Norwich bulletin., 1915-06-19

In 1876 the town school, committee 1 declared in favor of a regularly con- | ducted free high school Two years went by, and nothing was done and ! the existing conditions made it 1eces- l sary for parents in No. district to
 pay taxes in their own district and l tuition for their children if they at tended the high school in the Natchaug district. The suggestion was made at | a subsequent town meeting that Match 1 aug be made a town high school, free | to the pupils of both districts, but l again no action resulted. So in 1880 | the taxpayers of the First district es tablished a department similar to that
 in the Second. Then the voters awOke
 and in the year 1888 rooms in the
 Natchaug were rented to the town and | F. H. Beede made principal of the con- | solidated high school.
 New High School Building. The school grew rapidly; pupils from | out of town paid a profitable tuition, and the rent of Natchaug went up from S400 to $500. Consequently in | 1891 a committee was appointed to 1 This building was secured by long and l hard work. The committee of five who were to investigate the nenncessary | expenditure and probable cost of a high | school building never made report. | On Oct. 8, 1894, at a second town meet 1 ing, a secodd committee was appointed consisting of Frank Larrabee and Ed ward A. Buck. At a town meeting of Dec. '. in the same year, this commit tee submitted plans for a suitable structure and recommended a site. There were four strings to the resO- lution, the building must be erected on the normal school grounds, the site must be a state gift, the building must be constructed on plans drawn by Ar chitect c. T. Beardsley and must cost S20 0O0 II tbRSa conditions were compiled with. On May 23, 1895, the general assembly granted a tract | of land 2S3 feet on Prospect and 175 1 on Windham street. The bid for con struction came within $500 of the
 maximum, and $1,20O necessary for fit l tings was raised.
 Windhain High School. In 1896 the fruits of these efforts 1 were realized in the completion of the Windham High School. s. Hale Baker was the first principal, under whom class day exercises were inaugurated, and a Windham Athletic Association formed. Arthur Peterson succeeded MT. Baker, and instituted Die Besse- rung, the school improvement society 1 Under Edwin Bugbee, the next princi- l pal, several commercial branches were instituted. which were completed in 1911 by the addition of typewriting and StenOgraphy.
 III 15OI lIl6 ilISn SCHOOL OICAeSJEa was made possible through the efforts of the then principal, J. J. Maddox, and through the beneficenCe of George Stiles, H. c. Murray and J. F. Church. In 1900 the town saw that the school was not large enough to meet the de- 1 mands made upon it, and in 1908 a lot on the corner of High and Prospect streets was bought, and $61,0O0 was voted to build an addition to the high school building, which was completed in 1911.
 Two years later on April 27. 1913. the building was burned to the ground, in one of the most spectacular fires
 in the history of the city and from some unknown cause
 The present principal, D. A. Case,
 made arrangements with the Natchaug
 school and the Methodist church, and
 the school sessions were held in those places until the following fall, when the town hall and some other rooms
 in the town building were used.
 New Building Followed Fire.
 The outgrowth of this fire is the
 new building which was erected in
 1914 at cost of $15O,O0O voted by the town. It has 28 weIl-equipped rooms.
 an assembly hall, gymnasium, splen- did equipment for the teaching of the sciences, a well-Hghted and equipped
 business department, is of fireproof construction throughout, and is mod
 ern and up-to-date in every way, and
 a source of considerable pride to the inhabitants of the town and city The
 teaching force numbers sixteen, and
 AGO pupils are in attendance
 State Normal School.
 The Willimantic State Normal
 Training School was established by
 the state in 1889, the second of the four normal schools now maintained
 by the state. Seventy-f1ve thousand dollars was appropriated, but the town was required to give a tract of land to
 the state and to provide for model schools.
 The school opened in September. 1883, on the upper floor of the Willi-
 mantle Savings Institute building,
 with thirteen pupils in attendance. The following teachers were employed
 during the first year: Jennie E. Chapin, Helen F. Page, Emily J. Parker, Charles Kunon, Fannibell Curtis, Emma H. Veits, Florence J. Pierce.
 The following year the First District school was used as a training school by arrangement made with the board of education. The normal school building was not completed until 1895, MT. George B. Phoenix succeeded MT. Morrell in 1894 as principal, and re- ma1ned in that position until 1904, when he resigned to become vice president of Hampton Institute. Hampton, Va The principalship of Henry T. Burr, the present incumbent, dates from that time
 Tn 1903 an addition was built to the Normal School and in 1912 the new Model School building was added, and a boiler house erected the total cost being $S5,50
 Regular training work for teachers
 is carried on at the normal school. While departments for training teach CTS who wish to specialize iS well
 under way. A department of house hold arts is a part of the regular curriculum, and by arrangement with the town school committee in struction in this department is given to many of the pupils in the town schools. A commercial department is being planned for the coming year. The school has graduated in all 24 : classes. numb bering. .833 pupils, nearly