Academy park, and both preparing to increase their accommodations for pupils. In June, 1867, the struggle was AUSTIN SANFORD. renewed and the board of education again resolved "that the public school system of Albany requires a Free Academy, and that without such an institution the educational interests of the city cannot be advanced," and that the board "deem it their duty to press the claims of the public schools for a higher institution of learning, and that they will continue to do so until their efforts are crowned with success." It was Horace Greeley who once startled the country with the new principle in finance, that the way to resume (specie payments) is to resume. It was now discovered that the way to have a High School was to start one. The board of public instruction was found to have sufficient powers, and it was immediately resolved "that the said High School or Free Academy be opened for the reception of pupils on the first day of October next," and the details of organization were provided for. The foundation thus briefly outlined, under the law of 1866, is that upon which the whole grand fabric has been built. Difficulties were encountered in finding a substantial building, and the opposition of the conservatives . had by no means died out. Mayor, common council and police were engaged upon one side in an effort to break up the alleged unlawful and undemocratic scheme, and the board of public instruction, with the aid of parents and pupils, upon the other in defence of free education; the latter representing the public, and the public, after a contest that will long be remembered, finally won. The High School or Free Academy was opened in Van Vechten Hall, on State street, Sept. 7, 1868, with a class of 141. The "faculty consisted of Principal John E. Bradley, formerly principal of the Pittsfield High School, and teachers Charles W. Cole, Charles A. Horne, Miss Mary Morgan and Miss Rebecca I. Hindman. The board of education, including the four pioneers before named (James L. Babcock having taken the place of Mr. Townsend, who died in the winter of 1866), Mr. Charles P. Easton, afterwards for fifteen years chairman of the High School committee, and whose executive talents were of great value during the infancy of the school, three clergymen above named, Professor Samuel lature which passed a law-not Morel, Leo. H. Altmeyer and without great opposition - adThomas Spencer Lloyd were mitting it to the visitation of the elected to guide the students in board of regents and a share in WM. DUDLEY GOEWEY. French, German and music, respectively. Of the entering class thirty were found to be sufficiently advanced to form a higher class, and of these twenty-seven, all young women, completed the course and graduated at the end of three years, a noble testimonial to the usefulness of the new Free Academy, and a signal proof of the wisdom of the board in insisting upon throwing open the doors of the academy to the higher education of women, contrary to the views of the city council, who would have restricted the "experiment" to boys alone. To calm opposition, however, it was deemed wise at first to adopt a very conservative course, and a rule was adopted restricting girls to the English branches. This the press generally opposed and a public sentiment was created in favor of equal rights in education, to which the board of education gladly acceded, and (1875) the rule was abolished and boys and girls were allowed equal freedom in the choice of their studies. It was not until 1873 that the warfare over the Free Academy ceased and the legality of the school was ratified by the legis the distribution of the Literature Fund. In August of the same year the name of the school was changed to the ALBANY HIGH SCHOOL. The school was growing rapidly and in the next year the common council generously presented the old water works lot, at the head of Eagle street, and plans were invited for a new structure, those of Ogden & Wright being finally selected. Ground was broken for the new building September 24, 1874, and the building was completed and ready for dedication on May 5 of the centennial year, 1876. This occasion differed widely from the gloomy day when Commissioners Carpenter, Treadwell, Cole and Babcock and the rest of the board launched their frail bark on the troubled sea of public opinion. Mayor Bleecker Banks was there, the commissioners and members of the board of public instruction and members of pretty wives, their cousins and their aunts, than the platform would hold. There were profuse decorations of flags and flowers in the great hall, there was music and singing and speaking, and no end of congratulatory speeches. The young gentlemen and young ladies, all dressed and looking their smartest and prettiest, were proudly conscious, however, that they owed the success of the new High School, in a great measure, to their own endeavors, for many of them had carried from house to house, the petition which finally gained the day for the friends of the High School in the legislature. The Albany High School is a J. H. GILBERT. monument to the public spiritedness of a few earnest citizens and to the pluck and perseverance of Albany's girls and boys who were among its first pupils. The building is most advantageously situated, in a central part of the city and yet quite retired, so much so that the rumble of a wagon seldom disturbs the quietness of the place, and forming an angle of a great mass of buildings; the Capitol, the State House, the City Hall, the Academy and the High School fronting upon the beautiful square composed of the Capitol and Academy parks. Its style of architecture is called the "domestic Gothic," more properly, perhaps, a Franco-Belgic," since the peaked roofs, the gable ends and the dormer windows of the old Dutch style are modernized by an adaptation of the mansard roof and the stone windows and door lintels of the French. To the statistically minded enquirer it is sufficient to say, that the building is 87 feet on the front on Eagle street, and 135 feet on the side on Steuben street; that it is constructed of a lime-stone ashlar to the top of the basement, and the superstructure of Philadelphia pressed brick with black stone trimmings" and courses of white brick. It is three stories in height above the basement and the front tower, through which passes the main entrance, is 100 feet high. The cost was about $150,000. It is unnecessary here to describe the plan of the building. Suffice it to say that even in this day of advanced Richardsonian architecture and improved construction it is regarded as admirably adapted to the purposes for which it was constructed; it is well lighted throughout and well heated and ventilated. The sewerage arrangements are unexceptional and the health of the pupils has always been of the best. Plans for the addition to the High School and alterations to the main building have been completed, and the work will be taken in hand during next summer's vacation, if not at the east of the present structure, before. The new building will stand and harmonize with it in architect ure. air upon all sides, it will be joined To insure plenty of light and to the main building like the head of the letter T. It will extend across the full length of the eastern side of the building, nearly 95 feet, and front about 45 feet upon Steuben and Columbia streets. The basement, which will be high above the street, will furnish room for the manual training shops, and for a small gymnasium. The first floor will be devoted to offices and board room on the south of the central hall, and a fine library room in the north end, on Columbia street. The second floor will be devoted to study halls and recitation rooms. The large assembly hall on the third floor of the main building will be enlarged to seat 1,000 students, and the whole building, when the alterations and new wing are completed, will accommodate about 900 pupils. At the present increase of school population in the city, it seems probable that the day is not far distant when a new high school, fronting upon Washington park, will be one of the burning topics of the day. The library of the High School contains 6,650 volumes, and is not limited to the use of the school alone, but is a public free library, established under the laws of the state, and is open, under proper rules and regulations, to the use of all citizens and to the pupils of all the schools, by whom it is much used. Intimate relations are maintained with the State Library, not far distant, and pupils searching for information are encouraged to extend their researches to the larger and more generously supplied institution. Near by, too, and also under the control of the regents of the A. F. ONDERDONK. university, are the offices and laboratories of the State Museum of Natural History, with its interesting collections, and these are freely accessible to the students, and the professors at the heads of the vari tinguishing feature is its progressiveness. It is hampered by no traditions, and wedded to no theory. Its motto is "Excelsior." Every year something new added with a view to the improvement of the courses of study or to the appliances in use. is Among these features none, perhaps, are of more lasting value or more susceptible of further enlargement and improvement than the manual training system, introduced in 1888. The theory upon which the teaching, as pursued in the Albany High School is based, will be best explained by the following extract from the report of Superintendent Charles W. Cole: A mistaken idea is prevalent as to the meaning of manual training, it being confounded with the trade schools of the country, and much of the opposition which has been expressed to the system has been upon the theory that it was designed to teach trades. Not so. It is not intended or desired to give instruction in any particular trade to the exclusion of others. Trade schools are confined to particular branches, manual training is more comprehensive and takes in all. The prime object is the education of the mind, and of the important step was taken during hand as the agent of the mind, the past year in extending manual and to impart knowledge of such instruction to the girls in the Sloyd working tools and materials as are system of wood working and exerfound in the great industrial pur- cises in physical culture. It was suits of the world. To lay the at first feared there would be a foundation for mechanical pursuits, lack of interest on the part of the the same as our present literary girls; but your committee is happy system lays the foundation for to say that as one exercise sucprofessional and literary pursuits, ceeded another the interest inand to be an important adjunct creased, and that to-day our girls in all mercantile callings, so that are enthusiastic and earnest in when our boys graduate they will their efforts in this direction, and not be obliged to live by their wits evince satisfaction when their modalone, but will have the benefit els are completed and approved by of the dexterous hand directed by the instructress. Careless and an intelligent brain. Instruction indifferent methods of study are in the use of the common working corrected by the care and accuracy tools does not necessarily teach which must be exercised in the them to become mechanics any more than instruction in Latin and Greek teaches them to become lawyers or physicians. Its work is preparatory, not final. If it is desired to become a skilled artisan in any trade other avenues must be entered; manual training is but the beginning. To use a much quoted expression, it is putting the whole boy at school,' and educating him on all sides, giving him a better mental and physical preparation for life's work.' shop in the manipulation of the tools. * * * In the boys' department there has been steady progress on the lines marked out by the instructor last year, and about twenty-five completed models are the fruits of their labor. The work has not been confined simply to the school hours, but a number of the boys have devoted considerable time after school to shop work." On another page the committee says: While aware of the fact that At first, the "whittling class," good work was being done here as it was called, met with opposi- we were totally unprepared for the tion, both in the school and with- really remarkable results that have out, but gradually it was found been achieved, and, in view of that study was not interfered with them, it gives us much pleasure to but rather assisted by the healthful be able to assure you that we exercise and that there was noth- regard the training as eminently ing degrading in cutting down a successful and as a most desirable round stick to a square. The addition to the course of study. nobility of labor was recognized, The members of this committee and Vulcan was allowed standing are, all of them, persons whose room beside Minerva. This achieve- occupations require constantly the ment, it is safe to say, was not practice of accuracy of eye less in its ultimate importance than and skill of hand; they are conthe establishment of the High tinually forced to realize the lack School itself. The last report of of these qualities among people in the committee on manual training general, for want of early training, (1890) says: and the difficulties caused thereby, and they are, therefore, in a position rightly to estimate the value of such discipline as the pupils of the High School are now undergoing. In our opinion the training of the eye and hand, given by this actual handling of tools and judging and shaping of materials, is a most valuable element of practical "The progress in this department during the past year has been very satisfactory, and has removed it from the field of experiment to that of a practical and educational success. This has been due not only to the excellent instructors in this department, but to the interest, good will and coöperation of the students. An education, and we heartily recom |