East Orange was divided into three school
districts many years before it became a separate
municipality. Residents of Doddtown, having a very high
regard for the public life of Benjamin Franklin,
officially named its district in his memory on March 13,
1825, at a meeting held in the home of Zebina Dodd, when
these resolutions were adopted:
Resolved, That we, the subscribers, build a school house
twenty-five feet deep by thirty-four feet in length and
two stories high.
Resolved, That there be seven trustees appointed to take
charge of said house for the present year.
Resolved, That the house be known by the name of Franklin
School of North Orange.
Building operations did not begin till May, the site
chosen being on
Dodd street, near Girard avenue of a later day, and when
completed the frame structure represented an outlay of
$233.93. The room on the upper floor was not finished
till 1833, when it was used for the neighborhood prayer
meetings and for the Sunday school already established.
The seal used by the trustees was a United States
ten-cent piece. Meager was the equipment of the
class-room, the pupils sitting two in a seat at a
stationary slanting board serving the purpose of a desk,
under which the books were kept. The slate was in use and
so was the quill pen.
Eleazer Monroe Dodd, a native of Orange and a prominent
citizen of the county, was one of the first
schoolmasters. While serving later as health officer of
Newark, he succumbed during the cholera outbreak in that
city in 1854.
The brick structure, erected on the south side of Dodd
Street, was dedicated April 24, 1874. The lot purchased
of Josiah Dodd cost
$4,808.33, and the building $14,447.00. Four rooms were
added ten years later, thereby doubling its capacity. In
1892 the school, becoming overcrowded, the assembly hall
was partitioned into two rooms. One, devoted to
kindergarten work, which had its beginning at this time,
was under the supervision of Miss Mary I. Dodd. Another
addition, made in 1898, cost $45,000, and other
improvements have been made till today the ground,
building and equipment represent an outlay of
$117,217.29.
Lincoln J. Roys was the principal in 1920. The enrolment
of pupils in 1920 was 954.
Franklin School has a most artistic setting. The Second River
curves around the southern end and the entrance from Dodd
street allows ample adornment of lawn with shade trees
and shrubbery, giving an appearance seldom attained in
laying out school grounds. There are approximately
250,000 square feet within the enclosure.
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