We have scheduled our annual yard sale for Saturday, August 24. We are looking for donations of gently used items suitable for resale. If you can help us, please call or e-mail us. All proceeds benefit the operating costs of the museum. rochesterhistorical@metrocast.net

Allen School in its Early Days

The old school had large square rooms with high ceilings.  In the corridors outside the room was a row of hooks where children hung their outer clothing before entering the classroom.  The drinking fountains were also in the corridors.  Huge windows were the only source of light and on cloudy days it was difficult working on the dim light.  The floors were wood without covering, and the desks and chairs were screwed into the floors in straight rows.  The students sat facing the teacher whose desk was at the front of the room.

Classes were not of the same size because all children within walking distance attended the school.  Some walked well over a mile.  Teachers could often have classes of up to fifty pupils.  In 1925 Miss Charlotte Leighton had 62 pupils in her eighth grade class.  The preceding year Miss Bernice Frye’s first grade had 57.

Electric lights were installed in Allen school in 1922.  This included a single light over each teacher’s desk and lights in the basement and corridors.  In 1930 the entire building was wired for lights.  The belfry was removed from the building in 1933.

Classes opened at 8:45 AM with the teacher taking attendance.  Every day the teacher led the class with the Lord’s Prayer and a salute to the flag. (From 1925 to 1959 the flag had 48 stars.)  Then she usually read a short story or a chapter of a story to the class.  There was a piano in every room and the teacher led the pupils in song.  There was a twenty minute recess mid- morning.

At 11:45 the school closed for lunch.  Afternoon classes began at 1:45PM.  There was no lunchroom or gym in the building.  Children all went home for lunch unless they had special permission to stay in the building.  The boys and girls who were allowed to stay spent the time in separate rooms with the janitor in charge.  In bad weather the pupils were sometimes excused from the afternoon session.

Every child between 6 and 16 was required to attend school unless excused for ill health.

Until 1939 students went eight years to elementary school.  There was a graduation ceremony at each school in June of each year with graduates receiving diplomas.

The Last Graduating 8th Grade Class at Allen School, 1939

When the new Spaulding High School opened in September 1939 the seventh and eighth grades were moved to the high school.

On the left is William Allen and his wife Anna, beloved teachers of the school.  The school was named for him.  The school that replaced the old school in the 1900′s still bears his name.

Florence Horne Smith

Rochester Historical Society

1990’s

In the spring of 1820, a petition was circulated in the town of Rochester and sent to the trustees of the Newmarket Wesleyan Academy requesting that the institution relocate to Rochester. Some Rochester residents were opposed because the school had religious connections, but the move was accomplished in 1827.

Inside the School

A lot was purchased from John Roberts Jr. and a two story brick building was erected with a large front yard on South Main Street. The academy did very well for years until enrollment declined in 1846.

The Weslyan Academy on Academy Street

The proprietors leased the upper floor of building to the International Order of Odd Fellows. Caroline Knight continued to run the school on the first floor until 1872 when it closed.
In 1875 the Odd Fellows block, was built in the front yard of school. Abijah Nason purchased the old academy and remodeled it into a two family house in 1877 (now 6 and 8 Academy Street). He also built another house on an adjoining lot. This was evidently the beginning of Academy Street. The name probably came into being at this time.
The Rochester Courier of April 13, 1877, reported that there was much building on Academy Street. Mr. Bradley was putting in a cellar for a two story house. Mr. Clark was building a two story house on the south side and Mr. Carter was putting in a cellar. Beautiful, tree lined Academy Street attracted many prominent businessman. Among its residents were Captain Albert Hayes, owner of the Hayes Block, Burnham R. Dewitt, a druggist, and Dr. J.H. Neil. Dr. Lewis Gilman lived at Academy Street with his mother in 1893.

N. Thurston Kimball lived in the house on the corner of Academy and South Main Street. The unoccupied house stands there today (1998). Kimball’s deep lot had considerable frontage on the new street. In March 1915, Kimball sold a portion of his lot to Dr. Walter Roberts. The new owner built a handsome eight room house now owned by Strafford Guidance Center at 9 Academy Street.
Compiled by Florence H. Smith
Rochester Historical Society
July 1998

Dynamite Corner

The incident on December 4, 1884, at Dynamite Corner, six miles from town in Strafford, was known to everyone in Rochester .  The Rochester Courier stated,” The explosion was heard a number of miles away and the light from the fire seen as well.  During the evening and night hundreds of people visited the scene of the disaster.”

Dynamite Corner is about a mile from the Crown Point Baptist Church where the road from Merrill’s Corner entered Crown Point Road. Stephen Young had a large, two- story, square- shaped, farm house on the south side of the road close to the intersection.  His barn was across the street from the house.

In Stephen Young’s home lived the widowed Stephen Young, age 83, and his daughter Mary Ann.   Also living in the home were Ella Ready, age 17 and her little sister, Maggie.  The two girls had been adopted from an orphanage in Boston.  Also visiting in the house that day was Sadie Greenfield, daughter of Charles Greenfield, banker and manufacturer, who lived on Wakefield Street in Rochester, NH

In the fall of 1884 Stephen had decided to dig a new well near his barn.  No sooner had they started the project than they ran into ledge.  Stephen’s neighbor, Z. Taylor Berry age about 30 was helping him.  Taylor Berry had recently returned from California where he had been involved in some mining.  In spite of this experience, he did not feel he had the ability to use dynamite.   It had been less than 20 years since its invention and it was known to be very dangerous and unpredictable.

Mr. Young ordered some dynamite from Lowell, Massachusetts.  George Young Jr. age 25, the son of George Young and Abby Railey, had been born and raised in Lowell.  He had obtained some of his education in this area at Berwick Academy.  He had some experience using dynamite while he was out West.  He was in charge of its use for the well digging project.

Dynamite was on the list of dangerous materials that the American Express Company would not carry.  The dynamite was concealed in a laundry basket and covered with clothes to look like it was from the Lowell Laundry.  The basket arrived at the depot in Rochester on the Boston, Lowell, Nashua, and Rochester train and it was carried to Strafford by an express wagon that traveled from Rochester to Barnstead regularly.  The driver, Charles Parsons, had no idea what he was hauling in the laundry basket.

It was cold outside and the well diggers were afraid the dynamite would not work if it got too cold so they brought it into the house.  They hung some of it up in a row behind the kitchen stove.

On Thursday afternoon, December 4, at about 5:00 the workers came into the house.  They were neighbors, George Goodwin, Taylor Berry, and hired man Joseph May.  George Young had a homemade detonator.  He had been experimenting with it, but couldn’t get it to work.  The men were nervous about his experimentation and went back outside.  Soon Young called them in to supper promising that he would not work on the detonator.  The men were washing up preparing for the meal.  Joseph May was standing at the top of the cellar stairs wiping his hands on a roller towel that hung on the cellar door when he saw Young fooling with the detonator again.  He was told to leave it alone; but he ignored the advice and brought the two wires together.

The dynamite exploded. All four walls of the first floor of the house were blown out and only the corner posts were left standing, holding up the second floor.

Ella Ready had been preparing the supper.  As she opened the door from the dining room to the kitchen, the explosion threw her backward onto the dining room floor.  She was unconscious.  When she came to there was a heavy beam across her chest.  She managed to lift the beam up, but her skirts were fastened down by debris and she could not get up.  Neighbor, Joshua Berry, who had heard the explosion and came running, rescued her and another neighbor, Charles Brock, took her to the Berry’s house.

Ella’s little sister, Maggie, was coming home from school late.  Ella’s eyes were badly burned, but she was able to make out the sight of her sister coming over the hill and she was very relieved to see that she was safe.  The Courier reported that Ella was badly burned about the face, arms, and wrists and she  raised considerable blood.  Her eyes became so swollen that she could not see, yet she had good courage and was able to joke to the reporter that she did not want anyone to see “how handsome I am”.  Her little sister said that she wished it had been her in the house alone so the others would have not been injured.  Ella eventually recovered from her frightful injuries.

Sadie Greenfield and Stephen Young were sitting in the parlor when the explosion occurred. Stephen was found face down on the parlor floor.  He was not seriously hurt.  However, the Rochester Courier reported that because of his age, he might not recover from the shock. His friends disagreed and were hopeful he would recover.   Mr. Young did live to age 91, eight  years after losing his home and all of his possessions.

Sadie was found lying on the ground some distance away from the house. It was said her body followed the walls out in the explosion.  She was badly bruised, but she was able to make the trip back to her father’s home on Wakefield Street that night.  The following June Sadie married George Young.

George had been the first one found in the ruins.  In spite of his being a large man weighing 240 pounds, he had been blown out of the back of the house.  His clothes were on fire and he was terribly burned about the lower part of his body.  He was taken to a neighbor’s, the Frank Young home.  His recovery was slow but he did survive his injuries.  He and Sadie married and lived in Concord, Massachusetts, where he worked as a prison officer for the next thirty years.  He became ill and spent the last nine years of his life on Wakefield Street in Rochester at the home of Sadie’s father.  He worked in Rochester as an automobile inspector.  He belonged to seven organizations including the Masons, Knights Templar, and Odd Fellows.

George Goodwin, one of the workers on the well, ran out of the ruins a moment after the explosion.  His clothes were on fire.  Neighbors put out the fire and assisted him to Mr. Berry’s across the street.  He didn’t appear to be seriously injured. Mrs. Berry was washing his face as he was telling her about the explosion, when he suddenly said,” I am going to die.  I’m bleeding inside.”  He did die a few hours later. He left a grieving widow and two small children.

No one knew where Mary Ann Young had been at the time of the explosion, but she was found unconscious at the back of the house under a pile of debris.  She too was taken to Joshua Berry’s home.  As she drifted in and out of consciousness, she often repeated, “I told him not to fool with it.”  Mary died four days later of her injuries.  She was remembered as a very well known and loved woman, the mother of one son, Stephen Young, who had recently earned his medical degree and was later a doctor in Rochester.

Joseph May often worked for Stephen Young as a hired man.  The newspaper referred to him as a German immigrant boy, but records show he was born in Philadelphia.  Mr. May was found in the cellar under a pile of debris.  He was rescued by Benjamin Berry, George Brock, and W. P. Stanton.  He, too, was burned, badly bruised, and delirious for several days.  He was treated along with three others in the home of Joshua Berry by several area doctors.  He recovered, but lost the sight in one eye.  Joseph was the last person rescued.  After his rescue the remainder of the house burned to the ground.

The eighth victim of the accident was Z. Taylor Berry.  He was found buried in a pile of rubble at the back of the house.  His clothes were on fire.  His rescuers threw water on him.  He, too, was taken to Joshua Berry’s makeshift hospital with severe burns, bruises, and an injured back that left him paralyzed from the waist down.  The paper stated that “he cannot live.”  Taylor Berry had been in the army and fought in skirmishes in the Black Hills of North Dakota before going to California where he had worked hard and done well so that he had bought livestock and an interest in a ranch.  He had recently sold out and returned to Strafford to try to convince his father to go back out west with him.  Taylor suffered three years with his injuries.  His father James Huckins Berry, of Second Crown Point Road sued and was rewarded $5,000, a considerable sum at the time.  He had these words inscribed on his son’s grave stone,” Here lies my darling only son, caused by a rebel whose name is Young. Z.T. Berry Died September 8, 1887.”  This monument is in the cemetery beside the Crown Point Baptist church.

It was common in the days before widespread multimedia for people to write about a tragedy in ballard form. The following cautionary poem was written by W.E. Burrows.  The copy that was found noted that Burrows was “a Farmington peddlar of sorts”:

Crown Point Accident

By

W. E. Burrows

Come all good people both high and low,

Don’t try to show off more than you know,

For oft times you’ll fail in doing so,

And injure friends where e’er you go.

Come all good neighbors both far and near,

A warning story you shall hear,

Of a sad accident that happened of late,

On Crown Point Road in the Granite State.

A man by the name of Young lived there,

Who had placed his house in good repair,

And finishing up the work begun,

Prosperity through their household run.

A box from Lowell to the old man came,

With dynamite cartridges by name,

A willful, ugly, foolish boy,

Played with them as he would a toy.

They tried to have him stop the play,

But he only sneered and felt more gay,

And laughing with a foolish swell,

Saying I’ll blow you somewhere else to dwell.”

But he kept on with his foolish show,

Until the cartridges their blast did blow;

It blew the house in pieces there,

And left the inmates in despair.

The neighbors quickly to them appear,

To help them and to see and hear.

They found their neighbors badly burned,

Stunned and bruised, they quickly learned.

The groans from the lame, the wounded and dying,

It was very cruel and heart trying,

To see their home consumed by flame,

Their money and their goods the same.

About eighty-three was the old man’s age,

Too old to be driven from home’s fair stage,

To be left within a neighbor’s care,

To be waited on in foul or fair.

You willful, ugly, foolish boys,

Mind how you handle dangerous toys,

For they are dangerous in your hand,

And they’ll blow you to some other land,

Two of their number are taken away,

A man and a maiden so they say,

A Mr. Goodwin in the bloom of life,

Torn from his children and his wife.

The rich and the poor, the high and the low,

When death doth call, then you must go,

Our friends and companions are lent but a day,

And soon they are called and taken away.

Kind friends these lines to you I send,

They surely were written by a friend,

And when you search my story through,

You will find these lines are surely true.

The statue was dedicated on July 3, 1896.  The square was a solid mass of people with every available store and office window and flat roof used by spectators.  Most of Rochester’s 8000 residents, as well as visitors from surrounding towns, were eager to see the new monument.

The speaker from the committee in charge of obtaining the monument said, “Today we place on a pedestal of granite the statue of a man whose learning and piety did so much for the early days of Rochester.”    He presented it to the City saying, “I commit it to your guardianship, trusting that it may be faithfully cared for and protected in all the years to come.”

Mayor Samuel D. Felker accepted the statue on behalf of the city and said the city “will ever guard and protect it …   As we pass by this statue … may we remember the trials and triumphs of the past; get new inspiration for the duties of today.”

On the left is the Dodge Hotel which was taken down in1902.  On the right are houses that once lined Wakefield Street

The area around the statue has seen many changes.

In the mid 1900s busses stopped by Woolworth’s Store, traffic went around the monument, and a stoplight was beside it.

Horses were replaced by automobiles which at various times went around it in a variety of traffic patterns.  In 1983 a major downtown revitalization project included the area around the statue.  A larger park with benches and a pedestrian plaza was built and trees were planted.  The statue remained the historic centerpiece of Rochester’s Central Square.

As early as 1825 a two horse stagecoach ran twice a week between Dover and Wakefield.  It stopped at Rochester’s Central Square where the current Wakefield, North Main and South Main Streets intersect.  A young widow, Mrs. John (Sarah) Odiorne, provided for her family by opening her nearby house to provide food and lodging for travelers.  In 1834 her business was purchased by Jonathan T. Dodge who had worked for her for ten years.  He also purchased the stagecoach line and ran a stage from Dover to Conway three times a week.  The stage, carrying mail and passengers, went to Conway one day and returned to Dover the next.  By the late 1840s he was running daily four and six horse stagecoaches between Dover and Ossipee.  At their peak his stables had ninety horses.

Rochester became a stagecoach center with six horse stagecoaches arriving from Wakefield, Conway, Wolfeboro, Sandwich, Farmington, and Gilmanton and heading to points south and east.  Passengers headed in different directions changed stagecoaches in Rochester.  Dodge’s tavern and inn served them.  His wooden building burned in 1851 and was replaced by the larger brick Dodge Hotel.

Although the stagecoaches were being replaced by the railroads, the Dodge Hotel remained busy.  Railroad passengers could walk along the newly constructed Hanson’s Street to get to the hotel on the Square.  The hotel which could accommodate around 70 people was well known for its cleanliness, excellent beds, and fine food.

Jonathan T. Dodge died in 1871 and his widow, Sarah (Hanson) Dodge, with the help of their son, J. Thorne Dodge, continued to run the hotel with the same high standards.  She died in 1889 at 80 years of age.  Her obituary noted, “Mrs. Dodge was a woman of much executive ability, and a great worker, preferring from choice to superintend the cooking for the hotel.  She was an excellent cook and her receipts have been sought by housekeepers far and near.  Dodge’s Hotel has always been noted for the homelikeness of its cuisine and for the comfort it afforded travelers.”  Her son ran the hotel until he died suddenly in 1901.

In 1902 the remaining members of the Dodge family no longer wanted to run a hotel.  It was torn down and replaced with a three story brick commercial building known as the Dodge Block.  It was soon occupied by a variety of businesses, including banks, dentists, jeweler, drug, clothing, shoe, and hardware stores, law, real estate, and insurance offices, the local telephone exchange office, and the Masonic lodge rooms that filled the third floor.

In 1908 the building described in the Rochester Courier as “the most conspicuous, the newest, most modern and valuable of the business blocks of the city” was heavily damaged by fire.  Although the firemen worked heroically and were able to prevent the flames from spreading to other buildings, the Dodge Block was left in ruins.

It was rebuilt as a two story building.  Woolworth’s five and dime store was on the first floor from 1912 until December 31, 1981. With its wooden floors, lunch counter, and wide variety of goods, Woolworths was a popular shopping destination for generations of area residents.  The F W Woolworth chain, for many years one of the world’s largest retail chains, sold discounted general merchandise at fixed prices, originally five and ten cents.

The Dodge Block is currently occupied by Citizens Bank.

The Early Years

Following the Civil War increasing prosperity gave Americans more disposable income and more leisure time.  The railroads made it easier for performers to travel.  Nearly every city and town had a public meeting space with a stage for lectures and entertainments.  These auditoriums were commonly called Opera Houses, even though they were not built for the opera and many never had an opera performed in them.  The term opera house was considered more cultured than hall, but didn’t have the negative connotations of theater, which in those days was associated with drunkenness and loose morals.  The opera houses were busy places with a variety of activities including plays, lectures, religious revivals, school meetings, dances, and musical performances.  Vaudeville shows were especially popular.

In Rochester in 1878 Captain Albert Hayes built a four story building which still stands on the corner of Congress and North Main Streets.   The Hayes Opera House occupied the third and fourth floors.  It was Rochester’s first public hall with a real stage, scenery, and a drop curtain with a border of advertisements from local merchants around a central picture.  Some of the country’s foremost actors and musicians appeared here before it closed in the 1910s.

In 1893 Rochester Mayor Orrin A. Hoyt recommended building a city hall large enough for all city offices, police and fire alarm stations, and a public library.  He also said, “When I say a city hall I do not mean an opera house.” By this time many other cities and towns were including auditoriums in their municipal buildings.  In 1902-03 a new fire station with an auditorium upstairs was built in East Rochester.  The City Council authorized spending $300 to furnish this hall.

In 1906 when money was appropriated for Rochester City Hall the plans did include an opera house.  Designed by George Gilman Adams the auditorium featured a horseshoe shaped balcony, grand proscenium, Victorian detailing, beautiful stenciling and murals, and near perfect acoustics.  Adams, who designed many government and civic buildings, also patented a unique movable floor design.  The floor could be raised to slope for amphitheater seating or be lowered to be flat for dances.

Furnishing city hall included furnishing the opera house.  The seats, still in use today, cost $2463.87.  Other large expenses included $1835 for scenery and asbestos curtain, and the purchase of two pianos.  The city ran the opera house under the direction of the mayor.  Its income and expenses were part of the city budget.  In its opening year the expenses were $457.72 and its income was $980.16.  In 1909 the expenses were $1295.07 and the income was $1605.74.  In 1924 the expenses were $1217.07 and the receipts were $2547.28.  In 1938 income dropped to $788.97, but still exceeded the expenses of $700.01.

City Hall was opened to the public on Decoration (Memorial) Day in 1908.  The GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) composed of Union veterans of the Civil War held a program in the Opera House.  Martha Safford, widow of a Civil War veteran, attended.  She wrote in her diary,  “The Grand Army dedicated the new Opera House last eve.  They call it the “City Hall”.  I went with the Relief Corps.  They had speaking and music.”  On June 15 she attended the first of many prize speaking contests.  It was apparently a full house as she noted,  “Good.  I sat where I could.  The Hall is clean but seems small.”  The Rochester Courier described it as “elegant” and a “fine little theater.”

The first dramatic production was a play, “Miss Petticoats”, presented on September 4, 1908 by a professional touring company.  It brought in $177. The Rochester Courier lavished praise on this opening saying, “large audience went home well pleased with the opera house, the play and the company … stage entirely up to date in all its appointments … splendid acoustic properties of the theatre were especially remarked upon.”

Other plays followed including “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and “Peck’s Bad Boy”.   For the next 30 years the opera house was a busy place with dramatic performances, concerts, minstrel shows, vaudeville acts, dances, lectures, and political rallies.  As the popularity of movies increased the attendance at live stage productions declined.  In 1923 radio provided a new use for the opera house as audiences could listen to concerts and lectures from around the country.

The opera house was used by Rochester High School for graduations, assemblies, dances, and basketball games.  Rochester resident Robert Dame remembers covering the windows and tightly wrapping the chandelier with chicken wire before each basketball game to protect them from breaking.

The Later Years

In 1939 Spaulding High School opened with both an auditorium and a gymnasium.  The high school no longer needed the facilities of the opera house.  Use of the auditorium steeply declined.  A proposal to dismantle it for additional office space was never carried out due to lack of money.

During this time local groups continued to rent it for their programs.  In 1948 area churches rented it for a two week evangelistic campaign.  The local papers carried daily reports of Dr. Hyman Appelman’s Bible messages.  Headlines proclaimed thousands attended and hundreds were converted.    Further evangelistic campaigns were held in the 1950s.

The auditorium was rented four to five times a year for popular country/western shows.  Wrestling was held in it.  The Elk Lodge’s annual Easter Monday Ball was the social event of the year for Elks and their guests.

In 1962 the Rochester Music Theater began opening for ten weeks each summer.  A different Broadway musical was presented each week.  Appreciative audiences filled the hall for shows produced and directed by Bob LeBlanc with a professional New York Company of actors.  Classics like Show Boat, Oklahoma, and South Pacific, and new musicals like The Fantasticks, Camelot, Fiddler on the Roof, and Man of LaMancha entertained young and old.  Baroness Maria Von Trapp came to see her life portrayed on stage in The Sound of Music.  Actor Gary Burghoff went on to fame as Radar O’Reilly on the hit television show MASH.

By 1973 an economic downturn led to shrinking audiences and rising costs.  The season closed with a $10,000 debt.  During the next winter fundraising efforts cut the debt in half, but in May 1974 the Rochester Music Theater announced it would take a one year hiatus to catch up on their debt.  Although they planned to reopen the following year, they never did.

The 1974 Frisbie Follies was the last event of the era.  The Frisbie Hospital Aid Association had raised thousands of dollars for the hospital with their variety shows which played to capacity audiences.  After their last performance on October 26, 1974 the auditorium was abandoned.

By the mid 1980s pigeon and rodent droppings and large chunks of ceiling plaster littered the floor.  Beginning in June 1984 attempts were made to restore the Opera House.  They seemed to face insurmountable obstacles, but they laid a foundation for renewed efforts in 1996 under the leadership of Mayor Harvey Bernier.  Through thousands of hours of volunteer work, money was raised and the opera house, including the one of a kind movable floor, was restored and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.  By 1997 performances once again filled the hall.

Visit the Rochester Opera House website to see what is happening today!

On Thursday, June 13, at 7 PM at the Rochester Historical Society Museum on Hanson Street, Christopher R. Benedetto will present, “Orphans of War: The Politics of New Hampshire’s Civil War Pension Records.”  This program will focus on the lives of individual soldiers from Rochester and across the state who made the ultimate sacrifice in 1863, and explores what happened to the loved ones they left behind. Together, their experiences have much to tell us about how our nation coped with the bloodiest conflict in American history.

 Christopher R. Benedetto has taught history at Granite State College in Rochester since 2009. Since 1993, he has also been a leading member of Company A, 5th New Hampshire Volunteers, bringing the state’s Civil War history to life at local museums and schools and battlefields as far away as North Carolina. In April 2013, he was presented with a “Good Steward” award from Campus Compact of New Hampshire for his efforts to promote and educate the community about local history. Benedetto’s passion for the Civil War is deeply personal since one of his ancestors, Charles Jones of Deerfield, served in the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment and narrowly survived the battle of Gettysburg 150 years ago. In 2010, he co-authored “The Union Soldier of the American Civil War: A Visual Reference” which will be available for sale at the program.

The meeting, which is  free and open to the public, will be held in the second floor meeting room.  Handicapped access is available.   Refreshments will follow the meeting.