The flags no longer proudly fly above the former one room school house nor does the teacher ring the bell for recess. The teachers from the old, one-room schoolhouses deserve a lot of credit for the wonderful work they did under difficult working conditions in the days of yesteryears.
The teacher would try to have a lot of work on the blackboards for the various grades before the day began. As soon as the children were settled, they began with the recitation of The Lord’s Prayer as good Christian morals were very important to the folk in the community.
The older pupils would have their work laid out for them so they could work alone from blackboard materials while the teacher concentrated on the younger children who were more dependant on direction and explanation. The week’s monitors would have brought in a pail of fresh drinking water from the rusty old pump at the school well. The dipper would be in the pail and everyone drank from it, sharing whatever germs were active in the little community. Some older boy would put an extra stick of wood in the stove to warm the room up.
What happened to some of those one room school houses that once scattered Lanark County? By the 1950s, the days of the one room school house were numbered. The introduction of rural school busing resulted in school closures as sites were amalgamated for efficiency and cost effectiveness.
Clipped from The Ottawa Journal, 20 Jul 1979, Fri, [First] Revision, Page 3
In April of 1965 trouble was brewing and the pot was over flowing. Mrs. Nino Manzon of Carleton Place had been carrying on a paper war since January against the townships eight schools. In 1965 Margaret Manzon’s children were attending Tennyson School in Beckwith Township. Declaring the rural one room school “antiquated”, she began a campaign to bring modern educational facilities to the area.
Most of them were sold at tender except the sole survivor of a one-room public school that once formed the backbone of childhood life in Appleton. The little brick schoolhouse in Appleton was leased by the North Lanark Historical Society for $1 a year. Tragically that beloved schoolhouse burned down in 1973– but was rebuilt and stands today as the North Lanark Regional Museum.
Most of the schools became private homes except for one located near Casselman. (Prescott Russell school board) That school which became a pig barn, and two in Leeds and Grenville were used as storage sheds. Most were snapped up for about $500 each depending on the location, age and condition. One sold for as much as $13,000, yet one located on Dalhousie Lake waterfront property went for a mere $250. *That particular school house had sat vacant for 20 years. ( Please see Alice Gilchrist’s comment below)
*Dalhousie Lake School-
Clipped from The Ottawa Journal, 20 Jul 1979, Fri, [First] Revision, Page 3
Clipped from The Ottawa Journal, 09 Jul 1980, Wed, Valley Edition, Page 3
Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place.
Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun and Screamin’ Mamas (USA)
The Fight Over One Room Schools in 1965!
lindaseccaspina 