Upham Elementary School – History Mystery, Nov 2015

November 16, 2015 – Question

Upham Elementary School opened its doors to students on January 2, 1957. The school was dedicated in June 1957 and named in memory of the late Ernest F. Upham. Mr. Upham served as the head of the History Department at Wellesley High School and died on February 9, 1957, the same year the elementary school opened.
Prior to the school’s dedication to Ernest Upham, the school went by another name.  Do you know the original name of Upham School?  Return on November 30th for the answer!

November 30, 2015 – Answer

Before it was known as the Upham School, the elementary school went by the name of the Wynnewood Road School.  The name was most likely derived from its location, since the school was built at the end of Wynnewood Road in Wellesley.
Town of Wellesley Annual Reports from 1955 and 1956 refer to the “Wynnewood Road School” in accounting and building committee reports.   The school was designed by the architectural firm James H. Ritchie and Associates of Boston and opened with seven classrooms educating children aged kindergarten through fifth grade.  As listed in the 1956 Town of Wellesley Annual Reports, the cost to build the new school was $508,500.  Quite a bargain by today’s standards!

Ellen Murphy, Volunteer Research Assistant

 A newspaper article from 1957 featuring the Wynnewood School, later named the Upham School.