ONE-ROOM SCHOOLHOUSES OF NEW ALBANY

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presented by Richard Whitelock on March 7, 2019

DAYS GONE BY

As our nation expanded and grew in population, so did our educational system in the U.S. Here in Plain Township, the first school was built in
1820. The first teacher, Jacob Smith, taught the students for $1.50 each, since there was no public funding yet for education. The 11 Township
schools were spread around so that no child had to walk more than one mile to get to school. The teachers would be put up in neighboring
farmhouses if they lived too far away or if the weather was too bad. Teachers had to get to school early enough each day to start a fire in the
potbellied stove. But of course, their biggest job was to teach reading, arithmetic, and penmanship to 15 or more students of all ages. The
older kids would have to pitch in and help teach the younger ones. The school year typically ran from the end of harvest season to the
beginning of spring planting. Kids did chores at home both before and after school every day. A typical school day started at 9 a.m. and ended
at 4 p.m., with an hour for lunch and two 15-minute recesses. A shelf in the schoolhouse held the water bucket and tin cups. The pupils carried
the water bucket from the neighbor’s house next to the school.In 1925, all the one-room Township schools were closed. School buses
transported students to the new central school building in the Village. For more details on New Albany’s former one-room schools, see the
article by Arloia Walton in the October-November 2011 newsletter.