History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

268 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
1768, £25; 1778, £400 (continental); 1788, £90;
1798, £150; 1808, 8500; 1818, $600; 1828,
$750; 1838,$850; 1848, §1,000; 1858,81,200;
1868, $1,500; 1878, $2,400.
In September, 1833, Mr. Erasmus D. Eldridge,
a graduate of Amherst, who had previously taught
in Pembroke, New Hampshire, opened a private
school for the fall in school-house No. 1. The
school was so successful that an interest in educa-
tion, already awakened among the prominent citi-
zens, was increased so much that iu February
following an association was formed, with a capital
of $ 1,000, in foi'ty shares, for the establishment of
an academy. An eligible lot was bought for $ 1 00,
and Dr. Nehemiah Cutter, who was always ready to
forward to the utmost any public improvement, con-
tracted to build a suitable building for the remain-
ing $900. So expeditiously was the work carried
on, that in July, 1834, the school-house was dedi-
cated with appropriate services ;
and Mr. Eldridge,
who had returned in the spring, and reopened his
scliool, took possession of the same, with fifty-two
pupils, under the name of the Pepperell Academy.
Mr. Eldridge, although a stern disciplinarian,
was, when off duty, exceedingly social and lively.
A shrewd observer of human nature, and endowed
with a full share of executive ability, he possessed
in an eminent degree the faculty of making a school
popular. Excelling in the natural sciences, he in-
clined more to practical methods of teaching than
was usual at that day. He extemporized a chemi-
cal apparatus, with which he gave experiiaents in
frequent lectures to crowded and astonished audi-
ences. With only a school-building, without a
dollar iu funds or a single volume of library, and
with no apparatus, except of his own furnishing,
he succeeded in making Pepperell Academy the
most flourisliing institution in the vicinity. Stu-
dents flocked to it from a distance of twenty miles
or more. In the catalogue for 1S3C we find tlie
total number of scholars during the year to be :
males 90, females 82, with an average attendance
of 70. Of these 44 were classical scholars, and
90 were from other towns.
At the close of the fall term in 1837 Mr. El-
dridge resigned, in order to enter the ininistry.
The teachers that have succeeded him are as fol-
lows : Rev. George Cook till September, 1838
Hervey B.Wilbur till March, 1839 ; Willard Brigham
till May, 1840; Horace Herrick till May,
1841; Josiah Pillsbnry till September, 1843;
;
from March, 1843, till May, 1844; J. E. B. Jew-
ett till November, 1844 ; Moses Case from March,
1845, till November, 1847 ; J. Stone till May,
1849; E. E. Boynton till May, 1850; Kev. Z.
M. Smith till November, 1851 ; L. P. Blood from
April, 1852, to November, 1853 ;
Charles S. Far-
rer the fall term of 1854.
An act of incorporation was granted by the
legislature of 1841, and a board of fifteen trustees
chosen in accordance therewith. But the real estate
having been originally conveyed in such a manner
that the corporation could have no valid title to
the property, the trustees could only superintend
the management of the school. The interest in
the school gradually decreased, and there is no
record of any meeting of the trustees after March,
1855. The building stood ready for the occu-
pancy of any respectable and competent person
who might be willing to take possession and open
a school. It was thus successively occupied for
a shorter or a longer time by H. T. Wheeler, S.
C. Cotton, D. W. Richardson, Miss Caroline A.
Shattuck, and A. J. lluntoon. In 1860, A. J.
Saunders opened a school, which he successfully
maintained for several years.
The building had been kept in repair by funds
raised by fairs, tea-parties, and similar spasmodic
efforts at sundry times. Occasionally the teach-
ers had paid for necessary repairs, rather than at-
tempt to collect from the public.
In 1864, the town having voted for a school of
higher grade, and appropriated $700 for the pur-
pose, the academy building was also wpprupriated,
and Mr. Saunders, being in possession, was dis-
posed of by being appointed principal. This high
school was sustained for four years and then discon-
tinued till 187.'i, when it was again established, and
continued r^ix ye;ii's. ;iiul then again discontinued.
Meanwhile ahiuil .SSIMI had been raised by sub-
scriptions for additional shares of stock in the
academy, and tlie building, having been remod-
elled and repaired throughout, has beeu rented to
the town for school purposes.
In 1850 a boys' boarding-school was o])ened
by Rev. David Perry in the house that stood on
the spot now occupied by J. E. B. Jewctt. This
school was quite successful ; but in May, 1853,
the whole establishment was destroyed by fire, to-
gether with the boarding-house and insane retreat of
Dr. N. Cutter and Dr. J. S. N. Howe. i\lr. Perry
removed his school to Brookfield, but returned
Charles Cummings fall term of 1842; Moses Case with it to Pepperell iu 1857, and est;iblished it