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Furthermore, the efforts of some of our most thoughtful members have been given to the matter of allowing the freest development of pupils' faculties, and, with that view, of making the requirements for admission into the two schools as nearly equal as possible, so that pupils who begin to show abilities and taste that demand a different training can be transferred from one school to the other without much jar, and without the loss of so much time as has been the case heretofore.

"We think that a spacious lot should be selected, upon an airy and handsome avenue, and that an edifice with a centre and two wings, or (what is better) three buildings conveniently near together, should be erected. If the Council properly appreciates these great interests, and looks to the wants of the future, this edifice, or this group of buildings, will be an ornament to the city that prides itself upon the honor shown to learning and the arts.

Provision should be made for one thousand High School and five hundred Latin School pupils."

The expense involved in carrying out this scheme is somewhat startling at first, but a careful consideration of all the circumstances, the rapid growth of the city, the important position which these schools now occupy in our educational system, and the measures being taken to increase their usefulness still further, will convince the members of the government that it is, on the whole, an economical measure.

The location on Warren avenue is admirably adapted for the accommodation of pupils attending from different sections of the city. In fact it is the only place where a large lot of unoccupied land, located in the centre of the city, can be obtained for anything like a reasonable price.

It is proposed to purchase all the land lying between Warren avenue, Montgomery street, Dartmouth street, and Clarendon street, with the exception of the lot occupied by

the Baptist Church, on the corner of Clarendon street and Montgomery street, and the lot on the corner of Clarendon street and Warren street, owned by Henry B. Rogers. In order to give the city control of the entire front on Dartmouth street, it would be advisable to purchase the five lots on the corner of Montgomery street and Dartmouth street, and move the buildings which now occupy them to Warren avenue, adjoining the Rogers lot. The city would then have an estate with a front of two hundred and twenty feet on Dartmouth street and three hundred and ninety-eight feet on Warren avenue, making in all ninety-one thousand and sixty square feet, after disposing of the estates on which the houses are to be located on Warren avenue. The first cost of the whole property, covering one hundred and one thousand and sixty square feet of land, and including the five houses on Dartmouth street, is estimated at four hundred and twelve thousand eight hundred dollars; the net cost after the sale of the houses will be three hundred and thirty-two thousand eight hundred dollars, making the actual cost per foot for the school-house lot three dollars and sixty-five cents. A plan of the estates is submitted herewith.

The committee would respectfully recommend the passage of the accompanying orders:

For the committee,

STEPHEN A. STACKPOLE, Chairman.

Ordered, That the Committee on Public Instruction be authorized to purchase as a site for the English High and Latin schools, the several estates on Dartmouth street, between Montgomery street and Warren avenue, owned by Nancy L. Crump, Lucretia M. Phelps, Mary E. Beal, Eliza Pulsifer, Samuel Carr, and the Washingtonian Home; also the estates in rear of the same, on Montgomery street

and Warren avenue, owned by John L. Gardner, containing in all one hundred and one thousand and sixty feet, more or less, for a sum not exceeding four hundred and fifteen thousand dollars.

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Ordered, That the Treasurer be authorized to borrow, under the direction of the Committee on Finance, the sum of four hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, to be applied to the purchase of a site for the English High and Latin Schools on Dartmouth street, Warren avenue, and Montgomery street.

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