Mitchell Boys' School
Mitchell Boys' School
| Address | 86 Concord Rd |
| Built | 1888 |
| Demolished | 1950 |
Professor Moses Campbell Mitchell founded the Mitchell Military Boys School on Martha's Vineyard, but moved to Billerica at the corner of Boston and Andover Roads in 1879, upon the site of a hotel which had burned down. In 1888, this school building also burned down. Mitchell had previously bought a large tract of land along Concord Road between Charnstaffe and French Street, and was able to build an even larger school on these grounds.
Fire struck again in 1935, destroying the main building and gymnasium. Classes were moved to other buildings, but the enrollment declined over the next few years. By 1943, the school closed. The town purchased the sports fields in 1948. The high school football team used it as "Memorial Field", which later became the Chuck Lampson Memorial Field. That's now part of the Peggy Hannon-Rizza Recreation Complex. The "Sunnyside" building became the St. Theresa's Rectory before demolition in the early 2000s, and Moses Campbell Hall still exists as Sweeney Funeral Home. Finally, the stone entrance arches for the main building still stand at the ends of two residential driveways.
