School Days (c.1790 – Present)

Welcome back, Monroe history lovers. This week’s historical spotlight takes us to Wheeler Road, just east of the Monroe Center Green. As the title suggests, our subject today is the Barn Hill · East Village Schoolhouse. Surely, most of you are familiar with it. I went there for a full day visit back when I was a little shaver and I shall forever cherish the experience. Do you hear it? The school bell is ringing. Let’s head on over to our favorite little schoolhouse and learn about its history. Don’t be tardy now!

Originally known as the Eastern District School, the Barn Hill · East Village Schoolhouse, c.1790, is the oldest of Monroe’s 7 former one-room schoolhouses. It originally stood at the northeast corner of Barn Hill and East Village Roads and provided the district’s children their formal primary education. Aside from their daily lessons on the “Three Rs” — Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic, the children were also expected to carry out their daily chores to help maintain their school. Water was carried in from a local spring and during the colder months, firewood was brought in from the school’s woodshed. Our first supporting image shows the school and its woodshed in its original location.

In 1935, the town of Monroe constructed its new consolidated school on Monroe Turnpike. Today we refer to the school as Monroe Elementary School. The new school was built during the Great Depression and had a handsome fieldstone facade, heated classrooms and even modern indoor plumbing, so there was no longer a need to run to the outhouse when nature called. Students who had normally walked to their one-room district schools were now brought to and from the new consolidated school by school bus. Times in our small farming community were certainly changing, and this development in education spelled the end for the quaint one-room schoolhouses that dotted Monroe’s landscape.

In June of 1935, a local farmer and auctioneer from Upper Stepney named Edwards S. Beardsley auctioned off all 7 district schoolhouses in a single day. Many locals in attendance came just to witness the event, or perhaps to lament the passing of an era in our town’s education. When the gavel fell, the Barn Hill · East Village Schoolhouse was sold to the East Village Methodist Church for $25.00. After serving its educational role in our community for nearly 150 years, it would now be moved a short distance across the road to the church property where it would serve their needs as a Sunday school meetinghouse, community hall, and activity center for the next 31 years.

The old schoolhouse was offered to the Monroe Historical Society in 1966 that it might be relocated and preserved for future generations. It took years of tireless fundraising activities by the Monroe Historical Society, who moved the structure in 1969 to its current location and completed its restoration and authentic furnishing. After the society’s years of dedicated work, the Barn Hill · East Village Schoolhouse was officially dedicated on November 4th, 1973, in the year of Monroe’s sesquicentennial celebration. It has since served generations of young students and residents as an authentic living museum to early education. More recently, on October 8th, 2022, the Monroe Historical Society re-dedicated the schoolhouse to the late Nancy Zorena, a former historical society president and Monroe schoolteacher who introduced countless youngsters to a taste of early education in our town.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s historical spotlight on the Barn Hill · East Village Schoolhouse. It’s truly a gem in our society’s collection. Please share this post with your family and friends, and thank you for your continued support and interest in Monroe’s rich history. By the time you read this, the Monroe Historical Society will have just completed another successful open schoolhouse event. If you’re new to town or haven’t visited our schoolhouse in a while, stay tuned to this space for future dates and times. Until next time. “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. ” — Aristotle.

Regards,

Kevin Daly
Historian, Monroe Historical Society
www.monroecthistory.org
Our Past is Always Present