EARLY MINOT, MAINE SCHOOL INFORMATION

AND ONE ROOM SCHOOL HOUSES

In 1825 there were 20 school buildings in Minot (which included much of Auburn).

In 1830 there were 22 school buildings and 22 school districts (Auburn still part of Minot until 1842).

1855 12 School Districts with 648 scholars ages 4-21. Also in 1855 State legislature passed a bill to establish a State Normal School of Instructions to create better teachers.

Each School district had its own agent who was responsible for finding a competent teacher for their school. It was up to the PARENTS in each district to build a suitable school house and find lodging for the teacher if needed.

Wages in 1855 were female teacher $1.00-$3.00 per week and a male teacher $4.50-$7.50 per week.

School year was two terms, a summer term and winter term, each being 12 weeks. On occasion the teacher became sick and school would be closed unless the agent was able to find someone to take his or her place.

It was not unusual for pupils and teachers to walk several miles one way to go to school. Sometimes the snow was deep and very cold and of course in the spring you had mud.

These early one room school house buildings were prior to the ones that some of us attended. There exact locations are unknown but probably close to where the schools that were built in the 1850's were located.

An old document in the possession of the late Arthur Harris of Minot reads as follows: "Know all men by these present that I Benjamin Bradbury of the Town of Poland (Minot had not be incorporated yet) do hereby release and convey to the District (where Deacon Moses Bradbury is head) a piece of land being on the southern corner of my land adjoining land of Amos Harris for the purpose of setting a school house and I the said Benjamin Bradbury do hereby release this piece of land for the use and benefit of said District as long as they shall want it for that purpose. Signed Benjamin Bradbury at Poland, September 21 1801. Witness Amos Harris and Elanor Bradbury.

Private schools were kept in several places in town before any provision was made for their public support. Of the early teachers was Samuel Shaw at the Center, Master Bray on Bradbury Hill, John Chandler and his sister on Hersey Hill and Abner Chase in the Pottle Hill area. Nathan Hanson was the first public school teacher. In 1803 it was voted to raise $600.00 for the support of the schools.

Minot School District in 1855: District 1, scholars 175, Pleasant Street School, Edward G. Hawkes, Agent; District 2, scholars 63, Minot Corner School (this would have been a small brick school located on the Poland side of the Androscoggin River), R. R. Ricker, Agent; District 3, scholars 38, Woodman Hill School, Rufus W. Allen, Agent; District 4, scholars 35, Chase/Pottle Hill School, Abner Chase, Agent; District 5, not organized students went to the Brighton Hill School in Hebron; District 6, scholars 60, Hersey Hill School, Thomas Johnson, Agent; District 7, scholars 51, Noyes School, Jesse Prince, Agent; District 8, scholars 41, Jackson School, Stillman W. Shaw, Agent; District 9, scholars 32, West Minot School, Fearing Willis, Agent; District 10, scholars 50, Downing/Verrill School, Mark Yeaton, Agent; District 11, scholars 42, Atkinson School, Benjamin Verrill, Agent; District 12, scholars 30, Foss School, Joseph Gould, Agent; and there were 10 students who had no district.

In the early days schools in the district housed all the grades from the first to the ninth. The teacher had to be very firm as there were times when some of the pupils were larger than the teacher who taught them. It was the teachers responsibility to build a fire in the wood stove to have the room warm upon the arrival of her pupils.

One lady, Maria Hackett Perkins, who was born in 1857, said in a story written for the 1952 sesquicentennial the following: I went to school at the Verrill District and my first teacher was Etta B. Hutchins of Minot Corner. In those days we went to school two terms a year, December to March and June to September. We went to school on Christmas Day and how we disliked that. Imagine getting up on Christmas morning and finding our stockings filled with gifts and then tramping off to school, no chance of playing with the gifts that Santa left the night before. This was the longest day of our lives. I was ten years old when I saw my first decorated Christmas tree. We just hung our stockings by the fireplace". Maria Hackett Perkins died in 1958.

In the early days there was a different teacher for each term, not until the early 1900's did a teacher do more then one consecutive term in the same school.

ONE ROOM SCHOOL HOUSES OF MINOT, MAINE

District 1 - Water Street School

The above Water Street School was built in 1871, located on Water Street. There was also another school called the Pleasant Street School which was probably older. With the crowding of the older school the Brick School (Water Street School) was built. It was first a grammer and high school. In later years a school was built on Elm Street and became the high school, this was located in Poland, Me. A new high school was built on Lewiston Street after Mechanic Falls was incorporated as a town in 1893. It became known as the Mechanic Falls High School and closed it's doors in the mid 1960's. It is now the Mechanic Falls Municipal Building. Both the Pleasant Street and Elm Street Schools were torn down. The Water Street School is now apartments.

District 25 - Minot Corner School

One of the original schools in Minot Corner was the brick school, it was built in the 1840's, and was located on the hill near the Androscoggin River. The new 2 story wooden school, located up the road and across from the Hardscrable Road was built in 1868. It was first built with the lower grade downstairs and the upper grades upstairs. One of it's most remembered teachers was "Goldie Frank". It later became a grade school only, and was closed in the 1950's. It is still standing and the home of a business. This was located in Poland and students from both Minot and Poland attended this school.

District 25 - Hackett's Mill School

This school was located on the Poland side of the Androscoggin River at Hackett's Mill (Minot). Did not find any information on when this school was built but it is of the same design as the other one room schools built in the 1850's & 1860's. It was attended by students from Poland and Minot. After the school closed in the 1950's it was sold and moved about one mile north from where it once stood. It was remodel and is now a residence in Poland, Me.

District 3 - Atkinson School

This school was named after the Atkinson who settled in Minot. John Atkinson who settled where David & Hester Gilpatric live today. This school is located next door to where the Gilpatric's live, on the Woodman Hill Road. Also near by is the Atkinson Cemetery. It was decided at the 1856 town meeting that the Woodman Hill School District and the Atkinson School District would be combined to make one school district, the Atkinson School District. In 1857 the new Atkinson School was built at a cost of $570.00. This school building was sold to Delmar Foss in 1953 for $300.00 and is now a resident.

District 4 - Old Pottle Hill School

1856 town meeting it is referred to as the Chase District and the Foss District, it states that these houses are small and backwards and not suitable to be occupied. These two districts were combined to form the Pottle Hill School District. In 1857 the first Pottle Hill School was built, the cost $400.00 - $500.00. The size of the building was 22' wide by 30' deep. This was built on the so called Old County Road, land probably came from Eben Brown because it was also referred to as the Brown District. The County Road connected the Pottle Hill Road and Grange Avenue. The school is no longer standing, it was replace by the new school in 1905. The rock foundation fpr the old school still remains. The road was discontinued in the 1950's but you can walk to the site of the old school.

District 4 - New Pottle Hill School

The new Pottle Hill School open for the fall term in 1905. It was located on the same road as the old school, but closer to the Grange Avenue end of the road. The cost of building this school was $700.00 and the size was 26' wide and 36" deep. In 1952 the Pottle Hill School house was sold to Clarence Harwood for $200.00. He moved the building across a field to it's present location on Grange Avenue. It is now the resident of Gloria Finch.

District 6 - Hersey Hill School

The 1856 town Meeting it states that this school house should be repaired or, which would be better, replaced by a new one. The 1858 town report states the Hersey Hill School is a relic of antiquity, with all the old habits and inconviences, consequently no chance for modern improvements in conducting a school. It will be difficult for any teacher to teach a good school in that house. How long shall we wait to say that the LAST OLD SCHOOL HOUSE in town is replaced by a new one. It was replaced after 1861, you have to remember the people in that district were responsible for building and maintaining their school house. Land for the school was donated to the town by Phineas Chandler about 1850. The Hersey Hill School was the only school in the town to have had a SCHOOL BELL. In 1953 the Hersey Hill School was sold to the Hersey Hill Alumni Association for $125.00. In 1968 the school was sold to Sam Holbrook, a great grandson of Phineas Chandler, he moved the school from its location on the Hersey Hill School Road to the Holbrook Road. It is now used as part of the Holbrook Farm vegetable stand.

District 7 - Noyes School

Land for this school may have been donated by the Noyes Family, or it was name after them. It was located at the intersection of the Death Valley Road and the Martson Hill Road. I was unable to find much information about this school other then it was built about 1856-1857. In 1953 the school house was sold to Roland and Dorothy Bonney for $300.00 and torn down.

District 8 - Jackson School

This school was built in 1856, town reports states a convient and attractive house is in the process of being built. We wish several districts would do likewise for there are but 3 confortable school houses in town. Land for this school probably came from the Henry Jackson family as they were located near by and named after them. It was located on the Center Minot Hill Road half a mile or so from the Minot Center Grange Hall. In 1953 this school house was sold to Ernest Stahl and is now a resident.

District 9 - West Minot School

Here again not much early information about this school. It appears that the land to build this school house came out of the William Lowell lot, who lived in the brick house on the hill before the brook and the school. In the 1940's this was also called the Davis School for teacher Josephine Davis who taught many years at this school. The school house was located on the West Minot Road about 1/2 mile beyond the village. It was sold to Everett Irish in 1954 for $275.00 and used as a chicken house for many years. The old school building was sold and torn down in the late 1980's and a new house was rebuilt in the same location. The new house looks very much like the old school if it had been remodeled, but it is a new building.

District 10 - Verrill School

The Verrill School as it was know was called the Downing School in the early days before 1850. The new school was built 1856-1857 on land of Levi Verril, the size of this school was 26' wide and 36' deep. Most of the one room school houses had an addition, which served for storage and where the outhouse was located. Levi Verrill owned the big white house next to the Verrill School and was the grandfather of Maud Verrill Thomas. Maud was born in that house and live her whole life there. She was one of the greatest teachers around, having taught in many of its one room schools. Another interesting find is that whoever built the Jackson School also built the Verrill School, the two schools are identical. If not the same builder, the same plans were used.

I remember this school as I attended it in the late 1940's. I was a girl of 5 years old, who could only speak french and no english, and the teacher could not speak french. I'm sure it made for an interesting time for the teacher, who had 8 grades in this one room school. My father, Roland Hemond, his brothers George and Andre also attended this school in the 1930's. The Hemond's lived on a farm a short distance beyond the school.

This school probably cost to build the same as the others around $600.00, it was located on the Verrill Road. In 1954 the school house was sold to John Ford for $100.00 and torn down. The split stones are still there showing where the school once stood.

Other Interesting Information Found Along The Road of Research

The 1858 Town Report states: We have 7 school houses whose value is $4,500.00 and I old house yet remains (Hersey Hill School). Maps, books (called readers), globes and the blackboard a modern invention, but now considered a necessary appendage of every school. Reading, spelling and arithmetic in all schools, 1/3 of the schools study grammer and about 1/3 study geography.

About 1879 they change to 3 terms 8-10 weeks each, Fall, Winter and Spring.

All the schools had 2 doors on the front side, one was for the boys and one was for the girls. All the schools had flag poles, and only the Hersey Hill School had a school bell. They were heated with a wood stove usually located in the back of the class room.

In 1893 the town takes over the running of the schools, this was also the same year that Mechanic Falls was removed from Minot. Previous to the town now running the schools, each district had it's own agent and they were responsible for that school and hiring a teacher.

In 1905 there were 195 scholars in Minot between the ages of 5-21 years. In 1910 there were 219. In 1915 each term is now 11 weeks, and by 1920 the average pay was $13.00 - $20.00 per week.

In the late 1920's and 1930's there was a decline in the number of scholars in town so some of the schools were closed and they started transporting students in the Minot Center area. Mr. Giddinge was the first school bus driver using his own vehicle to transports students.

In 1930 Carrol Sawyer was hired to make SCHOOL NAME SIGNS for each one of the schools costing $40.00. Most of these signs are now lost or destroyed. The Atkinson, West Minot, Jackson, Noyes are unknown. The Verrill school sign hangs at the home of Donald & Janice Verrill, Pottle Hill school sign at the home of Gloria Finch, who lives in the Pottle Hill School, and the Hersey Hill School sign is still on the outside of the old school now owned by the Holbrooks.

Electric lights came along in the late 1940's and by 1950 all of Minot's one room school houses had electric lights. There was never running water at any of these school's except possibly the West Minot School may have had it in the late 1940's.

In the fall of 1948 Minot reshuffled students and closed some schools, it was going to be cheaper to pay tuition for students to attend school in Mechanic Falls then to keep the schools open and pay for teachers. Atkinson School closed in 1947, lower grades went to West Minot School and upper grades to Verrill School. Pottle Hill School closed in 1947, all students to Mechanic Falls. Hersey Hill School closed in 1942, students going either to the Brighton Hill School or to schools in Auburn. Noyes School closed in 1943, students now attending the Jackson School. The Jackson School had been closed in 1927 and it was reopend in 1943. West Minot and the Verrill School must have remained open as I found no mention of them closing.

This lasted 3 years, when Mechanic Falls informed Minot that it no longer could take their students. In the fall of 1951 Minot reopened some of the closed schools, and bought it's first school bus. Wesley Gilpatric was the first school bus driver, Mrs. Dugal at the Center transported students in her station wagon. During this same time the Minot Corner and Hackett's Mills students attended the Minot Corner School, Empire School and the Hackett's Mill School which were all located in Poland, Me.

End of an era of the one room school houses in Minot.

MINOT BUILDS NEW CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL

On September 9, 1953 the Minot Consolidated School opened. There were 4 class rooms, a large all purpose room, a kitchen, pupils now had hot lunches, and many other features that the old one room school houses did not have. There were 5 teachers and 140 pupils. The new school cost $48, 260.66 to build.

Alphonse Hemond (who was my grandfather) was responsible for overseeing the construction of the school and keeping the construction cost down.

Mrs. Josephine Davis taught subprimary, 1st & 2nd, 40 students; Mrs. Louise Jackson, 2nd, 3rd & 4th 34 students; Mrs. Audrey Hodgkins, 5th & 6th, 39 students; Miss Nancy Farris, 7th & 8th, 27 students. Marion Newhook was the music teacher and came once a week.

If anyone has more to add to what I have written, email me with information lucille@minotmaine.com