Page:Brunswick 100 Years of Memories.pdf/83

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Briggs, Campbell, Cooper, Giles, Hardy, Holland,

Hopewell, Jackson, James, King, Lipscomb, Monroe, Onley, Palmer, Terell, Stanfield and Walker. One youngster by the name of Anderson rode a horse from Lovettsville to attend daily classes at the Brunswick school. The two school buildings are still standing today and are in use as residences.

her sisters chose Frederick. The school train left at 7:25 A.M. and returned at 7 :00 P .M. - twelve hours with home work in each subject to be done. Prior to 1900, there had beenagitationforahigh school but no positive results. In 1900, Mr. Charles W. Wright, of Point of Rocks, as School Board member, set about establishing the High School. His active interest for ten years gained him the title "The Friend of Brunswick." The first high school was in one room of a building that had a storeroom but was also a residence, the Westall house, located at the comer of Sixth Avenue and East Potomac Street. The school entrance was on Potomac Street where at present a window is located. Dr. Crum had built the building, then sold it to James Westall, whose daughter, Bessie W. Strickler lived there after his death until her own demise. The school was authorized in August of 1900 by the School Board, and it opened in September with 31 pupils enrolled. Mr. Thomas W. Troxell, county native and a Dickinson College graduate, was the first principal of BHS, at $150 per term. In June 1902, BHS produced its first commencement exercises. Marye Pearl Montgomery was the lone graduate in the assembly hall of the building. Meanwhile, an additional room for 200 pupils was soon recommended. Mr. Shafer agitated for a separate high school building. Such an interest had never before been taken in the public school. No mere makeshift will satisfy our needs," said Shafer. He continued pressing for action. Build of brick! he cried. Four rooms are necessary, he wrote. In the minutes of Thursday, April 25, 1901, plans and specifications for a proposed addition to East Brunswick School submitted by Mr. Wesley Baltzell were adopted. Brunswick's trustees urged the board's early start on the promised addition to the elementary school. At June's meeting the money was appropriated for a four-room addition. It was occupied April 3, 1905. Mr. Troxell was appointed principal at $175 a term. He served the community seven years. After a two-year attempt, in 1904 a law passed requiring children between ages eight and twelve to attend school. The entire school system at Brunswick was crowded again by 1909 and a church and other buildings were again called into use. Students returned to school in 1909-10 to find another year added to the high school course. There was no graduation in 1909. Brunswick had the first manual training department in the county, being started in September 1905. Mr. Oscar Fogle, ofFrederick County, became

S - George A. Hardy W-BRH

BRUNSWICK MIDDLE SCHOOL Brunswick Middle School was opened in November 1984, housing sixth, seventh, and eighth grades from feeder schools Brunswick and Valley Elementary. It is near Brunswick High School on the former B&O Farm property. Middle school differs from junior high schools, which were close to a high school with younger members. Middle school is designed to help make a smoother transition for youngsters. There is a continuation of skills teaching. In sixth grade three teachers often teach four different classes, so that a student does not have new faces for every change of class. There are double periods oflanguage arts that help reduce the number of different teachers. An interdisciplinary team meets frequently so each knows what the other is doing and will be able to avoid confusing students with six different sets of rules, standards and other aspects of learning. The teams discuss the students so as to better understand them. W-MMM

BRUNSWICK HIGH SCHOOL Pictures of Brunswick High of 1900, 1902, 1912, 1928, and 1965 would be of five different buildings. The growth of the schools reflected the remarkable growth of the town during its first two decades. A September 3, 1914, article in the Brunswick Times credited Mayor Eugene Harrison with an active interest in the school from the beginning, as a member of the Board of Trustees. Once the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began erecting the shops and extensive switching yards, the workers began moving their families here. By 1900 the lack of high school facilities forced some pupils to attend school in Frederick and Hagerstown. Miss Carolyn Compton wrote that

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