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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Ph. D. from Yale University for post- politics he is a Republican, and has sev-
graduate work in Latin and Greek. The
same year the Harstrom School was
established in Norwalk ;
prior to this time
Dr. Harstrom had conducted a private
day school in Norwalk.
The Harstrom School offers an excep-
tional opportunity to those whose college
preparations have been delayed, and
nearly a thousand boys have received
their training here. These boys are from
many of the leading families throughout
the country. Competent and experienced
men compose the faculty, men who are
specialists in their departments, and it is
a noteworthy fact that four of the six
instructors have been associated with the
school for seventeen or more years. Experience
has shown the faculty of Dr.
Harstrom's school that Arithmetic and
English are the two studies which require
special attention and emphasis is laid on
these two courses of study. There are
two prizes offered annually, one for
scholarship and the other for general ex-
cellence, the former being awarded to the
boy having the highest scholarship stand-
ing, and the latter to the boy who has
made the best general impression as a
boy of sterling worth.
The school has received many tributes,
but one which conveys the real sentiment
of the school was from one of the
prominent patrons, as follows
You got my boy into Yale without a condition,
but the best thing you taught him was self-
reliance, and we shall never cease to be grateful.
The present school averages about
thirty pupils, and special attention is
given to individual instruction.
It would seem that the management of
the details connected with his school
would leave Dr. Harstrom no leisure for
outside interests, yet he is one of the most
public-spirited citizens of his city. In
:
280
eral times been honored with public office.
Under the old city charter he served as a
member of the Board of Estimate. In
1915, Dr. Harstrom was elected mayor of
Norwalk and served two years. During
his term of office he reconstructed the fi-
nancial system, putting it on such a basis
that every citizen could know where the
taxpayers' money went to. Many miles
of hard pavement were laid during Dr.
Harstrom's term of office. Credit is also
due to him for the introduction of voting
machines in Norwalk. During the World
War he was chairman of the local draft
board. He is a corporator of the Norwalk
Savings Bank and of the Fairfield County
Savings Bank.
Fraternally, Dr. Harstrom is a member
of many organizations : St. John's Lodge,
No. 6, Free and Accepted Masons, of
which he is senior warden ; Phi Beta
Kappa; and Theta Delta Chi. For five
consecutive years Dr. Harstrom was president
of the Grand Lodge of T. D. C, two
years longer than any other man ever
held the office. His clubs are the Nor-
walk Club ; Norwalk Country Club
Craftsmen's Club ; and Yale Club of New
York. Dr. Harstrom and his family are
members of Grace Episcopal Church, of
which he is senior warden. He has been
a delegate to many conventions, and ac-
tive in church work ; he is a member of
the American Philological Association.
There is perhaps no other man in Norwalk
who has been in such demand for
public and after dinner speaking as Dr.
Harstrom. With an easy flow of beauti-
ful English, interspersed with shafts of
wit, sharp but never poisonous. Dr. Harstrom
is apropos always, a genial, whole-
souled man-loving personality.
Dr. Harstrom married Lee Selden Partridge,
daughter of Samuel Selden and
Frances Augusta (Bellamy) Partridge.
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