A Brief History of Dunstable
"Dunstable, incorporated on October 15, 1673, once comprised 200 square miles (128,000 acres) extending from Londonderry, New Hampshire, to Chelmsford, Massachusetts. It was originally incorporated upon the petition of 26 proprietors of land along the Merrimack. During the 1700s, section after section broke off until 15 separate towns were formed, leaving Dunstable only 10,500 acres and a population of 380 in 1790.
The original town was named in honor of Mrs. Edward Tyng, who emigrated from Dunstable in Bedfordshire, England. The Tyngs were among the early settlers of the land purchased from the Wamesit and Naticook Indians in 1661 for £20 sterling. As we travel through Dunstable today, we pass houses that can be traced back to some of Dunstable's original settlers... the Proctors, Cummings, Kendalls, Butterfields, Blodgetts, Swallows and others."
From the book: Dunstable, Images of America
Copyright (c) 1998 by Susan Tully and Susan Psaledakis
ISBN 0-7524-1238-8
Woodward's Mill Pond
Whenever you turn from Pleasant Street onto Pond Street and see Woodward's Mill Pond, it is easy to picture the history of the place, which was recorded in Dunstable Village, one of the Dunstable history books that are available at the Dunstable Library.)
Woodward's Mill Pond was named after one of the original families of Dunstable. Thomas and John Woodward fought in the French and Indian war. Benjamin and Jonathan Woodward fought in the Revolutionary War under Capt. Oliver Cummings who led the Dunstable Company under Colonel Simeon Spaulding. In peace time, the Woodwards were millers, living on Pleasant St. The Woodward homestead, across from the pond on the north side of Pleasant Street, has been around for a long time.
Woodward Home, 1889
Woodward's Mill Pond may have been created back in the early 1700's, when the stream that feeds the pond, Black Brook, was dammed up to power the saw and grist mills of the Woodward family. The grist mill was behind the house on the north side of the stream, and the saw mill was on the south side of the stream. The Woodward family also ran a cooper shop across the street and a wheelwright shop and a blacksmith shop up the hill toward the center of town.
Woodward Sawmill
The Woodward sawmill had an up-and-down saw and was never modernized to the extent of having a circular saw installed. Nevertheless, they did very well, because logs and lumber were sometimes piled on either side of the road, leaving barely enough room for a wagon to go through.
When the history of the mill was recorded in Dunstable Village, Mr. James E. Kendall, one of the history tellers, recalled that the up-and-down sawmill was said to be "a deliberate affair in which the sawyer could sit on the log and consider his sins as the blade worked its way from one end of the log to the other." Apparently Thomas Woodward was not a sawyer to sit on a log and consider his sins, especially the sin of sloth, for as Mr. Kendall continued, "The story goes that he would start the saw into a log, put a bag of grain in the hopper of the gristmill, and go across the road to the cooper shop and drive a few hoops onto a barrel - while he watched fish lines set on the ice of the pond."
Union School Building 1895
What follows is a rather dry version of the history based on a much more colorful memoir written by Helen Proctor Mason that can be found in one of the Dunstable history books, Dunstable Village, which can be checked out or purchased at the Dunstable Library. Thank you to Curt Gates, the editor of Dunstable Village, and the Board of Selectmen for giving permission to draw so heavily on their book.
The Union School was built in 1895. The name Union School came from the fact that prior to its construction, school had been conducted in five one-room district schoolhouses located throughout the town. One of those original schoolhouses, District School No.2, can still be seen when you are heading west on Pleasant Street. Look for the small brick building on the right just past Salmon Brook. Until recently, it was used as the garage for the town Highway Department. Another one that is still standing, District School No.4, is the white clapboard building at the corner of Main and Fletcher Streets.
When the Union School was built, Dunstable had about 360 residents. Initially, classes were only held in the two rooms on the east side, until the school expanded to use three classrooms in 1902. The town library occupied the other room on the lower floor, until it was moved into the "new" Town Hall built by Sara Roby in 1909. After the library was moved, the fourth room was used as a lunchroom for many years.
Class sizes were comparable to today's class sizes, except there were three or more grades in each room. While one grade was reciting its lesson, the other grades would study, do written work like arithmetic or grammar, read their history or geography, write out spelling words, or do whatever else the teacher had set up for that time. On certain days, a period would be set aside for the whole room to have a writing lesson, a singing period or a drawing period.
he basement of the Union School was divided into a heating area and a play space for bad weather. Upstairs off the large halls were coat rooms. In a corner of the staircase on the first floor was a shelf on which stood a pail of water with a tin drinking cup hanging on the wall. There was a big hot-air register in the center of the entrance-hall floor. Wet woolen mittens were put there to dry.
There were various improvements over the years. A new heating and ventilation system was added in 1908 to remedy the problem of inadequate heating on the west side. A kitchen was added to the lunch room so they could serve hot lunches. After state law forbade the use of public cups in public places, the old bucket and drinking cup was replaced by an insulated tank with a spigot, and a container of paper cups. It wasn't until some years later that the school got its own water supply. And, eventually, the outhouses were replaced by indoor plumbing.
At the time when the district schools were consolidated into the Union School, most of the students rode to school in what were called school barges, drawn by horses. The barges were high wagons with steps out of the back. Black rubberized tops and sides were stretched over a framework. The sides were curtains that rolled up in good weather. In winter the floor was covered thick with hay and straw to keep the children's feet warm. When the snows came, the barges were put on runners, which made them sleighs. There was no such thing as a snow day. Three barges served the whole town, until motor vehicles were common place.
The Dunstable school was in a school superintendent's district that included Chelmsford and Tyngsboro in those days. Later the district was changed and Dunstable joined with the Pepperell schools. Many of the children who attended school in the early days of the Union School have names that you see and hear around town: Tully, Brow, Upton, Goldthwaite, Proctor, Clark, Kimball, Swallow, Hall, Woodward, and Drew. Today, the building still stands on the hill to remind us of the people who gave the town its character.
"Dunstable, incorporated on October 15, 1673, once comprised 200 square miles (128,000 acres) extending from Londonderry, New Hampshire, to Chelmsford, Massachusetts. It was originally incorporated upon the petition of 26 proprietors of land along the Merrimack. During the 1700s, section after section broke off until 15 separate towns were formed, leaving Dunstable only 10,500 acres and a population of 380 in 1790.
The original town was named in honor of Mrs. Edward Tyng, who emigrated from Dunstable in Bedfordshire, England. The Tyngs were among the early settlers of the land purchased from the Wamesit and Naticook Indians in 1661 for £20 sterling. As we travel through Dunstable today, we pass houses that can be traced back to some of Dunstable's original settlers... the Proctors, Cummings, Kendalls, Butterfields, Blodgetts, Swallows and others."
From the book: Dunstable, Images of America
Copyright (c) 1998 by Susan Tully and Susan Psaledakis
ISBN 0-7524-1238-8
Woodward's Mill Pond
Whenever you turn from Pleasant Street onto Pond Street and see Woodward's Mill Pond, it is easy to picture the history of the place, which was recorded in Dunstable Village, one of the Dunstable history books that are available at the Dunstable Library.)
Woodward's Mill Pond was named after one of the original families of Dunstable. Thomas and John Woodward fought in the French and Indian war. Benjamin and Jonathan Woodward fought in the Revolutionary War under Capt. Oliver Cummings who led the Dunstable Company under Colonel Simeon Spaulding. In peace time, the Woodwards were millers, living on Pleasant St. The Woodward homestead, across from the pond on the north side of Pleasant Street, has been around for a long time.
Woodward Home, 1889
Woodward's Mill Pond may have been created back in the early 1700's, when the stream that feeds the pond, Black Brook, was dammed up to power the saw and grist mills of the Woodward family. The grist mill was behind the house on the north side of the stream, and the saw mill was on the south side of the stream. The Woodward family also ran a cooper shop across the street and a wheelwright shop and a blacksmith shop up the hill toward the center of town.Woodward Sawmill
The Woodward sawmill had an up-and-down saw and was never modernized to the extent of having a circular saw installed. Nevertheless, they did very well, because logs and lumber were sometimes piled on either side of the road, leaving barely enough room for a wagon to go through.
When the history of the mill was recorded in Dunstable Village, Mr. James E. Kendall, one of the history tellers, recalled that the up-and-down sawmill was said to be "a deliberate affair in which the sawyer could sit on the log and consider his sins as the blade worked its way from one end of the log to the other." Apparently Thomas Woodward was not a sawyer to sit on a log and consider his sins, especially the sin of sloth, for as Mr. Kendall continued, "The story goes that he would start the saw into a log, put a bag of grain in the hopper of the gristmill, and go across the road to the cooper shop and drive a few hoops onto a barrel - while he watched fish lines set on the ice of the pond."
Union School Building 1895
What follows is a rather dry version of the history based on a much more colorful memoir written by Helen Proctor Mason that can be found in one of the Dunstable history books, Dunstable Village, which can be checked out or purchased at the Dunstable Library. Thank you to Curt Gates, the editor of Dunstable Village, and the Board of Selectmen for giving permission to draw so heavily on their book.
The Union School was built in 1895. The name Union School came from the fact that prior to its construction, school had been conducted in five one-room district schoolhouses located throughout the town. One of those original schoolhouses, District School No.2, can still be seen when you are heading west on Pleasant Street. Look for the small brick building on the right just past Salmon Brook. Until recently, it was used as the garage for the town Highway Department. Another one that is still standing, District School No.4, is the white clapboard building at the corner of Main and Fletcher Streets.
When the Union School was built, Dunstable had about 360 residents. Initially, classes were only held in the two rooms on the east side, until the school expanded to use three classrooms in 1902. The town library occupied the other room on the lower floor, until it was moved into the "new" Town Hall built by Sara Roby in 1909. After the library was moved, the fourth room was used as a lunchroom for many years.
Class sizes were comparable to today's class sizes, except there were three or more grades in each room. While one grade was reciting its lesson, the other grades would study, do written work like arithmetic or grammar, read their history or geography, write out spelling words, or do whatever else the teacher had set up for that time. On certain days, a period would be set aside for the whole room to have a writing lesson, a singing period or a drawing period.
he basement of the Union School was divided into a heating area and a play space for bad weather. Upstairs off the large halls were coat rooms. In a corner of the staircase on the first floor was a shelf on which stood a pail of water with a tin drinking cup hanging on the wall. There was a big hot-air register in the center of the entrance-hall floor. Wet woolen mittens were put there to dry.
There were various improvements over the years. A new heating and ventilation system was added in 1908 to remedy the problem of inadequate heating on the west side. A kitchen was added to the lunch room so they could serve hot lunches. After state law forbade the use of public cups in public places, the old bucket and drinking cup was replaced by an insulated tank with a spigot, and a container of paper cups. It wasn't until some years later that the school got its own water supply. And, eventually, the outhouses were replaced by indoor plumbing.
At the time when the district schools were consolidated into the Union School, most of the students rode to school in what were called school barges, drawn by horses. The barges were high wagons with steps out of the back. Black rubberized tops and sides were stretched over a framework. The sides were curtains that rolled up in good weather. In winter the floor was covered thick with hay and straw to keep the children's feet warm. When the snows came, the barges were put on runners, which made them sleighs. There was no such thing as a snow day. Three barges served the whole town, until motor vehicles were common place.
The Dunstable school was in a school superintendent's district that included Chelmsford and Tyngsboro in those days. Later the district was changed and Dunstable joined with the Pepperell schools. Many of the children who attended school in the early days of the Union School have names that you see and hear around town: Tully, Brow, Upton, Goldthwaite, Proctor, Clark, Kimball, Swallow, Hall, Woodward, and Drew. Today, the building still stands on the hill to remind us of the people who gave the town its character.