OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY
Lower Corner School (“John Quincy Adams” or “#16”)
22 Schoolhouse Road
Center Sandwich, NH
The Lower Corner Schoolhouse is located at 22 Schoolhouse Road in Center Sandwich, NH. In Sandwich, the Lower Corner School was a place of learning, starting in the mid and late 1800s. Most towns were of themselves remote spots and many families lived in even deeper rural areas. Small schools were built to serve children in various rural locations. The Lower Corner School began in 1825 as the John Quincy Adams School. In 1806, the children of Lower Corner attended the Potash School by Potash Pond, which is now called Little’s Pond. That schoolhouse burned in 1825, but it was rebuilt by the following year, when the area was divided into two school districts – Little Pond, or #3, and John Quincy Adams, or #16. Thereafter, #16 served most of the children from the Lower Corner area. At that time, citizens in Sandwich voted a tax of $193.70 to build the schoolhouse. The school was small with a plank door, tiny windows that were placed high, and underpinnings of stone. A big fireplace heated the building. Four-foot wood logs fed the fire that kept teacher and students warm during the cold winters. In 1839, when districts were numbered, it became #16. It was known as that until 1886, when the districts were renamed and then it was called Lower Corner School. In the 1930s, an addition built about 1938 brought indoor toilet and storage facilities to the school, and a half-acre playground was added the following year. In 1943 Ruth Vittum taught fifteen pupils there. This building served the children of Lower Corner until 1944, when the shortage of teachers forced the closing and the students traveled to town to the Center School. Due to overcrowding of the Center School, in April 1946 there evolved a plan for the fall term whereby Lower Corner School would be used as a junior high school and the seventh and eighth grades would be transported to it from all sections of town. The opening of the new Central School in the center brought an end to the era of Sandwich’s one- and two-room schools. The last students to graduate from the old schools received their diplomas on June 13, 1950. After serving as a private summer home for many years, the Sandwich Historical Society purchased the building in March 1990. The Lower Corner School is now open to the public as a museum during open houses held in the summer and fall. See the Calendar of Events page for time and dates.
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