A two-room schoolhouse is a larger version of the

one-room schoolhouse One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

, with many of the same characteristics, providing the facility for

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

in a small community or rural area. While providing the same function as a contemporary

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

building, a small multi-room school house is more similar to a one-room schoolhouse, both being architecturally very simple structures. While once very common in rural areas of many countries, one and two-room schools have largely been replaced although some are still operating. Having a second classroom allowed for two teachers to operate at the school, serving a larger number of schoolchildren and/or more grade levels. Architecturally, they could be slightly more complex, but were still usually very simple. In some areas, a two-room school indicated the village or town was more prosperous.

Design

A 1909 school planning guide from

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

suggests a school room be no bigger than which would seat up to 40 students, as "a teacher having charge of more than this number cannot do satisfactory work - especially in a rural school". The width was also the limit of acceptable daylighting from windows on the opposite wall. The guide recommended a vestibule between the entrance and the classrooms to separate the outdoor climate from the classrooms. Coatrooms off the vestibule allowed a place for wet clothes to dry while keeping their "disagreeable offensive odors" out of the classrooms.

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

issued a guide in 1914 with a floorplan of a similar two-room school with the same layout of a front entrance into a vestibule, two coatrooms off the vestibule, and a large room divided by a moveable wall into two classrooms.

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

presented a similar design in 1913 for a one-room school house and a two-room school, again with a movable wall between the two classrooms. These dimensions do not include the shared vestibule and coat rooms. A 1916 bulletin issued by the Oregon school superintendent included plans for six different variations of a two-room school house prepared by the Oregon chapter of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

and the architecture departments of the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

and

Oregon Agricultural College Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

. One plan also featured two similarly sized classrooms, vestibule, coat rooms and the added amenities of an enclosed porch and a library in the front and a wood shed attached to the back with a wood-fired heater for each classroom.

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

noted that school districts in the state that used a standard design from its bulletin, prepared by Clemson Agricultural College, would receive one-half of the construction cost from the state and county. South Carolina recommended one-room schools only if "after careful consideration, and after all efforts to maintain a two-room, two-teacher school have failed. Small school4

Instead of adjacent classrooms, a

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 ...

two-room school plan separates the rooms with long hallway, with the vestibule, coatrooms, a library and teacher's office between the classrooms. A rear projection includes toilets and lab/shop spaces. A

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

design for rural schools gives special attention to minimizing heating duct length to a basement furnace with a compact design with the classroom, library, vestibule, and coatroom clustered together. This one-room school can be expanded to two rooms by mirroring the entire building. The two room school affords for indoor toilets as the "second" library space can be used for a girls' toilet room (a boys' toilet would go under the entrance stairs). A two-room schoolhouse in

Osgood, Ohio Osgood is a village in Darke County, Ohio, United States. The population was 306 at the 2020 census. History Osgood was founded in the 1880s. While its earliest settlers were primarily Protestants, a Roman Catholic parish was erected in the vill ...

, designed by architect C. F. Bowdle of

Piqua, Ohio Piqua ( ) is a city in Miami County, southwest Ohio, United States, 27 miles north of Dayton. The population was 20,522 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was founded as the village of Washington in ...

, was cited in the October 1914 issue of ''

Building Age A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fu ...

'' magazine as an example of a "modern" school. To meet state building codes, the entire foundation and exterior walls are made of masonry, with a roof of

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

shingles. The simple design includes two classrooms separated by the vestibule and coat rooms. This design included a rear vestibule and exit for each classroom.

Larger schools

To facilitate expansion of schools associated with the growth of a community, plans were also developed to enlarge a school not only from one to two rooms, but also from two to four classrooms, three to six, or four to six or eight. These plans were designed to expand an architecturally simple small school at minimal cost with near complete re-use of the prior building.

is one state that had such plans. In the early 20th century, the

United States Bureau of Education The Office of Education, at times known as the Department of Education and the Bureau of Education, was a small unit in the Federal Government of the United States within the U.S. Department of the Interior from 1867 to 1972. It is now separated i ...

made scale models of one, two, and four room schoolhouses available to rural communities by

parcel post Parcel post is a postal service for mail that is too heavy for normal letter post. It is usually slower than letter post. The development of the parcel post is closely connected with the development of the railway network which enabled parcels to ...

. The models were sufficiently detailed that "any competent carpenter" could replicate the model in full-size. The program was designed to aid small districts that could not afford to pay architects to develop plans for schools with modern standards of "health and efficiency". In 1914, at the program's initiation, it was estimated that there had been 212,000 rural schools built in the United States, most of which had been planned without "any regard to light, ventilation, or sanitation".

Contemporary use

While many small schools were closed after consolidation into larger districts, some remained. A two-room school was operating in the farming community of

Ellensburg, Washington Ellensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It is located just east of the Cascade Range near the junction of Interstate 90 and Interstate 82 Interstate 82 (I-82) is an Interstate Highway in th ...

, in 1987. The

Damman School Rural school districts in Washington are administrative districts that provide educational services in rural areas of Washington state. These are arbitrarily defined as school districts with enrollments of less than 1,000 students and no more t ...

taught 27 children that year in two classes, those in

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

through second grade in one classroom and those in third through sixth grade in the other. According to the district superintendent, who had attended the school herself, enrollment fell in the late 1960s to as low as four as parents felt their children would be socially disadvantaged by attending a small rural school. Enrollment climbed again in the 1980s as parents sought to avoid problems with peer pressure and drugs in bigger schools. Enrollment climbed to 47 in 2014. After receiving funding in 2019 from a state grant for improving small schools, the school added a third classroom and performed other repairs and modernization of the school. The two-room Venice School in

Tulare County, California Tulare County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia, California, Visalia. The county is named for ...

, opened in 1892 and served farm families until 1957. It reopened as a private school in 1996 and later became a library for the larger Eleanor Roosevelt Learning Center which supports hundreds of

home-school Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

ed students. The image of two-room school is used as the logo for the Learning Center because it is an "important symbol of aspirational leadership in education" and the school provides "a sense of turning back to the successful basics." One notable two-room teacher is Bonnie Boggs who taught for 14 years in the two-room elementary school in rural

Loma, Montana Loma is a census-designated place (CDP) in Chouteau County, Montana, United States. The population was 85 at the 2010 census. History James Kipp, of the American Fur Company founded the first community here in 1831. The Blackfeet laid siege to t ...

. One room was a classroom, and the other was a science lab and Bogg's innovative use of science in teaching other subjects earned her the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics in 1995.

Outside the United States

Canada has been home to a number of two-room schools. In

Hoggs Hollow Hoggs Hollow is a residential neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Don River Valley and centred on the intersection of Yonge Street, York Mills Road, and Wilson Avenue. Hoggs Hollow is named after the Hogg family. James ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, the Baron Renfrew School was a two-room school that opened in 1925. It was named in honor of the Edward, then-Prince of Wales, and after King Edward abdicated it was renamed York Mills School. A new wing was added in 1950, and the school continued to operate until 1982. The building was demolished in 2004. In the Canadian province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, the Soulanges School in

Saint-Télesphore Saint-Télesphore is a municipality located in Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality, Quebec (Canada). The population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 754. The municipality is situated west of Saint-Polycarpe, south of Sainte-Jus ...

is a two-room schoolhouse constructed with a single room in 1919 and expanded to two rooms in the 1990s. In 2019, it employed two teachers, two aides and a part-time principal to teach 19 students from kindergarten through Grade 4. In September of the same year, it celebrated one hundred years of continuous operation. In December 2019, the United States

Naval Mobile Construction Battalion , colors = , mascot = Bumblebee , battles = Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, Los Negros, Guam, Peleliu, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Philippi ...

started a project to demolish and rebuild a two-room schoolhouse at

Timor-Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

's National Institute of Health in

Dili Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...

. The project was finished on March 30, 2020.

Preservation

In the United States, many two-room schoolhouses are preserved and listed on

heritage registers This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

and/or serve as

museums A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

or converted to

dwelling In law, a dwelling (also known as a residence or an abode) is a self-contained unit of accommodation used by one or more households as a home - such as a house, apartment, mobile home, houseboat, vehicle, or other "substantial" structure. The ...

s and other uses. These include: * Butler School, in

Oak Brook, Illinois Oak Brook is a village mostly in DuPage County with a small portion in Cook County in Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,163. This suburb of Chicago has the headquarters of several companies and organizations including Ace H ...

, built , used as a school until 1961 and later for civic functions. It was listed 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 ...

(NRHP) in 2003. *

Chana School Chana School is a National Register of Historic Places, Registered Historic Place in Ogle County, Illinois, in the county seat of Oregon, Illinois. One of six Oregon sites listed on the Register, the school is an oddly shaped, two-room schoolhouse ...

, in

Oregon, Illinois Oregon ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ogle County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,721 in 2010.U.S. Census BureaPopulation, Age, Sex, Race, Households/ref> History The land Oregon, Illinois was founded on was previously hel ...

, built in 1883 in Chana, Illinois, where it was used as a school until 1953. It was later moved to Oregon and restored for use as a museum of US 1880s education. It was added to the NRHP in 2005. *

Lacombe School Lacombe School, built in 1913 in Lacombe, Louisiana as a one-story two-room schoolhouse, was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1990. It was then the Lacombe Museum. It is now known as the Bayou Lacombe Museum. It is a " ...

, in

Lacombe, Louisiana Lacombe is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,679 at the 2010 census. Geography Lacombe is located at (30.314863, -89.931462). According to the United States Census Bureau, th ...

, built in 1913 and used as a school until sometime "well past World War II." It was added to the NRHP in 1990 and serves as a museum. * Mason District Number 5 Schoolhouse, in Mason Township, Michigan, built in 1874 and used until 1963. It was later used as the

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

and library and listed on the NRHP in 1985. * New Hope School (Wynne, Arkansas), near

Wynne, Arkansas Wynne is the county seat and largest city of Cross County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 8,367 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 Census. Nestled between the Arkansas Delta and Crowley's Ridge, Wynne is the closest city to the sec ...

, built in 1903 as a one-room school and expanded to two rooms. It was used as a school until 1951. The school was restored in 2007 by the Cross County Historical Society and added to the NRHP the following year. * Oak Grove Rosenwald School, in

Sevier County, Arkansas Sevier County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 17,058. The county seat is De Queen. Sevier County is Arkansas's 16th county, formed on October 17, 1828, and named for Ambrose Sevier, ...

, built in 1926 with financial assistance of the

Rosenwald Fund The Rosenwald Fund (also known as the Rosenwald Foundation, the Julius Rosenwald Fund, and the Julius Rosenwald Foundation) was established in 1917 by Julius Rosenwald and his family for "the well-being of mankind." Rosenwald became part-owner of S ...

. It was added to the NRHP in 2004 as the only surviving

Rosenwald School The Rosenwald School project built more than 5,000 schools, shops, and teacher homes in the United States primarily for the education of African-American children in the South during the early 20th century. The project was the product of the part ...

in Arkansas. * Third Ward School, in

Sheboygan, Wisconsin Sheboygan () is a city in and the county seat of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 49,929 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a populatio ...

, built in 1867 and used as a school until 1932. After use by the city health department for forty years, it became an education museum and was listed on the NRHP in 1981. *

Central School A central school was a selective secondary education school with a focus on technical and commercial skills in the English education system. It was positioned between the more academic grammar schools and the ordinary elementary schools where m ...

, in

Peoria, Arizona Peoria is a city in Maricopa and Yavapai counties in the state of Arizona. Most of the city is located in Maricopa County, while a portion in the north is in Yavapai County. It is a major suburb of Phoenix. As of the 2020 census, the populati ...

, built in 1906 from masonry to replace the earlier school destroyed by fire. It was sold in 1976, listed on the NRHP in 1982, renovated in 1998 and used as the Peoria Historical Society Museum. *The Camp Walton Schoolhouse Museum, in downtown

Fort Walton Beach, Florida Fort Walton Beach is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 20,922, up from 19,507 in 2010. It is the principal city of the Fort Walton Beach− Crestview− Destin Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

, built in 1911 as a one-room school house and expanded with the addition of a second high-school classroom in 1927. The building has been restored and is used as a museum of history of Camp Walton with an emphasis on education. *The Mifflin School in

Mifflin, Wisconsin Mifflin is a town in Iowa County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 617 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated community of Mifflin is located in the town. The extinct community of Dallas was located in the town. History On April 14, ...

, was built in 1920 and used until 1961. It was converted to a private residence in 1965 and is listed on Wisconsin Historical Register.

Floorplans

File:Small school3.jpg, Alabama plan File:Small school5.jpg, Georgia File:Small school6.jpg, Minnesota File:Small school7.jpg, Minnesota

References

{{reflist, refs= {{NRISref, version=2013a, refnum=03000355 {{NRISref, version=2013a, refnum=05001369 {{NRISref, version=2013a, refnum=90001742 {{NRISref, version=2013a, refnum=85002153 {{NRISref, version=2013a, refnum=08001037 {{NRISref, version=2013a, refnum=04000494 {{NRISref, version=2013a, refnum=08100062 {{cite book, author=Samuel Andrew Challman, title=The rural school plant for rural teachers and school boards, normal schools, teachers' training classes, rural extension bureaus, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUWFEkmYJSMC, year=1917, publisher=The Bruce publishing company {{cite book, author1=Nicholas Murray Butler, author2=Frank Pierrepont Graves, author3=William McAndrew, title=Educational Review, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fchMAQAAMAAJ, year=1907, publisher=Doubleday, Doran {{cite magazine , title=Schoolhouse Models by Parcel Post , date=January 1914 , magazine=Popular Mechanics , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f6HVAAAAMAAJ , volume = 21 , number = 1 {{cite magazine , title=A Modern Two-Room Schoolhouset , date=October 1914 , magazine=Building Age , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yqs6AQAAMAAJ {{cite news , last1=Steese , first1=Ellen , title=A two-room schoolhouse. It almost folded once, but the community kept it going - and the children are benefited , url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0629/hschool.html , access-date=February 13, 2021 , work=The Christian Science Monitor , date=June 29, 1978 {{cite news , last1=Takores , first1=Lauren , title=Two-room schoolhouse serves grades K-5 in Damman , url=https://www.dailyrecordnews.com/members/two-room-schoolhouse-serves-grades-k-5-in-damman/article_81df4d82-f323-11e3-8f9f-001a4bcf887a.html , access-date=February 13, 2021 , work=Daily Record , date=June 12, 2014 , location=Ellensburg, Washington {{cite news , last1=Holappa , first1=Karl , title=Damman School undergoing multiple projects with state grant funding , url=https://www.dailyrecordnews.com/news/damman-school-undergoing-multiple-projects-with-state-grant-funding/article_d970bb4b-c754-5f55-9496-3a1559ae1e61.html , access-date=February 13, 2021 , work=Daily Record , date=May 11, 2020 , location=Ellensburg, Washington {{cite web , title=Historic Places Peoria , url=https://www.peoriaaz.gov/Home/ShowDocument%3Fid%3D3722&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwi0vOvghOjuAhVEoZ4KHV44ASQQFjACegQIBxAB&usg=AOvVaw26aV8i-U_m5er81g-sWvGj , website=City of Peoria, Arizona , access-date=February 12, 2021 {{cite web , last1=Newvine , first1=Stee , title=Two-room Schoolhouse is Part of a Bigger Picture for Students , url=https://www.mercedcountyevents.com/steve-newvine-1/two-room-schoolhouse-is-part-of-a-bigger-picture-for-students , website=Merced County Events.com , access-date=February 13, 2021 {{cite web , title=Programming at the Camp Walton Schoolhouse Museum , url=https://www.fwb.org/parksrec/page/programming-camp-walton-schoolhouse-museum , website=fwb.org , access-date=February 13, 2021 {{cite web , title=Property Record 1075 CTH E Architecture and History Inventory , url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI227031 , website=wisconsinhistory.org , access-date=February 13, 2021 {{cite news , last1=Sargeant , first1=Tim , title=Centennial anniversary coming up for two-room Quebec schoolhouse , url=https://globalnews.ca/news/5408794/quebec-tiny-school-centennial-anniversary/ , access-date=February 13, 2021 , work=

Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned-and ...

, date=June 19, 2019 {{cite news , last1=Potera , first1=Carol , title=News A Science Teaching System Honed in a Two-Room School By Carol Potera , url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.269.5229.1337 , access-date=February 13, 2021 , work=Science , issue=5229 , date=September 8, 1995 , doi=10.1126/science.269.5229.1337 {{cite web , title=This tiny two-room schoolhouse is still teaching young Quebecers after 100 years , last=Campbell , first=Emily , date=September 14, 2019 , website=CTV News , access-date=March 7, 2021 , url=https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/this-tiny-two-room-schoolhouse-is-still-teaching-young-quebecers-after-100-years-1.4593879 {{cite web , title=NMCB-5 supports the National Institute of Health in Dili, Timor-Leste , last=Hall , first=Sierra , website=Seabee Online , date=April 2, 2020 , access-date=March 7, 2021 , url=https://seabeemagazine.navylive.dodlive.mil/2020/04/02/nmcb-5-supports-the-national-institute-of-health-in-dili-timor-leste/ {{cite web , title=The history of the Hoggs Hollow neighbourhood in Toronto , last=Romanska , first=Anastasiya , website=blogTO , date=March 7, 2021 , access-date=March 7, 2021 , url=https://www.blogto.com/city/2021/03/history-hoggs-hollow-neighbourhood-toronto/ * School types History of education