Page 6 - North Haven Magazine Issue 10 Autumn 2019

SCHOOL DAYS

in Early North Haven

by Susan A. Iverson
Do you remember the first school you attended? Can you still see the way sunlight came in through your classroom windows, hear
the voice of the teacher at the blackboard, and smell the cafeteria’s daily hot lunch offering? Me, too! Now imagine what it must
have been like to attend one of North Haven’s one room schoolhouses – probably different sights, smells, and even sounds from
those we remember, at least according to the stories I’ve read. Amazingly, North Haven still has several one room schoolhouses
standing – most used now for private homes, their interiors much changed (and improved) from when they held children. Here’s
some interesting stories about them.

y 1795 there were eight school districts remains is a document approving its con- students. By 1912 a second North Hill
B– each one eventually came to have its struction. By 1798 the area’s few children School was built, and today it still stands as
own schoolhouse. Remember, back then were sent to the Center school, and the a private home. One would never guess at
schools had to be located fairly close to schoolhouse was quitclaimed to a resident its origins!
homes; there were no school buses! The who was “in need of a comfortable dwell-
families of each district oversaw their own ing place” and whose wife was “lame and
schoolhouse and teacher, and town officials feeble”. Such caring for a neighbor who had
called School Visitors would visit them pe- fallen on hard times! Another schoolhouse
riodically to evaluate their performance. – the one in District 8, was sold to the Stiles
No wonder there is still some competitive- Brick Company for use as a rooming house
ness between the elementary schools today! after it outlived its usefulness. It was rolled
down the hill, about where School Road is,
to its resting spot on State Street – where it
still stands today.
District 4 was the center of town, where the
town green is located. The Congregation-
al Church’s Reverend Benjamin Trumbull
so valued educating children that in 1764
he offered to teach for three months if the Another tiny one room schoolhouse is still
town would build a schoolhouse on the located near the corner of Route 22 and
Green. A one room schoolhouse was built, Hartford Turnpike. School Visitor reports
and as many as 90 children attended it at complain that because students were so
one time – imagine the sights, smells and poorly behaved, teachers did not stay there
sounds in that small space! Trumbull’s tiny – some left after only a few weeks! It was
District 1’s first Clintonville School burned schoolhouse is long gone, but three more also very overcrowded, with as many as 75
down in 1907 but was quickly replaced by schoolhouses have since been built for Dis- students from the age of 6 to 17 attending
the structure still standing today – there are trict 4 – the most recent ones now used at one time (YIKES!). But unruly though
some charming photos of the school and as the Masonic Lodge and the Recreation they might have been, there is a delightful
its pupils in the Historical Society archives. Center. story about the girls who attended. Because
Even in these old photos it is apparent that the school was located along the heavily
the teachers and students loved their school traveled Hartford Turnpike, the girls would
– it continued to operate until 1928, long gather during recess and, lining up side-by-
after the town took over complete control. side holding hands, curtsy in unison when-
It is now a cozy home at the corner of Clin- ever a carriage would slow or stop. Trav-
tonville and Mill Roads. I love the nod to elers would be charmed and throw them
its history with a school bell on a post in coins – which the girls immediately pock-
the backyard. eted. Early entrepreneurs!
Schoolhouses were utilitarian and sturdy. It is truly amazing that so many of these
They were repurposed if no longer need- schoolhouses still exist today. If you are
ed, kind of like the old Orchard Hill Junior interested in knowing exactly where they
High School or Mill Road School today. are located, visit the North Haven Histor-
Perhaps that is why there are so many still ical Society and check out their archives.
standing in North Haven. If you travel North Hill School in District 2 was found You can also see photos of the teachers and
north up Washington Avenue you would be to be in very poor condition by the School students in their classrooms of long ago –
in District 5, the home to another one room Visitor – improvements noted on subse- some even identify individuals. The His-
schoolhouse. This area was very sparsely quent visits included outdoor privies with torical Society is located at 27 Broadway – it
populated, often only registering fifteen or the boys’ being a “four-holer” and a water shares a parking lot with the Library – and
twenty students per term. The schoolhouse pump on the property! Often schools op- is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 5
was located somewhere across the street erated with very little money – blackboards PM or by appointment.
from the Northeast Volunteer Fire House were inadequate, some as small as two feet
– but don’t look for it; it no longer stands square, no water on site, smoky and grimy
and there are no photos of it, either. All that from the wood or coal stove, and too many

6 6 North Haven Magazine - Autumn 2019