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Horace Mann hardly attended school from the age of 10 to 20, however, he loved education. He often went to the Franklin Public Library to learn. He later attended Brown University where he graduated valedictorian. Mann recognized many issues with the traditional schooling, so he sought to change it.

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The 1830 brick schoolhouse is probably one of the earliest surviving examples of its type in the Worcester county area. Beyond the design and materials required, certain town individuals obtained permission to add a second story. The individuals had to supply the roof. The second floor was added and called the Central Hall. We learn through past records that these individuals became the Proprietors of the Central Hall. They were: Henry Snow, T. W. Ward, J.M. Miles, Nathan and Amase Howe, E. H. Hemenway, E. Sumner, Joel Nourse, J.C. Stone and J. G. Stone.

The building's history starts with it as a schoolhouse; but, in time, it also hosted Civil War veteran's (G.A.R.) events and meetings, a rich variety of lectures and exhibitions, it housed the Superintendent of Schools, the Shrewsbury Credit Union, and was used as a temporary police station during improvements to their existing facility.

In the late 1990s, the Shrewsbury Historical Society initiated the leasing of the school house, from the Town of Shrewsbury, for their headquarters. Thorough comprehensive presentations and financial reports were conducted by the members of the Society. The Society was, at this time, using the second floor for their meeting hall.

After extensive improvements and renovations to the existing building, it became the permanent home of the Shrewsbury Historical Society. With grant money, individual donations and much hard work, the Shrewsbury Historical Society converted the second floor of the school house into a museum to house the Society's collection and the meeting room moved to the first level.

With continued exterior renovations to the building in 2007, the Shrewsbury Historical Society is proud to claim a building for its own use, a museum and gift shop. It continues to grow as does the Society's aim to continue to maintain and offer their collections in the preservation of the history of the town of Shrewsbury.

More recently, the Shrewsbury Historical Society replaced the roof and windows and completed other improvement projects. Centrally located on Church Road near the Congregational Church and Town Common, the 1830 Brick School is part of Shrewsbury's Historic District, which was established in 1972.

The 1830 Brick School and other locations in the Shrewsbury Historic District were officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior on October 8,1976.

Robert J. Cormier, The Old Brick School House (1830)

Alden Stone, The First and Second Hundred Years

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The 1830 brick schoolhouse is probably one of the earliest surviving examples of its type in the Worcester county area. Beyond the design and materials required, certain town individuals obtained permission to add a second story. The individuals had to supply the roof. The second floor was added and called the Central Hall.

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Horace Mann was the first secretary of the Massachussets Board of Education. He believed that education was a vital tool in protecting democracy, and creating a functional future for the nation. Mann reorganized the Massachusetts school system, lengthened the school year, and enriched the curriculum. He also improved the teachers conditions by doubling their salaries and adding new methods of training for teaching. Mann left a lasting effect of creating universal education for all funded by local taxes.

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By the 1860s, the United States had one of the highest literacy rates of any nation. 94 percent of the Northern population and 83 percent of the white population of the South were literate.

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19th Century Reforms: Crash Course US History #15

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In the 1830s, interest for public education grew rapidly. This was attributed to the new belief in the innate capacity of everyone and of societies obligation to tap that capacity.

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A Short History of Public Schooling - Excerpt from the film Class Dismissed

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The main goals for the movement were to educate every person in order to have a high literacy rate and to create a strong democratic nation.

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New institutions to help the handicapped, that formed part of a great network of charitable activities known as the Benevolent Empire. The Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, was the first institution to teach the blind. Efforts to use schools to inflict a set of social values on the youth. These values, reformers believed were appropriate for their new, industrializing society. These values included thrift, order, discipline, punctuality, and respect for authority.

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Many states experienced educational expansion and development. This included the building of many schools, the creation of teachers colleges, increasing the salaries of teachers, enriching the curriculum itself, and the addition of taxes in order to broaden the range of kids with access to education.