Central School District No. 49 one-room schoolhouse, Spokane, WA

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Central School District No. 49 one-room schoolhouse

Richey and Four Mound Roads

Spokane, WA

     Once it was just one of 18 one-room schoolhouses serving the rural population in a small region of northwest Spokane County, WA, but today the Central School District No. 49 schoolhouse is the only one still at its original site, as all the others have either been moved or torn down.  This one-room schoolhouse, located just west of the intersection of Ritchey and Four Mound roads, several miles north of Deep Creek, began service in September 1900. Now on both the Spokane (1991) and National (1992) Registers of Historic Places, it stands isolated out in the country but in a remarkably well-preserved condition on its stone foundation. Some improvements – new roof, new front porch – have helped keep it intact.

     It’s largely unused now, mostly because there’s no indoor plumbing, but occasionally someone will rent it for a birthday party or a meeting.  The board of commissioners of the West Greenwood Cemetery District No. 2 owns the building.  Solving the bathroom problem is a neat and tidy wood outhouse out back, which is kept clean and supplied with toilet paper.  The 24-by-16-foot schoolhouse has an 8-foot-wide porch sheltering the two front entrances – one for boys, one for girls, as was customary in the days of one-room schoolhouses. A triangle sign erected on the upper gable in 1904 states that this is the home of Central School District No. 49.

     The school opened at the beginning of the school year in 1900 with 52 students and one teacher – Miss Lillian Scott, who earned $40 per month – teaching grades 1 through 8. It was not the first school in the immediate vicinity. The original Central School, known as Baldwin School, was situated east of the current building, but the school board voted in 1899 to replace it, and a bond issue in the amount of $600 went toward construction of the new school to be situated on two acres of land just to the west, land purchased for a total of $5.

     In the beginning, there was a wood stove for heat, and kerosene lamps gave light. In 1920, a double gas light was purchased for $24 (the hanger for it remains on the wall today), and in 1945 the schoolhouse was wired for electricity. Although there have been improvements to the interior (wallboard and hardwood flooring, for example), much of the original integrity remains.  Back in the first half of the 20th century, when it was an active school, it also served as a community center. Among the events held there were box socials to raise money for school projects, 4-H meetings, square dances, parties and events held by community clubs.

     The “new” school was in active use through 1956 when, due to declining enrollments, it was consolidated with the Reardan Consolidated School Districts. During the last year of classes there, only seven students were enrolled. In 1958, ownership was transferred to Coulee Township, which used it to house various meetings. In 1973 it was deeded to the West Greenwood Cemetery District No. 2 and was the site of meetings of the cemetery district, a home economics club and assorted social events.  There is another interesting piece of information about the early school that is pertinent today. Early on there was no water at the site, and the older schoolchildren had the task of walking to a nearby spring to collect buckets of water to the school. In 1924 the school district approved $208 for the drilling of a well in front of the school.  Anyone who visits the site now can still give the hand pump on the well a few pumps and be rewarded with lovely clear water.

River Road one-room schoolhouse, Manchester, VT

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A one-room schoolhouse

River Road

Manchester, VT

     It’s amazing to think there was a time when almost every American child learned in a one-room school. In fact, as late as 1913, half of the country’s schoolchildren were enrolled in the country’s 200,000 one-room schools.  In Vermont, there were more than 2,000 school districts in the mid-19th century, and at least as many one-room schoolhouses at that time. The buildings were built, owned, and operated by each individual town without state oversight, and the schools were practically everywhere.  That district model was discontinued in 1892, and towns began to consolidate the one-room schoolhouses into larger, more centrally-located facilities.

     As a result, the old one-room schoolhouses were abandoned, sold, relocated, and converted for other uses.  The one-room schoolhouse on River Road in Manchester, VT, was built around 1832 on land owned by the Walker family and was eventually owned by Robert Todd Lincoln and Hildene (Lincoln’s family estate), according to the Manchester Historical Society.  Though left in its original location, the building fell into disrepair over the decades and was restored in the 1980s by Friends of Hildene and the local historical society. It’s used today for educational programs.

One-Room Schoolhouse Display, Middlesex County Museum & Historical Society, Saluda, VA

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The One-Room Schoolhouse Display

Middlesex County Museum & Historical Society

777 General Puller Highway

Saluda, VA 23149 CO

As America began to populate, there was a strong need for the children to be educated. Middlesex County was populated with a variety of school houses. The goal in a location was to be no more than two miles from the students who were to be educated, as they would walk to and from school each day. Church services, Christmas parties, community gatherings, lectures, and spelling bees were all held in the school house. The “school bell” was used not only to call everyone to gather for their lesson, but also to warn of dangers (such as a fire) and to ring in the holidays.

     On display at the Middlesex County Museum, one can find an old School Bell on loan from Ms. Becky Young, as well as an old School Desk.  The summer school term ran from May until August and the winter term from November through April. By the 1900s, the nine-month term was established allowing the students to work in the fields during planting and harvesting seasons. School hours were from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Attendance was voluntary and subject to farm chores and weather.  The subjects covered were known as the “Three ‘R’s”: Reading, Righting (Writing), and ‘Rithmetric (Arithmetic).

old log one-room Acton’s Corners schoolhouse, Merrickville Blockhouse Historic Site, Merrickville, ON

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old log one-room Acton’s Corners schoolhouse

Merrickville Blockhouse – National Historic Site of Canada

279 St Lawrence St.

Merrickville, ON K0G 1N0, Canada

Tucked away on the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Blockhouse Museum was originally a defensive building built by Col. By to protect the Rideau Canal from possible invasion. By the time it was completed in 1832, the threat of invasion had passed and the building was repurposed as the home for the lockmaster and his family. Sgt. Johnston and his wife and children lived in the Blockhouse from 1833 to 1855. The Blockhouse has had many other purposes in the intervening years, including a storage facility and a church. It was designated as a National Historic Site in 1939, but was largely abandoned until Transport Canada decided to demolish it in the early 1960s. The community of Merrickville raised funds and created the Merrickville and District Historical Society to renovate the Blockhouse in partnership with Parks Canada.

     The Blockhouse Museum opened for the first time in 1967 and has opened every summer since. Its mandate is to preserve the heritage and history of Merrickville-Wolford and the surrounding districts, and provide access to the public to this heritage and to the building.  The Blockhouse Museum is situated on the corner of Main Street and St. Lawrence Street in Merrickville, Ontario. Parking is available at Blockhouse Park, which is accessible from Main Street.  Merrickville and District Historical Society is a volunteer-run organization based in the Village of Merrickville-Wolford, a beautiful historic village spanning the Rideau Canal, one hour south of the Nation’s capital. MDHS encourages interest in the history and heritage of Merrickville-Wolford. MDHS also operates the seasonal museum at the Merrickville Blockhouse National Historic Site of Canada.

     Inside is the old log one-room schoolhouse from Acton’s Corners which was donated by Mr. William Evans of Oxford Mills circa 1900.  It was dismantled and rebuilt inside the Blockhouse Museum in Merrickville.  Entrance to the museum, right beside the canal, is free.  In June 1976, the school was renovated by B. Headley and Associates.  Inside there are desks that face the exterior walls.  This type of desk was common in Quebec and Ontario one-room schools during the 1880s so students could make use of the natural light.

St. Joseph Catholic Church and School, Wapakoneta, OH

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St. Joseph Catholic Church and School

309 S. Perry St.

Wapakoneta, OH

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in Wapakoneta, Ohio. Built in 1910, this church is home to an active Catholic parish, and it has been declared a historic site because of its well-preserved Romanesque Revival architecture.  One of the first two Catholic priests in northern Ohio was John William Horstmann, a native of Osnabrück who had settled in the village of Glandorf to the north. Starting in 1832, he made monthly journeys of 50 milesto Stallotown to the south.   As Wapakoneta lies midway between these communities, he often visited with and celebrated Mass for its few Catholic families.  After four years of these travels, he established a parish at Petersburg,  approximately 4 miles south of Wapakoneta.

     By 1839, the Catholic community in Wapakoneta had grown to the point that it could be created a separate parish, and the members built a small frame church on the southeastern corner of the intersection of Pearl and Blackhoof Streets near the city’s downtown. Although no resident priest served the parish in its earliest years, membership grew during the 1840s and 1850s, and a priest was first assigned to the church in 1857. The expenses of maintaining even a small church caused the parish to be deep in debt during its earliest years, but it prospered greatly under the pastorate of Joseph Gregory Dwenger, later Bishop of Fort Wayne.  Since 1850, the parish has been served by priests from the Congregation of the Precious Blood.

     By the late 1850s, the parish’s membership had grown significantly, and the original church had become too small; consequently, a larger brick structure was built to the east of the original building in 1858. Among its most distinctive elements were a massive single tower, four bells, and a large pipe organ. In later years, elderly parishioners remembered the organ and bells favorably: purchased for $2,200 and $1,700 respectively, they were seen as equal to any instruments of the twentieth century and as worthy of installation in the present church building respectively. This church was replaced in turn by the present structure in the early twentieth century. Construction of this Romanesque Revival building began under the direction of the DeCurtins family in 1910, and it was dedicated on October 8, 1911. A brick building supported by a stone foundation, the church includes architectural features such as two towers and a large rose window at the front, underneath which worshippers may enter the building through several large arched doors.

     Architectural historians have divided the Precious Blood-related churches of western Ohio into multiple generations. Only a few buildings remain from the first generation, which consisted primarily of small wooden churches, and only St. John’s Church in Fryburg remains essentially unchanged. Replacing these wooden buildings were the churches of the second generation, which were generally small brick buildings without tall spires. The churches of the third generation are mostly High Gothic Revival structures with tall towers, but the final generation of churches includes a wide range of styles. As a Romanesque Revival church built in 1910, St. Joseph’s is one of the newest churches in the region, and it plainly is a part of the final generation.

     In 1853, the church purchased a frame building adjacent to its property and quickly opened a parish elementary school inside. After sixteen years, a larger structure was desired, and a larger brick building was erected immediately to the east of the church at a cost of $4,000. Continued growth necessitated its replacement by a newer building in 1899; this structure is still standing. With features such as towers and turrets, St. Joseph’s School is one of the most architecturally-prominent Catholic schools in the region, along with schools in Minster, St. Henry, and Chickasaw.  As the parish continued to expand, a high school was opened in 1919; its classes met in the elementary school building until a new building was completed in 1961. However, financial issues caused the high school’s closure in 1974; the elementary students were then transferred to the former high school, and the original elementary school was then leased to the Wapakoneta City School District.  As well as completing its school in 1899, the parish also built a rectory in the same year. Expanded in 1922, the rectory was later converted into a convent.

     Today, St. Joseph’s Church is an active parish of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. It is clustered with St. John parish in Fryburg, and the entire cluster is part of the St. Marys Deanery.  On July 26, 1979, St. Joseph’s Church and School were listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of their place in Ohio’s history and because of their well-preserved historic architecture. They were among more than thirty different properties included in the “Cross-Tipped Churches of Ohio Thematic Resources,” a multiple property submission of architecturally-important churches and church-related buildings in western Ohio related to the Congregation of the Precious Blood. These churches, primarily Gothic Revival structures with massive towers, have become the namesake of this heavily Catholic region, which is commonly known as the “Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches.”

Asa Crook Home / School, Prophetstown, IL

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Asa Crook Home / School

680 East 3rd Street

Prophetstown, IL 61277

The Asa Crook Home at 680 East 3rd Street, Prophetstown, IL, in Whiteside County, was the first two-story, frame house built in 1839 by Whiteside County’s first settler and one of its most notable personalities, Asa Crook Sr. who came to Prophetstown in June of 1834, and was also used as an inn for travelers passing through, church services, schooling, and a Post Office. Arriving there, on a permanent basis on June 4, 1834, his family lived in a log cabin at first, and then the house. His two daughters were Sarah and Laura. Crook was one of the founders of the town of Prophetstown when it was laid out in 1838, south of the Rock River.

     The house that Asa Crook built in 1839 looks today, pretty much like it did back then, a spacious two-story home that would have been admired by friends and neighbors alike.  This original home has been saved, and is being restored by the Prophetstown Area Historical Society. The house didn’t always sit in its present location. The home had to be moved several hundred feet from the original site which was much further back from the road just behind where it sits now. It is now closer to the highway which is State Route 172 but is still located on land of Asa Crook’s original property. It will be open to the public upon completion of the interior. The calm beauty of the quiet little town, nestled on the Rock River, remains much as it was when Asa first settled on it. None of the Crook family are left in Prophetstown, but their presence is still felt.  

St. John Catholic Church and School, Fryburg, OH

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St. John Catholic Church and School    

11319 Van Buren St.

Fryburg, OH

St. John Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic church at the southwestern corner of Schlemel and Van Buren Sts. in the unincorporated community of Fryburg in Pusheta Township, Auglaize County, Ohio.  The parish was established in 1848, the same year in which the community was platted, and construction was completed in 1850. A Catholic school in connection with the church was established in 1877.  Both buildings feature fine architecture: the church includes Gothic Revival elements such as ornate pilasters and lancet windows, while the former school is a good example of Federal architecture.

     St. John’s is one of many churches in western Ohio that historically has been served by the Society of the Precious Blood. It is one of the oldest extant Catholic churches in the region known as the “Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches.”  Most contemporary churches in the region were log structures that have disappeared. Only St. Augustine’s Church in Minster to the southwest remains a church, and it has been significantly modified by the addition of twin towers decades after construction.

     St. John retains its historic brick and stucco exterior, and its frescoed ceiling has been recognized as a leading aspect of its architecture. Throughout the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, there is only one church older than St. John’s that survives without significant structural changes. St. John’s and its parish hall/school were listed with the National Register of Historic Places on July 26, 1979, along with St. Augustine’s and many other churches related to the Society of the Precious Blood in western Ohio.

Old Town School, Henrieville Senior Citizens Center, Henrieville, UT

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Old Town School

Henrieville Senior Citizens Center

70 W. Main St. (Route 12)

Henrieville, UT 84736

The small, rural southern Utah town of Henrieville on UT-12 has no businesses, no school, little economic base, and a population of only 170 people. Its town government operates on a budget of only about $7,000, gleaned from property taxes on 68 homes. But the community intrigues visitors because of its picturesque setting and an intense desire to keep things pretty much the same as they have always been.  That is evidenced by efforts in the tiny Garfield County community to restore a 114-year-old building that was initially used as a combination schoolhouse and town hall. Many of Henrieville’s residents, who live just a few miles from Bryce Canyon National Park’s eastern boundary, are direct descendants of the pioneer families who settled here and helped build the historic white building in 1881, constructed of rough-cut timber harvested on a nearby mountain.

     The restoration project cost about $72,000, a staggering figure for a town with such a meager financial structure, according to Mayor Guy Thompson, who was in charge of the restoration project. The town’s elected officials pledged more than half the amount of the budget, some $4,000, as a financial nest egg to get the ball rolling toward additional support. Other avenues were explored to get funding. Thompson reported the Utah State Energy Office donated $8,000. The Garfield County senior citizens group donated $4,000, Deseret Generation and Transmission Inc. contributed $2,500, and the Garkane Power Association gave $1,000. 

     An architect was recommended by the Utah Historical Society to lend assistance to the community for the restoration project. This too helped the town to qualify in applying for possible grant money, providing matching funds could be raised.  The project included roof repair, restoring the interior and exterior, and upgrading electrical and mechanical facilities, the mayor noted. Located directly on Scenic Route 12, the old town school’s days of serving education purposes have long past, but it functions today as a senior citizens’ community center and town hall. There is a parking lot where one can easily find a place to stop at.  Also, there are several historical information boards about the area and Highway 12 as well to see.

Acton’s Corners School – S.S. No. 6 Oxford, Acton’s Corners, ON (Canada)

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Acton’s Corners School – S.S. No. 6 Oxford

1631 Highway 43

Acton’s Corners, Ontario, Canada

Actons Corners is a community in the municipality of North Grenville, United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, in eastern Ontario, Canada.  School Section Oxford-on-Rideau No. 6 was formed when two small log schoolhouses united in the 1850s.  Land was purchased from John Selleck for three pounds, and the salary of the teachers ranged from $200 to $250, paid at the end of the year.  There were about 50-60 students, and as many as 80 students in the winter.  The log schoolhouse was donated by Mr. William Evans of Oxford Mills circa 1900.    The present stone school, built in 1905 on land purchased from A. Norton Percival, replaced the old building.  It closed in 1964 and became the meeting place for the North Grenville Historical Society.  The building was sold in 2011.

Cherry Hill School, Cherry Hill Village, Canton, MI

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Cherry Hill School

Cherry Hill Village

50440 Cherry Hill Road

Canton, Michigan 48188

     Cherry Hill School in Canton, MI, was originally located on the west side of Ridge Road, south of Cherry Hill Road, across from the Cherry Hill Church.  It was built in the 1830’s, around 1836, and was originally a log uilding. It had a long low log-burning stove which provided heat. The building was 21 feet by 24 feet in size.  Around the sides were two rows of slabs held up by pegs. The lower row of slabs was seats and the upper row was the desks. Slates were used instead of text books. The small children sat up front, the older children in the back.

     In winter the temperature varied and it was often as cold as 40 degrees. Country schools educated the first through eighth grades plus kindergarten in one room. The older children helped the younger children with their studies. Children brought books from home to read, usually a Bible or an almanac, or they used the famous “McGuffy Reader.” The school teacher usually lived with several families throughout the school year, the room and board being part of the salary they were paid.

     Each of the one room schools was a district unto itself. Cherry Hill School was “Fractional District 1, Canton and Superior” ‐ which means the district included children within a two‐mile radius of the school, including Cherry Hill Village, and some students in Superior Township. Community activity was centered around the school, hosting spelling and writing bees, dramas and sing‐along’s. Church services were held in the building when the temperature outside was too cold. In the summer, the school grounds were often used for community picnics. 

     The present building was built in 1876 ‐ to replace the old log cabin school, at the present location of 50545 Cherry Hill Road.  It is an “Italianate” style building, indicated by the decorative brackets under the eaves and the arched window frames. The school is built of “soft fired” bricks, made from the clay soils in Canton, and fired in a nearby “brick kiln” at a local farm. The school is surrounded by old Maple trees, which were planted to celebrate the country’s centennial anniversary in 1876.  The Canton Fractional School District No. 1 School is a one-story, gabled-roofed, painted brick building, topped by a square flat roof and bracketed cupola. The building features a full-arched entrance and flanking six-over-six lights topped by round arch hood molds. Brick corbeling and brackets appear beneath the gabled peak.

    In 1942, Henry Ford and the Edison Institute took over Cherry Hill School, as Ford operated a small factory in Cherry Hill Village. Ford was active in the area with the Ford Farm on Gotfredson Road, and his latest “Village Industry” at the corner of Cherry Hill and Ridge Roads. Ford made $20,000 worth of improvements to the school which added another room, indoor plumbing, a new roof, central heating, and a basement as well as paying for the salary for a second teacher. He brought specialized instructors in to teach industrial arts, home economics and music. The children were given medical and dental services through Henry Ford Hospital, and were taken regularly to Greenfield Village.

     When Henry Ford died in 1945, the school was returned to the local district authority; however, the Edison Institute continued to hold an interest in the property legally.  In 1955, the Cherry Hill School Board voted to “annex” Cherry Hill to the Plymouth School District. The school was to remain open, but by the early 1960’s the school was closed, and children were bused to more “modern” schools in the district.   Cherry Hill had several users over the next twenty years before it finally became “dead storage” for the school district. It remained closed and in deteriorating condition until the mid 1980’s when Canton Township bought the school back from the Plymouth‐Canton School District, and began renovations. A complete overhaul was done on the building, and in 1988 it was re‐opened to the public for community use. Since then, it has housed many events and meetings and has become once again a focal point in the community. The school is a local and State Historic Site, and is part of the National Register Historic District of Cherry Hill Village.  The “Old School” can now be rented by the hour.