1898: TRENTON SCHOOLS IN THE 1860'S

I have a strange almost consuming fascination with the one room school house of the 19th century. So few photos remain, and so few physical examples of those old school houses give a very lucid glimpse at the life of the students and teachers in those small buildings with a wood or coal burning stove. Many years of reading about these early schools reveal some events that are difficult to imagine as we compare today's modern buildings with the austere one room facility. There are stories of teachers who had to get to school early to chop wood or shovel coal for the stove, Janitors who shirked their duty of preparing the school for a new day, and other very interesting lore.

While the article above deals with the Trenton schools, I added the insert of Hamilton Township's Edgebrook School, also an austere little edifice. It was located on the north west corner of today's Klockner Road and Route 130.