by Laurel | January 18th, 2012
18 January 1899
Mayor Chapin, with the board of public works and the school committee, made a tour of investigation yesterday visiting some of the school buildings and several of the tenement schools. As a result the mayor is deeply impressed with the disadvantages of schools in tenement buildings and is more impressed than ever with the need of a new school building in the Highlands section. “I found schools yesterday,” he said last evening, “located at the top of the third story of a block with a narrow staircase leading up to it. The school rooms of this class are minus good blackboards and are heated by stoves. The sanitary conditions are also imperfect. In one block there are five school rooms.” The party also visited the almshouse, which they found in good condition, neat and clean. The remaining school and public buildings will be visited at an early day.
From The Springfield Republican.
