The First Opening of the Dedham High School

Only pupils who passed a written examination were permitted to attend the school. Fifty-five candidates presented themselves and spent two days, or more, in writing their answers to the questions. Forty-one were successful. One of the girls correctly answered every one of the two hundred and four questions! The lowest student admitted had answered one hundred and seventy-two question correctly, or an eighty-four percent. 

The school opened Monday, September 15, 1851, and occupied Masonic Hall until September, 1854, when it was moved to the Town House on Bullard Street. 

TOWN HOUSE ON BULLARD STREET, USED AS A SCHOOL-HOUSE FROM SEPTEMBER, 1854, TO DECEMBER, 1855

During the summer of 1855, a High School House was erected on Highland Street and was dedicated on the tenth of December. The school remained there nearly thirty-two years. 

HIGH SCHOOL-HOUSE ON HIGHLAND STREET, ERECTED 1855