Meeting House Hill, Dorchester
Built 1905. The school was certified as being practically complete on February 10, 1905 and was occupied for school purposes on March 31,1905.
Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson, Achitects
The Mather School, the oldest free public school in North America, is named for Richard Mather. Mather was an English clergyman who emigrated to Boston in 1635 and settled in Dorchester. Richard Mather contributed the preface and the versification of several psalms in The Bay Psalm Book which was the first book printed in the American Colonies.
Picture 708
Photograph published in The annual report of the Schoolhouse Department from Februrary 1, 1905, to February 1, 1906. Boston, 1906.
Source:
What’s In a Name? Names of Boston’s Schools: Their Origin. Boston: School Volunteers for Boston and the Boston Public Schools, 1980.
[Atheneuem Editor’s note: The title of oldest free public school is claimed by many communities. Dorchester was first in that it was the first to use public tax money to fund the school. The Boston Latin School may be older but was free at the beginning only in the sense that it was open to everyone. The students still had to pay. The Roxbury Latin School seems to claim that it is the oldest in continuous operation. Little nuances can produce many “firsts.”]
Old Mather School – Edward Southworth School
The earlier building of the Mather School was built in 1856 and was located where the parking lot for the school is now. The postcard show the old building to the right and the current building on the left. After the new building was constructed, the old building seems to have taken on the name of the Southworth School.
The Edward Southworth School was desctroyed by fire as reported in The Boston Globe, January 2, 1974.