Watkins School Rutland, Vermont

Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.

Constructed in 1897, the Watkins School is an outstanding example of an urban graded public school in Vermont. It is a fine example of a Colonial Revival-style school built in the modern fashion of the 1890s and is consistent with many of the public schools built throughout Vermont during this era. It incorporates the many windows, multiple, high-ceilinged classrooms, and ventilation systems advocated for model schools by educational reformers and the State Department of Education. The high style and quality of its architecture, designed by the Boston firm of Stickney and Austin, reflects the importance of educational reform in Rutland, as well as the municipal efforts of this emerging city in which a number of architects held public office and had influence over the public and institutional buildings built there. The construction of this school in 1897 was part of a decade-long campaign by the Knights of Labor movement, which held political sway over the town and city government, to invest in and upgrade the educational system of Rutland. Their efforts between 1887 and 1897 resulted in a total of five new, architect designed, brick schools in the city, including Watkins. The Watkins School is also significant in the area of community development as one of the first buildings built on a newly laid street in a developing residential neighborhood. The modest but stylish homes in the neighborhood housed the growing manager and merchant middle class of the robust local economy. The school's period of significance is 1897 c. 1959, reflecting the importance of its type, model school features, and architecture; its place in a movement of school reform and improvement; and the period during which it was in active use as a public school serving the surrounding community. This well-preserved school building easily meets the registration requirements of the Educational Resources of Vermont Multiple Property Listing. The building is locally significant and eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and C.