In 1953, there was no Anne T. Dunphy School. The total enrollment in Williamsburg schools was 496. The projected 1958 enrollment was conservatively estimated at 602. The facilities in town were stretched to the maximum. The pressing question was: Where will 602 of our children receive their education in 1958? The answer, after much study and discourse was—build a new school building.
October 27, 1953. The town voted to raise $360,000 to build a 6-room elementary school with a large gymnasium-auditorium. The Building would also serve the community and include a modern cafeteria. On December 10, 1953, the School Building Committee was charged with making this happen. Land behind the old town hall on Main Street was allocated for the new school. The town meeting voted to name this new school the Anne T. Dunphy School, in honor of the beloved long-serving Williamsburg High School teaching principal.
Architect Paul Buckman Johnson drew up the plans for the cinderblock and brick building. Every household in town had received a copy of “The Need For a Williamsburg-Haydenville School” in the mail. The brochure included a site plan, a floor plan, and architectural renderings of the proposed school.
Bids went out. Groundbreaking was in the spring of 1954. Construction continued into the first half of 1955. The Anne T. Dunphy School was ready by September 1955, when the first students entered. In addition to the classrooms, cafeteria and kitchen, the school had a principal’s office, a conference room, and a superintendent’s office. The new gymnasium- auditorium was in demand immediately for games, dramatics, assemblies, and graduations. Superintendent of Schools Lucius A. Merritt called the new school “a most important center for the whole community.” The original Anne T. Dunphy School served the town for 60 years, until the newly renovated and expanded Anne T. Dunphy School was built and opened in 2014. Daria D’Arienzo, Meekins Archivist. #throwbackthursday; #tbt.
Posted to Facebook 8/24/2023
