Between 1920 and 1940, Chelsea experienced a population
growth from 43,184 inhabitants, to a peak of 51,821. Chelsea built
three new schools, after the fire of 1908: the Williams, the
Shurtleff and the Carter. Chelsea had three elementary schools that
escaped the fire of 1908: the Cary, the Spencer Avenue, the
Prattvilie School, and the Senior High School on Crescent Avenue. In
1926, the Senior High School was enlarged to address the increased
number of students wanting to futher their education. The Class of
1938 was the largest class to graduate from Chelsea Senior High
School, 485 graduates.
In 1942, the Cary School was declared an unsafe building,
condemned, and demolished. The decision was made by the State to
construct a high level bidge and an expressway through a densely
populated area of Chelsea. Hundreds of citizens were uprooted, their
homes demolished or moved, forcing many residents to leave the city.
The bridge construction also affected the school population.
In 1970, in a period of five months, Chelsea experienced
four major school fires. All fires were determined to be caused by
person or persons unknown. The first fire on November 9, 1970, was in
the high school with an estimated $500,000 loss to the building, no
estimate given on contents. On January 30, 1971, a fire was
discovered in the Williams School auditorium, causing an estimated
damage of $3,000 to the buildmg, no estimate to contents. Early
detection of this fire prevented a much greater loss. On March 10,
1971, fire caused an estimated $6,000 to the Shurtleff School, with
no estimate on
contents. On March 11, 1971, fire completely destroyed the Carter
School, with an estimated three million dollar damage to the
building. The building had to be torn down never to be rebuilt. In
the fire of October 1973, the Williams School was saved from
destruction by the valiant efforts of firefighters. In spite of the
odds against them, with the walls of the school steaming under a
curtain of water and huge flaming brands landing on the school, the
tenacious courage of the firefighters finally paid off, the school
was saved.
In the following years, various moves were made to build
new schools. In 1989, the City of Chelsea and Boston University {BU},
entered into a school management agreement. In 1992, Representative
Richard Voke and Senator Thomas Birmingham acquired the State
Department of Education, building funds to pay 95 percent of the new
school cost. Boston University paid for the initial architect services.
Ground was broken for a new high school at the fifteen acre
site of the Chelsea Memorial Stadium in 1994. The school was opened
in the Fall of 1996, with forty five classrooms and space for one
thousand students. A huge athletic field was included on the Everett
Avenue side. A new elementary school was built on the ten acre site
of Merritt Park. The new school is a complex of four individual
schools connected in one buildmg. Each school holds twenty-two
classrooms. The new, four-school complex was called the Mary C.Burke
School Complex. The four schools are named for servicemen from
Chelsea who gave their lives in defense of their country: the
George Kelly, Frank Sokolowski, William Berkowitz, and the Edgar
Hooks Schools. The Mary C. Burke and Prattville Schools were closed
down. The Williams Middle School was built in two phases to prevent
any loss of school time; the first phase opening in 1996 and the
second phase in 1997. The new Middle School building contains
forty-four classrooms and can hold 1100 students. The Shurtleff
School was renovated to hold the Early Learning Center:
prekindergarten, kindergarten and first grade. The Early Learning
Center was opened in the Fall of 1997. In an effort to forestall
increases in class sizes the old Chelsea High School was reopened in
the Fall of 1998 as the Clark Avenue School for fifth and sixth grade
students; it currently holds 750 students in thirty -three classrooms.