DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT,
MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST
(Historic Sites Survey) var.d.
MSA SE16-1

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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT,
MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST
(Historic Sites Survey) var.d.
MSA SE16-1

Image No: se16-1-0009   Enlarge and print image (81K)

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NFS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section 8 Page 3 Hampstead School (CARR-1267) Name of Property Carroll Countv, MD County and State attendance, teacher qualifications and salaries, and health standards forced the consolidation of many rural schools during the early years of the 20th century. School Laws in 1911 and 1916 strengthened school attendance requirements, raised standards of education for public school teachers, raised teachers' salaries, provided for the education of handicapped children, and required African American students to spend as much time in school as white students.19 Under the Equalization Act of 1922, Governor Albert Cabell Ritchie established a general educational fund from which all counties could draw equally.20 Beginning in 1928, completion of primary school was required of every child in Maryland.21 All of these laws changed the educational environment in rural counties from one in which school was optional and often preempted by families' needs for child labor to one in which every child was expected to attend school regularly. Hampstead School In 1916, Maurice H. Unger became superintendent of schools for Carroll County.22 His plan, known as Rural Reorganization, was to consolidate the public schools.23 Over the next 12 years, 24 one-room schoolhouses closed and 7 new consolidated schools, including the Hampstead School, opened.24 Citizens of Hampstead first approached the Carroll County Board of Education in June of 1916 requesting improved facilities.25 The Board agreed to construct an "up-to-date, 4-room school" provided the community furnish a suitable site.26 The site selected was that of the existing school shown on the 1911 Sanborn Map with the addition of some land from an adjacent cemetery.27 The Board called upon N. Claud Erb to prepare plans for the new Hampstead School.28 Erb's plans for the school were accepted by the Board in January of 1917, but all bids for its construction, including that of Erb himself, were denied in February.29 On March 7, 1917, faced with overwhelming demands for school improvements and inadequate supplemental funding from the County Commissioners, the Board of Education passed a Chief State School Officers, Education in the States: Historical Development and Outlook, 539; Maryland State Normal School at Towson, 45-46). 19 Brugger, 454; Maryland Writers' Project, 104. 20 Brugger, 456. 21 Brugger, 493. ~ Warner, 166; Prall, Joan. Schoolbells and Slates, 1. 23 Warner, 166; Prall, Schoolbells and Slates, 2. 24 Warner, 166. ^ Carroll County Board of Education minutes, June 5, 1916. ~6 Board of Education minutes, June 5, 1916. 27 Board of Education minutes, August 4, 1916; October 4, 1916; November 1, 1916. 28 Board of Education minutes, December 6, 1916. N. Claud Erb, builder of the Hampstead School, was born in 1883 in Taneytown. Carroll County. He was described as a "prominent builder and contractor" based in Westminster from the 1910s until 1956. Board of Education minutes refer to him as both an "architect" and "builder". Board of Education records indicate that Erb prepared plans for many of the buildings he constructed. In addition to the Hampstead School, he is credited with the Mount Airy High School as well as numerous repairs and additions. Erb died in Westminster in 1967. Biographical research has not revealed whether he received formal training in architecture or whether he was registered as an architect in Maryland. County preservation planners and local historians did not have any information about him. A search for surviving family members listed in the obituary did not yield any results. (Biographical information taken from obituary in Carroll County Times, February 16, 1967) 29 Board of Education minutes, January 3, 1917; February 14, 1917.