Before Joseph G. Edgerly came to town, Fitchburg schools were on the edge of a crisis. In 1875, Edgerly was appointed as Superintendent of Fitchburg Public Schools, a position that put him in charge of the city’s forty-one schools, supporting an enrolled population of almost 2,500 students. As superintendent of Manchester, New Hampshire, Edgerly reorganized and reformed the school system. Fitchburg, having experienced “little to no educational progress” over the preceding decades, was in great need of Edgerly’s expertise.

One battle that Edgerly fought was against illiteracy. Children who worked during the day were required to attend evening school. Although employers throughout the city had promised that they would not let children work unless they attended evening school, in 1895 a state inspector discovered there were 116 illiterate children employed in Fitchburg.  

Laws regarding education of children changed greatly during Edgerly’s superintendency. Originally, the law stated that children could be employed as young as ten years old and only attend school for twelve weeks out of the year until the age of fifteen. The law changed in 1898 so that children were required to be fourteen to be employed and attend school for thirty weeks of the year until they reached that age.

In addition to the legislative change, a population boom due to immigration from Canada, Norway, Sweden, and other countries, increased the attendance in the high school from 143 students in 1875 to 737 in 1911. This impacted the growing need for school funding and professionally trained teachers in Fitchburg.

While Edgerly combined schoolhouses into schools, adapted to legislative changes, and fought against illiteracy all to improve education in Fitchburg, most pertinent to Fitchburg Normal School was his mission to train teachers. He began a teacher training school in Fitchburg on his own, and in 1895, he petitioned for a normal school to expand the work of his teacher training program. The normal school facilitated the training of teachers and provided the additional schools needed for Fitchburg children.