USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 2 > Part 35
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ACADEMIES, SEMINARIES, SELECT SCHOOLS, AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
Only comparatively brief space can be devoted here to sketches of the founding and maintenance of the many academies and other sim- ilar educational institutions that have had an existence in this State. During many years some of these institutions filled a place of educa- tional importance ; like the scores of private schools, they were brought into being because of the insufficiency and general inefficiency of the public schools. Their period of usefulness closed, as a rule, when the
FRIENDS SCHOOL, PROVIDENCE.
public schools had become fully capable of fitting scholars for college or of giving them, by the best modern methods, education to enable them to properly perform their life-work in any station to which they might be called.
One of the earliest of these higher institutions, and one that is still at the height of prosperity, is the Friends School in Providence. This venerable school was founded largely through the efforts and influence of Moses Brown, whose name appears so frequently in Rhode Island
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history ; it was opened in Portsmouth, R. I., in 1784, where it remained four years, the teacher being Isaac Lawton. The building was occu- pied for both school and religious meeting purposes. In an early code of rules and regulations for teacher and scholars is found the follow- ing:
"Besides the necessary literary instruction the children are to be taught habits of regularity, of decency, of respectful subordination to superiors, of forbearance, affection, and kindness to each other, and of religious reverence to their maker and those habits of silence and recol- lection taught and practiced in the ancient schools and inculcated in the holy Scriptures."
The school was forced to close for want of funds, but was re-opened in 1819, the small fund on hand having meanwhile been carefully guarded by Mr. Brown. In that year it amounted to $9,300. In 1814 he offered to the school a lot of forty-three acres of land in Providence and money sufficient to make, with that on hand, $20,000. The land was conveyed to the school in 1816, buildings were erected and, as stated, the institution opened in 1819. Mr. Brown donated also annually $100 for the education of poor children. He likewise gave another tract of land and $15,000 by legacy. To this was added $100,000 given by his son, Obadiah Brown, in 1822. Moses Brown died in 1836, at the great age of ninety-nine years, after witnessing this school, whose interests were so dear to him, in successful operation during the preceding seventeen years.
When the school opened in 1819 there were eleven scholars; the teachers were Mary Mitchell and Dorcas Gardner, two Nantucket girls, who gave their services without compensation. The number of schol- ars was largely increased before the close of the first year, and from that far away date the school has continually progressed towards its present high standard.
Washington Academy .- This institution had its beginning in the first year of the century. It was founded in Wickford, through the efforts of a number of friends of education, who subscribed money and adopted measures to increase the fund by organizing a lottery. The early records are fragmentary, but it is believed that about $4,000 was raised by this means and the subscription for one hundred shares at $20 each. The first regular meeting of the stockholders was held March 10, 1800, when sixty-seven shares were represented. A com- mittee was appointed to draw a charter and a petition to the General Assembly, and a board of twenty-five trustees was appointed. The first meeting of the trustees was held August 27, 1800, and the follow-
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ing officers were chosen : Samuel Elam, president; Peter Phillips, vice-president; Benjamin Fowler, treasurer ; Daniel E. Updike, secre- tary. At the same meeting the trustees received a gift of four acres of land by Nicholas Spink and John Franklin and their wives. Samuel Elam donated $100, and requested that the institution be named Elam Academy ; but Mr. Updike insisted on the name, Washington Academy. The building was finished about the end of the year 1800, more needed funds were raised by subscription, and the institution opened early in 1802 with seven scholars. Alpheus Baker, of Newport, was chosen the first principal, with Remington Southwick, assistant. Mr. Baker con- tinued principal five or six years and was followed by Wilbur Tilling- hast, Linden Fuller, Amanuel Northup, Barton Ballou, Francis Chap- pell, a Mr. Wood, and possibly others. The academy continued with a. fair measure of success twenty-five or thirty years, when it declined in patronage and the buildings became much impaired. In April, 1833, the citizens renewed their active interest in the school, held meetings and asked aid from the wealthy inhabitants of Providence, Newport, and elsewhere, and in October of that year a petition was sent to the General Assembly asking for a renewal of the charter. A new board of trustees was chosen, and John Brown Francis was elected presi- dent; Jonathan Reynolds, vice-president; Pardon T. Hammond, sec- retary ; Joseph C. Sanford, treasurer. Messrs. Francis, Reynolds, and Hammond were elected year after year until the institution became a part of the school system. The buildings were repaired, and William D. Upham, principal, and Caroline Whiting, assistant, were given charge of the school. Students came in respectable numbers and the institution continued successful about two and a half years. Mr. Upham resigned in November, 1836, and was succeeded by William H. Taylor. From that time other teachers were employed for short. periods. Interest in the school soon waned. Francis Chappell occu- pied a room in the building several years for a free school in connec- tion with his select schools. On the 10th of June, 1848, the trustees voted to lease the academy to school districts 3 and 4, for ninety-nine years at one cent per annum. This arrangement continued until
September 8, 1874, when the building was burned by an incendiary. With the insurance of $2,000 and $9,500 raised by tax on the districts, a beautiful building was erected in 1875, on the site of the old one. There an excellent graded school was established, as part of the public school system, which has continued to the present time.
A library was established in the academy soon after its opening and about 300 volumes purchased with money subscribed ; but in course of
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time it passed out of existence. Another library was founded in 1821, by the Library Society of the town, at a cost of about $175. This was sold at public auction January 24, 1829.
Kent (East Greenwich) Academy .- This institution is situated in East Greenwich, on Narragansett Bay, and was founded in 1802. The incorporators were "Ethan Clark, William Arnold, Mathewson and Mowry, and Peter Turner, all of East Greenwich, and State of Rhode Island, and Ray Greene, Elihu Greene, and Christopher Greene, all of Warwick""', as they are named in the articles of association. The school was conducted as a stock enterprise until 1839: The first teach- er was Abner Alden, with Jeremiah G. Chadsey, assistant. From
PROVIDENCE CONFERENCE ACADEMY, EAST GREENWICH, R. I. From an old lithograph in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
December, 1804, to December, 1806, the number of scholars ranged during the several quarters from seventy-two to one hundred and thirty-three. In 1822 Nathan Whiting was elected preceptor, and under his administration the school was remarkably successful. In 1839 the institution passed into the hands of Rev. Daniel G. Allen, who conducted the school as proprietor and principal about two years, when, in 1841, it became the property of Providence (now the New England Southern) Methodist Conference by purchase. Under these auspices it first bore the name, Providence Conference Academy ; next, in 1848, the Providence Conference Seminary, and in 1862 the Provi- dence Conference Seminary and Musical Institute. In 1873 the man-
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agement of the school was transferred to the Boston University, and was called the Greenwich Academy. In 1884 it was repurchased by a stock company ; but in 1888 the stock was surrendered. It was reor- ganized under a board of directors, six of whom were selected by the corporation, six by the Methodist conference, and one by the alumni. Under this arrangement the institution has ever since prospered. Among the graduates' names are found those of many men who became eminent in various walks of life, among them Nelson W. Aldrich, William Sprague, William Greene, Charles Matteson, Pardon E. Til- linghast, Henry T. Sisson, Enos Lapham, Charles H. Payne, William F. Warren, Samuel F. Upham, and many others. The academy is now conducted under the principalship of Rev. F. D. Blakeslee, D. D., with a total corps of twelve teachers.
Greene Academy (Smithfield) .- A petition for the charter of this institution was sent to the General Assembly in 1812, in response to which that body enacted "that Duty Winsor, Daniel Winsor, Aaron Mowry, Elijah Day, Emor Olney, Nathan B. Sprague, Augustus Win- sor, Ziba Smith, Abraham Smith, and Asa Winsor, and all others that may be hereafter admitted, shall be members of said corporation, by style and name of the Trustees of Greene Academy, and by name be perpetual, capable in law to hold any personal or real estate, not to exceed $5,000". The first officers of this academy were: Duty Win- sor, president ; Samuel Winsor, vice-president; Aaron Mowry, treas- urer; Asa Winsor, secretary. The Legislature, in 1812, authorized a lottery to aid in raising funds with which to erect buildings. A con- tract was made with Elijah Day for the erection of a building "36 feet long and 28 feet wide, two stories high and 19 feet from bottom of sill to top of plate with a good substantial Geometry work roof and a portico in front 10 feet square, with a steeple, or Bellcony on the top sufficient for a bell and each end to be built of brick with a chimney at cach end and one fireplace at cach chimney in each story or room."1
The building was finished in the spring of 1814 at a cost of $1,357. The charter was re-enacted in 1819, on account of failure to elect officers, and in 1836 the charter was amended, providing against a similar necessity in future. A meeting of the academy authorities was called September 23, 1843, to consider the question of conveying the institution to district No. 14, and it was
"Voted, That Asa Winsor be a committee to make, sign and acknowl- edge a Deed of said Academy and lot to District No. 14 in behalf of said corporation agreeable to the above note and order."
1Manuscript book in possession of R. I. Historical Society.
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This closed the separate career of an institution that accomplished a good measure of educational benefit during the period of its exist- ence.
Smithfield Academy .- The founding of this institution was due to the efforts of Elisha Thornton, who has been noticed in earlier pages. In 1808 was incorporated The Smithfield Academic Society, one of the incorporators being Nicholas Brown. At the February session of 1810 of the Assembly a petition was granted, incorporating The Trustees of Smithfield Academy, and at the first meeting of the trustees the follow- ing officers were chosen : Peleg Arnold, president ; Joel Aldrich, vice- president; Richard Steere, treasurer; David Aldrich, secretary. To aid in raising funds a lottery was organized, according to frequent custom in those days, and the school opened with a grade of prepara- tory school for New England colleges. The first teacher was David Aldrich, who was succeeded by Josiah Clark, and he by John Thorn- ton, son of Elisha Thornton. Among other early teachers were Ward Wilson, George D. Prentice, and Christopher Robinson. From its opening until 1830 the institution was without a settled teacher; in that year James Bushee took charge of it, and during the twenty-three years of his administration the academy flourished. Students came from many States, and particularly from the South, and arrangements were made under which they could be boarded in the house of the principal and with other families. In 1835 the existence of the old academy was brought to an end and the site is vacant.
Hopkinton Academy .- This institution was founded in 1858, when a number of citizens of Potter Hill and Ashaway, in Hopkinton, con- tributed sufficient funds to erect a substantial building for the school. It was opened on December 1, 1858, with Rev. J. W. Morton, principal, and Mrs. L. E. Coon, preceptress. Professor Morton continued at the head of the institution until 1862, and was succeeded by Prof. H. C. Coon. He and his wife, before mentioned, retired in 1864, and Prof. A. A. Palmiter took charge for two years, and was followed by Prof. Amos C. Lewis, who resigned in 1869 on account of ill health, and the academy was then permanently closed. With no endowment, no aid from the public treasury, and contending against the constantly im- proving character of the public schools, this institution met the fate of many other similar ones in all parts of the country.
Kingston Academy .- This was one of the early academies of the State and one that for many years fulfilled the purposes of its found- ers in providing excellent facilities for education. The establishment of this institution was made possible through the generosity of Samuel Sewall, of Boston, as explained in the following:
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"1695. Samuel Sewal, esq., of Boston, for the consideration of a nominal sum, and for the encouragement of literature and good cduea- tion and the maintenance of a learned, sober, and orthodox sehool- master, conveyed 50 aeres of land in Pettaquamscut, in special trust, to John Walley, for the procuring, settling, supporting, and maintaining a learned, sober, and orthodox person from time to time, and at all times forever hereafter, to instruct the children and youths of the above-mentioned town of Pettaquamscut, as well as English there settled, or to be settled, as Indians, the aboriginal natives and proprie- tors of the place, to read and write the English language and the rules of grammar."
The school was situated in South Kingstown, and the instructor was to be appointed by Mr. Sewall and his wife Hannah, or their survivors, or by the minister of the Third Congregational Church in Boston, and the town treasurer, or their successors. All this was provided for in the terms of the gift. Nothing was accomplished until 1781, when a school house was built on Tower Hill, and there Constant Southworth, Inerease Hewitt, John Hazard, William Nichols, Robert F. Noyes, and Benjamin Hill, taught until 1819, in which year the academy was established and removed to Kingston. In 1823 the sehool was incor- porated under the name of the Pettaquamseut Academy. In the same year a petition was made to the General Assembly by the trustees for authority to sell the seliool lands donated by Mr. Sewall and apply the procceds to the support of the academy. The petition was granted. Three years later, in 1826, the Assembly was petitioned for a change of name of the academy to Kingston Academy, which was granted. From the date of the establishment of the academy in 1819, to April, 1832, there had been 158 students. The sueecssive principals had been Oliver Brown, A. M., Nathaniel Helme, A. M., Alfred Gardner, Hin- man B. Hoyt, A. M., William G. Hammond, A. B., Asa Potter, A. M., William Cragg, A. B., Elisha Atkins, A. B., Henry M. Davis, Christo- pher Comstock, and William Gammell, A. B. From 1832, when Elisha R. Potter was instructor in the elassieal department, Christo- pher Comstoek in the English department, and Joseph Brayton, assist- ant, a period of prosperity for the school followed, and in 1836 the number of students was 116.
At the May term of the Supreme Court for 1840 a deerec was issued preseribing the manner in which the trustces of the academy should use the Sewall Fund, and a subsequent decree removed the academy trustees from the custody of this fund and appointed new ones for it for the purpose of keeping it distinet from the academy property. These two bodies worked together as best they could in providing
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teachers and in the management of the institution. This situation was embarrassing, and in order to improve it, the trustees determined to relieve themselves from the partnership in the Sewall Fund. For this purpose they erected in 1852 a new building near the old one, and the latter was sold to district No. 3, in which the district authorities and the trustees of the Sewall Fund worked together in harmony until the old edifice was burned in 1882. After alternate seasons of depres- sion and success, the policy of the old academy was changed in 1855 and it was made an exclusively female institution ; this was its death blow, and in 1863 the building was sold on a mortgage. After being occupied for a private school about ten years, it was remodeled into a dwelling and is still used for that purpose. During the period of the final struggles of the academy, J. Hagadorn Wells kept a successful boarding school for boys in his residence five or six years.
Fruit Hill Classical Institute .- This educational institution was founded at Providence and opened in 1835 in a building that had previously been occupied as one of the old stage coach taverns. As such it had a long and prosperous career and is said to have been one of the very earliest public houses to accommodate regular summer boarders in addition to transient guests. It was kept in early years by a Dr. Thayer and was known for many years as the old Thayer tavern place. In 1835 Henry R. Drowne, son of Dr. Solomon Drowne, then a resident at Fruit Hill, conjointly with his sisters, conccived the plan of establishing a school, and acquired the tavern property for the purpose. Stanton Belden, a graduate of Yale, was invited to accept the principalship of the school, which he did, and the institution was opened in April, 1835. It was called at first Fruit Hill Seminary, and was for many years very prosperous, closing the first year with an enrollment of forty scholars. The name, Fruit Hill Classical Insti- tute, must have been adopted before the close of the first year, as a circular signed by Mr. Belden is headed with that title, and Mr. Belden remained principal only one year. The circular states that the num- ber of pupils was limited to forty "who are always under the superin- tendence of the Principal and his Lady". Further it was stated that "the school is designed principally for males; but a few females are admitted, to board in private families in the vicinity". Scholars were received by the year "and furnished with everything necessary except books and clothing, at $160 per annum, exclusive of vacations". Mr. Belden was followed in the principalship by three or four successive persons, and in 1837 Amos Perry took the position, with Elizabeth A. Perry, associate principal; Amasa Dowe, teacher of penmanship, and
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Oliver Shaw, teacher of music. . In 1840 Mr. Perry retired from the school and Mr. Belden returned to it and remained at its head until 1861, when the institution closed its long and successful career, and the old building was demolished. Many men who afterwards attained eminence in the professional or business world acquired their education in this institute. In the latter years of its existence the attendance gradually decreased, as the public schools of the State increased in character.
Young Ladies' High School .- In the early years of the century and long before the founding of many great colleges for women and the admission of the sex to many universities, there was a demand for separate schools for young women where they could obtain higher education. One of these that had a long carcer of success was founded in Providence in 1828 by John Kingsbury,1 a man who seems to have been born for his work. He believed in the dignity and worth of his profession, and when lie opencd school, placed the quarterly tuition at $12.50, which was then considered almost an exorbitant price. The school was opened in a building which had been used for school pur- poses by Oliver Angell, in which new furniture, having some preten- sions to elegance and comfort, was placed. The number of scholars was at first limited to thirty-six ; this was soon increased to forty, and finally to forty-three, which continued to be the size of the class through Mr. Kingsbury's long administration. No pressure could induce him to increase the number, as he believed better results could thus be realized. There was always a large number of applications in excess of the admissions. Mr. Kingsbury conducted this model school until 1858, a period of thirty years, during which the number of students was 557. The success of this school must in large measure be attributed to its governing principles, among which were the fostering of high moral sentiment, fixing exact habits of study, cultivation of all the mental powers of all the scholars, rather than the elevation of certain possessors of special genius, inculcation of a knowledge of the great value of common sense and of the elementary studies, ctc. Mr. Kingsbury retired from the school in 1858 to accept the office of com- missioner of public instruction. In February of that year the school passed into the hands of Amos Perry, but was soon transferred to Prof. J. L. Lincoln, LL. D., who opened it in September, 1858, as the
1Mr. Kingsbury was born in Connecticut May 26, 1801, graduated from Brown University in 1826, and after teaching in Providence two years, organ- ized his Young Ladies' High School. He was one of the most successful edu- cators that the State has ever had.
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Young Ladies' School; it was then the only institution of that charac- ter in the city. Professor Lincoln had two assistants, and during his administration of about nine years his students numbered 214. At the close of his term the school passed to Rev. John C. Stockbridge, who continued it along similar lines until 1877, teaching during that period about 250 pupils. The benefits accruing to the community from the long existence of this admirable school is immeasurable. The estab- lishment of many popular women's colleges and private schools throughout New England, and other considerations, caused Dr. Stock- bridge to close his institution. Before the erection of the present building, occupied as the Women's College connected with Brown Uni- versity, the Kingsbury school building was used as the Women's Col- lege.
Another school which attained a wide popularity was the Greene street school.1 It will be well remembered by some of the older citizens of the State. This school, modeled after certain Greek ideal standards, was the culmination of a series of schools taught by different princi- pals, commencing with Rufus Claggett and ending with B. F. Jacobs and his sister, Miss Sarah S. Jacobs.
The Providence Daily Journal of June 10, 1837, calls attention to a modest notice in its advertising columns, that the Greene street school will be dedicated that day at four o'clock p. m., that the house will be open to visitors all day and that the school will commence on Monday the 12th.
The surface of the school house lot sloped from Greene to Walnut streets, which circumstance afforded the construction of a basement, and this was divided into three rooms; one was for a primary school, one was used for arithmetic classes which came from the upper or prin- cipal room, and the remaining one contained the furnace and fuel. On each side of the front entrance to the principal floor were rooms for the outer garments of the scholars; that on the right was used by the girls, and the left one was for the boys' caps, coats and street shoes. Stairs descending to the basement were in the latter room. The boys were required to remove their ordinary footwear and put on slippers before entering the school-room. This was carpeted and furnished with nice single desks and chairs for each scholar. In the rear of the main room were two recitation rooms, also carpeted, and between the doors opening into these rooms was a raised platform on which was Mr. Fuller's desk. Behind this desk was a handsome bookcase, sur-
1Historical sketch of the Greene Street School, by Hon. Henry L. Greene in R. I. Historical Society publications, vol. vi, No. 4.
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mounted by a bust of Sir Walter Scott and filled with a choice collec- tion of books by standard authors. This was at the service of the school. At the opposite or front end of the hall, or school room, was a piano, which was between the doors which opened out of the two front rooms above described. Over the piano hung a fine portrait of Mr. Fuller, painted in 1838 by Frances Alexander, of Boston, and over the door leading into the girls' side of the room was an equally fine por- trait of the poet Percival.
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