Wellesley High School - Wellesleyan Yearbook (Wellesley, MA)

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In 1790, school districts were laid out, resulting in four districts in West Needham (Wellesley); the Lower Falls, the West End, the school by the West Mee tinghouse and the Centre Brick School. In the Lower Falls the present Annie L. Warren School is the fifth building on the grounds, the first dating from the late 1790’s. In the west part of town, the early school on Church Street was followed by at least three on Central Street, where the land was given by Mr. Hunnewell and the last two schools were named in his honor. The present Hunnewell School was built on the new site in 1938. In 1958 the town noted the 100th anniver¬ sary of the Schoolhouse that is now the Fells Li¬ brary. Meanwhile, in Grantville (Wellesley Hills), the Linden Street school was followed by one at an¬ other site on Forest Street that was moved to make way for the Shaw School opened in 1875. The former building is now the double house at 408-10 Washington Street. Miss Alice L. Phillips, prin¬ cipal of each of the above schools, moved her pupils from the earlier one to Shaw School. When this finally was declared unsafe, the Alice L. Phil¬ lips School was opened in 1911. The first junior high school was held in the Phillips School beginning in 1919. By the 1930’s that school was overcrowded but it was not until 1951 that the present junior high school was final¬ ly built. The first high school classes were kept in 1865 with 30 pupils in attendance. They were located in Maugus Hall, at the site of the present Uni¬ tarian Church when that area was Grantville. The high school was moved to Wellesley Village for a time, then alternated with Grantville for the convenience of students, who had to walk. The Gameliel Bradford 1942—The War Effort in Wellesley to collect metal and rubber scrapes for salvage. De Fazio Building in the early 1920’s. Courtesy Salvatore De Fazio Courtesy Wellesley Historical Society

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Wellesley College was not the only private school developed in this town. In 1881, Dana Hall School was founded by the Misses Sarah and Julia Eastman as a preparatory school for Wellesley College. The school began to grow in size and influence under their able direction and later that of Miss Helen Temple Cooke. Soon parents all over the United States were sending their girls to Dana Hall. In 1910, Miss Cooke opened Tenacre and, in 1911, Pine Manor Junior College that in recent years moved to Chestnut Hill. Most Wellesley residents have heard Roger W. Babson’s name mentioned, usually associating him with Babson College or Babson’s Reports. Mr. Bab- son and his first wife, Grace Knight, started the college in 1919 with an enrollment of twenty-five students. The school specializes in training for business administration. One of the most important developments in Wellesley has been that of its nationally renowned A cyclist in Wellesley Square in 1933 . P ublic sch ° o1 system. In 1664, in the settlement of Dedham, the first school was opened in the meet¬ inghouse. When Needham was incorporated in 1711, schooling was held in private homes. The townspeople voted in 1719 to have a moving school that was hauled by oxen to three parts of town for a period. The first stable school in what is now Wellesley was built in 1728 on the county road near present house at 402 Linden Street. In 1730, a school was built on Church Street across from the church. The first mention of a School Committee appears in 1736. A school session usual¬ ly lasted for a month, at the end of which the teacher would move on to another school. There was no school during the winter months because of impassable roads. “That Old Gang of Mine . . 25

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The Wellesley High School War Stamp Drive Committee—1942. First School Committee Meeting House. Courtesy Wellesley Historical Society first central high school was the red brick building in front of the Phillips School, now used for town offices. The second stood on Kingsbury Street. The present and third high school, built in 1938, was at first named the Gamaliel Bradford Senior High School, after one of our most distinguished citizens. Mr. Bradford grew up in Wellesley but, due to his poor health, he had to be tutored. He became one of the nation’s leading biographers and psychographers. His thirty-one published works of literature were mainly portraits of Ameri¬ can and European men and women. Until recent years the high school retained his name. Wellesley may not have had a very ex¬ citing history (in its development from Indian days), but for a small town it has produced numerous illustrious people. Among them, there has even been a Xobel Peace Prize winner: Emily Greene Bacon of this town shared the 1946 prize with John L. Mott for their long efforts in the cause of international peace. 27