In Search for Meaning of Our Heritage: One Room Schools in Maine - Wilton

Wilton

The township was settled in the late 1780's -1790's. It was incorporated in 1803. Even before the incorporation people in town recognized the need for schools. At the first town meeting held on August 30, 1803, the committee divided the town into ten school districts. The map on the right shows the districts as laid out by the committee. In 1806, the town voted to void the action of the 1803 committee. Finally twenty school districts created and each with a school building.

According to the record, Mary Flectcher was hired at age 14. She taught a term in Isaac Brown's barn. The area was designated as district #1. She was paid seventy- five cents per week for her service. The late picture of Mary Flectcher is shown on the left.

District #1: The Blanchard District

The Blanchard school was built in 1811. It was the second school building in town. The district paid Isaac Brown $1.00 for a claim deed to the land.The specifications for the school were drawn up at a disrict meeting as follows: dimension 23' x 24'; walls of brick, 8" thick, set on split or flat stone at least 12" wide and 12" thick. To be 8' 4" between floor and ceiling and smooth plastering; roof jetted with full reafters, boarded lengthwise of roof; shingled with good pine and laid 6" to the weather; casings painted with white lead and linseed oil - 2 coats; front door painted yellow; mentle tree to be iron.

It is interesting to note that teachers were paid from 75 cents a week for ladies to $10.00 a month for gentlemen. The distict also paid the teacher's board, or they "boarded around" among the various families of the district.

District #2: Adams District

The Adams District was the first to build a school in town dated 1804.The school tax for this building varied from a low of 84 cents to the highest of $22.08.The bricks used in this shcool building were 8" square by 2" thick, unlike the regular size bricks used today (2" x 4" x 8"). Cedric Ranger, who owned this farm in the 1940's, reported that he plowed up many of these old bricks when tilling that field. When Mr. and Mrs. Carlton Scott built their new home on Wilson Lake, they bought enough bricks from Mr. Ranger for their hearth.

The man associated with this school the longest was probably Mr. Charles L. Green. He attended school there, taught there, and was a member of the school board when the building was demolished in 1901.

District #3: McCrillis Corner District

The land for this school was sold by Spaulding Smith and was a part of the old "Macomber Place". The school house was nearly to the intersection of the present day roads at McCrillis Corner. This school, like Districts 1 and 2, was constructed of bricks (right). A new wooden building was built in 1897 (left). This was at the exact site of the present Oscar Melcher home.

District #4: The Brown Neighborhood District

This locality is still called "The Brown Neighborhood" today. The school building was located on the westerly corner of the road leading to the residences of Robert Beedy and Hazen Mayo. The building stones upon which the school sat are still on the site. These are granite of 15" or 18" high and 6" to 8" thick with variouslengths. Two main reasons to build the wooden structure on the granite slats were to keep the building high enough to prevent ground moisture from workiing in and to provide an air space for drying the ground.

The school was built in 1949. It was used until 1968 when a new building was built opposite the present home of Lester Drake.

District #5: The Searles School

This school was located on the south side of the Colby Miller Road opposite the Keene Morison orchard. Although the building outlived its use as a school, it was made into a dwelling. It stood until about 1945 when it was burned down. A replacement dwelling was built on the same lot.

District #6: The White School House District

The original school house (circa 1900) on the right was on the Weld Road opposite the Manley Green farm buildings. This land is now part of the Mott Searles farm.

After discussions of uniting several different districts, a new school was built on the west side of Coos Brook. This land was deeded to District # 6 by Abner Seales for the sum of one cent, but there was a provision made to return the land to Mr. Seales if it was not use for a school. At the time the district was united with District #13. This school has been unique over the years. A reunion of former pupils and teachers is held there every August.

District #7: The Averill Farmer District

The school in this district primarily served two families: The Wilton family and the Temple family. The school was located on the east side of Varnum Pond at a point where the road that ran along the south side of the pond separates from the road by the Worth Place.

It is interesting to note that Cyrus N. Blanchard taught in this district as a young man, having boys older than him for pupils. That was not an uncommon occurrence in those days.

District #8: The Currier District

There were indications that the first school built in this district was a log cabin. The name of the district came from the Currier farm. The neighborhood it served was called Chaney Neighborhood because at the time of settling the land, it was almost entirely occupied by the Chaney families. The school was used intermittently as a Wilton School and as a union school.

There were no "school teams" to carry the East Wilton scholars to school. Even first graders walked as much as a mile and a half to school. On particularly stormy days, parents took their own children to school.

District #9: Wilton Village

The original school building was located just beyond the present Methodist Church. It had two rooms side by side and was made of brick. Mary Bass wrote that in the last years of its use, it was in such a poor condition that snow blew through the cracks of the bricks onto her desk. The heavy snow falls of 1869 caused it to collapse. A new school was then built.

The original school yard contained only eleven square rod. The district bought twenty-four square rods adjacent to the old lot from Dimon Furnel at a cost of $100.00. The recoreds specified that bricks from the original school be used for basement piers and toilet pits. The school was built during the summer and fall of 1870 at the cost of $3045.00

After moving into the new Central School in 1903, the Red Men used the old school as a hall and there were Catholic masses there for almost fifteen years. The building was removed in 1952. The lot is now used as a parking space by the Methodist Church.

District #10: The Chase District

The school was located north and west of Wilson Lake near the Francis Tufts residence. This was one of the first schools that were to be abandoned permanently.

Normally there were three terms a year. This was true of all districts. The older boys attended only the winter term when there was less work to be done on the farm. At times there were two different teachers during a term.

District #11: Hathaway District

This schoolhouse was located near the Elmer Hathaway farm, now the home of the John Donalds. John Nelson bought the school building around 1925 and converted it into a residence. It is still in use today.

District #12: Valley School

As mentioned in Edwin Hall's memoirs, this school was the Valley Road School.

District #13: The Wilkins School

The Wilkins School was located near the end of the Tobin Flat Road. This school was on the Horace Staples farm. The building was used for some years before the District #6 building was built on the west bank of Coos Brook, and the two districts were united. This was the beginning of the consolidation.

District #14: The Dakin District

The district was called Dakin District because of its location near the head of Dakin Brook.

District #15: East Dixfield Village (formerly called Brook Village)

With the Dixfield-Wilton town line running through the center of the main street, it would seem advisable that the school in the village should be a union school. This was exactly the decision. The first school built about 1830 was on the Dixfield side. It was used for sometime. Needing a better building and more playground, a lot was bought from Jonathan Gooch on the Wilton side of the line in 1860.

In 1915 a large two-room school was built. Modern conveniences were added to the building to make this school a more up-tp-date building. School was held here until 1963 when consoldiation came in with the Dixfield students going to Dixfield and the Wilton students to S.A.D. #9 (Wilton and Farmington). This building was sold to Raph Hall.

District #16: East Wilton Village

In 1836, Henry Butterfield sold a plot of land beside the church to Disrict #16 for a building. The northeast corner of this school was on Temple Road just behind the house where Harold Adams now lives.

It was recorded in the town report (report from the school committee and financial report of 1854-1855) that Miss Salva Swain of this town taught the summer term for twelve weeks. The attendance was 62. Average number was 53. Miss Swain was one of the most accomplished teachers and sustained her reputation in managing this school. For the fall term, the school was kept by Miss Mitchell of Temple for 6 weeks. Miss Mitchel was a perfect mistress in school. The term though short, was very profitable. The winter term was under Mr. D. G. Bean of Jay for 12 weeks. Whole number in attendance was 90, average 77.The report continued on to say that this was the largest and the best school in town. Under Mr. Bean's leadership and his thorough method of instruction, the scholars was made solid improvement.

This was a one-room school building with a cellar , unusual for that time. It was apparent that this building was not large enough to accomodate all the scholars. Thus within a few years, Jeremiah Walker's house was hired for another room which continued for some time. This house was located down the street from the church and school and next to the last house before coming to Temple Road.

District #17: Rollins District

A marginal correction in the town clerk's report of 1804 tells of District #3 being divided to form two districts, Districts #3 and #11 which became District #17 at the later redistricting.

Located between the present residences of George Beisaw and Fred Wetmore, this school was at one time a union school with District #13 of Farmington. After a time, it was abandoned and pupils went to McGrillis Corner of North Chesterville. It seems probable that at times the union school was held in Farmington as well as in Wilton.

District #18: Walker Hill (in Wilton)

John B. Gould has told his grandsons, Rollo and Waldo Gould, of being the only pupil on Walker Hill. As such, he walked down through the woods to the Hathaway School.

There were long times when the Hathaway school was closed, once for a period of twenty years. It was the feeling of the residents that it was better to keep this school in a fair condition than to allow it to decay. The building was thus shingled and kept in repair in case of a later need. Luman H. Gould and Jeanette Ol Buterfield Gould are listed among the early teachers. They were the parents of the four Gould boys.

District #19: The Hall District

In 1803, this area was completely wooded. The early settlers cleared it, built homes and raised families. Among those settlers were Joh and Warren Hall, perhaps the reason the district name to be Hall District.

Alberta Chouinard of East Dixfield recalled being taken as a boy by his father to a spot where only a few timbers remained to mark the site of the old school attended by his father.

In 1841, there was a treasurer's order to the town of Carthage for $7.50 - Richard Hall's share of District #15's money. As early as 1848, Harriet L. Greenwood was paid for teaching school in District #19 in Wilton. It is probable that the school was built between these two dates.

In 1856, there was a treasurer's order to Ann O. Winslow for teaching school in District #19 in Wilton Union with Carthage and Dixfield. There are other indications that Carthage District #1 and Wilton #19 scholars attended one or the other of these schools, presumably determined by which district had more scholars.

District #20: The Knowls District

This was the last district school building to be built in town. The school was located at the apex of the road where it turns down to go over Piney Brook. Miranda Woodward, who owned a saw and grist mill at the foot of Varnum Pon, built the school in 1855 for the sum of $167.50.

It is probable that this school continued its operation for serval years and was rebuilt on the same site in 1901. From the report, the house was not completed in time for the fall term. But there was a winter term with an average attendance of about twelve scholars. In 1902, report tells of the completion of the school. It was a typical "Little Red Schoolhouse".

The photograph on the right is the Knowles School around 1918 with Esther Knowles as the teacher.

Teaching Aids

Map of the United States of America, 1856

Religeous instructional materials used in 1848

Merits, Perfects and Other Cards for Classroom Management

Martie Stowe Noyes wrote; "Teachers in many district schools provided cards out of their meager salaries of $10.00/month or less as an incentive for students to do their best.

A pupil received a "Merit" at the end of each day for good behavior, and a "Perfect" for a good work. At the end of a week, students with a card of each kind for each day earned a small picture card. At term's end, if a card of each kind had been earned each week, a larger, nicer card was given. These were varied as the teacher decided."

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