For Brown School, a new purpose amid its past memories for many

Through a public-private partnership, the school building will be renovated to serve Berlin's new need for more housing. The completed renovation will also allow for taxes to be collected on the property, another city need.

The city currently maintains the property and its utilities.

It remains to be seen what the name of the apartment building will be, and whether it will be keeping the Brown School name part of the building’s rehabilitation and reuse.

The 2023 fair market housing prices for Coos County mean a one-bedroom apartment in the building may rent for $779 and a two-bedroom apartment for $950.

All such units would help the city’s housing crunch, especially for workforce housing.

Grants are helping the project move forward. Through Gov. Chris Sununu’s Invest NH housing fund, under the umbrella of the federal American Rescue Plan Act, money is available by application.

Brown School project planners Tim Coulombe and Kevin Lacasse, the CEO of New England Family Housing, have ties to Berlin. The state’s Community Development Finance Authority directly awards money in the form of Community Development Block Grants, including to this project, which received $405,000.

It is expected that about $2 million will be needed to complete the project. Private equity is one source of funds. The Bank of New Hampshire has expressed an interest in the project, said Lacasse.

Coulombe and Lacasse are also putting some of their own money into the project. This is important for other investors to note, Lacasse said, to show that he and Coulombe “have skin in the game.”

Work has been done to remember the school's past role in the life of the city. In November 2022, the state added the Brown School to its register of historic places. The school, located at 190 Norway St., was dedicated on Nov. 24, 1914.

And while the physical objects inside the Brown School may no longer be present, yet what endures are the memories made in the school.

Corinne Cascadden, an experienced classroom educator, former superintendent of the Berlin Public Schools and now a state representative, spoke earlier of her memories of Brown School. 

A Berlin native, Cascadden recalled her father, Henry Cote, and his brothers, growing up on Norway Street. One of their “tasks” at Brown School was “to feed the coal burning boiler on weekends and school vacations.”

With Berlin’s population greater in earlier decades, the activities Cascadden remembers reflect that: “Growing up in the neighborhood, near the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Brown School was a site for summer parks programs with a culminating activity of a large children’s parade downtown where all parks programs participated with a theme.”

In 1980, Cascadden transferred to Brown School from Burgess School to teach in the district’s fourth grade English-French bilingual program.

Her classroom teaching career continued. She remembers watching the Challenger space shuttle mission on television with the last class of fourth graders she taught. The mission — which was to have featured lessons from the first teacher in space — ended in a tragic, explosion that killed its seven astronauts, including Concord teacher Christa McAuliffe, shortly after lift-off on Jan. 29, 1986.

In July 1986, Cascadden became principal of Brown School, which served grades K-4. Her leadership role would later increase to include serving the Bartlett and Marston schools as principal. In 1994, the Marston School closed.

Grade 4 students in the city’s three elementary schools moved to a new Hillside School, formerly the junior high building. At that new location, students in grades 4-6 were educated. Cascadden became principal of Brown and Bartlett elementary schools, serving kindergartners to third graders.

In 2000, the school district reopened the Marston School to serve and teach three kindergarten classes. At that point, Cascadden was principal of three elementary schools in Berlin, responsible for 460 students.

From 2009-2019, more changes took place for Cascadden and the city. She became the district’ schools’ superintendent. Bartlett and Marston schools were closed. Brown School served kindergartners through Grade 2. Grade 3 students enrolled at Hillside School and the Marston School became the district’s special education offices and its Title 1 office. Title 1 is a federal aid program for public schools in the U.S.

Cascadden remembers the Brown School's Leather’s Lane Playground, with over 100 community volunteers and organizations bringing to completion this  1990 project.

“The community was very generous with providing materials, food, equipment and time," she said.

The PTO also sponsored dinners, events book fairs and student activities. The Brown School was awarded Blue Ribbon and Gold Circle Awards for many years by N.H. Partners in Education, Cascadden noted.

On the sports front, Brown School had "2 basketball teams, one was the Brown School Bulls coached by Gene Griffin."

Brown School, in a project with the U.S Postal Service, had its own postal mailing and delivery service in the school building.

Sharing memories with Cascadden on Brown School, per the list, were Ann Nolin and Sue Griffin.

Nolin spent 35 years at the Brown School, from 1974-2009, and is now the chairwoman of the Berlin School Committee. She recalled: “The excitement and feeling of the first day of school when all teachers were out to meet and greet the students. Sharing great books with students.”

Sue Griffin, of her 41 years at Brown School, noted the importance of its “small community feeling with students and staff, like a family. Everyone supported each other. Halloween parades sharing Fairy Tale units as a whole school. Very active and engaged PTO and volunteers.”

In Berlin today, the public schools are Berlin Elementary School and the Berlin Middle Senior High School. The district's total student enrollment, as shown on the state's Department of Education website is 1,051.

lisa@berlindailysun.com