A look back at Rochester's grammar schools

Georgia Sparling
Sep 13, 2016
A Rochester class photos from the 1930s. COURTESY BETTY BEAULIEU

With the Grammar School Reunion on Saturday, organizer and local historian Betty Beaulieu shared photos from her collection of Rochester's schoolhouses with Sippican Week.

The reunion brings together students who attended primary schools in Rochester before 1954 when Rochester Memorial School welcomed its first students. Pre-dating RMS were more than a dozen neighborhood grammar schools at one time or another spread across town. The schools educated children close to their homes at a time when there were no or few cars.

“They had no way to get there, so there were the old one-room school houses,” Beaulieu explained.

Class photos show the changing fashions and also the economic situations of students – in one of Beaulieu's pictures some kids are wearing no shoes while others wear coats.

Throughout the years, some schools developed their own sports teams. There were dances, Halloween parties and other functions reflected in the documents and pictures Beaulieu has unearthed over the years.

Some of the school buildings are still around, including the Waterman School, which is the current Rochester Fire Department adjacent to RMS.

See some of Beaulieu's photos below.

A Rochester class photos from the 1930s. COURTESY BETTY BEAULIEU
Students link arms in a dance. COURTESY BETTY BEAULIEU
Albert Duseault's first teaching job was at the Waterman School. COURTESY BETTY BEAULIEU
A 1907 class photo shows some kids arrive to class without shoes. COURTESY BETTY BEAULIEU
The Pierceville School was near the corner of County Road and High Street, but like many other neighbhorhood schools, the building was moved or used for other purposes later on. COURTESY BETTY BEAULIEU
The 1949 basketball team at Waterman School was led by teacher Albert Duseault. COURTESY BETTY BEAULIEU
Seventh and eighth graders from a 1940s class at the Waterman School. COURTESY BETTY BEAULIEU
The Waterman School is now the Rochester Fire Department. COURTESY BETTY BEAULIEU
Teachers in Rochester were expected to conduct themselves according to these standards laid out in 1872. COURTESY BETTY BEAULIEU
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