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The Center for Early Childhood Education developed from
separate preschool, infant/toddler and extended-day programs. The preschool program began
in 1926 when Smith College President William Allan Nielson established the Smith College Nursery
School as a cooperative school to provide educational opportunities for Smith graduate students.
The preschool program was a half-day program until the early 1990’s when an afternoon “Extended-Day” program
was established to accommodate the increasing need for child care services. An Infant/Toddler
program was developed in 1992 to provide childcare services for Smith faculty and staff.
In
2003, in response to a campus-wide Child Care Study Committee report, the Preschool Program,
the Infant/Toddler Program and the Extended-Day Program formed The Smith College Center for
Early Childhood Education to provide continuity for children, families, and staff.
The program
currently enrolls about eighty children, infants through preschoolers, in seven classrooms.
The mission of the program is to provide exemplary early education and care for young
children, to offer a laboratory for research and fieldwork for college students and faculty,
and to support the child care needs of families.
The program has been located on Lyman Road
since 1964. Fort Hill refers to the land that English settlers offered shelter there
to the local Nonotuck Indians when the latter were attacked by Mohawk Iroquois Indians
from the West in 1664, a decade after the English town was founded. No archaeological evidence
of the fort has ever been found.
The estate home on the property was built by Samuel Whitmarsh
in 1838. Whitmarsh was a merchant tailor from New York who founded the Northampton
Silk Company and introduced silk manufacturing to Northampton. Silk manufacturing
was a successful commercial venture in Northampton for many years. Whitmarsh built
a large cocoonery and surrounded the property with gardens, shrubbery, trees, walks
and a greenhouse. The 27-acre Whitmarsh homestead was one of the most beautiful places
in the Connecticut River Valley and was featured in mid-century tourists’ guides as
the perfect place for a carriage ride. The brick carriage house remains on the property.
Financial difficulties eventually resulted in Whitmarsh
relinquishing his home and the property was transacted several times before Catherine
and Edward Lyman bought it in 1866 to use as a summer home. Mr. Lyman was a native of Northampton
and had moved to Brooklyn to work as an importer of tea and silk. He is well known
in the city as the benefactor of the Academy of Music.
The estate remained in the Lyman family
until 1946, when Smith College purchased the property. The main house has been renovated
several times, most recently in 1999 by Dietz and Company Architects. The gracious
estate home has served a variety of functions – as
a private home, a dormitory and most recently as a school for young children.
The early childhood
program moved from the historic home to a new facility on the site in August 2005.
The program operates year-round, with options for full- or part-time enrollment, and is open
to all families in the surrounding communities. Smith-affiliated families receive priority
for admission and are eligible for tuition grants.
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| The Fort Hill building in 1907. |
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| The playground in 1926. |
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| Covered path. |
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| Carriage house road. |
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