Prattsburgh Central High School - Franklinite Yearbook (Prattsburgh, NY)

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FRANKLIN ACADEINIY HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL 9 I11 1848 tl1e village of Prattsburgh was incorporated. The early records were destroyed by tire, but under the new charter of IS77 E. T, Watkiiis was elected village president. One important event which tended towards the welfare of tl1e town was the building of the Prattsburgh railroad. The work was begun on july 29, 18318 and the first train passed over the completed road October 9, 1339. ---I fw'111a1'1z cll'0S.YIIll7l1. Reminiscences of Franklin Academy RANKLIN ACADEMY received its Regent charter in 1824 and the same year the original building fifty-two feet by thirty-two feet and two stories high was erected. This building was surisounted by a belfry About sixty-five years ago when two well known ladies attended school at Old Franklin there was just the academic department. The grades W:re i11 the building now the home of Mr. Richard Deighton. About 1852 wings were added and the building was made three stories l1igl1. The building was enlarged because it was not able to accommo- date all who wished to attend school. The wings were put on as dormi- tories for the men and ladies, the ladies occupying the east wing Zllld the men the west wing. At o11e ti1:1e the school consisted of 219 pupils of which QI were from Prattsburgh, 123 from New York State, 2 from Illi- nois, and 1 from each Indiana, Pennsylvania a11d Connecticut. The original building was very small. The lower story was divided i11to three rooms and a hall and the upper story into nine rooms and a hall.

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8 FRANKLIN ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL EE sex Ilfl tha! .I Beginnings of Prattsburgh HE township of Prattsburgh, situated in the northeastern part of Steuben County, was formerly a part of the territory comprised in the original charter of Massachusetts. The conflicting claims upon this territory between New York and Massachusetts were settled by a board of commissioners, and by their decision the claim was given to New York: but the pre-emption of Indian titles to Massachusetts. In the year 1787 this pre-emption was sold to Messrs. Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham. From them it was conveyed to Mr. Robert Morris of Revolutionary War fame, then to Col. Charles Williamson who acting as an agent for a11 English association transferred the title to Sir Wm. Pulteney. After his death this great tract of land was known as the Pulteney Estate. In the year 1799 a man by the name of Captain Joel Pratt came from Columbia County on horseback to Steuben County. He erected a log cabin on Urbana Hill five miles southeast of Prattsburgh but afterwards went away. The next year he came again, cleared the land and sowed some wheat. In 1802 Mr. Pratt and Wm. Root of Albany contracted for the purchase of the township of Prattsburgh from the Pulteney Estate and here Mr. Pratt moved with his family from Urbana Hill i11 1805. However Mr. Joel Pratt was not the first settler of Prattsburgh as jared Pratt and his family had come to this township in the year 1800. Others came and finally in the year I806 the population had increased to about twenty-five. It is of some interest to know that the first white child to be born in this settlement was a daughter of Jared Pratt, Maryetta Pratt. The first death was a daughter of Esq. Curtis. About the year 1808 Prattsburgh was designated as a postofiice station and post-riders began regular trips between Geneva and Bath pass- ing through this settlement. However, through political influence the route was afterwards changed to the east side of Lake Keuka. For a few years the people of Prattsburgh were without a postoflice station but at last they again had another system and thereby mails were received regularly. About the year 1816 a small school-house was erected and later in the year I824 Franklin Academy was founded.

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lo FRANKLIN ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL The chapel in general was the same as it is now with the exception that the platform was then at the south end and large wooden benches were used as seats. The room now occupied by Miss Flaherty was at that time the oflice. The library was the room over the chapel or the room now known as the High School Room. The school at a very early date obtained a library consisting of 1,ooo books, a microscope of high power, a Dollan's telescope and several large maps. The apparatus for scientific work was far in advance of that used in many of the schools of the present time. The basement which is now occupied by the janitor was used as a boarding house while the janitor had rooms on the east side of the second floor. The school, which was at first Franklin Academy and Collegiate Insti- tute, was the best school within forty miles. Whena person left it he was ready for any college he wished to enter. In 1868 the academy became Franklin Academy and Union Free School. In later years many changes were made on the interior of the building. Has anyone stopped to think how great Old Franklin was at one time? How about trying to raise its name again? ---Bertha Gillette. Our Park HE, ground, for what is now our park, was donated by Captain jcel Pratt. It then consisted of about four acres, which was used by the villagers as a common cow pasture. Dr. john Selover described it when he first came into the village as a rough, unkempt cradle knoll, cow paths and stones predominating. One of the most important things that he did for this village was when in 1848 he helped grade and plant the park, which we prize so much and of which we are so justly proud. Not only he but others took pride in establishing for themselves a mon- ument that should live and tell their worth to the living in years to COIIIC. Although the names of these men are not chiseled in the granite rock, they are stamped on the minds of the people of this place and we younger people are eager to learn who it was that showed such advanced ideas. Dr. Selover planted the elm tree which now stands on the northwest corner of the park, others were planted by different men. Among them are an iron wood and a bass wood. At first there was a variety of native trees, as a pine, a button wood, and a linden, but unfortunately some of these were cut down when people were trying to improve things. The park was planted somewhere between 1845 and 1848. We only wish that some one might write a more complete history of this park and that some one might be appointed as historian for the future, that the