Shanafelt School, Salem, IL

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Shanafelt School

West Main and Selmaville Road

Salem, IL 62881

Young School met in a building, during the 1840’s, that was used as a one-room school and a church.  Young School then moved to a building on the corner of Red Stripe and Selmaville Road.  This school used a well, located in the front yard, as a water source.  The entire community came to fill their water tanks from this well, and surprisingly, it never ran dry.  Due to the large addition of “oil boom” students in the late 1930’s, this school was divided into two buildings.  In the early 1940’s a new Young School building was built on the site of the present Selmaville school.  Shanafelt School was also a one-room school located on the corner of Selmaville Road and Route 50.  Over a period of time, each school began to consolidate with other one-room schools.  A 19,000 square foot school was erected in 1950 on the site of the earlier Shanafelt School. This building site was the location of the former Selmaville North School.  A decision was made to consolidate Young School and Shanafelt School.  In 1967, Selmaville School was established.  Students in grades kindergarten through fourth grade were placed in the old Shanafelt building.  Students in grades five through eight attended school in the old Young School, where the current school is now located.  This arrangement continued until the South School was remodeled, and the new portion of that school was constructed. The North students moved to the current campus in November of 2004.

New Chester One Room Schoolhouse, New Chester, NS

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

New Chester One Room Schoolhouse

New Chester Community Club

New Chester, Nova Scotia, Canada NS B0J 2K0

The New Chester Community Club is a modest, one-and–a-half story, one-room schoolhouse that is now used as a social club. It is set back and down a slight slope from the road in a rural setting in the community of New Chester, on Nova Scotia’s eastern shore. Also known locally as the Little Red Schoolhouse, this building was built in 1915 to meet the educational needs of the New Chester residents. With a rather remote setting inland from Ecum Secum in Nova Scotia’s sparsely populated Eastern Shore region, a building of this size was sufficient but also allowed schoolchildren to remain relatively close to home. The school opened late in the year on June 5th, 1915, with Katherine Harris as the schoolteacher. Other notable teachers over the years included Deliah Pace, Bessie Hay, Hilda Moser and Opal Forrestall.  Albert Moser and Thomas Irwin of nearby Moser River did most of the work on the structure. The building retains many of its original features, including the sash windows and wood shingles. The building has an overall balanced and unadorned appearance with a steeply pitched roof, symmetrical windows on the side and front facades, and a central entrance in the gable end with a wooden door. Decoration is added with a wide trim at the eaves and modest window hoods. A simple, pitched roof covered entrance with wooden support brackets defines the entrance. The building also has a basement entrance that was originally used mainly as access for coal and wood storage as the building was heated with one central stove in the classroom. The building also served the community as a space for church services at times until an Anglican church was built nearby in 1959. In 1952, senior students began being bussed to a new consolidated high school in Sherbrooke, lowering the class sizes in this traditional one-room schoolhouse. By 1962, the school was closed and elementary students were also bussed to a new school in the community of Marie Joseph. In 1974, a conservation grant allowed the New Chester community to begin repairs on the structure and it began a new life as a venue for social gatherings and the local community club.  The New Chester Community Club is valued for its intact original architectural features and as a physical representation of the one-room schoolhouse education system of early twentieth century Nova Scotia.

Charlotte Hall Little Red Schoolhouse, Coltons Point, MD

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Charlotte Hall Little Red Schoolhouse

38370 Point Breeze Rd.

Coltons Point, MD 20626

The St. Clement’s Island Museum rests on the east shore of the Potomac River overlooking St. Clement’s Island, Maryland’s First Colonial Landing in 1634. The Museum’s mission concentrates on Maryland’s earliest history and Potomac River heritage. The Museum focuses on the English history that preceded the voyage to Maryland relating the religious and political issues of the 16th and 17th centuries beginning with the vision of George Calvert, the First Lord Baltimore, to found a colony incorporating religious tolerance and his sons’ implementation of this vision.  Also on the Museum grounds is the “Little Red Schoolhouse,” an authentic 19th century one-room school.  Formerly known as the Charlotte Hall School, this building was built in the early 19th century, c. 1820. Originally located on Thompson Corner Road in the Charlotte Hall area of St. Mary’s County, the land it sat on was purchased from the Edwards family for $10 per acre. Records indicate that a good and substantial house of 16 feet square and of chestnut logs was erected for the sum of $150.

After completion, the school was attended by children in grades one through seven who lived within walking distance, which was 5 to 6 miles.There were no paved roads, and on rainy days the mud sometimes pulled the children’s rubbers right off their feet. In bad weather, there was no school.  The school had a “cloakroom” where grades 1 through 3 met, while grades 4-5 and 6-7 met in the larger room.   Those were the days of no electricity and no plumbing. Light came through the large windows and heat was provided by the wood-burning stove. Winter mornings were freezing until the stove got hot.  Water was only available by cranking an outdoor hand pump and the restroom was an outhouse, one for the boys and one for the girls.  There was no cafeteria. No gymnasium. No air conditioning. No bus transportation. The students who went to school here lived a simpler life. Different from today maybe, but they still learned the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic.

The Little Red Schoolhouse was presented to the St. Clement’s Island Museum by the heirs of Maryland State Senator and member of the House of Delegates, Henry J. Fowler, Sr. Senator Fowler had attended the school in 1919. Many years later, Senator Fowler purchased the now decrepit building from the St. Mary’s County Board of Education for $5.  The school was moved 3 miles from its original location to Horse Range Farm to be preserved as a museum.  It was then moved in 1991 to its present location on the St. Clement’s Island Museum grounds where it has been restored and preserved as a St. Mary’s County historical treasure. Also donated were the building’s contents, including the desks and a picture of George Washington, and are replica “two-seater” outhouse. Sadly, none of the contents are from the original schoolhouse.  The Little Red Schoolhouse stands restored and preserved on the grounds of the St. Clement’s Island Museum in Colton’s Point, MD. This humble little structure stands as a monument to education in early America representing one of hundreds of one-room schoolhouses that have dotted this nation. Today, visitors can enter this preserved treasure of yesteryear and almost hear the sounds of days past within its walls.  The Little Red Schoolhouse is open during the operating hours of the St. Clement’s Island Museum and is handicap accessible.

Allow Yourself to Rest

Allow Yourself to Rest

by Lori Freeland

Let’s be real.

There’s a season for everything, right? Even rest? So why does it feel like rest is something to be equated with lazy?

Do you wake up wondering how long until bedtime? Wonder how you’ll get everything done by the end of the day? Do you rush to finish things early in the morning before your energy level tanks below barely registering? 

Maybe you’re a ragged mom, who spends more time in the car than at home. Why can’t someone just hurry up and invent a washer/dryer set that fills itself, washes, and switches loads?

Perhaps you homeschool numerous kids in multiple grades and spend your life repeating K-12. The good news is fourth grade math gets easier every year you practice it. At least remember to cheer yourself on for the A’s you’re finally making now. Fractions are hard.

Read more:

https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/women/allow-yourself-to-i-rest-i.html

Bear Creek Schoolhouse, Ennis, MT

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Bear Creek Schoolhouse

59 Haypress Lake Trl.

Ennis, MT 59729

A wonderful piece of history lies across the road from the Bear Creek Ranch in Cameron, Montana. The once vibrant one room school known as Bear Creek Schoolhouse, six miles from Cameron and seventeen miles south of Ennis in Madison County, now serves as the heart of the community in a new light as documented in Cowboy and Indians Magazine. Built in 1909, the old one-room school has electricity and heat but no running water and no students in 70 years. From 1910 to 1920 it grew to 40 students but began to decline after the 1930s.  It hasn’t been the scene of a traditional class since 1942, but you’d never know to look at it. The paint is new, the roof is solid, the walls clean, the floor gleaming. It’s virtually unchanged since it was built, but it’s not a museum. The Cameron Community Club has been caretakers of the building since 1945 and use it for pinochle parties, cowboy poetry readings, and other social events.

Killian School, Columbia, SC

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Killian School

Killian Elementary School

2621 Clemson Rd.

Columbia, SC

This one-room primary school, built about 1925, stood about 1 mi. E, at the intersection of Killian and Longtown Roads, until 2001. There was a school at Killian (also called Killian´s) as early as 1905. From 1913 to 1948 Killian School had two teachers and an enrollment of 30 to 80 students in grades 1-7, with an average attendance of 30 to 40 and an eight- to nine-month school year.  Killian School closed in 1948, and its students and one teacher went to Blythewood Grammar School. In 1954 Richland County sold the school to the citizens of Killian for $100.00 as a community center. The Killian School was deeded to Richland County School District Two in 2000 and moved to the Killian Elementary School in 2001 to be renovated as a museum of 20th century rural education and a conference center.

Dot One-Room Schoolhouse, Roosevelt, WA

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Dot One-Room Schoolhouse

Dot Rd.

Roosevelt, WA 99356

Dot was a pioneer community established around the late 1890’s in Klickitat County, WA, located near Rock Creek Canyon. The Dot grange hall was originally served as the Dot community church and was built in 1889. One of the first ministers of the church was William Douglas in 1904.  He was a circuit riding preacher, traveling from church to church preaching.  His son William O. Douglas became a Supreme Court Justice serving from 1939 – 1975. Dot was listed as having a post office according to the Geological Survey of 1913. Today the abandoned school house and grange hall are about all that remain at Dot.

McKinley School, Milwaukee, WI

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

McKinley School

2001 W. Vliet St.

Milwaukee, WI

The original block of the old McKinley School on 20th and Vliet in Milwaukee, WI, was erected in 1885 and designed by architect Frederick Seyring with an addition of a second pyramidal-roof building just a couple years later, possibly drawn by E.V. Koch and Co. By 1894, Sanborn maps indicate the two east wings which are connected by a passage. In 1898, Mollerus and Lotter designed the westernmost block fronting 21st Street. While Seyring’s building had gabled roofs, low dormers on the south elevation and peaked dormers with arched windows above the side entrances, Mollerus and Lotter created a more classical addition, with columns flanking the west entrance, dentils along the cornice and a nearly flat roof.  McKinley School started out as the Second District then became the 15th after it was completed.  Originally known as the District 15 School, it was renamed the Cold Spring Avenue School in 1912. The school was renamed McKinley School in 1927 when Cold Spring Avenue was renamed to honor President William McKinley. A circa-1950s or 1960s, Contemporary-style addition designed by Lefevre-Wiggins juts northward from the eastern block.

By the 1970s, McKinley was on the list of schools to be closed, and Milwaukee Public Schools closed the building in the late ’70s, selling it in 1985 to V.E. Carter Development, a now-defunct charter school operator. For many years, it operated as the V.E. Carter Human Resource Center until 2009 and Young Minds Preparatory Academy day care center until a fire shut it down in 2013.  In 2014, the Department of Neighborhood Services in the Municipal Building issued a condemnation order, based on a July 31, 2013, inspection. Residents petitioned the city’s Historic Preservation Commission for historic designation.  The city foreclosed on the building in 2016 after V.E. Carter failed to pay property taxes totaling $96,000. In 2017, Gorman and Co., which has redeveloped other local school buildings, sought a zoning change for the former William McKinley School, 2001 W. Vliet St., to be converted into 40 apartments. That project would cost around $9.2 million, according to the Department of City Development.  The apartments would probably be targeted to families with children.  Gorman also could seek state and federal historic preservation tax credits for the development. Those credits help cover part of a project’s exterior costs if it preserves a historic building according to National Park Service standards. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has begun a cleanup of asbestos and other hazardous materials at the building.

Fairview Schoolhouse, Columbia, NJ

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Fairview Schoolhouse

Dean Rd.

Columbia, New Jersey

Fairview Schoolhouse is located in the Columbia section of Knowlton Township, Warren County, New Jersey. One Quaker-led reform popular in New Jersey was the octagon schoolhouse, a reaction to the shortcomings of existing school buildings.  Octagon schoolhouses were better lighted because they had no dark corners and the windows were, on average, closer to the student desks, and they were better heated because the heating stove was moved from along a side wall to the middle of the room and bench seating was arranged concentrically around it. At least 25 octagon schools were built in New Jersey between 1800 and 1851 but the only survivor still bearing witness to this brief vogue is the Fairview or Fairplay School (1835) in Knowlton Township, Warren County. The schoolhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 12, 1977.

Tony Thomas and “Requiem for a Cavalier—A Sound Picture of Errol Flynn”

Anthony William George “Tony” Thomas (July 31, 1927 – July 8, 1997) was a British-American film historian, author, writer, producer, and radio and television broadcaster, who is onsidered one of Hollywood’s preeminent film historians, having authored over thirty books, including biographies of Errol Flynn among others, produced more than fifty albums of film music, and produced film documentaries for radio and television.  Thomas was born on July 31, 1927, near Portsmouth, England, the son of a bandmaster in the Royal Marines.  At the age of eighteen, he moved to Canada, where he became an announcer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1948.  He went on to become a writer and producer of programs about Hollywood and the film industry for CBC Radio.  He was also the writer and host of the CBS television series As Time Goes By and was a panelist on the quiz show television series Flashback.

In 1966, Thomas moved to Los Angeles and began a new career as a film historian and author.   He wrote books on actors’ careers, such as The Films of Errol Flynn (1969, with Rudy Behlmer and Clifford McCarthy), and many others.  He also wrote books on film genres, such as The Great Adventure Films (1976) and The Cinema of the Sea: A Critical Survey and Filmography, 1925–1986 (1988).  Thomas was one of the founders of The Film Music Society and served on its advisory board for many years.  Considered an expert on film music, he produced albums of classic film scores and wrote the well-received book Music for the Movies (1973), an introduction to important film composers.   From 1979 to 1984, he wrote for the Academy Awards shows, and beginning in the late 1970s, was a segment producer for the Oscars.

As an independent film writer and producer, Thomas produced three PBS documentaries, Hollywood and the American Image, Back to the Stage Door Canteen, and The West That Never Was.  His distinguished voice was heard for years as the announcer on the televised Kennedy Center Honors and American Film Institute Salutes.  Thomas’s later books include Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was (1990).   He died on July 8, 1997 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, of complications from pneumonia, at the age of sixty-nine.   He was survived by his son, David, his daughter, Andrea.   He is considered one of Hollywood’s preeminent film historians.

The following work by Tony Thomas is contained in my collection:

Requiem for a Cavalier—A Sound Picture of Errol Flynn, with music from films of Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1968).