Miscellaneous - Bainbridge School 1939

Bainbridge Has Always Had Excellent Schools

Centralized School Under F.J. Casey Has Made Enviable Record

Bainbridge News, April 20, 1939

 

Until March 10, 1868, the students of Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY] attended one-roomed schools and private academies.  But on that date, at a meeting of the leading citizens of the village, the determination to build a central school for the village was born.  Therefore on March 16 of the same year, P.M. Packard, E.W. Thomas, Blin S. Sill, Charles Bixby, R.W. Akerley, D.A. Gilbert, Joseph Juliand 2nd, W.M. Newton, G.A. Dodge, A.J. Yale, L.B. Yale, Dwight S. Scott, T.R. Hollister, J.W. Treadway, Giles Hayes and H.L. Marsh all Bainbridge citizens of school district No. 13 requested the trustees of the district to call a meeting of the town inhabitants, for the purpose of determining the establishment of a Union District School.

 

At the meeting with A. Converse acting as chairman and J.D. Newell as clerk, the following was unanimously adopted:  "Resolved, that we the inhabitants of School District No. 13, in the town of Bainbridge, regarding the means of instruction in said district inadequate to the public demands therein, and being confident that a Union Free School would better accommodate, more fully meet the want and better subserve the ends of education of the people thereof do change the same into a Union Free School District, in conformity with chapter 555, of the laws of 1864, as amended by the laws of 1865, 1866, and 1867."

 

The following Board of Education was then elected:  H.L. Marsh, G.A. Dodge and A.J. Yale for one year; Charles Bixby, G.S. Graves and W.W. Davis, for two years; and B.S. Sill, D.A. Gilbert and A. Converse for three years.

 

On April 15, 1871, the schoolhouse building contract was given to Northrup and Taylor for $4,000.  When the foundation was nearly completed, a suit was commenced by the Wardens and Vestry of St. Peter's Church, Bainbridge, involving the question of title to the land.  Pending the litigation which ensued, building operations were suspended, and school was held in the basement of Mrs. J.J. Bixby's residence and in the basement of the Baptist church.  After a satisfactory settlement of this problem, the school site finally selected was on land purchased from Richard W. Juliand (the present site).

 

The school in Bainbridge was finally opened August 17, 1874 with the following group of teachers:  Prof. E.W. Rogers, principal; Misses E.H. Gilbert and Addie Baldwin, assistants to principal; Miss Libbie Bates, principal of primary department and Miss Lottie Lee, assistant.  No record was kept of the number of scholars, but in the year 1879, forty-five girls and fifty-two boys were enrolled.  The academic students were taught "classical studies or the higher branches of English education or both." to quote an old history.

 

The cost of building this first school was $7926.80.  To quote again "the value of the philosophical apparatus connected with the school July 7, 1879 was $931.43; of geological specimens, $372.90; and of the library, comprising 615 volumes, $1,052.46."

 

In 1927, the fine, brick building, that now stands, was erected, after a complete demolishing of the old school.  In 1934, extensive additions were made.  Last year saw a large, new playground laid out on land purchased from Miss Janet Juliand in the rear of the school.  The school today is a large 38-roomed structure, completely furnished with the most modern conveniences.  The library, which contains hundreds of volumes is one of the finest in the county, as is the large well-equipped laboratory.  The combination gymnasium-auditorium seats 742 persons. The beautiful designing of this room is one of the most attractive features of the school.  Another feature is the Industrial Arts room, which contains several pieces of intricate machinery for the use of the students.  The lower floor of the building is given over to the primary department and the upper story is the junior high and senior high school.  Mr. Francis J. Casey, supervising principal is assisted by a staff of thirty-one teachers, who unite their efforts together to make our school a truly fine institution.

 

The educational facilities thus offered to Bainbridge youth are equal to any in the country.  Teacher requirements are high, and the graduates of the high school are very properly fitted for work in the leading Universities and colleges.  The percentage of Bainbridge students going on to higher educational fields is exceptionally high. 

 

Twenty-nine rooms are used for academic studies, in addition to two administrative offices, three stock rooms, a physical education office, a teachers office, and two spacious shower rooms.  Adjacent to the high school is the eight-room Domestic Science house, which is devoted to the art of home-making.  It is here that the school girls (and boys) learn the whys and wherefores of housekeeping.  The care of children, needlework, and dressmaking are also taught to the students.  One room of the "homemaking house" is given over to music instruction and another division is devoted to Mr. Corbin's younger protégés who are attempting to 'blow their own horns.'