OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY
Center Harbor Village School
94 Dane Road
Center Harbor, New Hampshire
The Center Harbor Village Schoolhouse is located at 94 Dane Road in Center Harbor, Belknap County, New Hampshire. The first schools in Center Harbor were located in one-room district school houses that were spread across the large town and located near to centers of population. As early as 1825, there were five district schools. By 1865, Center Harbor had eight rural district schools. In the mid-1880s, there were four one-room school houses in use in Center Harbor. They were: District No. 2 School on Center Harbor Neck Road (near Anthon Road), which operated c. 1797-1886; District No. 3 School/Union School on Dane Road (Map 215/Lot 1), which operated c. 1797-1886; District No. 4 School/Town House School at 19 College Road, which operated c. 1825-1933; and District No. 5 School/Cram School at 292 Waukewan Road, which operated c. 1828-1914. In addition to the Center Harbor District schools, some resident children attended the Moultonborough District School No. 18, located just over the line in Moultonborough, and the Coxboro School, located just over the town line in Holderness. In 1885 a law was passed which introduced the Town System to equalize school privileges to all of the children throughout the town. This NH State law, approved August 13, 1885, abolished the old district school system and made each town its own district with all schools under the direction of the town board of education. The previous system allowed multiple districts within a town, which, in turn, enabled greater funding for district schools in wealthier areas. This new law required that schools be provided at such places and times as will best serve the interests of education, giving all scholars in town as near an equal educational opportunity as practical. The law necessitated better school accommodation and led to the building of the Village School in 1886.
The School District voted to raise $1,500 by taxation in 1886 for the construction of a new School House. In 1886, the Building Committee, in account with the Centre Harbor School District, received a total of $1,450.73 from the Town Treasurer by order of Selectmen. On July 12, 1886 the School District used some of the money to purchase a parcel of land from the heirs of James L. Huntress for $100.7 The Center Harbor School District hired A. L. Davis (1830-1922), a very prominent local architect with offices in both Laconia and Manchester, to create the plans for the one-room schoolhouse, paying him $12.408 for his plans. The single-story wood frame Queen Anne one-room schoolhouse was constructed in 1886 as a grammar school for the village. A second classroom, the “little room,” was added in 1902. First, second and third grade students were taught in the “little room,” and grades 4 through 8 were held in the 1886 classroom. Eventually, grades 7 and 8 were moved to the Humiston School in nearby Meredith, NH. The schoolhouse was continually adapted to meet the changing needs of the school district between the early 1900s and 1970, when it ceased operation as an elementary school. It is listed on the NH State Register of Historic Places. Since 1975, it has been home to the Centre Harbor Historical Society Museum founded in 1971 to collect and preserve objects and facts of historical interest to the Town of Center Harbor, NH. The Village Schoolhouse is owned by the Town and leased to the Society for $10 per year. Now it serves as the Schoolhouse Museum and contains the Society’s collection of documents and artifacts. It is open during July and August on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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