... somewhat more explicit. But it will be safe to say, I think, that the Milk Row School, the only one in Somerville of that day, was established not far from 1730. A school a short distance beyond Alewife Brook , on Arlington soil, but drawing its scholars from a point as far south as the Old Powder House, may have been of an equal age; both were for instructing youth in reading, writing, and ciphering. ...