More information on this image is available at the Easton Historical Society in North Easton, MA.
www.flickr.com/photos/historicalimagesofeastonma/albums
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The original Oliver Ames High Band in 1901. The older men in the the rear of the image were members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra brought to Easton by Mrs. Anna C. Ames of 35 Oliver Street in North Easton, Massachusetts to instruct and assist the group.
image source: Looking Back At Easton Massachusetts, 1989
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The development by Oliver Ames and Sons Corporation of the factory and village land use in a rather organic manner with a mix work-related classes created an integrated geographic network. The housing on perimeter edge with factories and business affairs in the center creating the village concept in North Easton. Other important concepts were the Furnace Village Cemetery, Furnace Village Grammar School and the Furnace Village Store, which explains Furnace Village and other sections of Easton.
source: Massachusetts Historical Commission
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Oliver Ames High School Band – Anna C. Ames Band
The Ames Gymnasium, with band room included, was built through the kind generosity of the former Governor’s widow, Mrs. Anna C. Ames. The gymnasium was erected on land donated by 0. Ames & Sons Corporation near the North Easton Schools and was very fine in all of its appointments, an ornament to the Town, and in every way worthy of its generous giver. The Ames Gymnasium burnt down in 1936. In this building the band room was in the present kitchen and meeting room in the new building – the Frothingham Memorial, which was immediately built to take the place of the former structure. The musical attainments of those who formed the Oliver Ames High School Band was a source of pride. Mr. Harold E. Brenton, its director, deserves special mention. Probably no better amateur band could be mentioned for the masterful way in which it was led, instructed and disciplined by Mr. Brenton and his able assistants Mr. Leroy S. Kenfield, who taught the trombone; Mr. Henry E. Bettoney, the clarinet instructor; and Mr. Frank A. Dodge, the drum instructor. Mr. Brenton and Mr. Kenfield were from the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Mr. Bettoney was a well-known music publisher in Boston; and Mr. Dodge was a member of the Boston Opera Corporation. In 1902, Mr. Brenton made a report concerning the progress of the band students under his, and his assistants’, leadership: They have been playing a more difficult grade of music, from simple marches of two years ago, the programs now include selections from the operas and standard overtures. The students are equipped with every instrument used in a modern military band. The aim of the instructors was to have the boys produce quality and not quantity of tones. The result in the ensemble playing was shown in perfect timing and beautiful tone color the boys producing a light but clear singing tone. The instruments were purchased by Mrs. Anna C. Ames, who also secured these fine and competent men as instructors. The first full rehearsal was held in what was always known as the Fairchild Room at the high school. The four instructors made weekly visits to the school for the purpose of giving lessons and holding rehearsals, and upon completion of the Ames Gymnasium in 1903 the lessons and rehearsals were transferred to the new building. The list of members were boys and men played in both the O.A.H.S. band, and the Anna C. Ames Band, and their many engagements and accomplishments would be much too long to mention here, but they were many. At Mrs. Ames’ funeral in 1917, all members of the band with their leader and instructors acted as an honor guard. After Mrs. Ames’ death all instruments and the music library of the band were turned over to a band committee comprised of Thomas J. Canan, Chairman, Arthur F. Anderson, W. Albert Coggan, and Fred D. King. From that time until June 1919, the band was rather disorganized holding only occasional rehearsals under the direction of one of its members, in most instances, Mr. Arthur Anderson. In May 1919, the committee approached Mr. Oakes Ames endeavoring to interest him in the continued support of the band, if enough surviving members of the band could be found who were sufficiently interested to continue its band concerts. Mr. Ames readily agreed to this plan. The task of finding a new director and teacher now became urgent. On July 5, 1919, a contract was signed by Mr. Walter Smith as director and cornet soloist. The original enthusiasm of the group was soon rekindled under the able leadership of Mr. Smith. From 1919 to 1932, the band flourished as a fully organized unit greatly in demand. As all good things must come to an end, so, due to diminishing membership, did the band. The last concert was presented in 1932. Mr. Smith was a world-renowned cornet soloist, and the people of this town were fortunate to have been able to enjoy his talent for so many years.
Source: History of Easton, Massachusetts, Vol. II, M. McEntee, Easton Historical Society, ET AL, 1886-1974
We are in the midst of graduation time. Stonehill College graduated last weekend, and OA graduates on June 4th at Frothingham Park (as long as the weather permits!). I thought a look back at some of the older Eastoners might be interesting. I was reading through the April 1928 edition (there were several editions of the Eastoner then, which featured a number of literary articles). I want to share with you a few notes from the OAHS Alumni report that was featured. Do you wonder whatever happened to so and so after graduation? I do. Here is the alumni report from 1928, which is small but interesting to see where some of our graduates went. Perhaps you will recognize a few of these grads! Class of 1924 – Catherine Hill, first editor of the "Eastoner", married Harold Plunkett. Walter Weir was a pitcher for the Boston Braves. Ida Hall was traveling with Winthrop Ames’ opera "Iolanthe". Grace McMullen was working in a Boston office. Elvira Manchester married William Briggs of Brockton. Class of 1925 – Muriel Kew was enrolled in the nurse training program at Newton Hospital. Ruth Conant was a junior at Bates College, Maine. David O’Connell was elected captain of the 1928-29 basketball team at Harvard. Class of 1926 – Jerry Kavka was working at the Ames Shovel and Tool Company. Dorothy Warren was attending Simmons College. Hope Cross was working in the office of the George E. Keith Company in Brockton. Arthur Jackman and Richard Parmenter were sophomores at Northeastern University, Boston. Ellen Christiansen was in the nurse training school at Brockton Hospital. Lenna DeLaura was attending the Bridgewater Normal School (teacher training). Esther Lawson was working for William N. Howard Insurance. Class of 1927 – Tillie Jacobson was a freshman at the Bridgewater Normal School. Marie Murphy was employed by Stone and Webster, Boston. Mary Regan was attending Boston University. Joseph Holmes was attending the Electric School at Lynn, MA. Rose Mitrano was attending the Leslie Kindergarten School. George Knapp, Mary Regan, and Joseph Holmes were all employed by the Knapp Ice Company in Unionville. I thought these were interesting for a few reasons. Walter Weir pitching for the Boston Braves? I want to check that one out. And Ida Hall touring with Winthrop Ames, the Gentleman Producer of Broadway, in one of his Gilbert and Sullivan revivals? And an OA alumni named to a position of honor on a Harvard sports team? Pretty good, don’t you think? And then there are a number who went on to higher education, including Rose Mitrano, who would become one of the first Kindergarten teachers in Easton. OA alumni continue to make their mark in the world, carrying on the excellent tradition of the OA graduates who came before them.
source: Easton Historical Society’s Blog, Frank Meninno, Easton Historical Society, May, 2017
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Easton High School
In November of 1867, Easton High School at Eight Lincoln Street was established by a vote of the Town, and the Easton School Committee was instructed to open the school on the first Monday of March in 1868. In 1886, in his book, History of Easton, William L. Chaffin noted that,
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– The Easton High-School was established by a vote of the town in November, 1867, and the Easton School Committee were then instructed to open such a school on the first Monday of March, 1868. In 1868 work was begun on the three-story schoolhouse that now crowns the hill in the center of the village, a visible structure for miles around. The Ames Company agreed to erect a large and elegant building, provided the district would purchase the land and build the cellar. The Company paying their proportion of the same. The offer was accepted by the district.
North Easton, August 21, 1869.
To the Selectmen of the town of Easton:
Gentlemen, — It being our desire that no portion of the cost of the new schoolhouse in District No. 7 should fall on any other part of the town, we hereby authorize you to remit the sum of seventy-three hundred and four dollars ($7,304) on the tax assessed on all people residing in Easton outside of School District No. 7, said amount of money being the surplus which would otherwise come to District No. 7 over and above the tax assessed on said district, on account of the appropriations made by the town for schoolhouse purposes.
Yours respectfully,
Oliver Ames & Sons.
(Later) This school has been of great service in the education of the children of Easton. That its advantages are appreciated is evident from the fact that in few towns is there so large a proportion of High School graduates as here. –
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The Easton High School was built by the Oliver Ames and Sons Corporation. At the time of its construction, Easton High School had twelve rooms with up to fourteen grades in its history. Only the front two rooms were originally considered high school. The rest of the building was for other grades. During that time, the Easton High School included a school training program, a kindergarten, grammar and primary classes. The Easton High School was opened in March, 1868, with Rev. George G. Withington as principal. Other principals were E. H. Peabody, C. M. Barrows, C. C. Sheldon, and M. C. Lamprey. The high school first principal, George G. Withington was Pastor of the First Congregational Parish in Easton Center while being principal of the Easton High School in 1868 and 1869. M. C. Lamprey was the father of Mary Lavinia Lamprey, the Librarian for 53 years at the Oliver Ames Free Library. The cost of the school for the year 1897 was almost $20,000. The number of schools in the town was ten besides the high school. Fewer than ten students graduated from the high school through the 1870s and mid-1880s. Two events in the latter decade spurred high school attendance. In 1884, the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed a law mandating local school districts to provide free textbooks to its students. Later, another law was passed by Legislature to instruct local districts to accept the provision of free transportation from other parts of Easton. By 1889, ninety students were enrolled at the Easton High School, and the building housed a total of five hundred students in fourteen grades by 1892. A large amount of funds was given to the Town of Easton not to maintain but to improve the school district. By the will of Oliver Ames, who died in 1877, it was endowed with the large bequest of fifty thousand dollars for the support of schools. In order that such a fund might not tempt the town to reduce its appropriations, the will provides that it shall be forfeited unless the town shall every year appropriate for the support of schools an amount per scholar equal to the average amount per scholar appropriated by all the towns of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The income of this fund is four thousand dollars per year, and it is used for general school purposes. There is another fund of fifty thousand dollars, left by Oakes Ames, for the benefit of the children of North Easton Village. This fund provides the High School is furnished with excellent apparatus, various chemical and mechanical instruments, including microscope with numerous specimens, a skeleton, and a manikin recently sent from Paris. On May 1, 1882, there were in Easton (population, 3901) 822 children between five and fifteen years of age. On the school registers for that year, the school districts enrolled the names of 903 different students. The amount appropriated for the support of schools for the same year was $8577.92. In conformity to the Will of Oliver Ames in 1877, this amount is the exact average per scholar of the appropriation for schools for all the towns in Massachusetts for the preceding year. In 1882, the average attendance of students was 629, and the percentage of attendance was 79%. There are nineteen schools in town, eleven of them, including the High School, being at North Easton, and two at the Furnace Village, all of which are graded schools, the remaining six being mixed schools. In 1871, Charles R. Ballard left Woodstock High School, in Woodstock, Vermont, to accept the position of principal at Easton High School. In 1877. Ballard resigned the principal-ship to provide instruction for private students. Although Ballard received a formal appointment as Ames Free Librarian on February 28, 1883, in 1886, in his book, History of Easton, William L. Chaffin writes – Ballard began work on March 15,1880. Since the Board did not consider any other candidates, it is conceivable that Ballard was hired on an informal basis on the earlier date. This would allow the librarian could purchase the 10,000 new books that were on the shelves on opening day, catalog them, and prepare for the library’s opening in many other ways. The first schedule of 36 hours a week being opened was the most liberal for those times. The library was open every day from 2 to 6 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m., being closed on Sundays and holidays – Maitland C. Lamprey, was principal of Easton High School when his daughter, Mary Lavinia Lamprey was in her third year at Boston University. The Board of Directors of the Oliver Ames Free Library offered her the librarianship on the recommendation of Frederick Lothrop Ames. In 1886, in his book, History of Easton, William L. Chaffin summarized the state of the school writing – there are now in Easton nineteen schools, including the High School, seven of these being mixed or district schools. Two, those at Furnace Village, are partially graded. The ten at North Easton village are thoroughly graded, and include four Primary, four Grammar, one High School, and also the Kindergarten school just alluded to. There are about eight hundred children in town between five and fifteen years of age. Nearly nine hundred and fifty different scholars are annually enrolled upon the school registers, and nearly nine thousand dollars is annually appropriated for support of schools, besides an appropriation for repairs. In attendance of scholars, Easton ranks considerably above the average of towns in the State. The liberal means applicable to educational purposes and for the benefit of the young in this place ought to make Easton, and particularly North Easton village, in some respects a children’s paradise. Its exceptionally low taxes, its excellent public library, beautiful residences and grounds, together with the school advantages already described, render it a desirable place for those who have children to educate. In 1886 the Town, in order that nothing might be wanting to raise the schools to the highest point of efficiency, wisely voted to employ a superintendent. The committee appointed William C. Bates, who is also superintendent for Canton, and our schools were never so well conducted as now. Mr. Bates is a graduate of Harvard College, and has had excellent success as a teacher in Hingham, Massachusetts, and as a school superintendent in Canton and Walpole. – In 1889, the Superintendent of Schools was William C. Bates and J. E. Shepardson was the teacher of Music. In 1889, Maitland C. Lamprey was the Principal of the Easton High School and Alice M. Merrill was the First Assistant and Jennie Barbour the Second Assistant. The building included: North Easton Grammar with Harriet Stevens with A & B; Louisa C. Young, C Grammar; Mary E. Patterson, D Grammar; Helen L. Drake, E Grammar; Josie F. Barton, E Grammar Assistant; Mary J. Reynolds, A-Primary; Francis Higginbottom, Assistant; Lizzie E. Morse, B Primary; Clara L. King, Assistant; Grace E. Ripley, C Primary; Nellie Fobes, Assistant; Julia A. Reardon, D Primary; and Jessie Porter, Assistant. In the Easton School Committee Report for 1896, Maitland C. Lamprey, principal, listed all members of the Easton High School graduating classes from 1873 -1896. The 1873 class was the first to graduate a four-year program from a regular high school curriculum. Graduates from that class were Florence E. Berry, Helen Carr, Abbie J. Phillips, Lizzie L. Reed, Jessie F. Russell, and Edith E. Williams. The total number of graduates from the Easton High School between 1873-1896 was 274 students.
source; Massachusetts Historical Commission
source: Easton Historical Society
source: Ancestry
source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches, J. W. Lewis & Company, 1883
source: History of Easton, William L. Chaffin, 1886
source: Biographical Record of Bristol County, MA, The Boston History Company, 1899
source: Easton’s Neighborhoods, Edmund C. Hands, 1995
source: Memories of Twentieth Century Easton, Easton Historical Society, 2000
source: Forging Ahead: The Ames Family of Easton, Massachusetts, Gregory J. Galer, 2002
source: Easton Historical Society, Reminiscences, The Pioneer of Today’s Easton School Bands, Marietta Canan, Volume Seven, 2012
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Oliver Ames High School
On December 12, 1896, the historically named Governor Oliver Ames High School at Eight Lincoln Street was dedicated replacing the Easton High School built in 1868. Governor Oliver Ames of 35 Oliver Street, a grandson of shovel company founder Oliver Ames (1779-1863) and son of Oakes Ames (1804-73), offered $60,000 for the construction of a new high school building. The Governor made the offer on the condition if the town would pay the cost of building its foundation and grading the property. In June of 1892, Easton voters appropriated $25,000 for the foundation and grading work. The old school building, made of wood, was moved back, fronting Barrows Street, and used as a grammar school. The Oliver Ames High School was a two-story brick masonry school building with a slate hipped roof. While Governor of Massachusetts (1887-90), Ames had hired Boston architect Carl Fehmer as consulting architect to the Commonwealth for the extension to the Massachusetts State House. Carl Fehmer was hired the architect for the designing of the original Oliver Ames High School. In 1891-92, the Hobart Ames House at 31 Main Street was built with the house and stables. The house was designed by Carl Fehmer of Page, Fehmer, and Page, of Boston. In the mid-1890s, Governor Oliver and Anna Coffin Ray Ames had the Spring Hill mansion built for William Hadwen and Mary Elizabeth Hodges, which was designed by Architect Carl Fehmer. Fehmer designed at least twenty townhouses in the newly created Back Bay section of Boston, including 355 Commonwealth Avenue for Oliver and Anna Ames in 1882. Fehmer served as architect for Massachusetts General Hospital for twenty-five years. He also designed many of the buildings at McLean Hospital in Belmont. Following the construction of the Oliver Ames High School building, the Town of Easton tried to return $10,000 of the donation. The former Governor indicated that the money should be used for something special in the school building that would make the students proud and become a memory of their days at OA. The funds used to create the marble rotunda spanning two floors at the entrance on Eight Lincoln Street. The Oliver Ames High School was a gift to the town by Oliver Ames and dedicated December 12, 1896, with impressive exercises. On October 22, 1895, Governor Oliver Ames passed away in Easton, with his burial in the Village Cemetery in Easton. Like the gift of the Mansion at – Wayside – with the passing of John S. Ames, Governor Oliver Ames passed away fourteen months before the Dedication of the school named for him, Governor Oliver Ames High School. Although Mrs. John S. Ames did not want any kind of recognition at the time of the gift to the Town in 1960, the Historical Commission felt it should have a more appropriate plaque. In December 1991, the plaque was dedicated where Mrs. Ames’ son, David Ames, was supposed to be the speaker. However, he died ten days before the 1991 dedication. As outlined in the Will of Governor Oliver Ames, courses of lectures, chiefly illustrated, are given in the large Ames’ Memorial Hall. These, though primarily for the benefit of the children, are open to the general public, and have been enjoyed by large audiences, and cannot, but be attended with excellent results. With the income of this fund magazines appropriate to the ages of different students are subscribed for nearly every family of children in North Easton; and in order that all the children in town may have the same privilege, Lieutenant-Governor Ames pays for the subscription of magazines for children in parts of the town outside this village. Over three hundred copies of the Saint Nicholas alone come into town, and a magazine of some kind goes into every family where there are children attending the public schools. The liberal funds provided enable the school committee to secure teachers of exceptional ability, to provide supplementary books and other means for conducting the schools in the best manner. Music and drawing have been taught by a special teacher, and in the North Easton schools sewing has been taught for several years, with most marked beneficial results. The excellent public library just opened with over ten thousand carefully selected books and furnishes an important auxiliary to the educational advantages of the place, and it will be the fault of the school committee if these are not in time of the highest order. According to historian Ed Hands, – Anna referred to the children in Easton as – my boys and girls – and was always looking out for them. She built a gym when there wasn’t one and thought if there was a boy’s sport, girls should also have a sport. When she was told girls could not tolerate sports as well as boys, Anna brought a doctor from Boston to give physicals to every single girl after they had played basketball to prove they were in perfect health even though they had just run around. She also provided music instruction for high school students who all played in the Anna C. Ames Band. If you were a man it might be a problem to be in the Anna C. Ames band because they played in the suffragettes’ parades. The Governor’s widow, Anna Coffin Ray Ames was very interested in the Town and focused in on the well-being of the boys and girls in Easton. In addition to gifts listed below, Anna worked hard on behalf of the school children so the Easton School Committee added courses for music, stenography, and typewriting, and she furnished the typewriters. Her donations were given following her extensive investigation of the need. Anna would much rather – lend a hand – than to encourage mediocrity of the working class. She would teach better ways of domestic economy, have ambition to earn higher pay, to use extra money to improve comforts of home life, to improve their moral, physical, mental, and social well-beings. At the start of the school year in 1899, the students of Oliver Ames High School were excited to learn Anna Coffin Ray Ames will be financing a school band. Mr. J. Edmund Shepherdson, the music teacher, informed the students that a thirty-two-piece band will be selected from students attending the high school. In 1899, Anna Coffin Ray Ames started the original Oliver Ames High Band. Anna brought members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra to Easton to instruct and assist the group. Anna paid for the uniforms, instruments, music materials, and instructors. In 1908, the Town of Easton Annual Report noted rehearsal was held 48 out of 52 weeks. Rehearsals was held mostly after school and sometimes on Saturdays. On December 3, 1902, Anna Coffin Ray Ames hosted the opening of the Ames Gymnasium at 15 Barrows Street with a starting time of 7:30 – Prompt. – The building was for physical education classes, athletic events, and band practice for students at Oliver Ames High School across Barrows Street. Mrs. Ames provided teachers and equipment for educational enhancements for the students. Upon the completion of the Ames Gymnasium, now, Frothingham Memorial Hall, practices and instruction was transferred to this building at 15 Barrows Street from the new high school. Following the passing of Anna Coffin Ray Ames on March 11, 1917, the school band continued under the leadership of her younger son, Oakes Ames, and under the direction of Walter M. Smith. The Oliver Ames High School and the A.C. Band had a historical schedule of concerts and parades, and engagements from 1901 to 1917, with WWI ongoing, and 1919 to 1932, with the A.C. Band giving its last concert in 1932. In 1930, the older Easton High School building which was built in 1868, and moved back fronting Barrows Street, and used as a grammar school was demolished. In 1944, Mary Lavinia Lamprey retired from the position of Librarian at the Oliver Ames Free Library after fifty-three years of service. Three years before, on September 30, 1941, marked her 50th anniversary at the library. Miss Lamprey was honored by the trustees at a dinner held in the children’s room. Mary S. Ames Frothingham, who gave the keynote address, praised Miss Lamprey for her many achievements, saying that, during her 50 years of service, she had increased the number of library books from 13,000 to 27,500. She had given dedicated service to the schools, having taught generations of, mostly, students of Oliver Ames High School, how to use the library and had conducted reading clubs and study groups in foreign affairs for adults. For four decades, Mary Shreve Ames Frothingham, of – Wayside – at 136 Elm Street, gave a Christmas party for all the grammar school children in Easton on the afternoon before the Christmas vacation. The half-day off party was held at Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, until the addition was made to the original Oliver Ames High School, which created a large gym, in 1930.
source; Massachusetts Historical Commission
source: Easton Historical Society
source: Ancestry
source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches, J. W. Lewis & Company, 1883
source: History of Easton, William L. Chaffin, 1886
source: Biographical Record of Bristol County, MA, The Boston History Company, 1899
source: Easton’s Neighborhoods, Edmund C. Hands, 1995
source: Memories of Twentieth Century Easton, Easton Historical Society, 2000
source: Forging Ahead: The Ames Family of Easton, Massachusetts, Gregory J. Galer, 2002
source: Easton Historical Society, Reminiscences, The Pioneer of Today’s Easton School Bands, Marietta Canan, Volume Seven, 2012
Easton Historical Society
80 Mechanic Street
North Easton, Massachusetts 02356
