I have spoken of the beauty of the village and its garden-like appearance. It is no accident that an interest in horticulture should have been one of the conspicuous traits of the Dorchester people down to the present time. Neither is it so extraordinary as perhaps it seems that in this little town, of retired aspect and invitingly tranquil atmosphere, the seeds of some of our greatest institutions should have beensown. It is not the first time that epoch-making ideas have come up to Jerusalem from Galilee. On that day the colonists agreed to hold regular weekly meetings for the management of their affairs, and soon afterwards a board of twelve selectmen, chosen by popular vote, was elected.
Popular government implies an educated citizenship.
By a mutual necessity, a kind of instinctive logic, the establishment of free schools followed the acceptance of democratic principles among the colonists, and in this departure the Dorchester pioneers again took the lead. It was within the precincts of this town, in 1639, that the first free public school, supported by direct tax, in America was founded. Later generations of Dorchester townsfolk showed themselves no less devoted than their predecessors to the cause of general education. Up to 1792, thirty residents of the town had graduated from Harvard College. The founding of your High School in 1852, when the population was barely eight thousand, reflects this inherited or traditional passion for intellectual and and spiritual improvement.