2 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
MANCHESTER’S NEW PRI- 
MARY SCHOOL DEDICATED. 
Exercises Held in the Assembly 
Hall of the New Building Last 
Saturday Afternoon. Interesting 
Biographical Sketch of Deacon 
john Price After Whom School Is 
Named, by A. S. Jewett. Miss 
Arnold of Boston Made the Ad- 
dress of the Day. Description of 
the Building. 
The John Price Primary School 
building, Manchester’s latest acqui- 
sition to her already well equipped 
school system, was dedicated last 
Saturday afternoon. The new 
building is located on Norwood ave- 
nue, corner of Brook street, just a 
few minutes’ walk from the Geo. 
A. Priest school, on land adjoining 
the Brook street playgrounds. The 
cost completed, including land, and 
interior furnishings, is about 
$43,000. 
The town of Manchester can feel 
proud of owning one of the finest 
schools in the Commonwealth, as 
the building was constructed with 
the aim of getting the very best 
that could be built. In the setting 
and arrangement of the school the 
plan and standard established by 
use in the city of Boston have been 
faithfully followed. A perusal of 
the description of the building in 
another column will bear out this 
assertion. 
Interesting, indeed, were the 
exercises held in the assembly hall 
of the school last Saturday after- 
noon, in connection with the dedi- 
cation. The room was crowded, 
despite the threatening weather, 
and several hundred people attended 
the vexercisés sands imspectedertne 
building. 
After selections by the orchestra 
and prayer by the Rev. C. Arthur 
Lincoln of the Congregational 
church, Robert D. Andrews © of 
Andrews, Jacques & Rantoul, -the 
architects, presented the building 
to the Building Committee in a few 
well chosen words. He said in part: 
The Presentation. 
“The work has been done well 
and faithfully and it is our hope it 
will be of some good and pleasure 
to all who enter therein. In this 
building is a school that gives to 
all the assurance of the health and 
comfort of the children. In _ plan 
and arrangement the _ standards 
established by use in the city of 
Boston have been faithfully fol- 
lowed. The building is as good as 
can be made. It was on August I, 
1905, the contract was signed by 
Roberts & Hoare and in six months 
the building is finished. I wish to 
thank the builders one and all for 
the way the work is done, and the 
building committee. And Mr. 
Chairman, I wish formally now to 
turn this building over to your 
care: 
Edward A. Lane, chairman of the 
building committee, said in accept- 
ing the building from the architect: 
Response to the Architect. 
“In behalf of the members of the 
building committee, whom I have 
the honor to represent upon this 
occasion, it gives me great pleasure 
to accept from you this beautiful 
building, a result of the careful 
study and architectural skill of you 
and your associates. 
“I wish to extend to you our 
appreciation of your effort and suc- 
cess in erecting for the Town of 
Manchester, a building that will be 
not only a convenient and pleasant 
home for the younger portion of our 
community during their school 
hours, but an ornament to the local- 
ity, and a credit to the town. 
“T also wish to express our appre- 
ciation of the interest manifested by 
those having the contract in charge, 
for the faithful manner in which 
they have performed their work, 
and their readiness to make such 
changes and additions as have been 
suggested from time to time during 
its progress. 
“That the building may long 
stand as a memorial to the generos- 
ity of our citizens, a credit to the 
architect and builder, and an in- 
spiration to the young people of our 
town is our earnest hope.” 
Mr. Lane said, in turning the 
building over 
To the Selectmen, 
“Tt becomes a pleasant duty to 
me, occupying as I do the position 
of chairman of the building com- 
mittee, to return to the inhabitants 
of the Town of Manchester, through 
you as their representative, the ful- 
fillment of the trust confided to us 
one year ago, embodying the erec- 
tion and completion of this Prim- 
ary School Building and grounds. 
How well we have executed that 
trust we are content to leave with 
the sober judgment of the people to 
determine. We have endeavored to 
complete the work with the funds 
placed at our disposal, and we are 
pleased to say that we will be able 
to do so without depriving the chil- 
dren of anything needed for their 
comfort during the early years of 
their school life. 
“It is a pleasure to me, as it must 
be to those having the welfare of 
the children at heart, to feel that we 
are able to give them so many ad- 
vantages during the time spent in 
the school room, and it is my 
earnest wish that they might profit 
by. the privileges they enjoy.” 
Mr. Swett Accepts for the Town 
Fred K. Swett, chairman of the 
board of selectmen, accepted the 
building from the committee in a 
few well chosen remarks. He said 
in part: 
“Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentle- 
men: In making this speech of 
acceptance (which by the way is my 
maiden speech) I feel very much 
the same as the little boy who on 
his first day in school was brought 
to account for squirming around in 
his seat, but accounted for the con- 
dition, by informing his teacher 
that he had eaten eels for dinner. 
“This modern and well equipped 
Primary School building, is in strik- 
ing contrast to the school of years 
ago, where we find in the old 
colonial records that in 1647, two 
years aiter Manchester was in- 
corporated, an ordinance was 
passed to this effect: “That learning 
may not be buried in the graves of 
our fathers. It is hereby ordered, 
that every township in this juris- 
diction, after the Lord _ hath in- 
creased it to the number of 50 
house-holders, shall forthwith ap- 
point one within their town, to teach 
all children to read and write.’ Then 
again in 1785 we find that this town 
voted to build a schoolhouse 21 feet 
wide by 26 feet long, and as a mat- 
ter of historic interest, this same 
house now stands on the easterly 
corner of Brook and School streets. 
“I recall these facts to your mind 
that one may perceive the growth 
of educational facilities has kept 
pace with the steady advancement 
and prosperity of our town. 
“No more common remark is 
heard from the parents of children 
than this: I lacked these school 
advantages in my youth but what- 
ever befalls me, my children shall 
enjoy them, and to that end the 
good citizens of Manchester ever 
stand ready to give to her pupils 
the best schools that money and 
brains can supply. 
“A building such as we dedicate 
today, situated in the most beauti- 
ful town in the state, apart from the 
commotion of city life, with a sun- 
ny exposure and plenty of pure air, 
gives it surroundings that should be 
conducive to the study of nature 
without and the concentration of 
one’s thoughts and ideas within. 
