Henry Bernard Thaden graduated from the Linthicum Institute housed in this building in 1909. I located a newspaper article reporting on the commencement exercises in the Washington Post dated 27 May 1909. Henry was 16 years old.
"Boy Students Give Plays.
Commencement Feature at Linthicum Institute.
Medals and Cash in Gold Awarded Winners of Prizes for Highest Standing in Studies.
Commencement exercises marking the close of the thirty-fourth school year of the Linthicum Institute in Georgetown were held at the school on O street before a large audience of relatives and friends of the hundred or more students of the institution. High honor was paid to the name of Edward Magruder Linthicum, formerly a prominent business man of Washington, who in his will left $75,000 for the erection of the school where poor boys might obtain a free education after working hours.
Boys of all ages who are on the rolls took part in the interesting program last evening, of which the principal numbers were three one-act plays. . . . The sketches were done well by the boys, and kept the audience in laughter for more than an hour and a half. [There were several piano numbers by an alumna.] Rev. J. T. Marshall, pastor of the West Presbyterian Church, offered prayer.
At the close of the program prizes for work during the year were presented by . . . a member of the board of trustees. He complimented the students on what they had accomplished in the year, and told of the close contest for the various medals. [H. B. Thaden was not among the prize winners, but he was listed with others receiving 'special mention.']
After the exercises had been concluded the visitors were taken through the school building and shown the clever work of the students in the several classrooms. . . ."
Henry's parents and three older brothers were likely in attendance at this graduation program. They were probably quite interested in looking at Henry's classroom and desk where he sat with his school work. The school was located about 15 blocks northwest of their home at 2317 M Street NW. It appears there was probably a street car line going right down O Street in front of the school.
From The Chronicles of Georgetown, D.C., from 1751-1878 by Richard Plummer Jackson, published in Washington, D.C. by R. O. Polkinhorn in 1878 on pages 238-244.:
Edward Magruder Linthicum grew up poor, but through hard work, he attained success and retired in comfort. An extract of his will reveals that he believed ". . . knowledge and piety constitute the only assurance of happiness and healthful progress to the human race. . ." He gave $50,000 [not $75,000 as the 1909 article stated] to his friends to become his trustees and establish and maintain "a free school for the education and instruction of indigent white boys and youths of Georgetown in useful learning, and in the spirit and practice of Christian virtue . . ." The trustees worked with the Georgetown city school system in building a large school house opposite St. John's Church between High and Market Streets. It was agreed "to set apart, free from rent, a room on the ground floor of the main front" of the building for the Linthicum Institute. The school was opened 1 Oct 1875 in the Curtis School Building. Night school classes were held for working boys from 7:00 to 9:00 every evening, except Saturday and Sunday, in penmanship, bookkeeping, drawing, arithmetic, geometry, chemistry, and physics. Two other schools operated separately in this same building.
The building no longer exists, but it was located across O Street from St. John's Episcopal Church, and next to the Hyde School; both of these buildings are still standing. According to a 1890 map of Georgetown, Potomac Street lay between Market and High Streets, which were mentioned in the above article. A close comparison of this map and a current map shows that High Street is now Wisconsin Avenue NW; Market Street is now 33rd Street NW; and today's O Street NW was once called First Street. The Curtis School Building more accurately sat at the northeast corner of Potomac and O Streets. The Hyde School playground now occupies the spot.
Image of Curtis School Building from The Georgetown Metropolitan, "Survey of Historic School Buildings in Georgetown, 9 Nov 2009, accessed 21 Nov 2018,
https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2009/11/09/survey-of-historic-school-buildings-in-georgetown-hyde-school/.
No comments:
Post a Comment