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HISTORY 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



OF 



GEORGETOWN, D. C, 



From October 22, 1810, to August i, 1875, written, at request 
and published by order of the (Board of Trustees of (Put 
Schools, for the National Centennial Year, 18 7 6, 



BY 



SAMUEL YORKE AT LEE. 



Extracted and printed separately, by permission, from the Twenty-Eighth Report of the 
Board of Trustees of the Public Schools, for the Centennial Year, 1876. 



M GILL k WITHF.ROW, PRINTERS AN!) STEREOTYPERS, WASHINGTON. D. C. 



A 

r $ 




Public Schools of the City of Georgetown, 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 

FROM OCTOBER 22, 1810, TO AUGUST I, 1875; WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST AND 

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, FOR THE 

NATIONAL CENTENNIAL YEAR, 1876, 

BY SAMUEL YORKE AT LEE. 



The Public Schools of Georgetown began their existence sixty-six years 
ago in the manner set forth in the following memorial to the Corporation 
of Georgetown : 

Memorial of the Trustees of the Georgetown Free School. 

Your memorialists, with many other inhabitants of Georgetown, seeing 
the necessity of some public establishment for the purpose of dispensing the 
benefits of education to those who, from their circumstances, are excluded 
from its inestimable advantages, have associated themselves together with 
a view to effect so desirable an object. 

Of this Society your memorialists have been elected the Trustees, and 
are authorized and directed to solicit all necessary aid for accomplishing 
the design of the Society. 

They, therefore, beg leave to state that the funds of the Society consist 
of an annual subscription of about 8900, a sum which, it is expected, with 
the probable increase of annual subscribers, will be adequate to the ordinary 
annual expenditure of the institution. 

Nothing now remains to enable the Society to carry their purposes into 
immediate execution, and to employ these funds in the manner intended, 
but the procuring a proper lot of ground and preparing the necessary 
buildings, and for this the Society have to rely on such contributions as the 
liberality of the citizens may afford them. 

They, therefore, apply, in the first place, to the Corporation of George- 
town, hoping that some public assistance ma}', reasonably, be asked for a 
purpose which is so peculiarly of public importance. 

Your memorialists forbear to enumerate the many beneficial consequences 
which must result to society at large from diffusing instruction and improve- 
ment among so numerous a class of its members as the poor. They con- 



* HISTORY OP THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

sider these consequences, as well as the higher and more worthy motives 
to prompt to a concurrence with their design, as -sufficiently obvious, and 
will not permit them to donbt that they will readily present themselves and 
properly influence your consideration. 

Your memorialists, therefore, respectfully solicit the aid of the Corpora- 
tion, and trust that such assistance may be afforded as you may consider 
just and reasonable. 

By order of the Board of Trustees : 

Thomas Corcoran, President. 
John Abbot, Secretary. 

Georgetown, October 22, 1810. 

Whether the aid sought was given by the municipality does not appear 
from any extant or accessible records, but an encouraging answer may be 
presumed, as, eight months afterwards, June 22, 1811, the following joint 
resolution was, on the recommendation of the Mayor, adopted by the two 
Boards : 

'"''Resolved by the Board of Aldermen and Board of Common Council of 
the Corporation of Georgetown, That the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and 
Common Council of this Corporation be, and they are hereby, requested 
to attend the procession of the Lancaster Society on Monday morning next, 
for the purpose of laying the corner-stone of the school house." 

It may reasonably be supposed that the building had been completed, 
for, about five months after the laying of the corner-stone, viz : November 
18, a school on the Lancasterian plan had been put into operation under 
Mr. Robert Ould, a teacher invited from England on the recommendation 
of Joseph Lancaster himself. Mr. Ould's management was very success- 
ful, and the school received a decided token of the good will of the Corpor- 
ation in the following enactment, January 29, 1812 : 

"Resolved by the Board of Aldermen and Board of Common Council of 
the Corporation of Georgetown, That the square of ground heretofore con- 
veyed by the Rev. Mr. Leonard ISTeale to certain persons for the purpose of 
carrying on a public system of education, which deed bears date the 9th 
January, 1812, be, and the same is hereby, exempt from the payment of all 
kinds of taxes heretofore imposed since the 1st January. 1811, or hereafter 
to be imposed by this Corporation : Provided, however, That should the 
aforesaid property ever hereafter be diverted from the object of the found- 
er, the same shall be liable for all taxes which the same is hereby exempted 
from : And provided, That nothing contained in this resolution shall be 
construed to the refunding of any taxes imposed and collected on said prop- 
erty prior to 1st January, 1811 : And provided also, That the taxes from 
which the said property is hereby exempted shall be paid out of the gen- 
eral fund of the Corporation." 

The Lancasterian School of Georgetown was soon tilled with scholars, 
and the Society, finding their annual subscriptions of $900 insufficient for 
supplying the additional room required, were compelled to invoke mu- 
nicipal aid before six months had elapsed. 

The following Memorial was presented to the Corporation, by William 
Marbuiy, esq., on behalf of the Trustees of the ''Georgetown Lancaster 
School :" 

"The Trustees of the Georgetown Lancaster School beg leave to represent 



OF THE CITY OP GEORGETOWN. 6 

to the Mayor* Aldermen, and Common Council of Georgetown, that their 
efforts to impart to the citizens of Georgetown the great and unrivaled ad- 
vantages of education, according to the system devised Irvthe distinguished 
Preceptor and Philanthropist, Joseph Lancaster, have been attended with 
the best success, according to the limited means the Society has possessed 
to carry into effect this all-important end. 

" The proficiency of the scholars is at once a proof of the happy adaptation 
of a plan of education so plain, so unembarrassed, and so ready of execu- 
tion as it has been rendered under the judicious direction of Mr. Robert 
Ould. 

"The school contains already 340 male and female scholars, and such is 
the increasing reputation of the school, and of the growing population of 
the town, that the school house cannot at this time accommodate all the 
applicants for tuition. 

"The Trustees, from a desire to make this seminary a happy instrument 
for the improvement of the minds and, they trust, the morals, of the pres- 
ent youth of both sexes, have hitherto admitted females into the school, not 
in exact conformity with the rules of the Lancasterian system, nor yet 
without serious objections on the part of the Trustees themselves to a union 
of the sexes in an assemblage so large and, necessarily, so promiscuous. 
This, however, can no longer be admissible, because it is evidently objection- 
able, and more especially because there is not at the present time more room 
than will accommodate the boys belonging to the institution. 

"But as it is a sorrowful reflection to the Trustees, and must be a subject 
of general regret, that the females, the distinguished ornaments of creation, 
should experience that neglect of education which, unhappily, is too prev- 
alent towards them throughout the world, the Trustees have digested a 
plan of instruction for the females that the} 7 are anxious to adopt, if they 
can meet with the necessary aid from those to whom this memorial is ad- 
dressed. 

"Hitherto the pecuniary resources of the Trustees have been such only as 
were voluntarily afforded, and although they acknowledge with the great- 
est gratitude the laudable benevolence of many of their worthy fellow- 
citizens, yet, as it has not been general, even among the most wealthy, 
their exchequer has been very much stinted, and their debts have become 
many and unavoidable. 

"The Trustees have accordingly no other alternative than a direct appli- 
cation to this worshipful Corporation. It is to sustain a great public good 
that this appeal is made, and they know no other power to which the} r can 
address themselves with success than to the legal guardians and represent- 
atives of the town. 

Robert Beverley, 
Danl. Btjssard, 
robt. munro, 

Committee.'''' 

Amongst the old documents submitted to our inspection was the follow- 
ing Petition, which exhibits the names of so many of the solid men of George- 
town, original subscribers to the Lancaster School Fund, that it is printed 
in full : 

To the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Common Council of the Corporation 

of Georgetown: 

The petition of the subscribers humbly representeth that an addition to 
the Lancaster School, for the accommodation of the female scholars, would 
be a publick good and the menus of educating many who are destitute of the 
means within themselves. We therefore pray your aid, by such appropria- 
tion of the funds under your control as will enable the Trustees to build an 



HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



addition to the house that will accommodate two hundred female scholars. 
And we will, as in duty bound, pray, &c. 



John Lipscomb, 
William Eatrie, 
Lewis Labille, 
Alexander Kile, 
William Morgan, 
John Mountz, jr., 
John Ragan, 
George Holtzman, 
John Stembel, 
Wm. F. Holtzman, 
Jacob Holtzman, 
Robert Clarke, 
George Brome, 
Ignatius Newton, 
Cephas Fox, 
Thomas Mareey, 
Abner Ritchie, 
Edward Clarke, 
Horatio Smallwood, 
Henry Weaden, 
Garner Sherman, 
John Brannon, 
Adam Mayn, 
Jacob Wineberger, 
Hei. -ich Schultze, 
Thoi as Beatty, jr., 
John Myers, 
Daniel Miller, 
Henry Rath, 
Jacob Carter, 
Jacob Bohrer, 
Henry Magee, 



George Bohrer, 
David English, 
George B. Magruder, 
Zadock C. Chesley, 
Thomas C. Hodges, 
J. M. Jackson, 
Robert B. Kir by, 
R. Wells, 
Thomas J. Mudd, 
William Y. Wetzel, 
Abraham Landes, 
Ninian Magruder, 
William Parsons, 
Walter Greenfield, 
James Denison, 
Samuel Denison, 
Jacob Staley, 
George Peters, 
Alexander Mackey, 
John Lutz, 
Noble Hurdle, 
Edward Degges, 

C. Smith, 

D. Kurtz, 

Benjamin P. Mackall, 
William Whann, 

W. A. Rind, 
W. D. Addison, 
J. M. Beatty, 
Robert Craig, 
Samuel Bootes, 
James Turner, 



Alexander Carmichael, 
Walter Newton, 
John Hollingshead, 
Adam King, 
John Hersey, 
Ebenezer Sharon, 
John Wheelwright, 
John I. Stall, 
John Eliason, 
William King, jr., 
George Craig, 
George Johnson, 
George H. Gloyd, 
William Degges, 
Washington Bowie, 
Joseph Brooks, 
Charles A. Beatty, 
James Kennedy, 
James Melvin, jr., 
James Melvin, 
Henry Upperman, 
John Cox, 
William S te uart, 
John T ravers, 
A. S nter, 
D. Whann, 
John Macdaniel, jr., 
Bartleson Fox, 
Samuel Hutchins, 
Leonard H. Johns, 
Nicholas Hedges. 



The following Ordinance, apparently responsive to these appeals, was 
dated May 9, 1812: 

An ordinance for the advancement of useful education in Georgetown. 

Whereas the Trustees of the Georgetown Lancaster School have repre- 
sented to the Corporation of Georgetown that by the increased number 
of pupils it has become necessary to enlarge the present school house 
belonging to said institution, and they have proposed that the contemplated 
addition shall be made in such a manner as to admit of and to be calculated 
for a separation of the girls from the boys, and to be devoted to that pur- 
pose ; said Trustees have applied to this Corporation for assistance in build- 
ing the same : 

And whereas the great and primary object of said institution in this place 
appears to be the education of the poor gratuitously, an object which ought 
to meet with encouragement from all public bodies, being in it high degree 
calculated to promote virtue and good morals in the youth of the place, 
and, necessarily, tending to the good of the community: 

And whereas for the advancement of so laudable a purpose it has been 
thought reasonable that the sum of* money hereinafter mentioned be 
appropriated as a donation from this Corporation : 

Be it therefore ordained by the Board of Aldermen and Board of Common 
Council of the Corporation of Georgetown, That the sum of $1,000 be and 
the same is appropriated and given by this Corporation to the Trustees of 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 5 

the Lancaster School in Georgetown for the express purpose of enabling 
them to erect an addition to their present school house, to accommodate the 
females of said school ; that the same -hah be built at the north end of and 
adjoining their said present building, to be of brick and of the same height 
and width, to be at least 4S feet long, and to be so constructed as to accom- 
modate 250 scholars, at the least. This donation is to be understood to be 
on the further faith, on the part of said Trustees, that there shall be, at all 
times hen-after, admitted or received for education in said schools, at least 
200 charity scholars, if so many shall apply, the said sum of SI, 000 to be 
paid in the following installments, viz : $200 immediately, S200 in twelve 
months, s200 in two 3'cars, S200 in three years, and the remaining 8200 
in four year-, after the passing of this ordinance. 

Sec. 2. Be it further ordained. That before any money is paid or applied 
by authority of this ordinance, the Trustees of the Lancaster School shall, 
by a sufficient instrument of writing under their corporate seal, to be ap- 
proved by the Recorder, bind themselves and their successors that the house 
to be built shall be used for the sole purposes hereinbefore expressed; and 
if the Trustees shall cease to use the same as such, then the said house, with 
the ground on which the same is erected, shall be vested in this Cor- 
poration, in trust, to reimburse them the said amount of money and in- 
terest so as aforesaid hereby given. And it shall be the duty of the Mayor 
to have said instrument duly recorded amongst the land records for the 
county of Washington." 

Meanwhile, the reputation of the Lancasterian School had been expand- 
ing, and particularly attracted the notice of the Trustees of the Public 
Schools of Washington. The journal of that Board, September 10,j : S11, 
notes the reception of u a letter from Mr. Dashiell, a teacher in the L ncas- 
terian School of Georgetown, suggesting a similar school in Washington," 
which was referred to a committee. This committee, on the 11th of the 
following November, made a report thereon, which was adopted, and an 
order was made "that there shall be one school in the city of Washington, 
as near as practicable in the center thereof, to be conducted on the plan of 
and as nearly correspondent as ma}' be with the forms observed in the Lan- 
casterian School." A Superintending Committee was forthwith elected, 
authorized to provide a suitable building, to engage a teacher, and to put 
such school into full operation; and on the loth of the following April, 
1812, the Committee reported that, in conformit}" with instructions, the 
Lancasterian School had been formally opened February 10, 1S12. 

The Lancasterian system maintained its position in the esteem of the 
citizens of Georgetown so successfully that the following ordinance was 
passed, October 0, 1815, by the Corporation, after four years' observation of 
its results : 

An Ordinance for the Promotion of Education in Georr/etoion. 

"Be it ordained by the Board of Aldermen and Board of Common Council 
of the Corporation of Georgetown* That in-lead of the sum heretofore 
annually appropriated to the Trustees of the Georgetown Lancasterian 
School Society, ['here be hereafter yearly and every year, on the day when 
the same ha- been heretofore payable, paid to the Trustees of the said 
Society the sum of one thousand dollars, for the purpose of assisting the 
said Trustees in defraying the expenses of the school ; and that the same 
be paid by the Clerk of this ( lorporation quarter-yearly to the order of the 
Trustees, out of any moneys not otherwise appropriated. And it is hereby 



6 HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

understood and declared that this appropriation is made and granted upon 
condition that the said Trustees shall receive into the said school all desti- 
tute children, and such as have parents unable to educate them, within the 
limits of the Corporation, and there provide books and other things neces- 
sary for their instruction, and cause them to be educated agreeably to the 
regulations of said school. 

"Sec. 2. And be it further ordained, That whenever any such destitute 
or poor child or children shall have completed their education agreeably to 
the rules of said school, there shall be given to such child or children, by 
the Trustees, a certificate directed to the Mayor of Georgetown that such 
child or children has or have completed his, her, or their education. And 
that upon the Mayor's receiving such certificate it shall be his duty to cause 
every such child or children, as aforesaid, (if they have not been bound out 
according to law,) to be bound out according to the laws in force in this 
county. 

u Sec. 3. And be it further ordained., That the said Trustees shall, at the 
expiration of every year, make a report to the Corporation of the number 
of children educated in their school, aucl of their annual receipts and 
expenditures. 

" Sec. 4. And be it further ordained, That it shall be the duty of the Cor- 
poration, b3 r joint ballot of both Boards, to appoint annually, on the first 
meeting of the Corporation in December, four persons out of their body, 
whose duty it shall be to visit the schools occasionally, for the purpose of 
examining into the police thereof, and correcting any little irregularities 
which may exist, and to see that order and morality, as well in as out of 
the school, be maintained." 

The next municipal legislation was on the 15th of March, 1824, when a 
joint resolution predicated on building an additional school house was 
adopted, as follows : 

"Resolved by the Board of Aldermen and Board of Common Council of 
the Corporation of Georgetown^ That so much of lot ISTo. 57 in Peters, 
Beatty, Threlkelds, and Deakin's addition to Georgetown, fronting 70 feet 
on First street and 63 feet on Fayette street, and the house erected thereon, 
be exempt from all general taxes imposed by this Corporation, during the 
time the same shall be occupied as a seminary of learning, and the Trus- 
tees thereof educate a number of children without charge." 

In 1833, there was, apparently, some movement in Congress favorable 
to the endowment of Free Schools in the District of Columbia; for on the, 
4th of February the following joint resolution was adopted : 

Resolution directing the Mayor to reply to the Letter of Honorable the Chair- 
man of the Committee on the District of Columbia, in the House of 
Representatives . 
"Resolved by the Board of Aldermen and Board of Common Council of 
the Corporation of Georgetown, That the Mayor be, and he is hereby, 
authorized and directed to inform the Honorable the Chairman of the 
Committee on the District of Columbia, in the House of Representatives, 
in reply to his letter of 12th ult., that, in the event of Congress appropri- 
ating a sum of money for the establishment and support of Free Schools 
within the District of Columbia, this Corporation will assent that the said 
sum be invested in the stock of the Rockville and Frederick Turnpike 
Company." 

Congress, as usual, disappointed the expectations of the friends of edu- 
cation in the District by adjourning without favorable action, and the 



OP THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 7 

Free School was forced again to solicit aid from the Corporation, which, 
as theretofore, was generously afforded by a joint resolution adopted on 
the 4th of the following May : 

Resolution in relation to the Georgetown Free School. 

"Resolved by the Board of Aldermen and Board of Common Council of 
the Corporation of Georgetown, That the sum of $200 be, and the same is 
hereby, appropriated, aiid that the Clerk pay the same to the order of a 
majority of the Trustees of the Georgetown Free School, as a donation for 
the benefit of said school.'" 

After the lapse of four years a joint effort was made by the municipal 
authorities of Washington, Alexandria, and Georgetown to obtain an appro- 
priation from Congress, and the following joint resolution, adopted May 27, 
1837. shows how heartily the authorities of Georgetown cooperated in the 
effort : 

A Resolution respecting Public Schools. 

"Resolved by the Board of Aldermen and Board of Common Council of 
the Corporation of Georgetown, That we highly approve of a resolution 
passed by the Corporation of Washington, approved 7th April, 1837, entitled 
k A resolution in relation to Public Schools,' and that the Mayor, President 
of the Board of Aldermen, President of the Board of Common Council, 
Bennet Clements, and Robert White, be, and they are hereby, appointed 
a committee to cooperate with any committee which has been or may 
hereafter be appointed hj the Corporations of Washington and Alexandria 
to prepare a memorial to be presented to Congress at an early period of the 
next session, praying for an appropriation, either of lands or money, for 
the endowment of a system of education that shall embrace the whole 
District of Columbia, b} r which the children of all may equally enjo3 r the 
inestimable advantages of a liberal education. 

"Resolved, That the Mayor be, and he is hereby, requested to transmit 
a copy of the foregoing resolution to the Mayors of Washington and 
Alexandria." 

This joint effort was without favorable result. 

The schools were, however, continued in operation, supported by private 
contribution and by the annual payment from the city treasury provided 
by the ordinance of October 6, 1815, until the burden became too oppressive 
to the surviving subscribers, in a list registered thirty-two years before, when 
the Corporation generously relieved them by enacting, on the 31st of 
December, 1842, the following ordinance : 

An Ordinance establishing the Georgetown School. 

"Be it ordained by the Board of Aldermen and Board of Common Council 
of the Corporation of Georgetown, That for the purpose of more effectually 
securing a primary education to the poor of both sexes within the limits of 
this town, the schools now in operation and supported by appropriation 
out of the public moneys be taken under the exclusive care of the corporate 
authority, and that guardians thereof be annually appointed, in joint meet- 
ing of the two Boards, on the first Monday in January. 

"2. And be it further ordained, That the guardians of the Georgetown 
School, by which name it shall henceforth be known and designated, shall 
consist of seven members, two of whom at least shall be members of the 
Corporation, to be appointed as hereinbefore provided, to serve one year 
and until successors are appointed to take their places; and the said guard- 



8 HISTORY OP THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

ians are hereby vested with full powers to provide for the keeping of said 
schools, and to manage the same for the public interest ; to make such by-laws 
and regulations as they may deem best for the government and the good of 
the schools ; to elect and appoint the respective and necessary teachers from 
time to time, and tix their compensation. And that in no case shall the 
teachers be permitted to receive pay for the tuition of any of the children 
that may be admitted, as hereinafter provided for, other than the annual 
pay to be fixed by the guardians. 

"3. And be it further ordained. That the teachers respectively shall pre- 
pare and submit to the Board of Guardians, quarterly, statements of the 
condition of the schools, the number of scholars upon the rolls, and the 
number in the habit of daily attendance. They shall also, annually in the 
month of December, make out and transmit to this Corporation a full 
report of the condition of the schools, through the Board of Guardians, for 
public information. 

"4. And be it farther ordained, That it shall be the duty of the teachers to 
receive all the children that may be sent to them, or either of them, by any 
member of the Board of Guardians, or by the Trustees of the Poor, any of 
whom are hereby fully authorized to grant certificates of admission : and 
to keep a record of the same in books provided for the purpose, showing 
the names of the children, their ages, and date of entrance into the 
school, their places of residence, and on whose certificate admitted ; but 
without, directly qv indirectly, charging or receiving any compensation there- 
for, as hereinbefore provided. 

u 5. And be it further ordained, That immediately upon the organization 
of the Board of Guardians herein authorized, and the appointment by 
them of one of their body President thereof, and on the same being offi- 
cially reported to the Mayor, then the Clerk of the Corporation is hereby 
authorized and directed to transfer the provision for education to said 
guardians and pay the same, as may be required by the regulations of that 
Board ; and in the event of a vacancy, they are hereby authorized to fill 
the same, to serve until the Corporation shall make the annual appoint- 
ments." 

The next mention of the schools in the legislative annals is an ordinance 
of June 3, 1843, authorizing the Guardians of Georgetown School to employ 
a suitable person as assistant teacher in said school for one year from June 
1, and appropriating for that purpose $200. 

In 1844, August 24, a joint resolution was adopted, authorizing the Guard- 
ians of the Georgetown School to receive any donations of monej^ from the 
parents or guardians of pupils in the school, or from others. 

In 1847, November 6, one hundred and fifty dollars were appropriated in 
aid of the Georgetown School, to be placed to the credit of the Board of 
Guardians. 

Up to this time our only source of information has been the legislative 
index of the Corporation, but we have now, from January, 1848, to July, 
1874, a continuous journal kept by the Board of Guardians. 

1848. 

The first entry, January 5, 1848, sets forth that the new Board of Guard- 
ians appointed by the two Boards of the Corporation on the 3d instant met 
and exhibited their credentials, viz : Thomas Brown, John Myers, Charles 
E. Eckel, William McK. Osborn, George Shoemaker, Thomas Jewell, and 
Charles E. Mix. 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 9 

Thomas Brown was elected President and Thomas Jewell was elected 
Secretary. 

Rules of order were adopted and standing committees were appointed, &c. 

John T. Bangs was appointed Principal Teacher of the Male School, 
George T. Hilleary, Assistant Teacher, Mrs. Miranda Guy, Teacher of the 
Female School, whose "salaries were fixed at the amounts respectively 
allowed last year." 

February 2. — A notice from Dr. Ritchie to vacate the house now occu- 
pied by the school was read. 

April 5. — A communication was received from the Trustees of the Vigi- 
lant Fire Company, tendering the hall of said company for the use of the 
Male School ; aud said oiler was accepted. 

May 17. — Mrs. Cunningham's room was rented for the Female School. 

The following joint resolution was adopted by the Councils July 1, 1848 : 

" Resolved, That the Guardians of the Town School be directed to charge 
and receive pay for all scholars whose parents or guardians are, in the opin- 
ion of a majority of the Board, able to pay not exceeding $1 per month, for 
the general use of the school." 

September 6. — Ordered, That eacli of the Principals of the schools be 
requested to furnish to the Board a list of the scholars in their several 
departments, for the purpose of ascertaining whether there are any of the 
children whose parents are, in the opinion of the Board, able to pay for 
their tuition. 

1849. 

January 3. — Ordered, That the salary of the Principal Teacher of the" 

Male School shall be $400 

Of the Assistant Teacher 200 

Of the Principal of the Female School 200 

January 13. — A joint resolution was adopted appropriating $153.47, 
"that sum being the amount which the Board of Guardians of the School 
report as necessary to make up deficiencies to relieve the fund from its 
present embarrassment." 

JULY 3. — Ordered, That a communication be addressed to the Corpora- 
tion, informing them that the interests of the schools require more ample 
accommodations than those now provided in the hall of the Vigilant Fire 
Company. 

In response to this communication the following ordinance was enacted 
August 11th : 

"That for the purpose of procuring a house of ample dimensions for the 
future permanent accommodation of its Male and Female Free Schools, 
$1,200 be paid to the Methodist Episcopal Society for their present church ; 
and that a "sum not exceeding $800 be devoted to the expense of alteration 
and proper fitting up for the comfortable accommodation of said Free 
Schools." 

1850. 

Nothing, except payments of bills, election of teachers, and such routine 
acts, appears on the journal of this year. 

2 



10 HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

1851. 

May 13. — Ordered, That the Corporation be requested to appropriate $75 
for the purchase of premiums to be awarded at the ensuing Annual Exhi- 
bition ; to which, with the usual prompt generosity, an answer was returned 
on the 31st of that month in the following joint resolution : 

"Resolved, That $75 be appropriated to defray the expenses of an Annual 
Exhibition, and for the distribution of premiums." 

1852. 

February 1. — Ordered, That the corporate authorities be requested to 
appropriate $500. An ordinance was soon after enacted appropriating 
"twelve hundred dollars for promotion of education in the year 1852, being 
supplementary to the ordinance of October 6, 1815, and repealing so much 
of the ordinance of August 11, 1849, as provides for the payment of interest 
on the purchase money of the church building on Montgomery street." 

May 1. — The Board, in consideration of the terms of said ordinance, raised 
the salaries, as follows : 

Principal Teacher of Male School $475 

Assistant Teacher of Male School 275 

Principal Teacher of Female School 225 

Assistant Teacher of Female School 150 

July 1. — Ordered, That premiums be dispensed with at the ensuing 
Annual Exhibition, on account of the lack of money. 

1853. 

February 1. — Ordered, That the President be requested to make the 
annual report, and to ask the Corporation for an appropriation of $1,500 ; 
which was affirmatively responded to by the Corporation, February 14th. 
April 2. — The salaries were graded as follows : 

Principal Teacher Male School $550 

Assistant Teacher Male School : 300 

Principal Teacher Female School .' 225 

Assistant Teacher Female School 150 

June. — One hundred dollars having been donated by Mr. William W. 
Corcoran, $75 were appropriated for buying premiums for the Male School, 
and $25 for the Female School; said premiums to be distributed at the 
ensuing Annual Exhibition of July 26th. The President was also author- 
ized to procure refreshments for the pupils of both departments of the 
school. 

September 29.— Ordered, That five dollars be appropriated to enable 
the Principal Teacher of the Male School to purchase some instruments 
for the extraction of teeth, &c, to be used in the school. 

1854. 

February 8. — Salaries continued as they were last year, except the 
salaiy of the Assistant of the Female School, which was increased to $200. 

June. — Mr. Corcoran 's annual donation of $100 having been received, $75 
and $25 were appropriated, respectively, to the Male and Female Schools 
for premiums. 

The exhibition took place on the 26th of July; and the Board were " so 
highly gratified" on the occasion that a note thereof was recorded in the 
Journal. 

The death of Mrs. G-uy was also recorded in the Journal, "for a long 
period the efficient and faithful Principal Teacher of the Female Depart- 
ment." 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 11 

1855. 

January 6. — Mrs. E. Walker was elected Principal Teacher of the 
Female School. The salaries as they were last year, except that the com- 
pensation of the Assistant Teacher of the Female School was raised to 
$225. 

Ordered, That the Public School be visited during; each week of the 
scholastic year by the members of the Board alternately; and the Board 
thereupon allotted to each member his <\ny of visitation. 

April. 4. — Ordered, That, in view of the insufficiency of the school fund, 
the Corporation be asked for an additional appropriation of $1,000 ; and the 
Corporation responded, June 2, b}^ a joint resolution allowing $2,500 for 
the expenses of the school in 1855. 

June 5. — Ordered, That, after the necessary amount be set apart out of 
the sum appropriated by the Councils for the incidental expenses of the 
school, the remainder be divided pro rata among the teachers. 

1856. 
April 3. — The following reports were received and read : 

School Room, April 1, 1856. 

Gentlemen : The first quarter of the present year having expired, it 
becomes my duty to lay before you the present condition and the future 
prospects of the school under my charge. The number now on the roll is 
69, and the average attendance is 58. It affords me great pleasure to say 
that, since the partition has been erected, there is a marked improvement 
in my portion of the school. More time is now devoted to instruction and 
study than has ever been heretofore, and discipline is, comparatively 
speaking, easily maintained. In a word, the school has never presented 
a fairer prospect for usefulness to the community than atjthe present time. 

I still labor under the same disadvantage of irregular attendance which 
I have so often complained of. . I have nothing new to offer, but respect- 
fully suggest that the Board of Guardians pass a law excluding from the 
schools those pupils who stay away one week in a month, unless they be 
detained by sickness. If there was a stringent rule like the one adverted 
to it would, in my opinion, have a good effect; if it did not cure the evil 
it would very materially lessen it. 

W. H. Craig, 
P. T. Male Department. 

Hugh G. Devine, the Assistant Teacher in same department, reported 
"the healthy and encouraging condition of his school, and the improvement 
in study and discipline since the erection of the partition. The names on 
the roll were 80; average attendance 53. He attributed the irregular at- 
tendance to the intense cold weather, but thought that "this exiguitjr of 
attendance would be corrected in the current quarter." 

The summary of the above reports exhibits 149 scholars, and an average 
attendance of 111 in the male department. 

Ordered, That a quarterly statement be furnished regular^ hereafter by 
Mis. Farquhar, Principal of the Female School. 

May 2. — The Secretary, Mr. J. T. Bangs, presented the following re- 
sponse to a joint resolution of the Councils asking certain information : 
which was approved, and was ordered to be duly transmitted. The fol- 
lowing is an abstract thereof : 



UTi 



The teachers receive the following salaries : 

Principal Teacher Male Department! $800 

Assistant Teacher Male Department 500 

Principal Teacher Female Department 400 

Assistant Teacher Female Department 300 



12 HISTOKY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

"The annual appropriation being $2,500, the salaries being deducted will 
leave $500 for repairs, fuel, books, stationery, premiums, &c. 

"We cannot state the exact amount required for fuel and other incidental 
expenses, since such expenditure is so much varied hj contingencies; but 
since January 1st $91.84 have been spent in repairs, and a further amount 
of say $20 will be expended for whitewashing and cleaning. No account 
having heretofore been kept of the expenditures, except by Mr. Mountz, 
Clerk of the Corporation, and as many of the orders drawn on him were out 
and unpaid, it was impossible to ascertain the true state of the account when 
we entered on the duties of Guardians of the School. But we are of the 
opinion that the school fund for last year was exhausted, if not in arrears ; 
for the undersigned, who was in the Board in 1854, knows that it was 
behindhand at the close of that year $100; and we are informed that the 
new roof and pavement cost last year about $300, and the same salaries 
being paid then as at present left only $100 to pay for boo*ks, stationery, 
&c, which was, we are sure, insufficient. 

" By a plan adopted by the present Board we expect to be able to present, 
if necessary, at the close of the year, a statement showing the exact condi- 
tion of the school fund. 

u To the third inquiry, we answer that the male roll exhibits 150, and an 
average attendance of 112, and the female roll exhibits 80, and an average 
attendance of 60." 

July 3. — Mr. Corcoran's usual gift of $100 having been received was 
appropriated for the purchase of books and premiums for distribution at 
the Annual Exhibition. 

December 23. — Draft of Annual Keport by Guardians to the Corpora- 
tion presented and approved, and a complete report dated December 29 
was afterwards transmitted by the Secretary. The following statistics are 
extracted therefrom : Male Department, on the roll 68, average attendance 
54, admitted during the year 4S, withdrawn during the year 46 ; Male 
Department, Second Branch, on the roll 90, average attendance 65, ad- 
mitted during the year 50, withdrawn 52 ; Female Department, on the roll 
71, average attendance 56, admitted during the year 61, withdrawn 53. 

1857. 

March 18. — Ordered, That the Board communicate to the Council its 
desire to establish an additional school, and, to that end, ask the appropri- 
ation of the poll tax for immediate use for the present year, in addition to 
the existing appropriation of $2,500. 

April 1. — Ordered, That the Secretary effect an insurance of $2,000 on 
the school house and the adjacent dwelling. 

April 9. — The following joint resolution, adopted by the Councils, was 
laid before the Board : 

^Resolved, fyc, That the Guardians of the Public School furnish esti- 
mates of the several repairs required on the building, with the repairs or 
renewals required for the desks and other fixtures of the school, and state 
also the probable amount needed for salaries, books, &c. ; also on the pro- 
priety of establishing a school in the upper part of the town." 

An answer thereto having been immediately prepared, was approved 
and ordered to be duly transmitted. This answer estimated that $2,749 
would be required for the regular and incidental expenses of the present 
school for the year. The necessity of establishing another school was 
urged for the reason that of the 140 boys now enrolled at least 40 ought to 
be provided for elsewhere, as no teacher could property control and direct 
more than 50 pupils. The expense of establishing another school was 
estimated at $935. 

October 7. — Ordered, That permission be granted to have the children 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 13 

of the schools, or such of them as would agree, taught music at their own 
expense. 

December 2. — Mr. Magee stated that a large number of the scholars 
had placed themselves under Mr. Hunter, who was teaching- them music 
scientifically, and that their progress was a source of congratulation. 

1858. 

January 6. — Ordered, That, as soon as the means of the Board will 
allow, Sarah Pearson, now a pupil of the senior Female Department, shall 
be appointed sub-Assistant Teacher in the junior Female Department, at 
a compensation of $100 a year. 

Mr. Hyde was appointed a committee to report the cost of canvassing the 
town for the purpose of ascertaining the number of children between 5 and 
18 years of age, designating the number attending public schools, the 
number attending private schools, and the number not attending any 
school. 

January 25. — The President reported the failure of the poll levy for 
1858. 

Mr. Hyde having reported that $30 would be sufficient, that amount was 
appropriated, and Mr. W. H. Craig was appointed canvasser. 

The following resolutions, offered by Mr. Hyde, were adopted : 

'"Whereas there is no poll tax levied for 185S — 

"Resolved, That the sum of one dollar be asked from each person liable 
to poll lax. as a voluntary contribution to the Public Schools for that year. 

'•'Resolved, That the judges of election, on the 15th of February, and in 
the several precincts at the regular municipal election on the 3d Monday of 
February, be respectfully requested to receive and enter on a separate poll 
list, opposite to the donor's name, the amount given in response to the 
above request. 

"Resolved, That the Secretary be authorized to publish the necessar3 r 
notices, in pursuance of the above-mentioned object. 

"Resolved, That the tax collector be requested to ask the usual poll tax, 
and receive the same from those disposed to pay it, and who have not pre- 
viously paid the amount." 

February 3. — Mr. Marbury, in the absence of regular business, stated 
the particulars of a visit made by the Secretary, Mr. Hyde, and himself to 
the Board of School Trustees of Washington, in response to an invitation, 
to consider the expected action of Congress on the bill for the benefit of 
the Public Schools of Washington. They were very courteously received, 
and were seated at the Board, and were assured of the willingness and 
desire of the Washington Trustees to afford the authorities of Georgetown 
every opportunity for securing a proportionate part of whatever Congress 
might grant in aid of popular education. Whereupon, it was 

Ordered, That Messrs. Marbury and Hyde be, a committee to cooperate 
with a like committee of the Trustees of the Washington Schools before 
Congress. 

March 3. — Mr. Marbury made an oral report of having waited on the 
Chairman of the District Committee of the Senate, and of having received 
from him assurances of the intention of that committee to report a bill for 
the benefit of the schools. 

April 7. — Mr. Craig's report of his canvass was laid before the Board, 
and Avas as follows : 

Male children between 5 and 18 1,0S9 

Female 1,189 

2,278 

Of which there are in private schools, males 320 

Females 359 

G79 



14 OF THE CITY OP GEORGETOWN. 

In schools, public, free, and parish, males.... 250 

Females 211 

461 

JSTot attending any school, males 519 

Females 619 

■ 1,138 

Summary — in school 1,140 

Not in school 1,138 

In conformity with a resolution of January 8th last, Sarah Pearson was 
appointed a sub-Assistant Teacher. 

April, 14. — In the matter of a new school it was stated, by Mr. Laird, 
that the remainder of the school fund had been made subject to the order 
of the Board for such a purpose, whereupon a committee was instructed to 
report the most eligible site therefor. 

May 5. — The Committee having reported that no suitable building for 
the new school could be obtained, it was 

Ordered, That a communication be sent to the Councils exhibiting the 
existing condition of the school fund, and asking an appropriation of 
$2,500 for the erection of a new school house. 

June 22. — An official copy was received of a joint resolution adopted by 
the Councils June 9th, as follows : 

"Whereas it is represented that a portion of the lot at the corner of High 
and Fourth streets was originally donated for the purpose of erecting 
thereon buildings for educational purposes : therefore, 

"Be it resolved, <^c, That the Guardians of the Town Schools be, and 
they are hereby, instructed to take such steps as in their judgment may be 
necessary to secure the above-mentioned lot for the purpose of erecting 
thereon a suitable house for school purposes." 

Whereupon a committee was instructed to carry out the objects of said 
joint resolution. 

AUGUST 4. — Ordered, That the office of sub-Assistant Teacher be for the 
present abolished .; but the Secretaiy was directed to assure the incumbent 
that her duties had been discharged to the entire satisfaction of the Board, 
and that her office had been abolished solely for the lack of money to pay 
for her services. 

1859. 

March 2. — A committee was instructed to select a site for erecting the 
Western Georgetown School. 

April 6. — The committee reported as the most suitable the lot at the 
intersection of High and Market streets; whereupon Mr. King was author- 
ized to purchase the house and lot of Mr. Reintzell for not exceeding $400 
at private sale ; and if sold at public auction, not to bid over $450. 

June 1. — Mr. Tenney reported the purchase of the house and lot, and he 
was authorized to purchase the adjoining lot for not exceeding $275. 

August 24.— Salaries were fixed as follows : 

Principal Teacher, Male School $800 

Assistant Teacher, Male School 450 

Principal Teacher, Female School : 450 

Assistant Teacher, Female School 400 

October 5. — Ordered, That $15 be expended for planting trees in front 
of the school house. 

1800. 

April 5. — The plan of the new school house submitted by Mr. Magee 
was approved, and the Secretary directed to advertise for proposals. 
April 23. — Seven proposals were received, the lowest of which was for 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 15 

$4,SS0. After consultation, it was conducted that the cost would be too 
great, and the plan was abandoned, and Mr. Magee was instructed to ascer- 
tain the cost of a frame house, 30 by 50, suitable for a sehool. 

May 3. — The President was authorized to obtain a plan and specification 
for a house of such dimensions, with 12 feet ceilings. 

May 22. — Of three bids received for building the same Mr. Simms's 
was the lowest, viz : $2,525, and was accepted. 

August 1. — Permission was given for the introduction of singing into 
the schools, provided such arrangements be made without expense to the 
Board. 

October 3. — Authority to establish a Night School was given, provided 
means to support it be raised without making a demand on the funds of the 
Board . 

October 10. — A teacher for the Night School was elected, at a compen- 
sation of $30 a month, said Night School subject to be closed at any time 
bj' order of the Board. 

1861. 

January 23. — Ordered, That the Corporation be requested to loan 
$1,000 to the Board for completing and furnishing the new school house 
and putting the school in operation. 

JUNE 5. — A communication from the Teachers was received, asking that 
their salaries be raised to an amount sufficient to cover the heavy discount 
at present on Corporation money, and the Secretary was instructed to in- 
form them that it was a matter over which the Board had no control. 

1862. 

Nothing outside of routine business appears on the Journal of this year. 

1863. 

April 1. — Mr. Magee was instructed "to converse with Mr. Daniel!, 
Music Teacher, on the subject of giving instruction to the Town Schools." 

June 3. — The President was authorized to employ Mr. Cartwright to 
finish the basement of the school house on the corner of High and Market 
streets, for not exceeding 8395, and to pay not exceeding $25 more for put- 
ting up a partition across the building. 

Mr. Magee was also authorized to procure thirty sets of desks and chairs, 
and one hundred and twenty feet of settees, from Baltimore. 

August 5. — Ordered, That the two new schools to be opened in Septem- 
ber next be one a male and the other a female school. Miss M. A. Hanna 
was (dected Teacher of the Male School, and Miss Martha E. Heustis Teacher 
of the Female School. It was also ordered that the Female School should 
be assigned to the upper room, and the Male School to the lower room. 

November 4. — Ordered, That a memorial be sent to the Corporation 
asking an appropriation of 81,000 to aid in opening additional schools, and 
to meet other expenses pressing on the Board. 

1864. i 

June 7. — Ordered, That the Corporation be asked for an appropriation 
of $1,200 for refurnishing the four schools on Montgomery street. 

August 2. — Mr. Magee, having reported that the prices asked in Balti- 
more were not satisfactory, was authorized to visit Boston, and to buy the 
school furniture there if he thought the prices more reasonable. 

The teachers of the six schools, male as well as female, elected this year 
were all females, and the salaries were fixed as follows : 

Teacher of Senior Male School , $750 

Teacher of Senior Female School 600 

Teacher of Primary No. 3 550 

Teachers of ^Primaries Nos. 1. 2, 4, each 500 

Music Master 1 50 



16 HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

Ordered, That $100 be distributed, as an increase of salary for the past 
year, to the teachers, as follows, viz : to each teacher $20, except to the 
teacher of the Senior Male School and to the Music Master. 

1865. 

September 6. — A committee was instructed to inquire into the expe- 
diency and cost of erecting one or. more additional school houses. 

1866. 

March 6. — Ordered, That the sanction of the Board be given to Mr. 
Magee in his effort to establish a Library for the Public Schools. 

April 3. — Mr. Magee reported as on the way from Boston the vessel 
with furniture for the schools ; also the purchase, for school purposes, of a 
lot on Bridge street, near Montgomery Street school building, for $765, and 
Mr. Dunlop was requested to make out the necessary papers for the con- 
veyance of said lot. 

May 1. — Mr. Magee stated that the Ladies' Fair for the benefit of the 
Public Schools had realized about $400; and the following resolution, 
offered by Mr. Hyde, was unanimously adopted : 

"Resolved, That the thanks of the Board of Guardians of the George- 
town Schools be, and they are hereby, tendered to Mrs. James Owens, 
Mrs. William King, Mrs. James F. Essex, Mrs. George Hill, jr., Mrs. 
Jackson Beall, Mrs. Edward J. Shoemaker, Mrs. John L. Owens, Mrs. 
Conrad, the Misses Grimes, Miss McCurdy, Miss F. King, Miss Alice Essex, 
and to other ladies, for their assistance in the management of the late fair 
for the benefit of the Public Schools; and who, by their untiring energy 
and devotion, contributed so largely to its success. 

"Resolved further, That the Secretary send, a copy of this resolution to 
the ladies named, and express to them the obligations under which the 
Board and the schools rest to them for their disinterested labors in securing 
to the schools the establishment of a library." 

August 4. — Teachers were elected for the current year, and the salary 
for each of the Primary Schools was made $500. 

September 7. — A vote of thanks was adopted to Major George Hill, jr., 
for six beautiful silk flags presented by him to the different schools. 

Ordered, That the Corporation be requested to suspend the sale of lot 
on Prospect street until it can be ascertained whether the same may not 
be suitable for a public school house. 

This lot was afterwards given to the Guardians for school purposes. A 
vote of thanks was adopted to Captain Thomas Brown for nine copies of 
school premiums presented by him to the Board. 

September 7. — It having been reported to the Board that there was 
ample space in the High street School house for the accommodation of 30 
additional scholars in each of the two rooms, and that the benches now 
there were sufficient for present use, and that the only additional expense 
would be in removing some few of the lower desks and the pay of assistant 
teachers ; the Board thereupon elected two Assistant Teachers, assigning 
to each of them the care of thirty scholars. 

November 6. — Ordered, That the Spencerian mode of penmanship be 
adopted in the schools. 

1867. 

January 8. — A petition was received from the teachers and scholars of 
:the Grammar Schools for the purchase of a piano for the Grammar Schools; 
•using therefor the funds raised for a school library ; which, after the con- 
sent of the ladies had been given, was agreed to by the Board. 

MARCH 5. — A committee was instructed to consider the late law of the 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 17 

Corporation in regard to the new school building on Prospect street, and 
to obtain a plan and estimate; and also to consider the site for the same. 

April 15. — A communication was received from a Committee of the 
Order of Odd-Fellows, asking a holiday for the schools on Friday, the 2Gth 
instant, that the scholars may unite with them in celebrating the Forty- 
Eighth Anniversary of the I. O. O. F. ; which request was granted. 

December 3. — An application was presented from the ladies of the 
"Industrial School" of Georgetown for any old furniture or books ; and 
Mr. Magee was authorized to turn over, as requested, such old furniture 
and books as he may deem expedient. 

1868. 

March 3. — Ordered, That application be made to the Corporation for 
$1,800 for the support of the schools the cm-rent year. 

April 7. — Official information was received that the Corporation had 
favorably considered the request of the Board, and appropriated the sum 
of $1,400. 

April. 15. — The Board having adopted a memorial to Congress, it was 
ordered that the same be submitted to the municipal authorities, with a 
request that, if said memorial be approved, they would transmit the same 
to Congress. The memorial stated, in detail, the small resources, and the 
urgent necessities of the schools in Georgetown, and asked an appropria- 
tion, in their behalf, of $20,000. 

September 29. — Ordered, That the Clerk of the Corporation be author- 
ized to sell, at his discretion, and transfer the stock lately ordered to be 
issued for school purposes, and to place the proceeds to the credit of the 
school fund. 

October 6. — Ordered, That the Secretary be directed to advertise 
twice a week, for two weeks, for proposals for building a new school house. 

October 26. — Six proposals were opened, and the bid of W. I. Dyer & 
Sons being the lowest, viz : $9,737, a contract with them was authorized. 

November 3. — A communication was received, inviting the teachers of 
the Georgetown schools to unite with the teachers of the Washington 
schools in receiving French and German lessons free of charge, and the 
Secretary was directed to note the receipt thereof, and to return the thanks 
of the Board. 

1869. 

March 2. — Ordered, That an advance of twenty-five per cent, on the 
salaries of teachers be allowed from January 1 to September 1, 1S09. 

JUNE 1. — The Committee appointed to ascertain the probable expense of 
furnishing the new school house, having submitted an estimate amounting 
to $770, it was 

Ordered, That the Corporation be asked for an appropriation of $1,000. 

JULY 6. — Ordered, That a complimentary appropriation of $50, out of 
the school fund, be made to W. Laird, esq., Clerk of the Corporation, for 
his interest manifested in effecting sales of stock for the benefit of the 
Public Schools. 

August 10. — The following reorganization of the schools was ordered : 
Primary, Intermediate, and Grammar, to wit : four Primary, two Interme- 
diate, and two Grammar Schools. Vocal music to be taught in the Gram- 
mar and Intermediate Schools; and, as far as practicable, in the Primary 
Schools, by the teachers, with such assistance as the regular Music Teacher 
may be able to render. 

September 14. — It having been reported that there were, awaiting 
vacancies, sixteen boys and thirty-one girls, to whom permits had been 
issued, it was 

Ordered, That two half schools, thirty scholars each, be added to the 

3 



18 HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

schools in the High Street building-, for boys and girls respectively, with 
assistant teachers for the same. 

The assistant teachers were thereupon elected, with a yearly compensa- 
tion of $300. 

1870. 

January 11. — A communication having been received from the Board 
of Trustees of the Washington Schools in reference to making a joint appli- 
cation to Congress for aid, a committee was appointed for cooperation. 

February 1. — A communication on the subject of aid from Congress was 
received from the Levy Court of the county, which was ordered to be 
placed on file; also one from the Committee on Education and Labor, 
House of Representatives, inclosing certain interrogatories in reference to 
the schools, which was referred to a committee for answers thereto. 

July 5. — Ordered, That the thanks of the Board of Guardians be most 
respectfully tendered to the u Evening Star" and to the "National Repub- 
lican " for their extended notices of the late Annual Examinations and of 
the distribution of premiums in the Georgetown Public Schools. 

August 2. — Ordered, That the salaries of the Assistant Teachers be 
hereafter $30 a month. 

1871. 

February 7. —An unsuccessful attempt was made to introduce the 
study of the German language into the curriculum of the schools. 

February 16. — The written request of Geo. S. Gideon, General Secre- 
tary of the Carnival Festivities to be held on the 20th and 21st instant, 
that the children of the Georgetown schools might be allowed to be present 
thereat, was granted. 

May 23. — Ordered, That $400 be appropriated for premiums and ex- 
penses of the Annual Examination in the ensuing June. 

Territorial Reorganization. 

June 16. — The following gentlemen presented their credentials as mem- 
bers of the new Board of Guardians appointed by the Hon. Henry D. Cooke, 
Governor of the Territory of the District: A. Hyde, G. W. Beall, C. D. 
Welch, W. L. Dunlop, W. W. Curtis, C. S. Ramsburg, and F. W. Moffat. 

The President read a letter from Governor Cooke, regretting the resig- 
nation of W. C. Magee as a member of the Board. 

The Board was, thereupon, duly organized. 

August 17. — The President laid before the Board a letter from Governor 
Cooke, making certain inquiries relative to the schools, together with an 
answer thereto, already prepared by the Secretaiy ; which answer, having 
been approved, w r as ordered to be duly transmitted. 

Ordered, That the President be requested to call on Governor Cooke, 
and ascertain whether the Board could anticipate its revenue to the amount 
of $2,000, to enable it to organize additional schools. 

August 22. — The President stated that he had, as requested, called on 
Governor Cooke, who replied that the Board might, as desired, issue cer- 
tificates of indebtedness for $2,000, and that he would be responsible for 
the payment thereof. 

Ordered, That two additional schools be established, of a grade between 
Primary and Intermediate, one male and one female, and to be called 
Secondary. 

First Begular Meeting of the Board of Trustees of George- 
town Public Schools— 1871. 

October 3. — On motion, the Secretary was instructed to cast the unani- 
mous ballot of the Board for the election of Anthony Hyde as President ; 
which was accordingly done by Secretary W. W. Curtis. 



OF THE ciTY OF GEORGETOWN. 19 

The rules adopted by the late Board of Guardians, September 5th, ulti- 
mo, were reenacted. 

A printed communication from the Superintendent of Public Schools in 
St. Louis was received, and referred to the Secretary. 

Ordered, That the regular meeting- of the Board be held on the first 
Tuesday of every month, and that all the books and papers of the former 
school officers be placed in the custody of the Secretary and Treasurer. 

1872. 

January 5. — Ordered, That the salary of the Teacher of the Male 
Grammar School be tixed at $1,000 ; Teacher of Female Grammar School, 
$1,000; Teachers of Intermediate Schools, $800; Teachers of Secondary 
Schools, $700; Teachers of Primary Schools, $650; Music Teacher, $200; 
and that this scale of salaries take effect from the first day of January 
instant. 

May 7. — A communication was received from the Comptroller of the 
District, calling for an estimate of expenses required for the year ending 
June 30, 1873 ; whereupon the Secretary was directed to inform the Comp- 
troller that the estimated sum for which appropriation is asked is $15,000. 

The death of the Hon. James Dunlop having been formally announced, 
the Board adjourned in testimony of respect to his memory. 

June 11. — Ordered, That, in view of his former connection with the 
Board, and in appreciation of his long and successful services in behalf of 
Public Schools, Mr. William C. Magee be invited to be present at the An- 
nual Distribution on the 28th instant. 

July 2. — Ordered, That $50 be paid to the Trustees of the Presbyterian 
church for the use of their building on the occasion of the late Annual 
Distribution. 

July 6. — Special meeting. Board met at the house of Governor Cooke 
for the purpose of consulting with him in relation to the building of a new 
school house. Superintendent Wilson was present. After fidl considera- 
tion the President was authorized to purchase the property on Second and 
Third streets now owned by the M. P. Church, of Maryland; and to ascer- 
tain the terms of purchase of adjoining property. 

July 22. — The President having reported progress in the matter of pur- 
chasing grounds for a new school building, he was authorized to call upon 
the Governor and ascertain whether money to make the first payment 
thereon could be borrowed. 

August 6. — The President reported that Governor Cooke had agreed to 
meet the cash payment for the school lot out of funds he would provide, 
and that he had, moreover, promised to have the property survej-ed. 

September 19. — Superintendent Wilson stated that lie had conferred 
with the Trustees of the Linthicum Institute relative to obtaining funds from 
them for the purpose of immediately proceeding to build the new school 
house. Mr. Dunlop was authorized to purchase, subject to the approval of 
the Board, such additional ground as may be necessary to bring the school 
property to the line of Potomac street. Superintendent Wilson was au- 
thorized to procure plans of school buildings for the consideration of the 
Board. It was, further, 

" Resolved, That in view of the proposed construction of a large Central 
School House on the property recently purchased between Second and 
Third streets, the honorable Board of Public Works cause Potomac street 
to be extended to Third street, whereby the health and convenience of the 
neighborhood will b<- promoted, and a west front will be at the same time 
secured for that building." 

OCTOBER 1. — Mr. Dunlop was authorized to negotiate for the property 

lying east of that now owned by the Board. 



20 HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

October 4. — Mr. Dunlop was authorized to offer $3,000 for the ground, 
without the houses thereon, on Second street adjoining the school lot. 

November 7. — At this meeting of the Board were present Governor 
Cooke, Superintendent Wilson, Architect Cluss, and Messrs. Riley, Laird, 
and Gordon, Trustees of the Linthicum Institute. 

After discussing the project of uniting the Public Schools with the Lin- 
thicum Institute and the Peabodjr Library, the following resolutions were 
adopted : 

"Resolved, That the Board of Trustees of the Georgetown Public Schools 
accept the plan for a public school building presented by Mr. A. Cluss ; 
and that he be authorized to prepare plans and specifications in accordance 
therewith ; and, furthermore, that the Board be a Building Committee, 
with full powers to advertise for proposals, to make contracts for the erec- 
tion of said buildings, and to supervise the work during its progress. 

"Resolved further, That Superintendent Wilson be requested and au- 
thorized to purchase the property on Second street, consisting of two 
frame houses and the lots on which they stand." 

November 19. — Superintendent Wilson reported that he had offered to 
Mrs. Jones $3,000, to be paid down, for the property owned by her opposite 
to St. John's church, she to retain the buildings and fences thereon, and 
to remove them b} r the 1st day of March, 1873, and until that day to have 
the use of said buildings and premises. This offer having been accepted, 
the Board ratified the bargain, provided that the title be found valid. 

Mr. Dunlop was employed to examine into the title of all property re- 
cently purchased by the Board, and to prepare deeds of conveyance. 

Superintendent Wilson was authorized to confer with Governor Cooke, 
and to inform him that the Board had bargained for the property for a new 
school building, and to solicit his aid in procuring money for the first pay- 
ments ; and also that he request the Governor to have the surveyor of the 
District make at once an accurate survey of the property. 

Letters were then presented for consideration, addressed to the Trustees 
of the Linthicum Institute and to the Trustees of the Peabody Library 
Fund, which, having been approved, the Secretary was instructed to sign 
and transmit them to their respective addresses. 

As these letters relate to an interesting epoch in the administration of the 
Public Schools of Georgetown, copies thereof are annexed : 

To W. W. Corcoran, Anthony Hyde, Henry JD. Cooke, W. L. Dunlop, and 
George W. Biggs, Trustees of the "Peabody Library Fund.'''' 

Gentlemen : I am directed by the Board of School Trustees of the city 
of Georgetown to submit for your consideration the following : 

The authorities of the District of Columbia are about to erect a school 
house on Second and Third streets, opposite St. John's church, in George- 
town, of large dimensions, to be of as imposing an exterior as is consistent 
with a proper economy. 

The objects sought to be attained by the outlay are the advancement of 
the cause of education in the town, the elevation of the Public School sys- 
tem, and the establishment of better educational facilities for the youth of 
the town, of both sexes, and for the general benefit and prosperity of the 
community. 

To aid in the accomplishment of these purposes, and, at the same time, 
to open up the only way which seems practicable for carrying out, at an 
early day, the designs of Mr. Peabody for the establishment of a library in 
Georgetown, the Board of Trustees of the Public Schools propose to set 
apart a room of sufficient dimensions on the ground floor, fronting on 
Second street, for the purposes of the Peabody Fund, where a library may 
be established, free of rent, under the absolute control of your honorable 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 21 

body in every respect, with the privilege of withdrawal whenever such 
action is desired. 

It is also designed to provide accommodations for the "Linthicnm Insti- 
tute" on the same terms, to enable the Trustees of that fund to carry out 
the objects of their trusts ; they having- already informally expressed their 
concurrence in the design, and their desire to accept such a proposition. 

Connected with the building will be a commodious lecture hall, for gen- 
eral lecture purposes, and the managers of the Linthicum Institute con- 
template making provision for popular lectures in connection with their 
other plans. 

It is, in the judgment of the school authorities, safe to predict that the three 
interests thus combined, while they will remain under separate and inde- 
pendent control, will be, by this combination, of great and lasting benefit 
to the town, and open an admirable and speedjMvay f or the consummation 
of the liberal and enlightened intentions of the generous donors of the 
respective funds referred to. 

As it will have a bearing on the plans of the building, it is desirable to 
know, at your earliest convenience, whether it will be the pleasure of your 
honorable body to accept the proposition herein embraced, and the Board 
of School Trustees would, therefore, ask earty consideration of the same. 

I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
By order of the Board of School Trustees of Georgetown, 

W. W. Curtis, Secretary. 

To Josiah Dent* Dr. Joshua Riley* W. L. Dunlop* W. Laird* jr., and Wm. 
A. Gordon* jr.* Trustees of the " Linthicum Institute.*" 

Gentlemen: I am directed by the Board of School Trustees of the city 
of Georgetown to submit for your consideration the following : 

You are already aware, through informal conferences with the Board, of 
their design to build a large and imposing school house on the. premises 
opposite St. John's church, said premises being situate between High and 
Market streets, with a width of about one hundred and twenty-five feet, 
extending from Second to Third streets; the house to cost about $60,000, 
and the ground not less than $13,000. 

To increase the usefulness of this enterprise, it is proposed to set apart, 
free of rent, a room on the ground floor of the main front of said building, 
for the use and purposes of the ""Linthicum Institute," and also one for 
the establishment of the "Peabody Library,'' so arranged as to have each 
institution under the exclusive control of the respective Boards of Trustees, 
with the right to manage their own affairs in their own way, and to with- 
draw therefrom at pleasure. 

In the department devoted to the purposes of the " Linthicum Institute " 
there will be added a Laboratory and other conveniences for scientific lec- 
tures, and for such school purposes as it is understood the Trustees design 
to establish and maintain. 

It is proposed to combine under one roof the three institutions, each 
preserving its independency of the others, and each under separate and 
distinct control, believing that the usefulness and efficiency of each will 
thereby be greatly enhanced. 

To aid in carrying out the proposed plans, the Board of Trustees of the 
Georgetown Schools propose to borrow of the Trustees of the ''Linthicum 
Institute " the sum of $50,000, at the rate of eight per cent, per annum, 
payable semi-annually, the principal to be refunded at the pleasure of the 
Board, at any time after five years, in sums of not less than $5,000, said 
payments to be secured on the property to be improved, and the money 
borrowed to be expended thereon, the funds to be placed in the hand- of 
a third party, to be expended as needed for the building, and to bear 
interest from the date of delivery, or to be taken by the Board of School 



22 HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

Trustees as needed, and. the amounts so taken to bear interest from the 
date of delivery. It is understood that the fund belonging to the Linthicnm 
Institute is in certain bonds, (as stated at the informal meeting,) and that 
they are to be received at par by the school authorities. 

It is important that the Board of School Trustees be informed, at your 
earliest convenience, of your action in reference to the proposition herein 
stated. 

I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, yonr obedient servant, 
By order of the Board of School Trustees of Georgetown, 

W. W. Curtis, Secretary. 

December 3. — Responsive communications were received from the 
Trustees respectively of the Linthicnm Institute and of the Feabody 
Library Fund, the former signed by William A. Gordon, jr., Secretary, 
agreeing, on behalf of said Trustees, to loan the Board $40,000, on condi- 
tion, 1st, that Potomac street be extended to Third street, and, 2d, that 
an opinion be obtained from Walter S. Cox, esq., showing the power of 
the Board to mortgage school property, and on certain other conditions 
therein specified. 

The latter communication was signed by Anthony Hyde, Secretary, 
stating that the Trustees of the Peabody Library Fund had, after careful 
consideration, concluded that they could not, owing to the positive terms 
of Mr. Peabody's gift, accept the proposition made by the Board. 

Both communications were laid over for future consideration, and the 
Secretary was instructed to obtain meanwhile the opinion of Walter S. 
Cox, esq., respecting the power of the Board to borrow money for building 
purposes, and to secure the payment of the same by mortgaging the school 
property. 

Notwithstanding these inauspicious indications, the proposed coalition of 
interests was satisfactorily consummated, and is still in harmonious and suc- 
cessful operation in the Curtis School Building. 

The Secretary was instructed, further, to ascertain what guaranties the 
Governor could furnish relative to the payment of money for the new 
school building, and, if practicable, to borrow $5,000 on such guaranties. 

December 4. — The Secretary having reported the result of his interview 
with the Governor, who had given assurances that money for the first pay- 
ments on the property recently purchased could be obtained in January 
next ; it was 

"Resolved, That the Secretary be, and he is hereby, authorized to bor- 
row, of the Farmers and Mechanics' National Bank of Georgetown, the 
sum of $5,000 for sixty da3 r s, and to give a note for that amount in the 
name of the Board of School Trustees, signed by the President and coun- 
tersigned by the Secretary." 

1873. 

January 7. — Mr. Dunlop presented an abstract of title to the property 
recently purchased by the Board, which was received and put on file. 

The Secretary was instructed to have recorded the deed for the property 
bought of Mrs. Jones, and to place said deed, after record, on file. 

A communication was received from Walter S. Cox, esq., giving his 
opinion on the subject referred to him; the substance of which was that 
neither the Board, nor any officer of the District Government, was author- 
ized to make such mortgage. 

The Secretary reported that he had borrowed $5,000 of the Farmers and 
Mechanics' National Bank for sixty days, at the rate of eight per cent, per 
annum. 

Superintendent Wilson was requested to prepare bills to be presented to 
the Legislative Assembly, providing for the building of a new school house, 
and for the extension of Potomac street to Third street. 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN- 23 

February 4. — The Secretary was directed to renew for sixty days the 
note for $5,000 at the Farmers and Mechanics 1 National Bank. Architect 
Cluss presented the plan and specifications of the new school lionse, which 
were adopted, and the Secretary was directed to advertise*for proposals for 
constructing the edifice. 

February 18.— Eleven bids were offered, of which that of S. S. Hunt 
was the lowest, and the contract was accordingly awarded to him, on con- 
dition of his executing, within five days, a bond, with $25,000 penalty, for 
faithful performance thereof. 

February 24. — A bond as prescribed was presented by Mr. Hunt, which 
was held for further consideration. A form of contract was also presented, 
hut it was also held for future consideration. 

February 27. — Present, with the Board, Governor Cooke. Superintend- 
ent Wilson. Architect ('hiss, and Messrs. Dent, Riley, Gordon, and Laird, 
Trustees of the Liuthicum Institute. 

Ordered^ That the President and Secretary be authorized to enter into 
contract with S. S. Hunt, for the erection of the new school house, for the 
sum of $09,115, on condition that said limit give an additional bondsman 
in the sum of $5,000; and on the further condition that the contract be 
made subject to the action and approval of the Legislature. 

March 6. — The bonds of Mr. S. S. Hunt and the contract with him were 
submitted to the Board and approved. 

APRIL 1. — Present, with Che Board, Superintendent Wilson, Mi - . Riley, 
of the Council, and Mr. Berry, of the House of Delegates. 

Superintendent Wilson presented bills prepared by him, to be introduced 
at the next session of the Legislature, touching the Public School interest, 
which were taken up section by section, amended, and approved. 

The Secretary was instructed to submit the following estimate of ex- 
penses for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1S74: For salaries, $10,000: con- 
tingent expenses, $6,000; permanent improvements, $10,000; total, $36,000. 

SEPTEMBER 8. — Ordered, That the Governor be requested to issue secu- 
rities of the District of Columbia to the amount of $25,000, as authorized 
by the recent act of the Legislature, to aid in the construction of a new 
school house. 

SEPTEMBER 11. — Ordered, That a new Primary School, to be called 
Primary No. 6, be established in the Montgomery Street building; and 
thereupon the Board elected the required additional assistant teacher. 

1874. 

MARCH 3. — Superintendent Wilson stated that Mr. W. W. Corcoran 
offered, through him, to advance two months 1 pay to the teachers and jan- 
itors without interest. Whereupon, it was 

Ordered, That the offer be accepted, that the Treasurer be authorized 
to receive the same, and that the thanks of the Board he tendered to Mr. 
Corcoran. 

May 5. — The Secretary was instructed to report the following estimates 
for the fiscal year ending dune 30,1875, viz: Salaries, $13,000; contingent 
expenses, $5,000; total, 918,000. 



24 HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



REVIEW. 

Georgetown is a hundred and twenty-five years old in this Centennial 
Year, 1876. 

The Legislature of Maryland, by act of May 15, 1751, authorized Henry 
Wright Crabb, John Needham, John Clagett, James Perry, and David 
Lynn, Commissioners, to lay out and erect a town on the Potomac river, 
above the mouth of Rock Creek, in Frederick county, Maryland, and em- 
powered them to purchase sixty acres, part of the tracts of land belonging 
to George Gordon and George Beall, at the place aforesaid, where it shall 
appear to them to be most convenient, and to survey the same into eighty 
lots, to be erected into a town, and to be called George Town. 

The Commissioners met September 18, 1751, and chose Alexander Beall 
to be Clerk and Surveyor, and Josiah Beall, Coroner. 

Mr. Gordon and Mr. Beall refusing to sell to the Commissioners the tract 
selected by them as '■' most convenient," it was appraised, and two hundred 
and eighty pounds, currency, were awarded to the said Gordon and Beall 
as damages, by the following jury, viz : William Pritchett, Ninian Magru- 
der, Nicholas Baker, James Beall, Nathaniel Magruder, Charles Clagett, 
Thomas Clagett, James Holman, Charles Jones, Zachariah Magruder, 
James Wallace, Basil Beall, William Williams, Alexander Magruder, Wil- 
liam Wallace, and John Magruder, son of Alexander. 

The survey and plat were completed February 27, 1752, and the Com- 
missioners named the lots, streets, and lanes; and the eighty lots were 
assessed at two hundred and eighty pounds, currency. 

To Mr. Gordon and to Mr. Beall wWe allowed the privilege of first 
selecting two lots each. Mr. Gordon chose lots 48 and 52, but Mr. Beall, 
having refused to recognize in any way the proceedings of the Commis- 
sioners, was notified that "if he did not make his choice within ten ckiys 
from the 28th of February, he could only blame himself for the conse- 
quences." Whereupon, after a week's reflection, Mr. Beall sent the fol- 
lowing answer : 

"If I must part with my property by force, I had better save a little 
than be totally demolished. Rather than have none, I accept these lots — 
Nos. 72 and 79 — said to be Mr. Henderson's and Mr. Edmondston's. But 
I do hereby protest and declare that my acceptance of the said lots, which 
is by force, shall not debar me from future redress from the Commissioners 
or others, if I can have the rights of a British subject. God save King 
George ! 

" March 7, 1752. Geobge Beall." 

The facts thus set forth utterly dissipate the traditionary rumor that this 
ancient town was named in honor of George Washington. The young 
■surveyor was then not twenty years old, and a momentous futurity was 
:to elapse before the adjacent capital of a great republic should perpetuate 
the love and veneration of his fellow-citizens. The name could hardly 
have been intended to propitiate the good will of the two Georges who 
.opposed the -"laying out and erection" of the new town; but it is more 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 25 

probable that were the debates in the Maryland Legislature, on the passage 
of the bill, on record, we should have to concede that the town was so 
named to commemorate the "' most gracious George " to whom we all were, 
at that time, loyal. 

It is asserted, also, by many that the town was a Roman Catholic settle- 
ment, and that the old Georgetown College was the nucleus of organiza- 
tion ; but an ancient record in the municipal archives seems to disprove 
this hypothesis. This record sets forth that, at a meeting of the Com- 
missioners, February 24, 1772, Thomas Brauan, having been appointed 
inspector of flour, the several oaths of Government and the oath of office 
were administered to him. and lie repeated and signed the test following : 

"I, Thomas Brauan, do declare that I do believe that there is not any 
transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper or in the ele- 
ments of Bread and Wine, at or after the Consecration thereof, by any 
person whatsoever." 

It is not our purpose to suggest an}- controversy on these points; but 
having, in the course of our research, discovered these ancient relics, we 
thought that an exhibition of them would not be inappropriate to this 
Centennial Report. 

Lancasterian School of Georgetown. 

Georgetown had been settled sixty years before the public attention was 
turned to the necessity of education, and it is especially worthy of notice 
that the movement originated amongst the people. 

About a hundred citizens, neither so rich nor so poor as to be indifferent 
to the general welfare, formed themselves into a society for the purpose of 
imparting to the citizens of Georgetown *' the advantages of education 
according to the system devised by Joseph Lancaster;" and for defraying 
the expenses thereof the}- agreed to contribute annually about one thousand 
dollars. They no doubt considered that amount amply sufficient to sustain 
a school, after complete organization; but they soon discovered that to 
begin such an undertaking, to purchase a lot, to build a house, and to 
supply the necessary furniture, would require additional resources. 

To obtain such additional resources the Lancaster Society, through their 
Trustees, memorialized the Corporation. Some response must have been 
given to that memorial, but we have searched the municipal journal in vain 
to find it. The memorialists represented a large number of respectable and 
influential constituents of the corporate authorities, and it is not at all prob- 
able that their request was treated with indifference. Legislation, however, 
seems, by general consent, to have been suspended, and meanwhile "a 
square of ground was conveyed by the Rev. Leonard !N"eale to certain per- 
sons (the Lancaster Society) for the pin-pose of carrying on a public system 
of education." The Lancaster Society, under these circumstances, and 
willing to put olF as long as possible recourse to the public treasury, may 
perhaps have withdrawn their memorial and confined their efforts to the 
erection of a school house. 

These efforts were successful, and in June, 1811, the Mayor, Recorder, 



26 HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

Aldermen, and Common Councilmen officially attended the procession of 
the Lancaster Society for the purpose of laying the corner-stone of the 
school house. In five months the building was completed, and a school 
was begun November 18, 1811, under Mr. Robert Oulcl, and contained be- 
fore the lapse of many weeks three hundred and forty boj^s and girls under 
tuition. But the Trustees disapproved of this indiscriminate crowding of 
both sexes in one room, and to correct that irregularity, as well as to 
accommodate the throng daily seeking admission, they renewed their appli- 
cation to the ''Worshipful Corporation." The Trustees congratulated the 
authorities on the success of "a plan of education so plain, so unembar- 
rassed, and so ready of execution," which had been proved by the profi- 
ciency of the scholars, and in the increasing reputation of the school ; 
expressed their serious objections to an intercourse of the sexes in an 
assemblage so large and so promiscuous ; and, as the school house could not 
accommodate all the applicants for tuition, they asked the aid of the legal 
guardians and representatives of the town towards carrying into effect a 
plan already "digested," which would enlarge the accommodations for the 
boys and extend the facilities of instruction to the girls. 

Either from pride or from diffidence, the Trustees did not announce this 
digested plan, but endeavored to propitiate the good will of the city fathers 
by presenting, as a subject of general regret and sorrowful reflection, that 
females, the distinguished ornaments of creation, should experience that 
neglect of education, unhappily too prevalent towards them throughout the 
world. Following this eloquent appeal a petition was read, signed by 
ninety-five subscribers to the "Lancaster School Fund," all constituents, 
respectable, influential, and legal voters. This petition frankly represented 
that "an addition to the Lancaster School, for the accommodation of the 
female scholars, would be a public good, and prayed for an appropriation 
of money sufficient to build such an addition as would accommodate two 
hundred female scholars." 

Neither of these papers bears any date, but the ordinance of May 12, 
1812, is so perfectly responsive to both, that we need not hesitate to assign 
to them a date prior to the date thereof. 

That ordinance appropriated the sum of one thousand dollars, to be given 
to the Trustees of the Lancaster School, for the express purpose of enabling 
them to erect an addition to their present school-house to accommodate 
the females of said school, and prescribed the materials and dimensions of 
the additional building, which was to be so constructed as to accommo- 
date two hundred and fifty scholars, at the least. A proviso attached to 
the ordinance betrayed the fear of censorious animadversion. The one 
thousand dollars was to be paid in annual installments of two hundred 
dollars, so that public indignation might be soothed by the long credit, for 
the last installment would not be payable until May, 1816. 

But the result of this legislation relieved the Corporation from all fears of 
censure, and the Lancaster School had, meanwhile, diffused its meliorative 
influences so widely, that the Councils felt authorized to manifest their 
good will in a more decided manner. Some months before the last install- 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 27 

merit of two hundred dollars was due, an ordinance, of October 6, 1815, 
provided that, instead of the trifling- annuity theretofore allowed to the 
Lancaster School, there should thereafter be paid, yearly and every year, 
to the Trustees thereof, the sum of one thousand dollars, for the purpose 
of assisting the said Trustees in defraying the expenses of the school. The 
conditions annexed to the grant were that the Trustees should receive all 
destitute children and cause them to be educated; that all children, on 
completing their education, should be bound out according to the laws in 
force in the county; that an annual report of the condition of the school 
be made by the Trustees, and that the schools should be subject to occa- 
sional visits of four persons out of the Councils, for the purpose of inspecting 
the operation thereof and to see that order and morality were maintained, 
as well in as out of the school. 

For nine years the schools were carried on in harmony and to the satis- 
faction of the community and of the corporate authorities. The annual 
reports must have been regularly made by the Trustees, but, although the 
utmost freedom of search amongst the archives of Georgetown was allowed 
to me by their custodian, Mr. Surveyor Forsyth, with the assistance of 
Mr. J. J. Bogue, an intelligent and polite coadjutor, not one of them could 
be found. The Lancaster Society seems to have left everything relating 
to the schools to the discretion of the Trustees, and those gentlemen did 
not, it seems, suppose that the monotonous routine of school-keeping 
could ever become a subject of inquiry. We are, therefore, left to infer or 
to conjecture the proceedings of the School Trustees from the records of 
municipal legislation. 

During this period the Corporation was admonished of the danger of 
transgressing the line of secular policy in relation to schools. Application 
for aid in maintaining a free school was made by a religious society. An 
appropriation of two hundred dollars was granted, and the lot on which 
the school house stood was exempted from taxes. But these favors were 
soon afterwards withheld. The feelings of the American people are deeply 
and sincerely religious, but their theological opinions are not concordant. 
Conscience and worship are both equally free, and the increase and pros- 
perity of each church are dependent, exclusively, on private liberality and 
enterprize. 

For thirty-two years the Lancasterian School had been sustained by 
private contribution and municipal aid. The list o£ subscribers to the 
Lancaster School Fund exhibited the names of few survivors, and those 
few could not, fairly, be expected to make good the deficiencies in the 
fund with their individual offerings. They had nobly volunteered to do a 
good work, and had done it well. They had broken up the fallow ground, 
ploughed the field and sowed the seed, and the successive harvests had 
supplied an entire generation with intellectual and moral nourishment. 
Their fellow-citizens appreciated their beneficent labors, and, prompted 
by public opinion, the Municipality passed the ordinance of December 31, 
1842. 

This ordinance declared that the schools then in operation, and sup- 



28 HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

ported by appropriations of the public money, be taken under the exclusive 
care of the corporate authority, and that Guardians thereof be annually 
appointed, in joint meeting- of the two Boards, on the first Monday in 
January ; 

That the Guardians of the Georgetown School should consist of seven 
members, two, at least, of whom shall be members of the Corporation, 
and were thereby invested with full powers to keep and manage said 
schools in such manner as they should deem best ; 

And that, so soon as the organization of the Board of Guardians shall 
have been reported to the Mayor, the Clerk of the Corporation was author- 
ized and directed to transfer and pay the amounts appropriated for educa- 
tion to said Guardians. 

Georgetown School. 

Who constituted the first Board of the Georgetown schools is not shown 
by the legislative record. The regular annual appropriation of one thou- 
sand dollars allowed b} r the ordinance of October 0, 1815, seems to have 
been enough to defray expenses; for, up to November, 1847, only two 
appropriations, amounting to three hundred and fifty dollars, were required. 
The Guardians kept no journal of their meetings, neither was there found 
on file any copy of their periodical reports or other document. 

In 1848, however, that omission was supplied ; and until the consolida- 
tion of 1874, there is a continuous narrative of twenty-six years. The 
Board of Guardians for 1848 met on the 5th of January, and were duly 
organized. The removal of the schools to other rooms was the only re- 
markable event in their administration until September, when they were 
served with a copy of a joint resolution directing the Guardians to charge 
and receive pay for all scholars whose parents or guardians are, in the 
opinion of a majority of the Board, able to pay not exceeding one dollar a 
month for the general use of the school. Whereupon the Board ordered 
that the Principals of the school furnish lists of their respective scholars 
from which the Board may ascertain whose parents may be able to pay for 
the tuition of their children. These directions were not agreeable to the 
Board, for no further mention of nor allusion to the subject appears on 
the minutes. Inquisitorial duties were imposed on them which no Ameri- 
can gentleman could possibly perform ; and the Councils, by their silence, 
seemed to attribute the adoption of the joint resolution to inadvertence. 

From 1848 to 1853 w r as an era of good feeling for the teachers, for their 
salaries w r ere twice raised ; but the unfair discrimination shown against 
the "•ornaments of creation ■' in the gradation of salaries recalls the ''sor- 
rowful reflection" suggested by Mr. Kobert Beverley. The Principal 
Teacher of the male school was allowed five hundred and fifty dollars, 
while the Principal Teacher of the female school was allowed only one 
half that amount, two hundred and twenty-five dollars, which was, more- 
over, fifty dollars less than the salary of the Assistant Teacher of the male 
school ! 

The Corporation, having been informed, in 1849, by the Board that the 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 29 

interests of the schools required more ample accommodations than those 
afforded bj r the Hall of the Vigilant Fire Company, passed the ordinance 
of August 11th, 1849, appropriating twelve hundred dollars for the purchase 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church on Montgomery street, and an additional 
amount, not exceeding eight hundred dollars, for adapting the same to the 
comfortable accommodation of the schools. The purchase and alterations 
must have been promptly made ; the day, however, when it was first occu- 
pied by the schools is not mentioned, but the minutes, of November 9, 1850, 
are dated "at the New School House." In the ordinance purchasing this 
building, there was a provision that the Trustees were to pay interest, annu- 
ally, on the two thousand dollars, to the Corporation ; but this condition 
does not appear to have been insisted on, and was formally repealed in 
1852. 

In 1S51 the Councils appropriated, at the request of the Board, seventy- 
live dollars for the purchase of premiums at the Annual Exhibition, but in 
1852 they did not feel able to afford such an expenditure ; and, but for the 
generosity of Mr. W. TV. Corcoran, whose father, forty-three years be- 
fore, made the first appeal to the corporate authorities on behalf of the 
Public Schools, the children would have been sorely disappointed. Mr. 
Corcoran sent one hundred dollars to the Board for the purchase of pre- 
miums, and annually repeated his donation as long as it was needed. 

In September, 1853, the Board ordered that Mr. Craig, the Principal 
Teacher of the male school, be allowed five dollars to purchase instru- 
ments for pulling teeth. The extraction of teeth was not a punishment, 
but the toothache was such a common excuse for neglect of lessons and 
for non-attendance at school that Mr. Craig came to the conclusion that 
the removal of the offending member was the best way of maintaining dis- 
cipline. "And it was astonishing," said the trustee who explained this 
entry, "it was astonishing to see the business he did! Odontalgia be- 
came so contagious or fashionable that Mr. Craig soon filled a quart-cup, 
more or less, with trophies of his dentistry." 

The Councils having been asked for one thousand dollars responded by ap- 
propriating two thousand five hundred for school expenses in 1855, and the 
Board, having received it, set apart thereof enough to pay incidental ex- 
penses, and divided the rest^ro rata amongst the Teachers. In May, 185G, 
there was some correspondence between the Board and the Corporation ; 
in the course of which it appeared that the Board of Trustees had never 
kept any account book, and were, therefore, unable to submit to the Coun- 
cils a statement of receipts and expenditures. They had depended, entirely, 
on the books kept by the clerk of the Corporation, but "they expected to 
present, if necessaiy," at the end of the year, a full and accurate exhibit of 
the condition of the School Fund. In regard to the personnel of the school, 
they reported one hundred and fifty males enrolled with an average attend- 
ance of one hundred and twelve, and eighty females enrolled, with an 
average attendance of sixty. The Report at the end of the year stated the 
number of males enrolled atone hundred and fifty-eight with an average 
at tendance of one hundred and nineteen, and that during the year, fifty 



30 HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

had been admitted, and fifty-two withdrawn. Of the females seventy-one 
were enrolled, with an average attendance of fifty-six; and that, during 
the year, sixty-one had been admitted and fifty-three withdrawn. 

This irregular attendance was to be, no doubt, attributed in part to the 
crowded benches. The two school rooms had eacli been partitioned into 
two, and although the change at first conduced to order and good discipline, 
the wish of the Board to admit as many as possibly could be seated, neu- 
tralized these advantages. These inconveniences became so embarrassing 
that in March 1857 the Board communicated to the Councils their desire to 
establish an additional school at an estimated expense of nine hundred and 
thirty-five dollars. But the proximate Municipal election and the hope of 
aid from Congress induced the 'Corporation to postpone legislation on the 
subject. Meanwhile, the Board sought to obtain from the voters at the 
polls voluntary donations in behalf of the public schools. The .attempt 
failed : but the Board soon presented an argument that convinced every- 
body of the necessity of enlarging the scope of their administration. 

At the meeting in January 1858, it was determined to canvass the city so 
as to ascertain what proportion of the children, between five and eighteen 
years of age, attended school. In April the canvasser reported the whole 
number of such children at two thousand two hundred and seventy-eight, 
six hundred and seventy-nine of whom were in private schools, and four 
hundred and sixty-one were in public, free, and parish schools; total one 
thousand one hundred and forty : leaving one thousand one hundred and 
thirty-eight, almost exactly half, of the juvenile population entirely without 
means of learning. The publication of this census dispersed all objections. 
Iu one week afterwards, the Board were informed that the remainder of 
the School Fund was made subject to their order, for the purpose of build- 
ing a new school house, and a committee was at once instructed to select a 
site. This was not done, however, until June 1859, when the purchase of 
the lot on the corner of High and Market streets was consummated. The 
plan of the new building was agreed on in April 1860, and the contract was 
awarded in the following May, but it was not occupied before September 
3863; for this was a time of great political distress and perplexity. The 
building cost about three thousand dollars; and the expenditure for lot, 
furniture, salaries and other indispensable outlay, must have made up a 
total not less than five thousand dollars. 

The year 1864 lifted up on high the "ornaments of creation ;." for every 
teacher elected was a "female." Even the Senior and Junior males classes 
were put under their control : but the Board seemed still to be influenced 
by the traditionary undervaluation of woman's services, and reduced the 
salary of the Teacher of the Senior male school to seven hundred and fifty 
dollars : — fifty dollars less than allowed to the Male Teacher ever since 1856. 
The scale adopted was, however, an evidence of progress, generally, and 
was fixed at a more equitable standard, than theretofore. 

Music was very cautiousty introduced into the schools. On the 7th of 
October, 1857, it was ordered by the Board that "the children or such of 
them as would agree, may be taught music, at their own expense." In 



OF THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 31 

the following December, Mr. Magee stated that "a large number of the 
scholars bad placed themselves under Mr. Hunter, who was-teaching them 
music scientifically, and that their progress was a source of congratulation." 
In August 1860, "permission was given for the introduction of singing into 
the schools, provided such arrangements be made without expense to the 
Board." In April, 1863, Mr. Magee was instructed "to converse with Mr. 
Daniel* Music Teacher, on the subject of giving instruction to the Town 
schools." In 1864, a music Master was included in the Academic Staff at 
a salary of one hundred and fifty dollars. 

From 1865 to 1870, the administration of the Board received many tokens 
of public approbation. The ladies held a fair for the benefit of the schools, 
in April 1S66, and Mr. Magee handed to the Guardians the net proceeds 
thereof — $400 — with a recommendation that it be devoted to the establish-' 
ment of a Library for the schools. The Board approved the recommenda- 
tion, but when they took under consideration the room to be provided for 
the books, the Librarian to be appointed and paid to distribute and to take 
care of them, and the binder's bill for occasional repairs, the project was 
given up, and with the consent of the ladies, the .Jnoney was spent for a 
Piano for use in the higher schools. Major George Hill jr. also presented 
to the six schools as many beautiful silk flags, and Captain Thomas Brown 
gave nine neatly bound volumes suitable for premiums. All these donors 
were tendered the thanks of the Board. 

New schools were the chief topic at the meetings of the Guardians, and 
the aid of the Corporation was again invoked, and a lot on Prospect street, 
about to be sold, at that time, was withdrawn from market and transferred 
to the Board. Meanwhile, room was made for thirty scholars more in each 
of the schools in the High street building, and the necessary assistant 
teachers were added to the preceptoral force. In 1868, the Corporation 
appropriated fourteen hundred dollars for the schools and ordered that 
City Stock be issued to the amount of twenty thousand dollars, the pro- 
ceeds of which were to be placed to the credit of the School Fund. Pro- 
posals for a building were at once invited and of seven, the lowest was for 
$9,737.00, and a contract was accordingly executed. 

In 1868, 1869 and 1870, Congress was memorialized for help, but neither 
money nor land was available for the District Schools, although millions of 
acres were allotted for maintaining schools in the States and Territories of 
the Union. In 1869, the teachers' salaries were advanced twenty-live per 
cent., and the schools were graded as Grammar, Intermediate, Secondary, 
and Primary. About forty children having been reported as awaiting 
admission on granted permits, two half schools, of thirty scholars each, 
were organized in the High street building, and the requisite assistant 
teachers elected. 

During this period a law had been passed, levying a tax of twenty-five 
cents on each one hundred dollars of assessed property, for the Public 
Schools, which yielded about twelve thousand dollars, a year. Out of the 
proceeds the Corporation was to be reimbursed for the stock issued in 1868. 

In 1871, the Board began their administration full of energy and hope. 



32 HISTORY OP THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

Four hundred dollars were appropriated for medals and premiums at the 
June Examination. But their proceeding's were interrupted by Congress 
which, by an Act passed February 21, 1871, put the District under 

A Territorial Form of Government. 

On the 16th of the ensuing June, the following gentlemen were ap- 
pointed, by Henry D. Cooke, Governor of the District, a Board of Trustees 
of the Public Schools of Georgetown, viz — Anthony Hyde, G. W. Beall, C. 
D. Welch, W. L. Dunlop, W. W. Curtis, C. S. Ramsburg and F. W. Mof- 
fat. The first regular meeting of the Board was held October 3, and 
organized by the election of Anthony Hyde, President, and W. W. Curtis, 
Secretary. 

At the meeting January 5, 1872, the salaries were thus graded : Teachers 
of the Male and Female Grammar schools each, $1,000 ; Teachers of Inter- 
mediates, $S00 ; of Secondaries, $700 ; of Primaries, $650 ; Music teacher 
$200. Thus were the '•ornaments of creation," at last, ranked according 
to the uses the}' performed; for which just act the names of these gentle- 
men ought ever to be held in grateful remembrance. 

Under the new form of government, all public expenditures had to be 
estimated and submitted to the Legislature through the Comptroller. In 
response to a communication from that officer calling attention to this law, 
the Board reported, as necessary for the current expenses of the year,- the 
sum of fifteen thousand dollars. -• 

But a project was under consideration in the Board which involved the 
expenditure of a much larger amount, and which, if successfully consum- 
mated, would secure the permanent prosperity of the Public Schools of 
Georgetown. Some desirable lots were for sale, suitable for a commodious 
and elegant school building worthy of the city and of the cause; but the 
ground and the house would cost not less than $75,000. The ways and 
means of raising this amount were the subject of frequent consultations. 
To these consultations Governor Cooke and Superintendent Wilson were 
invited, and contributed essentially to a favorable conclusion. The District 
Government could not give any aid ; as the expenditures by the Board of 
Public Works had emptied the public treasury : and so utterly were the 
Territorial finances deranged, that the salaries of the teachers in the Public 
Schools of Washington, Georgetown and the County had not, for some 
months, been paid. In this strait, Mr. W. W. Corcoran volunteered the 
loan of a sum sufficient to pay the salaries for two months. The offer was 
gratefully accepted, and Mr. Corcoran advanced $25,590, without interest. 

The consultations, meanwhile, were continued, and resulted, finally, in a 
proposed coalescence of interest between the "Peabody Library Fund," 
the "Linthicum Institute," and the Public Schools of Georgetown. George 
Peabody had donated $15,000 to certain Trustees, for founding a public 
Library in Georgetown, and Edward Linthicum had bequeathed $50,000, 
for establishing schools for free instruction to the children of that city. 
The negotiations preliminary to this union were not encouraging, but an 
arrangement satisfactory to all parties was finall} 1 - agreed to, and the monu- 



OP THE CITY OF GEORGETOWN. 33 

ment of that satisfactory arrangement is the Curtis School House. In that 
spacious and elegant building, named in honor of Mr. W. W. Curtis, Pres- 
ident of the existing Board, are ample accommodations for the Peabody 
Library, which now consists of about fifteen hundred volumes, with space 
for five thousand more. There are, also, for the use of the Linthicnm In- 
stitute, rooms for scholastic exercises and for public teachers. The rest of 
the edifice is occupied by eight Public Schools. Mr. Adolph Cluss was the 
architect. 

In 1S73 a new Primary School, the sixth, was established, and the Board 
estimated the expenditures for the year ending- June 80, 1875, at 818.000 • 
but their proceeding were again interrupted by a remodification of the 
local government. By act of June 20, 1S74, the Territory was transmuted 
into 

A Province. 

and the administration thereof was vested in a Triumvirate Commission 
The Commissioners consolidated the School Boards of Washington, Georo-e- 
town. and of the County into one Board of nineteen Trustees, eleveiTof 
whom were to be residents of Washington, three of Georgetown, and five 
of the County. This Board has jurisdiction over all the Public Schools of 
the District, without discrimination of color. Every change of official man- 
agement, howsoever advantageous, is disagreeable to persons accustomed 
to the old routine, and this change was, no doubt, inconvenient to some 
But experience has reconciled all. Instead of many different oro-aniza- 
tions for a similar purpose, the entire District contributes all its resources 
and concentrates all its energies to a single end ; and all harmoniously 
cooperate in measures productive of more general good. 

The following statement exhibits the condition o°f the schools in George- 
town : & 

Number of scholars -. 4 o 

Number of Teachers : male, 1 ; female, 21 ' ti 

Salaries of Teachers $17,200.00 

expenditures, including payment of previous debts qq ir>7 i k 

Receipts nn nn ~ .„ 

Value of school property 137,350.00 

Average cost, each scholar .,., 8Q 

CONCLUSION. 

The history of the schools in Georgetown embraces sixty-six years 
during which period we have seen, despite all vicissitudes, annual improve- 
ment. The Trustees never neglected their duties. Out of nearly four 
hundred meetings, there were not twenty non-quorums. No one seemed 
to consider his appointment as a sinecure, but discharged his high duties 
with fidelity and industry. The places of many of these faithful servants 
have been vacated, by death or other casualty, but as examples of official 
punctuality and energy we recall the names of Brown, Shoemaker, .Jewell 
5 



34 HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF GEORGETOWN. 

Teriney, Bangs, Osborn, Magee, Addison, Hyde, Ould, Adler, Marbury, 
Beall, King, Magruder, Dunlop, Ramsburg, Curtis and Moffat. 

The Guardians never "despised the day of small things." They were 
just as solicitous for the welfare of the humble Lancasterian School as they 
could have been for that of a renowned University. They took a heart interest 
in the scholars, and, in their treatment of them, seemed to bear in mind that 
they were soon to become their fellow-citizens. Allusions to their gratuit- 
ous tuition were never obtrusively made, and no where, on their minutes 
or on any document, can be found the word " pauper." " Charity scholars" 
was used in an ordinance of 1812, but the epithet was never repeated. It was 
ordained, indeed, by the Corporation, that the scholars, after completing their 
education, were to be " bound out," according to the laws of the county ; and 
that parents able to pay for their children's tuition should be required to 
do so; but neither provision was ever insisted on. Indeed, the "free" 
schools of Georgetown were, from the beginning, animated with a patriotic 
and independent spirit. 

The Corporation of Georgetown was always friendly to the schools, and 
assured their success by its enlightened policy. It was indeed, cautious at 
times, as it behoved delegated authority to be, but the solicited aid was 
never refused. 

Georgetown has, now, seventeen Public Schools containing about fifteen 
hundred scholars, but a large proportion of her juvenile population is unpro- 
vided with schools, and it is impossible for that city to supply them. The 
necessity of education and the inadequacy of her resources to impart it have 
been repeatedly made known to Congress : but no relief has been granted. 
Lands worth more than a hundred millions of dollars have been given to 
the States, for Universities and schools ; and even to the Territories more 
than thirty million acres have been granted, for like uses, but not a section 
nor a rood to the District of Columbia ! 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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