Gloversville's Earliest Schools

    In 1854 private enterprise had founded the Gloversville Union Seminary and erected a building on the
corner of Main and Prospect streets at a cost of $21,000. This building had accommodations for sixty
resident pupils and two hundred day students. In the public school, the graded system was adopted in
1868 and soon there were over one hundred pupils in attendance, Cyrus Stewart being the principle. The
Fulton street school was soon too small and the Seminary, which had proved to be a financial failure, was
purchased at a cost of $16,000. Mr. Henry A. Pratt, a graduate of Yale, was at this time principle of the
Seminary and when the building was purchased Mr. Stewart resigned and Mr. Pratt was appointed to his
position. The academic department was organized in the autumn of 1871 with Mr. Donnan as the teacher
in charge. The next year Mrs. Kelly took the department. A few years later the increased number of pupils
warranted the employment of another teacher and Mr. A. L. Peck was engaged. Under these two the
present graduating course was instituted in the fall of 1877. Pupils are now fitted for either a classical or
scientific college course. In 1890 Mr. Pratt, after twenty-two years of successful administration, resigned
and Mr. James A. Estee was appointed Superintendent. There are now eight buildings in the city devoted
to school purposes, with nearly 3,000 pupils enrolled and 58 teachers and instructors.



    Under this head it should be mentioned that in 1880, $50,000 was given in trust to Union College, the
interest of which is to be applied to the education of young men from Gloversville and vicinity in that
college. The right of nomination to these scholarships, now numbering thirteen, is vested in the board of
directors of the Gloversville Free Library.

Fulton County Living

   Recording the history of the Gloversville school system and its many schools is a hard task indeed. As
with many historical writings, some accounts differ from others. Because of this I will try to give you an
accurate study by providing you with the different accounts and resources.
    The first recorded public schoolhouse, in what was to later become Gloversville, was built of gray
slabs in 1800. Borrowing from an old cliche', "You've come a long way baby." That school in 1800 stood on
the north side of West Fulton Street and Orchard, but the exact location is uncertain.
It was moved about 1811 to a spot on South Main Street on land owned by James Burr opposite the site
of the Alvord House.
   Three years later, a second schoolhouse was constructed, this time of brick near North Main and West
Fulton Streets. This was reportedly a commodious building and was used until 1893, when it gave way to
business structures.
   The third schoolhouse was a 2-story, wooden building which stood on the northwest corner of West
Fulton and School Streets and gave its name to School Street. After 13 years, it was replaced by a larger
building in which the district school was held until the close of the summer of 1868. This building was
arranged for three teachers and was known as the Martin House.
(Early records found at the Gloversville Library.)

    In another account, in Stump City, the first school house was erected in 1803 on West Fulton street,
west of Orchard. Eleven years later this was removed to South Main street, opposite the Alvord House.
In 1840 a brick school house was erected on the site of the Rose Block. This building was used for
school purposes for twenty-five years, when it gave place to business blocks. The plot of ground on the
west corner of School and Fulton streets was then purchased and a building erected in 1865. At the end
of thirteen years this was replaced by a larger one, which was used until 1868.
(From the book "Gloversville and Vicinity".)

The district known as School District No. 16 of the Town of Johnstown included the greater part, but
not all of the Village of Gloversville. Its boundaries were somewhat changed from time to time, but were
never the same as those of Gloversville.
In 1867, the school was an ordinary district school with accommodations entirely inadequate for the
school population and the attendance was small and irregular. Many pupils were attending private
schools, of which there were three in village, in addition to those in a seminary.

Among the private educational institutions of the city, the Gloversville Business College is foremost,
having been established in the fall of 1892 by its present proprietor, Prof. U. G. Patterson, and by careful
management and fidelity on his part, it has grown and developed as no other institution in the city. The
school is located in the Newman Block, 21 and 23 North Main street, having large, commodious rooms,
heated by steam throughout. During the past four years there have been over 400 students, from this
and adjoining states, enrolled and you can scarcely go in any store or shop in the county but what you
find there a young man or young lady who has been a pupil in this school. The students are thoroughly
drilled in their studies, so that when they go into an office they have no trouble in performing the work.
There has recently been put into the school, with no small expense, the most complete and thorough
system for teaching bookkeeping that is on the market: "Actual Business from Start to Finish." When the
student enters, he assumes the responsibility of a businessman, keeping his own books, and by careful
dealings he accumulates wealth. We have examined the school and its methods of doing business and
are convinced that no young man or woman can afford to go through life without taking such a course of
study as is taught in the Gloversville Business College. The instructors are excellent scholars and have
had years of experience.

In reading the book, Gloversville and Vicinity, published in 1896, by The Stowe Publishing Company of
Gloversville, New York we find that tracking down the earlier schools of Gloversville is a difficult task
indeed. First, we must look at Gloversville before it was incorporated into a city. We have found that in
this book lies a detailed description of the earliest schools. A footnote in the book is as follows.....

*There seems to be a dispute as to the origin of the name Kingsboro. Historical records at Albany seem
to show that it was so named from the fact that each of its settlers was supposed to be loyal to the King -
King George III. Records in possession of the Johnstown Historical Society tend to show that the name
came from the title of an Irish nobleman - Earl of Kingsborough. Residents of Kingsboro claim that it was
named from one Daniel Potter, known as "King" Potter.

When the settlers left their homes to take part in the Revolution, a school house stood on the corner
of what is now North Main street and West Green avenue. The exact date of its erection is impossible to
determine. The second building,called the Central School, stood just north of the Kingsboro Avenue Park
and was erected in 1790. The next building devoted to school purposes in Kingsboro, stood on the south-
east corner of Main and State streets.

The Kingsboro Academy
Located on Kingsboro Avenue - Now the location of The Fulton
County Museum and Historical Society