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Front Page News

January 29, 2014


 

Henry Ford And The Old Catamount School House

Submitted By Larry Berkson

Pittsfield Catamount_(Berry)_Schoolhouse.jpg

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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