EARLY SCHOOL HOUSES OF NORTH HAVEN

Sunday March 17, 2013

Ezekiel CheeverThe Cheever School of New Haven

first free school in America

Written in the New Haven Colony Records, 1641

“For the better trayning upp of youth

in this towne…it is ordered that a free

schoole be sett upp…”

18th century grammar schools

Unlike English grammar schools, the Cheever School was free and open to all male children.

However, it was a secondary school only.

The cost of the school was paid from town funds; but the public money was appropriated by a vote of Church members only.

Dame schools

Connecticut School Code of 1650 ordered that:

“…the selectmen of every town keep a vigilant eye over the brethren…that the children be taught to read the English tongue and have knowledge of the capitol laws.”

The First Ecclesiastical Society

“School shall be kept at four places. …ye East side of New Haven East River below Muddy River…the west side of said East River below Pine Bridge; from the Pine Bridge upward to ye Blew Hills. 4 on ye East side and Northward of Muddy River.”

- December 6, 1720

These four locations were:

Lower State StreetThe CenterMontoweseBlue Hills, or Upper State Street

After a School Committee was formed in 1750, taxes were imposed to pay for the support of schools, and a fifth school location was added:

Muddy River (Montowese?)Half MileWallingford Road (Washington Ave.)

Upper State StreetState Street (Center)

In addition, two “man schools” were established:Pines BridgeMuddy River Bridge

Dr. Benjamin Trumbull

In 1764:Convinced town

to build a school house

As many as 70 – 90 children attended at one time!

1786 - Incorporation

Beginning of the separation of education from the churches

Money from the sale of lands in the western part of CT established a school fund for each town

Excise money also used to fund education

The School Society 1795 to 1855

Eight Districts:District 1 – District 2 –

District 3 – District 4 –

District 5 – District 6 – District 7 – District 8 –

ClintonvilleNorth HillMontoweseCenterNorthern Washington AvenueUpper State StreetBishop – Hartford TurnpikeHartford Turnpike

District Schools Established

The School Society established 8 school districts in 1795. Although “public money” was provided through the town, each district was responsible for providing any needed additional funding for its own school.

Each district hired its own teachers, set its own calendar, and maintained its own school. “School Visitors” appointed by the Society reported on each school’s progress once or twice a year, but that was the only involvement of the School Society.

District 1 - Clintonville

Clintonville School

District 1’s first school house burned down in 1907, and was replaced by this one in 1908.

Although the town took over complete control of the schools in 1909, Clintonville School continued to operate until 1928.

Mill Road and Clintonville Road

Double doors – even in 1926!Double doors allowed for girls and boys to remain separate as they entered and left school; coat cloak rooms were separate, as well!

District 2 – North Hill

District 2 – North Hill

North Hill School had outdoor privies; the boy’s was a “four-holer”!

Water was supplied by a pump; this was considered adequate by the School Visitor!

There are many charming reminiscences about this school house in the North Haven Historical Society archives.

Middletown Ave. & North Hill Rd.

Educating a future governor…

It is believed that Hobart Bigelow attended this school while a young boy – Hobart Bigelow went on to become Connecticut’s 50th governor.

The Bigelow homestead stood on the hill overlooking the Muddy River at Velvet Street; it was demolished in 2007, despite the efforts of the Historical Society and the Land Trust.

Before Demolition

Second District 2 School House

A 2nd school house for district 2

In 1912 a second school house was built; it was used for grades 4 through 7 and the old school house was used for the younger students.

District 2 School Interior

District 3 - Montowese School

District 3 - Montowese School

The earliest known school house in District 3 was built on the west side of the Quinnipiac River across from the Baptist Church.

The earlier school house was replaced with this one by 1845. The addition was added in 1875 or 1876, making it a two room school.

Montowese School exterior

Montowese School - 1904

District 3 - Montowese

Bertha Branch, school teacher

Two generations of Clark family teachers

Although uncertain which school Bertha taught in, her mother-in-law Mary Brown Clark definitely taught in Montowese School.

Mary’s love letters to her future husband, Andrew, are in the Historical Society’s archives.

District 4 – The Center

The First Center School

The first school house on the Green is attributed to Rev. Trumbull, who offered his services as teacher if the town would build a school.

Rev. Trumbull recounted that as many as 90 children attended the school at one time.

Barbour print depicting the first Center School

District 4 – The Second Center School

Center School - 1888

The second Center School was built in 1888 by Solomon Linsley. It was built in the high Victorian Gothic style for $3500.

Mabel Squires recalled that in 1905 the classrooms were each a double grade (1&2, 3&4, etc.). The curriculum included penmanship and recitation of lessons.

District 5 – Approval to Build

District 5

No photos of the old District 5 school house have been found in the archives. Nor is it included on the Beers map of 1868. However, a school house did stand on the east side of Washington Avenue in the 1850’s.

A school house was built at 369 Washington Avenue in 1875. Average attendance was only 9 students per term.

A School House Conveyance

There is a story about a school house, no longer in use, that was quit claimed in 1798 to Robert Tomlinson. Mr. Tomlinson was a man who was “in need of a comfortable dwelling place”, and whose wife was “lame and feeble”.

The reported location seems to be in District 5.

369 Washington Avenue today- site of District 5 school house

District 6 – Blue Hills

The earliest District 6 school house was located in the south triangle where Upper State Street intersects King’s Highway. It was replaced by another school house on the west side of King’s Highway in 1856.

Esther Shepherd Rice recalled that District 6 was a “fine district, for many of the families in it cared a good deal about having their children educated.” Dr. Goodyear, School Visitor, agreed, finding the school second only to the Center School.

Closed in 1917 – now a home

District 6 School House – 20th c.King’s Highway

District 7 – Hartford Turnpike

In 1800 an earlier District 7 school house stood on the west side of Hartford Turnpike a little north of Colonial Drive. There is a story about the school girls there who would “stand in a row, hold hands and curtsey as the stagecoach went by, and sometimes the passengers would throw them pennies.”

District 7 School House as it appears today on Hartford Tpk

This District 7 school house was built in 1839; it is located on the east side of Hartford Turnpike, not far from the site of the 1800 school house. In 1877 Dr. Goodyear pronounced the school house “totally inadequate” for the number of pupils enrolled. (The school house was very small!) In one year, it had seven different teachers resulting in severe discipline problems!

District 8 – Hartford Turnpike

A brick school house preceded the one presently in District 8. When the newer brick school house was built the older one was moved down the hill, pulled by oxen, to the property of Frank Stiles’ lower brickyard. It was used as a boarding house for the brickyard workers.

The Academy – A private school

The Academy was a private high school. It operated from 1850 – 1860 and included about equal numbers of male and female graduates. The Academy Association was North Haven’s first stock company – when it was no longer financially successful it closed 10 years after it was opened. The building was quit-claimed back to Alfred Linsley and has been used for various businesses since then.

The Academy, repurposed

Mrs. Tuttle’s Kindergarten

Kindergarten School 12 Washington Avenue, heavily remodeled!