History of North Adams, Mass.

dispenser of all Mr. Drury’s property, under the direction and assent of his wife, who soon vested all power in the doctor without restriction or limitation. Dr. Hawkes procured and prepared the grounds, while Dr. Hodges superintended the construction of the building. The matter of location was a subject of considerable discussion and controversy, opinion being about evenly divided between the present site on the hill and the lower lands of Main street. The present location was finally decided on, however, because of high-ground and commanding position. The hill was lowered about seventeen feet in order to get a level surface of one hundred and twenty feet. This work occupied about six weeks, at an expense of about $400. In doing this work one important fact was demonstrated. Thirteen feet below the surface, on the summit, a tree about fifteen inches in diameter was found imbedded in the gravel, the body entire, apparently hard wood, lying north and south, showing that the hill was formed by a mighty rush of water from the north, bringing all kinds of rock and trees with it. The presumption would be that the town of Stamford was once a lake, that the bar was at the Beaver or Glen mill, and that the breaking away of the body of water prepared a location for our academy. Work was pushed rapidly on the building, and it was completed in 1843, the first school being held there in the fall of that year.

The first board of trustees were Isaac Hodges, Josiah Q. Robinson, Thomas Tower, Amasa Bixby, E. S. Hawkes, Thomas Robinson, William E. Brayton, Alpheus Smith, Edmond B. Penniman, Sanford Blackinton, Harvey Arnold, Stephen B. Brown and Benjamin Hathaway, Dr. Hodges was made first president of the board. The will of Mr. Drury gave intrust $3500 to erect an academy in the vllllge of North Adams, in the county of Berkshire, to be called Drury Academy. The building was to be of brick or marble and said academy and premises should belong to the association or corporation of Drury Academy, so long as it was used for the instruction of youth in the different branches of literature; but when it ceases to be used for that purpose for one year it shall become the property of his heirs.

The first principal of the school was Lyman Thompson, who continued in charge for eight years. At one time the school had a membership of about 100. That the school finally fell into decline under his charge would appear from a record of a meeting of the trustees under date of April 10, 1849. Dr. Isaac Hodges said “he wished it distinctly understood that it was his opinion that the school could never recover from its low and declining, condition without a change of principals.” In 1851 a free high school was first established, William Pitt Porter succeeding Mr. Thompson and remaining in charge until the fall of 1854. This school was kept but six months a year, the principal conducting a private school during the balance of the time. Jarvis Rockwell, succeeded Mr. Porter in the fall of 1854, and taught two terms. Then Thomas Gorman taught two terms. In 1856 Frank Shepard assumed the charge and taught with fair success for three years. Other teachers who taught one or two terms were Mr. Robinson, Mr. Williams, Hoxey Hall and F. P. Brown. In 1865 Mr. A. D. Miner was placed in charge of the school, and he has continued to the present, a period of twenty years.

In 1866 the want of more room was so severely felt that the old building was torn down, the hill lowered twenty-one feet and the main part of the present structure commenced. The building was finished in the summer of 1867 and the first school held there in the fall of that year. The cost of the building and furnishing was about $80,000. The building contained thirteen school rooms, two recitation rooms and the hall. In 1879 the annex was added, and occupied in the spring term of 1880. This contains five school rooms and two recitation rooms. The cost of the annex all furnished was about $15,000.

The Veazie street schoolhouse was built in 1873, and opened in the fall of that year with three schools.

In 1883 the Union street school was opened with eight school and eight recitation rooms. The property was purchased on the 1st of June, 1882, of Messrs. Gallup & Houghton, who became possessors of it on the 20th of April of that year.

In 1884 the town voted to raise $12,000 to build a new house, but the building committee appointed for the purpose failed to find a suitable site and so, with the consent of the Selectmen, the School Committee fitted up four additional rooms in this Union street building at ail expense of $3928.

The early settlers of Adams being mostly Connecticut born and bred, adhered to their religious sentiments and habits. They formed a Congregational church and society and fulfilled the conditions on which the township was granted to them by building a meeting-house and settling a minister. The first meeting-house was built of logs, probably as early as 1766, on a spot afterward occupied by an orchard, near the bridge on the “2½ mile cross roads” between the north and south villages. Rev. Samuel Todd

History of North Adams.