Education

The two pictures below come from the School Committee’s Report in 1899 and features a list of the ten graduating seniors. The students were on different “courses” (Classical, Latin Scientific, and English) which allowed them to take classes based on what they hoped to do in the future. For example, the two students on the…

Ever wonder what high school was like over a century ago? Were there still social hierarchies which pitted jocks against nerds? Did freshmen fear the seniors whenever they walked through the halls? We can’t answer those questions, but we can share some fun statistics and class schedules thanks to our historical collection of School Committee…

It’s back to school season! As the town’s students prepare for the first day, let’s reflect on the schools of West Boylston’s past. Below are three pictures of schools that once stood in town and have either moved or been demolished. The first is the high school that stood in the valley before the construction…

Continuing with our theme of West Boylston’s schools in the past century, let’s look at some teachers who educated the town’s bright young minds. The picture below is the Register of Teachers for the 1917-1918 school year, taken from the 1917 annual school report. Listed are the teachers’ names, where they attended college, their salary,…

When the reservoir came to town, it pushed a huge portion of West Boylston’s residents and businesses elsewhere. Also affected by the floodwaters were the town’s numerous schools. Today, West Boylston has one elementary school. In the late 1890s, there were over ten primary schools located across town. Each mill district had its own schoolhouse,…

Here are some high schools of West Boylston’s past. The black and white photograph shows the old West Boylston High School which was situated in the valley and was knocked down to make way for the reservoir. It had that “classic schoolhouse” look to it and had a bell tower. The colored drawing is a…

If you were a high school student in 1897 West Boylston, what classes would you take? Luckily, the Beaman Memorial Public Library has school committee records dating back nearly 150 years. Below is a class schedule from the Spring 1897 term at West Boylston High School. Here are some interesting things to note: Students studied…

    Primary Schools     High Schools                     School Statistics (1897)     Classes (1897)                     School Committee (1899)     Schools (1900’s)                     Teacher Registry  …