Quisenberry School is a historical and cultural feature in Pettis County, MO. The small one-room schoolhouse that was built in 1911 sits along Quisenberry Road, about 12 minutes outside of Sedalia. In 2011, the school marked its 100th anniversary with an event, sponsored by the Quisenberry Community Club at the school site, 1770 Quisenberry Road, to raise money to support the renovation efforts. They needed funds to keep the lawn manicured, to pay the insurance, and to cover the electric bill. Everything else is handled by volunteers, but those other costs amounted to about $1,500 a year. The school was featured on the Sedalia Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2011 Christmas ornament, which was designed by local artist Myrna Ragar. Then in October of 2016, the neighbors and friends of Quisenberry Schoolhouse organized another fundraising event where pumpkins and popcorn were for sale with the monies used to help support the upkeep efforts. This event was repeated the following year. However, on July 3, 2021, it was reported that the Quisenberry School House Club was no longer operating.
Crawfis Institute (Also known as Crawfis Grange Hall)
2478 Crawfis Rd. SE
Lancaster, OH 43130
John Crawfis was born in Berne Township, Fairfield County, OH, and moved to Putnam County, OH, in 1834, where he made a considerable fortune. After the death of his wife, Crawfis willed his money to a trust to be used in establishing teacher training institutes in both Fairfield and Putnam counties. The land was purchased to build his Fairfield County school in 1889 and the building served as the township’s high school for the first two years. The institution was opened as a place of higher learning in 1891 to meet the terms of Crawfis’ will. The institute continued into 1931 when economic difficulties forced it to close.
The buildings became part of the Berne Union schools into the 1940s when the local grange rented the buildings for their programs. The former school building, located at Crawfis and Old Sugar Grove Rds., north of Sugar Grove, stood vacant for some number of years after this, and rumors began to circulate that the place used to be a mental hospital. Thus, it is often misidentified as an old mental institution, but there is no supporting evidence to these claims. The building now serves as a private residence and is supposedly haunted by a wide variety of ghosts. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 1979.
Nestled in the heart of Marin County, California, Nicasio Elementary School belongs to one of the few remaining single-school public school districts in Marin. The school was founded in 1862. The district itself was established in 1866 with the first Nicasio schoolhouse constructed in 1867. Nicasio School District is a public school district in Marin County that serves approximately 45 students in grades TK-8. Students learn in multi-grade classrooms with highly skilled teachers and support staff who prepare them for transition to high school and life outside of Nicasio. While many graduating 8th graders attend Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo, many others attend private high schools in Marin County and San Francisco.
Though the original one-room school building still stands on the property, Nicasio School has changed dramatically since the late 1800s. Thanks to voters supporting a 2.4 million dollar school bond in 1999, today’s campus is comprised of modern, state-of-the-art facilities. In addition to large classrooms, students at Nicasio School have access to the school’s library, up-to-date technology, art room and multi-purpose room equipped with a full kitchen. Having the advantage of a rural environment, students also enjoy working in their own organic garden with support from their teachers along with parent and community volunteers.
The one-room schoolhouse was the model for community schools across the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Marinites can still see many of these historic one-room schoolhouses that have been preserved over the years, including those that are still in existence, such as Nicasio School on Nicasio Valley Road. Those schools still in operation all serve the children of ranching and farming families in the West Marin and Sonoma counties, and are administered through the Marin County Office of Education.
Whitpain Public School, also known as Whitpain High School and the 1895 School, is a historic school building located at Blue Bell, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Located at 799 W. Skippack Pike, on the corner of Skippack Pike and School Road, it was built in 1895 by local architects and builders using locally available materials, and is a two-story, stucco covered stone and brick building. It is in a Late Victorian style with Queen Anne and Gothic Revival style details. It measure 37 feet wide by 50 feet deep, and sits on a fieldstone foundation. It features an entrance porch and numerous Gothic arches. The Whitpain 1895 Public School has a distinctive style due in part to the Moorish influence, the heptagonal turret on the front of the schoolhouse, and the Gothic style inscription over the front of the building reading “AD Public School 1895.”
In 1887, the Pennsylvania legislature passed general laws authorizing the establishment of High Schools. In 1895, the School Directors in Whitpain Township determined the need for a larger, modern schoolhouse. The Whitpain 1895 Public School was designed by Victor H. Baker and built by Walter Shaeff of Blue Bell. Local artisans assisted including Benjamin Franklin Famous and Henry Steinbright, both from Blue Bell. The two-story schoolhouse opened in September 1895 and was dedicated on November 20, 1895. The Master of Ceremonies was William D. Beyer. Tthe ceremony included an address from County Superintendent R. F. Hoffeckers and a historical sketch of the public schools of Whitpain by Hon. Jones Detweiller, Secretary of the School Board. The school was described as “rather an artistic modern school building having somewhat a Moorish appearance.” The school cost $3,698.54 to erect.
The schoolhouse served to consolidate students from several one-room schoolhouses in the area and to provide the first public high school, grades nine to eleven, in this rural area. The first floor of the schoolhouse held classes for students in grade one to eight and the second floor from nine to eleven. In 1916, the School Board decided to consolidate six neighboring elementary schools, creating the Whitpain Township Consolidated Public School. The new school was built 45 feet adjacent to the Whitpain 1895 Public School in 1916. It was a modern two-story brick building containing four classrooms, two on each floor. Two grades were taught in each classroom. There was also a basement which contained the Principal’s office, a Teachers’ room and bathrooms, with indoor-plumbing-of-sorts, electricity, and steam-radiator heating. In September 1917, the Whitpain Township Consolidated Public School was open for grades one to eight, while the Whitpain 1895 Public School housed the high school grades nine to eleven.
Originally the schoolhouse had a tall Gothic bell tower with a catwalk and a quill weathervane. During a severe storm in 1923, the bell tower was struck by lightning and repaired shortly thereafter to the current Heptagonal Turret design. When the Whitpain Township Consolidated Public School became overcrowded in 1924, the first floor of the Whitpain 1895 Public School was used for 4th and 5th grades. In 1929, the rear of the Whitpain Township Consolidated Public School was expanded adding classrooms on three floors, along with an auditorium and a cafeteria in the basement. The expanded Whitpain Township Consolidated Public School took over operations for elementary and high school grades. The Whitpain 1895 Public School was used for auxiliary purposes at this point ending the period of significance for the school.
Following the period of significance, the Whitpain 1895 Public School was used in various ways. In 1947, because of increased enrollment in the Whitpain School District, the Whitpain 1895 Public School was reopened for the 5th and 6th grades. From 1957 to 1967, the Whitpain 1895 Public School became the Township Administration Building and Police Station. In the early 1960’s, the Wissahickon School District held kindergarten classes and special education classes on the first floor of the Whitpain 1895 Public School. The last kindergarten class was held for part of the 1963 school year. From 1967 to 1981, the Whitpain 1895 Public School housed the Whitpain Branch of the Wissahickon Library.
On July 27, 1981, Whitpain Township purchased the Whitpain 1895 Public School from the Wissahickon School district for $500. In 1982, the Wissahickon Valley Historical Society leased the Whitpain 1895 Public School from Whitpain Township. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. In 2015, the Whitpain Historical Society merged with the Wissahickon Valley Historical Society and moved into the Whitpain 1895 Public School. The schoolhouse is almost completely original inside and out and is a fine example of an authentic schoolhouse of the period. The interior of the schoolhouse is of the late 19th century, complete with its original slate chalkboards, wooden plank floors and large glass windows. The front and side yards of the schoolhouse still retain its original fieldstone walls in an essentially unchanged condition at the street edges. The Whitpain 1895 Public School maintains the overall likeness one would expect for the 1895 period. It continues to serve the community as the Headquarters, museum, and library of the Wissahickon Valley Historical Society.
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park 3966 Mason St.
San Diego, CA 92110
In the nineteenth century, access to quality public education on the frontier of America was rare. San Diego, CA, was no exception, including prior to California being admitted to the United States of America. While still under Mexican control, many children in San Diego had no access to free public education. Attempts to open schools in San Diego were made while the area remained under Mexican control, but ultimately no substantial progress was made. Access to education became a priority in San Diego after the city formed in 1850. In 1865, the situation regarding public education in San Diego changed dramatically. Fifteen years after San Diego was officially incorporated as a city, its first public school was finally built on Mason St. The original building was rather modest in size. Only 24 by 30 feet, or 720 square feet, with a 10-foot ceiling, it did not have a library.
Built in 1865, the Mason St. Schoolhouse was the first publicly owned school in San Diego County. The building was a one-room, wood-frame, shingle-roofed structure with a ten foot high ceiling. A pot-bellied iron stove heated the room, and a water bucket and dipper provided the only indoor plumbing. All eight grades were taught in the single room. The first teacher was a woman named Mary Chase Walker who was born in Massachusetts and had a long history of teaching. The Mason Street Schoolhouse served San Diego as a hub for education until 1872. After construction of another school began in 1872, the Mason Street Schoolhouse was closed. In 1873, the building was then taken apart and rebuilt at Taylor and Whitman Streets, where it served different purposes, such as a family home, and later, a tamale restaurant that operated out of the building until 1952.
Eventually, the original school building was acquired by the San Diego County Historical Days Association (SDCHDA) in 1952, returned to where it stands today in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, reconstructed there, and renovated to look like a typical one room schoolhouse of the time. That organization was able to stop the building from deteriorating further and helped restore it. The Schoolhouse was operated by the San Diego Historical Days Association until 2013 when SDCHDA transferred ownership of the building to the State of California, and it was given to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. It has since become a California State Landmark. The original schoolhouse still serves its purpose as a place of education well into the twenty-first century, as it helps provide students from all around San Diego County an idea of what school was like in the nineteenth century.
Witmer’s One-Room Schoolhouse stands today along Stonewood Road in York County, PA. Following the 1951-1952 school year, it was one of the last five One-Room Schoolhouses that closed in Springettsbury Township. Witmer’s One-Room Schoolhouse was named for Preacher David Witmer. It was built in 1889; prior to the 1891 formation of Springettsbury Township from Spring Garden Township. Township farmer and Mennonite Preacher David Witmer deeded the land for Witmer’s Schoolhouse to the Spring Garden School District for One Dollar. Offering land for schoolhouses for only one dollar, nearly always resulted in the schoolhouse being named after the benefactor. Students received an education in this schoolhouse from 1889 to 1952. Through, and including the 1945-1946 school year; students, spanning eight grades, were taught in this one-room. During the 1946-47, 1947-48 and 1948-49 school years, students, spanning grades 5 to 8, were taught in this schoolhouse. The remaining years, until the school closed in spring of 1952, students in grade 4 and higher were taught in this One-Room Schoolhouse. In the fall of 1952, Springettsbury Township School opened. The opening of this township school also coincided with the establishment of the consolidated Central Joint School System, which stretched across Manchester Township, North York Borough and Springettsbury Township.
Based upon research at the York County Recorder of Deeds, the School District of Springettsbury Township sold the Witmer Schoolhouse on the original 0.12-acre rectangular-shaped property to Charles H. Heiges and Mary S. Heiges, his wife, on September 6, 1952. The Heiges’ already owned some adjoining land, creating an overall 0.53-acre triangular-shaped schoolhouse property. Herbert W. Stone planned on purchasing the 0.53-acre schoolhouse property per his April 11, 1957 plan for an adjacent development of Woodstone Court. Had the Heiges’ sold the schoolhouse property to Herbert Stone, the schoolhouse likely would have been torn down to create a half-acre lot for a modern home. Instead, the Heiges’ sold the schoolhouse on the 0.53-acre property to Donald R. Fritz and Kathryn E. Fritz, his wife, on July 11, 1958. Herbert W. Stone’s revised plan for his Woodstone Court development went ahead, without the inclusion of the schoolhouse property.
Donald and Kathryn initially operated businesses in the schoolhouse; Donald, a Copy Shop, and Kathryn, a Dress Shop. From about the early 1970s and onward, the schoolhouse was rented out, primarily as storage space. For many years, Todd Witmer used the schoohouse to store supplies for his ServiceMaster Cleaning business. Donald R. Fritz died December 25, 2007 and Kathryn E. Fritz died December 15, 2009. Kathryn’s Estate sold the Witmer Schoolhouse on the 0.53-acre triangular-shaped property at auction. The owner of the neighboring property, Nick Kocoronis became next owner of Witmer’s One-Room Schoolhouse on May 14, 2010; and was responsible for restoring the schoolhouse to its former grandeur. When Kocoronis acquired the property, the building was over grown with vegetation and in need of repairs. Nick did a great job in restoring the schoolhouse.
The site of the Old Hudson High School in Hudson, OH, has been a nucleus of activity since its construction, as well as a source of community pride. Sited within two blocks of Hudson’s Village Green, its location contributes to the vibrancy of the historic town. Built in 1927, the building served as Hudson’s first high school building after the Bing Act of 1921 was passed that mandated compulsory attendance for children age 7 to 18 in Ohio. The school was designed by Miller and Son Architects from Youngstown, which constructed a wide variety of schools, churches, businesses and homes that survive today. Originally designated as “Memorial School,” it honored and commemorated Hudson’s sons and daughters who served in World War I. The building served as a high school until the new building was constructed in 1992 and then became a middle school. The Hudson Heritage Association hopes to preserve the 1927 building. A proposed use for the 1927 portion of the building at 77 North Oviatt St. on the eastern edge of Hudson’s Historic District as apartments was made on Feb. 1, 2021, but the Hudson Historic preservation group criticized the plan to convert the old middle school into housing. As a result, the old 1927 Hudson school has landed on Preservation Ohio’s List of Ohio’s Most Endangered Historic Sites for 2021. The nonprofit group, which bills itself as the state’s oldest historic preservation organization, made the announcement in June of 2021.
Rose Farm is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in southwestern York Township, Morgan County, and southeastern Harrison Township, Perry County, Ohio. It lies along State Route 669 at its intersection with McKinley Street (CR 75). Ogg Creek, which meets the Moxahala Creek just north of Rose Farm, runs through the community. It is located 13 miles northwest of McConnelsville, the county seat of Morgan County, and a much shorter distance southeast of Crooksville in nearby Perry County.
Rose Farm consists of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Streets, which run parallel to State Route 669 and McKinley, Garfield, and Lincoln Streets, which run perpendicular to State Route 669. One additional street, Argo Road, makes up the township roads of Rose Farm. Former United States Congressman Mell G. Underwood was born in Rose Farm. The Rose Farm Church of Christ (located on the corner of McKinley and 2nd Streets) is the only non-residential building in use within the community. The other non-residential building is the old Rose Farm School, built in 1931, which is a two-room school house that served 1st through 8th grades until its closure in the mid-1960s. It now sits totally abandoned on CR 75 south of Rose Farm in York Township, Morgan County just near the Perry County Line.
Independent School District No. 2 Building, is a historical landmark site in Island Creek Township,. Jefferson County, Ohio. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, Ohio, on July 10, 1986
Island Creek Township is one of the fourteen townships of Jefferson County, Ohio, the largest of the fourteen, covering approximately 57.993 road miles. The 2010 census found 10,546 people in the township, 6,477 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township. Island Creek Township was founded in 1806. It takes its name from the Island Creek, which runs through it.
Parts of southern Island Creek Township are occupied by the city of Steubenville, the county seat of Jefferson County. As well, two incorporated municipalities are located in the township: part of the city of Toronto along the Ohio River in the northeast, and part of the village of Wintersville in the southwest. In 1994, approximately 16 acres of ground was donated to Island Creek Township by the Pleasant Hill Senior Women’s Club for community and youth functions.
The Kerr’s Run Colored School for Black American children is one of the oldest remaining in southeastern Ohio. This forgotten schoolhouse still stands in the oldest part of Pomeroy, Ohio. It is now boarded up and overgrown with brush. In its earlier days, it provided Black American children with a quality education, producing such notable figures as James Edwin Campbell, poet and first president of West Virginia State University, and James McHenry Jones, renowned educator and third president of West Virginia State University. It operated from the late 1880s to the early 1900s.
In 2007, to commemorate the bicentennial of Meigs County, a historical marker was added to the Kerr’s Run Colored School site. The sign briefly documents the history and legacy of the school. An old church stands beside the school. The rest of the neighborhood has been demolished. This venue can be reached by Ohio State Route 33 East from Athens, Ohio. It is not marked with a street sign. The Kerr’s Run School is right beside the old church. The property is not posted and visitors can come and go as they please but should not attempt to enter the building as it is in an unsafe condition.
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