Norwalk After Two Hundred & Fifty Years

Mr. James Benedict conducted a boys' school for several years during the sixties on Bay View avenue, South Norwalk, occupying the place now owned by Mrs. Mary J. Couch. Besides the present dwelling house a building on the same premises was used for school purposes, serving as a class room. Mr. John Osborn, formerly principal of the Church Hall School, New Canaan, had a fine boarding school on Strawberry Hill, and deserves high mention. His pupils were mostly from New York city. Miss Louise A. Smith also maintained for several years a young ladies' seminary of repute and merit. Miss Helen M. B. Stevens established the Home Lawn School for Young Ladies in 1872 in the house now occupied by W F. Bishop, 15 Belden avenue. The school was conducted in this and other locations until it was discontinued in 1885. Miss Stevens had the as- sistance of from three to five teachers and instruction was given to an average of about thirty pupils. Diplomas were awarded on the completion of a four years' course, 222 which included languages and the higher studies. Work of a more elementary character was also carried on. Mrs. White conducted a school for young ladies on West avenue, on the place now occupied by the residence of Dr. W. J. Tracey. This school nourished in the years following the war,' and enjoyed a very high reputation. The Misses Brockway's Select School for Young Ladies and Children was 'established in 1869 and con- tinued until the close of the school year in June, 1882 Miss Mary Adelaide Brockway was principal and six or seven teachers were usually employed. There was an average attendance of about thirty pupils. A four years' course, embracing algebra, geometry, languages, com- position and literature, fitted graduates to enter college. Special attention was given to history and several branches of natural science ; also, to drawing, elocution and music and other studies usually pursued in such a school. The subject of the private schools of the past, even those which have been maintained during the last fifty years, has been an extremely difficult one to treat with any degree of satisfaction. Information has not been easy to obtain and verify. Much time and effort have been spent in gathering what is here presented, and the period for the preparation of this paper has been neces- sarily limited. The writer can only hope that there have not been many serious omissions and that the narration will be found correct as far as it goes. An account of the private schools of Norwalk will fittingly close with a reference to those in existence at the present time. It is to be truthfully said that they main- tain their earlier reputation for fidelity to sound edu- cational principles and for able and successful manage- ment. Miss Baird's Home School for Girls, located at the cornei of West Avenue and Orchard Street, was estab- lished in 1871 and has continued under the management of its present principal, Miss Cornelia F. Baird, from the beginning This school has been a growing institution and now numbers between fifty and sixty pupils and eleven teachers in the several departments. Studies are pursued in primary, intermediate and post graduate courses. 'Graduates are prepared for college or society, possessing disciplined minds and bodies, carefully form- ed manners and self control." There are regular and special courses in art and in music, both vocal and in- strumental, including piano, violin, harp, mandolin, etc. Another meritorious institution is Mrs. Melville E. Mead's School for Girls and Young Ladies. This school was founded in Darien in 1883 and moved to Norwalk in 1889. It has a faculty of eleven teachers and has gain- ed a high and wide reputation for scholarly work. The aim of the school is summed up in the sentence "to foster the growth of an earnest, helpful and unselfish woman- hood." There is a primary department and more ad- vanced courses preparing for the colleges ; also, a gen- eral course for students who do not intend to enter col- lege. Special courses in music and art are offered to those who wish to pursue the study of those branches. Prof. Carl A. Harstrom, A. *M., Ph. D., writes to the author of this paper that he "is not conducting a school and therefore it can not have a name." With four assistants he does private tutoring for Yale, Har- vard and Princeton, the number of pupils ranging during the year from six or eight up to twenty. Prof. Harstrom has charge of this larger number during the summer time when boys are preparing for the fall college examin- ations. The Norwalk University school under the manage- ment of Mr. William G. Chase, has already been referred to as a continuation of the institution founded by the Rev. C. M. Selleck. The great expansion of commercial opportunities and of the commercial spirit in recent years and the numerous consequent changes and improvements in business methods have brought about a corresponding demand for persons specially trained to meet the exac- tions forced upon the business world by the new condi- tions. The number of commercial schools has greatly multiplied until one or more of these institutions is now to be found in every considerable city or town. Their existence and generally flourishing condition are evi- dence that they supply a real need. Brown's Business College in South Norwalk was opened for instruction m September, 1897. The number of pupils in the school year has grown from 97 to 159. Mr. I. S. Brown was the first principal. Associated with him from the beginning was Mr. G. E. Sartain, who in November, 1900, purchased the interest of Mr. Brown and has since had the management of the school. It is now organized with five departments, English, commercial, shorthand, telegraphy and typewriting. Day and evening sessions 824 are held and 134 young men and women have been grad- uated from the different courses. It has convenient rooms in the United Bank Building and in equipment and grade of its instruction ranks with the best schools of its class. No sketch of the educational interests of the town, however brief, can omit a reference to the public librar- ies. There are two of these institutions, one in each of the cities of Nor walk and South Norwalk. These libraries are not maintained and managed by the town, but by the two cities, and in each instance for the benefit of its own citizens. A detailed history of the Norwalk and the South Norwalk public libraries, as well as other information, will appear in papers prepared by the librar- ians. To complete this paper it remains to take a passing glance at the condition of Norwalk's public schools at the end of two hundred and fifty years. We have seen that improvements have been contemporaneous and to a certain degree commensurate with attention to the higher education. There is, unfortunately, no central town high school, but by a sort of natural evolution, a high school department has grown up in each of the schools of the four larger districts, South Norwalk, Over River, Center and East Norwalk, with well arrang- ed courses of study. Students have been graduated, who have taken the normal school course as a further prepar- ation for teaching, in this way justifying the expenditure of the public money on high school instruction in con- sideration of its direct benefit to the schools as a whole. Othei graduates have gone into various walks of life with the advantage of high school training. Still others have been fitted to pursue courses of study in colleges and technical schools. While recognizing the excellent results ot the work of these four high school departments, it should be said that there yet remains in the direction of progress the logical step of consolidating these four departments into one central high school. Ihe contrast between the public schools of to-day and those of the first part of the nineteenth century, is a wide one. During the earlier period these schools were supported chiefiy from the income of public funds and tuition rates. Public taxation was avoided. The pur- chase of school books was felt as a burden and children used the books that could be most easily procured, no matter what the consequences to system and uniformity 826 in the work of the school. We have already seen that the schools were very poorly attended, nearly two-thirds of the children of Norwalk being without benefit from the public monev. The benefit of special training for teachers did not begin to be felt until after the establish- ment of the normal school at New Britain in 1850. Grad- ed courses of instruction in the schools of the town were the development of a still later period when they were a necessary growth in the larger schools.