Norwalk After Two Hundred & Fifty Years

lin Street schoolhouse, changing it from a five to a nine, and, later, to a ten-room building with a large assembly hall still in use. The reported cost of the building was $17,715. With the opening of the building began the incumbency of Mr. Samuel T. Dutton, who continued in charge of the schools of the district until he resigned in the spring of 1877 to accept the principalship of the Eaton School in New Haven. Mr. Dutton's service in the South Norwalk schools was a notable one. He has since gained additional distinction in other and wider fields and is now recognized as one of the foremost edu- cators in the countrv. Mr. Dutton was succeeded by his brother, Mr. Silas B. Dutton, who conducted the school successfully until shortly before his lamented death in March, 1879, having been compelled on account of poor health to ask for leave of absence the January previous. Mr. Frederick Seymour, a student in Yale, acted as principal for the remainder of the school year. Mr. Henry M. Walradt was next appointed to the place, which he filled acceptably until he resigned in the spring of 1884 to take charge of another school. Mr. Herbert S. Brown, then a recent graduate of Yale, and now pas- tor of the Congregational Church in Darien, served with ability as principal until the end of the school year. Mr. Edward S. Hall became principal of the South Norwalk schools in September, 1884, a position which he held for four years and for which he had many qualifi- cations. During his incumbency the schoolhouse at Con- cord street was enlarged from three to eight rooms and otherwise greatly improved at a cost of about $12,000. This work was completed in the fall of 1886. Subse- quently other improvements were made which placed the building and premises in a proper sanitary condition. At the time this building was completed the enumeration of the children of the district had risen to 1,086. In 1888 Mr. William C. Foote assumed the duties of principal, which he has discharged with signal success down to the present time, a period of thirteen years. During this time the school population of the district has continued to grow. Within a few years after the completion of the building at Concord street school, ac- commodations again became insufficient. The erection of another building was for a long time delayed through the failure of the voters of the district to agree upon a location. Meanwhile one room after another was hired until during the school year of 1896- 1897 three rooms 232 in the Knudsen building, two rooms in Mr. Solman's hnt factory and Arion Hall, six rooms in all, were used for school purposes. It was finally voted to build a brick addition at Franklin street and to remodel the whole building. The sum of $37,000 was appropriated for that purpose. Mr. Warren R. Briggs, an architect of high reputation, furnished the plans, and the result is a building greatly in advance of anything before un- dertaken in the town, and in line with the best work any- where. The district now possesses a magnificent school- house, intelligently planned and thoroughly equipped for school work and embodying the latest ideas for the health and comfort of its occupants. It has set a standard which public sentiment will hardly suffer school officials to fall below in any future enterprises of the kind. In less than fifty years the school population of the district has grown from 324 to upwards of 1,700. In the place of three teachers there are now thirty-five. The two school buildings, with their twenty-six class rooms are full to overflowing. Already accommodations have had to be sought outside and the Knudsen building is occupied by a large kindergarten and one of the higher grades. It will soon be necessary to repeat the experi- ence of former years and plan for a new schoolhouse. A. BLANCHARD. November 8, 1901. THE S UNION PRINGWOOD SUN D A Y-SC H OO L HE Springwood Union Sunday school was started in June, 1869, for the ac- commodation of the children in that vicinity. Mr. A. B. Snowden con- verted a barn opposite his own resi- dence into a school room and his daughter, Miss Susan Snowden, in- vited Mr. Charles M. Lawrence to take charge of the school ; this he consented to do for six months and he has remained its superin- tendent for thirty-two years. The school was non- denominational and it began with a membership of forty-eight but in a few vears the attendance was T . . . Ili«llp? doubled. The hour of meeting was 3 o'clock on Sun- day, with prayer meeting on Sunday and Wednesday evenings for the adult population of Springwood. Neighborhood prayer meetings were also held at various times at private houses in "the Hollow," now called Lex- ington avenue, and on Woodward avenue. A great deal of charitable visiting and relief work accompanied these services bv the officers of Springwood Chapel ; the su- perintendent, especially, devoted himself to this mission work. In 1876 and 1877 series of revival meetings were held, and many persons were converted who joined the various churches in South Norwalk. In 1882 twenty-four persons were converted during six weeks' nightly services led by Mr. Lawrence. In 1883 the lease of the Snowden property having expired it was decided to build a new chapel. It was completed in 188=; at a cost of $2,001.67 for the lot and building, which were situated a short distance below the old chapel on Ely avenue. In 1891. the evening prayer meetings were discon- tinued after twenty years' observance of the custom, owing to a diminished attendance. This was due to the change in the character of the population of Springwood, most of the English-speaking residents having removed and a large foreign-born element taking their place who were chiefly Hungarians and Italians, most of whom were Roman Catholics. The Sunday school still pros- 234 pers and does good work among- the children of Spring- wood. The present officers of the school are: Charles M. Lawrence, superintendent ; Edward S. Merriam, secre- tary, and a corps of eleven teachers. NORTH WEST SCHOOL HE early history of the North West School "district is difficult to trace, as there is so little available record. Just when the district was established is not known, but it is certain that a school building was erected previous to the vear 1800, probably about 1790, on the lot now belonging to Mr. Butterworth. The exact site of this first schoolhouse was, as near- lv as can be ascertained, on the elevation of land just tiorth of the large gate leading to the Butterworth barn. The bdilding was a one-story structure, made of wood, and fronting on the main street. The heating of the building was accomplished by a fire of wood on a stone hearth. The furniture was of the rustic sort. There was a row of rough board desks around three sides of the room and the seats or benches were made of a half log with the flat surface up, and the rounding surface, into which legs were driven for sup- port, down. This building was used for school purposes up to the year 1836; it was then made over into a dwell- ing. The writer has no knowledge of its after history nor of the teachers who taught within its walls. The second schoolhouse, which was occupied in the year 1836, was also a one-story building, built of brick, and about 70x35 feet in size. It was erected on a tri- angular plot formed by the three roads just south of the Norwalk Mills and north of the Orcutt store, and about fifteen feet east of the Danbury and Norwalk railroad track. There was a belfry on this building, but no bell. There were eight windows in the building. A cloak room and a wood bin, leading from the cloak room, oc- cupied one end of the building. The interior was very prettv with its arched ceiling and white walls. There was a row of desks around three sides of the room, and the pupils, when at their desks, sat with backs to the teacher, whore desk was in the front end of the room. The seats were benches about eight or ten feet in length without backs. In the center of the room were rows of recitation benches ; also two or three benches for pupils too small to sit at the desks. When a class was called pupils would turn on their benches, throw their feet over and face the teacher and then take places in class. This building would seat about fifty pupils conveniently, but often as many as sixty or seventy were enrolled. In the year 1850 a district meeting was called to take into consideration the damage incurred by the pass- ing or the Danbury and Norwalk railroad through the school property. A committee was appointed in 1857 to employ counsel and wait on the president of the rail- road in regard to the collection of damages for the dis- trict. Whether any damages were allowed, the records do not say. This building continued to be used, how- ever, for several years with the railroad track just in the rear. The enumeration of the district in 185 1 was twenty- six. This same year a meeting was called to consider the advisability of consolidating the North West, South Center, Over River and Pudding Lane districts into one, to be known as the Union School district. A resolution favoring this was passed and E. C. Bissell was appointed a committee to present the resolution to the School So- ciety's committee. Information as to the outcome of this proposed con- solidation is not given in the records. Amonsr the teachers who taught in this second school building were Charles Gregory, Giles Gregory, John Taylor, Samuel Willard, Roswell Taylor, Hiram Fuller, Hiram Edwards, George A. Davenport, who was later Judge of Probate for years; Mr. Morgan, Miss Keeler, Miss Nash, George Fillow, General Charles Olm- stead, for years postmaster of Norwalk and later secre- tary of the Board of School Visitors ; Ruth Stebbins, Sar- ah F. Aiken, who resides at present near the site of the brick school ; Homer Pinkney and J. J. Fairty. The salary of the teachers employed in this building ranged from fourteen dollars per month in 1852 to forty- four dollars in 1867. Some of the teachers were required to "board round."