Orleans County Grammar School, Old Stone House Museum, Brownington, VT

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Orleans County Grammar School

Old Stone House Museum

109 Old Stone House Rd.

Brownington, VT

The idea of establishing a grammar school in  Orleans County, VT, had been discussed by the more prominent men of the county for several years prior to 1820, and in that year it culminated in the introduction of a bill in the legislature by Mr. Wm. Baxter to establish such a school there. The bill appointed a committee to designate the place where the school should be located. Two of this committee only, came on to the ground and located the school, but their doings were made legal by a supplemental act of the legislature passed in 1821.  Two or three things probably influenced the committee to locate the school at Brownington.

     Mr. Wm. Baxter had probably as much to do with the location as anyone. It is reported that he agreed to give the necessary buildings, and did in 1823, erecting what was afterwards known as the “Academy building,” which stood north of the Congregational church. It was a two-story edifice with a tower or belfry, the upper part being used for religious meetings until the erection of the meeting house in 1841. The academy building which was commenced in 1822, was so far completed in 1823 that the first term of school was taught in the fall of that year.  The term “Grammar School” which was used in the act establishing this institution was probably adopted so that it could avail itself of the rents of lands set apart for that purpose.

     Alexander L. Twilight came to Brownington in Aug., 1829. He soon had a house of his own, however, having built the one opposite the Stone house, known as the Parker house where Wilder Parker lived for so many years. He designed this for a boarding house, but wants of the school soon outgrew it and he began to urge upon the trustees the importance of having a boarding house of large dimensions, so he commenced the erection of what has since been known as the old “stone boarding house,” or what many used to call it in its palmiest days, “Athenian Hall.”’

      The old academy stood on its original ground for 45 years, but in 1869 the tower was taken down and the main part of the building moved into the village below and was used for school purposes after that.   In 2016 the Orleans County Grammar School, which in recent decades has served as a Grange hall, was moved about a third of a mile back to its original location in the center of the small hilltop campus where early 19th-century scholar and legislator Alexander Twilight was its schoolmaster. The impetus for the move came two years before, when the town was told it could no longer get insurance for a building without indoor plumbing or a modern heating system. Residents voted to offer the building to the Orleans County Historical Society, which oversees the Brownington historic district.

Edgemont School House, Pioneer Village, Provo North Park, Provo, UT

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Edgemont School House

Pioneer Village, Provo North Park

600 North 500 West

Provo, UT 84601

Visitors can experience the life of the pioneers at the Sons of Utah Pioneers’ Pioneer Village in Provo, UT, as they walk back into the early days of Provo when the settlers of 1849 had to survive in isolation.  What they ate, they grew; what they wore, they made; and what they needed, they manufactured or they did without.  Things were used and reused; little was discarded or thrown away.  The Pioneer Village represents early Provo, a frontier community existing in large part in isolation when the pioneers’ very survival depended on their own skills and the support of their neighbors and friends, and contains the original structures built by these pioneers, including the Turner Cabin, the Haws Cabin, the Loveless Home, a granary, school, woodshop, corn crib, outhouse, and more.  The Pioneer Village also contains an ox shoeing stock, various pioneer wagons, a working blacksmith shop, authentic mercantile general store, pioneer games for the children, and a wide variety of historical artifacts and tools.

     The southwest part of the Village represents the residential community: the Haws Cabin, Turner Cabin, and Loveless Home, as well as their gardens. The southeast part of the Village represents farming: a granary, corn crib, corral and loafing shed.  The northeast part of the Village has the Carriage House commercial enterprises, including the blacksmith shop, cooper shop, wood shop, ox shoeing stock, mercantile and grain mill.  The northwest section of the Village has the school and town square. Its location in the beautiful Provo North Park and its proximity to the Provo City Recreation Center and Swimming Pool make it an especially attractive visitor destination.

     The Village began its existence in 1931 when the first cabin was moved to this site by the Sons of Utah Pioneers. It has steadily grown since then. It has gone through major renovations and restoration during the last six years. Small handcrafted pioneer items and candy are for sale in the store and a modern bathroom is available in the Village. Docents are on hand to interpret and explain what is there. There is also extensive descriptive material on hand to better inform the visitors. It is operated entirely with volunteers and there is no admission charge. Visitors typically come away with a deep appreciation for the life style of the early settlers and are amazed that the little Village has captured the pioneer spirit so effectively. It is a rare jewel in the heart of Provo. 

​     The one-room school house was the first in the Edgemont area of Provo. It was moved to the Sons of Utah Pioneers Provo Pioneer Village. The school house features information about pioneers games and toys, plus a school bell, wood stove, chalk board, portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and a poster with the Deseret Alphabet.  Some of the other relics include a pair of ice skate blades that screw right into the shoes, an iron cooking pot owned by Brigham Young, an adobe press, a washing machine that cleans clothes by using a swinging bar to beat the fabric, and a “magic lantern” that projected images on the walls through a glass lens fit into a piece of tin pipe.

     The Brigham Young Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers is committed to preserving the memory and heritage of the early pioneers of Utah County by authentically preserving, developing, and interpreting the buildings and artifacts in the George A. Smith Pioneer Village. They are committed to using the Village as a resource to teach youth and preserve the memory of the early pioneers for the visitors and residents of Utah Valley.

Marine Schoolhouse, Log Cabin Village, Fort Worth, TX

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Marine Schoolhouse

Log Cabin Village

2100 Log Cabin Village Ln.

Fort Worth, TX 76109

The Log Cabin Village in Ft. Worth, TX, is a recreation of a 19th-century village that shows how life was in 19th-century Texas. The site is a living history museum owned and operated by the City of Fort Worth,  is dedicated to the preservation of  19th c. folk architecture and frontier life ways, and features costumed actors and historic buildings. Log Cabin Village is devoted to the preservation of Texas history.  The cabins in the village date to the middle of the 1800s. They were moved to the village from areas in Texas: and the cabins were restored. The land for the village was donated to the city of Fort Worth, Texas and the village began to admit guests in 1966.  The site features a realistic blacksmith building, a schoolhouse, a gristmill etc. Costumed actors speak with visitors and demonstrate skills from the 19th century.  The Marine School at Log Cabin Village is a house museum.

     The museum is owned and operated by the City of Fort Worth. The Marine School, originally built about 1872 and located in what is now Fort Worth’s Northside neighborhood (Marine was a tiny community of its own, eventually absorbed into Fort Worth) and ultimately moved to the Log Cabin Village, is a one-room, board-and-batten schoolhouse furnished with handmade benches and a teacher’s desk. It is an example of a typical one-room schoolhouse built in the 1870s. The blackboards are actually painted on the walls. Other than a few maps and a portrait of George Washington, there is little in way of decorations. This scarcity of materials and decorations was typical of rural education in 1800s Texas.  The Schoolhouse still serves as a space to inspire a love of learning for all ages.

     The purpose of Log Cabin Village is to educate the public through the collection, preservation and interpretation of artifacts, representative structures, and other items of social and cultural significance to Texas’ pioneer era (1840-1890).  Log Cabin Village aspires to build connections to 19th century Texas by providing educational opportunities and sensory experiences that are engaging, accurate, and as authentic as possible.  Visitors are invited to escape the present and experience the past… right here in the heart of Fort Worth.  

     In the 1950s, the Village was a project of the Pioneer Texas Heritage Committee and members of the Tarrant County Historical Society. Members of these organizations realized that log structures, which were prevalent in the 1800s, were rapidly vanishing from the Texas landscape – and a portion of Texas history was vanishing with them. That is why they decided to create a Village dedicated to log cabin culture, history and preservation.  Six log houses, dating back to the mid 1800s, were selected from the North Texas region, moved to the present site, and restored in the 1950s to early 1960s. The Village was then donated to the City of Fort Worth, and it opened to the public in 1966. The Foster Cabin, an impressive 1850s plantation log house, was added in 1974 and the 1870s Marine School in 2003. The restoration of the Reynolds Smokehouse, relocated to the Village in 2004 from Azle, was completed in 2005.

     Today, each of the historic structures, furnished with authentic artifacts, provides a vivid look at life in the nineteenth century North Texas frontier. Each log house displays different aspects of pioneer life. The exhibits include a water-powered gristmill, a one-room schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, an herb garden, and several log home settings. Historical interpreters, who are City of Fort Worth staff and volunteers, depict the lifestyle of the people who lived and settled the area in the mid to late 1800s.  Log Cabin Village also manages the Van Zandt Cottage, a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Cottage is currently undergoing restoration through a partnership between the City of Fort Worth and the Van Zandt Cottage Friends, Inc.

Statesville School, Fiddlers Grove Historical Village, Lebanon, TN

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Statesville School

Fiddlers Grove Historical Village

945 East Baddour Pkwy

Lebanon, TN 37087

Fiddlers Grove Historical Village is located on the grounds of the James E. Ward Agricultural Center in Lebanon, Tennessee.  It is the mission of Fiddlers Grove to preserve the history of the citizens of Wilson County, Tennessee, by preserving buildings, artifacts, oral and written histories.  The Village will engage the public through preservation, interpretation, exhibitions, education, publications and hands on experiences to increase a better understanding of the history of Wilson County, and its way of life.  Fiddlers Grove will strive to remain up to date on STEM guidelines in order to better serve the students of Tennessee.  They will continuously seek to make access to history available to all with special needs, be it physical, or mentally challenged.

     Visitors can step back in time as they stroll through the Grove and experience life in a typical early village where people lived in a one-room log cabin, were educated in a one-room school, and worshiped in a small quaint church. They can visit a blacksmith’s shop where cooking utensils and farm equipment were made; visit a doctor’s office and see the buggy he used to make house call to those in need far and wide; step into Sam Houston’s law office and visualize Houston sitting at his desk in front of the fireplace;  view an old cobbler’s shop and see a 1700’s log cabin and grist mill. There are also a funeral home, sheriff’s office, jail, drug store, post office, hardware store, barber shop, service station, radio station, sawmill, farm equipment museum, printing office, model train museum, caboose, and train station. There are also an early hospital, telephone museum, electric museum, and Century Farm Museum.

     Visitors can stop by the General Store for a cold drink and relax in a rocking chair on the front porch before they visit the feed and seed store. Along the way they can enjoy the many small gardens with native plants and pretty flowers cared for by the Master Gardeners as well as other gardeners. There are over fifty-five buildings that represent the entire Wilson County area and each building has a unique story.  The Statesville School and Grange Building was built in 1942 in the Statesville Community.  This Fiddlers Grove School building had one of the first lunch rooms in the county school system.  The Statesville Grange number 1236 renovated it as a replica of a one-room schoolhouse as their project for the 1986 Tennessee Homecoming.  The Wilson County Board of Education was instrumental in helping to relocate the building to Fiddlers Grove.

District Schoolhouse No. 5 (Town Hall), Aurora, OH

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

District Schoolhouse No. 5 (Town Hall)

130 S. Chillicothe

Aurora, OH 44202

No one knows for certain how long the stately white building now known as Aurora City Hall has been at its present location on Ohio 43, but some Aurorans speculate it is 100 years old or older.  Aurora Center School No. 5 was located on its present site as early as 1820. There appears to be no definite record when the building was actually constructed.  Rumors that the building was moved to its present site from another location could not be substantiated.  Minutes from an Aurora church’s trustee meeting dated 1871 states that the trustees held their first meeting in the new school.  The church is located next door to city hall.   An 1874 atlas shows a school building at the location of the present city hall, but an 1880 tax map does not show the building there.  The next current tax map, on record at the Portage County Courthouse dated 1890 does show the school building at the current site.  The current building was opened by 1882 as a two-room, two-story school with a staff of four teachers, and expanded in 1894 to four classrooms.  Students were moved from the existing building to a temporary school across the street where the Pioneer Tavern now stands.  It took one year for the work to be completed and the students moved into the remodeled building in 1896 after spending a cold winter in the temporary facilities where they nearly froze to death.  Soon after, Aurora centralized its school system in 1898, the first town in Portage County to do so, combining seven one-room school houses in Aurora, resulting in all students attending classes in this building, and adding five years of schooling for Aurora’s children

     The building has been a landmark for Aurorans throughout the years.  The stairway banister, the same one that is in the building today, was a favorite spot for children to slide down as they made their exit from the building.  A sink used to sit at the bottom of the stairs, but there was no running water in the building. The structure was sold to the township in 1914 and remodeled for use as Town Hall.  Prior to becoming a city hall and police station, it was used not only as a school house from many years but also as the meeting place for the Masonic Lodge, and the site of exciting boxing matches, antique auctions, dances, movies, concerts by the Brass and Reed Band, theatrical performances, and just about anything for which anyone needed to use the building.  The bell was taken out shortly after a fire broke out in the upper story of the building in the early 1900s.  The Masonic Lodge was holding a meeting at the time the fire occurred and they were able to save the building by putting the fire out with buckets of water.  Shortly after the trustees purchased the building they had the stage moved from the old town hall building (which was located where the fire department presently exists, one building away from the city hall) to the rear of the city hall building.  The stage now houses the mayor and clerk of council’s offices.  The original graffiti on the stage wall can still be seen in the clerk’s office today.  In later years, the police station moved into the building.  And as the city grew, the police and city hall offices expanded so much that they now occupy the entire building.

Charles Arnold House, Springfield, IL

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Charles Arnold House

810 East Jackson Street

Springfield, IL

In 1839, Francis Springer, a Lutheran minister, purchased a lot in Springfield, IL, and built a house the same time that the future Abraham Lincoln Home was being constructed across the street. The house was used as a school, and in September of 1841, the Evangelical Lutheran congregation was organized at this location. Springer served as minister of the church until 1847 when he accepted the presidency of Hillsboro College in Montgomery County, Illinois. In 1850, Springer sold the property to Charles Arnold at that time for $800.  Charles Arnold, a political ally of Abraham Lincoln, both being members of the Whig party, would reside in the house from 1850 until 1879. He served twice as the County Sheriff on the Whig Ticket.

     By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a series of families made their home on this corner lot. Additions were made to the original structure. By 1917, Springer’s early home had been encased in brick and siding.  By the mid 1990s, restoration work was begun on the Arnold House, Springer’s structure was found to still survive as part of the later structure. The original structure, freed from the later additions, was rotated and moved back to the front of the lot and restored to its 1860s appearance. Today, the Arnold House is open to the public, and houses exhibits on the Lincoln neighborhood and its restoration and preservation.

Old Log Schoolhouse, Austin Whittemore House Museum, Vermillion, SD

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Old Log Schoolhouse

Austin Whittemore House Museum

15 Austin St.

Vermillion, SD 57069

The first ‘permanent’ schoolhouse in South Dakota was built in 1864 at Vermillion by Captain Nelson A. Miner and Company A of the First Dakota Cavalry.  It also served as a meeting place for early religious services of multiple denominations, for courses in singing and penmanship, for political gatherings and elections, and for community social gatherings.   After it was gone, the earliest interest in preserving the history of the log schoolhouse was the formation of the Log School House Association by the original teachers and students in the summer of 1905.  In 1909, the Log School House Association erected a monument to the school on Ravine Hill in the approximate location of the original school.

     On March 1, 1938, Dr. W.H. Over and I.D. Weeks, the curator and president of the University of South Dakota respectively, formed a committee to look into reproducing the Old Log Schoolhouse in order to demonstrate early pioneer education in Dakota Territory.  Over and Weeks based their reconstruction on oral histories from elderly community members and an early photograph of the building.  The schoolhouse was also promoted as a symbol of Vermillion’s legacy within South Dakota educational history as the home of the University of South Dakota.  The schoolhouse was assembled on the grounds to the north of the Clay County Courthouse by volunteers from the community as well as workers from the National Youth Administration (part of the Works Progress Administration) under the direction of Area Supervisor, Theodore Martz.

     The replica was finished on June 26, 1939, moved to the campus of the University of South Dakota, and opened to the public in September.  The committee chose to set it between the University Library (now the National Music Museum) and Slagle Hall. The university hosted the old log schoolhouse’s dedication on September 22, 1939 in the Slagle Hall auditorium.  The log schoolhouse was subsequently moved three times, as the needs of the community changed and the schoolhouse became more of a citywide cultural asset. Each time, it was moved in order to give it greater visibility to the public, but neglect and/or vandalism proved tenacious as time passed. 

     In 1976, as part of a bicentennial project, the members of Vermillion’s Paha Wakan Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) spearheaded a drive to raise money and make the schoolhouse replica a museum.  This took over two years, but, in August 1978, the DAR chapter was given title to the building by the city of Vermillion for one dollar. In November of that same year, the schoolhouse was moved back up Ravine Hill to a location on West Main behind the Senior Citizen’s Center, on an alley renamed Captain Miner Lane in honor of the commanding officer of the unit that built the original school.  Between 1978 and 1979, repairs were made to the structure to restore it to its original appearance, and on October 7, 1979, it was rededicated and opened again to the public.  Along with restoring the building, the DAR also assisted in providing tours of the old log schoolhouse to school children in Vermillion for about seven years.

     In 2013, the replica schoolhouse was neglected again and deteriorating.  The Clay County Historical Society investigated moving the school again, but decided instead to erect a new replica using traditional log construction methods on the corner of their property at the Austin-Whittemore House museum.