UNION SCHOOL-HOUSE, AT WOONSOCKET AND CHEPACHET, R. I. By the school law of Rhode Island, two or more adjoining school districts in the same, or adjoining towns, may, by concurrent vote, agree to unite for the purpose of maintaining a secondary or grammar school, for the older and more advanced pupils of such associating districts. Under this provision the four school districts in the town of Cumberland, which comprise the village of Woonsocket, voted to unite and provide a school-house for the more advanced pupils, leaving the younger to be accommodated in their respective districts. The Union school-house is located on a beautiful site, the donation of Edward Harris, Esq., and is built substantially after the plan of the Warren Public school-house, already described, at a cost of $7,000. The following are the front and side elevations, as originally drawn by Mr. Teft, but not adopted by the committee. SIDE ELEVATION. FRONT ELEVATION. Under the provision above cited, the three districts into which the village of Chepachet, in the town of Glocester, is divided, voted to establish a Union School, and to provide a suitable house for the same. The building is 50 feet by 34, with two stories, and stands in the centre of a large lot, a little removed from the main street, and is the ornament and pride of the village. The lower floor is divided into two apartments; one for the Primary, and the other for an Intermediate School, for the younger pupils of the village, while the Union or Secondary School occupies the whole of the second floor. C D "Boys 66 "Girls to Primary, E, and Intermediate School, F. "Boys E-Primary School-room. F-Intermediate 66 U-Secondary R-Recitation room. L-Manton Glocester Library of 900 volumes. G-Seat and desk attached, for two pupils, with iron ends. PLAN, &C., OF UNION SCHOOL-HOUSE IN PAWTUCKET, R. I This school-house is calculated to accommodate, on the first floor, a Primary School, (D,) with seats and desks for one hundred and sixty pupils; two Intermediate Schools, (E, E,) for sixty-four pupils each; and on the second floor a High School, (F,) for one hundred and seventy pupils. The building is warmed and ventilated by a furnace in the cellar, from which the hot air is conveyed into the several apartments, as indicated by the registers, (r, r, r, r,) in Figs. 2 and 3, and discharged by flues carried up in the walls, as seen at v, v, v, v. Each school-room is furnished with an appropriate place for outer garments, and with scrapers, mats and other means of neatness and cleanliness. The boys and girls have each a separate yard in the rear, and separate entrances into the school-rooms. The High School is furnished with seats and desk having cast-iron end pieces similar to those described on page 282. The Primary and Intermediate school-rooms are furnished with the patent Revolving Pivot Chair, and School-desk, manufactured by J. L. Mott, 264 Water street, New York. The seat of the chair is wood; all other parts are of castiron. The seat and back turn on a pivot, while the pedestal is screwed fast to the floor. The height of the lower part of the top of the desk is just equal to the highest part of the back of the chair, so as to allow it to pass under. The front edge of the seat is in a perpendicular line with the edge of the top of the desk, so that the scholar is required to sit erect when engaged in writing or studying, and the same time that part of his back which requires support is fully in contact with the chair. Since the chairs above described were placed in this house, Mr. Mott has modified the patterns-so as to carry the back piece higher, and thus give support to the muscles above the small of the back. The iron can be covered with felt, and thus the rapid conduction of heat from the body, especially from the spinal column, in children thinly clad, and of delicate constitutions may be prevented. B-Entrance for Boys to the Primary and Intermediate Schools. E, E-" F 40 feet by 16, for Intermediate Schools. (6 40 feet by 40, for High School. G-Room for Apparatus, &c. H-Recitation room to High School, 20 feet by 16. I-K-Entrance room, one for Boys and the other for Girls, fitted up with hooks, shelves, wash-stand, &c. T-Teacher's desk without any platform. Fig. 3.-PLAN OF SECOND FLOOR-HIGH SCHOOL. |