NASHUA, NH – This year marks 100 years of the current Mount Pleasant Elementary school. The community plans to commemorate the school and its history with a celebration on Sept. 21 on the school’s front lawn.
While the current building is a century old, the history of Mount Pleasant dates back to 1849 when the site was purchased with the intention of building a space for education, according to Paul Okonak, husband of Mount Pleasant principal Jacqueline Okonak. In 1850, the school was built but was later destroyed by fire, in 1871.
A new school took its place in 1873 and served the community for 50 years before being torn down in 1923. The building that would follow is the one that stands on the grounds today, with two additions added to either side in the 1980s.
Since its early days, Mount Pleasant has been in the center of a diverse community, where children of both immigrant laborers and business leaders came to learn, according to an article written by Paul Okonak.
“The north end was more like the management workers in the mills and then in French Hill were the workers,” said Donnamarie Vick, a paraeducator at Mount Pleasant.
“It’s been that way for [more than] a hundred years,” Paul added. “The diversity has been within walking distance of here, the mill workers and the managers in the homes on Concord Street and everything. It’s kind of been an interesting mix for generations.”
The celebration will go from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with food trucks, games, community resource tables and the return of students and staff from past and present.
“Rumor has it a 98 year old might try to make it,” Jacqueline said. “She was a kindergartener here. She would have been one of the first people in.”
According to Vick, a former staff member is planning to travel up from the south for the event.
“This is becoming big, you know, to pull these folks back is a testament to this school,” Paul said.
“Schools have a 40, 50 year lifetime and they’re gone, and then to have something as well built as this and the neighborhood presence,” he added. “A neighborhood school is just very rare where folks walk, and then you take the diversity, there’s just some rare pinpoints with all of this that make this school very, very unique.”