Franklin School February 1903
Item
Title
Franklin School February 1903
Description
These Franklin School students were the first to occupy the new school at the corner of Nahant and Traverse Streets. Planning for the new school started two years earlier, in 1900, when Town Meeting voted to study whether an addition to the existing school building on Franklin Street would be enough to address the overcrowded conditions. For the School Committee Report for the year ending January 31, 1900, the committee stated, 'The residents in the Franklin Street district are also asking for better accommodations, and their request is reasonable. They have been patient and long suffering. At the present time, all children above the fourth grade are obliged to attend either the Hamilton or Lincoln schools; the present building is entirely inadequate to the needs of the district.' In April 1901, Town Meeting voted to build a new eight-room school building, and that $30,000 dollars would be raised and appropriated to purchase the land and erect the building. When the new school opened on September 9, 1902, 240 student were in attendance, 30 more than anticipated, with more expected in the following days. According to the School Committee Report for the year ending January 31, 1904, 'For the relief of the new Franklin building, which can be repaired and put into commission again.' The old Franklin School, near the corner of Franklin and Nahant Streets, was eventually demolished.
Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2018
Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Historical Society.
Contributor
Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library
Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)
D'Onofrio, Jayne M.
Coverage
Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield
100 Nahant Street (Wakefield, Mass.)
Date
02-1903
Format
image/jpeg
Publisher
Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department
Subject
School buildings
Franklin School (Wakefield, Mass.)
Type
still image
Photographs
Original Format
1 picture: b & w
Extent
26 x 19 cm