frank.callahan

The Origins of Union Hill School, Part 1

Friday, January 13th, 2012
by frank.callahan

Today’s Union Hill School is a direct descendant of a public grammar school that dates back to 1853. In its early days, the school was situated on land that is now on the Worcester Academy campus; moreover, it was located in what would become an iconic structure in Worcester Academy’s history. However, the building had a checkered history, and that story is integral to the beginnings of Union Hill School.

In 1846, Dr. Calvin Newton founded the Botanico-Medical College in rented space in downtown Worcester. He had ambitious plans and in 1851, the college acquired three acres of land at the corner of Providence Street and Union Avenue (now Dorchester Street). Local architect Eldridge Boyden was hired and he designed a grand three-story Romanesque building featuring four towers in the central section surrounded by four circular turrets jutting out at each corner. Construction began in July, 1851, but lack of funding delayed completion until 1852. That year, ten physicians, including one woman, graduated and the exercises were held in the auditorium, named Aesculapian Hall, after the Greco-Roman God of Medicine. Dr. Newton died in 1853. This was a was a severe blow because he was the college’s moving spirit. As a result, the college closed within two years.

The Worcester Botanco Medical College

Due to the college’s problems, the town fathers of Worcester seized the opportunity to use the vacant space to educate the growing population of children who lived nearby. The 1853 municipal report gives the first indication of the school, but minimizes its less-than-desirable circumstances– namely that a large number students of various ages were all taught the same subject by one teacher. The following is a summary from the 1853 town report:

Providence St. School. This is a new suburban school, located for the present in the Medical College. It has been taught by Mrs. E. Coe, a teacher of long-tried experience, who has given entire satisfaction to the friends of the school. The number of pupils has been unusually large. The limits of the school have been reduced at two several times, and the present average is over fifty pupils. The labors of instructing are too great for one teacher and it will necessary before long, either to provide an assistant teacher, or to establish a primary school. No teacher can do justice, in a mixed school of over fifty pupils, either to herself or to the scholars. The number of classes must always be large, as it is not possible to reduce them as in the graded schools, and the labors of the teachers are necessarily arduous. The studies embrace those of the grammar, secondary, and primary grades, and the salary of the teacher ought to compare with those of the graded schools. (1853 town report, page 35)

Medical College Catalog

The following year’s report indicates that the school was under pressure for another reason, “The Trustees of the Medical College also, have intimated that they will not desire much longer to rent their room for the Providence Street School. Of course other provision must be made for the scholars composing that School”. (1854 Report, P. 60).

The 1855 report paints a rosy picture, but ends on a sad note which must have been related to the lack of adequate staffing, “This School is the nearest to the city of our suburban schools, and is a very good specimen of them. The teacher, Miss Williams, is patient and every way competent, and the loss of her services is to be regretted”. (1855, P. 85)

Eldridge Boyden's design for the Medical College

The following year report shows the temporary nature of the space:

SCHOOL HOUSES All the schools above named are kept in twenty-three different houses, nine of them being located in the central and fourteen in the suburban districts. The are all, except one, (that in which the Providence St. School is kept,) the property of the city, and are under the care of the School Committee. (1856, P. 64)

It was obvious that another space was needed, but the decision as to where had not yet been made.

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The Arrival of Worcester Academy on Union Hill

Monday, January 9th, 2012
by frank.callahan

Almost five years after the close of the Civil War, a Worcester institution arrived at the top of Providence Street. It became a fixture in the neighborhood that would see many changes in the ensuing decades. Eventually, Worcester Academy became a source of stability to the neighborhood, but at this point in time its future was not all that certain.

In 1869, Worcester Academy moved into the three-story turreted building that crowned the top of Union Hill. The prospects for the Academy were daunting as the move was to a building with a troubled history. Built in 1852, it had had multiple owners, uses, and additions in its seventeen-year existence, and for most of that time had been empty. The biggest hope for a change in its fortunes was that Isaac Davis, was the President of the Trustees of Academy. He had a long-time record of success and by then was one of Worcester’s wealthiest citizens. He purchased the building for $40,000, so the school had few debts when it arrived at the top of the hill.

Worcester Academy building in the 1870s

Like the building, the Academy had a tenuous history. Founded in 1834, it was initially a Baptist school for boys with 60 acres in south Worcester and the unwieldy name Worcester County Manual Labor High School. The young scholars farmed the land to help pay for their schooling to prepare them for Brown University, the denomination’s college. Due to poor finances, much of the land was sold, so in 1847 the name was changed to Worcester Academy because it was no longer a farm. In 1854, the rest of the land was sold and the Academy moved to Lincoln Square to a building that had previously been the American Antiquarian Society. Two years later the enrollment of young women spurred the hiring of women faculty and some changes in curriculum.

The move to Union Hill provided greater opportunities, as the former hospital was a much larger building and was surrounded by three acres of land. The large central section, referred to as the main building, was where the classes, chapel, dining and administration were located. Each side had a wing, which was much smaller than the main building, and each housed the students. The young women resided in the south wing, separated from the boys, whose quarters were in its northern counterpart. Yet despite the expanded facilities, the Academy remained a small school that was not nearly up to its academic potential.

Bird's eye view of the Worcester Academy campus in the 1870s

Its fortunes began to change dramatically with the arrival of Daniel W. Abercrombie. Appointed as Principal in 1882, he undertook improving all aspects of school and in so doing oversaw tremendous expansion of the campus over the next four decades. He knew that to make the Academy stronger academically, better facilities were required. Because there was limited space, each time a new building was contemplated, a contiguous property had to be acquired to furnish the land for the building. At first the campus was next to the corner of Providence and Union Avenue (now Dorchester Street). The first acquisitions were to the north along Providence Street, followed by a series of purchases, which expanded the campus east until it touched Barclay Street. With the passing of the decades, the growth included classrooms, dormitories, athletic facilities, recreation space, dining, and a residence for the head of school.

Campus in the early 1890s

Because Abercrombie was such a strong leader, one might assume he had a grand design for the campus. This notion is abetted by the quadrangle in the middle of the campus with a layout along the lines of a British school with vintage buildings. Instead the opposite occurred. In reality, the campus was created on a piecemeal basis with the growth spurred by both the need for a new building and the availability of land to purchase. Today Worcester Academy is an historic campus on the national register of historic places, but even though the school had a great principal who built the campus, the layout is not the result of a master plan.

Campus view in 1910

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