Mother Brook Arts and Community Center (former Avery School)

The first school on this site was constructed in 1825 to serve the children of millworkers employed in the textile mills that rose on the banks of the nearby Mother Brook. Initially known as the Mill Village School, it was replaced by a second structure named The Avery School. At least 4 different school buildings have been on this site since the first school was built. A school serving the Mill Village or East Dedham community continued to operate here until 2011, when a new Avery Scholl was built at a different location on High Street.

Today The Mother Brooks Arts and Community Center, which opened its doors in 2013, is now located here and is the home of artists’ studios, a gallery, classrooms and events.

The first school on this site was constructed in 1825 to serve the children of millworkers employed in the textile mills that rose on the banks of the nearby Mother Brook. Initially known as the Mill Village School, it was replaced by a second structure in 1844 named The Avery School in honor of William Avery, who had donated funds for a Latin School in 1680.

By the end of the 19^th century, the factories of East Dedham employed hundreds of workers, many of which were immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Scotland, Italy and Eastern Europe and the school-age population had grown dramatically.. These included the Merchant’s Woolen Company at Maverick and Bussey streets and the Cochrane Manufacturing Company on Milton Street. In 1894, the Town voted to further expand the school lot and construct a larger, more modern building at the Avery School site for use as a primary and grammar school. A committee of five was appointed to review plans and to work with the Trustees for the Public Library to also establish a branch library at the site. The Town voted on May 14, 1894 to construct a nine-room schoolhouse with a hall on the second floor at a cost “not to exceed $35,000.” The building was designed by the architectural firm of Hartwell, Richardson and Driver and built by contractor Henry R. Hunt. The Avery School House was completed by September 2, 1895, and classes along with a dedication ceremony were held the following day. It was described in the Town’s Annual Report as a, ‘modern schoolhouse containing eight classrooms and a hall on the second story in addition to a reading room occupied by a branch of the Public Library.”[1] 

In a disastrous fire on January 14, 1921, this new school burned to the ground. Local newspapers reported that the building had “burned to the ground” and various articles hailed the work of the firemen who saved nearby buildings that had been threatened by blowing embers. These included the houses on nearby Chauncey Street and the factory buildings of Hodge’s Finishing Company. In the Town’s Annual Report from 1921, School Committee members stated that “The loss of the Avery School by fire has been a severe one for the Town.” The building was insured for only $68,000. Students were quickly accommodated at East Dedham’s Quincy School. Avery students shared the Quincy building by utilizing a “two-platoon plan”: grades one through six of Quincy attended school from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM and Avery students attended from 12:30 PM to 5 PM. 

A special meeting was held at Memorial Hall on February 1, 1921 to decide the best way to move forward with rebuilding a new school.[1] The meeting lasted only seven minutes and 200 people voted unanimously to have Moderator George G. Darling appoint a committee to investigate the rebuilding of schoolhouse on the site of the burned building. [2] The current building, described in The Engineering News Record as “brick and steel with reinforced concrete, about $200,000,” opened in 1923. It was designed by architect Luther C. Greenleaf, who also designed the Ames Schoolhouse on Bryant Street. The center of community life for the neighborhood, the Avery School hosted plays, shows, motion pictures and political meetings in its spacious auditorium and served the children of East Dedham until 2012. In May of 1952, Life Magazine came to the Avery School to report on the “The Terror of New England” presented by Mrs. Elizabeth Gurley’s fifth grade class.  

In 2011, a new Avery School was built, located approximately ¼ mile from here and the building became surplus. The citizens of Dedham enthusiastically endorsed the building’s re-use as The Mother Brooks Arts and Community Center, which opened its doors in 2013 and is now the home of artists’ studios, a gallery, and classrooms, and hosts concerts, performances, and other activities in the auditorium. 

[1] Annual Report of the School Committee, Dedham Mass. 1895-6 with the Dedication of the Avery School Building

[2] The Boston Globe February 1, 1921