FOOTPRINTS IN THE VALLEY
By: Iris H. Naylor
The new school year has started and our 21st century children are going back to their studies, their only worries being the weight of their backpacks, the possible shortage of computers and the very real fear of violence in the classroom.
Back in the early part of the 19th century, poor children did not even have the luxury of attending school. There were no public schools, only private ones and the so-called "pauper" schools that were maintained by the State of New Jersey for the education of "such poor children as are paupers."
A pauper was defined as one who received, or was entitled to receive, public charity. If a child was not able to afford the tuition for a private school and was not poor enough to classify as a pauper, there was no education in his or her future.
Fortunately there were enough concerned citizens to raise the question of free education for all and to continue to raise it until the legislators got the message. Change came slowly. From 1820, when townships were authorized to raise money for the so-called pauper schools, to 1871, when an act passed by the Legislature made all the public schools of New Jersey entirely free, it was a constant struggle.
Teachers were required to become licensed, the school age was changed from five to 16 years to five to 18 years, a state board of education was established, and the State of New Jersey was authorized by the Legislature to provide a copy of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary for every school in the State.
Lambertville, in 1872, had two public school buildings, the two-story brick building on Franklin Street and the "Hill" school, and an estimated 10 private schools in the area. The city also had 1,243 children between the ages of 5 and 18. Of these, 735 were enrolled in public school, 241 in private schools, and 267 attended no school.
When the principal of the Hill school requested in 1872 that the Common Council make a $1,000 appropriation to make repairs to the "Hill" school, he stirred up a hornet’s nest. The Beacon was flooded with letters to the editor and the comments ranged from complaints about the condition of the present public schools to criticisms about the selection of school officers and the defective manner of selecting teachers.
One writer who called himself "Common School," quoted the principal’s report that the daily attendance was less than one-fifth of the whole number of children of the city and the school was overcrowded. The writer suggested that accommodations for five times the present number of children were necessary.
Another writer suggested that the present accommodations would house 600 children and if five times that many were to be accommodated, it would mean 3,000 children.
"We see no reason for this unless ‘Common School’ intends importing them from China."
It may be hard for present-day parents to visualize the "Hill" school, which later became the Lambertville High School. A whole generation of children has grown up since the high school was removed from "Coryell’s Hill" to its present location on the South Hunterdon Regional High School grounds. The Hill school was reached in 1872 by a series of steps going straight up over the hillside.
The Beacon recommended that two new schools down in the city should replace the "Hill" school, thus taking away the fear of parents "of children rolling down 250 steps and being brought home on a shutter." It was a fear that was constantly on the minds of parents from the time of school hours in the morning until they reached home in the evening, especially during the icy months.
In January 1899, more than 25 years later, The Beacon made this comment: "Climbing the Hill School steps in such weather as we have had lately has no joys that can be appreciated either by scholar or teacher. In these days of improvement it does look out of place to see the children trudging up those steps to seek an education. What an extra amount of effort they put forth to obtain that which others in the cities and towns of liberal ideas get with ease and comfort."

