Demolition crews have begun tearing down the century-old Major Howard W. Beal School at 1-7 Maple Avenue in central Shrewsbury, closing the book on a building that once served as the town's high school and later as an early childhood education center before sitting vacant for years. The site is slated for a mixed-use development that will bring housing and retail to the heart of town, according to the Community Advocate.
Shrewsbury purchased the school land in 1920 and built the school in 1922, according to the Community Advocate's reporting. Thousands of Shrewsbury residents passed through its halls over the decades, first as the town's high school and later in other educational roles. The town's own records corroborate the building's long run as an educational hub: the Town of Shrewsbury's building assessment states the structure “has been used by the town for educational purposes since it was opened in 1922.”
From High School to Early Childhood Center
Beal served as Shrewsbury's high school until 1957, when the new Junior Senior High School opened on Oak Street, per the Community Advocate's account — a transition the town's own assessment confirms, noting the building was “used as the town's high school until 1957 when the new Junior Senior High School was opened on Oak Street.” After that, the building took on new roles, later serving as a grammar school and then a kindergarten before becoming known as the Beal Early Childhood Center. The town's assessment notes that during the 1990s, Beal was developed as a progressive early childhood education center serving the entire district.
The early childhood center closed in 2021, the same year a new school opened on Lake Street, the Community Advocate reports. The portrait of Major Beal and related artifacts were eventually moved to a display area in the new Major Howard W. Beal School on Lake Street, preserving a physical link to the building's original namesake even as the old Maple Avenue structure emptied out.
A War Hero's Name and a Flagpole's History
The school was named after Major (Dr.) Howard W. Beal, described by the Community Advocate as the highest-ranking Shrewsbury service member killed in action in World War I. Beal served in Europe and was killed in France by a bomb dropped from a German airplane, according to that reporting. Queen Mary reportedly thanked Beal for caring for wounded British soldiers, and his family donated a portrait of him to the school in 1953.
A memorial flagpole honoring Shrewsbury natives killed in World War I was erected in front of the school, per the Community Advocate's account. During World War II, the school sat within the town's dimout area, where buildings had to follow blackout procedures and show no lights. As part of those wartime measures, the golden ball atop Beal's flagpole was reportedly painted black — a change that, according to the same reporting, upset Major Beal's wife.
Structural Trouble in 1930
The building wasn't without its own close call decades before demolition ever became a possibility. In 1930, workers discovered bulging exterior walls at the school, forcing classes to be suspended while repairs were made, the Community Advocate reports. Crews reportedly held the walls in position with 12-foot beams during the repair work, keeping the building standing for decades more of use.
Years of Planning Led to Redevelopment
The push toward the building's current fate began in earnest after the School Committee declared the property surplus in June 2020 and Town Meeting authorized its sale that August, according to the Town of Shrewsbury's request for proposals, issued in September 2020. That RFP gave developers flexibility, stating a developer “may propose to reuse the existing building, add on, or supplement the existing building, or demolish it and build new construction.” It also required every proposal to demonstrate preservation of the Veteran's World War I Memorial, and it noted that the building and site were not designated as historic properties and were not within a Historic District.
A 2017 assessment of the roughly 33,000-square-foot building had suggested it might be suitable for adaptive reuse as housing, offices, or similar uses, though that same assessment and the town's later RFP differ slightly on the site's acreage, with the assessment citing 3.8 acres and the RFP citing 3.86 acres. The Select Board voted on January 25, 2022 to authorize the Town Manager to negotiate a Land Disposition Agreement with Civico/Greenly for the property, according to the Town of Shrewsbury, following a public hearing held the previous month.
An earlier version of that redevelopment plan, described by the Telegram & Gazette in March 2022, called for converting the former Beal Early Childhood Center into a 55-unit mixed-use housing project, a plan the Board of Selectmen unanimously approved entering an agreement on at the time. The project that ultimately moved forward, known as Beal Commons, was approved in April 2023 and survived a legal appeal in January 2025, according to the Community Advocate.
What's Planned for the Site
Current plans for Beal Commons include a 53-unit mixed-use development with 7,000 square feet of first-floor retail space, the Community Advocate reports, after the Shrewsbury Planning Board approved the project's site plans. A town press release describes Beal Commons as a mixed-use project featuring residential units, 7,000 square feet of commercial space, open space, and a modernized parking area.
With demolition now underway, the Community Advocate reports the site will be redeveloped in the coming months, closing a chapter that began when Shrewsbury first bought the land more than a century ago. The building's teardown marks the end of its physical presence in town, even as the memory of Major Beal and the generations of students who passed through its doors lives on at the school that now carries his name on Lake Street.
