Beloved Westborough educators live on in the names of the town’s elementary schools

By Kate Tobiasson
History Columnist

WESTBOROUGH – While some of the town’s most beloved educators have been gone for decades, they live on in the elementary schools which bear their name.

Armstrong Elementary School

Opened in 1955 and located in the center of town on West Street, this elementary school was originally built to house Westborough’s burgeoning young students in the boom following the conclusion of WWII. The original building housed 12 classrooms of just 30 students each. With a working intercom system and an all-purpose gymnasium/cafeteria, the new hot lunch available at the school was very popular with the students. Starting in the 1970s, Armstrong was a school housing all of Westborough’s fifth graders until a large-scale renovation in 1998 helped the building function as a districted lower-level elementary school.

J. Harding Armstrong, for whom the building is named, was superintendent of schools from 1924-1947. A Harvard graduate, Dr. Armstrong was a teacher at Westborough High School for a year before becoming its principal. Serving the town for over two decades as superintendent, he was well known by all in the community for his kindness, discipline and dedicated service.

Hastings Elementary School

Built in 1970 and embracing the team-teaching concept, Hastings originally housed 28 classrooms, including all of the district’s newly added public kindergarten classrooms. The rooms were set up in pods of four, with collapsable walls so that the rooms could be opened while teachers fluidly moved students to different homogeneous groups. This instructional style was wildly popular at the time, and Hasting was considered a luxurious building, with its teacher planning rooms and large gymnasium. Four portable classrooms were added in 1999, and the building was renovated in 1998. In 2018, the Early Education Center and new administrative offices were added to the building.

Elsie A. Hastings was a lifelong Westborough resident, born in 1870. Elsie graduated at the top of her class (of seven students) in 1889, and began teaching in Westborough immediately following her completion of college in 1894. Elsie continued to teach in town for the next 43 years, leaving behind a legacy of elementary aged children with fond memories of her kindness and love of life.

Fales Elementary School

Despite the construction of the Armstrong School, Westborough soon found itself in need of another building for the continually expanding population. In 1963, the Fales Elementary School was erected on Eli Whitney Street. The construction was also fueled by the implementation of the National Education Defense Act, which mandated curriculum and instructional updates. Rather than teaching groups of 38 heterogeneous students, children were homogeneously grouped based on their assessed abilities. The building was largely untouched until the recent large-scale renovation in 2021.

There are few teachers in history as revered as Annie Fales. A graduate of Westborough High School in 1885, she taught in Westborough elementary schools from 1888 and served as the principal of the Eli Whitney School (now the YWCA) for decades. Annie was interviewed on her 95th birthday, and was quoted as saying, “Patience, a sense of humor, and a real love of children―that’s what makes a good teacher.” Annie lived to age 104.