The present Witherbee Schoolhouse is the third or fourth
schoolhouse situated in the Bailey's Brook Valley, on
the northeast corner of Valley Road and Green End
Avenue. There is no documentation, though evidence
suggests a school in this area about 1819, known as the
"Alley' (perhaps a misspelling of "valley") School
District. Another schoolhouse was built in 1840 but not
well attended; it was "small, old and uncomfortable" and
only ten or twelve of the District's twenty-eight school
age children attended with any regularity.
The present site was conveyed to Middletown School
District No. 2 by the then land-owner, Sophia Witherbee,
in 1891. The 1892 "Witherbee" schoolhouse was built by
Joseph Coggeshall at a cost of $1,975 and paid for by a
special levy on the District Two taxpayers. This
building was destroyed by fire in 1907 and immediately
rebuilt, on the 1892 foundation, to the same design, by
John R. Coggeshall, son of Joseph, at a cost of $3,500:
this time paid for by a general levy on all town
taxpayers.
The schoolhouse is a one-story, end-gabled, wood
balloon-frame structure of modest Queen Anne style, set
upon a foundation of rubble-stone and mortar. The
exterior is of decoratively patterned and plain wood
shingles. A two-story, square bell tower is on the left,
complete with its original bell, and a small brick
chimney is to the right. It has an arched, recessed
central entry with two side-entry doors, a door for boys
on the right and a door for girls on the left. Both
enter into small vestibules which originally were
equipped with benches and coat hooks, later converted to
indoor toilet spaces (replacing two outhouses which
stood at a discreet distance from the building and from
the well which provided fresh drinking water). A door
from each vestibule opens to the classroom (24' x 31'),
a room which is high-ceilinged, well-lighted and
basically plain and unadorned. Original wainscoting of
plain, matched and grooved vertical boarding provides a
pleasing trim.
The original pot-bellied wood/coal stove has been 91
replaced with a modem, oil-fired hot air heating system.
The Victorian cast-iron radiators have been retained as
a reminder of the later 19th century introduction of
circulating hot water heating.
The windows are four-over-four, wood sash for three bays
of the school's main body with
one-pane-surrounded-by-smaller panes sash over two
windows used for the forward entrance areas. The
exterior window shutters have been carefully reproduced
as shown in old photographs.
Witherbee School's significance lies in the fact that it
is one of five one-room schoolhouses in Middletown at
the turn of the century, of which four survive: Paradise
School (1875) has been fully restored and serves as the
headquarters of the Middletown Historical Society, and
as a small museum. Oliphant School (1823) has been
drastically altered from one to three rooms and still
serves the Middletown school department as storage
space. Peabody School (1794) has been converted to a
private dwelling. Wyatt School was demolished and is now
the site of the town's police and fire headquarters.
The five schoolhouses shared certain physical
characteristics but the Witherbee Schoolhouse,
architecturally unique in exterior design, was the only
one of the original five schoolhouses that was not kept
to a minimal, austere design. Its distinctive features
are fine examples of skilled craftsmanship of the
period. A typical Middletown one-room schoolhouse was a
heavy responsibility for one teacher who may have had as
many as 54 students and who was expected to teach all
subjects to all ages from 7 to 16, while maintaining
discipline. In a 1901 school census, the School
Department reported that Witherbee ("Alley") School
District had 61 children of school age: 54 attended
Witherbee, 2 attended private schools, 5 did not attend
any school.
Regular studies pursued included: Reading, Writing,
Arithmetic (mental and written), Geography, Grammar.
History, Physiology, Drawing and Spelling -- almost the
same curriculum as a well staffed scholastic
institution. The school was in session from 9 a.m. to 12
o'clock and from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. Older pupils
regularly helped younger pupils. Discipline was firm;
orderliness and efficiency the rule. The first-graders
sat in front and worked their way up to the rear desks
by the time they reached Grade 8. The room was heated by
an old pot bellied, wood burning stove which meant the
older you got the farther you moved from the stove and
the more uncomfortably cold.
The "two" Witherbee schoolhouses were products of the
gradually increasing degree of financial responsibility
assumed by the citizens of the Town to provide
progressive schooling facilities.
Operational until the early 1940's, this one room
schoolhouse was preserved for use as an interpretive
center on the history of education in Middletown.
Hundreds of elementary school children visit the school
each year as part of a special history curriculum
sponsored by the Middletown Historical Society. The
program is entitled, "Those Dear Old Golden Rule Days."
In 1988 the Middletown Historical Society acquired the
property from the Town of Middletown on a 99-year lease
and it has been carefully restored to its original
appearance but with some modern amenities
The Witherbee School was listed in the National Register
of Historic Places on November 27, 1989.
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