Major Bibliographical References (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): Primary location of additional data: _ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 x State Historic Preservation Office CFR 67) has been requested _ previously listed in the National Register - Other State agency _Federal agency _ previously determined eligible by the National Local government Register - University _ designated a National Historic Landmark _Other _recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Namee of repository: # Massachuasetts Historical Commission _ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # Pleasant Street School Name of Property 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property 1.27 acres UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1.
19 252700 4681500 Zone Easting Northing Worcester County, Massachusetts County and State Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting Northing _See continuation sheet Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By name/titleSusan McDaniel Ceccacci, Architectural Historian with Betsy Friedberg, National Register Director organizationMassachusetts Historical Commission date May 1996 street & number 220 Morrissey Boulevard city or town Boston _telephone (617)727-8470 state MA . zip code _02125 Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location.
A sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property. Additional items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additionalitems) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) name street & number telephone city or town state zip code Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.).
Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.0. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. (OPS,Fom 10000a Unlted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page _ Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 8.
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Having served as a public school for over one hundred years, the Pleasant Street School is historically significant for the important part it has played for generations in the lives of families in this neighborhood. It is also important for its place in the progress of public school educational reform in Spencer and in Massachusetts during the 19th century. An intact survivor of the era before the advent of the fully graded elementary school system, this building is an example of the only very gradual progress made toward the graded elementary school during the 19th century. Its four classrooms are physical evidence of an intermediate stage in the evolution of Spencer's schools toward the graded system.
Seen in the context of the town's burgeoning school population during the late 19th century, the construction of this four-classroom building also reflects the stresses that the success of the Industrial Revolution had on Spencer and on cities and towns throughout the Commonwealth during that period. The four classrooms of Pleasant Street School also represent the struggle that was typical of industrial New England towns and cities of that day to provide enough room for an increasing number of students while attempting to increase the number of individual classrooms in order to allow for graded classes.
The school building is also important for its close architectural relationship to the town's other school buildings of the same period This building is a well-preserved example of late-19th century school architecture, representing Spencer's educational ideals for school buildings at the time of its construction. The Pleasant Street School possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. It meets criteria A and C for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The work of a respected late 19th century Worcester architectural firm, Fuller & Delano, the building is a good example of Victorian eclectic architecture. Its substantial construction, high quality materials, and high-style design is characteristic of the late 19th century period of school architecture in Massachusetts.
Its size and imposing character are representative of the period of the the day that good school architecture served as a form of aesthetic training for the children that used the buildings, emphasis is placed on an imposing and dignified design which includes a certain amount of architectural ornament. Characteristic of school buildings built in Spencer's town center during the 1880's, it is built of brick and is architect-designed. Public Education in Massachusetts Education was a priority very early in the history of Massachusetts. Here the church and the state were originally one. So, the Puritan-Calvinistic belief that all should be able to read the Bible was easily converted into an education law. In 1642, the Massachusetts colonial legislature made a law that ordered that all children be taught to read.
This was the first time that a legislative body in an (continued) (NPS Form 10-000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 2 Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 - English-speaking country required that all children under its jurisdiction be taught to read. A few years later, in 1647, another law was enacted to assure the education of Massachusetts children. The 1647 law provided for both elementary and secondary education in the colony's larger towns. This law required that every town of 50 householders or more hire a teacher of reading and writing and provide for his wages. That same law also required that every town of 100 or more householders must provide a Latin grammar school to prepare youths for university.
A penalty of five pounds was levied on those towns which failed to do so. The foundation upon which American public school systems were later based was derived from these education laws of 1642 and 1647 together with the taxation laws of 1634 and 1638, which provided for equalized and compulsory taxation by towns to support their endeavors. It was within this context that Spencer's first public schools were established shortly after the formation of the town. Early Public Schools in Spencer and the Establishment of School Districts The town of Spencer was established in 1753. The first provision for schooling here was not made until 1755, when sixteen pounds were raised for that purpose. During the late 17th century and later, more and more settlement occurred away from the centers of Massachusetts towns.
Several small sub-communities grew up within the boundaries of a single town, often several miles distant from the town center. This outward settlement began a decentralization of control over certain public services. The responsibility for the care of roads, the militia, and the schools in the area were given over to the inhabitants of the locality rather than to the town as a whole. The district system of taxation provided funds for these improvements and services. By the late 18th century, school districts had been established in many Massachusetts towns, each raising their own funds and hiring teachers on their own. In 1766, Spencer was divided into six school districts or "squadrons". At that time, all of the town's schools were held in private homes. Spencer's first school building was built in 1767. Two more school buildings had been completed in Spencer by 1768.
In 1786 the number of school districts in town was increased to ten. An eleventh district was added in 1849. By 1865 there were fifteen schools in the town's eleven districts. District schools had the advantage of being near the homes of the children who used them and of being governed by the families of each individual neighborhood. Each school drew its pupils from its immediate neighborhood. The establishment of district schools discouraged the creation of distinct primary schools and grammar schools drawn from the town as a whole, as had been the case before. One disadvantage of this system was that, because of the small number of students in each district, it encouraged the persistence of one-room schools, incorporating elementary and secondary education for all ages under the care of a single teacher in a single room.
Another disadvantage was that funds (continued) (PS Form 10.000- United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Sectlon number 8 Page . 3 Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No.1024-0018 provided for each district were determined by the relative wealth of the neighborhood. Thus, wealthier districts could build more expensive school buildings and pay their teachers better than could poorer districts. For example, the 1866-1867 Spencer School Report noted that despite overcrowding in wealthy District # 3, its school rooms far surpassed all others in town. The district school system of education prevailed in Massachusetts nearly to the end of the 19th century.
Although calls for the abandonment of this system began as early as the 1820's, it endured another sixty years in many parts of Massachusetts, and much longer in many other states. Spencer schools were known by their district number. The predecessor to the present Pleasant Street School building was known as School # 8. Only eleven school districts ever existed in Spencer, but schools built during the era of the school district system were also given numbers. Schools numbered 12 through 15 did not correspond to a school district number. These numbers were merely for identification. After the demise of the school district system, apparently in the 1880's, Spencer schools gradually became known by names, rather than numbers. No details of the change from the district system in Spencer have been found.
Although the date is not clear, it seems that about the time the present Pleasant Street School building was built, the district system was abandoned. Massachusetts Schools and the Effects of the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution transformed Massachusetts during the 19th century from a largely rural and agricultural state to an increasingly urban and industrial state. With these changes, the needs and requirements of public education changed also. The technological aspects of industry called for a more educated populace. As early as the 1820's, there were demands for improvement in education. The Massachusetts legislature took action to improve the level of education in the commonwealth by increasing the supervision of its schools.
To help unify the divergencies of the several school districts within individual Massachusetts towns, a law was established in 1826 which required each town to appoint a school committee. Its purpose was to supervise the town's disparate school districts, select school books, and to examine and to give certificates to the teachers that were employed. In 1834 a state school fund was created as a boost for public education. To receive money from this fund, towns were required to levy a school tax of $1.00 per school-age child. They were also required to make statistical reports, which would allow the state to track its educational efforts. In 1837 a State Board of Education was established to investigate the conditions of the schools in the state, report the facts uncovered, expose defects, and make recommendations for action to the legislature.
The broad success and influence of this board was due to its first Secretary, Mr. Horace Mann (1796-1859), who, through his thoroughness and ability, became the acknowledged leader in school organization and reform in the United States. As a result of the education reform movement led by Mann and others, improvements in curriculum, teacher training, grading of schools, and the construction of improved school buildings occurred. By the mid 19th century, efforts at educational reform had grown strong in the United (continued) (NPS Form 10.900- United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 4 Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 States.
The results of these reforms were particularly notable during the second and third quarters of the 19th century in Massachusetts. The call for educational reform was sparked by the growth of manufacturing, the increase in population, social changes in the cities, and philanthropic and reform movements. During mid-century, hundreds of new school buildings were built across the state in an attempt to offer the best physical and aesthetic conditions for teaching and learning. A major complaint from school reformers was the poor performance of the district school.
By the end of the 19th century the school reform movement had finally been successful in the elimination of the district school system, the gradual adoption of graded schools, the provision of a variety of levels of education (especially the establishment of high schools), the lengthening of the school year, and the provision for better teacher preparation. Spencer, like many other towns throughout the state, built modern schools during mid-century to meet the new standards for school buildings. However, the town was slow to eliminate the district system and slow to adopt graded schools. Massachusetts abandoned the district system in 1882. It appears that it was not until that date that Spencer followed suit. No information has been found regarding Spencer's change from the district system.
From the end of the Civil War through the end of the 19th century, Massachusetts schools were jolted by the effects of the Industrial Revolution and by the resulting waves of workers, both native and foreign, that were flooding into the state's industrial towns and cities. During this period, attempts were made to make the quality and level of public education better fit the more demanding needs of an evermore technological society. Yet, these improvements in content and teaching methods were nearly overwhelmed by the continual and rapid increase in the school population between about 1870 and 1900 in Massachusetts. School boards had to focus their attention yearly on how to handle the flood of new students and physically where to put them all. Another major problem of this era was the assimilation of foreign immigrants into the school system.
Public education had to deal with the social upheaval of society in general and with the integration of children of foreign cultures and foreign languages into American life. The construction and expansion of the Pleasant Street School took place under these circumstances. Even though Spencer was not a major city, its industrial success during this period brought with it many of the same problems that were typical of more urban places in Massachusetts. All during the late 19th century, Spencer schools were continually suffering from overcrowding that resulted from increasing population growth in response to industrial prosperity in the town. Spencer was not alone in this difficulty. Between 1870 and 1915 no city in Massachusetts was able to properly accommodate all of its school age population. Classrooms of over sixty pupils were common in Spencer during the late 19th century.
(continued) (OPS Form 10.000-a United States Departmentof the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number- 8 Page 5 Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 10240018 - New schools for Spencer were built and enlarged in continuation during the 1870's and 1880's, particularly. A new school at Hillsville was built in 1871. In 1872 a new building for District School # 8 was built on the site of the present Pleasant Street School. In 1874 a new school was built for District # 10. In 1874-1875 the school at Wire Village was enlarged. The Grove Street School (NR pending) was built in 1876. . Maple Street School, begun in 1879, was opened in 1880. Only a few years later, in 1883, the new Grove Street School was doubled in size by the addition of a second floor.
It was also in 1883, during this flurry of school construction, that the present Pleasant Street School was built to replace the existing District # 8 School, built only fourteen years earlier on this same site. In 1884 a new room was opened in the newly constructed Pleasant Street School. In 1886, a new room was openedin the Grove Street School to receivethe Intermediate department formerly housed at the overcrowded Maple Street School. Between early 1884 and late 1886 the town's total number of school rooms expanded from twenty-three to thirty-two. The number of teachers grew from twenty-eight to thirty-five. The Earley Street School was built in 1887. The next year a new, much larger, high style, modern high school building was also built. Overcrowding of the town's schools diminished by the turn of the 20th century, as a result of a decrease in population after 1890.
The construction and enlargement of the town's schools was only occasional after that. Graded Schools During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, even in larger towns and cities in Massachusetts and in the United States in general, schools were mostly ungraded. Of course, there were often separate primary and grammar school levels. Yet, within these two levels were a wide array of pupils of different ages and abilities. As late as 1840 in New England, some grammar schools were planned to seat 200 students in a single room under the tutelage of a team of several teachers. Gradually efforts were made to subdivide the primary and grammar school levels according to age group. In 1847 a building for the first fully graded school in the United States was built in Quincy, Massachusetts.
It was revolutionary because it contained not only twelve separate but smaller classrooms but also separate desks and chairs for each student. In the cities of the Commonwealth, the graded system was adopted more quickly than in its smaller municipalities. Most towns and cities moved into the graded system gradually. This often occurred incrementally, as the construction of new buildings or additions or alterations to existing buildings allowed there to be separate classrooms for separate grades. By 1860 in the nearby city of Worcester, city public schools were well on the way toward the modern graded system. Its schools were divided into Subprimary, Primary, Intermediate-Primary, Secondary, Grammar, and High School. Although Spencer had a public high school as early as 1856, it was slower to provide a modern style graded system for the lower grades.
Some schools in outlying rural areas of Spencer, not located in the town center, may have continued as one- or two-room schools well on to the end of the century or longer. At mid-century, schools in the town center were mostly (continued) (PSFom 1000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _8 Page 6 - Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No.1024-0018 divided between primary and grammar schools only. The primary school class probably included the equivalent of grades one through three, and the grammar school class grades four through eight. The West Main Street School, built in 1867, may have been the first to begin the effort toward graded classes in Spencer. At the time of its opening it housed "four schools".
These schools were probably "first primary", "second primary", "intermediate", and "grammar" - or eight grades divided among four rooms. School buildings such as the 1872 District # 8 School (Pleasant Street) and the 1876 School # 12 (Grove Street), despite their later dates of construction, were built to contain only two rooms -- one for a primary school and one for a grammar school. Only after the enlargement of the Grove Street School and the construction of the present Pleasant Street School in 1883, did either of these school buildings provide enough space for any subdivision of the primary and grammar levels. Grove Street School atits opening housed three grade levels in its four rooms - primary, intermediate, and grammar.
By 1883, apparently depending on rooms available in the individual school buildings and depending on the school population in the neighborhood, the classes in the schools in the town center were becoming subdivided in an effort to move toward a modern graded system. In 1884-1885 the new four-room buildings of Pleasant Street and Grove Street both housed only three grades. At Grove Street the classes were 1st primary, 2nd primary, and intermediate. At Pleasant Street they were primary, intermediate, and grammar. It is assumed that all four classrooms were occupied in each school, but that there were two sections of one of the three grades. At this date, the only school in Spencer to have a subdivision of grades that approximated the modern grading system was the large, six-classroom West Main Street School.
It had 1st primary, 2nd primary, 3rd primary, 1st intermediate, 2nd intermediate, and grammar. Maple Street and Maple Street Annex had at least seven classrooms available between them. Yet, possibly because of the age make up of this working class Catholic neighborhood, these rooms were devoted entirely to primary and intermediate grades. Maple Street housed 1st primary, 2nd primary, 3rd primary, and intermediate. The Annex housed 1st primary, 2nd primary, and 3rd primary. At an unidentified date, probably about 1890, Spencer converted, in name at least, to a fully graded system. The 1892-1893 School Report indicates that schools in the town center were graded I though VIII. Every school did not house all eight grades. It appears that the grades housed at each school depended somewhat on the neighborhood school population, but also on available room in schools in the town center.
Grove Street School contained grades one through four in its four rooms. Earley Street School had grades one through three and grade five. Maple Street School housed grades one through three and grade five. Maple Street Annex housed grades one, two, four, and five. Main Street and Pleasant Street schools housed grades one through eight. The method of listing the grades in the report suggests that, in some cases, two grades were kept in the same classroom. At the West Main Street School, the higher grades, grades V and VI and grades VII and VII, which presumably had fewer students, appear to have been kept two grades to a classroom. At Pleasant Street this was certainly the case for all grades, since there were only four rooms to house its eight grades.
The (continued) (oP8 Fomm 10.000 United States Department of the Interlor National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 7 Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 school report listed Grades I and Il together, suggesting that they both occupied the same classroom. Likewise, grades IIl and IV, grades V and VI, and grades VII and VIII were paired. This seems to be evidence of an attempt to conform with the graded system despite a lack of enough individual classrooms. 19th Century Development of Spencer During the early 19th century, Spencer was still a very small community. At this time, settlement in the town center was relatively scattered. It was limited almost exclusively to two separate clusters on Main Street.
One cluster, known as "upper village" had formed around the Congregational meetinghouse. The other cluster, known as "lower village", centered around three taverns near the intersection of Main and Pleasant streets. In 1840 the population numbered only 1725. After the opening of the Western Railroad through South Spencer in 1839, the town's existing small industries began to grow. Its industries prospered and its population increased as the town became part of the country's expanding railroad network during the antebellum period. During the first burst of industrial prosperity in the 1850's, the town's residential neighborhoods expanded beyond Main Street. Pleasant Street, High Street, and Lake Street were first built up with houses at that time. At the same time, working class neighborhoods south of Main Street and west of Maple Street were being developed.
During this same period, the homes of mill owners and entrepreneurs filled in the section of Main Street between the "upper village" and the "lower village". Boom time for Spencer came after the Civil War, as it did for towns and cities throughout New England. With the prosperity of the boot and shoe, wire, and textile industries in Spencer, the town's population grew quickly -- from 3,953 in 1870 to 8,747 in 1890. Between 1875 and 1880 alone, its population increased by 2,000. Foreign immigrants, especially Irish and French Canadians, made up the majority of the population increase during the late 19th century. During this period, a comparatively dense commercial-industrial district grew up near the intersection of Main and Pleasant Streets. Working class neighborhoods in the Maple Street area continued to expand. Settlement increased on existing streets near the center of town.
New streets were opened up north and south of Main Street and built up with houses, both modest and grand. The Pleasant Street Neighborhood and the District # 8 (Pleasant Street) School Residential development in the Pleasant Street area brought a denser population to this part of town during the second half of the 19th century. In the 1850's the early development of Pleasant Street and nearby High Street occurred near their intersections with Main Street. After 1870, the northern ends of these streets were filled in with houses and the area west of Pleasant Street and north of Main (continued) NPS Form 10-000 1-66) United States Department of the Interlor National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 8 - Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No.
10240018 Street also began to be built up It is unclear which school or schools served those living in the Pleasant Street area before 1872. However, by the early 1870's it was decided to build a new school for this area. That school was to replace the existing District # 8 School, which had been built about 1801, or earlier, on the north side of Woodside Road. The former school site was located much further from the town center, northwest of the site of the present school. In 1872 a new woodframe District # 8 School was built on the site of the present Pleasant Street School, on previously undeveloped land bought from Pardon Howland. That school was planned to hold 120 students, apparently in two rooms. Only a few years later, in 1878, the Spencer School Report indicates that the building was overcrowded. The new District # 8 School was already too small.
In 1883 the old school was moved back on the same lot and the present school building was built to replace it. The school report of 1884 noted: "The old time building of Pleasant Street, unsuited to the comfort and convenience of the school needs of the district, has yielded its old-time usefulness to the sightly building of brick now gracing the school site of this portion of the town." During the great period of Spencer's growth and prosperity during the 1870's and 1880's the town's schools were continually overcrowded despite repeated construction of new buildings and new classroom additions to existing schools. As early as 1884, the same year the new school was opened, an additional room was opened (probably in the basement) at Pleasant Street.
Because of overcrowding in the High School at Denny Hall, a high school annex of forty students was held at the Pleasant Street School from 1886 until the new David Prouty High School was built in 1888. Late 19th Century Ideals for School Architecture in Spencer A statement in the 1870-1871 Spencer School Report outlines the requirements expected of the best school buildings at that time. These are generally the same criteria for good school buildings that were expressed in education publications in the United States during the mid and late 19th century: "Every school house should have one or more wardrobe-rooms, substantially furnished, and a large ante-room, in which the pupils can have their recreation in inclement weather, and in which they can spend their intermission; and no scholar should be admitted to the school room proper in the absence of the teacher.
This suggestion is made in the interest of the school furniture and the inside finish of the school rooms generally. The school house should be roomy and comfortable, and furnished with all modern appliances and improvements for the advancement of the pupils in knowledge. Its surroundings should be neat and tasty and made as (continued) (NPS Form 10.000-a United States Department of the Interlor National Park Service OMB Approvel No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts attractive as possible, so that the scholar will not require to be whipped unwillingly to school, but will go there for the love of it; for whatever awakens in them a love for the beautiful in nature, or in art, improves their tastes, multiplies their sources of enjoyment and makes them happier, wiser and better in every way." The details mentioned above were not unusual for the time. Both mid- and late-19th century education publications recommended desk styles and educational equipment, such as globes, maps, plaster casts of sculptures, and other visual aids as desirable parts of the ideal classroom.
In Massachusetts schools of the late 19th century, it was common for there to be a room in the basement, such as is described here, where the children could stay out of the weather before the start of school and where they could play during inclement weather. The plan of the Pleasant Street School provides for ample, well-lighted classrooms and spacious cloak rooms convenient to each room. The basement that is partially above grade could originally have provided space for a reception/play area. Two such play rooms were included in the 1867 West Main Street School. It is assumed that there would have been a play room included in the plans for the Pleasant Street School. Today, the basement at Pleasant Street has been divided up into several spaces. Whether or not there was such a playroom there is not certain.
An undated, apparently late 19th century, photograph shows the interior of a classroom, believed to be at the Pleasant Street School. The woodwork and door seen here seem to correspond with what survives today in the school. The picture shows an interior that is neat, clean, and well-appointed. Children are seated at double desks. Both the desks and accompanying chairs are bolted to the floor. The room has several pictures and a clock on the wall. Walls are wainscotted and a brick fireplace with a round-arched opening and a wood mantle shelf occupy part of one wall. Although no fireplaces now exist in the building, four fireplace mantle shelves of a similar type seen in the picture are presently stored in the attic. According to former student and former principal, Mary Madden, there were fireplaces in each classroom.
She remembers the mantlepieces as always having been decorated when she was a child 19th Century American Literature on Schoolhouse Design 19th century publications on schoolhouse design, such as those by Henry Barnard, contained remarks similar to the one quoted above on the importance of the architecture of the school building. They called for dignified school architecture, and attractive schools and school grounds. Architecture and landscape were said to be important contributors to the aesthetic education of children. In 1871, James Johonnot included a chapter entitled "Architecture an Educational Influence" in his book on (continued) (S Fom 10.800-a United States Department of the Interlor National Park Service National Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 10 Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No.
1024-0018 school architecture, Schoolhouses. It began: "Ordinary use is not the only value of buildings. They may be so so fashion our buildings and arrange their details, that while they answer the purposes of their erection they may, at the same time, satisfy that love of the beautiful, the symmetrical, and the harmonious." Johonnot continued his argument: "In the erection of every school-house particular care should be taken to observe the rules of taste as regards form. In our country districts, where a small and plain building only is demanded, we need to consider proportion and symmetry alone; the other principles of architecture applying chiefly to larger and more pretending structures. If this is done, if our school-houses all conform to these two fundamental laws, they cannot fail to become strong educational influences.
The advantages of obeying the principles of architecture in the construction of school- houses may be summed up in a few words: 1. If the building is an object of beauty, the very sight of it inspires emotions of pleasure. 2. It adorns and beautifies the landscape of which it forms a part. 3. It becomes an attractive place to children, and does not repel them by its deformity. 4. It practically teaches ideas of proportion and symmetry, and new and exalted conceptions of beauty of form. 5. It throws over property the shield of beauty, and so checks, and finally eradicates the rudeness which is stimulated by deformity. 6.
It forms one of those influences which have most power over the heart and affections, directly aiding the teacher in the most difficult and important part of his work." By the late 19th century, writings of this sort had encouraged the wholesale construction of notably handsome, but also solid, practical, and well-built school buildings in Massachusetts towns and cities. This philosophy together with the taste of the day encouraged the use of a certain amount of architectural ornament on school buildings, whenever economically possible. (continued) NPS Form10-000- 6-68) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ Page . 11 Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No.
1024-0018 The Architecture of Pleasant Street School The Pleasant Street School is an excellent example of the philosophy of "practical but beautiful". It is elegant in its overall simplicity of form. The major part of the building is well designed and built of fine materials; but it is of marked simplicity. Stylish architectural ornament is concentrated on the front. Only the central portion of the main facade is accented by extensive ornament. In this area Colonial Revival style round-arched fan-windows, Classical friezes and pilasters, Queen Anne style ornamental brickwork, and Queen Anne style rhythmical turned porch posts are combined to create rhythm, texture, ornament, and a central focal point to the building. The interior is also simple. Its few ornamental features are simply decorative, not showy, but stylish and of high quality.
Interior ornamental details include wide moulded door and window frames, heavy, well-detailed doors, and a handsome double stairway to the upper floor with tongue and groove paneled railing and fine newel The Classical and Queen Anne styles represented in the exterior ornament of Pleasant Street School were often blended as they are here. During the late 19th century several styles were popular contemporaneously with one another, e.g., Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Classical Revival, Renaissance Revival, and Victorian Gothic. Both in architect-designed and vernacular buildings of the day elements of different styles were mixed. Classical elements were perhaps most often mixed with other styles. Queen Anne, Classical, Colonial Revival, and Romanesque were probably the most popular styles used during the 1880's for school buildings in New England.
The Romanesque style, was chosen for two later 1880's Spencer schools, Earley Street School and David Prouty High School. Other Spencer Schools Pleasant Street School is similar to other Spencer schools of its time in its form and interior plan. The most similar is the Grove Street School (1876 & 1883), which has a nearly identical interior plan and similar stylistic details on its remodelled exterior central pavilion. Both are four-room schools, two-and-a-half stories in height, each with a two-classroom ground plan. In fact, the plan for Pleasant Street School may have been suggested by that of Grove Street. Fuller & Delano, the architects of Pleasant Street School added the second story to Grove Street School the same year. The plan of Grove Street appears to have been essentially the same in its two-room form before the addition of the upper story.
Both Pleasant Street School and Grove Street School seem to have had other similar Spencer predecessors, Hillsville School (1871) and the earlier Pleasant Street School (1872). Those schools were two-room schools. Their exterior form, with a central gabled entry pavilion, was similar. It is assumed that the interior plan was also similar. Pleasant Street School, like Grove Street School and Earley Street School (1887), were designed with a pavilion at the center of the main facade. On the Pleasant and Grove Street Schools, the two main entrances are through porches in the sides of the pavilion. In the Romanesque style Earley Street (continued) (PB Fomm 10.000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approvel No.
1024-0018 Section number 8 Page 12 Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts School they were through porches located on either end of the building. The central pavilions of all three have no entrance in the front wall, giving the main facade a somewhat blank appearance since their centralized, symmetrical designs create the expectation that the entrance will be at the center of the facade. All three of these buildings were designed by the same architect, Fuller & Delano. The entrances of the West Main Street School (1867) (not designed by Fuller & Delano), which has no central pavilion, were, like the Earley Street School, located in the ends of the building. With no entrance on the main facade, it also has a somewhat blank look on its main facade.
The use in schools of two separate entrances, one for boys and one for girls, located on distinctly opposite sides of the building are characteristic of late 19th century schools. Although earlier schools and smaller late 19th century schools often had two entrances, they were typically located near one another, usually at the center of the main facade. Denny Hall (1857), Spencer's first high school building, was of this type. Pleasant Street School and Architect-Designed Schools in Spencer The Pleasant Street Schoolis among the most outstanding examples of late 19th century architecture surviving in Spencer. Designed by Fuller & Delano, a prominent Worcester architectural firm, and built by J. D. Morton, contractor, the building was constructed at a cost of $10,940.
With the advent of architect-designed schools of brick, such as the Pleasant Street School, the quality and substantial character of the town's architecture began to rise. Compared to most earlier school buildings in Spencer, Pleasant Street School is of unusually high style. Until the construction of Pleasant Street School and the addition to the Grove Street School, both in 1883, most Spencer schools appear not to have been designed by architects. Denny Hall, the town's first high school (1857) and Maple Street School (1880), by Worcester architect Elbridge Boyden, seem to have been the only exceptions. Of the five architect-designed brick schools built here during the 1880's, only Pleasant Street and the very fine Romanesque style David Prouty High School (1889) (Amos P. Cutting, Worcester, NR) still survive today.
Fuller & Delano The architectural firm of Fuller & Delano was the partnership of James E. Fuller (1836-1901) and Ward P. Delano (1851-1915) of Worcester, Massachusetts. Formed in 1879, their partnership lasted until Fuller's death in 1901. Fuller & Delano were succeeded by their sons, Robert L. Fuller (1906) and Ward P. Delano (1916), in the firm, which existed until the death of the younger Delano in 1940. In his early years, James Fuller had worked as a draughtsman for Elbridge Boyden, designer of Mechanics Hall in Worcester and of Denny Hall and the Congregational Church in Spencer. From (continued) (PS For 1000 OMB Approvel No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interlor National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 13 - Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) MassachusettsR 1867 through 1876, he was associated with Worcester's premiere late 19th century architect, Stephen C. Earle, in the firm of Earle & Fuller. The firm Fuller & Delano was the architect for the Salisbury Street School (1889) in Worcester, among Worcester's finest Romanesque Revival style structures. The firm was also responsible for numerous other significant Worcester buildings listed on the National Register. They include educational structures, houses, fire stations, important downtown commercial blocks, apartment buildings, and the Worcester Armory.
The major buildings of this partnership were built during the late 1880's and 1890's in the Romanesque, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival styles. Other than the Pleasant Street School, Spencer buildings known to have been designed by Fuller & Delano are the 1883 addition to the Grove Street School and the Earley Street School (1887) (no longer standing). Brick Architecture in Spencer Before 1870 there were few brick buildings in Spencer. Even the town's most important buildings -- its churches, the town hall, and most schools and factories - were built of wood. After the Civil War, as the economy began to boom, more buildings in the town center began to be built of brick. One of the earliest of these brick buildings was the District # 9 School (West Main Street School), built in 1867. For the uniqueness of its building material, it was known as the "Brick School".
In 1871, soon after the construction of the "Brick School", the old wooden Greek Revival style town hall was replaced with a new Gothic style brick structure. During the 1880's and 1890's, numerous Spencer schools, churches, a few commercial blocks, and the town library were built of brick. Today, although there is some concentration of brick buildings in the center, most of the town's buildings are still of wood. Brick Schools Two small outlying schools had been built of brick in the 1840's, but other than those, all of the other Spencer schools were of wood at the time of the construction of the "Brick School" in 1867. By the 1870's, brick had not yet become the only material of which the town's schools were to be built. The Hillsville School of 1871 and the Pleasant Street School of 1872 were both built of wood.
It was not until the construction of the Grove Street School in 1876 that the second brick school was built in the town center. Then, during the 1880's five new Spencer school buildings were built of brick. Pleasant Street School was one. The others were Maple Street School, Maple Street Annex, Earley Street School, and David Prouty High School. All of these structures were located in the town center. Although by this time brick had certainly become the material of preference for school buildings, it was not always to be used. As late as 1897, the Wire Village School, located outside the center, was (continued) (o8 Form 10000a United States Department of the Interlor Natlonal Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Sectlon number Page 14 - Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 built of wood.
Pleasant Street School Today The Pleasant Street School still continues today to serve the Pleasant Street area as a public elementary school. It houses grades kindergarten through three. It is scheduled, however, to be decommissioned a pubio elenenta soon. Construction of a new middle school for Spencer has recently been completed. According to present plans, children from Pleasant Street, Grove Street, and West Main Street elementary schools will be moved within a year or two to the former middle school building (originally David Prouty High School, 1889, NR) on Main Street. Such a move would leave the three present elementary school buildings vacant. No plans for their future have been made. Archaeological Significance Since patterns of prehistoric occupation in the Spencer area are poorly understood, any surviving s site could be significant.
Prehistoric sites in this area could be important by providing data on upland/interior sites and the Worcester Plateau/Central Massachusetts uplands in general and how they were influenced by other Native American regional subsistence/settlement trends including the coastal lowlands to the east and the Connecticut River Valley to the west. Sites in this area might also be used to test hypotheses relating to the relationships of prehistoric settlement and subsistence in different riverine drainages. The Pleasant Street School locale lies near the headwaters of the ChicopeeRiverdrainagewhich flows westerly to the ConnecticutRiver and the Thames River drainage which flows southerly to Long Island Sound.
Prehistoric sites in this area may contain data which would enable a study of the extent to which these drainages influenced the social, cultural and economic systems of people who lived in the area. Historic Archaeological remains described above have the potential to provide detailed information on the social, cultural and economic characteristics which typified the student body in a late 19th/20th century Central Massachusetts neighborhood school. Analysis of sheet refuse patterns and other trash deposits in the area surrounding the school can provide information on the age, sex and social composition of the student body. Detailed information relating to education methods may also survive.
Structural remains at the original site of the 1872 wood frame school and it's second location to the rear of the existing school can also contribute architectural details for a wood frame school building type which rarely survives today in the area. These remains can also detail changes which occurred with the original school as it's primary educational use was changed. (end) (ODS Form 10000a OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 Unlted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _9 Page 1 Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts 9. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Maps Maps of Spencer, 1859, 1870, 1877, 1898. Public Documents Spencer School Reports, 1877, 1878, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1889, 1892. Published Works Bicknell, . School House and Church Architecture. New York: 1878. Cubberley, Ellwood P.
Public Education in the United States: A Study and Interpretation of American Educational History. (Revised and Enlarged Edition) Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1947. Eveleth, . School House Architecture. New York: 1870. Fiske, Jeffrey. History of Spencer, Massachusetts, 1875-1975. Spencer: Spencer Historical Commission, 1990. Gulliford, Andrew. America's Country Schools. Washington, D.C.: The Preservation Press, 1984. Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Worcester County, Vol I. Philadelphia: J. W. Lewis & Co. 1889. Johonnot, James. Schoolhouses. New York: 1871. Knowlton, E. B., ed. Worcester's Best: A Guide to the City's Architectural Heritage. Worcester: Worcester Heritage Preservation Society, 1984. Lazerson, Marvin. Origins of the Urban School: Public Education in Massachusettts, 1870-1915. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971. History of Worcester County. Boston: C. F. Jewett, 1879.
Unpublished Works Ceccacci, S. "Study of the Farmhouse, Worcester State Hospital Historic District", 336 Plantation Street, Worcester, Ma." December, 1986. Ceccacci, S.Massachusetts HistoricalCommission Area Form,East Main Street-Cherry Street Area, Spencer, Ma., April 1992. (continued) NP8Form 10-000- (6-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Sectlon number9,10 Page 2,1 Pleasant Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts Dempsey, Stachiw, Steinitz, Worsham. "Spencer Reconnaisance Survey Report", Massachusetts Historical Commission, 1984. Photographs Photographs of Spencer Schools, Collection of Ernie Roberts, Spencer. Interviews Telephone interview, S. Ceccacci with Mary Madden, October 14, 1993. OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 10.
GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Verbal Boundary Description The Pleasant Street School occupies lot #57 on the Town of Spencer Assessor's Map #U-20. Boundary Justification The plot of land occupied by the Pleasant Street School is the same plot that has been historically associated with the building. (end) 'leasant. Stiiet. S.hoo "brus Spencer..lass. Juny 157+ Pleasant Street School. CA.1908? PLEASANT STREET SCHOOL ?
SPENCER, MASSACHUSETTS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY NAME: Pleasant Street School MULTIPLE NAME : STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Worcester DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 6/07/96 7/04/96 DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: 6/18/96 7/22/96 REFERENCE NUMBER: 96000736 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: DATA PROBLEM: N OTHER: N PDIL: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: N N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: PERIOD: N PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: N N N COMMENT WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN REJECT 7.5.96 DATE ABSTRACT/ SUMMARY COMMENTS: Intered in the National Register RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER TELEPHONE DISCIPLINE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N PLEASANT STREET SCHOOL SPENCER (WORCESTER COUNTY) MA PHOTOGRAPHER: SUSANM-DANTEL CECCACC DATE: FEBRUARY 1993 NEGKTIVE LOCATION: SPENCER HISTORIAL COMMISSION VIEW: MAN FACADE, LOOKING NORTH PLEASANT STREET SCHOOL SPENCER (WORCESTER COUNTY), MA, PIOTOGRAPHER: SUSAN MEDANIEL CECCACCI JATE: FEBRUARY 1993 NEGATIVELOCATION: SPENGER HISTORICAL COMMISSION VIEW: REAR OF BUILDING, LOOKING SOUTHEAST 20/2 U-21 Ve: 49 20,941 U-22 50 ederet.
PREPARED BY PHOTOGRAMMETRIC METHOOS BY JOHN E. & ASSOCIATES AUBURN, MAINE 51 17,029 U-19 12ig 21,734 PLEASÁNT 9.023 STREET LEGENO AOJACENT SHEET NO COMMON OWNERGHIE DEVELOPMENT LOT NO. SCALEO DIMEMSION 1 2 -io cá 109.0 77 34.900 192.3 76 1.06 ac 210.09 tai e4 2.2 AC 74 9.600 5. 20330 72 1.03 4C CRAIG ROAD 143z 2471 9,233 107100 8.= 19.300 8 40 12.33 1so't 150 212 GRANT 39 21.309 68 34.99 43 18 26.:36 : 38 10.090 10 2 19 29.730 44 20 11,+80 194 66 STREET. 37 10.200 101 80 36 170 18 19.5 65 18,680 154 64 $ 175 35 11,792 1.27 AC 34 3= 101$ 16.733 65 -3.45 y S. 8.05 23 38,430 62 15 E 0.200 61 147.5 25 25.151 4,217 HIGH STREET 14..1 60 16.437 26 1.31 AC 00008 137.02 237Ac 359't U-13 28 35.594 359't PROPERTY MAP SPENCER MASSACHUSETTS PLEASANT STREET ECHOOL SPENCER (WORCECTER COUNTY) mA U-19 13381S WILSON 3101 1301 SAAA 20122 24T MILL POND JAN.
O 1 1993 212 13381S 14 13,010 -**0 19.29 7657 10 13,231 19322 1,319 17.40 180 11 13381S 39.391 45 AC 24.030 10.10 U-14 SCALE IN FEET 200 U-14 U-20 GTE BEIU CHLACNAN The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission May 14, 1996 Carol Shull P. O. Box 37127 Washington, D. C. 20013-7127 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: Pleasant Street School, 54 Pleasant Street, Spencer (Worcester County), Massachusetts, 01562 The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. Owners were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30- 75 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment.
Sincerely, Betoytriedhey Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure CC: Anna Marie Hughes, Chairperson, Spencer Historical Commission William D. Ekleberry, Chairperson, Spencer Board of Selectmen Susan M. Ceccacci, Architectural Historian 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 - (617) 727-8470 Fax: (617) 727-5128 TDD: 1-800-392-6090 NAME OF PROPERTY_PLEASANT STREET SCHOOL.
NUMBER OF PROPERTIES DATE OF ACCEPTANCE ****************************************************************************************************************** ADDRESSES 54 PLEASANT STREET DATE DATE OWNER UPDATE NOTIFICATION REQUESTED LETTER MAILED DATE ELIGIBILITY LETTER MAILED DATE ACCEPTANCE LETTER MAILED OWNER LOCAL HISTORICAL COMMISSION ANNA MARIE HUGHES CHAIPERSON SPENCER HISTORICAL COMMISSION 246 MAIN STREET Memorial Town Hall SPENCER, MA 01562-1803 157 MainSt. CERTIFIED ELECTED OFFICIAL Willian D. Elleberry KEVIN A. HAYES, CHAIR BOARD OF SELECTMEN 157 MAIN STREET SPENCER, MA 01562 APPLICANT SUSAN M. CECCACCI 360 CAUSEWAY STREET JEFFERSON, MA 01522 3/15/96 REGIONAL PLANNER OTHER SUPPORTERS; ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE Library: Mary Baker- Wood, Directr Richard SugdenLbrary 8 Pleasant sy. Spencer, MA 016l02
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