HVRHS 75th birthday party is Sept. 20

FALLS VILLAGE — On Saturday, Sept. 20, the Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) 75th anniversary celebration begins at 10 a.m. at the high school, with tours (including the new Mahoney-Hewat Science and Technology Center), exhibits and demonstrations from different school departments, and athletic events.At 5 p.m. there will be a formal program, followed by a farm-to-table meal catered by Freund’s Farm Market in East Canaan. After dinner there will be music and dancing.On Sunday, Sept. 21, there will be an induction ceremony for the HVRHS Athletic Hall of Fame.There is still time to sign up for the anniversary. For information, go to www.hvrhsalumni.org, email alumni@hvrhs.org, or call 860-824-5123 x. 162 (ask for Julie Lang).For the 50th anniversary in 1989, Ed and Mary Kirby (HVRHS class of 1945) wrote a 64-page history of the school. The following is adapted from “The Housatonic Valley Regional High School: Fifty Years, 1939-1989”:In the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, the six towns that eventually formed today’s Region One School District were divided into smaller school districts. In 1873, Sharon had 18 school districts, Cornwall 17, Kent 14, Salisbury 13, and North Canaan and Falls Village combined had 14.Most of these schools were of the “one-room variety.”“Between 1873 and 1923 all the towns gradually consolidated their districts to a greater degree.”During the 1920s and 1930s the six towns provided instruction in grades one through 12. Sharon, Salisbury, North Canaan and Kent had high schools; students from Falls Village and parts of Cornwall attended North Canaan. Many students rode to school by train. Cornwall Bridge students took the train south to Kent High School, for example.But the towns had problems with maintaining high schools with low enrollments. In 1935, Falls Village had 23 high school students, Cornwall 36, Kent 48, North Canaan 96, Salisbury 125 and Sharon 75.Town schools in general were strapped for resources. “In the four towns having high schools there was a total of 19 teachers and a limited curriculum for over 400 pupils.”The Kirbys wrote that it is difficult to determine when the idea of a regional high school was first discussed, with no records available of informal meetings.“The possibility of finding a way to consolidate schools on an inter-town basis seems to have been first suggested in 1923 by William M. Teague, Rural Supervisor, later Superintendent of Schools.… The first public mention of the concept was in 1924 at a meeting of the Salisbury League of Women Voters. There, during a discussion of the problems confronting rural schools, the wish was voiced that a way should be found to allow high schools to operate in larger units. Why couldn’t several towns combine their funds to develop such a school?”The Kirbys wrote, in a comment that still applies, “Time marches on, years passed. Things tend to move slowly in these hills.”Teague continued his advocacy, as did Lucille Mathews Woodward, who came to Salisbury from the Midwest, “where she was familiar with the various types of consolidated schools common in that area.”Woodward later wrote that her greatest contribution “was her complete ignorance of, and consequent failure to accept, the sanctity in which the towns hold their individual authority.”Completing the triumvirate was Alice E. Howell, also of Salisbury. “Mrs. Howell is best described as enough of an idealist to be always a few steps ahead of what might appear practicable at the moment.”The Kirbys identify difficult-ies, including town autonomy, transportation and road conditions, and, in 1929, the start of the Great Depression.They also note the increased role of women in public affairs, and the increased use of cars,“causing town line barriers to become somewhat less important.”And there were significant steps taken by the state Legislature. “The Connecticut Rural Road Improvement Act of 1931 contributed to the betterment of the back roads of the towns and increased the opportunity for students to be within reach of school transportation routes.”In 1933 the Connecticut General Assembly passed Special Act 374: “The State Board of Education shall prepare a plan or system under which high school facilities may be provided for small towns.”To be continued in the Sept. 11 Lakeville Journal.