Graduation Season


St Peter's School, Lewiston, Class of 1910

St Peter's School, Lewiston, Class of 1910
Item 74893   info
Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries

St Peter's School ('Ecole St Pierre') was the first parish school in Lewiston. It opened in 1878 to serve the French-speaking children of immigrants who poured into Lewiston in the 1860s and 70s to work in the mills.

Although children were taught exclusively in French -- from Canadian textbooks -- until the 1930s, there was a growing desire among parents to "Americanize" their children to provide them with better life chances. Note the large Stars and Stripes behind the graduates.

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