History of Reservoir Ave School

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Hard to believe that traffic on Elmwood Avenue led to the building of the Reservoir Avenue Elementary School 100

years ago in 1924. But it did! 

The Elmwood grammar school stood at the Elmwood Avenue exit from Route 95 south, the current site of a Dunkin

Donut. Prior to the coffee shop the old wooden structure there hosted the American Legion for years. The veterans

rented the small auditorium to unions and clubs for meetings. Originally however the building housed a thriving

nineteenth century elementary school.

As Providence grew tremendously after 1900 the city constructed new schoolhouses to accommodate the legions of

students now that child labor had been outlawed, at least on paper. Neighborhoods expanded along with the

population. A favorite spot became the Reservoir Triangle which remained fairly rural, green, and uncongested.

Parents wanted no part of children trekking over the Roger Williams Avenue train bridge before darting across

Elmwood Avenue to classes. Such a fuss was raised that the Providence School Committee authorized the building of

a new facility in the Triangle.  Wm. Hamlyn and Sons won the bidding at $104,536 in 1924. Finished in less than a

year, although classes did not start until January, 1925. 

A plaque in the still occupied school memorializes the contract, something you can examine or take a picture holding,

if you attend the reunion. In 1994 a small addition was built in an area that older students will remember as the school

playground. That recreation space  was moved to the other side of the property. You can still observe the words boys

or girls over the entrances as the genders got separated for the sake of decorum. 

For decades these community schools held an hour lunch break. Students walked back and forth for a meal at home,

before moms flooded workplaces to make ends meet. Until the late 1960s, all the students lived in the area and

trekked  to and from school, often chaperoned by slightly older siblings or friends on the same street. Beloved

crossing guards controlled traffic over the decades. There were no yellow school buses. Over the years newspapers

covered a smattering of news from the school: exhibits, projects, and the 1950s polio scares.

As a small school, even at its inception, the forces of consolidation always threatened the place. City fathers wanted to

merge  the student body into nearby, larger schools like Sackett Street which is only a few years older than Reservoir.

For a while both schools had the same principal. The rumor mill in 1962-3 targeted the school's closing. A stinging

letter to the school board in February, 1963 by Mrs. Edward Bradley of  Downing Street, the president of the Parents

and Teachers Association, pointed out the already full capacity of Sackett Street and the absence of a cafeteria which

meant kids would now need bus transportation to get back and forth from Mom's cafeteria.  

Ms. Allen also championed the argument that smaller, individualized schools promoted greater learning--a claim

validated over the years in many studies. She wrote that Reservoir graduates "are in the higher level of classes in

junior high and senior high schools." While some students failed in life, so many went on to great personal

achievement attributed to the incubating nature they experienced.  She also warned that parochial school quotas would

send even more kids to Reservoir Avenue to handle the overflow. 

Legendary school teachers like Ms. Frances Cunningham taught an amazing series of subjects at the school from

1931 to 1965: math, music, and even square dancing. She appears in graduation photos year after year. She died in

1999 at age 90.  Most folks never realized at the time that female teachers could not marry so as not to interfere with

their one true love--the students. Thus, the reason why you see so many "spinsters" among their ranks. Furthermore,

female instructors could not accrue seniority until 1960 when the teachers unions changed all of that. 

As history repeats itself once again, the city wants to close Reservoir Avenue and consolidate. Hard to argue that a

more "modern" school might benefit everyone; also difficult to think larger, impersonal schools can provide the

necessary guidance to students at that age. Currently Reservoir Avenue Elementary accommodates 300 students in 12

classrooms. Half the students still walk to school; most are Hispanic. The Reservoir Triangle remains an attractive,

mixed neighborhood of different peoples with an active Neighborhood Association.