Major Bibliographical References Bibilography (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 - Other State agency - previously listed in the National Register - Federal agency _ previously determined eligible by the National L Local government Register - University - designated a National Historic Landmark -Other J recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: # J recorded by Historic American Engineering Massachusetts Historical Commission Record # Grove Street School Name of Property 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property - 20,647 sq.ft.
UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.) 119 253080 4681300 Zone Easting Northing Worcester, Massachusetts County and State 3L1 Zone Easting - See continuation sheet Northing 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/title Susan McDaniel Ceccacci, Architectural Historian with Betsy Friedberg, National Register Director organization Massachusetts Historical Commission date May 1996 street & number 220 Morrissey B oulevard telephone (617) 727-8470 state MA zip code 02125 city or town Boston Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets Maps 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 additional items) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of SHPO or FPO.) name Town of Spencer 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 seg.) Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including 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 theChief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Projects (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. (0P8Fom 10000a United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ 7 Page - 1 Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 7.
DESCRIPTION Grove Street School is located on a tree-lined street in a residential neighborhood of mostly late 19th entury, two-and-a-half-story, gable-front woodframe houses. It sits on a 20,647 square foot lot on th vest side of Grove Street. Set close to the street, it has only a small schoolyard in front. The main lay pres i pat the feap ofrte y aitiesand on the foub sidei an area thih playeroums ort: Ana owe ground level than other sides of the building, this area is separated from the front and rear schoolyards by fieldstone retaining walls, probably dating from the early 20th century. The area immediately around the school building, front, rear, and sides, is paved. A chain link fence encloses the property on the front and sides of the lot. A high, rocky ledge, wooded on top, encloses the schoolyard at the rear.
This brick school is two-and-a-half stories high in the front and three stories high in the rear, where the ground falls off. It rests on a granite foundation and has rockface granite trim and decorative brickwork. It is built on an asymmetrical T-plan with a gable roof. The gable ends of both the main body of the building and the central facade pavilion are treated with jerkinhead gables and bargeboards supported on heavy brackets. At the corners of the main body of the building are pilaster-like panels of brick with no capitals. Above them is a brick frieze that trims the eaves on the long sides of the building. It is continued around the gable ends of the building where decorative brick step-corbelling appears below the frieze. Entrances are in the east (front) and west (rear) sides of the building. Fenestration appears symmetrical when seen from the east or west along the street.
It is, however, slightly asymmetrical when seen head-on. The section south of the central facade pavilion is longer than the section north of it. Window openings are rectangular with 2/2 sash. Windows on the ground floor have simple rockface granite lintel caps. At the second floor on the front are window caps of a rockface granite lintel resting on corbelled brick labels. Upper windows on the rear and side facades have labeled rockface granite caps. The only non-rectangular window is a large, multipaned, round-arched window at the center of the second level of the central facade pavilion. Interior end chimneys are expressed as low-relief panels of brickwork on the exterior wall of each of the gable ends of the main body of the building. Beginning just above the upper level of the ground floor, this panel extends to the roofline.
Above the roofline, the chimneys are slightly flared at the top. A later interior chimney, rectangular in section, rises from the central section of the roof at the rear of the building. A major feature of the design of the building is the projecting central facade pavilion -- the focal point of the main facade. It is placed off center, slightly to the right of center. Because the front of the building is difficult to view head-on, this asymmetry is hardly noticeable. Set close to the street, the front of the school is almost always seen at an angle, either from the south or from the north.
At an angle the two ends of the facade are not viewed together, so the difference in their length cannot be (continued) (op8 Form 10.000-a United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 2 - Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 easily compared The pavilion is ornamented with decorative brick panels and is trimmed with granite plaques inscribed of repeated square-section balusters, the porches are now (reversibly) enclosed with wood siding. The original slate roof was damaged by the 1938 hurricane. The present roofing appears to be asphalt shingle. The only outbuilding on the property is a small, late-20th-century, wooden storage shed that Original Appearance This building was first built as a one-and-a-half-story structure in 1876.
Only one photograph showing the building as originally built has been found. It shows the front and the south side only. A rear and south side view of the school can be seen on the 1877 bird's eye view map of Spencer. Although neither gives a full view, it is possible to tell the building's general appearance and certain details from these images. The long section of the present building and its ground story windows belong to the original structure. A barely detectable change in the coloration of the brick can be seen just above the level of the tops of the first floor windows. This appears to be the seam between the original structure and the addition. At the center of the main facade was a central entrance pavilion. An early photograph shows it to have been only one-and-a-half stories high and possibly not quite as deep.
At its center was a broad, segmented-arched entrance, trimmed with brick and contrasting granite blocks, voussoirs, and keystone. It also seems to have had brick pilasters at its front corners. On the roof of the pavilion was a small, low, peak-roofed spire that was sheathed in decorative slate and trimmed at the top with ornamental iron cresting. Despite differences between the present pavilion and the original one, physical evidence suggests that the lower portion of the present pavilion may date from the original construction. For example, in the approximate position of the original center entrance, cracks in the interior plaster curve in the form of a segmented arch. This evidence makes it seem possible that the former central entrance and its flanking pilasters were merely bricked over as part of the remodelling of the building.
The present entrance into the north side of the pavilion has a segmented arched top, as did the original center- facade entrance. Its form suggests that it may be original to the earlier structure, while the rectangular-headed south entrance may not be. A second entrance to the building occupied the center of the rear wall. That entrance still exists unchanged. It is narrow and is trimmed identically to the windows that flank it. There was no projecting pavilion for the rear entrance as there was for the front. (continued) NPSForm10-000- (8-88) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Sectlon number Page 3 Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No.
1024-0018 Ornamental details used on the original building included corner pilasters, friezes at the eaves, step corbelling, and jerkinhead gables. These same details were repeated in comparable locations on the addition of the upper story in 1883. It appears that the bargeboards seen on the building today were also an element of the original design. Original chimneys were similar to the present ones and were located in the same position as the present ones, at either end of the building. The tops of the original chimneys were somewhat more flared at the top, and were more typically Victorian Gothic in their shape, than are the present chimneys. The grounds of the building as seen in the only existing photograph of the building in its original state were unadorned by trees or plantings.
A retaining wall occupied the position of the present retaining wall at the front of the building on the south side. Other details of landscaping are unclear, with the exception of the presence of a white picket fence along the property line on the south side of the grounds. 1883 Addition A two-room, second-story addition was made to the school in 1883. Although the changes made to the building at this time preserved many features of the original design, they gave the school a more up-to-date appearance. The original proportions and treatment of the 1876 building were combination Greek Revival/Victorian Gothic features. The pilasters and frieze are of Greek Revival inspiration while the jerkinhead gables, the step corbelling, and labeled window caps are associated with the Victorian Gothic style.
The addition in 1883 of the second story and the use of the central, round-arched, multipaned window and the pair of entry porches gave the building greater appearance of mass, a more strongly Queen Anne style feeling, and a close similarity to the entirely new Pleasant Street School (NR pending) built in Spencer that same year. Another room was added to the Grove Street School in 1886, apparently using existing space within the building, since no exterior alterations were made. This room may have been created from space in the above-grade basement. The main entrance to the Grove Street School is through porches on the sides of the central pavilion. Entrances from these porches enter into a stairhall that contains a single staircase that leads to the upper floor. The stairs rise from the south side of the stairhall. A landing follows the north wall of the stairhall.
The final flight upward to the second floor follows the west wall of the stairhall. There are two school rooms on each floor, occupying the main body of the building. Between them on both levels is a narrow room, now used as an office on the ground floor and as a library on the second floor. This single space on each floor appears originally to have been subdivided into two spaces for cloak rooms, one for each of the adjoining rooms. Behind the former cloak rooms is a smaller room at the rear of the building. A door leads from each classroom and from the former cloak rooms to this room. At the ground floor it is an entrance hall associated with the rear door. On the second level, it serves as a single supply closet for the teachers of both rooms.
(continued) (OPS Form 10000a United States Department of the Interlor National Park Service National Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7,8 Page 4,1 - Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMS Approvel No. 1024-0010 The bullding interior is simple, with little ornament. Door frames are wide with heavy moulding. Tongue and groove wainscotting is used throughout. The staircase railing is made of tongue and groove paneling. The heavy newel post is of a simple design with incised ornament and a pyramidal top. All interior woodwork, which, presumably, was originally finished as natural wood, is now painted. Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are currently recorded on the school property, it is possible that sites are Two prehistoric sites have been recorded in the general area (within one mile).
Most locational characteristics for the property, particularly its close proximity (within 1000 feet) to wetland resources are also favorable for prehistoric site locations. In general, however, the potential for significant archaeological survivals either prehistoric or historic is low because of the small lot size (less than one-half acre) and impacts from school construction and grading. While the school was constructed in 1876, the 1870 Atlas shows this entire area as undeveloped. 8. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Having served as a public school for over one hundred years, the Grove Street School is historically significant for the important part it has played for generations in the lives of the families of this neighborhood. This building is also significant for its integral role in the original development of the Grove Street section of Spencer in the mid-1870's.
An intact survivor of the era before the advent of the fully graded elementary school system, it is a striking example of the progress of school reform during the 19th century. Its original two-room size and its 1883 expansion to contain four classrooms are physical evidence of two different stages 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, this addition of rooms to the school also reflects the stresses that the success of the Industrial Revolution had on Spencer and oncities and towns throughout the Commonwealth during that period. The Grove Street School is a well-preserved example of late-19th century school architecture. It possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.
Architecturally, its design appears to reflect the influence that architectural pattern books had on American building during the 19th century.Incorporating twostages of construction,it reflects both the changing taste and changing educational requirements of the late 19th century. The school building is also important for its close relationship in plan and architectural features to the town's other school buildings of the same period and earlier. The Grove Street School is among the earliest (continued) (OPB Form 10000a United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number8 Page_2 - Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 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 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 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 nearby 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 (continued) (PS Form 10-000a OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page _3 - Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts 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 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 numbers. Grove Street School was originally known as School # 12. 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 became known by names, rather than numbers. Further research is necessary to determine how non-district schools, such as Grove Street, were supported and managed during the period of district schools. Also unknown is precisely how student bodies were determined for non-district schools in the town center and whether there was any difference in their curricula and those of the outlying district schools. 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 demanded 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 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, (continued) (OPB Form 10-000-a United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_8 Page . 4 Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 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 States. The results of thesereformswere 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 Grove Street School took place under these circumstances. Even though Spencer was not a (continued) (0P8 Form 10-900-a OMBApprovel No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 5 - Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts 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. New schools for Spencer were built and enlarged in continuation during the 1870's and 1880's, particularly. The Grove Street School was originally constructed 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. In that same year, a larger new school was built to replace the existing school on Pleasant Street.
In 1886, a new room was opened in the Grove Street School to receive the 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 larger 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. However, the Grove Street School continued to be crowded because the neighborhood around it was still growing. 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 an 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 (continued) NP& Form 10-000- (8-66) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 6 Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvei Ma. 1024-0018 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.
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. Schools in the town center were mostly 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 at 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. The Grove Street School, despite its later date of construction, was built to contain only two rooms -- one for a primary school and one for a grammar school.
After the enlargement of the building in 1883, it 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. At an unidentified date, probably about 1890, Spencer converted to a graded system. The 1892-1893 School Report indicates that by that date schools in the town center were graded, at least in name. Grove Street School contained grades one through four in its four rooms. Early 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. It appears, however, by the method of listing of the grades in the report, that in some cases two grades were kept in the same classroom. At Main Street School, the higher grades, grades V and VI and grades VII and VII, which presumably had fewer students, appear to have 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. Grades I and II were listed together. So were grades IIl and IV, grades V and VI, and grades VII and VIII. This seems to be evidence of an attempt to conform with the graded system despite a lack of enough individual classrooms. The Development of Spencer and of the Grove Street Neighborhood During the early 19th century, Spencer was still a very small community.
At this time, settlement in the town center was still relatively scattered. It was limited almost exclusively to two separate clusters Soesce ere il aery ind 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. (continued) (PS Fom 10000a United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 7 Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMBApprovel No.1024-0018 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. However, 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 this period a dense commercial-industrial district grew up near the intersection of Main and Pleasant Streets. The town's residential neighborhoods had first expanded beyond Main Street during the first burst of industrial prosperity in the 1850's.
High Street, Pleasant Street, and Lake Street were first built up with houses during 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". It was not until the 1870's that numerous side streets were opened off of Main Street eastward of Maple Street. This residential development occurred in previously undeveloped areas both north and south of Main Street. It was at this time that Grove Street and the entire neighborhood between Pleasant and Lake Streets grew up. The 1870 atlas shows this entire area as still completely untouched. The atlas does not give an owner for this land. It may have been J. W.
Prouty, since land for Grove Street School was purchased from him. Prouty was a principal in the Prouty Boot Shop nearby on Main Street. Present research has not shown how the development of this area occurred and whether or not a single person or group was responsible for it. In any case, development began some time between 1870 and 1876. Grove Street and several other adjoining streets were first opened up during that period. Grove Street School, constructed in 1876 at a cost of $4,600, seems to have been built contemporaneously with the development of the neighborhood. A photograph of Grove Street, probably taken shortly after 1876, shows the school, soldier-like rows of newly constructed two-and-a-half-story houses, and a few vacant lots. In the photograph, the newness of the houses is evident - not only in their clean appearance but also in the barrenness of the landscape.
The few trees in the picture are obviously newly planted and little shrubbery is seen at all. The same status of development is confirmed by the 1877 bird's eye view map. That map shows that not only Grove Street but also adjoining Pope, Starr, and Brown streets were already in existence and that numerous houses had been built by that time. During the 1870's, Spencer's residential neighborhoods north of Main Street in the vicinity of School # 12 grew significantly. Also atthe sametime, new and existing streets south of Main Street in the same area (Ash, Linden, May, and Cherry) were being developed. It is assumed that the population of (continued) IODS Form 1-000-a United States Department of the Interlor National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 8 Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No.
1024-0018 Grove Street School was drawn from these other nearby streets, as well. As early as 1878, only two years after the construction of Grove Street School, there were already more students in the first and second primary levels than there were seats provided. Between 1870 and the 1890's the Grove Street neighborhood and the nearby areas south of Main Street continued to grow. During this time these neighborhoods reached their present density and overall architectural character. According to local historian Miriam McCourt, many Irish boot and shoe workers lived on Grove Street and in this vicinity north of Main Street, as it was convenient to the nearby boot and shoe shops. Also, south of Main Street some housing for boot workers existed. Along Cherry Street, however, were the houses of many of the town's most important and wealthiest citizens.
Other information on the demographics of the area has not been found. A period of declining population occurred in Spencer between 1890 and 1920. This seems to have been due to a loss of occupations in agriculture and trades, rather than to industry. During this period industry continued to prosper. No decline in the industrial work force occurred during this time and the value of the town's manufactures increased Grove Street School Today The Grove Street School still continues today to serve the Grove Street neighborhood as a public elementary school. It houses grades kindergarten through three. It is scheduled, however, to be decommissioned soon. Construction of a new middle school for Spencer has recently been completed.
According to present plans, children from Grove Street, Pleasant 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 use have been made. Original 1876 Portion of Building The original, two-room portion of the present building was built as a one-and-a-half-story structure in 1876. Bricks came from Twichell's brickyard in Podunk. The builder was Frank S. Moses, who also built the Bank Block, Maple Street School, and the Dunton House -- some of the town's most substantial buildings. It is assumed that Moses was responsible for the planning as well as the construction of the school. No reference to an architect for the early building has been found.
One-and two-room schools were common for American schools before the advent of the fully graded school. School plans illustrated in 1870's architectural pattern books, such as Eveleth's School House Architecture (1870) and Bicknell's School House and Church Architecture (1878) make this quite clear. (continued) (P8 Form 10000a OMB Approvel No. 10240018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page 9 Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts The Grove Street School was one of at least three Spencer schools built during the 1870's in the same - one-and-a-halt-stories high, with a tive-bay main tacade, gable-ends, and a projecting gabled central entrance pavilion. It is assumed that the interior plans for all three were similar.
The design for the three schools may have been inspired by Eveleth's School House Architecture. Of these three similar buildings, the Grove Street School was the closest to Eveleth's design in style and ornamental details. The original Grove Street School and the other two schools were similar in form to Design No. 6 illustrated in Eveleth. Both Grove Street and Design No. 6 had a five-bay main facade and a high pitched roof with jerkinhead gables at each end. The Eveleth school design has a central rectangular doorway with a gabled dormer in the roof above it. Instead, the original Grove Street School had a projecting central entrance pavilion with jerkinhead gable and a single segmented arched entrance. Each had a Gothic style cupola rising from the peak of the gable at the center of the main facade. Both also had labeled window trim and stripes on the roof of polychrome slate.
Although the position of the chimneys was not the same for both designs, their flaring Gothic shape was similar. Eveleth's school relies on Gothic style wood trim (bargeboards and gable aprons) for ornament. Brick pilasters and other ornamental brickwork may have provided the major decorative effect for the 1876 Grove Street School. Study of the existing photograph and map illustration suggest that the original building had bargeboards as the school does today. These details give the Grove Street School a very close similarity to Eveleth's Design No. 6. The original Grove Street School building had only two schoolrooms. Like the exterior of the structure, the interior plan was similar to Eveleth's Design No. 6. Eveleth's plan was for a two-room school with an entrance at the center of the front and another at the center of the rear.
Its two school rooms were separated by two cloak rooms between them. Stairs to the basement were also located in this area. The 1877 bird's-eyeview map of Spencer shows that the Grove Street School originally had a rear entrance, as it does today. It is not known whether Grove Street ever had stairs to the basement adjoining the cloak room. It seems likely that this was so, since other aspects of the Grove Street plan are also closely similar to Eveleth's design. It also seems likely that the cloak room area at Grove Street was originally divided into two cloak rooms as shown in Eveleth. The similar cloak room space at Pleasant Street School is known to have been partitioned into two separate spaces.
The two other Spencer schools that appear possibly to have been influenced by Eveleth's design were the Hillsville School (District # 7) (1871) and the earlier Pleasant Street School (District # 8) (1872). Although they were similar in form, they were much simpler in exterior design and neither one had the stylish jerkinhead gables that the Grove Street School and the original Eveleth design had. A photograph of the wood frame, rural, Hillsville School in Spencer shows that its form was similar to that of the original Grove Street School. Like Grove Street, it was one-and-a-half stories high and had a projecting entrance pavilion at the center of the front. It had little adornment except for a Gothic pointed-arched window in the facade gable. It appears to have been a two-room school, like Grove Street.
Light showing through the front door suggests that it may have had both a front and a rear entrance. The 1877 bird's eye view map of Spencer shows that the overall design of the woodframe (continued) (NPg Form 1.000a OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 United States Department of theInterior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number. 8 Page 10 - Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts Pleasant Street School was also of this same type with a central entrance pavilion. It is assumed that it was also a two-room school. Architectural Pattern Books as a Source The use of builders' guides and architectural pattern books as design sources was common in American building beginning as early as colonial times. These books were often used by local builders to keep abreast of the latest trends and styles.
The designs published in them were often copied outright by local builders. The publication of plansfor schools was an important part of the mid-19th century American school reform movement. The earliest 19th century books on school architecture were written by education reformers themselves. Such an example was Essay on the Construction of School-houses by William Andrus Alcott published in 1832. Horace Mann, Massachusetts's first Secretary of Education, published plans for improved schools as early as 1838. During the 1840's and 1850's Henry Barnard's School Architecture was widely used by town's and cities as a source for school building planning and design. The tradition of publishing plans for schools continued in the 1870's with pattern books for schools, such as those by Eveleth and Bicknell.
In the late 19th century, after the appearance of American architectural schools and after the architectural profession had become well established in this country, architectural periodicals also served to spread information about styles and plans for buildings of all types, including schools. 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, churches, a few commercial blocks, and the town library were all built in the town center of brick. Today, although there is some concentration of brick buildings in the center, most of the town's buildings are still of wood. 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.
The next (continued) NPS Form 10-000 8-88) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _8 Page11 - Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 brick school to be built was the Grove Street School (1876). It was the second brick school built in the town center. During the 1880's five school buildings were built of brick (Maple Street, Pleasant Street, Maple Street Annex, Earley Street, and David Prouty High School). All of these structures were located in the town center. But, as late as 1897, the Wire Village School, outside the center, was built of wood. 1883 Addition A two-room second story of brick was added to the building in 1883 at a cost of $3,824.08.
(See Section 7 for descriptions of the structure as originally built, of changes made to it in 1883, and of its overall present appearance.) Architects for the 1883 addition to the school were Fuller & Delano, a prominent architectural firm with offices in the nearby city of Worcester. The partnership of James E. Fuller (1836-1901) and Ward P.Delano (1851-1915) was formed in 1879 and lasted until Fuller's death in 1901. In his early years 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. He was later associated with Worcester's premiere late 19th century architect, Stephen C. Earle, in the firm of Earle & Fuller (1867-1876). 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. 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. 1883 Grove Street School Compared to Other Spencer Schools Two other Spencer schools were built during the same period as the 1883 Grove Street School addition.
They were the Pleasant Street School (1883) and the Earley Street School (1887) (no longer standing). Both were designed by the architect of the 1883 addition to the Grove Street School, Fuller & Delano. Both of those schools, like the Grove Street School, were designed with a pavilion at the center of the main facade. On the Grove and Pleasant Street schools, the two main entrances are through porches in the sides of this pavilion. In both of these schools the pavilion housed both the entry vestibule and the stairs to the upper floor. In the Earley Street School the pavilion was shallow and may have been nothing more than an aesthetic feature.
Since the entrances were through porches located on either end of the building, the entry vestibules and stairs to the upper floor would have (continued) NPS Form 10-900- 8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _& Page _ 12 Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB ApprovelNo. 1024-0018 been located there. The central pavilions of all three of these schools have no entrance in the front wall. This treatment gavetheir main facades a somewhat blank appearance, since their centralized, symmetrical designs create the expectation that the entrance will be at the center of the main facade. The entrances of another Spencer school, the West Main Street School (1867) (not designed by Fuller & Delano), were, like the Earley Street School, located in the ends of the building.
This building too has a blank look on its main facade, since there is no entrance on the main facade. There is presently no explanation for this preference in Spencer schools for main facades without the accent of a central In the Grove Street School and in other Spencer schools of the period, two separate entrances, one for BAREE boys and one for girls, were located on distinctly opposite positions on the building. This was characteristic of late 19th century American schools in general. 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. Well into the 20th century, American schools continued to be built with distinctly separate entrances for girls and boys.
(end) (Pe Fomm10000g OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ Page 1 - Grove 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. 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 Historical Commission Area Form, East Main Street-Cherry Street Area, Spencer, Ma., April 1992.
(continued) (ODS Form 10000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 9,10 Page 2,1 - Grove Street School Spencer (Worcester County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 Dempsey, Stachiw, Steinitz, Worsham. Historical Commission, 1984. "Spencer Reconnaisance Survey Report", Massachusetts Photographs Photographs of Spencer Schools, Collection of Ernie Roberts, Spencer. Interviews Telephone interview, S. Ceccacci with Miriam McCourt, July 8, 1993. Telephone interview, S. Ceccacci with Mary Madden, October 14, 1993. 10.
GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Verbal Boundary Description he area occupied bv the Grove Street School is shown as Lot #12 on the Town of Spencer' ssessor's Map #U-14 Boundary Justification The parcel of land occupied by the Grove Street School is the same parcel that has been historically associated with this building. (end) Lithotype Printing Co., Gardner, Mass. GROVE STREET, LOOKING NORTH. CA.187O'S? Eveleth Schoof House Archutecture NY 1870 DESIGN NO. 6. Plates 17, 18 and 19. THis design exhibits a brick school-house to accommodate two classes of pupils of' both sexes, each class containing fifty-six pupils. There is a separate entrance for the pupils of either sex, and a separate- passage to the cellar or basement, which should be divided by two brick partitione directly under the cross partitions in the priucipal story.
The central portion of the cellar furnishes room for the furnace and the storage of fuel, and the parts beneath the school-rooms serre as play. rooms during foul weather. The two chimney flues which appear on the plan are joined iabove, and are designed to be used to ventilate the lower part of the school-rooms, by the aid of the iron or earthen smoke-flue before described. The upper part of the school-room is ventilated by means of openings into the space abote, which communicates with the open air through, the dormers and the shaded gable windows. The walls, to the height of the platé, are 12 inches thick, and in the gables 8 inches- thick, with buttresses in the latter flush with the wall below, the break in the wall being marked by a stone course.
The reveal of the windows is equal to the width of two bricks, and a rebate is formed in the jamb of the windows in the principal-story, by setting back the outer course 4 inches from the line of the inner course, terminating the rebate with stone quoins. The color of the exterior wood-work should resemble that of the stone used. Tro shades should be employed, one of theni considerably darker than the other, tbe darker shade being used for the beads upon the rafters, the chamfered work, and similar parts. payspond ueua paurbe e ecki auiaz Design No. 6. Plate No. 17. ELEVATION AND FLOOR PLAN "ito dnoh eu chn fhare ENTRY SCHOOL 29'0 o" 32* SCHOOL ENTRY Desión No. 6. Plate No.18. ELEVATION Ive inch to the fher DETAILS 12 inch to the foot STONE STONE MLIM® FINISH STONE BELT COURSE GABLE BUTTRESS FINIAL 2'8° CORNICE &C. T SECTION AT A SECTION ON BC ELEVATION AND SECTION OF DORMER Desión No.
6. DETAILS' 1'2 inch to the fool plate, No: 19. ....10°..- SECTION ON A.B. - 3'10"...
HOOD OVER ENTRANCE DOORS DETAILS OF BELL TOWER DETAILS OF CABLE WINDOWS -1'10" DETAILS OF WINDOWS FINISH FOR GABLES OVER DOORS SECTION OF WINDOW 1 inch to the foot JAMB UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Grove Street School NAME: MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Worcester DATE RECEIVED: 6/06/96 DATE OF 16TH DAY: 7/04/96 DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: DATE OF PENDING LIST: 6/18/96 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 7/21/96 REFERENCE NUMBER: 96000737 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N OTHER : N REQUEST: N COMMENT WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS : DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: PDIL: SAMPLE: N N PERIOD: SLR DRAFT: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: NATIONAL: N N N REJECT 7.5.96 DATE Entered in the National Register RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER TELEPHONE DISCIPLINE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N GROVE STRBET SCHOOL SPENCER (WORCESTER COUNTY), MA.
PHOTOGRAPHER: SUSAN MEDANIEL CECCACCI DATE: FEBRUARY 1993 NEGATIVE LOCATION: SPENCER HISTORICAL COMMISSION VIEW: MAIN FACADE & SOUTH SIDE, LOOKINGWEST / o12 GROVE STREET SCHOOL SPENCER (WORCESTER COUNTY), MA. PHOTOGRAPHER: SUSAN MIDANLEL CECCACCI DATE: PEBRUARY 1993 NEGATIVE LOCATION: SPENCER HISTORICH COMMISSION VIEW: SOUTHSIDE OF BUILDING, MAIN (FRONT)FACADE ON RIGHT, VOOK 2012 5 42.338 U-20 14 130AC % 15 1.3 AC STREET * 12 20,647 13,06 58 13,068 10 120-34,329 59 10,360 6,640 22.000 13a, 77a5 61 14,336 e/g 62 7,100 5633 21,562 64 1.28 AC iza 72' 1650 38 MAIN 66 29,377 U-7 LEGEND ADJACENT SHEET HO COMMON OWNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT LOT NO. SCALED DIMENSION 12 39 13,060 40 32g, STREET XONEE 9.621 U-13 933. 1.17 AC 1.3AC 13,000 PREPARED BY PHOTOGRAMMETRIC METHOOS BY JOHN E.
& ASSOCIATES AUBURN, MAINE 1984 STREET HIGHLAND U-18 STREET 16 3) 3 3,07 18 7A70 V- 8,470 DUGGAN, 10,324 26A 15934 18,700 27,240 STREET F 23 iosmwrtm sst 24 35,086 BROWN' ies= * 78 11,039 9,00 15,777 34 14,300 43A 10.028 80 STARR 438 $.36 STREET' HIGHLAND 1.92 AC 46 17,338 37,838 POPE 73 s3 STREET 10,900 1959 ,09= 67 1.28 AC 06 3° 2/8 E10: 68 32,628 Ras': 100: ROUTE 9 91 33,149 102 203 1316 U-® PROPERTY MAP SPENCER MASSACHUSET TS JAN. O 1 1993 GROVE STREET SCHOOL SPENCER (WORCESTER COUNTY) MASSAC NUSETIS 10019 82 24,360 9,944 STREET, U-15 88 86A 94 33.000 868 T3a. Ca 97 8,42 1 120 9 96 Tosm. LAKE 95 1802 SCALE IM FEET 200 U-14 - - RECEIVED 2280 GRE BTITCRACHAN MAY 2 3 1996 NAT.
REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission May 14, 1996 Carol Shull Keeper National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service P. O. Box 37127 Washington, D. C. 20013-7127 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: Grove Street School, 23 Grove 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, Betey Fredhey 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 GROVE STREET SCHOOL NUMBER OF PROPERTIES DATE OF ACCEPTANCE *************** ************************** ADDRESSES 23 GROVE STREET ************* DATE OWNER UPDATE REQUESTED *******************************» DATE NOTIFICATION LETTER MAILED DATE ELIGIBILITY LETTER MAILED **************** DATE ACCEPTANCE LETTER MAILED OWNER LOCAL HISTORICAL COMMISSION ANNA MARIE HUGHES CHAIRPERSON SPENCER HISTORICAL COMMISSION 246 MAIN STREET Memorial TownHall SPENCER, MA 01562-1803 157MainSt.
CERTIFIED ELECTED OFFICIAL WillamD. Ekleberry 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 Libra'R Ver-Wood, Director ary Richard Sugden Library 8 Pleusant St. Spencer, MA 01562
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