A
STUDY OF THE CONSOLIDATION OF NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS INTO MULTIPLE ROOM DISTRICT
SCHOOLS IN BEVERLY BETWEEN 1910 AND 1950.
By Andrea Lohnes
Between the years 1910 and 1950, schools throughout
the nation began to switch from the one and two room schools into larger
multiple room district schools. Was
Beverly typical or atypical in following the nation-wide movement?
From the years between 1910 and 1960 there was a nationwide progressive
education movement. This movement
led to the consolidation of one and two room neighborhoods into larger multiple
room district schools. Educational
authorities claimed that the consolidation of these neighborhood schools would
be more educationally effective.[1]
Many communities agreed with this idea as the number of one-room schools dropped
form approximately 200,000 to 20,000 during this time period. [2]
Some rural communities in states such as Ohio, Wisconsin and Idaho opposed
unification of schools, however, there were also the school systems like that
of New York, whose systems were greatly influenced by this movement.
Beverly’s school system was typical in relation to the rest of the country
as the one-room schools in the community quickly disappeared.
However, Beverly is atypical to the rest of the nation’s school systems
as the switch was made not because it was desired that the schools consolidate,
but because of a boom in public school enrollment (figure
1).
The period between 1895 and 1919 was one of many changes. In 1895 one and two room schools were being built left and
right in Beverly. During this year
a new school was built in Ryal Side as well as on Prospect Hill.
However, in other parts of the city, overcrowding was already becoming a
problem. For example, the Pleasant
View school taught fifty children, and was a school of only two rooms.
As time passed this increased enrollment did not change. By 1897, at the South School, Pleasant View School and the
Farms school, each room had over fifty pupils enrolled. There was not a vacant room in the city. Even
the high school was having problems with overcrowding as never before in the
history of the high school had there been so many students enrolled as of 1897.
During this time period the overcrowding was due to two main sources, one
of which was the building of the United Shoe Machine Corporation.
Not only was it causing crowded rooms throughout the city, it also called
for the construction of a new twelve room school near the junction of Balch and
Mckay streets. Another factor that caused an increase in enrollment was
child labor laws. In 1913, the
child labor law extended the school age to sixteen.
This had a tremendous effect on the high school enrollment.
The majority of Beverly schools made the switch from one and two room
schools to multiple room schools in a short period of time. This was seen at the Ryal Side school. Ryal Side was one of the community’s quickest growing areas
of the city during this time period. In
1897 there were seventy pupils in attendance at the two room Ryal Side
schoolhouse. Due to this
overcrowding it was proposed that the school be enlarged at once.
In 1901 a new school was built in Ryal Side.
This school was not only larger, but also had land available around it so
that four more rooms could be added when necessary.
Those four rooms were needed much sooner than anticipated as in 1909 four
more rooms were added to Ryal Side. Even
after the numerous additions to the school, it was not enough.
In 1918 two portable classrooms were purchased in order to relieve
problems of overcrowding at the school. And
in the following year four more rooms as well as an assembly hall were added to
this already large school.
The South School district was also a district struggling with problems
of overcrowding. Luckily, the Pleasant
View School (figure 2), which was located very close
to the South School was built so that two rooms could be added.
In 1896 these rooms were added, therefore relieving the South School
of its overcrowding problems. This
solution was only temporary however as in 1898 there was no spare room at the
South School once again. In 1903
the school committee realized it could no longer delay an addition to the South
School and it was proposed that six rooms be added. In 1904 construction began but in the end only four rooms
were added.
In 1897 the Farms school consisted of only one room. However, this one room consisted of fifty students, an unexceptable
number. No construction occurred
in the farms until 1903 when this district received a new brick eight-room building
large enough to accommodate three hundred students (figure
3).
The Hardie School was not suffering from overcrowding, but from dilapidation.
The Hardie School was growing old and in 1898 was replaced by a new Hardie
schoolhouse consisting of twelve rooms (figure 4).
The construction of this new school gave relief to many neighboring districts.
In 1903 the development of numerous houses on Prospect Hill was beginning
to take its toll on the Prospect School. Due
to the increase in population in this area four rooms were added to the school
in 1904.
Another addition that helped relieve the pressure of overcrowding was the
addition of a new building in the Washington district.
In 1910 this school (Edwards) was opened for use.
North Beverly was yet another school that did not suffer from
overcrowding, but from unsuitable conditions.
In 1919 it was proposed that a new eight room be built without delay.
Even the high school was suffering from overcrowding during the time
period from 1895 through 1919. By
1898 the high school had outgrown its building.
In 1904 it was proposed to build a new building large enough to
accommodate one thousand pupils. However,
nothing was done to aid the problem at the high school and in 1918 the school
was forced to hold two sessions a day in order to provide schooling to all
pupils enrolled at the high school.
Even with all the construction that occurred between 1895 and 1919 there
were still five schoolrooms in the system that had fifty pupils in them. Because
of this the movement from one-room schools to multiple room schools continued
between 1920 and 1939. In 1920
it was still evident that the Beverly Public Schools were not consolidating
due to a progressive movement in education, as during this year the supreme
need was more adequate and larger school facilities to fit the needs of the
constantly increasing school enrollment.
Overcrowding was still a major concern in Beverly as the only schools
that were not overcrowded or filled to capacity were Centerville (figure
5), the Farms, Prospect and South.
In 1922, due once again to unsuitable conditions and a school filled
to capacity that Bass River School was taken down and the Charles S. Brown school
was built in its place (figure 6).
Also during this time period the crowded conditions at the high school
were finally relieved. In 1922,
there were twelve hundred and thirty pupils in a building fit to accommodate
six hundred and forty one. Thankfully,
in 1924 the new High School was ready for use and was located at the present
day Briscoe Middle School.
In 1926 the school system became rather optimistic as it stated in their
report that “our schools are in excellent condition to take care of the normal
expansion of the city for a number of years to come.”[3]
The committee was right in its prediction that no construction would
occur for many years, however the problems of overcrowding never ceased.
The main reason that construction and additions to existing buildings was
halted was due to the great depression.
The great depression had a tremendous impact on the Beverly school system.
Unfortunately, in a time of sacrifice, the number of students in the
system increased. This was a problem
as school space was hard to find as the city was trying to conserve and help
the economy in every way even if it meant giving up certain schoolhouses and
consolidating them with many other schools.
This in fact did happen. As
a result of the depression, in 1933, the Pleasant View students were transferred
to the Edwards school in order to save the expenses of heating, lighting and
the janitorial service at Pleasant View (figure 7).
The school never reopened after the depression.
In 1935 there was still no construction underway.
However, at this time there was no need of it. There were sixteen vacant rooms in the grammar schools.
Problems no longer lied within the size of the schoolhouse.
It dealt with where the district lines were drawn.
Crowded conditions seemed to center around the High School, Briscoe,
Prospect and Ryal Side Schools. This
was due to the fact that these areas dealt with the sections of the city that
had the highest populations (figure 8).
In 1938 a change occurred in the elementary schools. Elementary school enrollments had become stabilized (figure
9). The school committee once
again anticipated that there should be no need for additional construction unless
a trade boom or increased residential advantages attract more people to Beverly.
The period between 1940 and 1960 was the last wave of construction to be
seen during the period of consolidation of neighborhood schools.
School enrollment had once again turned upward and there were many
schools in the city still facing problems of overcrowding.
However, the majority of the overcrowding problems were a result of new
housing developments being built in the city.
For example, new homes under construction in the vicinity of Beverly
Hospital in 1947 posed problems for the Prospect school as that was the district
in which these new homes belonged. However,
at this time there was no room at the school for these additional pupils, which
is now being developed to relieve the housing shortage in the city.
Yet another housing development that had an effect on the school system
was the construction of the Raymond Farms housing development.
In 1960 the development of this large area began to effect the McKay
school. Fortunately, also at this
time there was a new schoolroom being built in Ryal Side that could help relieve
the crowding at McKay. The
construction of the new Ryal Side school was not completed until after 1960
however was a twelve room school under construction during 1960 and was being
built upon Green’s Hill.
Other construction occurring during this time period was the North
Beverly School. It was to be built
on city property located just off Brimbal Avenue; this school was intended to
house three hundred and sixty of the city’s students. The twelve-room school was not completed however until 1956.
In 1946 it was proposed that a new school be erected in order to assist
in eliminating overcrowding problems due to population shifts in the past twenty
years. It was decided that this
school be built in an area that would accommodate pupils who live in the Cove
and Montserrat areas. It was vital that the school be placed in this vicinity as
the Montserrat neighborhood is located next to the cove and has never had a
building of its own. It was also
appropriate that the school include cove students as the cove district has
seemingly outgrown its fifty five-year-old four-room wooden structure building.
The old wooden building after vacated by the present students would then
be used for physically handicapped and special class children.
On
February 13, 1965 the students and teaching staff moved into the Cove –
Montserrat school. A new twelve
room elementary school that was built in order to hold three hundred and sixty
pupils. Not only did this new
school consist of twelve rooms, but it was also constructed so that it could
provide for up to a six-room addition.
Construction was also occurring in the Centerville area.
In 1959 a realization was made that there is a growing need to provide
more classrooms in the Centerville district. As at this time five classes were
being taught in a three-room school. In
response to this observation the school committee petitioned to the mayor for
fifty acres of land located at the junction of Would Lane and Hull Street.
With all the new construction occurring during this time period and with
new schools located in more convenient locations it was decided in 1951 that the
Prospect School should close as it was not a well-constructed school nor was it
in an ideal location.
Major changes were also occurring in the middle schools during this time.
In 1953 the Memorial Middle School was under construction and would be
ready for occupancy in September of 1954. Plans
for this school were proposed before the war but were rejected and the building
of this school was long overdue. After
construction at the Memorial Middle School was completed the Briscoe Junior High
was remodeled in order to provide four additional classrooms.
At the end of the progressive education movement to consolidate
schoolhouses the Beverly School Committee was requesting fifty acres of land on
the Avery – farm site in the area of North Herrick Street for construction of
a new high school. This proposal
was rejected for the time being.
After reviewing the history of Beverly Public Schools it is apparent that
they did in fact follow the trend of consolidation between the years of 1910 and
1960. This is also seen through
different statistics and charts. Proof
that the schools followed in this nation wide movement towards consolidation is
seen in figure ten that displays how many rooms were added to each school, and
when these rooms were added. Another
example is that, in 1906 there were only eighty-three classrooms in the entire
city. That number jumped to one
hundred and twenty in the year of 1922 and only four years later the number
increased tremendously to two hundred and thirty seven rooms.
Also, in figure eleven it can be seen that the cause of consolidation
made Beverly atypical to the situation as this charts shows that it was the
problems of overcrowding of the schools that caused the one and two room schools
to disappear and multiple room larger district schools to appear.
The school building history (figure 12) of
the Beverly School system is interesting and constantly changing.
Today, there is a new wave of construction occurring, for the same reasons
that they were between the years of the progressive education movement.
From this history it can be deduced that Beverly is typical of the movement
only in the fact that the number of rooms increased.
Beverly did not change for the benefit of the students, only to help
decrease the problems of overcrowding.
REFERENCES
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City of Beverly, Mass. 1895. Allen Print, 1896.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City of Beverly, Mass. 1896. Allen Print, 1897.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City of Beverly, Mass. 1897. Allen Print, 1898.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City of Beverly, Mass. 1898. Allen Print, 1899.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City of Beverly, Mass. 1900. Allen Print, 1901.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1901. Allen Print, 1902.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1902. Allen Print, 1903.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1903. Allen Print, 1904.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1904. Allen Print, 1905.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1906. Allen Print, 1907.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1909. Allen Print, 1910.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1913. Beverly Printing Co.,
1914.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1918. Beverly Printing Co.,
1919.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1919. Beverly, Printing Co.,
1920.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1920. Pioneer Press, 1921.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1922. North Shore Printing
Co., 1923.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1924. North Shore Printing
Co., 1925.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1926. Deschamps Bros., 1927.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1931. N.A. Lindsey & Co.,
Inc., 1932.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1933. N.A Lindsey & Co.,
Inc., 1934.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1935. N.A. Lindsey & Co.,
Inc., 1936.
Beverly
School Committee. Annual Report of the
School Committee of the City Of Beverly, Mass. 1938. N.A. Lindsey & Co.,
Inc., 1939.
Cremin,
Lawrence A. American Education: The
Metropolitan Experience 1876 – 1980. New York: Harper &
Row Publishers, 1988.
Reese,
William J. The Origins of the American
High School. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
Tyack,
David B. The One Best System: A History of
American Urban Education. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974.
