Front Page News
January 29, 2014
Henry Ford And The Old Catamount School House
Submitted By Larry Berkson
A picture of the Old Catamount (Berry) Schoolhouse taken
about 1893.
The
Carpenter Memorial Library and Pittsfield Historical Society have
joined together to sponsor a program at the Lecture Hall in
Pittsfield Middle High School on February 13 at 7:00 pm. Michelle
Albion will be discussing her book, The Quotable Henry Ford.
Probably most people do not know that Henry Ford was once involved
with Pittsfield. During the 1920s Mr. Ford began developing an old
fashion New England village on 3,000 acres of land in Sudbury,
Massachusetts. He sought an early schoolhouse for placement on the
property. In a dispatch to the Boston Herald on February 17, 1926,
Pittsfield, Massachusetts claimed to have the oldest, one that was
erected in 1796. However, Frank S. Jenkins, Carpenter Library’s
first and life-long librarian, wrote a letter published in the
newspaper the following day noting that if Mr. Ford wanted the
oldest, he would have to come to Pittsfield, New Hampshire to get
it. It was built in 1777 and was still in very good condition.
The
history of the Catamount, or Berry, School House as it later became
known is amply recounted in E. Harold Young’s book on the history of
Pittsfield and need not be repeated in detail here. Suffice it to
state, the building was originally constructed with a pyramidal roof
and slanted, theater-like floor on the east side of the road near
the Quaker Cemetery. About 1800 it was moved to Knowlton’s Corner
next to the Baptist Church. The church’s cemetery can still be
viewed there today. The building remained there for about 30 years
and a porch and stable were added. It then was moved to the north
side of Catamount Road a short way down the mountain toward Eaton
Pond and placed on land leased from William Berry.
This
second move placed the rear of the building on solid ledge but
required the front to be supported by blocking. One noon several
unruly students knocked the underpinning out and it crashed into a
ravine below.
To
prevent this from happening again the building was moved a bit
further down the mountain to the southern side of the road. There,
in the winter of 1862, students upset with the teacher trashed the
entire interior of the schoolhouse. It was then abandoned for the
rest of the year, and according to newspaperman Ashton Welch, the
following year as well. It was repaired and the tilted,
amphitheater-like floor was removed, it being the last one among
Pittsfield’s one-room school houses.
Later
yet, about 1890-91, the town purchased the adjoining field, and
William T. Batchelder, Reuben T. Leavitt, and others moved the
building to its final resting place. A huge grand opening
celebration was held in May 1891with N. C. Berry giving the formal
address and Reuben T. Leavitt hoisting the flag over it for the
first time.
The
Catamount School ran almost continually from its inception until
1902. It was apparently abandoned from then until 1913 when it was
once again used as a school house. Its last year of service was in
1923.
As
noted above the building was still in good condition in 1926. A
former student that year, George Peaslee, claimed that it “looked
just like it did 86 years ago” when he attended the school. It was
being used by the Boys and Girls Clubs which held fundraising
dinners there each month. It was also a gathering place for people
living in that region of Pittsfield and at the time the Community
Club was planning to erect a shed so that those attending would have
a place to put their horses.
On
March 12, 1926 an article appeared in The Valley Times announcing
that Henry Ford was contemplating purchasing the school house for
his Sudbury Museum. Arguments were vigorously made both for
retaining and selling the building. Those in favor of keeping it
argued that it had sentimental value, was being used, was in good
shape, and that the Community Club intended to keep it in good
repair. Those in favor of selling it argued that it would be an
excellent opportunity for Pittsfield to obtain free advertising, and
that acquiring insurance on the present building was prohibitive.
At the
annual school meeting moderator Bernard A. Lougee introduced the
topic for discussion. He stated that Mr. Ford desired to purchase
the Mountain School House intact and that he also wanted to purchase
the desks from the old school house on Tilton Hill. He would
transport it to Sudbury, restore it as close as possible to its
original condition and place a plaque on it stating the date of its
erection, where it came from, and other historical data. He offered
to pay its replacement value.
Banker
Herbert B. Fischer, Professor Edward S. Watson, and Walter Joy made
impassioned pleas to save the school house from what the editor of
The Valley Times called “the ruthless hands of Henry Ford.” Mr.
Lougee tried to make his presentation in a neutral way but his
feelings were obvious. He favored the sale. George E. Freese, Sr.
also spoke in favor of the sale.
In the
end no vote was taken and according to the editor of the newspaper
for those opposed to the sale it was a good thing. It was his belief
that the sale would have gone through. The idea died a slow death
and disappeared from the backroom conversations of Pittsfield. There
was no reported mention of it in the 1927 meeting.
At the
annual school district meeting in 1939 voters authorized the school
board to sell the Mountain Schoolhouse. The property was sold to a
private individual sometime later but when and to whom has not been
learned. What is known is that in 1946 Mabel and William Corliss
sold it to Ellen Albee. Two years later she sold it to William and
Catherine Vincent. The town took the property in 1970 for failure to
pay taxes.
At the
1959 school district meeting voters authorized the sale of the
building. The issue was still controversial and many of the
attendees thought that the measure had failed. In any event, it was
never sold.
By 1972
the building had become useless. That year Ashton Welch writing in
the Pittsfield Press summarized its condition as follows:
It lays
in a heap of rotting timbers. The walls have fallen in, as has the
roof and no section of the building is standing other than the
portions which are propped up by other fallen portions.
Today,
only the land remains, still owned by the town. There is not a sign
that a building was ever located there. So passes another of
Pittsfield’s historic properties.
Once
again please remember to attend to attend the program about Henry
Ford at the Lecture Hall in Pittsfield Middle High School on
February 13 at 7:00 pm.
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