There was a time when formal, classroom-type education was restricted to the children of the very wealthy. There was a time when all formal education was private and controlled primarily by religious organizations. By the nineteenth century, however, the idealistic and revolutionary notion that education should be public and available to all children was beginning to take hold. As American and Canadian “pioneers” began moving westward to establish their farms, ranches, and small towns on lands recently stolen from aboriginal peoples, one of the first community structures built in these new towns was often the school.
The modern English word school, by the way is from the Greek word skholē meaning “spare time, leisure, rest, ease; idleness; learned discussion” and going back farther in time to the Proto-Indo-European *segh- meaning “to hold.”
Publicly funded schools in what would become the United States actually began in 1647 when the General Court of Massachusetts passed a law that required every settlement with more than 50 families to provide instruction in reading, writing, and the Puritan version of religion, and, in communities with more than 100 families grammar schools were to be established.
During the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, one-room schools were common, particularly in rural areas. These schools were often heated in the winter with wood or coal stoves, the fuel provided by the families of the students. There was usually no indoor plumbing: drinking water was often just a bucket with a common cup and there were outdoor pit toilettes. For many rural students, getting to school required a trek of several miles.
At a time when many people would like to return to an era in which education is private and religious, it is interesting to look at the depictions of the “pioneer” schools in museums.
Ohio Village, Columbus Ohio
The Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio includes the Ohio Village School, a typical one-room school.
Fort Missoula, Missoula, Montana
The Grant Creek Schoolhouse was built in 1907 and moved to the Museum’s park in 1976. This one-room schoolhouse served a farming community.
Methodist Parsonage, Willamette Heritage Center, Salem, Oregon
The Methodist Parsonage, constructed in 1841, was originally the living quarters for the missionaries involved with the Oregon Mission Manual Labor School that would be built on the present-day campus of Willamette University in Salem. In 1844, the mission was disbanded, and the building became the parsonage for the Methodist Church. Today the Parsonage is at the Willamette Heritage Center.
Swan Valley Historical Museum, Condon, Montana
The one-room Smith Creek School was built in 1918 and was used until 1932. This building on the museum grounds is a replica of the original structure which was destroyed in 2011.
Sherman County Historical Museum, Moro, Oregon
According to the museum display:
“The one-room school usually taught students of all grades one through twelve. The sole teacher was most likely a young, unmarried woman; sometimes the students were older and bigger than the school marm. And often the older students attended school only when not needed at home. Teachers often lived with local families, rotating from home to home.
Learning consisted of reading, writing and arithmetic using only the most basic resources of slates, chalk and few (mostly donated) books. The teacher tried to impart ‘good manners’ too.”
Fort Dalles Museum, The Dalles, Oregon
Presby House Museum, Goldendale, Washington
Deschutes Historical Museum, Bend, Oregon
The Deschutes Historical Museum is located in the historic Reid School in Bend, Oregon. The building itself is a testament to education and importance which people assigned to education. The displays in the museums also provide some insights into that “old-time education.”
Fort Steele Heritage Village, British Columbia
The public school is shown above. One teacher in the 1890s would teach as many as 90 students. Subjects included reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic were taken by all students. Science was not taught in rural schools such as this one.
Twin Bridges School, Nevada City Living History Museum, Nevada City, Montana
In 1867, an average of 15 students attended this school. In addition to their studies, children did the cleaning, carried water, and brought in firewood.
Heritage Station Museum, Pendleton, Oregon
Heritage Museum, Libby, Montana
White River Valley Museum, Auburn, Washington
The schoolhouse was often the first public building which the American immigrants would put up. Labor and materials were usually donated.
More museum exhibits
Museums 301: Gas stations and garages (photo diary)
Museums 301: Carriages and Wagons (photo diary)
Museums 201: Antique farming equipment (photo diary)
Museums 201: The timber industry (photo diary)
Museums 201: Jails and prisons (photo diary)
Museums 201: The caboose (photo diary)
Museums 201: Women's sidesaddles (photo diary)
Museums 301: Dinnerware (photo diary)