Contributed by Elaine Johnson Fiveland
Elaine Johnson Fiveland is a life-long Montclair resident with a deep interest in genealogy and local history, and she’s long been a friend of the Montclair History Center. When Randall Spaulding’s name came up in summer 2020 MHC “History at Home” Zoom presentation, and she offered to write a piece on him, we were delighted to take her up on it. Thank you, Elaine, for shining a light on this important figure in Montclair’s history!
In telling the early history of Montclair, the surnames Crane, Speer, Dodd, Van Gieson, Doremus and others are well-represented. Others, like Randall Spaulding, are mentioned only in passing and may not receive the recognition they deserve. Randall Spaulding made valuable contributions to the Montclair Public Schools in his 38-year tenure. From 1874-1912, he served the students and residents of Montclair, leaving a lasting legacy at Montclair High School and on the district.
Randall Spaulding, as pictured in Whittemore’s History of Montclair Township, 1894
Early Spaulding Family History
Randall Spaulding (born Feb. 3, 1845) was one of three children born in Townsend, Massachusetts--a small rural settlement near the New Hampshire border--to farmer/tradesman Daniel Spaulding and his wife Lucy Wyer (Clement) Spaulding. The Spauldings had roots deep into English soil and Randall Spaulding claimed he was descended from William the Conqueror. Be that true or not, he was descended from Edward Spalding/Spaulding (ca. 1596-1670) who was said to have come from Norfolk, England to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 as an indentured servant. By the mid-1600s Edward Spaulding had settled in New England and, ultimately, Randall’s ancestors called Townsend, Massachusetts home, where the Spaulding name is familiar to this day. Numerous Spaulding ancestors were said to be “successful in school teaching;” perhaps that explains Randall Spaulding’s love of books, learning, and teaching.
Spaulding’s Early Years thru 1873
Randall Spaulding attended his local school until he was 16 when he enrolled at Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts where his uncle was a physician. To pay his way he worked at jobs wherever he could, teaching at the district school in his senior year and occasionally at the Academy. Randall enrolled at Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut in 1866 and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1870. He earned some money by tutoring but found himself $1000 in debt at graduation. To pay his debts he took a teaching job in the manufacturing town of Rockville, Connecticut for three years, helping to organize the grade schools and initiate a high school program in a town where a high school had not seemed possible before his arrival. He not only paid his debt, but saved enough money to finance a trip to Europe for study and pleasure. His July 1873 passport application, when he was 28 years old, describes him as 5'11” with dark hazel eyes, dark complexion, black hair, having a small moustache. He spent seven months in Göttingen, Germany, some weeks in Heidelberg and some time in Italy to study history and learn the German language.
Meanwhile, in Montclair….1866-1874
While Randall Spaulding was an undergraduate at Yale and traveling through Europe, Montclair’s public school system was growing and changing. The primary/grammar school at Church Street and Valley Road (today’s Board of Education offices at 22 Valley Road) had opened in late 1860. By 1866, plans were underway to create a high school to serve local students who up to that time either ended their formal education by the eighth grade, went to private or out-of-town secondary day schools, or attended boarding schools if the parents were financially able to send them. To keep Montclair students at home under the influence of their families a high school division was formed in the same building as the primary/grammar school. The school grew under the leadership of qualified high school principals (John W. Taylor, a Harvard graduate, followed by John P. Gross, a Bowdoin College alumnus) and the first Montclair High School class of 13 students graduated in June 1874.
Randall Spaulding and Family Arrive in Montclair in 1874
Just a month after that first Montclair High School graduation, newlyweds Randall Spaulding and Florence (Chapman) moved to Montclair. Their first child, Raymond, was born in 1875; daughter Edith arrived in 1877; and Clement was born in 1879 (sadly, Clement passed away less than two years later). The Spauldings lived at 14 Clinton Avenue and had two domestic servants to help with the housework and the children: Emma Johnson from Sweden and Alice Cotterill from England.
Spaulding’s Role in Montclair Public Schools 1874-1912
In the fall of 1874, Randall Spaulding assumed the position of principal of the high school. He immediately saw the need to add a year to the students' existing three-year program of study and the four-year high school came to be. At least a dozen teachers were added to the high school faculty over the next 20 years. New curriculum included an upgraded science department with its own chairman, departments of modern language, Latin/classical studies, mathematics, history, and commercial studies. In 1882 a department of manual training was set up with its own facility on the grammar school level, progressing to the high school; it proved to be very popular. The grammar school was headed by Miss S. Eldora Eldredge for many years, and she made it a priority to prepare her students well for the high school program. (Miss Eldredge was also a roomer at the Spaulding home and no doubt interesting conversations were frequent.)
Randall Spaulding became a much-loved and admired principal and Superintendent of Schools. He continually advanced the school curriculum, educational standards, and facilities and was supported by the town’s parents and Board of Education. Henry Whittemore says in his History of Montclair, “No man was ever more loved by parents, pupils, and teachers. He rules by love, but there is no lack of discipline...” Spaulding was particularly interested in The Quincy Method, introduced in 1875 by Francis W. Parker, superintendent of schools in Quincy, Massachusetts. Rather than rote learning and a rigid routine, emphasis was instead placed on social skills and self-expression through cultural activities and physical training as well as teacher-prepared materials, experienced-based learning and the children's own writing. Field trips, art, music and crafts were encouraged, and he introduced classes such as Art English and Art History. At the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Montclair exhibited its school system and it was declared to be outstanding in methods and performance. The Montclair Public Schools’ reputation had been established and Randall Spaulding was now widely well-known.
Families began to move into the town to take advantage of the excellent school system, especially the fine high school, and the education received was said to be comparable to the expensive private institutions. This became a problem as the existing Central School, which housed the high school students, became overcrowded; the trustees proposed a new building as enrollment reached 898 students in 1890.
In 1892 a parcel of land was purchased on Orange Road, slightly northwest of the Central School building. Architects Loring and Phipps of Boston, known for their fine educational buildings, were chosen to design a dedicated high school facility. Dr. John Love, past President of the Board of Trustees and long-time advocate of the town’s public schools, now serving as Clerk, supported the process and was on the site daily during the construction.
Montclair’s first stand-alone high school facility, Orange Road near Hillside Avenue, opened 1893. Photo courtesy of Montclair Public Library Local History Collection
The new high school was a state-of-the-art facility—reportedly the finest in the state—opened in September 1893. The entire cost, including the land, was $125,000. Other systems throughout the country modeled their buildings after those in Montclair and it is thought that the State of New Jersey decided in 1908 to open the Normal School (a teacher training school that evolved into today’s Montclair State University) in Upper Montclair due to the reputation of the Montclair Public Schools and potential for collaboration.
Indeed, by 1920, Dr. Charles S. Chapin, Principal of the Normal School, said that Spaulding was “one of the half-dozen foremost educational leaders of his time.”
1906 Essex County Atlas shows the location of Montclair’s first dedicated high school facility, opened 1983, later re-purposed and named Spaulding Elementary School, razed in the mid-1930s. Hillside School would be built on the same site, to the left of this building, in 1909.
Until 1894 there were three school districts in Montclair, Central Grammar and High School, the Washington School (on Baldwin Street), and Mount Hebron School (Bellevue Avenue). In 1894 they were consolidated with one Board of Education and Randall Spaulding served as superintendent of all until his retirement in 1912.
Building new schools and enlarging existing schools continued for many years as the town's population increased. Hillside School was built in 1909 on land adjacent to the Orange Road high school, which was already proving too small. The current high school building on Chestnut Street opened in 1915; the Orange Road high school facility was converted into a grammar school and named the Spaulding School. Spaulding School was demolished in the mid-1930s and Hillside School's playing fields are on the site. Look closely…the steps to the old high school/Spaulding School are still visible on Orange Road.
Spaulding Elementary School, 2nd grade class, 1917. Photo courtesy of Montclair Public Library Local History Collection.
Spaulding’s Civic Activities and Interests
Randall Spaulding did not leave his mark only on the school system. He had joined the Village Improvement Society in 1878 whose goal at that time was “planting trees along the highways.” The members came to the conclusion that the ideal trees were the elm, Norway maple, sweet gum and tulip. The town began to be noted for its tree-lined streets. Spaulding was also a member of the First Congregational Church and a member of many educators' organizations in New Jersey and throughout the nation.
Besides his work in education, Randall Spaulding had an avid interest in botany. In 1883, on summer break, he traveled with a scientist from the Smithsonian Institution to Arizona Territory, collecting many native plant specimens, 30 of which up to that time had never been referenced. In 1886 he made a similar trip to the Rocky Mountains. An amateur photographer, besides photographing local scenes, he made a trip to Great Britain in 1888, documenting the sights with his photos, returning home to present stereopticon exhibits of his lantern slides. Scoville's published his acclaimed volume “First Lessons in Amateur Photography” in 1885. Of course Randall Spaulding made sure the high school had a photography laboratory.
Randall Spaulding was an avid photographer and took this photo of a quarry, located below Eagle Rock, circa 1880s. Photo courtesy Montclair Public Library Local History Collection.
Spaulding’s Later Years
Sadly Florence Spaulding passed away in 1889 at the age of 48, leaving two children, ages 14 and 12. Their daughter Edith died in 1900 at the age of 22. Their son Raymond graduated from Montclair High School and Yale University '97 and became a lawyer, dying in California in 1935. Randall remarried in 1891 to Sarah L. Norris, a teacher who had been a roomer at the Spaulding residence; they moved to 276 Claremont Avenue upon his retirement in 1912. Randall Spaulding passed away in Montclair on October 24, 1916 at the age of 71; his widow Sarah ultimately moved to California to live with family where she passed away in 1940.
Montclair owes a debt of gratitude to Randall Spaulding for his untiring efforts to bring the best of educational methods to the Montclair Public Schools, benefits which have lasted to this time. May he be remembered as one of Montclair's treasures.
This plaque honoring Randall Spaulding for 38 years of service to the district is in the foyer of Montclair High School, 100 Chestnut Street. It reads in part: “…A great teacher, an inspiring leader, a pioneer in education, a friend of teachers and of children… he wrought with the patience and thoroughness of a great soul…this memorial is set up by his teachers and pupils and by a community that loved him.” Photo courtesy of Helen Fallon.