Map of Springfield Schools in 1900

This is a Google Map with links to the location of each of Springfield's Schools in 1900. They are color-coded to show buildings that are still standing (green), buildings that have been demolished (red), and buildings that might have been significantly reconstructed into still-standing structures (purple).


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Markers with dots on them show you a photo when you click on them, and if you click on the photo you will go to a page devoted to the school - but there's currently a bug with Google, so you'll need to right-click and "open link in new window" to view the individual school articles, otherwise the article page opens in the frame.

This is a great map, I'm

This is a great map, I'm having fun looking at all the information. You missed Glenwood School, which is on Morrison Terr. near Van Horn Park. Also, I think the dry bridge school is still standing as a house on St. James Circle.

I suspected Dry Bridge...

Thanks for the information the Dry Bridge School -- I suspected it could still be standing, although the city reports the building's age as being built in 1901. However, the 1910 City Map shows it still as a school. It's hard to tell because the streets were all reconfigured. Here's a link to the 1910 map:

http://www.wardmaps.com/viewmap.php?map_id=1536

I was going to try and drive by to take a picture of the building to know for sure.

As for Glenwood, it was built in 1930, so it missed the cutoff of the timeframe of this map. I plan on doing a map from 1950, and another from maybe 2000, to pick up schools constructed since 1900.

School Street School

Did School Street school show up on your radar? I believe that the building still stands at the corner of School and Union Sts. It housed K-4 and my understanding was that it was the smallest city school at the time. I attended there in the early fifties. Nice job.

Whoops - you're right

Thanks for the pointer. I forgot that school because I had it confused with the old original Springfield High School, which also stood on the corner of School & High, but was across the street from the School Street School, where the apartment block now stands. The School Street School is still there, it is occupied by an organization called the Institution for Community Economics. I haven't been by there in a while, I hope they're taking good care of it, it was built in 1892.

See

I told you that you would get good stuff if you let anonymous people on. Everyone has too many passwords and such to remember, so you lose a lot of input by making people sign in. They just don't bother. If you see a comment you don't like, just remove it.

school pictures

Thanks for an informative post and especially for the great pictures. You have a gift for finding the forgotten in Springfield, Ralph!

Brimfield

Brimfield flea market will be held next week. I hope to get there, and now that I've done this feature on the schools, I'll be looking for postcards of each one.

My next project is going to be churches. That one is a lot harder, because congregations had the tendency to move around a lot, so one congregation might have occupied 3 or more buildings in the span of 50 years, and then might have renamed itself a number of times. I even found mention that an entire church building was moved from the corner of Maple and Mulberry Streets in 1846 to become the home of another parish.

Sacred Heart School?

Very nice map! However, I didn't see any mention of Sacred Heart School. It was a K-8 school but was a high school in the late 1800s, early 1900s. I do believe it used to stand on 370 Stafford Street. It closed down in 2001 and was then demolished and converted into a parking lot for the church.

Sacred Heart High School

Sacred Heart School was opened in 1877 on Everett Street. It was the first Catholic School in Springfield. The teachers were the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. At that time, the only other Catholic school in the area was Holy Name of Jesus in Chicopee. That school was also staffed by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Holy Name opened in 1867 and was the first Catholic school outside the Boston area in Massachusetts. Originally Sacred Heart only accepted boys in the very first few grades. That is why my grandfather John Riordan had to attend Worthington Street School, while his sisters attended Sacred Heart until the 8th grade. In 1894, I believe, they added a high school division. This school was used until 1924. It was replaced by a new brick building in 1925. This new school fronted on Linden Street (now Stafford Street). The high school part changed its name to Notre Dame High School in 1969. It closed in 1977. The k-grade 8 part of the school lasted until June, 2002.

Churches and schools

I have a big collection of PC pictures of both schools and churches you can use when you are ready. Great job jim

Common vs. Rare postcards

Hi Jim --

I went to Brimfield in September, and found that there are a number of schools and churches that are very popular, but others are very rare.

I saw about 2 dozen variations of Chestnut St. Grammar School and Central/Classical. A few of Tech, a few of Commerce, just 2 different cards of Putnam. Forest Park Grammar had a number of different cards published. There were a few of Buckingham. One or two of the old Hooker. One of Tapley. One of Jefferson.

I picked up a few color grammar school postcards: Kensington, Lincoln.

There was a series of cards done in the 50's and 60's of Springfield schools, so there are cards of JFK, DeBerry, Liberty, etc., but they are black & white and not very good photography.

I thought it was weird that I couldn't find any postcards of schools that were operating in 1910 (when postcards were popular): Brightwood, Charles St., Carew St., Indian Orchard Primary, Homer Street, White Street, Sumner Ave (I know one exists), South Main St., William St., etc.

Ralph

Kensington Avenue School

This year is the 100th anniversary of Kensington Ave School - Do you have any materials that we could, perhaps, borrow for our celebration?

Donna McCarthy
Kensington Ave School
(413)787-7522

Schools

I have some of the 50's cards as well as some rp cards of some old schools. Will get them out and let you know what I have. Jim

schools and churches

I don't have the post cards of the 50's but I do have some rarer views of schools and churches. I, too, will get them out and let you know what I have. The stereo views I have don't seem to show schools or many churches, but I will take a look.

Eastern Avenue School

The Eastern Avenue School is still being used as a school. It is currently the home of Springfield Academy for Excellence, which is a special education program within the Springfield Public Schools.

We are so fortunate to reap the information from your efforts to research and present information about Springfield treasures, thank you.

Classical High School

Would anyone know if it's true that Classical, at one time, was considered one of the top 10 (or was it 100) high schools in the U.S.? And what year(s) was that. Thanks.

Classical High School

There was a plaque placed in the lobby by I believe Harvard University. Classical was highly rated back in the 1950's. A look in the 1986 yearbook may have more info

Also A web site that I have been working on:
classical.nibbleandbit.com

schools

My Grandfather talks about how he attended a school known as the "Open Air" school on the corner of Colombus and Union possibly in the 1930's. Have you heard of this one?

Open Air School in 1930's Springfield, Illonois

My mother, Mary Richter also attended what she called an Open Air School. Her mother was a Registered Nurse and treated men coming home from Europe, after WW1.. She contracted an illness and passed it unknowing to my mother. When Penicillin was made available, she began getting many shots. . The Open Air school was thought to make the children more healthy by being exposed to the elements causing their immune systems to work more effectively.. I think it saved her life.

The First High School

The first high school built in 1828 was standing until 1930, across School Street School - more info
http://nibbleandbit.com/Classical/build1.html

16 Acres School/ Mary M. Walsh School

Does anyone have a photograph of Mr Martin Lohan. He was the principal of the former 16 Acres school? He was principal from approximately 1949-1961. Ms Margaret Powers was the first principal at 50 Empress Court (built 1941) then came Mr. Martin Lohan and then the legendary Mary Martin Walsh. Thanks, Sue Montmeny

Mary M. Walsh School

The second Principal of the former 16 Acres School was Francis Martin Lohan. Does anyone have any photos of the former 16 Acres School when it was only 4 rooms built in 1941? This year marks the 70th year since the first 4 rooms were erected. With a little luck we may try to have a 75th birthday celebration in 5 years. Anyone with photos or memories of 16 Acres School, please mail to Mary M. Walsh School 50 Empress Court c/o Sue Montmeny

Dr. Seuss and Central High School

All of this excellent discussion of Springfield Schools has prompted me to raise another related matter. While reading the Springfield paper the last couples of weeks, I became quite confused by what seems to be a big error being repeated over and over. It was reported that Dr. Seuss graduated in 1920 from Classical High School. There is even a display at Classical condos saying this. How could this be since Classical did not exist until 1934? From what I know, Dr. Seuss graduated attended Central High School from 1917-1921. He graduated from Central, Class of 1921. I realize that Classical used the same building as Central, but so did the High School of Commerce! From November 25, 1910 until an actual separate building was opened in 1915, the High School of Commerce used the top floor of Central High School. Dr. Carlos Bent Ellis was the principal and had his own budget and faculty. The so called Springfield Plan, which included the idea of thematic high schools was something that gradually evolved, so to make the old Central High and the Classical High School of the 1930s and 1940s synonymous is not accurate. So much of the greatness of Classical High was due to the administration of Dr. Hill and the staff he was able to inspire. That momentum propelled the school onward for years as many know. This may seem like a small concern, but I think it is important to realize that a good bit of effort was put forth to create the old Central High School and it should not be forgotten for its unique legacy.

1930's Grammar school in Springfrield

My father is 90 and in 1931 lived at 36 South st. in Springfield. I would love to show him a photo of his old grammar school. He said it had grades 1-4 in it. He also said that he walked past mills to get to school. Can anyone help me with which school this may have been? Are there photos?
Thanks,
Jan

High School Name questions

We know that the high school's name was changed from Central to Classical in 1934. Since there were High schools as early as 1828, did these schools have names? When was the name Central adopted?

Thanks,
Harry

You missed the Chestnut St.

You missed the Chestnut St. Jr. High School, at the corner of Chestnut and Prospect. Empty land now.

Indian Orchard Primary School

I lived off Allen St. in 1953 and we were bussed to a school which I can not remember. Where would we be bussed to before Arthur T. Talmadge School was built?

Chestnut street grammar school

I have just moved and while packing I found a small box in my basement with a chestnut street grammar school graduation program from 1913, a class journal from 1913 filled out each day by a diffent student and a bunch of student papers from 1906 and a class photo. Is this anything anyone could use? I would love to see them go to a safe place rather tha. The trash.

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