If you think that recent developments in Fairhaven’s school system are something new or out-of-the-ordinary, think again. Folks around here have been wrestling with school issues since not too long after the Mayflower landed. This week we run through a chronology of local school history from the 1600s through the building of Rogers School in 1885. In a couple of weeks, we’ll continue to the present day.
It should be noted that some of the earliest references to schooling here are records of our Town officials being reprimanded for not hiring a teacher as required by law . . .
1642
In Massachusetts, Selectmen* are given the power to oversee the education of children.
1647
Massachusetts enacts a law requiring towns of more than 50 households to hire a teacher, particularly to promote knowledge of the Scripture as protection against “ye Old Deluder, Satan.”
June 8, 1664
The Town of Dartmouth, then including Fairhaven, is incorporated with a handful of families living primarily on the east side of the Acushnet River in what’s now Acushnet.
1698
An indictment is brought against the town for neglecting to choose a schoolmaster. A second indictment is issued the following year.
1727
The town (Dartmouth) votes to hire two new teachers in addition to the old grammar school master, Daniel Shepherd, “to teach children to read, write and cypher.” The teachers in 1728 are Shepherd, William Palmer and William Halliday.
September 6, 1778
British troops burn a schoolhouse on Adams Street, approximately opposite of where Long Road is today.
January 25, 1789
A Massachusetts law authorizes towns to divide into school districts and provide official supervision of schools by ministers, selectmen or committees. All schooling expenses are to be met by voluntary contributions.
1790
The lot at the northeast corner of Main and Center streets is sold for the building of a meeting house. The school building on the lot is moved north on Main to the vicinity of Spring Street.
1799
A two-room, one story schoolhouse called the “Phenix School” is built west of the bridge at Acushnet Village on property which had belonged to William Kempton. It replaces an earlier one-room school that had been destroyed by fire.
February 28, 1800
Massachusetts law gives school districts the power to tax residents for the support of schools.
1826
The Town of Fairhaven, including Acushnet, is divided into school districts. Numbers 1 to 9 are located in what is now Acushnet and 10 to 17 are in Fairhaven. Later, Number 18 is added in Acushnet and Number 19 is added in Fairhaven.
1827
Massachusetts law requires the establishment of a high school in every town having 500 families or over, in which should be taught United States history, bookkeeping, algebra, geometry, and surveying, while in every town having 4000 inhabitants or over, instruction in Greek, Latin, history, rhetoric, and logic must be added.
March 17, 1828
The committee of District 11, Oxford Village, agrees to build a stone schoolhouse on land on North Street purchased for $20 from John Taber. The school itself cost $520.01 to build.
1831
Districts 12 and 13, Fairhaven Village, are united into a single district.
1832
The Center Street School is built on the north side of Center Street between Walnut and Green streets on land purchased from William Rotch Jr. for $493.50. The building houses an “Infant” and a “Medium” school. About this time the South Primary School is built on the east side of Green Street between Church and Farmfield streets.
1837
The Massachusetts Board of Education is established with Horace Mann as its first secretary.
1838
The Pease District School opens in a school on the east side of Middle Street near Bridge Street that was donated to the town by Abner Pease. This district becomes Number 19. Mr. Pease later left $5,000 in his will for the upkeep of the school.
1843
The Center Street School is enlarged for the addition of a grammar school on the second floor.
1843
The North Primary School is built at Bridge and Jefferson streets.
1845
Frederick Jenney, the General Supervisor of Districts 15 and 16 reports “a new and very neat building has been erected” in District 16, on New Boston Road. The same year, the South Medium School is built on the west side of Green Street.
1846
It is reported that the District 14 Schoolhouse on Sconticut Neck needs to be thoroughly repaired.
1847
Because of population growth in Oxford Village, a second schoolhouse is built on Oxford Street between the Union Chapel and the firehouse. It is known as the “Oxford Street School.”
June 2, 1851
The town votes to establish a high school.
July 1851
The Town of Fairhaven buys a building that has been used as the Methodist Church. The cost is $1,000. It is located on the west side of Main Street just north of where the Fairhaven-New Bedford Bridge is today. The building is remodeled for use as a high school.
1852
Massachusetts passes the nation’s first school attendance law, which requires children between the ages of 8 and 14 to attend 12 weeks of schooling a year, with 6 weeks being consecutive.
January 26, 1852
Fairhaven High School opens. One of the first students to attend the school was young Henry H. Rogers. In 1856, Rogers was in the first class to graduate from the high school.
1856
The North Fairhaven School or “Pink Schoolhouse” is built on Main Street on the property of Royal Hathaway just south of the Acushnet town line.
February 13, 1860
Acushnet breaks from Fairhaven and incorporates as a separate town.
April 1862
Fairhaven’s school districts are renumbered to reflect the departure of Acushnet two years earlier.
1867
The North Primary School is moved from Bridge Street to the corner of Spring and Rotch streets. It is then referred to as the “Spring Street School.” Also this year the “Oxford Street School” is sold and converted into a house.
1873
A new schoolhouse for District No. 5 is built at Nasketucket, on Mill Road about a half mile north of the Mattapoisett Road (now Route 6). Costing $1,200 to build, it replaces an earlier school at the same location.
1874
Massachusetts passes a law allowing women to serve on School Boards.
July 1874
The “Pink Schoolhouse” in North Fairhaven is moved south from the town line to what’s now Benoit Square.
1879
Massachusetts passes a law allowing women to vote in elections for School Boards, after passing a reading test and paying the poll tax.
1881
Lucy A. Davis becomes the first woman elected to public office in Fairhaven when she wins a seat on the School Committee.
1882
Massachusetts abolishes the district school system. District or Provincial Committees are disbanded and schools are overseen by one town-wide committee.
November 1882
Henry H. Rogers purchases the property bordered by Center, Pleasant, Union and Chestnut streets.
August 17, 1883
Ground is broken for the Rogers School. The design is by Warren Briggs of Bridgeport, CT.
May 15, 1884
The cornerstone of Rogers School is laid.
June 26, 1885
Farewell exercises are held at the Center Street Grammar School.
September 3, 1885
Rogers School is dedicated.
1886
The town votes to hire a Superintendent of Schools, who also serves as principal of the high school. Z. Willis Kemp is hired to the position.
George H. Taber, auctioneer, sells the old North Primary at Spring and Rotch streets to William N. Alden for $395.
1887
The Pease District schoolhouse is vacated.
The second part of this chronology is here Fairhaven Schools Come of Age.
*Note: in these stories the terms “selectmen” and “Board of Selectmen” are used in historical context. Fairhaven now uses the term Select Board.
COPYRIGHT © 2005, 2025 by Christopher J. Richard. All Rights Reserved. This story originally appeared in Fairhaven’s Monthly Navigator.
Such a fitting title for this historical piece.