The Daily Times and Chronicle, Tuesday, July 7, 1981

Burlington Past and Present, by John E. Fogelberg
(Article # 107)


Now that the old Union School can look forward, at least
for the immediate future, to a fate other than demolition,
maybe some of the history of the old building would be worth
repeating.
In 1890 the towns of Burlington, Bedford, Billerica,
Wilmington, Lincoln and Carlisle agreed to hire a common super-
intendent of schools. He was George M. Wadsworth.
As far as Burlington was concerned, Wadsworth soon came to
the conclusion that the five-district-school setup here at that
time was not only inefficient but provided poor schooling.
Mildly, he suggested a change.
No other action was taken. But the seed had been planted.
The next superintendent, Lewis T. Mckenney, wholeheartedly
agreed and actively promoted consolidation.
In 1893 his report to the townspeople said, "Although the
teacher is the most important factor in making a good school,
yet favorable conditions and suitable environments are also
essential to the best results in education... Satisfactory
results can never be secured in any line of work, nor suffic-
ient return realized for the expense incurred in running our
schools, until they are brought together under one roof, where
they can be properly classified, equipped and instructed."
His idea of consolidation got little support and when it
came before a Town Meeting in 1894 it was solidly defeated, and
probably would have continued to be defeated, had it not been
for the fuss which erupted over the West School in Havenville.
When the School Committee closed that school in 1895 for
want of pupils and ordered the five remaining scholars to
attend the Center School, now the Historical Museum, the par-
ents involved refused to send their children there. Everyone in
town then seemed to choose sides and the issue hecame a battle-
ground between those who did not want any neighborhood or
outlying school to close and those who felt that McKenney was
right and that this was a first step in sending all of Burling-
ton's pupils to a central facility.
The argument was further aggravated in 1896 when the
School Committee took the parents to court and the Woburn court
ordered the parents to send their children to the school
provided. That really did not solve the problem and both
village stores became hotbeds of arguments. The population of
the town was but 580 at the time.
Seven Town Meetings were held in 1897 and seven more in
1898, every warrant having articles relative to the consolida-
tion movement. The Annual Town Meeting in 1897 voted to place
the idea of consolidation to a committee for study, but before
they could act the May meeting first voted not to consolidate,
then reconsidered, named a building committee and authorized
them to borrow $1,500 to begin construction of a building
suitable to hold all of the town's pupils.
That committee bought the Alley lot, hired a builder,
borrowed money and construction of a four-room, two-story
schoolhouse started.
But the meetings were so evenly divided that while a
majority could be had to support building, a two-thirds
majority could not he found to bond the town for the full
amount of funds needed. The bonding article lost in June, again
in August, twice in December, and again in January. "
In February 1898 a move to discharge the building
committee was defeated, to appoint a new committee was de-
feated, bonding again was defeated, and then, to make matters
worse, a motion to pay the Woburn bank its first due note was
defeated.
Since Town Treasurer Edward D. Bennett had neither the
authority nor the funds to pay the note he refused and the
March Town Meeting was forced to raise and appropriate the
whole sum of $8,000 or default. The vote was 60-43, but another
attempt to bond the town was defeated.
Thus the tax rate jumped from $16.00 to $32.00 per $1,000
valuation.
The tax rate never did return to $16.00 but did drop to
$18.70 in 1899 and to $17.50 in 1900.
The Feud was not quite over, however. In November 1898 an
article to accept the new schoolhouse was dismissed, but an
article to dismiss the committee was approved.
The following March an attempt to reopen the old school-
houses was defeated and $400 was voted to pay for transporta-
tion of school children, the first such an appropriation in
Burlington's history.
The first school bus, known as the "barge," was a four-
wheeled glassed-in vehicle drawn by two horses. The town was
not to have a motor driven bus until 1918.
In 1900 the number of students was so small that only two-
rooms were needed for classrooms, 24 pupils in grades 1 to 4
taught by Nellie F. Sweetman, and 32 in grades 5 through 9
taught by Grace A. McKeever. One room became the selectmen's
office and another a hall in which Town Meetings were held
between the years 1902 when the Town Hall burnt down and 1915
when another Town Hall was built.
The 9th grade was discontinued in 1912 and all high school
students were sent to Woburn. The first pubiic building in town
to have electric lighs was the Union School for as soon as
Edison Electric company was given permission to come into
Burlington in 1911 the selectmen had their meeting room, the
hall, basement and porch of the school were wired to receive
the new service.
The smallest class ever to be graduated from the Union
School was that of 1907. Each of the four students graduating
that year had a part in the exercises, which were held in the
Congregational Church with the whole town invited and all other
grade students present. Dorothy Foster was Valedictorian,
Jessie Dinsnore was Salutatorian, Freda Walker was the Class
Prophet and Jesse Barnaby was the Historian. Their class motto
was "The End Crowns the Work" and all four did their best to
impress, parents and friends.
The school chorus sang several selections and a Miss Ethel
Chute gave a piano solo. The program honored the four seasons
with performances by the "Snow Flake Trio," a "Summer Duet," a
"My Pole Dance," and a "Thanksgiving Song." Everybody was very
pleased. Freda Foster Wilcox is still well and happy and living
in Woburn.
By 1922, however, their school pogulation had increased to
such an extent that the Town Meeting voted to buy a two-room
portable annex. The then superintendent was Eugene C. Vining of
Billerica, who argued against such a move so forcefully that
the voters reconsidered and voted instead to add four more
rooms to the existing school and, for the first time, to in-
clude indoor toilet facilities.
The addition was completed in 1923 in time for the opening
of school in September. One member of the building committee
was Selwyn H. Graham, who still lives on Lexington Street and
is now in his 90s. By the way, that addition cost the town
$20,000 more than the original four rooms.
But the school population continued to increase and in
1932 the town bought a threeroom portable building to be used
temporarily for five years and placed it to the rear of the
Union School. That temporary building (the Union School Annex)
was torn down only a few weeks ago.
(Burlington's high school students were sent to other
towns but eventually they were also filled up and no longer)
available and since the outlying towns would no longer take
Burlington high school pupils, the town was forced to build its
first high school which opened in 1939 for grades 7 through 12.
this alleviated the situation until 1952 when even the Town
Hall was used to hold two classes transferred from the Union
School.
As a series of new grammar schools were built the Union
School was used to house junior high students. The faculty
there in 1960 included many teachers who are still with us on
the high school level now: Bob Murphy, Dick Roche, Leslie
Tyman, John O'Brien, and a few others who have retired but have
left a lasting impression such as Liliian Hutchings, Marion
Howard and William Welter.
The building was declared surplus by the School Department
in 1973 upon the opening of the present high school and soon
thereafter the Council on Aging moved the Senior Citiens
Friendship Center from the basement of the present museum
building to the basement of the Union School.
Today it still acts as a comforiable and friendly place
for senior citizens to meet, have lunch and in general spend a
few pleasant hours playing cards, pool, or just reminiscing.
That basement used to be the old lunchroom. The classrooms have
been used as a meeting place for small groups and for storage
of records and equipment.
When the Union School opened in 1898 the town's population
was 600; when it closed in 1973 the town's population was over
22,000. The changes within the town during that time have been
tremendous and only the elderly can fully appreciate them.