Bridgewater State University - Alpha Yearbook (Bridgewater, MA)

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NORMAL OFFERING 21 heated by a furnace, and ventilated by a specially constructed ventila- tor. The walls were hung with maps of all parts of the world. A map of Massachusetts contained all of the counties and the towns of each county. There was a large globe, a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, and plenty of blackboards. There were no free textbooks or supplies. Slates were generally used instead of paper. The teacher had a large, substantial table, with a drawer for books, etc. i The schoolhouse stood in the center of a lot about two hundred feet square, which afforded ample room for play and the cultivation of flower gardens. There was a deep well that supplied good drinking water. There were no vacations except Saturdays. The men taught in the fall and winter, and the Women in spring and summer. Probably Horace Mann would say that they were good persons, but not good teachers. But they certainly imparted to those under their charge many things that make for intelligent and noble living, and they had a way of teaching obedience and a sacred regard for truth. When the Civil War broke out there were so many men who enlisted from this district that none were left to work the engines at a fire but

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20 NORMAL OFFERING ZX Eiiitrirt Snzhnnl in illllammrhunrttn By P. A. Gay 1186.91 HIS district was in the valley of the Charles River, in the Town of Medway. The region was a wilderness when the first settlers built their homes. The first house was built near what is now River End Bridge, in 1702, by Deacon Asa Partridge, the second, near the site of the Captain Seneca Barber House, by Deacon John Barber, in 17163 and the third, a quarter of a mile below River End Bridge, near the Charles River, in 1739, by Asa Richardson. The Asa Part- ridge house and the Asa Richardson house are still standing, and the Richardson house is occupied by the sixth generation of Richardsons. Asa Richardson and his son, Asa Partridge Richardson, built a grist mill on the Charles River near their home. About the year 1830 Dean Walker bought the Richardson Mill privilege and built a cotton factory. The building of the factory created a demand for dwelling houses, and soon there was a village. In the year 1838 a post oflice was established, known as Rockville, Massachusetts, and then followed various industries to supply the wants of the villagers and the farmers. A railroad was built from North Wrentham, now Norfolk, to Medway Village, and the place became a flourishing New England village. The earliest settlers were busy with their farming, but they were not neglectful about educating their children according to the customs of their time. They had what we might now call a queer way of build- ing and furnishing a schoolhouse. A full description could be given as follows,-a one-story frame structure, furnished with long, wooden benches, with a sort of desk in front of each, and a teacher's tall desk on a raised platform in one corner of the room. About the year 1840 the people of Rockville discarded the old style schoolhouse and built a new one, the picture of which is shown in con- nection with this article. It is now in use for one of the schools of the Town of Millis, Massachusetts. It Was, when first built, painted white with green blinds. It was furnished with comfortable chairs and commodious and convenient desks, each containing an inkwell. It was

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22 NORMAL OFFERING old men and women. At that time there were about sixty families. They were an industrious, thrifty, and temperate people, and also a religious community. They were intensely interested in the welfare of their children. One of their popular institutions was the Rockville Lyceum, in which many boys and men learned to discuss, intelligently, vital questions. The Lyceum also published a weekly paper, called the Rockville Pioneer, which was edited by the girls. Nearly every housewife did her own work, and the men worked from sun to sun. Almost all labor was done by hand. The highest wage paid to common laborers was 31.50, boys worked for S. 50 a day. Some time near 1870 the factory burned, and soon after the grand old store was destroyed by fire. Nearly all of the old settlers moved away. The Village of Rockville was absorbed in the Town of Millis, and the Rockville Post Office was abolished. From the families living in the district when the factory burned have gone out into the world two Selectmen of the Town of Millis, three ministers, one doctor, one college professor, two school superin- tendents, two bank presidents, one noted watchmaker, two inventors, five exceptionally skillful machinists, two head salesmen in two of the