Vergennes Schoolhouse, Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Vergennes Schoolhouse

Shelburne Museum

6000 Shelburne Road

Shelburne, VT 05482

The Vergennes Schoolhouse is an exhibit building at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. It was originally located in Vergennes, Vermont.  The town of Vergennes, Vermont, built the schoolhouse about 1840 on land leased from General Samuel Strong, a War of 1812 officer and descendant of one of Addison County’s first families. In the terms of the lease Strong stipulated that the town pay him an annual rent of one kernel of Indian corn and use the property for educational purposes.

    The schoolhouse, although built at the height of Greek Revival’s popularity, reflects an amalgamation of architectural styling. Moderate classical elements include the arched door opening, sash windows, and projecting bell tower, while the split-gable and octagonal shape of the bell tower’s cupola reflect 19th-century Eclecticism that developed as local builders and craftsmen freely combined elements from different architectural styles. On the exterior, the bricklayer ornamented the one-room structure with a simple patterning of six rows of stretchers (horizontally-laid bricks) and one row of headers (end-laid bricks) that formed subtle bands circling the building.

     When the Shelburne Museum relocated the Schoolhouse to its present site in 1947, the structure had been in disuse for many years. In preparation for the building’s restoration, the Museum created architectural drawings of the building’s exterior before removing the belfry and dismantling the brickwork piece-by-piece. The Museum replaced the original tinwork of the belfry’s dome with stronger copper, repaired its surmounting acorn finial, replaced missing windows, resurfaced the plastered interior walls, and re-hung the bell. The inclusion of a chalkboard featuring lesson plans, desks, benches, children’s schoolwork, and maps reflect the modest furnishings of a 19th-century rural school.

     The one-room Schoolhouse was the first structure moved to the Museum.  Visitors of all ages are welcome to step into the one-room Schoolhouse to experience a day in the life of a Vermont country school in the 1800s, sit at the desks, write on the slates, and browse through the maps, lesson plans, and children’s schoolwork. Just outside the Schoolhouse is Alyssia’s Garden, with a swing set, a slide, and plenty of space to play.

Old Fairfield District Schoolhouse, Fairfield, UT

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.

Allamoore School, Van Horn, TX

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Allamoore School

Hudspeth County.

Van Horn, TX

The Allamoore Independent School District was a public school district based in the community of Allamoore, Texas. The approximately 2,100-square-mile district was known as the Allamoore Consolidated Independent District prior to 1992.  Allamoore is a tiny community in Hudspeth County, Texas, accessed by Interstate 10 between Van Horn and Sierra Blanca. The one room schoolhouse was built circa 1910. the building material appears to be concrete. The hip roof is metal covered. There is a metal door with three tall narrow windows to the right.  An outdoor basketball goal is on the playground.  In previous eras the school had two teachers and in later eras there was only one teacher who also did all administrative functions. Enrollment was determined by a fluctuating number of employees in area ranches. In portions of the 1950s and 1960s the district hired a teacher to be at the school, but there were no students to teach.

     In 1988, Allamoore’s total enrollment was only eight students from the ten families scattered throughout the district, which made it one of the smallest school districts in the state of Texas.  In 1990 that figure was down to three, cousins of one another, with one of the students being the daughter of the teacher.  In 1990 the teacher/administrator reported that lesson planning took a lot of work as the students were not of the same ages.  The Allamoore Common School District was renamed the Allamoore Independent School District in 1993.  By 1995, the student population was still three–the smallest enrollment in Texas.  On July 1, 1995, Allamoore ISD consolidated with the Culberson County Independent School District based in nearby Van Horn to form the Culberson County-Allamoore Independent School District, and Allamoore School was closed.

     Photo: David Hoffman from Flickr

Forest Hills School, Franklin, TN

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Forest Hills School

Carters Creek Pike at Bear Creek Rd.

Franklin, Tennessee

The Forest Hills School located on Carters Creek Pike 2/10 mi. south of Bear Creek Rd., in Franklin, Tennessee, was built in 1907. Along with Liberty School and Liberty Hill School, it is one of the three best surviving examples in Williamson County of one room schoolhouses built during 1900–1920. While most of these schools have been lost, they once provided the majority of public education in the county.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.  The property is denoted WM-670 among Williamson County’s historic resources.

Hillside School, Herrmann Park, Belle Fouche, SD

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Hillside School

Herrmann Park

Highway 85  South

Belle Fourche, SD 57717

The Hillside School is located on Highway 85 South about 1/4 mile south of the town of Belle Fourche, South Dakota, just west of Hermann Park off Jackson Street. Built in 1885 as the “Beam” School, it was originally located 15 miles east of Belle Fourche near Fruitdale.  The first Christmas tree in Butte County was displayed here.  This one-room schoolhouse was moved to its present location in 1984, and preserved in cooperation with the city of Belle Fourche and the Butte  County Historical Society.

Seaside School (Seaside Colored School), Edisto Island, SC

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Seaside School (Seaside Colored School)

1097 SC 174

Edisto Island, South Carolina

Seaside School, also known as Seaside Colored School, is a historic school building for African-American children located just off S.C. Highway 174, near the center of Edisto Island, Charleston County, South Carolina, and is associated with the education of African-American Edistonians from the late-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. At least one and perhaps two school buildings have been located on its site since 1865. In 1930, the Edisto Island school district had planned to merge Seaside with Central African American school, but the community, affected by the Great Depression, could not raise enough money for the lot and school supplies. This smaller structure was built instead.   It was erected about 1931 as its second building, and is a one-story, two-room, rectangular frame building. It sits on a low brick pier foundation, with a lateral gable roof of V-crimped metal, and has weatherboard exterior siding. Rafter ends are exposed at the main body and at the small shed porch protecting the paired entry doors. One original five-panel door remains. 

     An example of a schoolhouse used by rural black South Carolinians into the 1950s, Seaside School is said by many of the older residents of Edisto Island, black and white, to be the oldest black school on the island, From 1931 until the construction of a consolidated school in 1954, black residents of Edisto Island received their primary education in this building.  The school has been vacant since 1954, except for brief periods of residential tenant occupancy. It is one of only three remaining historic schools of at least eight (Seaside White, Seaside Colored, Borough White, Borough Colored, Central Colored, Whaley Industrial, Edisto Island Consolidated, and Larimer Presbyterian) that have been documented on Edisto Island in the twentieth century, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Exterior alterations have been minor.

Moosup Valley School (Vestry School), Tyler Free Library, Foster, RI

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Moosup Valley School (Vestry School)

Tyler Free Library

81 Moosup Valley Rd # A

Foster, RI 02825

Moosup Valley is a dispersed agricultural community that follows the length of Moosup Valley Road from a little west of Route 14 to just west of Cucumber Hill Road at the old Tyler Store.  The Moosup Valley Historic District is a rural, agricultural historic district in western Foster, Rhode Island. The focal center of the area is a small village where Moosup Valley Road crosses the Moosup River, and where the Moosup Valley Christian Church is located. The largest concentration of buildings in the district lie along a roughly one-mile stretch of Moosup Valley Road west of Rhode Island Route 14, with properties extending along some of the winding roads (paved and unpaved) that extend from that road. The district encompasses most of the headwaters of the Moosup River. The major public buildings are the church, a vernacular Greek Revival structure built in 1864–65, and the Grange hall, built in 1926. There is also a one-room schoolhouse which was built in 1811, and later used as a library and community center.  The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

     The one story one-room schoolhouse with paired entrances and raised flat lintels, built in 1811 on land given for that purpose by Isaac Blanchard, was closed in 1952. The schoolhouse is sometimes called the Vestry School, because Christian church services and Sunday school were held here in the mid-19th century.  The original Library was built in 1900 to house a library given by local historian and store-keeper, Casey B. Tyler.  In 1965, the structure built just across the road to house the library was moved across the road and joined to the schoolhouse by a large modern addition. The whole building was then opened to create the present Tyler Free Library.

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Moosup Valley School (Vestry School)

Tyler Free Library

81 Moosup Valley Rd # A

Foster, RI 02825

Moosup Valley is a dispersed agricultural community that follows the length of Moosup Valley Road from a little west of Route 14 to just west of Cucumber Hill Road at the old Tyler Store.  The Moosup Valley Historic District is a rural, agricultural historic district in western Foster, Rhode Island. The focal center of the area is a small village where Moosup Valley Road crosses the Moosup River, and where the Moosup Valley Christian Church is located. The largest concentration of buildings in the district lie along a roughly one-mile stretch of Moosup Valley Road west of Rhode Island Route 14, with properties extending along some of the winding roads (paved and unpaved) that extend from that road. The district encompasses most of the headwaters of the Moosup River. The major public buildings are the church, a vernacular Greek Revival structure built in 1864–65, and the Grange hall, built in 1926. There is also a one-room schoolhouse which was built in 1811, and later used as a library and community center.  The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

     The one story one-room schoolhouse with paired entrances and raised flat lintels, built in 1811 on land given for that purpose by Isaac Blanchard, was closed in 1952. The schoolhouse is sometimes called the Vestry School, because Christian church services and Sunday school were held here in the mid-19th century.  The original Library was built in 1900 to house a library given by local historian and store-keeper, Casey B. Tyler.  In 1965, the structure built just across the road to house the library was moved across the road and joined to the schoolhouse by a large modern addition. The whole building was then opened to create the present Tyler Free Library.

Langhorne Manor School (Langhorne Manor Borough Hall), Langhorne Manor, PA

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Langhorne Manor School (Langhorne Manor Borough Hall)

618 Hulmeville Ave.

Langhorne Manor, Pennsylvania

The Langhorne Manor School, now known as Langhorne Manor Borough Hall, is a historic, American one-room school building that is located in Langhorne Manor, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Built in 1891, this historic structure is a small 1+1⁄2-story building with stone-faced, wood-frame walls and a slate covered hipped roof. Designed in the Queen Anne style, it measures thirty-three feet wide by forty-three feet deep. The roof features two eyelid dormers and a gable dormer with fishscale shingles. The school was converted to a borough hall in 1959.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.