No. 5197 Old Brick School House, painting on brick
Edward A. Huebener, a former Board member of the Dorchester Historical Society, was a collector of materials relating to Dorchester history including a very large collection of graphic materials, including prints and photographs, now owned by the Society. His very own contribution to this group of materials was the idea of taking a brick from a house that had been demolished and asking a local illustrator to paint a picture of the house upon the brick. The painted bricks may be viewed at the Dorchester Historical Society.
In 1797 two annual schools were established “one at the school-house near the meeting-house, the other at the house used as a school-house in the upper road.” –1859 History of Dorchester.
In 1812, the town voted to have an annual school kept in the brick school-house by the north meeting-house now the Mather School). This school had previously alternated with the one on the lower road (now Adams School)–being kept on meeting-house hill in summer and at the lower road in winter.
No. 2377 Pen and ink drawing in the collection of the Dorchester Historical Society probably used as a draft or model for the brick painting. Caption on drawing: Sketched by George B. Birch from memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Foster. Built 1798 and lasted till 1837. Edward Everett received his early education here.