city at a salary of $1,000, and a room in the lower part of the Farewell Street school house was devoted to the classes.
In 1896-7 the Henry A. R. Carey building was erected and dedicated March 5, 1897 ; it is a fine structure with all modern improvements and cost about $36,000. In 1897-8 a new school building was erected in the ninth ward, at a cost of $40,000; it is of brick and stone and con- tains eight rooms.
An Association for Decorating Newport Schools was formed and made its first report in 1897. It began practical work in the summer of that year. Money was solicited and obtained for suitable decora- tion of one room in each school house in the city.
1899 .- State appropriation, $5,810.51; town, $76,000; receipts, $131,904.29; valuation, $399,600. Enrolled, 3,239; average attend- ance, 2,458. The city owns fourteen school buildings, containing 3,481 sittings. The number of different teachers employed is 116, to whom are paid $59,724.20.
The Newport Teachers' Association was formed on the 2d of Feb- ruary, 1899. Some of its principal objects are the promotion of social intercourse, the study and discussion of educational problems, the promotion of a spirit of co-operation between teachers and parents, and the increase of the teachers' retirement fund. Instruction in sewing in the lower school grades was introduced with the beginning of this school year. A teacher for this purpose is paid by the Charity Organization Society. Through the continued efforts of the Newport Association for Decorating Schools, twenty rooms were decorated, making thirty-three in all that have been thus improved. The new Coggeshall school building was opened in the last year of the century ; it is of brick and stone, and contains eight rooms, and was dedicated June 23, 1899.
New Shoreham .- The lapse of the past half century has occasioned little change in the schools of this town, and their early history is now unattainable. In 1828 there was only one school house in the town and only four schools of any kind were taught. In 1839 the town was divided into four districts and a school was open in each, with an average attendance in all of 200 scholars. The town in that year received from the State, $84. A fifth district was added before 1844, in which year there were nine schools taught; the registration was 232 and the average attendance, 171. The State appropriated $299.82.
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In 1850 the town school fund was $100; the registration had increased to 500, and the average attendance to 216; there were then six teachers employed. In 1860 the State appropriation was $563.61; town, $200; total receipts, $950.74. Enrolled, 347 ; average attendance, 216.
1872-3 .- State appropriation, $728.97, and the town the same; re- ceipts, $1,814. Enrolled, 280; average attendance, 205. A sixth dis- trict had by that date been created in the town, but only five schools were open. In 1874-5 the house in district No. 1 was reported as unfit for use and was unoccupied. District No. 6 had no school house. During this decade considerable improvement was made in educational facilities, particularly in repairing school buildings, and the need of a school of a higher grade was urged in the report of 1877-8. In the following year an evening school was opened for twelve weeks and a high school was established with the title Island High School, which has been maintained to the present time.
1879-80 .- State appropriation, $821.92; town, $594.60; receipts, $2,315.95; valuation, $4,800. The enrollment was about 250. In 1887-8 the high school was reported as in great need of a separate building. In 1889-90 the State appropriation was $790.42; town, $825.42; receipts, $1,726.98 ; valuation, $6,200. Enrolled, 237; aver- age attendance, 156.
1899 .- State appropriation, $733.67; town, $2,251.01; receipts, $3,224.97 ; valuation, $5,200; number of school houses, five. Enrolled, 307; average attendance, 180.
Glocester and Burrillville .- Glocester was one of the towns into which Providence was divided in 1730, and included the territory of Burrillville until 1806. Of the very carly schools in the old town of Glocester, very little can now be learned. In the part set off to con- stitute Burrillville there is record of a school house being built in 1806, the year of the division, and within the next decade it is known that several others were erected, as well as in the Glocester territory. In the old town of Glocester and down to 1828 in the new town, the only schools were of a private character, depending for their support upon tuition collected from parents. The town in 1828, after Burrillville was set off, was divided into districts under the school act of that year, and frec schools were established. Money was raised, but in small amounts from ycar to ycar, new school houses were built, and the cause advanced, as in other towns. From 1846 to 1856 the money expended for schools amounted to $12,604.15; from 1856 to 1866, it was $16,253.05; and from 1866 to 1876, it was $32,727.83. These figures do not include the sums raised by rate bills, and private con-
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tributions, nor the amounts appropriated to building and repairing school houses. The report for 1850 shows that the State appropria- tion for that year was $745.92; town, $200; receipts, $1,205.59. There was expended on houses, $450. Enrollment, 554 ; average attendance, 399. There were thirteen districts, and seventeen teachers.
In 1859-60 the State appropriation was $1,206.70; town, $312; reg- istry tax, $181.80. Districts Nos. 3, 4, and 5 had been recently con- stituted one district with the number five.
In 1871-2 the State appropriation was $1,627.02; town, $1,700; re- ceipts, $3,949.21. Enrolled, 349; average attendance in the winter term, 256. Only two of the schools were graded in that decade.
In 1879-80 the State appropriation was $1,404.77; town, $1,604.77; receipts, $3,426.66. Enrolled, 410; average attendance, 248; valua- tion, $9,800. There were then twelve school houses in the town and thirteen teachers were employed. In 1874-5 the school houses were reported in bad condition ; one of these was repaired two years later.
In 1889-90 the State appropriation was $1,717.88; town, $1,889.88; receipts, $3,841.97 ; valuation, $7,685. Enrolled, 381; average attend- ance, 251. In 1891 a new building was erected in the consolidated district and others were placed in better repair.
1899 .- State appropriation, $1,471.55; town, $2,423.58; receipts, $4,489.70 ; valuation, $8,200. There were then twelve school houses with 495 seats. Enrolled, 277; average attendance, 172. Total num- ber of teachers, sixteen.
In the year 1828 two committees were appointed for the town of Burrillville, one consisting of twenty-three persons, to divide the town into school districts, and the other of twenty-one persons, to act as school committee. Nothing appears upon the town records relating to schools until the year 1828. On September 8, of that year, the town appropriated $300 for schools, and there was received from the State, $199.80. Eleven school houses, with winter school taught in all, were reported. The school committee of the next year was reduced in number to sixteen, and this number was chosen annually until 1846, when the number was further reduced to six. From 1847 forward the number was three. The yearly appropriation for schools by the town from 1828 to 1846 inclusive was $300; in 1847, $100 was added. Of some of the very early schools in this town brief historical notes have been preserved.1 In district No. 1 there stood on "the Com- mons" an antique school house which was occupied until 1823, when
1By Rev. William Fitz, superintendent of schools for Burrillville in 1876. See Hist. Pub. Instruction (Stockwell), pp. 312-339.
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a second story was added to it underneath the other. Among the early teachers in that building were Rufus Smith and his son Jarvis, Israel Tucker, Charles Mowry, Betsey Brown, who taught in 1840, and others. In 1823 the farmers of the district collected a library of 300 volumes. The school house had a belfry and bell and was used for religious services, and was ultimately removed and the later building erected in 1863. In district No. 2 (Mount Pleasant) the house stood on "the Commons" in early years. In 1866 it was removed from the highway, placed on a more pleasant site and repaired. The school house in district No. 3 was built in 1806, thus being as old as the town ; it was repaired in 1867, in which year the average attendance was placed at only one, and the district discontinued. In 1871 the number 3 was given to district No. 16. In that district Leonard Nason donated a lot for a school house in 1849, and a respectable building was erected. In district No. 4 Mrs. Lydia Brown was a teacher in 1814; her daughter Betsey, before mentioned, taught in 1840. A new school house was built in 1860. The district was divided in 1868. The school house in district No. 5 dated from about 1830 and it was occu- pied many years; an addition was made to it in 1870. In district No. 6 the first school house was built in 1806; it was condemned by the committee in 1867 and was at once enlarged and repaired. The first school house in district No. 7 (Harrisville) was still occupied in 1848, but was superseded by a new one in 1849; to this a second story was subsequently added. In 1870 the larger of the two houses in the place was erected ; this is the first district in the town that established three grades of schools in as many rooms.
Data regarding the erection of school houses and other matters in districts Nos. 8 and 9 are not accessible; in the latter district there was probably an early school house built prior to the one erected about 1842. The building in use in No. 8 was formerly a store, which was purchased in 1848. District No. 10 has two schools; but data of the early affairs of the district are meagre. In the Pascoag district, No. 11, the "old red school house" was built about 1824. In 1862 it was reported that this district was "entirely destitute of a house that will accommodate more than a fraction of its scholars". A fine new building was at once erected. The further growth of the school made larger accommodations necessary, and in 1874 a three story structure of modern style was erected, which was occupied by three grades. There is no record for district No. 12 until 1847; the school has always been small. In 1873 the present school house was erected. The school house in district No. 13 was built in 1835, and was several times re-
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paired in later years. In No. 14 the school house was built in 1832 and extensively improved in 1848, and again in 1868. In district No. 15 the school house was built in 1840; previous to that date schools were held in private houses.
In 1850 the State appropriation for schools in the town was $678.82; of this, $394 was expended on school houses. There were sixteen or- ganized districts and one unorganized. The registration was 542 and the average attendance, 389. The State appropriation in 1854 was $865.86 ; in 1860 it was $1,487.62 ; in 1870 it was $2,571.97. The town appropriation for 1854 was $801.88; in 1860 and for several preceding years it was $800; from 1861 to 1870 it was $1,000; in 1870 it was $2,500. The number of scholars registered in 1859 was 691; at the close of the next decade the number was 725 at the winter terms.
In 1871-2 the State appropriation was $2,592.99; town, $3,000; re- ceipts, $6,103.97. There were then fifteen districts in the town, and twenty schools employing twenty-eight teachers, and four evening schools. Enrolled, 765; average attendance, 586.
1879-80 .- State appropriation, $1,404.77; town, $1,604.77; receipts, $3,426.66. Enrolled, 410; average attendance, 248. There were then eleven ungraded and two graded schools, employing an average of thirteen teachers. The valuation was $9,800, and $330 was expended for evening schools. In 1874-5 a new house was built in district No. 12 at a cost of $2,000, and another at Pascoag, costing $7,500.
1890-91 .- State appropriation, $2,800.38; town, $4,500; receipts, $9,389.84 ; valuation, $21,700. Enrolled, 970; average attendance, 569. There were twelve graded and eleven ungraded schools. In the next year there were only two evening schools open, at Harrisville and Pascoag, and the attendance was small. The report frequently ex- pressed the need of a high school, and in 1892 a class in high school studies was organized at Pascoag grammar school. In 1893-4 a new building was erected at Pascoag for a grammar school, on the site of the former one, which was burned; the new building cost $15,000. A new house was built also at Bridgeton.
1899 .- State appropriation, $2,572.19; town, $10,000; receipts, $15,794.25 ; valuation, $36,000. There were thirteen school houses in the town with 1,153 seats. Enrolled, 1,312; average attendance, 733. The total number of teachers was thirty-six.
Cranston .- This town was set off from Providence in 1754, previous to which date its school and other history is a part of that of the parent town. Since inauguration of the free school system this town has shown a deep and active interest in advancing education. The
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territory was divided into ten districts, and in 1832 there were eleven publie schools, for support of which the town appropriated $500. With the changes introdueed under the law of 1845, still more rapid prog- ress was made. There were, as shown by the report of 1848-9, eleven districts, in all of which, excepting No. 3, schools had been taught during the year. The whole amount of the school fund was $1,630.98.
The report for 1850 shows that the State fund was then $1,226.24; the town provided $800; the total receipts were $2,321.79. There was expended in the year for school houses, $1,220. The registration was 774, and the average attendance 560. The number of organized dis- tricts was ten and the number of teachers twelve.
There was a large increase in school attendance during the sueeeed- ing deeade, as well as in sehool accommodations, as seen in the statis- tics. The State appropriation for 1860 was $1,543.42; town, $4,000; receipts, $6,681.86 ; expended that year on school houses, $2,000. Reg- istration, 1,314 ; average attendanee, 887 in the winter term; number of teachers, twenty-four.
1870-71 .- State appropriation, $1,461.32; town, $3,000; receipts, $12,385.56. Enrolled, 606; average attendanee, 438. A new house was built in distriet No. 1, and one evening school was maintained at Spragueville in the winter. During the sueeeeding decade great improvements were made in the schools. By the year 1875-6, nine of the schools were graded, and in that year an addition was made to the house in distriet No. 3, with accommodations for fifty-two pupils. In the following year the boundaries of all the districts were fixed (see report of 1876-7).
1879-80 .- State appropriation, $1,988.62; town, $3,100; receipts, $5,619.53 ; valuation, $14,850. Enrollment, 661; average attendance, 512. The reports of that time notice the need of new school houses, and they were soon provided. In 1882-3 one was built at Auburn, and in 1886-7 another was erected in distriet No. 7, a modern and beautiful building. An evening sehool was opened in November, 1889, but only for a short time. In that year a new building was erected at Arlington, containing four rooms; one at Edgewood, with the same number of rooms, eosting $10,000.
1889-90 .- State appropriation, $3,098.51; town, $6,650; receipts, $29,259.35 ; valuation, $50,700. Enrolled, 1,103; average attendance, 659. There were then twelve graded sehools and eleven ungraded. In 1890-91 rooms for high school study were opened in the sehools at Auburn, Arlington, and Edgewood. In 1892 a high school at Auburn was authorized (distriet No. 6), and the old school building was given
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to the town for the purpose. The school was opened in September and was very successful from the beginning. In 1894-5 a new school house was built at Laurel Hill, another at Spragueville, and a third at Oak Lawn, with a combined seating capacity of 1,674. In 1897-8 four additional new houses were erected-at Eden Park, Meshanticut Park, Edgewood and Pawtuxet, while the high school was showing remark- able growth. For 1899 the State appropriation was $3,594.81; town, $41,184.30 ; receipts, $46,497.03 ; valuation, $147,000; number of school buildings, fifteen, containing 2,085 seats. Enrolled, 2,073; average attendance, 1,479; average number of teachers, fifty-nine. Average attendance in high school, 107.
East Providence .- The territory of this town belonged to Massachu- setts until January, 1862, and the early history of its schools is in- volved in the records of the town of Seekonk. Since the town was set off to Rhode Island it has supported the public schools with great liberality. Within ten or twelve years after the change was made new school houses were erected in all of the eight districts of the town. In 1872 a union grammar school house was built for districts Nos. 2 and 8, and a flourishing school has since been maintained. In 1875, in district No. 1, in which the old house had been twice enlarged, a new grammar school building was erected at a cost of $12,500. The report for 1870-71 shows that the State fund in that year amounted to $1,230.25 ; the town raised $2,200; the total receipts were $3,783.94. A special tax was imposed of $1,400 in district No. 1. Enrolled, 440 ; average attendance, 340 in the winter term. There were eleven schools and twelve teachers. In 1872-3 an evening school was maintained through the winter, and new houses for advanced schools were built in districts Nos. 2 and 8. A new school house was built in district No. 1 and first opened November 29, 1875. Of the twelve schools, five were graded.
In 1876-7 a new house was erected for district No. 6, by private capital, and leased to the town. By this year the number of graded schools was increased to eight, and six ungraded; within the succeed- ing two years three more were graded.
1879-80 .- State appropriation, $1,631.61; town, $8,000; receipts, $12,602; valuation, $27,500. Enrolled, 932; average attendance, 618. A school house was built in district No. 2 at a cost of $1,800. There were then thirteen graded schools, and four ungraded.
1889-90 .- State appropriation, $3,698.35; town, $20,170; receipts, $26,783.61 ; valuation, $81,545. Enrolled, 2,383; average attendance, 1,214. These figures show what a very large increase had taken place
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in the schools of the town during the preceding decade. The number of graded schools was now twenty-three, with three ungraded, and the average number of teachers was thirty-nine. The town owned fifteen school buildings containing 1,442 seats. Two evening schools were maintained in 1889-90 with an average attendance in both of fifty-seven. In 1881-2 a school house was built at Riverside and dedi- cated November 26, 1881, and in the next year a new one was erected at James street and Russell avenue. In 1884-5 a high school was established in the Mauran avenue building, which was then recently erected. In 1891 a new house with eight rooms was erected and dedi- cated September 4 of that year ; it was named the A. P. Hoyt Grammar School. In 1895-6 it was reported that eight of the fifteen school buildings owned by the town had been erected since 1875, and addi- tions made to others. In 1896-7 a new house was built in the Watche- moket district, costing nearly $6,000; it was dedicated September 4, 1896.
1899 .- State, $4,040.74; town, $37,600; receipts, $43,584.71; valua- tion, $143,650. Number of school houses, eighteen, containing 2,229 seats. Enrolled, 2,443; average attendance, 1,697 ; average number of teachers, fifty-seven, five of whom are employed in the high school. The enrollment in the high school is 178. Two evening schools are maintained.
Foster .- The history of the early schools of this town is little known, further than is shown in the tables of statistics in preceding pages. There were fifteen school houses in existence in 1828 and that number of schools were taught in winter and most of them in summer terms. In 1844 this number had increased to eighteen and the town was divided into nineteen districts. The State appropriation in that year for schools was $624.53. There were registered 495 pupils and the attendance was 304.
In 1850 the State appropriated for schools $760.77 and the town $181.11; the total receipts were $1,329.68. In that year $605 were expended on school houses. The registration was 492, and the average attendance 283. The number of teachers employed was twenty-four. The conditions changed but very little during the next ten years. In 1860 the State appropriation was $1,174.83; the town, $237.68; re- ceipts, $2,026.11. About $800 were expended on permanent improve- ments. Enrolled, 483; average attendance, 346; number of teachers, seventeen.
1870-71 .- State appropriation, $1,928.50; town, $964.25; receipts, $2,932. Enrolled, 369; average attendance, 258. The number of dis-
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tricts and schools was unchanged. In 1879-80 the State appropriation was $1,444.56 ; town, the same; receipts, $3,176.63 ; valuation of school property, $6,350. Enrolled, 342; average attendance, 205. There were eighteen districts and the same number of school houses.
1899 .- State appropriation, $1,655.48; town, the same; receipts, $3,870.41; valuation, $4,350; the number of school houses had been reduced to sixteen, and the number of schools to eleven, all ungraded. Enrolled, 219; average attendance, 127. It will be seen that this is one of the towns of the State in which for the several well known causes the school attendance slowly declines.
Johnston .- The usual private schools were undoubtedly taught in the territory of this town to some extent in the last century, but very little progress was made until the free school system was established in 1828. The first meeting of the school committee was held June 2, of that year, and in August the town was divided into ten districts. School houses for these districts were located in the following month. It is believed that the first appropriation of money in support of the schools in this town was made in 1833,1 the amount being $241.98; the town appropriation was $355. In the fall of 1831 two schools were established in district No. 4, and in June, 1832, a new district was formed from parts of Nos. 2, 3 and 5, and numbered 11. The number of scholars in 1832 was 400. By 1837 the town appropriation was increased to $350, and the State appropria- tion to $274.84. In May, 1843, the report states that there were thir- teen districts, fourteen schools, and 560 scholars registered. In Jan- uary, 1844, district No. 14 was formed in the western part of the town. Under the new law of 1845 the number of members in the school com- mittee, which had been ten or more, was reduced to three, with great benefit. The State appropriated that year (1845-6), $589.99; the town, $500; registry tax, $174.46. In 1850-51 the State appropriated $825.97 ; the town the same, as above mentioned. District No. 7 built a new school house in 1850-1; district No. 3 built one in the following year, and district No. 13 followed with one in 1869. District No. 1 was divided in 1867, a new one formed and numbered 15, and two years later No. 16 was created also out of No. 1. In June, 1873, dis- tricts Nos. 6 and 14 were consolidated, with the number remaining 6. For the year 1850 the State appropriation was $825.97; the town fund, $500; total receipts, $1,456.17. Registered, 568; average attendance, 392. There were then fourteen organized districts, six school houses,
1William A. Phillips, in Hist. of Public Education in R.I. (Stockwell), p. 377.
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and thirteen teachers. At the close of that decade, in 1860, the State appropriation had increased to $1,257.69; town, $600; total receipts, $2,037.41. Enrolled, 319; average attendance, 220.
1871-2 .- State appropriation, $2,207.42; town, $2,500; receipts, $9,360.53. Enrolled, 677; average attendance, 505. By the changes before mentioned and others the number of districts was increased to sixteen, and the number of teachers in the winter term was twenty. Extensive improvements were made in the houses in districts Nos. 3, 4, 8, 9, 11 and 12. In October, 1873, four evening schools were opened, located at Olneyville, Dry Brook, Merino, and Plain Farm, with a registry of 341. About $6,000 were expended this year in school improvement. Only one of the evening schools was sufficiently suc- cessful to warrant continuance the following year-the one at Merino. There were now six graded and thirteen ungraded schools in the town. No evening school was open in 1876-7. A new house was built in dis- trict No. 5, and extensive improvement was made in district No. 7.
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