SANFORD — Emerson School, that institution of learning named for essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, lies vacant. The last bell has rung for the school building that was constructed in 1901. The last student has walked its halls, the last class has been taught.
And as students and the school department move on to a different configuration of Sanford school buildings, some mementos found as the school was being emptied of desks and chairs and all manner of school-related items, have been passed on to the Sanford-Springvale Historical Society.
The most impressive of the artifacts is the massive, marble stone carved with the names of the school superintendent of the day, Myron Bennett, along with the building committee, the builder, architect and plumber. There’s a photo of the school, a portrait of Emerson, a bust of Thomas A. Edison, some Christmas ornaments from the 1980s depicting notable buildings in town, and a photo of a class of seventh-grade students on the front steps, circa 1924.
So what is a bust of Thomas A. Edison doing at Emerson School?
Well, explained Assistant School Superintendent Eric Knowlton, the bust used to be on display at Edison School, which closed in 2003.
“It was brought here for safekeeping,” said Knowlton, who said he’d also been told there was a bust of Abraham Lincoln in the old Lincoln School, which also closed in the 2000s ”“ but the whereabouts of the bust of the former president is currently unknown.
Emerson School, on Main Street opposite Central Fire Station, served as a grade 1-3 school in its final years but began life as a high school ”“ Longfellow School, long demolished, was Sanford’s first high school.
The closure of Emerson School leaves one neighborhood school ”“ Lafayette ”“ remaining out of many that had flourished at the end of the 19th century ”“ all named after notable figures ”“ Lincoln, Edison and Hawthorne, among others.
Historical society president Harland Eastman, who accepted the Emerson School artifacts, noted that earlier, Sanford and Springvale schools has been numbered, but Bennett, Sanford’s first school superintendent, decided the schools should be named.
Emerson School is closed as part of a long-range plan to lessen the frequency of student transfers from one school building to another, particularly during their elementary and middle school years ”“ and it also saves money. Sanford lost about $1.2 million in state funding due to declining enrollments. Sanford schools have eliminated about 30 teaching and teacher’s aide positions and a handful of non-teaching jobs due to the budget cuts.
The closure means that this fall, students who would normally have attended Emerson School will head to Willard School, which has served grades 4-6 for many years. Willard School will be re-configured as a 1-5 school. The sixth-grade students, who would normally have attended Willard School, will move to Sanford Junior High School. As well, two kindergarten classes will be added to Lafayette School ”“ one new class and one moved from Carl J. Lamb School.
Sanford has been approved for state school construction funding for a new elementary school as well as a new high school and technical school project. Eventually, once the new elementary school is built, all three Sanford elementary schools ”“ Carl J. Lamb, Margaret Chase Smith and the new school ”“ will be K-5, with all grade six classes part of a middle school for grades 6-8. At that juncture, Lafayette School will close.
On Wednesday, the school building was silent. Both Knowlton and Eastman remember when the classrooms were filled with youngsters.
Eastman had been a volunteer, reading to students here and in other neighborhood schools, for 17 years.
The two men stood in the lobby Wednesday, talking about the building, and wondering whether walls had been moved over the years.
“The top floor used to be a gym,” recalled Eastman.
Knowlton said there were eight classrooms ”“ big ones ”“ the size of which aren’t seen in schools today as well as a handful of smaller ones.
He said the school building ”“ and the eight acres that accompany it ”“ will be turned over to the city Sept. 1.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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