The first class of the Boys Grammar School {Williams
School} graduated on May 23, 1861. It was a very somber affair, minus
the cheerfulness and gaiety that usually prevailed at such events.
Two days before, on Sunday July 21, the first major battle of the
Civil War, {the first Battle of Bull Run} occurred. It was a
disastrous defeat for the Union Army, casualties were heavy. Company
H, of the First Massachusetts Regiment was composed of the first
Chelsea volunteers, comprised of sons, brothers, husbands, friends
and neighbors. The Chelsea Company was fully involved in the
fighting, receiving
heavy casualties. Reports were incomplete documenting the killed
and wounded, when the students gathered for the graduation exercise.
There was great concern and dread for the next report, a feeling that
permeated both audience and graduates alike. It was remembered as the
graduation of circumstance minus the pomp. In the final report six
Chelsea boys were killed and many wounded.
A brick four story building was constructed on Vogel Street
{Forsyth Street}, in 1868. This building had fourteen schoolrooms
plus a large assembly hall on the top floor. It was opened as the
Carter School in September 1868 with 490 grammar co-ed students, and
ten teachers. The primary grade students were taken from the old
firehouse on Carmel Street, Cary Hall in Cary Square, and from spare
rooms at the Williams and Shurtleff Grammar School, and placed in the
four remaining rooms of the Carter School.
In 1868 a supervisor of schools was appointed from the school
board. Reverend Charles H. Leonard was appointed the first
supervisor; it being his duty “to secure unity and improvement
in the instruction, discipline and general management of the school.”
In January 1873, sessions began in the new high school on
Bellingham Street. The old high school building on Second Street was
rebuilt and enlarged to three stories and converted to a primary
school. This became the Cary School, existing as a primary school
until the eariy 1940’s, when it was torn down.
In the late 1800’s a two story wood building was built on
Bloomingdale Street near Carmel Street. Called the Bloomingdale
School, a primary school, it was demolished in 1919.
In 1881, a two story wooden building was erected on Spencer
Avenue corner of Stockton Street. The two rooms on the first floor
were made for immediate use. The second floor was finished at a later
date. Called the Spencer Avenue School the building was rebuilt and
enlarged to a three story brick in 1907. It was renamed the Mary C.
Burke School in a Memorial Day ceremony in 1937, honoring the name of
a local U.S. Army nurse, who died in France during World War 1. The
school building on Spencer Avenue was closed in 1996. A new complex
comprising four schools was constructed on the site of Merritt Park
retaining the name of Mary C. Burke.
A two story wood school buliding was constructed in 1883,
on what was then called Library Street. Called the Broadway School,
it was located at the site of the Chelsea Senior Center on Riley Way.
The Broadway School was destroyed in the fire of 1908.
In 1896, a three story brick building consisting of twelve
school rooms, was erected on Highland Street corner of Cottage
Street. This was the Highland School destroyed in the fire of 1908,
never to be rebuilt.
A three story brick building was built on Washington Avenue
between Murray Street and Ingleside Avenue in 1897 by tbe same
architects that built the Highland School. The two schools were
almost identical. The Prattville School building was closed down in
1996. The Students were transferred to the Mary C. Burke School
Complex operating under tbe name of the Berkowitz School.