The Mount Zion Chapel of the Christian Church was built in 1872 on a hill adjacent to the members’ cemetery outside of Clermontville, OH. The site was part of a two-acre parcel that had been secured from the farm of William R. Clark, Sr. for church and cemetery purposes. The Mount Zion Chapel replaced the Boat Run Christian Church that was organized in 1842 by a group known as the Christians, or the New Lights. Their first meeting house in Clermontville was dedicated on June 4, 1843, and damaged by floods in 1871. Worship was first held in the new frame church with the new name on October 6, 1872, and the church remains active today as the Mt. Zion-St. Paul United Church of Christ.
Mount Zion Cemetery grave markers date back to the early 1800s. Among those interred are Revolutionary War soldier, Lt. Hugh Mulloy, who died in 1845, and an unnamed Civil War soldier. There are also family plots of prominent Clermontville citizens, such as the Parkers, who founded the private Parker Academy (also known as Clermont Academy), and the Fridmans. About this hilltop cemetery, William Fridman once wrote “looking down the valley,…the Kentucky hills beyond, I exclaim Peaceful Valley.” The one-room schoolhouse across the road, Lafayette School #6 Monroe Township, was built in 1869 and functions as a Fellowship Hall.
Greene Academy, now known as the Greene Academy of Art, is a historic school building located at Carmichaels in Greene County, Pennsylvania. It is a 2 1/2-story stone and brick building with a gable roof. The stone section was built about 1790 as an Episcopal church and the brick section was added in 1810. A notable Academy graduate was politician Albert B. Cummins (1850-1926). The Academy closed in 1893, and the building was subsequently used as a hall for the Grand Army of the Republic and as apartments. The building underwent renovation in the mid-1970s and is maintained as a historic structure to house the Greene Academy of Art and the Greene Co. Council on the Arts, which is devoted to promoting the arts within the county and throughout southwestern Pennsylvania through scheduling events and spreading awareness. It was listed with the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Located on Baltzer Meyer Pike in Greensburg, PA, the historic Harrold One Room Schoolhouse was originally built for $1,250 in 1881, and was one of five Harrold schools in the area. The schoolhouse closed in 1928 and was used by the Harrold Junior High School as a shop until 1957. After that, it was used as a storage building by Hempfield Township until the Baltzer Meyer Historical Society acquired the historic schoolhouse in 1996, and began renovating the building that same year. It has long been their goal to restore the building so that it could function as a museum, as well as a place for contemporary students to peek into the past. After about eight years of renovations, the schoolhouse had its first grand opening and spent 10 years being used by third grade Hempfield students.
When restorations were completed, Hempfield Area School District has since 2009 held third grade classes, for the six elementary schools in the district. This has been a full day of class in the 1880s style of one room school. Books from the time period, old style desks, blackboards, dip well ink pens, and other equipment are used in the students’ teachings in the schoolhouse for the day. It might not have a teacher standing in front of the chalkboard, but the school-turned-new event space promises to take guests back in time. In addition to having recently been used by Hempfield Area School District students, fhe school is now opening its doors to people who want to rent the space for business meetings, seminars, small entertainment, weddings, and more.
McNay One-Room School is a historical landmark located off Rolling Meadows Rd., just outside of Waynesburg, in Greene County, Pennsylvania. The Old McNay School house could be a weekend getaway or used as a residence. Purchase is subject to a survey and lot split through Franklin Twp. with seller reserving all sub surface rights.
The Mark Prairie One Room Schoolhouse (District #38)
Mark Memorial Park
7528 S. Mark Road
Canby, Oregon 97013
The Mark Prairie One Room Schoolhouse is nestled in a lovely oak grove in an area of Canby, Oregon, known as Mark Prairie. The Mark Prairie School is significant as an excellent example of a turn-of-the-century Vernacular school and for its association with the Mark family who were Oregon Pioneers and the Mark Prairie Community.
In 1847 the John Mark family arrived in Oregon City, after crossing the plains by ox team via the Oregon Trail from Jackson County, Missouri. John Mark traded a yoke of oxen and either a wagon or a mare for 640 acres with a cabin on it. His eldest son, Alexander, over 21, but not married, could only claim 320 acres, which he did adjoining his father’s farm. His sisters and their husbands staked claims adjoining Alexander’s, hence the name Mark Prairie. In 1879, Oregon Alexander Mark, deeded two acres of land to school district #38, and a building was erected to be used for school and religious purposes. The original building was replaced by the present building in about 1900; the exact date is unknown. Lumber was hauled from Cole’s sawmill, located on the south bank of the Molalla River, near the present Island Park.
School District #38, the original owner, purchased the property from A.K. and Mary S. Mark in 1879 and 1893. Classes were discontinued in 1946 when the district joined the Canby District No. 86, and ownership of the property reverted back to the Mark family who then gave it to the Mark Prairie Community Club. Mark Memorial Park and Monument are a memorial to the Mark family and John Mark, for whom Mark Prairie was named. The surrounding park, with many mature oak trees, adds to the historic character of the subject buildings and monument. Since 1947 it has served as a community hall for the local community and is now owned by the Mark Prairie Historical Society.
The Verden Separate School or the Allen Toles’ African-American One-room Schoolhouse
315 E. Ada Sipuel Ave.
Chickasha, OK 73018
The Verden Separate School, now located at E. Ada Siquel Ave. and S. Jackson St., in Chickasha, OK, was constructed about 1910-1915 by an African-American man named Allen Toles, who built it for his children and other African American youth to attend on his farm land south of Verden, a town about an hour away from Oklahoma City, and is the only known original wood-framed schoolhouse built by an African-American man to educate African-American children. Even after he passed away, the new owner of his land, S.C. Loveless, allowed the school to continue to operate. During this time, African-American children worked on farms with their parents and were only allowed to attend school when the weather made it impossible to work outdoors. The Verden Separate School served as a school for Verden’s African American students under the separate but equal doctrine, which in Oklahoma resulted in the mandated creation of “separate schools” for whichever racial group was in the minority in a given district or region.
The school closed in 1935 when the county consolidated its student population into the Chickasha schools and began bussing students to Lincoln Separate School in Chickasha. During this time African-American children attended separate schools as a part of segregation laws. Unfortunately many of these separate schools were under-funded and lacked basic amenities. This schoolhouse then sat in a field where it was used as a farm outbuilding for 90 years until the early 2000s, before being discovered in 2002 when it was rescued from demolition, and moved to its present location in Chickasha. In 2005 the schoolhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places and was fully restored as an important part of early Grady County and Oklahoma African American history by 2007. The modest wood-frame gable-roofed one-room district schoolhouse now serves as a local museum. The only known surviving separate school in Grady County, and one of a few left in southwestern Oklahoma, it is free to visit but is open by appointment only and donations are appreciated.
Those who are planning a visit to scenic Vinton County, Ohio, may not just want to visit a one-room school, but can plan on lodging in one. The Dunkle School, located in the Hocking Hills just north of the village of McArthur, Ohio, was built in 1885 and closed in 1935. The building was used as a home for some time, before being restored in 2006, and is now operated as a Bed and Breakfast cabin by Historic Host Lodging. It is a place that one can call home for a time. According to the website, the old school has been renovated and furnished to help preserve the history of this Appalachian area and to help the building function as “sustainable preservation.” This means that the rental helps maintain the building while rescuing and restoring at-risk historic structures for guests to enjoy.
    As seen from Old Kansas Highway 10 in western Wabaunsee County, KS, between Alma and Alta Vista, the community of Volland is nestled into the knolls of a particularly scenic part of the Flint Hills. The Volland One-Room School is a historical landmark located in Wabaunsee County, KS, on Old K10 Road, south of Alma and north of Alta Vista. It’s just southwest of the ghost town of Volland in the Flint Hills. Carved in a stone above the front door it says, “District #26” (possibly 126) and has date of “1906”
Volland School is located a few miles southwest of Alma, Kansas, in the heart of the Kansas Flint Hills. The native stone building was built in 1906 after its predecessor was destroyed by fire. Volland School closed its doors in 1957 and remained vacant until it was purchased by a local family several years ago. It has been restored by its owner who is a master craftsman. There’s no listing on the National Register of Historic Places, which is odd considering how much work has been done to restore it.
Swan Township is one of the twelve townships of Vinton County, Ohio. The 2000 census found 796 people in the township. No municipalities are located in Swan Township, although the unincorporated community of Creola lies in the southern part of the township. It also contains the unincorporated communities of Hue and Orland. It is the only Swan Township statewide,
    Swan Schoolhouse was active from 1921 until 1955 as both a school and community building. The building now serves as a visitor center and is open to the public on special occasions. The school has a new look. A huge schoolhouse quilt block, recently painted by former students and friends, now adorns the south end of the building. This block is part of the Quilt Trail in Vinton County. A reunion is held each year on the first Sunday of June.
The Swan River Schoolhouse on Roe Avenue in East Patchogue, New York, dates from 1858 and has been kept in remarkable condition, with its original benches and pot belly stove. The Brookhaven Town-owned property is managed by the Greater Patchogue Historical Society. It’s one of the remaining few. It’s also believed to be the last remaining one-room school house still in its original spot, and its original foundation, on Long Island.
The School House was built in 1858, served as a school until 1936, and is well-preserved both in its exterior and interior. The Greater Patchogue Historical Society, formed in 1981, manages the former schoolhouse which has become a museum since the 1960s. The front of the wood frame building is three bays wide and features one window flanked by two doors – one was for girls and one for boys. The original school bell was removed after hurricane damage in 1938; it is displayed inside, along with the original pot belly stove and 1870s wooden desks. The school house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. It is said to be the oldest one-room schoolhouse on Long Island in its original location on its original foundation.
In the mid-eighteenth century the surrounding area was known for its various necks of land along the Great South Bay. After a 1758 land lottery, some of these necks evolved into the villages of Blue Point and Patchogue, while the Swan River Neck and Pine Neck became part of East Patchogue. Farming, maritime trade, and lumbering were major occupations which engaged early settlers such as the Avery, Smith, Robinson and Roe families. Cordwood being in high demand, a sawmill was placed at Swan Creek, convenient for loading vessels bound for New York City.
In 1813, Brookhaven Town was divided into 23 school districts. Another was formed in 1857 for East Patchogue, with Norton Robinson as sole Trustee. At that time Stephen S. Roe and his wife Huldah owned most of the Swan River area. Roe Avenue was then known as Pine Neck Road. Robinson purchased from them, for $25, a parcel of land which the deed stipulated was “for the purpose of building and maintaining a School House thereon for the benefit of said district.” The next year the school was ready, snugly constructed, with a bell tower and two doorways – separate entrances for girls and boys. At first parents paid a fee per child, but Swan River was soon incorporated into the general public school system. Its district remained intact until 1936, when it was absorbed into the Union Free School District #24 of Patchogue.
In 1962, the Patchogue School District voted to transfer the Swan River School to the Town of Brookhaven for use as a museum. For the next ten years it held displays on local history in times of war and peace. Subsequently it has resumed its principal function: old-fashioned schoolhouse. The Swan River Schoolhouse reflects an important part of Long Island’s past. This building is open the 2nd and 4th Sundays during July and August or by appointment throughout the year.
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