The Romance of Norwalk

and Chestnut sts. , is a neat brick building of eight rooms erected in 1916. Jefferson school, located on Prospect ave., on a side hill overlooking Van Buren ave., is a modern ten- room, brick building with auditorium, built in 1914. The Cranbury or North East school on Newtown ave., in the Cranbury section was built many years ago but remodelled in 1926. It is of wood with modern daylight sash on one side. There was a school in the district in 1853. Washing¬ ton school, situated on Cedar st., near the Post road, was built in 1914. It is a brick erection boasting 12 rooms and an auditorium. An antiquated building of uncertain date houses the pres¬ ent Center elementary school at the rear of the Center Junior high school, Main st. The school has eight rooms. The Center Junior high school on the corner of Main and School sts. was not built until 1924-1925. There are ten rooms in the main building. Two more in the form of a portable school were added in 1926. Near Winfield st. and East ave., in East Norwalk is the Roger Ludlow Junior high school which was built also in 1924-25. It is of brick and has 12 rooms. Two parochial schools and a vast number of private schools have served to make Norwalk’s educational history one of interest and progress. Both the parochial schools, St. Mary’s at 6 Leonard st., and St. Joseph’s, 9 Henry st., are flourishing. They offer courses from the kindergarten up to the high school and are well known for high standards of scholarship. Father John Russell who came to St. Mary’s R. C. church, January 30, 1878, built St. Mary’s Parochial school. Classes were first held in 1 880 in a wooden building. In 1882, the present school building was erected. There are now 278 boys and 231 girls enrolled, according to the last Catholic directory. Father Russell is now with St. Patrick’s R. C. church in New Haven. St. Joseph’s parochial school was founded in 1912 by Father Richard J. Carroll. He purchased the property on Chestnut st., at the corner of Henry st., and erected a convent and beside it St. Joseph’s SCHOOLS 259 parochial school. At the time of completion there were two grades in the school, but each year a grade was added until the school was complete and the first graduation could be held. When the school began there were less than 80 pupils. The enrollment is now 400 boys and girls, the school being filled to capacity. PRIVATE SCHOOLS Of the oldest private schools in Norwalk we know but little. There was an academy at one time which stood on the “Green” and belonged to the Norwalk Congregational church. Edwin Hall was principal for a while. In the early 1 Boo’s there was an Episcopal academy here, discontinued in 1829. The South Norwalk Academy later known as the Norwalk Academy, which stood on West ave., almost op¬ posite the site of the South Norwalk Methodist church was a well known school in the first half of the 19th century. At first designed for boys, girls were later admitted to the school. Storrs Hall, brother of Dr. Edwin Hall was an early principal. The academy continued until the early ’50’s. A private school which enjoyed a wide reputation in the middle of the last century was that founded by the Rev. Charles Selleck, author of “Selleck’s history of Norwalk” in 1855. For many years the school boasted an average of 100 boarding pupils who were fitted for the best colleges, for West Point and for the United States Naval Academy. The school was conducted by Mr. Selleck for 34 years until 1889. At that time it was taken over by Colonel Roberts and became the Norwalk Military Academy. In 1897 it was known as the Norwalk LTniversity School. Other boys’ schools of bygone years included the Norwalk Latin school in 1883 conducted by Professor Alexander Johnston; a boys’ school run during the ’6o’s on Bayview ave; a boarding school for boys run by John Osborn on Strawberry hill. Norwalk, during the latter part of the 19th century har¬ bored many girls’ private schools as well as boys’ schools. 26o ROMANCE OF NORWALK The re was for instance the “Select School for Young Ladies and Children,” established by the Misses Brockway in 1869 and continued until 1882. There were some 30 pupils in attendance who were fitted for college, special attention being given to history, drawing, elocution and music. The Home Lawn School for Young Ladies was started by Miss Helen Stevens in 1872 on the site of the present home of George L. Woodward, president of the National Bank of Norwalk, at 15 Belden ave. It was later moved to another section of the city and discontinued in 1885. Where Dr. W. J. Tracey lives, 637 West ave., once stood an extremely select school for young ladies conducted by a Mrs. White. Miss Baird’s Home School for Girls, established in 1871, was located at the corner of West ave. and Orchard st. There were about 60 pupils in the school, who were “prepared for college or society, possessing disciplined minds and bodies, carefully formed manners and self-control.” The Hillside School for Girls, Prospect Hill, of which M iss Margaret Brendlinger, Miss Vida Hunt Francis and Miss Jessie Truman are principals, commenced its years of meritorious service in Darien in 1883. At that time it was known as the Mead School for Girls and Young Ladies, under the supervision of Mrs. Melville E. Mead. It moved to Norwalk in 1889. Mrs. Mead continued as principal of the school until her death in 1908. In that year the school was reorganized and continued under the direction of the present heads, Miss Brendlinger and Miss Francis. Miss Truman joined the staff of principals June, 1929. On the side of the hill, high above the city, is the Hillside School, located on its six acres of wooded land. The main house, the Homestead, has an interesting history. It was originally built by Mrs. Louisa Smith and was used as a girls’ school before the Civil War. Later it became a school for boys under Dr. Fitch. Mrs. Mead acquired it when she moved her school from Darien to Norwalk. Today, the school includes classes from primary to college entrance and has a total registration of more than 125, both boarding and SCHOOLS 261 day pupils. The institution, which has a staff of 24, has an enviable record of honor students, in the better colleges of the country. The Thomas school, Miss Mabel Thomas, principal, Wilson rd., opened in October, 1922, with eight pupils. Today there are 160 students, boarding and day, who re¬ ceive instruction from kindergarten to college entrance. The school property covers 20 acres of ground. The nursery school, which is housed in a remodelled farm house, apart from the main buildings, on Juniper Ridge, Highland ave., takes up ten acres, this number being included in the 20 above mentioned. Here boys and girls are received at the age of three. All work and play is conducted out-of-doors, summer and winter, when the weather is fine. The staff of the Thomas school numbers 25 teachers, three of whom are masters. The school is progressive, with a broader program than the average, taking special note of the individual talents of its students. The Storey school, 3 Connecticut ave., run by Mrs. James Storey, was commenced in 1907. It is a school for boys and girls of intermediate and high school grades and offers a three year high school course. In the city there are a number of kindergarten and primary schools, among them being that run by Mrs. George Sartain, 13 North ave. No mention is being made of the so-called Harstrom School for boys which stood for many years on Prospect ave., for the reason that the late Professor Carl Harstrom maintained that it was not a school but rather a house of tutoring for Yale, Harvard and Princeton. Among the busi¬ ness colleges here have been Brown’s Business College opened for instruction in 1897, but since disorganized, and Merrill’s Business College, 97 Washington st., which is now in its 41st year and has an average of 70 pupils. Mrs. M. A. Merrill, who first owned the school, was the first woman founder of a business college in the United States. NORWALK IN 1850 Chapter XXIV Population of Norwalk in Mid Century , 4651 ; Thriving Pot¬ tery Trade on Half Mile Island — Shipbuilding Industry at Dorlon’s Point — County Courthouse Squabble Involves Norwalk , Fairfield , Bridgeport. With prosperity an honored guest and with no more than the average number of trifling troubles to cloud her hori¬ zon, Norwalk faced the second half of the 19th century. A pretty town was Norwalk if one is to believe the flowery comments of the times. A friendly, compact settlement of tiny cottages, most of them white with green shutters, sketched a town nucleus at the head of the river in Norwalk and on the shores of the river, in South Norwalk. To the north, where the hills of New Canaan, Ridgefield and Wil¬ ton begin, could be found larger farm houses with acreages of grain and vegetables, orchards, and fields for cattle and horses. The blue water of the harbor was usually decorated with the white of snowy sails, while occasionally the dark line of smoke from a Sound steamer spotted the skyline. The wharfs and the railroad station were busy cen¬ ters. When the boats from the West Indies or from the American coast ports came into harbor, large crowds flocked to the water’s edge to watch the cargoes being unloaded. The same crowds flocked to the railroad station, every time a train was due, unable to satiate their curiosity of the “black bellied hissing monster.” Long lines of carriages of all sorts took the place at the station, of the automobiles and taxis of modern times. What a different picture from today, did the Norwalk of 1850 present. Mud lanes there were, where now lie concrete roads; wooden cottages, where now stand 262 NORWALK IN 1850 263 stone buildings; lazy horses where now crowd countless trucks and passenger cars. THRIVING COMMUNITY