USA > Vermont > Windham County > Rockingham > History of the town of Rockingham, Vermont, including the villages of Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Rockingham, Cambridgeport and Bartonsville, 1907-1957 with family genealogies > Part 32
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The Saxtons River Inn, the second hotel on this site, has passed through many hands since it was built about 1900 by the Saxtons River Hotel Co. composed of local people. It was later sold to Harry Kimball and since then the owners have been Frank F. Shepard, 1909; Anthony Turcott, 1912; G. T. Alexander 1914; Geraldine E. Ainsworth, 1919; Mrs. N. B. Law, 1922- 1924; Fay S Fuller, 1926; Mr. and Mrs. George C. Brown, 1936; William and Zelda B. McIlhiney, 1937-1938; Charles K.
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HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM
Ballard, 1940; Frank W. Mackensen, 1942-1950; Mr. and Mrs.
Carl Brown, 1950. Present owner is Major L. L. S. Angas.
Postmasters in Saxtons River:
Helen I. Campbell aptd.
5/13/1897
Minnie A. Benton
"
5/4/1898
Patrick H. Harty
"
5/6/1914
Cecil K. Hughes
"
12/9/1922
Cecil K. Hughes
"
2/25/1931
Harry L. Simonds (acting)
"
8/16/1935
Harry L. Simonds
"
6/17/1936
Roscoe E. Olmstead (acting)
"
6/25/1940
Roscoe E. Olmstead
"
4/21/1941 (still serving)
For many years the post office was situated in the F. S. Fuller store until after it was sold when it was moved into the Frost block, now owned by Dr. Osgood.
TELEPHONE EXCHANGE IN SAXTONS RIVER
" The telephone exchange at Saxtons River has undergone many changes of ownership since the first four phones appeared in the village in 1896 in the homes of Fred Rand, George Corey, Foster Locke's store and one brave unknown subscriber. Dr. Osgood remembers distinctly those first wall phones which were cranked up vigorously to get central and Miss Bertha Richard- son and Mrs. Abbie Hammond, both operators of long standing, recollect vividly the days before dial phones replaced, with their impersonal system, the old friendly, single-position board at which they worked for so many years. The telephone business office and exchange were all in the same place which was in many places from the days in 1906 when Mr. Mesick owned it and put in a few phones at $1.50 a month until it ended up in its present ultra building on Main Street. It was owned pri- vately as well as by various companies, New England Tel. and Tel. being the first medium through which it operated after which it was owned for many years by John Alexander, Jr. The first office was over what is now the Stanley Adams Hardware Store and for some time the telegraph office was in the same place. From there it perambulated to L. F. White's house to that of Mrs. Ellen Stearns and then to what was last known as the Sax- win Building which Mr. Alexander bought to house his exchange. Its last move, before the dial phones pushed it out of existence, was in the Carl Whitcomb home on lower Main Street with Mrs. Abbie Whitcomb Hammond as chief operator.
Back in the days of Mr. Alexander's ownership, there were two private lines running out of town, one to Westminster West and one to Windham. Mr. Alexander and a helper could often be seen along the road, fixing their own fallen poles and wires in a day when the telephone company was a one-man concern. In May of 1929 the exchange was sold to Colonial Utilities with
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the main business office in Chester, Vt. and in November of that year it had been moved from the Alexander building to the Whitcomb house with Mrs. Hammond in charge, a position which she held until dial phones went into operation. During this period the exchange was also owned by Central Vermont Public Service Corporation and the Central Vermont Telephone Corporation and today includes the villages of Athens, Grafton and Cambridgeport.
Like all small town exchanges, the operator on duty was always willing to answer questions or just to pass the time of day. It was a sort of "bureau of missing persons" and you could locate your husband who might be hanging around the barber shop or central would find the doctor for you. Country service used to be a personal thing. Now there is no helpful operator on which to call if your clock stops or you can't re- member when the Ladies' Aid meets. Patrons often left their parcels there for safe keeping or just plain forgot them like the gentleman who dropped in one day to pay a bill and left his meat for dinner in the office which was discovered by hungry mice.
The Central Telephone Corporation was formed to acquire the telephone operations of the Central Vermont Public Service Corporation which took place on August 26, 1946. On March 1, 1953, the name of this corporation was changed to the General Telephone Co. of Vermont, Inc. which now controls the phones. When it took over in 1946 where were a total of 212 magneto type phones serving about 200 subscribers with five operators employed on a single switchboard located in the Whitcomb house where Mrs. Hammond lived. On January, 1949 there averaged 2,157 calls per day. In August, 1954, the calls were 2,117 and in December, 1949 the number of toll calls per month were 3,614 and for the same month in 1954 they ran to 4,223. On March 15, 1949 the Saxtons River Exchange was converted to the dial system and on December 31, 1954, there were 367 phones used by 337 subscribers. The company was once also owned by the Allied Vermont Utilities.
Among the longtime operators in Saxtons River were Eliza- beth Wright, Mary Knowlton (Noyes), Laura Brace (Stone), Bertha Richardson, Ethel Richardson (Dodge), Harriet Richard- son (Hemingway), Abbie Whitcomb (Hammond), Lucy Stone (Higgins), Marion Hall (Parks), Jessie Rand (Williams), Mabel Richardson (Barnes), Ruth Harlow (Tucker), Charlotte Marl- boro (Oakes), Mary Kiniry, Helen Alexander (Frey), Margaret Willis, Helen Moore, Blanche Shufeldt, Ruth Perry (Bigbee), Lillian Dean (Oakes), Harold "Doc" Wilder who was night operator for many years, Beatrice Hammond Shattuck and Mrs. Frank Beals.
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HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM VERMONT ACADEMY
In the early days of Vermont Academy, the co-ed school in Saxtons River where girls banged and braided their hair and board was $2.25 a week, many famous lecturers were on the program such as Wendell Phillips and Josh Billings and once the commencement music cost $400. Every girl had a single bed with a bedroom and parlor for every two girls. No boy who was "working his way" was allowed to pay for entertainment for his girl friend; it was "Dutch treat." Tuition was $8.00 a term and laundry cost so much, thirty cents a dozen pieces, that the girls washed their own handkerchiefs and pressed them between the pages of a three dollar song book placed under the bed post. The favorite winter sport was a sleigh ride and in April,. school was dismissed while everyone, boys, girls and teachers had their annual field day in the woods gathering arbutus-which would probably cause every one to be arrested today.
Founded in 1876, the school was organized under the direc- tion of the Baptist State Convention but it was always unde- nominational. Most pupils were from rural Vermont which lacked facilities for higher education. In 1879 the enrollment was 175 and some extremists among the young ladies shingled their hair! For some years the school vacillated between a co-ed to a boys' school and back again but not until 1931 did it settle down for good to a purely male academy. Perhaps it was influenced by the fact that the preceding year the Vermont Academy basketball team claimed the New England Prep School Championship!
The school had many ups and downs over the years. From 1906-1911 it enjoyed a full enrollment with about 150 young people registered each year. At this time it held the enviable reputation of one of New England's "well-recognized and well- reputed secondary schools" to use the words of a former teacher. But the enrollment ebbed with the years and finally the school closed down for five years, re-opening in 1921 with many hopes for the future which someway failed to materialize and after a difficult struggle, was again ready to close its doors in 1934. At that time many felt that the days of the old Academy were numbered, that the property should be sold and the struggle ended, the proceeds going to meet the demands of the many creditors including several unpaid teachers. This, then, would have been the final chapter in the history of a brave and proud school which had met the winds of ill fate head-on but which seemed unable to withstand the succession of unfortunate circumstances.
But there were still men who had courage as well as faith that this was not the end. Among these were Messrs. Gay and Chase who, although the school was forced into bankruptcy
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with an $89,000 debt, decided, when they were appointed receivers, to see that affairs were settled in as advantageous a way as possible. And the impossible happened; friends rallied to the school and suddenly it seemed dimly feasible to carry on: It was at this hazardous time that Laurence Leavitt and his wife Dorothy accepted the invitation to come to this "school of faint hope," leaving a fine position in a New England school to attempt to build up, with little financial backing and nothing to build on, a new school which would be better than ever before. And that is what they did. In 1953 Olin Gay was named V.A.'s Man of the Year at the Commencement banquet because he had the courage of his convictions in those dark days of 1921. Headmaster Leavitt is still on the job, another man with a vision who likes to remember the sacrifices made by the staff that first hard year when they operated on low salaries, had double and triple duties and responsibilities not included in any call of duty. But everyone was determined that the school should succeed-and it has operated in the black ever since, every year but one and even that year boasted a small balance.
Today V.A. is a strong institution, nationally recognized and attended by a fine class of boys and no longer under any necessity of apologizing for inadequate facilities for even a suitable gymnasium was now assured of erection in the spring of 1955 at a cost of $330,000 through the V.A. Gym Fund. A big boost toward realization of this building, so long needed, was the gift of $50,000 by the widow of an 1885 graduate. The building so long used as a gymnasium was constructed as an armory for basketball in 1892. All locker rooms, showers and storage were in the basement of Fuller Hall, the main classroom building. The new gym is on Fuller Field just below the new athletic fields, reservoir and hydrant system completed in 1948 and dedicated in 1950, the first major construction since founding days. The first buildings on the campus since 1921, when Alumni Hall was built to replace Farnsworth which had burned, was the new Headmaster's house in 1937. By 1942 the school debt was wiped out through men who had faith, courage and imagination. You might say that V.A. pulled itself up by it's own boot straps. You can surely say that it was an old school made new-the school that came back.
With an Alumni Fund established in 1940 to offset the lack of endowments, impetus has since been given to the operations of the school especially in the scholarship program. V.A. has now one of the best winter sports developments in any secondary school and better than in many colleges. As part of the Outing Club work, the boys have done much of the work on the ski tows, jumps and cross-country trails. The heart of the school is in its boys.
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Headmasters at Vermont Academy :
Dr. Horace Mann Willard
1876-1889
Dr. George A. Williams 1889-1895
Mr. Homer C. Bristol 1895-1897
Dr. Henry Ellery 1897-1903
Mr. John L. Alger
1903-1908
Dr. George B. Lawson
1908-1916
(closed until 1921)
Mr. Raymond McFarland
1921-1923
Dr. John B. Cook
1923-1934
Mr. Laurence G. Leavitt
1934-
WARNER HOME (KURN HATTIN)
Although Kurn Hattin Homes are in Westminster, the portion occupied by the girls, called Warner home, is in Saxtons River. Here boys were also accommodated from 1908 to 1923 until it was decided to give girls the same advantages as their brothers. The Homes started from the dream and efforts of a former Westminster boy, Dr. Charles A. Dickinson, Harvard graduate and pastor of Berkely Temple in Boston. Dr. Dickin- son saw the great need of many city boys for the advantages of a good home in the country. He felt that the church was not fulfilling its duty if it did not help all the people, young and old, in the community. So this man who had spent the first 16 years of his life on a Vermont farm but who died far from his native hills in California, remembered those hills of his boyhood especially the one behind an old summer hotel, later a sanitarium, which reminded him of the hill in Palestine beside which the Beatitudes were first spoken and called the Horns of Hattin. He bought the old place in 1894 after finding uncared-for children both in the wilderness of Maine and the city streets of Boston and established an "orphanage" with four boys under the superintendency of Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Moore in July of that year.
"For a long time," he said, "I had been conscious of the fact that there are multitudes of children in New England growing up in vice, poverty and ignorance." He could, at least, he thought, begin a movement for their betterment on a small scale in his own native town. To what heights that "small scale" was to grow, he could never, even at his death in 1907, have had an inkling.
E. L. Walker of Bellows Falls was the first treasurer of the Homes and the only one for over 35 years. At his death in 1935, Robert Clark of the Bellows Falls Trust Co. took over the work, these two comprising the only treasurers which the Homes have ever had. The work was well along when fire destroyed the main building after an annex had just been com- pleted on February 27, 1908. It was fortunate, that ten years before, Mrs. Sarah Warner of Saxtons River had left her spacious
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HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM
home to the society which was now improved to take care of the homeless boys in Westminster. For 15 years it was used by these boys. The precarious beginning of the Homes was saved from probable extinction when the late W. G. Van Patten of Burlington underwrote $30,000 in mortgages to save the organization. From these few small buildings in 1894, there were, in 1950, ten major buildings for 135 boys and girls. For the summer vacation home for girls became the permanent home for girls through high school when Warner Home became theirs exclusively in 1923 and a vital part of the life of Kurn Hattin and Saxtons River village.
The Homes are undenominational with attendance on the church of the child's choice. In Westminster are modern farm buildings, a fine vocational shop and residence for the director who for more than 25 years has been W. I. Mayo who came there with Mrs. Mayo and his family in 1927. In September, 1952, an anniversary celebration at Warner Homes to com- memorate 25 years with the Mayos was observed and included an elaborate program, lunch served on the spacious grounds of the Home and speakers in the Wheeler gymnasium. The Kurn Hattin Band was on hand in new uniforms donated by the American Legion of Bellows Falls and provided music for the occasion. Among the speakers were Miss Eliza Sessions, financial representatives emeritus who retired in 1950 after 45 years with the Homes and W. C. Jewett of Bellows Falls, present representative who spoke of early experiences; George Cunning- ham, president of Kurn Hattin Alumni; John Menancon, alum- nus and trustee of the Homes; alumnus Remington Wood- hull; Mrs. Maude Jeffries, supervisor of the girls at Warner and Howard C. Rice of Brattleboro, chairman of the Kurn Hattin Board of Trustees. More than $3,000 was collected by donations as a gift to the Mayos who were leaving for a trip to Europe.
Today, instead of being heavily in debt, the Homes have an endowment fund of $700,000 and an annual budget of $100,000. It is an education for an outsider to visit either of these homes and observe the exceptional training which these young people receive. There are courses in printing, carpentry, sheet metal work and agriculture for the boys; cooking, sewing, homemaking for the girls in modern, well-lighted rooms. From this training these children go out to take their part in the life of the com- munity where records show that they do a fine job. However, they are already a part of the community in their undergraduate days for the Kurn Hattin Band travels to all parts of New England and the girls' choir sings to many audiences especially at Christmas. The school is unique in that children are accepted from New England only which taxes the capacities of the Homes to the limit with Vermont having the most admittances and many from New Hampshire and Massachusetts each year. No
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child under seven is admitted and the usual age is 13 but they may remain through high school which they attend at either Bellows Falls or Walpole.
It took time to accomplish the things which have been done at the Homes, starting out so many years ago, with Dr. Dickin- son's dream and an old house in Westminster. In 1928 the Dickey building for small boys was dedicated and in 1935 the Friedsam building for Manual Arts training. The next year the Leonard Grade School for girls was completed as well as their Domestic Science rooms. Still another building went up the next year under the extension system; the Judge Tyler water system was installed at the Boys' Farm and a similar one, on the Blodgett system, for the girls, each improvement named for some benefactor of the school. These water systems provide the best fire protection of any building in their respective towns. In 1938 the Hewitt Cottage at Saxtons River for older girls opened, the rooms furnished by Mrs. Arthur G. Wooley. The same year the Wheeler Gym was completed for the girls and a similar one for the boys the next year made a complete physical education program. In 1942, the trustees opened the Wilson Cottage at Westminster as a new home for the Mayos, with guest rooms for visitors. Kurn Hattin is under private auspices for which the National Society of New England Women has done much, fitting up the little hospital in 1945 at Saxtons River as well as a playroom, raising an endowment fund and equipment for the boys' print shop, In 1948 they were re- sponsible for a playroom for younger girls in the basement of Warner Cottage.
Everything is done to make the Homes a real home and the kitchen in the girls' department now has a walk-in refriger- ator and deep-freeze, donated by generous friends. The new school building for the boys was erected by a bequest of Miss Esther Thomas. In 1952 graduation included the dedication of the Bissell swimming pool for the girls and one for the boys has been added since. The farm in Westminster has seen the transition from horses to machinery; once two pairs of horses did all the work! Now everything is done by the most modern and time-saving devices such as rakes, balers and plows, all drawn by tractors. Each month the Bulletin is published, the official magazine and about 9,000 copies are printed by the boys. In 1927 the monthly out-put was 3,000 copies and con- sisted of local contributions. Today it is a newsy, interesting magazine giving a vivid picture of the life of these boys and girls, many of the latter, when they must leave, breaking into tears at parting with the only real home they ever knew.
The directors of the Homes have such diversified and multi- tudinous tasks that, at the anniversary party in 1952, W. C. Jewett, in giving a resume of the past 25 years, said that Mr. Mayo "was a farmer, contractor, architect, builder, editor and
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publisher, columnist and financier as well as an authority on child welfare and institutions." And Mrs. Mayo has been bandleader for many years besides running her own home. The Band is famous all over New England and in 1949 won first place in B Division of the Junior Music Festival at Eastern States Exposition at Springfield, Mass., competing with older bands and received a Gold Certificate. In a cornet solo contest, Miss Ernestine Duby received a medal and cornet valued at $275, given by the Vincent Bach Corporation of New York City and personally presented by Mr. Bach. The result of the Homes is the answer which the Vermont farmer gave the tourist who asked what they raised up in these hills. "Men!" replied the farmer. And, it might be added, women also-the human crops of Kurn Hattin Homes.
THE BAPTIST AND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES IN SAXTONS RIVER
There is one Protestant Church in Saxtons River today, Christ Church. The Baptist denomination is the oldest group in the village and the recent Catholic Church, the newest. Christ Church consists of both Baptists and Congregationalists, al- ternating services from one building to the other for although federated, the two denominations, have two edifices to care for. Six months of the year services are held at the Baptist, six months, during the summer, at the Congregational and today Sunday School is at the Baptist the year around.
For 30 years the Baptists met in the Old South Meeting- house, alternating with the brick schoolhouse on Main Street. In 1840 they erected the present building, the oldest church in Rockingham in constant use with the exception of Emmanuel Episcopal in Bellows Falls. Fifteen pastors served the early church which began with 16 members and which, in 1912, at its centennial, had 86. The Ladies' Aid and the Judson Mission Circle were strong groups in the church and when they were in their new building, Vermont Academy augmented the church with both pupils and teachers. In November, 1912, the Baptists held their celebration of a hundred years of church work. It included Thanksgiving Day with Rev. Edward Mason as pastor and exhibits were on view in the waiting room of the trolley station and included the original communion set used in 1912. A pilgrimage was made to the Old South Meetinghouse, then used as a school, where the church was organized and hymns were sung there again. In September, 1936, the Baptists, too few in numbers now to keep their church going, joined their brethren of the Congregational Church which became known as the Federated Church. But even with the adoption of the articles of the new church, it was at first difficult to feel the interest which had kept the church alive for so many years.
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In 1925 the Congregational Church with Rev. Walter Black- mer, pastor, who gave a historical address, held its centennial, dating from the time that the Rev. Sereno Taylor left the straighter-laced Baptist to help organize the new church. Seven- teen pastors presided over the church in its hundred years and a biographical list of them was given in the booklet printed by the church at that time. Present at the centennial were Rev. George Chapin, pastor emeritus and his daughter Grace who wrote a historical pageant, partly in verse, for the occasion, and which was presented on the campus of Vermont Academy. This included scenes showing the early settlement of the village with Benoni Wright's scouting party in 1724, the first religious society in 1808 held in Isaac Willard's tavern-the origin of the Congregational Church-an old-fashioned choir, the Ladies' Benevolent Society in 1855, Vermont Academy of long ago with members of an early faculty, missions, the Primary Depart- ment. of the Sunday School and the Warner Home girls. A committee of 58 local people, with the pastor, was responsible for the success of the historic occasion which covered 3 days, June 21, 22. and 23, ending with the pageant.
For about ten years under Mr. Blackmer, the church prospered and grew in numbers with old-time weekly prayer meetings and a Church Council. In September, 1930, the wait- ing room of the nearby trolley station, unused for six years, was purchased by the church for Sunday School rooms but became utilized mainly by the Outing Club and in 1945 was leased to the Community Club who agreed to contribute the use of one room for a library to be run by the P.T.A. Three years later, February 25, 1948, the church presented the building to the village as a community house and fire station. i ...
The longest pastorate in the church history was held by, the beloved George Chapin who served faithfully from August 1883 to July, 1921, retiring in the later years of his life with the title of Pastor Emeritus. He was followed by Rev. Walter Blackmer who served next in period of years. The Woman's Society was formed in 1928, an organization which has always been a strong right arm of the church and today includes members of both denominations. Mr. Blackmer retired April 16, 1933 after eleven and a half years and from then until the next Sep- tember, the church was without a pastor. At that time Mr. W. Burnett Easton, Jr., a young man taking up his first pastorate, accepted the call and was ordained in this church in December, 1933. He was capable, sincere and willing but his work was difficult as the church had been so long without a leader.
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