Pontoosuc School

For many years, youth from the north end of Pittsfield, Massachusetts were educated at Pontoosuc School.  The school was located at 1250 North Street in Pittsfield.

The original Pontoosuc School was built in 1884.  It had a capacity of one hundred and sixty students, six classrooms and was built for eighteen thousand dollars.  It would soon prove inadequate in size. 

In 1919, construction began on a new Pontoosuc School.  On October 8, 1921, the new Pontoosuc School was turned over to the City of Pittsfield in a ceremony which included Mayor W.M. Flynn and Superintendent of Schools J.F. Gannon. The 1921 Municipal Register of the City of Pittsfield stated:  "The new Pontoosuc School is now being used.  There are ten rooms which will accommodate four hundred and twenty pupils.  The school possesses a fine auditorium and is considered a very modern building in structure and equipment.  It will soon be filled to capacity, however, and cannot be depended upon to care for many overflow pupils from other crowded buildings." 

Miss Lucy Mangan presided as Pontoosuc School's principal from 1938-1963.  She subsequently retired and was replaced by experienced educator Joseph P. McGovern.  Robert J. Thomas became principal upon Mr. McGovern's retirement in 1975. 

In 1948 enrollment was four hundred and fifty-three students, of which one hundred eighty-one were in junior high school.  Due to the severely over crowded conditions, the second floor auditorium was converted into an additional three classrooms, bringing the total to thirteen.  The year 1954 saw Pontoosuc School revert to an elementary school as it had been originally designed.  Three hundred and fifty students were enrolled.  Also, the insufficient 193' X 355' parcel on which the school was originally built was supplemented by the City of Pittsfield's additional purchase of some eight acres behind the school.

In the mid 1970s much of the beautiful architecture and fine woodwork on the second floor of Pontoosuc Elementary School was gutted to create an open classroom configuration, popular at the time.  Left instead was a large uninspiring space without walls, a sea of cheap commercial carpeting and an industrial type suspended ceiling, far lower than the original ceiling.  This controversial concept soon lost favor as the "schools without walls" led to increased noise and distractions which negatively impacted learning.

Potential disaster struck in April 1976 when a serious fire broke out in the basement boiler room.  The fire resulted from the careless storage of combustibles.  The school suffered heavy smoke damage and the destruction of two first floor classrooms.  Fortunately, two patroling Pittsfield police officers discovered smoke pouring from the building and called in the fire department before the school was totally lost.  Students attended several other Pittsfield elementary schools until the damage was repaired. 

Pittsfield's smaller neighborhood schools would soon find themselves endangered.  Cost cutting measures, declining enrollment, lack of gymnasiums and new handicap access regulations led to most of them being closed.  By 1995, Pittsfield had just eight elementary schools left from the original fourteen.   The majority were sold for a fraction of their value.  Some were demolished, while a few found new life as housing or business spaces.  Pontoosuc School, along with four other Pittsfield neighborhood schools, closed in 1981.  Their school bells rang for the very last time.  The building and accompanying acreage was sold for $50,000 and today is the site of a plastics firm.

This page is dedicated to the memory of:

Mr. Joseph P. McGovern

Mrs. Rena Pizza

Miss Helen Brennan

Miss Mary Conroy

Mrs. Ruth Nesbit Lenhoff

Miss Irene Gallipeau

Mr. Robert "Bob " Hood

Mr. Zigmund "Ziggy" Zegarowski

Mrs. Frances "Frannie" Gavin

Mrs. June Loehr