OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY
Old Fairfield District Schoolhouse
59 North Church Street
Fairfield, UT 84013
Located a short walking distance from Camp Floyd, the Fairfield District School is a historic schoolhouse from a forgotten era in Fairfield, Utah, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and is part of the Camp Floyd State Park Museum (a Utah State Park). The school is located at 59 North Church Street and was built in 1898 by Andrew Fjeld, a local builder and brick and stone mason from Lehi, replacing Fairfield’s original adobe school built in 1870. . It includes Late Victorian, Eclectic, and other architectural styles. Richard C. Watson, the school’s architect, also designed the Peteetneet School in Payson, Maeser School, and the Knight Block Building in Provo.
The plaque in front of the building reads: “The Fairfield District School was built in 1898. Ethel Warnick Mecham, who taught at the school in 1925, recalled there were about 20 children attending classes. ‘The kids loved stories and singing songs,’ she said. ‘At recess they played Rounders and the boys liked to wrestle.'” In addition to serving as the town’s only school, the building was used for church and civic meetings as well. A small brick addition was built on the rear in 1935 to provide restrooms and a furnace room. The school was forced to close in 1939 after the decision was made to bus Fairfield school children to the neighboring town of Cedar Fort in 1937, despite the efforts of Fairfield parents, students, and teachers to keep it open.
This one-room schoolhouse was listed with the NRHP on August 6, 1987. Restoration of the schoolhouse was completed in 2005. Today, the schoolhouse plays an important part in the educational mission of Camp Floyd/Stagecoach Inn State Park and Museum. It is used for social gatherings, educational programs, and local meetings. The restoration process was done quite well and the building appears much like it did in older photographs. If anyone is looking for an intimate meeting space in a Western style, rural environment, this is the venue for it.
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