Fairhaven High School - Huttlestonian Yearbook (Fairhaven, MA)

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Leaving New Bedford! Entering Fairhaven! The approxi¬ mate time is the year 1800. As one crossed the old New Bedford- Fairhaven Bridge and entered this town, one saw on the left of the road a two-story, wooden structure, which measured about fif¬ ty by twenty four feet. If a passerby had asked what it was, he would have been told that it was called the New Bedford Acad¬ emy, and that it was a private school for the secondary education of the local girls and boys. Another inquiry might have concerned the reason for its es¬ tablishment, and the means by which it had been made possible. To answer this, it would have been necessary to go back a number of years to the earliest days of Fairhaven, when the only educa¬ tion a child received was that which could be obtained in the home. The next step in education was the establishment of class¬ es in different homes, with a master teaching the children. Later, district schools were built in various parts of the town. These were poorly ventilated, slip-shod, single-roomed buildings, into which came the children from five to fourteen years of age, to be taught by one instructor. Eacb child brought along books that he happened to have, which might aid him in gaining an academic education. After attending this grammar school, the average pupil was unable to obtain further education. Of course, the wealthier boys and girls were sent to private schools away from home, and, perhaps, later, a few were enrolled in college. But public schooling ceased when a pupil had completed his course in these district schools. On April 13, 1798, the citizens of Oxford Village decided to build an academy for secondary education. Two years later, on May Day, the school was established and opened. Although this was a private school, more of the young people of the town 6