![District 63 schoolhouse-inside](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/District_63_schoolhouse-inside.jpg)
One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and small town schools, all of the students met in a single room. There, a single teacher taught academic basics to several grade levels of
elementary-age children. While in many areas one-room schools are no longer used, some remain in
developing nation
A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
s and rural or remote areas.
In the United States, the concept of a "little red schoolhouse" is a stirring one, and historic one-room schoolhouses have widely been preserved and are celebrated as symbols of frontier values and of local and national development.
When necessary, the schools were enlarged or replaced with
two-room school
A two-room schoolhouse is a larger version of the one-room schoolhouse, with many of the same characteristics, providing the facility for primary and secondary education in a small community or rural area. While providing the same function as a c ...
s. More than 200 are listed on the U.S.
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. In Norway, by contrast, one-room schools were viewed more as impositions upon conservative farming areas, and, while a number survive in open-air museums, not a single one is listed on the Norwegian equivalent to the
NRHP
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
[
]
Prussia
Prussia was among the first countries in the world to introduce a tax-funded and generally compulsory primary education for either boys and girls. In comparison, compulsory schooling in France or Great Britain was not successfully enacted until the 1880s. The state-sponsored system was introduced in the late 18th century and has had a widespread influence ever since. The first Prussian schools were simple one-room schools, but by 1773 Friedrich Eberhard von Rochow had already set up a model school with primary education in two separate age-grouped classes.
Ireland
In Ireland, free primary education was mandated in 1831, prompting the establishment of many single-teacher National Schools across rural areas, most initially using a room in an existing building. By the 1890s there was a school in every parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
. Most extant one- and two-room school buildings date from the decades after 1891 when primary education became compulsory. Most of those still in use today have been extended following merger with neighbouring schools. Since 2002, any state-funded school with at least 10 pupils is entitled to at least 2 teachers; the 21 schools which fell below this threshold are located on offshore islands. In recent decades, an increasing number of schools have been founded for parents not content with the National School system. These include ''Gaelscoil
A Gaelscoil (; plural: ''Gaelscoileanna'') is an Irish language-medium school in Ireland: the term refers especially to Irish-medium schools outside the Irish-speaking regions or Gaeltacht. Over 50,000 students attend Gaelscoileanna at primary an ...
eanna'' (which teach through Irish rather than English) and multi-denominational schools (most Irish schools are controlled by one or other of the main Christian churches). Although such schools eventually become eligible for state funding, they usually begin with a single teacher in a room or prefabricated building
A prefabricated building, informally a prefab, is a building that is manufactured and constructed using prefabrication. It consists of factory-made components or units that are transported and assembled on-site to form the complete building.
Hist ...
.
United States
Many schools also served as the local chapel on Sundays, and evening/Saturday meeting places for local people and activities. Being mostly rural, many schools had no plumbing or sanitation. Teaching standards often varied from school to school as the teacher was compelled to coach children of all ages/grades within one room and regardless of their area of main competence.
The quality of facilities at one-room schools varied with local economic conditions, but generally, the number of children at each grade level would vary with local populations. Most buildings were of simple frame construction, some with the school bell on a cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, from ...
. In the Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
, sod
Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls.
In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricult ...
construction was also used, as well as stone and adobe
Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
in areas like the Southwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
where trees were scarce. In some locations, the schoolhouse was painted red, but most seem to have been white.
Mission Ridge School was one of the early schools in Mason County, West Virginia
Mason County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,453. Its county seat and largest city is Point Pleasant. The county was founded in 1804 and named for George Mason, delegate to the U.S. ...
. It has since been moved to the West Virginia State Farm Museum complex near Point Pleasant. Examination of the materials in this building indicates that boards and timbers were hand-sawed and also hand-planed. Square nails were used throughout the building. Except for the roof and a few boards in the floor, all of the material in this building is original. The blackboard
A blackboard (also known as a chalkboard) is a reusable writing surface on which text or drawings are made with sticks of calcium sulphate or calcium carbonate, known, when used for this purpose, as chalk. Blackboards were originally made of ...
is painted black. It was not until much later that slate was used for chalkboards, although students often had individual slates for writing practice.
Teachers in one-room schools were often former students themselves. Their role is well-described by a student from Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
in the 1940s:
The teachers that taught in the one room, rural schools were very special people. During the winter months they would get to the school early to get a fire started in the potbelly stove
A potbelly stove is a cast-iron, coal-burning or wood-burning stove that is cylindrical with a bulge in the middle. Gove PB (editor in chief) (1981). ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged''. Springfield ...
, so the building would be warm for the students. On many occasions they would prepare a hot, noon meal on top of the stove, usually consisting of soup or stew of some kind. They took care of their students like a new mother hen would care for her newly hatched chicks; always looking out for their health and welfare.
A typical school day was 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with morning and afternoon recesses of 15 minutes each and an hour period for lunch. "The older students were given the responsibility of bringing in water, carrying in coal or wood for the stove. The younger students would be given responsibilities according to their size and gender such as cleaning the black board (chalkboard), taking the erasers outside for dusting plus other duties that they were capable of doing."
Transportation for children who lived too far to walk was often provided by horse-drawn kid hack
A kid hack was a horse-drawn vehicle used for transporting children to school in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. The word "hack," meaning a horse-drawn cab, is short for hackney carriage. The vehicle was actually powe ...
or sulky
A sulky is a lightweight cart with two wheels and a seat for the driver, generally pulled by horses or dogs. With horses, a sulky is used for harness racing. The term is also used for an arch-mounted cart on wheels or crawler tracks, used in ...
, which could only travel a limited distance in a reasonable amount of time each morning and evening, or students might ride a horse, these being put out to pasture in an adjoining paddock during the day. In more recent times, students rode bicycles.
Southern students and teachers most often walked to and from school; a three-mile journey was not uncommon. Due to the poor quality of roads, automobiles were not frequently used.
The school house was the center and focus for thousands of rural communities, hamlets, and small towns. Often, town meetings and picnics were also held there.
The vast majority of one-room schools in the United States are no longer used as schools and have either been torn down or converted for other purposes. However, in some rural communities, including among the Amish
The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...
, one-room or two-room schools are still used, primarily for elementary education
Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or firs ...
, with students graduating to local or regional middle and high schools.
As of 2005, almost 400 one-rooms schools still operate in the United States.
Octagonal schoolhouses
There are several historic one-room schoolhouses in the United States that were built in the shape of an octagon
In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...
, instead of the more traditional rectangular style. Most are located in the northeastern part of the country and some have been restored and placed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
The following octagonal schoolhouses still stand:
* Sheldon Jackson School; Sitka, Alaska
* Octagonal Schoolhouse; Cowgill's Corner, Delaware
* Birmingham School; Chester County, Pennsylvania
* Charter Oak Schoolhouse; Schuline, Illinois
* Watkins Mill Schoolhouse; Lawson, Missouri
* Modern Times School
Modern Times School, also known as District 12 School and Brentwood School, is a historic school building located at Brentwood in Suffolk County, New York.
History
The school building was built in 1857 by the utopian community of Modern Time ...
; Brentwood, New York
*
* Eight Square Schoolhouse; Dryden, New York
* Octagonal Schoolhouse; Essex, New York
* Octagon Stone Schoolhouse
Octagon Stone Schoolhouse, also known as The Stone Jug, is a historic one-room school building located at South Canaan Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania. It was built about 1830, and is an octagonal shaped, one-room, fieldstone building. It ...
; Canaan, Pennsylvania
* Sodom Schoolhouse
Sodom Schoolhouse is a historic octagonal school in West Chillisquaque Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States reportedly built about 1812, 1835, or 1836 and used until 1915.Pennsylvania Register of Historic Sites and Land ...
; Montandon, Pennsylvania
* Hood Octagonal School
The Hood Octagonal School is a historic octagonal schoolhouse located in Newtown Square, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1841, and is a small, fieldstone, one-story, eight sided building with a wood shingled pyramidal roof. The s ...
; Newtown Township, Pennsylvania
* Diamond Rock Schoolhouse
The Diamond Rock Schoolhouse is a historic octagonal one-room school located in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Constructed in 1818, the schoolhouse closed in 1864 and later served as a studio for Wharton Esherick. A local ne ...
; Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania
Tredyffrin Township ( ) is a township located in eastern Chester County, Pennsylvania. The population was 29,332 at the 2010 census.
Settled in the late 17th century, Tredyffrin is bounded by Delaware and Montgomery counties. It includes on ...
* Wrightstown Octagonal Schoolhouse
The Wrightstown Octagonal Schoolhouse, also known as the Wrightstown Eight Square School and the Penns Park Octagonal School, is an historic, American, one-room school building that is located in Wrightstown, Wrightstown Township, Bucks County, P ...
; Wrightstown, Pennsylvania
Teacher's residence
The teacher's residence, or teacherage, was often attached to the school, or very close by, so that a male teacher's wife and family were an integral part of the management and support system for the school. Single, female teachers were more often billeted or boarded with a local family to provide for social norms requiring social supervision of single females.
Consolidation
Motorized school bus
A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus ...
es in the 1920s made longer distances possible, and one-room schools were soon consolidated in most portions of the United States into multiple classroom schools where classes could be held separately for various grade levels. Gradually, one-room school houses were replaced. Most one-room schools had been replaced by larger schools by World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
except in the most rural areas. However, they are still common in rural parts of Alaska.
Preservation: buildings and cultural
In Calvert County, Maryland
Calvert County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 92,783. Its county seat is Prince Frederick. The county's name is derived from the family name of the Barons of Baltimore, the proprietors of t ...
, Port Republic School Number 7 closed its doors in 1932 and sat unused for over 40 years. Then, in 1976 the Calvert Retired Teachers Association, looking for a Bicentennial Year project, decided to restore the one-room schoolhouse. On July 24, 1977, after months of hard work by teachers and community volunteers, the old school bell rang out once more, and the little one-room school house, filled with its memories and memorabilia, was ready for visitors. It is now one of the county's tourist attractions. A similar project was done in Queen Anne's County, Maryland
Queen Anne's County is located on the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,874. Its county seat and most populous municipality is Centreville. The census-designated place of Stevensville i ...
, by retired Teachers and Community Volunteers. The restored schoolhouse is located in front of Queen Anne's County High School
Queen Anne's County High School (QACHS) is a four-year public high school in Centreville, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States. It is one of two public high schools in Queen Anne's County along with Kent Island High School.
Overview
The ...
. In Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
, over 125 small one-room school houses have been turned into local museums. The buildings in some places found new purpose as homes.
In Harrisburg, Nebraska, Flowerfield School serves as a living museum, and fourth-graders within the Nebraska panhandle spend a day at Flowerfield going through an average school day in 1888. The students have the opportunity to experience both log and sod versions of the house, writing with quill pens, and a trip to the nearby museum, where they learn about other aspects of life in 1888.
In Vandalia, Indiana
Vandalia is an unincorporated community in Lafayette Township, Owen County, in the U.S. state of Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 ...
, the Vandalia District # 2 one-room schoolhouse served Owen County's Lafayette Township students in grades 1 – 8 from the time it was completed in 1868 until it closed in 1951. The building, restored by a group of volunteers in 1976, is presently maintained and preserved by the Vandalia Community Preservation Association.
The One Room School House Project of Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas
Winfield is a city and county seat of Cowley County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Walnut River in South Central Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,777. It is home to Southwestern College.
Hi ...
, includes listings and information on some 880 schools throughout the state and nation. The information, pictures, and stories included in this site have been collected and sent to the project by researchers and historians from across America.
Gallery
File:Lincoln's 1822 school.jpg, The one-room blab school attended by Abraham Lincoln in 1822
File:Knick School, Darke County, Ohio 001.jpg, The Knick School in Darke County, Ohio
Darke County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,881. Its county seat is Greenville. The county was created in 1809 and later organized in 1817. It is named for William Darke, an officer in the ...
in 1996
File:AS St John-church-&-school,.jpg, St. John the Baptist Church (1841) and a one-room schoolhouse (1845) with an attached teacherage, now a working museum in Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, Australia
File:Port Republic School Dec 08.JPG, Port Republic School #7 in Calvert County, Maryland
Calvert County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 92,783. Its county seat is Prince Frederick. The county's name is derived from the family name of the Barons of Baltimore, the proprietors of t ...
File:EurekaSchoolhouse.JPG, The Eureka Schoolhouse in Springfield, Vermont
Springfield is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,062.
History
The land currently recognized as Springfield is the traditional land of the Pennacook and Abenaki people.
One of the ...
, was built in 1785 and in continuous use until 1900
File:FeltaSchool1.jpg, The Felta Schoolhouse in Sonoma County
Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...
, California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
was built in 1906 and closed on November 27, 1951
File:Schoolhouse Lochiel Arizona 2014.JPG, The one-room adobe schoolhouse in Lochiel, Arizona
Lochiel is a populated place and former border crossing in southern Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States, approximately 25 miles east of Nogales. Basically a ghost town, the townsite is located in the southwestern part of the San Rafael Val ...
File:Copper Harbor One Room School.jpg, The Copper Harbor Room School
File:Granite, Colorado one-room school, 1954.jpg, One-room school in Granite, Colorado
Granite is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community with a United States Postal Service, U.S. Post Office in Chaffee County, Colorado, United States. The zip code of Granite is 81228. According to the 2010 census, the population is 116.
...
in 1954
File:Harvey One-Room School.jpg, The Harvey One-Room School in Bucyrus Township, Ohio, built in 1876
File:Vandalia, Indiana Historic One-Room School.jpg, Vandalia, Indiana
Vandalia is an unincorporated community in Lafayette Township, Owen County, in the U.S. state of Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 ...
, Owen County, Lafayette Township District #2 Schoolhouse was completed around 1868 and closed in 1951. It is preserved and maintained by the Vandalia Community Preservation Association
File:North Bass Island School.jpg, North Bass Island School, a one-room school with teacherage on Isle St. George of the Lake Erie Bass Islands is the last operating one-room school in Ohio. The K-8 students attend the school and fly to another island or the mainland for high school.
File:Prudence-island-schoolhouse-in-2007.jpg, The Prudence Island Schoolhouse on Prudence Island
Prudence Island is the third-largest island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island and part of the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, United States. It is located near the geographic center of the bay. It is defined by the United Sta ...
in Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Portsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,871 at the 2020 U.S. census. Portsmouth is the second-oldest municipality in Rhode Island, after Providence; it was one of the four colonies which merged ...
is the last operating one-room school in Rhode Island
File:Coventry Brick School House.jpg, alt=Exterior view of the Brick School House, Coventry, Connecticut, The Brick School House in Coventry, Connecticut
Coventry ( ) is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut. The population was 12,235 at the 2020 census. The birthplace of Captain Nathan Hale, Coventry is home to the Nathan Hale Homestead, which is now a museum open to the public.
Coventry was i ...
, was built in 1825 and closed in 1953. It is now a local museum and the only one-room school open to the public in Connecticut
File:RCHS041.jpg, Pleasant Point District 24 One-Room School, Rush County, Kansas. The school opened in 1907 and closed in 1959. Maintained by the Rush County Historical Society.
See also
* A-b-c-darian, the youngest students in a one-room school
* Blab school
A vocal school, blab school or ABC school or old-time school was a type of children's primary school at some remote rural places in North America, outdated and obsolete as the 19th century progressed. The school children recited ''(blabbed)'' ...
* Kansas one room school
* Micro-schooling
Microschooling is the reinvention of the one-room school house, where class size is typically smaller than that in most schools (15 students or less in a classroom) and there are mixed-age level groupings. Generally, microschools do not meet all ...
* Ranch school
A ranch school is a type of school used in rural areas of the Western United States.
History
The ranch school movement began in the Western United States in the early 1900s as a way to educate children who lived on ranches in remote and rural area ...
* Ungraded school
An ungraded school is a school that does not formally organize students according to age-based grade levels. Students' achievements are assessed by teachers, and each student is individually assigned to one of several fluid groups, according to wh ...
* One-room jail
In the United States, a one-room jail is a type of jail with only one room, or cell.
One-room jail
;Examples
* Buhler Jail: Red brick building in Buhler, Kansas.
* Clifton Cliff Jail: Stone building constructed in Clifton, Arizona, located at th ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Audio Interview with 1920 student in 1820 1-room schoolhouse in E. Fishkill, NY (55 min.)
One Room School Houses in the Ottawa Valley
CSAA a National One-Room Schoolhouse Support Organization
One Room School House Project of Southwestern College
University of Northern Iowa - One-room School Museum
{{Authority control
School types
History of education