OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY
East Waterford School
Dickson Mounds Museum
North Dickson Mounds Rd. and East Prairie Rd.
Lewistown, Illinois
One of the earlier one room schools houses in Fulton County, the East Waterford School is a historic one-room schoolhouse located at the junction of North Dickson Mounds Road and East Prairie Road in Waterford Township, Fulton County, Illinois. The red-brick schoolhouse is the second building to occupy this site. The first East Waterford School was a wooden frame structure constructed in 1856. The present school was built in 1907 to replace the 1856 building which had burned down earlier in the year. A pre-dawn fire in the spring of 1907 destroyed the original building along with its equipment and records. Classes were held in the Waterford Town Hall for the remainder of the term.
Construction on the red brick schoolhouse began immediately after the fire in 1907, and the structure was finished in time for the fall term. Originally the school had stationary desks in rows, but eventually the desks were fastened to moveable strips. The school had the following equipment, which was fairly standard for country schools: a set of wall maps, a world globe, a set of encyclopedias, and a set of dictionaries. A corner of the room served as a library. The school was heated by a coal- and wood-burning stove in the basement.
While it was still a traditional one-room rural school building, the new school added several modern features which made it relatively progressive for its time and setting. While it was still a frame building like its predecessor, the new school had a brick veneer, making it both more durable and visually appealing. The interior featured a heating plant in the basement with an indoor staircase and a cloakroom which was separate from the classroom, both of which were newer developments for small schools at the time. In addition to fire, tornadoes were always a threat. The closest call came in 1933 when a tornado took the roof off the new building that had been erected over the burial excavation exhibit at Dickson Mounds only one hundred yards away. After this near miss, the school board had a concrete shelter built part way into the slope of the hill just outside the building. A telephone was also installed in the school. Kerosene lamps were used during night programs until the building was electrified in 1939 by the Rural Electrification Administration.
The average daily attendance at East Waterford School ranged from 20 to 30 pupils. All eight grades were taught in the school’s single classroom. East Waterford School served Waterford residents until 1957, when rural school consolidation forced it to close. From 1959 to 1986, the schoolhouse was used as a laboratory and field camp by archaeologists working at Dickson Mounds Museum. In 1988, the building was restored to its original appearance, and now serves as a special events location and meeting place for museum activities. The schoolhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 10, 2009.
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