Name/Title
Eastport Primary School | Boynton Manor | 32 Boynton Street, Eastport, Maine | I7-0C3-02/03 | District #74Entry/Object ID
074Description
This two story wooden hip roof building was built in 1914 as the Eastport Primary School and stood next to the Eastport Grammar School building that had been built in 1898. These two school buildings represented a consolidation of school buildings in Eastport from the earlier and much smaller outlying schools including the South End School the North End School and the Out Island School. The Eastport Primary School building was constructed on the same lot as Memorial Hall that was destroyed by fire the year before in 1913. The Eastport Primary School building was designed by the firm of Gibbs and Pulsifer, architects of Lewiston, Maine. The original building was 78 feet wide and 65 feet deep. The school initially housed grades one through four and later a kindergarten grade was added. The school building continued to be used until about 1977, a year after the Grammar School was destroyed by fire, and when a new elementary school building was built on the nearby Battery Field in Eastport. Soon afterwards, the Eastport Primary School building was converted to apartment housing with a two story addition made on the rear. The building is now known as Boynton Manor.
From Eastport Sentinel, September 23, 1914, p.2:
Eastport's New School Building.
The Handsome Structure is a Credit to the City, and Opened On Monday Last.
Eastport's beautiful new school building on Boynton Street was formally accepted by the City on Monday and occupied by the scholars on that day. Miss Sarah L. Whelpley is the principal of the new school and will teach grades 3 and 4, and will be assisted by the following list of teachers: Grade 5, Miss Katherine Lamond; Grade 4, Miss Maud Huckins and Miss Mary Gilligan; Grad 3, Miss Emma L. Paine; Grade 2, Miss Alice Milliken; Grade 1, Miss Mary Cassidy and Miss Winifred Murphy.
The entire school, from the excavation work to the completion of the building, was built by contracts awarded to local firms and individuals and the completed building stands as a tribute to their skill and labor. Gibbs & Pulsifer of Lewiston, were the architects who made the plans of the new building and the contract for erecting the wooden building from the foundation up was awarded to Thomas F. Mabee and Walter Warnock, contracters and carpenters of this city. The excavation work for the cellar and foundation of the building, which is situated on the former Memorial Hall lot, was done under the supervision of Freeman Varney, the well known mason and contracter. The concrete foundation and steps were also constructed under Mr. Varney's supervision. The electric wiring was done under the direction of Roy E.. Vose, Superintendent of the Eastport Lighting Company and the work was pronounced highly satisfactory by the Underwriters Fire Insurance Co. The heating, plumbing and ventilation contract was awarded to the F.A. Buck Co. of this city and the fittings and furnishings were purchased from J.A. Ferris & Son.
The building is 78 feet front, 65 feet deep and 30 foot posts, built of the best quality lumber, having a hip roof with shingles of fireproof asbestos slate. The steps at the front and rear entrances are of concrete. 12 1-2 feet wide and with 7 steps in front and 10 in the rear. The double doors opening outward are of white pine, veneered with glass panels and side lights, and attractive verandas are over the front and rear entrances. A 12-inch electric gong, with push button, for calling the scholars at sessions, is located over the front entrance. The grounds leading up to the front entrance are to be graded and an attractive lawn made with a number of trees set out in the Spring. The building is of two stories and on each floor extending from the front to the rear doors, are wide, roomy, well lighted and ventilated corridors, and on each side between the school rooms are smaller corridors lined with hooks for the coats and hats of the scholars. On each floor is a sanitary drinking fountain, near the center of the corridor There are eight school rooms in the building, four on each floor. These rooms are 24 by 32 feet and 12 feet high ,each having two doors with transom, opening at the ends of the corridors. Each room is plainly finished with the best quality of birch, which is used in all parts of the buliding. All of the rooms are plastered, walls and ceilings, and each has 50 seats, a desk and chair for the teacher, blackboards, of which there are 1378 square feet in the building, on two walls; each room has radiators on two sides, a small closet for books, a large and modern ventilator, and the doors are of birch. Lighting is furnished by five windows, 4 feet wide and 10 feet long, ranged in a row on one side of the room only, in accordance with the State school laws. There are two pairs of stairs, 4 feet in width, leading from the first floor, near the front and rear entrances to the second floor and half way up is a a wide landing with three windows overlooking the verandas over the entrances. The stairs are of birch and of plain construction. The four rooms on the second floor are identically the same as those on the first floor, in size and furnishings. On the second floor, just over the front stairway is a small office for the principal of the school and over the rear stairway is a similar room for the eight teachers, also a lavatory The attic, which is unfinished, is reached from the principals room, and from the attic is the passage to the roof where a 20 foot Oregon pine pole has been placed and from which the national colors will be flown. There are two large copper ventilating hoods on the roof, also a dormer window furnishing light for the attic. There are 62 windows in the building giving excellent lighting facilities. The entrance to the basement is by stairway at the left just inside the front entrance to the building. In this basement there are ten rooms, including play rooms for the children during the winter and toilet rooms for boys and girls. In the former are seven set bowls and enamel sink, while in the latter are five set bowls and sink. The floors in all of the basement rooms are of granolithic. The basement was made possible by blasting 10 feet of solid rock and the foundation is constructed of concrete with three feet of brick topping, and the partitions are also of brick. An ideal sectional steam heater, direct and indirect, having a heating surface of 10,00 feet and made by the American Radiator Co., of Chicago, is set up in the basement. A fuel room, with a capacity of 40 tons of coal, is located near the heater. Ventilators, extending to all parts of the building, are also located in the basement, and light is furnished by 28 large windows.
The entire building was constructed in accordance with the School building laws of the state and is one of the finest buildings of its kind in the state. Accommodations can be had for 400 scholars, and the grades formerly in the Brooks school are housed in the new building as well as those from the Key St., Institute which was used as a school room after the Memorial Hall fire. The total cost of the building is expected to be slightly in excess of $32,000.
From Eastport Sentinel, September 23, 1914, p. 6:
An adjourned regular meeting of the City Council was held at the city rooms on Monday evening at 7.30 o’clock, Mayor E.M. Cherry presiding. ... By unanimous vote of the council it was decided to name the new school building on Boynton Street The Eastport Primary School.