12 Winslow Street

High and Grammar School | Formerly 10 Winslow Street

[Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum]

In 1890, Herman Jennings, wrote in Provincetown or, Odds and Ends From the Tip End: “When the [old] Town Hall was built on High Pole Hill in 1853, the High School was then permanently established and held in that building until the building was burned [in 1877]. The school then was kept in the vestry of the Congregational Church [256-258 Commercial Street] until the present High and Grammar School Building was erected in 1880, the town appropriating $8,000 for the purchase of land and the erection of the building. In this school, the higher branches are taught in connection with several of the foreign languages.”

The building burned down on 26-27 March 1930. This account is from the 1930 Town Records and Reports of the Town Officers: “An alarm was sounded at 10:30 p.m. for a fire in the High School building, at No. 10 Winslow Street, and owned by the Town of Provincetown. The fire was caused by design. The department worked against tremendous odds. The buildings was all ablaze inside before it was discovered, the high wind carried the sparks to other buildings and many roofs were blazing at once, looking for a time as if it would be a conflagration. Help was summoned from nearby towns and engines were sent from Hyannis, Chatham, Harwich, and Orleans but the fires were under control before they arrived. The house of John King, next to the School House caught fire and was badly damaged; also the roof of the Center Methodist Church caught from flying sparks in a number of places and the church was saved only after a stiff fight. The School Building and contents were a total loss. Value of building $60,000.00; of contents, $11,000.00. Insurance on building $28,000.00; on contents, none.”