Leverett Center School long ago..........and today, protected by a garden of wisteria.
Interviews:
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History:
Built around 1800, this school was known as Schoolhouse Number One at Four Corners and also referred to as the "Little Red Schoolhouse." It ceased to be red sometime after 1850 and was clad in white painted clapboards. It is described by the visiting school committee in 1859 as follows:
Summer school, 10 weeks, Miss Sarah J. Clark, Sunderland, TeacherMiss Clark, having been formerly a pupil of the Holyoke Female Seminary, as well as being an experienced teacher, we expected much of her; and in this we were not disappointed. The order and harmony that existed among the pupils, in school and out, and towards the teacher, as well as the closing examination, gave full proof that the money had been well expended. In fact, we think it one of the best regulated, and most successful of our summer schools. Twelve of the 28 scholars were present every day - 6 only having any tardy marks, numbering 13 in all; 7-1/2 per cent lost time = $3 of the money expended.
The Winter School of 10 weeks, was under the tuition of Miss Mary L. Cutter of Leverett, who found her labors greater than she anticipated. Many of her pupils learned well, and performed their parts at the recitation seat, and black board with promptness and skill. But the same spirit of insubordination was manifext, and could not be well controlled by the teacher. This unruly disposition was not at all lessened by the criticisms of parents, and others in the hearing of the children. This is always injurious to any teacher's influence, and should never be countenanced in the least. Some allowance, perhaps, ought to be made from the fact that the house was totally unfit for the winter school. And to prevent the children's feet from freezing, it was necessary for the teacher to allow a large number of children around the stove most of the time. These inconveniences make confusion, and destroy a scholar's ambition. No. of scholars 41; not absent 12; not tardy 19; lost days 320 = 14 per cent = $7.
The school was remodeled and improved several times and finally discontinued in 1950 with the consolidation of the remaining separate town schools into the Leverett Elementary Consolidated School. It was the oldest school in continuous use for 150 years.
In the early 1800's, the schoolmaster was Master Forbes, who lived in a small house on the west side of the big rock behind the schoolhouse. He supplemented his wages by having a paint shop adjacent to his home. It was from this shop in 1847, that the first American flag to be flown in Leverett was fashioned. Painted on white cloth in Master Forbes' paint shop by two boys, Roswell Putnam and Putnam Field, who then climbed onto the schoolhouse entryway and managed to nail the flag's stick to the peak of the schoolhouse.
Judy Steve