West Newton English and Classical School

West Newton English and Classical School, also known as the Allen School, was a model school in West Newton, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1854 by Nathaniel Topliff Allen, with encouragement by Horace Mann.[1]

Nathaniel Topliff Allen Homestead, where the West Newton English and Classical School was located beginning 1854.

It was unique in that it had a diverse student body that included students of mixed races, and both boys and girls. It offered pure kindergarten, using Froebel's Kindergarten System, and had gymnastics as part of its curriculum, both of which were education firsts in the country.[1] Coursework included reading, spelling, arithmetic, geography, geology, and bookkeeping. Daily journals kept by students were critiqued every two weeks.[1] The school also taught art, music, dancing and ethics. Students attended lectures by Theodore Parker, William Lloyd Garrison, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and others.[2] Many relatives, who taught at the school and provided lodging in their homes for students, included uncles, brothers, cousins, nieces, and his three daughters.[2]

Over the course of its 50 years, more than 5,000 students attended the school.[2] Students came from the United States, Hawaii, Europe, Asia, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Graduates, both men and women, had careers in medicine, law, government, and education.[1]

Notable alumni

• Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831–1895) was a black female physician who received her medical degree in 1864 from the New England Female Medical College.[1] She was the first African-American woman to become a physician in the United States.[3][4]
• Elizabeth Piper Ensley (1847–1919) was an educator, suffragette, and activist.[5]
• Sarah Fuller (1836–1927) was an educator of the deaf, working with Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller
• Mary Ann Greene (1857–1936) was a lawyer who received her law degree from Boston University[1]
• Henry E. Warren (1872–1957) was an inventor and businessman

Notable staff

• William Francis Allen, assistant principal in 1856

References

1. "Newton, MA – Allen Family". Retrieved February 19, 2020.
2. "Nathaniel T. Allen Biography and Photographs, 1845–1938". Massachusetts History. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
3. Vernon L. Farmer; Evelyn Shepherd Wynn (2012). Voices of Historical and Contemporary Black American Pioneers. ABC-CLIO. pp. 11–12. ISBN 978-0-313-39224-5. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
4. Henry Louis Gates; Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (March 23, 2004). African American Lives. Oxford University Press. pp. 199–200. ISBN 978-0-19-988286-1. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
5. "Obituary for Elizabeth Piper Ensley (Aged 62)". The New York Age. March 15, 1919. p. 2. Retrieved March 4, 2020.