Dickinson School Trust

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What is the Dickinson School Trust?

The Dickinson Fund was created by a bequest of Richard Dickinson in May 1824. In his will he left to the town property that when sold, produced the significant sum of $14,900 then to be kept in a trust, “the interest of which shall be appropriated for the support of the schools in the town.”

The trust provided a significant portion of the town’s school budget up through the 1870’s and is prominently mentioned in the annual Town Reports through that period. It is last mentioned in the Town Report of 1914, and from then on has been relegated to a minor role in supporting education in the town. In 1827, the Town of Southwick built the Dickinson Grammar School using town general funds and it was named in honor of Mr. Dickinson.

The town voted to build the school because they knew they could rely on the interest from the Dickinson Fund coming in for yearly support of maintenance and for the teaching staff at the nine district schools. The first floor contained three rooms for classrooms and the second floor served as the town hail.