The Portland daily press., 1886-09-10
PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDINGS.
What Has Been Done to Better Their
Condition.

The committee on public buildings have
done good work during the summer vaca-
ton of the schools in having The buildings
put in thorough order and repair for the
coming school year. under the supervision of
w. ID. Sargent, superintendent of school
buildings. The work of cleaning the build
lngs was in many cases found to be hard
task not having been properly done for
yeals past. By finishing new rooms much
of the overcrowding which has been so
troublesome will be done away with, and
the new ventilatnrs and heating apparatus
which have been introduced where it lay in
the power of the committee to do so, will add
greatly to the comfort of both teachers and
scholars, while reducing the danger of i'll
health.
At the Smaller school, on North street, one
room has been finished in the third story of
the building and also a stairway of easy
ascent giving access to this floor. The new
room is in the south corner of the building
and is light and airy. There are four win
dows in the apartment, which have been
heightened so that they are now of good
size. This room is 27 feet square and will
accommodate As scholars. The dressing
room adjoining is 7x1S feet. The building
will now accommodate 450 pupils.
The North school, with its accommoda-
tions for 1900 scholars, has been given thor
ough cleaning The walls and ceilings have
been tinted and whitened and the 5000
panes of glass in the building treated with
an application of soap and water. When
this house was erected, large quantity of
ha 1inh he int no
construction for the purpose of ornamental
ton. These bricks some time ago began to
give out and considerable amount have
been replaced by red bricks. The Stating
has been repaired, new iron cutters put up
and the valley in the roof, near the clock
tower, has been rebuilt New tubes have
been put in the boilers and the teachers
wardrobes which formerly stood in the
dressing rooms have been removed to the
corridors.
In the Chestnut street schoolhouse the
third story has been made into four good
sized rooms each 2S by % feet. These rooms
will accommodate $50 pupils, so that 600 may
now find quarters in the building. The
building has been made as clean as soap and
water can do it, and the walls of one of the
new rooms have been whitened.
The High School building was sadly in
need Eof a thorough overhauling, and the
work was begun by putting the old, disused
vaults, which had been floored over with no
provision for ventilation, in connection with
the outer air, so that now there is a free cir
culati0n through them. Mr.. Sargent found
in the basement an old well, in which there
were eight or ten feet of stagnant water.
The well was filled up, the water from the
old cistern withdrawn and the pipes once
used to carry the overflow from these sources
to the sewer sealed up. 1t has been the GUS
tom for years in this building to mend
hrnL of ula NV tfxrin rba
holes pieces of glass of every shape and
size until some of the windows presented
the appearance of a peculiar kind of patch
work These much mended panes have
janitor is authority for the statement that
they had not been washed for years before
this summer A new birch floor has been
laid in the corridor in the first story, and the
whole building thoroughly cleaned, some of
the walls being whitened.
AT the Park street primary school the roof
has been repaired, a great deal of new Stat
ing and some rebuilding being required The
iron work and ventilat0rs in the roof have
been replaced with new. Inside the building
painted woodwork throughout very much
improve the appearance of things.
The pupils in the Bracket street primary
school will find the building fresh and clean,
painted. Hoods have been placed over the
side entrances, and a new pair of doors
placed in the front In the third story, by
cutting new window, one room, which has
not been used, on account of the poor light,
has been made one of the best in the build
ing. Easier access to one other room in this
floor has been given by cutting another door
way. Tin yentilating fiues have been con-
nected with the rooms in the second and
third story. The fiues meet in the attic, and
extend up through the roof
Two hot-air furnaces have taken the place
of the old stoves in the West school, and the
plastering has been repaired, the building,
like all the others, being well cleaned.
Several stones, in the arched doorways of
the Butler school have been reset, and some
boiling done to the roof timbers. The Gen.
ter street school has been thoroughly over
hauled
These good results have been attained at
little expense when compared to the benefit
they will be to the children who spend so
many hours in the buildings. The exact cost
can not yet be given, but may be approx
North school, 5000; Chestnut street school,
5000; High school, $3.50; Park street school,
$500; Butler school, 5000; Bracket street
school, $1,000; West school, 1925; Centre
street school, $500; making total of $5275.