USA > Vermont > Addison County > Bristol > History of Bristol, Vermont (1762-1980), Third Edition > Part 10
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The Varney Cemetery is on the Hardscrabble Road. It was named for the Varney family which owned the land. One of the first burials there is dated 1809, but most of the burials date between 1840 and 1890. There have been only two burials there in the last thirty-five years.
It appears that after 1890, most of the burials were made in Greenwood Cemetery and Mount Saint Joseph Cemetery. The Greenwood Cemetery is located at the foot of Stony Hill on the northerly side of Route 17 heading west out of Bristol. Greenwood Cemetery was previously called "the Bristol Cemetery, the Village Cemetery, or Stony Hill Cemetery." There are no records of burials in this cemetery prior to January 1895. In that year, Erwin A. Hasseltine, under direc- tion of the Selectmen, compiled a lot book for the cemetery. Although there were no early records kept, some of the tombstones there date from 1802.
CANCER AT RY
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Briggs Hill Cemetery - Briggs Hill
Greenwood Cemetery - foot of Stony Hill
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Mount Saint Joseph Cemetery - corner of Burpee and Plank Roads
Varney Cemetery - Hardscrabble Road
m
In November 1900, the Green- wood Cemetery was incorporated under the name Bristol Cemetery Association. The association was formed to manage the affairs of the Greenwood Cemetery. The present association officers are: President, Dr. William Cardell and Secretary- Treasurer, Carlton Bosworth. In July 1904, the front section of the cemetery was enclosed with the wrought iron fence. There are about twenty-one acres owned by the cemetery and ap- proximately three-thousand-seven- hundred-sixty burials there.
Mount Saint Joseph Cemetery is located at the corner of Plank and Burpee Roads. The land for this Catholic cemetery was purchased in 1897 and blessed in 1898. The cemetery is owned by the Burlington Catholic Diocese. The earliest burials in this cemetery were in 1898. The cemetery contains about four acres and seven- hundred-eighty burials.
By law all cemeteries are supposed to be fenced, and the town has to care for them if there is no other source. Three or more local residents can peti- tion the Selectmen for proper care of a cemetery if need be.
Information compiled by Gordon Brown and Carl Nelson.
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Birdseye view of Bristol, Vermont - 1889 - Drawn and published by George E. Norris, Brockton, Massachusetts
......
WEST
ST
1 Baptist Church.
9 Pint Offer.
2 Methodist Church
10 Bristol Herald, Wilson Bros.
3 Advent Church
11 Bristol Mfg Co., Coffins and C'askela.
1 Catholic Church.
12 A L.Cain & Co., Stave Mfr.
5 Holley 11all,
Office Farr Block.
Brinted Graded School
13 Drake & Smith. Mf'rs Mailing Boxes
Bristol House, J.J Ridley. Prop
and Bee keepers' Supplies
V'ummerrial House,
14 N F Danshee. Dry and Fancy Goods
BRI
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·119/11.
ROCKYDALE ·
VT.
15 EL Ike & Co., Hardware.
10 Bush & Patterson, Grucenes, Crockery Etc.
W. E. Dunahre, Groceries.
9 Bates & llathorne, Groceries, Mesta and Provisions
13 Drake & Smith, Jewelers,
10 J. M Day, Watches, Jewelry & Millinery
16 D .A. Bistre, Drugs and Medicines
17 J. F Thompson, Merchant Tailor.
19 Homer A. Boque, Physician & Surgeon
19 Q E Grover. Livery & Feed Stable.
90 Alfred J. Beaupre, Bristol Laundry
21 D Bosworth, Residence.
2 ML Abraham.
# Hogtack Mu
H Monkwa Mua.
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XIV Education
School History
Even before schools were official- ly mentioned in Bristol Town Meet- ings, three log schoolhouses had been built. The first one was established in 1789 on Bristol Flats; all were built by voluntary contributions of labor and materials. The first mention of the schools in a Town report was in March 1792. By the time the first official report was made of the schools, for the 1810 census, there were ten school districts: Center, North, Northeast, "Leg," United, Southeast, Hill, South, North Hill, and Village. This report showed four-hundred- eighty-one students, a student being anyone between the ages of four and eighteen who attended school at any time during the year. In 1831, a Town committee established the ten districts officially, with proper boundaries set between districts. This system of district schools continued until March 1893, when the nine districts then re- maining were brought under the con- trol of a committee and the town system was adopted. Until 1850, schools in Bristol were supported by an assessment made upon each student ac- cording to the time spent in school; after 1850 schools were supported by an assessment made on the Grand List.
In 1837, a two-story school building was erected in the Village; the upper story was for secondary educa- tion. This building served its dual pur- pose for only a few years before proving inadequate. In 1852, a com- mittee was organized to establish a high school. In 1855, six-hundred- dollars was provided by the Selectmen of the Town of Bristol for the privilege of using a lower room in the high school building for holding town meetings.
In September 1856, the two-story Bristol High School opened; its first teacher was Horace Thomas. The school was moved to its present loca- tion on the Park from the corner of Maple and Pleasant Streets about 1876. This school constituted the basis
Bristol Kindergarten (formerly Howden Hall) West Street
of the old Bristol High School. About this time also, Bristol's first Village school was moved from its location (the present site of the Catholic Rec- tory) to Garfield Street and became a private residence.
By 1898, as the school on the Park was serving as both graded and high school, lack of space necessitated an addition to house the high school departments. Tuition was free to all pupils whose parents or guardians resided in Bristol. A furnace and run- ning water were installed in the graded school at this time.
A Union School District was formed in 1907, consisting of Bristol, Lincoln, Starksboro, Monkton, and New Haven, and a superintendent was employed. A. W. Eddy of New Haven served as the first superintendent. At this time, there were thirty-six pupils in high school with a total of two- hundred-sixty-two in the whole school; one-hundred-twenty-five were in the six rural schools of Bristol. The high school was rated "first class" and of- fered college preparatory subjects and commercial courses in the fourth year.
In 1910, agriculture was added as an elective course.
In 1912, a two-story addition was built on the north side of the existing building and steam heat was installed. The next year John L. Selden came from Massachussetts to teach agriculture. He later served as prin- cipal, supervising principal, and super- intendent of the district. Domestic science and teacher training, a course designed for rural teachers, were added to the curriculum. Athletics and music formed part of the school program.
About 1919, Bristol became a junior-senior high school, with six elementary grades, the seventh and ! eighth grades constituting the junior high school and taught in part by high school teachers. The remaining four grades made up the high school proper.
Only four rural schools remained ! open by 1929 and transportation i became an important item in school costs.
In 1930, $30,000 was voted to , erect a supplementary building to pro- vide additional classrooms, a gym- nasium, and an auditorium. This addi- tion, located to the north, was of modern, fireproof construction and connected to the old school by a passageway.
By 1941, the school population had increased to two-hundred-ten in the elementary school, fifty in the junior high, and one-hundred-fifty-six in the senior high, with only twenty- nine in the rural schools. Shop courses in electrical work and in auto mechanics had been introduced, but due to the war and scarcity of teachers, these projects had to be dropped. However, the A. Johnson Company made a farm machinery course available under the National Defense Training Program.
In 1948, the school board reported overcrowded conditions and the need for more rooms and better facilities. Normal improvements had been disrupted by the war, ensuing scar- cities, and high construction costs. One
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Mountain Street School - Grades 1-4
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Middle School - Grades 4-6
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1
d
n
Mount Abraham Union High School
elementary grade was being taught in the basement of Holley Hall. After the Advent Church closed its doors in 1947, the building was donated by the Howden heirs for school purposes. An industrial arts shop was set up in the lower part of the building.
The South Bristol School, the last rural school, was closed in 1950 and the total enrollment in Bristol was four-hundred-eight. The upper part of Howden Hall was converted to two classrooms and an office for the superintendent. John Selden resigned after thirty-seven years of devoted ser- vice to the schools of the district. He was succeeded by Milton G. Moore. A driver-training course was added; music, which had been missing, reap- peared in the curriculum; and a physical education teacher was hired.
In 1952, it was voted to build a five-room building on Mountain Street on the so-called Kilbourn property. This new building was intended to house four elementary grades and pro- vide a multi-purpose room. In 1953, the number of school directors was changed from three to five. In September 1953, the Mountain Street School was ready for use, but the multi-purpose room had to be con- verted immediately into a classroom. The rising birth rate due to war mar- riages forecast the pressing need for still more classroom space for the lower grades.
A citizens' study group, appointed by the Selectmen, recommended in 1955 the building of an addition to the Mountain Street School, to consist of seven classrooms and a multi-purpose room. This arrangement would care for twelve elementary classes and pro- vide facilities for the hot lunch pro- gram. It was not until 1957, however, after five special town meetings, that the addition was open for occupancy.
By 1959, thirty-one teachers in- cluding the principal were employed. The school system, which had unavoid- ably lapsed from its high status prior to World War II, due to a scarcity of teachers, materials, low salaries and frequent changes in personnel, had been quietly and ably revitalized and expanded under the administration of Superintendent Ernest M. Codding,
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Sr. and Principal Richard Breen. About half the high school staff held Masters Degrees. College preparatory subjects offered included three years of Latin, French, and German; elemen- tary, intermediate, and advanced algebra; plane geometry; trigonom- etry; the laboratory sciences: chemistry, physics, and biology. The commercial course covered four years of typing; shorthand and bookkeeping were taught in the last two years. Home economics and shop work were available and the music department of- fered band instruction and choral sing- ing. Physical education brought sports and health education to everyone. These subjects were in addition, of course, to the basic subjects of English and history, with an elective course in speech.
At the resignation in May 1962, of Harvey Harkness, Jr., the teaching principal of the Mountain Street School, a self-governing group was formed by the teachers, and they developed a set of rules for the coming school term. This group served in place of a principal for the next year. In May 1963, Ralph Weinreber, a sixth grade teacher, signed a contract to become the teaching principal for the Moun- tain Street School.
Also in May 1963, the board ap- proved the removal of the old bell and cupola from the high school building; it was removed in July 1963. In 1969, the bell was turned over to the Bristol High School Alumni Association which has subsequently built a display case for the bell in front of the old high school location by the Park.
In the fall of 1962, discussions for a proposed Union District High School began. By 1966, the state and local ap- proval for a new high school had still not been obtained, while over- crowding and the deterioration of the old school building continued. In April 1967, the school board met with ar- chitect Julian Goodrich to plan rather extensive changes to the old building in order to accommodate the increasing number of students expected in the next school year. Four class- rooms were developed from the old auditorium with a fifth classroom located behind the stage.
School officials: Keith L. Hall, Superintendent of Schools, Addison Northeast District; Terrance Evarts, Elementary School Principal; John D. Connolly, Mount Abraham Union High School Principal
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Elementary School Board - 1979
Richard F. Estey; Karen Yager; Sylvia Coffin, Chairman; Edward Tucker, Jr. (Ralph Cook absent from photo)
Overcrowding in the school year 1967-1968 caused classes to be held in the Baptist Church Hall; the second grade met in the Administration Building at the old Bristol Airport; and two trailers were added to the Moun- tain Street School site for additional classrooms. In the summer of 1968, the trailers were sold to the Town of Chester school board.
Educational Television was in-
stalled in the Mountain Street School in the summer of 1968; cable television was installed in the Middle School (the name given to the old high school which houses grades 4-6) in October 1969.
In January 1969, the Bristol School Board voted to rent Howden Hall and the old Bristol High School gymnasium and equipment to Union School District #28 for its use until the
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second section of the new union high school could be completed. Later, in April 1971, the board signed a lease for Howden Hall to be used by the Headstart Program.
The elementary school board, . study.
established as a separate body from the Union High School District School Board in 1967, voted July 10, 1969, to demolish the front section of the old Bristol High School. The facade of the remaining building was repaired and the cellar hole filled with gravel and topsoil. The work was completed in the winter of 1970.
In 1971, a new floor was installed in the gymnasium of the Middle School.
At Town Meeting in March 1978, approval was given to establish a public kindergarten, to start that September. A morning and afternoon session was approved. Howden Hall was remodeled to accommodate the kindergarten.
There were four-hundred-sixty-two students in grades kindergarten through sixth for the school year 1979-80. Classes were held in Howden Hall (kindergarten), Mountain Street School (1-3), and the Middle School (4-6).
The following men have served as Principal: Charles S. Paige, 1892- 1902; W.H. Botsford, 1902-1906; C.M. Hazen, 1906-1907; F.H. Wallace, 1907-1909; B.E. Hicks, 1909-1910; G.G. Newell, 1910-1913; J.O. Baxendale, 1913-1915; R.W. Hedges, 1915-1917; J.L. Selden, 1917-1935 (1928-1935 as supervising principal); L.R. Rowe, 1935-1939; J.L. Gunn, 1939-1943; R.E. Howes, 1943-1946; Clinton Demeritt, 1946- 1947; Thomas Sullivan, 1947-1950; Stuart Marshall, 1950-1952; Richard Breen, 1952-1961; W. Neal Hoadley, 1961-1967 (transferred to the new union high school); and Terrance Evarts, 1967 to present.
Union High School District #28
In 1962, because of increasing school enrollment, a committee was appointed to study the conditions ex- isting in secondary education in the Addison Northeast Supervisory District. The committee, comprised of about fifty people from Bristol,
Lincoln, New Haven, and Starks- boro, was headed by William Saunders of New Haven. Monkton soon became a member of this school district and sent members to participate in the
In the spring of 1963, a report of this committee was presented to the Superintendent of Schools, Ernest M. Codding, Sr., calling for a union school for grades seven through twelve as the best answer to the secondary school problems of the five-town area. On December 1, 1965, the Town of Bristol voted to support a union district high school by a vote of three- hundred-ninety-six to thirty-seven.
Questions concerning the number of towns which would comprise the Union District #28, and whether a third union high school in Addison County was needed, caused delays lasting for years. It was not until June 9, 1966,
that the State Board of Education created the Union High School District designated as #28, comprised of the town school districts of Bristol, Lin- coln, and Monkton. In July, Starksboro voted to become a member of the district; New Haven joined in August. On September 1, 1966, the organizational meeting took place and the elected school directors became the official board for the Union District.
After studying sites for months, the Union Board chose the site of the old Bristol Airport as the most suitable. On November 29, 1966, the Town of Bristol voted three-hundred- sixty-seven to one-hundred-thirty-one to authorize the sale of this site of about thirty-two acres to the Union District for $33,000.
In January 1967, the Union Board held a meeting to formally elect the board members nominated from New
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Union High School District #28 - Union Board Members:
Seated: Sandra Foote* - New Haven
Evelyn Dike, Clerk - Bristol
Bertha Hanson - Starksboro
Thomas Fisher, Vice Chairman - New Haven
Standing middle: Warren Whitcomb - New Haven Edwin Hilbert, Jr. -- Bristol
David Marsters - Lincoln
Standing back: George Strickholm - Lincoln
Martin Kamencik, Chairman - Starksboro
Thomas Yager - Bristol
Andrew Johnson - Bristol
Edward Nichols - Monkton
Carol Eldridge - Bristol (absent from photo)
Martin Hawkes - Monkton (absent from photo)
* Sandra Foote finished her term of office in March 1980. New Haven population called for only two representatives instead of three. Therefore, her position was not filled. Photo taken prior to March 1980.
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Haven and Starksboro. Wayland Wright of Bristol was chosen as the chairman of the Board.
A vote approving a bond issue of $2,981,000 was taken on April 12, 1967. The new school was to house the first indoor swimming pool in the state at the high school level. It would also contain twenty-two classrooms, a six- hundred-seventy-six seat auditorium, a gymnasium that would seat sixteen- hundred for activities such as gradua- tion, and a ten-thousand square foot library. The architect who designed this was Julian Goodrich of South Burlington. Pizzagalli Construction Company of Burlington won the con- struction bid at $2,988,000. The ground breaking took place October 11, 1967. The name of the school, chosen in December of 1967, was Mount Abraham Union High School; it was chosen in celebration of and in honor of the tallest mountain in Ad- dison County.
In February 1968, Robert Hall became chairman of the Union School Board, because the first chairman, Wayland Wright, had died. The audi- torium of the new school was named Wright Auditorium in his memory.
Mount Abraham Union High School opened a couple of weeks later than usual in September 1968. The classroom section of the building was the only part completed at this time. The first principal of the school was W. Neal Hoadley. The former ad- ministration building for the old air- port was rented to provide offices for the Superintendent of Schools and his assistant; the building was eventually purchased for this purpose.
The following men have served as Principals of the Union District High School: W. Neal Hoadley, 1967- 70; Clifford Veautour, 1970-71; John D. Connolly, 1971 to present. Follow- ing Ernest M. Codding, Sr., as the Ad- dison Northeast Superintendent of Schools was W. Neal Hoadley, 1970-73, and Keith Hall, 1973 to the present.
The Board of Directors of Union District #28 is comprised of members from the five towns that compose the district. There are no less than two directors from each town; the number
of directors from a town is determined by the population. Bristol elects five members to three-year terms at the an- nual town meeting. The Board oversees the operation of the high school.
The Union Board consists of the following people: Chairman, Martin F. Kamencik from Starksboro; Vice Chairman, Thomas E. Fisher from New Haven; Clerk, Evelyn D. Dike from Bristol; and members Carol T. Eldridge, Edwin A. Hilbert, Jr., An- drew F. Johnson, and Thomas A. Yager from Bristol; David A. Marsters and George E. Strickholm from Lin- coln; Martin Hawkes and Edward W. Nichols from Monkton; Warren Whit- comb from New Haven; and Bertha B. Hanson from Starksboro.
Information compiled by Evangelyn Johnson.
Bristol High School Alumni Memorial Bell - on exhibit in front of the Middle School - Park Place
Bristol High School Alumni Memorial
The first class to graduate from Bristol High School was in 1888 with seven members: Dr. E.D. Colby, Mary Dunshee Douglas, Dr. Edgar Farr, Frank Farr, Edith Huntington, Bert Hill, and Anna Sheldon Sturtevant.
When the Bristol High School Alumni Association was formed in 1913, one of the first graduates, Dr. Edgar Farr, a noted eye specialist in New York City, donated one dollar to establish a Bristol High School alumni building fund called the Edgar Farr
Fund. This amount seems small in the light of today's millions but large enough then to be considered an ex- cellent gift. Each year it became the. alumni president's project to earn money to add to the Fund and dona- tions were solicited at yearly ban- quet/business meetings.
The idea of an alumni building had been changed to sponsoring one room, probably an auditorium, to be used by the alumni and the general public when a new high school should be built. In 1968, the last class graduated from Bristol High and the new school became Mount Abraham, a : five-community project, so the mem- bership voted to transfer the Farr funds to an alumni fund with the past presidents and each new president forming the permanent committee to handle it.
From time to time, doing some- thing with the old school bell for the memorial had been discussed. This bell was cast in Troy, New York, in 1856, made of bronze, weight about three- hundred pounds, diameter twenty inches at the base.
The bell was atop the Bristol Graded School building when it was located at the northeast corner of Maple and Pleasant Streets. When the building was moved from that location to the site facing the Park, the bell made the trip with the building.
The bell called the youth of Bristol to the school building for one- hundred-six years, 1856-1962. When ringing became a danger, the bell was lifted out of the belfry by crane and stored in the school basement.
In 1974, the memorial committee submitted to the association the idea of housing the bell in a wooden structure four feet by eight feet by eight feet; the bell to be placed on a platform four feet above the ground and to be viewed through glass on three sides; the inside to be lighted for evening viewing. The response was gratifying and alumni contributions that year enabled con- struction to start.
Dedication ceremonies were held at the site of the bell showcase on July 4, 1975. The theme was "Life of This Bell; Symbol of the Youth of Bristol."
The alumni have also established a
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perpetual fund, the interest of which will pay for yearly insurance and upkeep of the memorial. Personal gifts and memorial gifts have been received from nine classes between 1888-1910 and from every class 1911-1968 making this truly an alumni effort.
Written by Helen M. Lathrop, memorial chairman.
Middlebury College School of German
The Middlebury College School of German was conducted in Bristol for
six weeks during July and August, the classes being held in the Bristol High School. The German School was established in Middlebury in 1915, the first of the Middlebury College language schools, but it was discon- tinued in 1918 due to World War I. When it was reopened in 1931, it was set up in Bristol according to the two leading principles of the Middlebury Idea - isolation from other educa- tional projects and concentration on one subject. The students were pledged to speak nothing but German to each other during the six-week course. They
were housed in private homes but boarded at the Bristol Inn Annex, where all their social activities were held. Dr. Ernst Feiser, professor of German at Johns Hopkins University, headed the school after its reorganiza- tion in 1931. A class for beginners, a practical demonstration in teaching high school German, was available to students of Bristol.
In 1950, the German School returned to Middlebury, the College having been able to build dormitories to accommodate the summer students.
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XV Professional Men
Attorneys
Samuel H. Holley, son of Robert Holley, one of Bristol's earliest set- tiers, was the first man to practice law in Bristol, as well as being one of the first to practice in Addison County. He attended school in Bristol and Mid- dlebury and was graduated from West Point Military Academy. He then returned to Middlebury and studied law with Horatio Seymour. He was ad- mitted to the bar in 1809 and opened his first law office in Shoreham. During the War of 1812, he held a cap- tain's commission and participated in the warfare during the winter of 1813-14. About 1815, he came to Bristol and opened an office where he practiced until 1821, when he moved to Middlebury and began to practice with Mr. Seymour. He served as county judge from 1833 to 1842.
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