Monadnock Moment No. 148

Era 4: Expansion and Reform - 1800 to 1860

Samuel Hall, Educator

Samuel R. Hall was born in Croydon, New Hampshire, then a part of Cheshire County, in 1795. In 1811 the Hall family moved to Rumford, Maine where Samuel's father had been named pastor of the congregational church. Samuel was the youngest of a large family and there was no money for him to go to college. He had attended Kimball Union Academy, however, and was called upon to teach at the local school in Rumford in 1814. This began a long and illustrious educational career for Samuel.

By 1823 Samuel himself had become a minister and was serving the town of Concord, Vermont. During that year he established a training school for teachers. Prior to that time educational theory had been discussed a great deal. Samuel, however, took the first practical step by opening his normal school, the first teacher training school in the United States. It was known as Concord Academy.

Samuel went on to teach in other places and organize other teacher training schools. He also wrote some twenty textbooks on geology, geography, arithmetic, grammar, and history. Today's teachers should be thankful to this Croydon native for two important developments. Not only did he establish the first teacher training school in the country, but during his first year of teaching as a 19 year old in Rumford, Maine, Samuel Hall also put into use the first blackboards in the United States.