The building was 40 feet long, 25 feet wide, and 12 feet high, and built after working plans by Tefft of Providence, and cost; $1,200. The desks, seats, ventilation and heating, maps, blackboards, globes, and other apparatus were the best then furnished, and the school furnishings reflected great credit on the district.
A comparison of a few items in the statistics of the town in 1844 with those of 1875 and 1895, will throw some light upon the progress of the cause of education during the intervening periods.
In 1844 the population of the town was 549; the number of children under fifteen years of age, 188; the aggregate value of property in the town, $316,733; the amount expended for public schools, $241.56, of which $75 was raised by taxation, or $1.29 per child.
In 1875 the population was 1,185; number of children under fifteen years, 332; the aggregate value of property in the town, $1,494,805; number of pupils enrolled, 166; average number belonging, 124; average attendance, 109; number of graded schools, four; average length of schools, nine months and thirteen days; State appropriation, $485.65; town and district appropriations, $3,683.17; total appropriations, $4,168.82; value of school property, $11,000. In 1885 the population was 1,394; children between five and fifteen, 225; value of town property, $1,917, 750; number of pupils enrolled, 222; average number belonging, 164; average attendance, 136; length of schools, nine months, nineteen days; money from State, $837.16; from town, $2,300; from all sources, $3,704.22; value of school property, $9,500; cost per month for each pupil's instruction. $1.95.
In 1895 the population was 1,668; number of children between 8 and 15, 240; value of town property, $2,161,900; number of pupils enrolled, 262; average number belonging, 186; average attendance, 166; average length of schools, 10 months; money from State, $1,019.98; money from town. $4,700; from all sources, $5,987; value of school property, $11,000; cost per month for each pupil's instruction, $2.43.
