Visit our Billerica, Massachusetts, USA (North Billerica) page!
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.
The Mitchell Military Boys School
The Mitchell Military Boys School was opened in Billerica in 1879 by Professor Moses C. Mitchell, an 1862 graduate of Waterville College, now Colby, in Waterville, Maine. Professor Mitchell had taught at a number of academies in Maine before becoming proprietor of a private boy’s school in Edgartown, MA. After eleven years on Martha’s Vineyard, he moved his school to its impressive location on the corner of Andover Road and Boston Road in Billerica. Initial enrollment was limited to twenty-four residential students but that number soon grew. Tuition was $400 per year at this time and thirty years later, in 1909, it was $600 plus approximately $75 in mandatory expenses. By 1929 the cost of the school had climbed to about $1300.
A fire on January 11, 1888 demolished this grand building...
Professor M.C. Mitchell had previously bought a large tract of land on “the Bedford road” (Concord Road) just outside the town’s center. It was on this acreage that he rebuilt his school. This new location boasted handsome buildings and over 60 beautiful acres of gardens, riding trails and athletic fields. It is believed to have been a first in New England; a private property expressly planned and erected as a home school for boys. Other such schools utilized pre-existing buildings that were remodeled to act as schools. Due to a lot of drive and hard work, on October 8, 1888 the new term began at this glorious, new, fully modern, Mitchell Boys School...
billericalibray.org
Postcard
Posted in the Past: Revealing the true stories written on a postcard
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.
The Mitchell Military Boys School
The Mitchell Military Boys School was opened in Billerica in 1879 by Professor Moses C. Mitchell, an 1862 graduate of Waterville College, now Colby, in Waterville, Maine. Professor Mitchell had taught at a number of academies in Maine before becoming proprietor of a private boy’s school in Edgartown, MA. After eleven years on Martha’s Vineyard, he moved his school to its impressive location on the corner of Andover Road and Boston Road in Billerica. Initial enrollment was limited to twenty-four residential students but that number soon grew. Tuition was $400 per year at this time and thirty years later, in 1909, it was $600 plus approximately $75 in mandatory expenses. By 1929 the cost of the school had climbed to about $1300.
A fire on January 11, 1888 demolished this grand building...
Professor M.C. Mitchell had previously bought a large tract of land on “the Bedford road” (Concord Road) just outside the town’s center. It was on this acreage that he rebuilt his school. This new location boasted handsome buildings and over 60 beautiful acres of gardens, riding trails and athletic fields. It is believed to have been a first in New England; a private property expressly planned and erected as a home school for boys. Other such schools utilized pre-existing buildings that were remodeled to act as schools. Due to a lot of drive and hard work, on October 8, 1888 the new term began at this glorious, new, fully modern, Mitchell Boys School...
billericalibray.org
Postcard
Posted in the Past: Revealing the true stories written on a postcard