[MassHistPres] One room School Houses

[sceccacci at aol.com]

Connie,Holden has four existing one-room schools.  Three retain some of their early appearance but have been altered over time.  The least altered is South School, 177 South Road, c 1852, which, despite a rear addition, appears much as it would have originally; 2nd School House/Artemas Bascomb House, 1134 Main Street, c. 1825 (was originally brick, but was later enlarged and clapboarded, and probably updated in the mid-19th century); Holden School House # 5, 1726 Main Street, 1844, somewhat altered; the Springdale School, c1835, has been incorporated into a later dwelling and is not recognizable as a one-room school.  These buildings are all listed on the Massachusetts Historical Commission's MACRIS list, although the inventory forms are not very complete.  
For your survey, I believe that it would be useful to ask people not only to reply that there are existing one-room schoolhouses in their towns and how many, but also to ask that they name the schoolhouses, their locations, and their state of preservation.  For example, regarding state of preservation, some may have been incorporated into later buildings and no longer appear in their original form or may now be covered in aluminum or vinyl siding.  A fuller list of questions would produce a much more valuable survey result.  People who are able to answer yes or no and to give you a number of existing schoolhouses, probably also have more information on local schoolhouses anyway.  
To encourage people to respond, even if they don't have the inclination or time to answer all of these questions, you might include a statement that, while you hope they will answer all of your questions, you will be happy to know, simply, if their town has any surviving one-room schoolhouses and how many.  Then you could follow up on those incomplete replies with your own research.  However, by asking more questions, you will have more information to work with in putting together the results of your survey.
Have you checked the online MACRIS list for schoolhouses?  Not all listed may still be in existence.  Some existing schoolhouses may not have been included on MACRIS, but checking MACRIS would be a good start.  Some MACRIS or National Register forms for one-room schools give information not only about that schoolhouse alone, but also about how many other one-room schools existed in that town at the time of the completion of the form. 

Wishing you all the best for your project,
Susan McDaniel CeccacciJefferson, MA


-----Original Message-----
From: Connie Hellwig <oldcolchester at gmail.com>
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Sat, Sep 19, 2020 7:24 pm
Subject: [MassHistPres] One room School Houses

<!--#yiv0710803995 _filtered {} _filtered {}#yiv0710803995 #yiv0710803995 p.yiv0710803995MsoNormal, #yiv0710803995 li.yiv0710803995MsoNormal, #yiv0710803995 div.yiv0710803995MsoNormal {margin:0in;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri", sans-serif;}#yiv0710803995 .yiv0710803995MsoChpDefault {} _filtered {}#yiv0710803995 div.yiv0710803995WordSection1 {}-->Hello – This is Connie Hellwig from the Salisbury Historical Commission.  I am conducting a survey throughout Massachusetts to find out how many one-room school houses still exist.  If you would each reply with your town with a yes, and how many, or no there are none, that would be extremely helpful and will enable me to publish my results.  Thank you!  Connie HellwigVice ChairmanSalisbury Historical Commission  _______________________________________________
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