The One-Room Schoolhouses of the Mechanicsburg Area

In the early part of the 18^th century, public schools did not exist in Pennsylvania. Affluent parents who wanted their child to have a formal education enrolled them in a private academy such as the Carlisle Grammar School or the Cumberland Valley Institute in Mechanicsburg. Private or subscription schools were very expensive but would prepare a child for college and the professions.

Very few students attended private schools or aspired to higher education. If parents wished for their child to read and write they would hire a tutor. The tutor was often a local woman who would gather neighboring children around her kitchen table and teach them the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

This changed in 1834 when the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania passed what became known as the “Free School Act.” The act stated that all legal municipalities needed to elect a local board of education charged with deciding how to best educate the children of the community and how to pay for their education.

Communities such as Mechanicsburg and Carlisle had a large population that warranted the construction of multi-room structures. Students living in towns could easily walk to the school located near the center of town.

That was not true for the students that lived in the geographically larger townships such as Allen, Monroe, or Silver Springs.^[1] The size of these municipalities and the lack of transportation available in the rural area forced the building of the many smaller schools that soon dotted the landscape. Many of these structures were one or two room schoolhouses and were placed within walking distance of the students. This article will focus primarily on the schools of the Upper Allen School District as an example of the one-roomschools in the area.

Early records indicate that as early as 1790, the area that became Upper Allen had a number of one-room subscription schools of log construction and thatched roofs with the earliest schools opening about 1800 and later buildings opening in 1809 and 1811.^[2] These were later replaced with more substantial brick buildings after the passage of the 1928 law and the creation of the Upper Allen School District.^[3]

Education in the one-room schools normally ended with the completion of grade 8 and many students finished their formal education at that time. Students that were interested in attending a local high school needed to pass an examination administered at the county level by the county superintendent’s office. As an example, in 1881 the county examined eighty-six pupils and awarded fifty-two diplomas. Four students were from Upper Allen.^[4]

As late as the 1940s one student remembered the County Superintendent, Ralph Jacoby, coming to the school during her 8^th grade year to test the students to see if they were ready for high school.^[5]

Because of proximity, many students from local districts that wanted to advance to high schools attended Mechanicsburg High School as tuition students. The Board of Education of Upper Allen agreed to pay tuition to other districts with high schools as long as the tuition was no more than the tuition cost of Mechanicsburg. While most students did attend Mechanicsburg High, the minutes of the Upper Allen School Board through the years indicate payment to other school districts such as New Cumberland, Lemoyne, Dillsburg, Harrisburg, and Steelton.

Upper Allen considered starting a high school for its students but abandoned the idea in 1897.^[6] Some students would remain in the one-room school past normal graduation age and considered this to be high school even though it was never an official diploma granting institution.^[7]

The earliest minutes of the Upper Allen School District in the possession of the Mechanicsburg School District Archives is from 1878 but the Annual Report of the School Superintendent of Public Instruction for Commonwealth Schools does offer some highlights of schools prior to that year. One such report states that in 1858 the Upper Allen schools employed 7 teachers - all men - and that schools were in session for six months during the year.^[8] The report for 1861 states that the Mount Allen School opened that year and was a brick building 33 square feet with13 foot ceilings. It went on to state that the district maintained five buildings and they were specifically divided into grades.^[9] By 1878 there were nine schools taught by 7 males and 2 females.^[10]

When the one-room schools in Upper Allen closed in 1953 there were seven buildings in use. The buildings and the final teachers were: Bowmansdale (C. Lloyd Rider), Center Square (A. L. Myers), Garrett Grove (Abigail Miller Westfall), Glen Allen (Marion Graves), Grahams (Claribel Brubaker Gutschall), Kollertown (Edna Miller), and Shepherdstown (James Peters).

There were five additional named structures that were used over the years and recorded in the minutes of the Upper Allen School District. They are listed along with their last year of operation: Allendale, informally called Possum Hill, (1925), Cedar Hill (replaced by the Bowmansdale School in 1909), Lantz (replaced by Glen Allen in 1909), Mt. Allen (1924), and Pleasant Grove (replaced by the Grahams School in 1889).

In 1878, the earliest school board minutes that were preserved by the Mechanicsburg Area School District, indicate that the schools still operated only 6 months a year and the teachers were paid $35 dollars a month.^[11] The term was lengthened to 7 months in 1904.^[12] The first mention of compulsory attendance was in 1910 with acceptable attendance set at 75%.^[13]

The schools were closed for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays but only if the teachers attended all three days of the teacher institute.^[14] During 1917 the teachers were given the opportunity to close for Thanksgiving Day but needed to make up the time.^[15] One student remembers that school was in session on January 1 but her mother kept her at home because it was a national holiday.^[16]

By 1884, teachers were paid various rates depending on if they were an inexperienced teacher with a provisional certificate ($35 a month), an experienced teacher with a provisional certificate ($37 a month), or an experienced teacher with a permanent certification ($40 a month).^[17]

Starting in 1906, the board required teachers to attend the meetings of the school board. At each school board meeting, the board members would examine the record books of the teachers and once the record books entries were approved, the teachers would receive their salary for the month. If teachers were not able to attend the meeting they would not receive their salaries until the following month when they attended the school board meeting.^[18]

For the most part, the teachers were free to operate their classrooms with a great deal of autonomy even though board members were assigned to the buildings to check for maintenance issues and to observe the teaching.^[19]

In 1915 Upper Allen, for the first time, named a supervising principal. George A. Berkheimer held this position while continuing as a full-time teacher until he retired in 1939 after 43 years of service. His primary duty was to make sure the schools were “properly graded and a uniform course of study (was) installed”.^[20]

The County Superintendent position was created in 1854. The County Superintendent observed the teachers on a more formal basis and would award the teachers permanent certification. The Superintendent was responsible for the annual teacher’s Institute.^[21]

As an example, the 1902 institute brought together teachers from the school districts of Mechanicsburg, Shiremanstown, Camp Hill, New Cumberland, Lower Allen, Upper Allen, East Pennsboro, Hampden, Silver Springs, Middlesex, and Monroe School Districts for professional development. Topics that year included “Should music be taught in the country schools,” “Fatigue of pupils,” “Are schools keeping pace with the times?” and “Why are the parents not more interested in our schools?” Speakers were from the local schools including George Berkheimer from Upper Allen who spoke about “Arithmetic – The practical side.”^[22] Two speakers at the 1904 institute were Upper Allen teachers Jane Parker Deeter, whose subject was “Comparative merits of oral and written spelling” and Grace DeFrehn, who spoke about “Friday afternoon exercises.”^[23]

School teachers would host activities for the community to have the children display what they had learned during the year. Teacher Roy Vogelsong organized a Spelling Bee which was open to the public at the Allendale School.^[24]

Some activities were more complex, such as the one held in 1916 that brought together the students from all of the schools in Upper Allen for an evening of “recitations and reading” along with spelling and arithmetic bees.^[25] Expanding even further, a spelling competition was held in 1934 between students of Upper Allen and Monroe Township schools.^[26]

It was in 1934 that students of the Upper Allen schools were bussed to a central location at the Shepherdstown one-room schoolhouse for the first field day, a morning of academic competition and an afternoon of “out-of-door” contests.^[27] One student remembers inter-school baseball games with students of the other one-room schoolhouses.^[28]

Encouraging students to understand that they were part of a greater community, the students of Upper Allen schools participated in activities such as raising of money for The March of Dimes.^[29] One student remembers a class assignment during World War II to collect milkweed pods for the war effort.^[30]

Another act of kindness that one student remembers was when a local farmer became very ill during harvest season. The teacher canceled classes for one afternoon so the students could pick and husk the farmer’s corn.^[31]

Health concerns were an issue in the one-room school as they are today. During 1918 the school board of Upper Allen passed a resolution that no pupil would be able to attend school without a vaccination certificate.^[32] Despite these efforts, the Shepherdstown School was closed for one month in 1918 because of the flu pandemic.^[33]

A school nurse would visit each school on a rotating basis to check for vision and dental needs.^[34] One student remembered being taken to a dentist once a year for a check-up.^[35]

Another role of the nurse was to check the children for head lice. If lice were found on a student’s head, the student’s parents were contacted and the student would not be permitted to return to school until the head was shaved.^[36]

Because the schoolhouses were located in the open country, they would attract mice. When a mouse would enter and scurry across the floor the teacher would have difficulty keeping control of the class as the students tried to capture the rodent.^[37]

Vandalism was a major problem for the school board. The press reported in 1879 that the Allendale School was entered during the night by a “party of tramps” who “tore up things in general.” The article went on to state that this was the fourth time that this had occurred during the semester.^[38]

Vandalism continued to be a problem. Members of the School Board authorized posting of trespass notices on the Graham school in 1907^[39] and later the filing of criminal action against two individuals for malicious mischief at the same building.^[40]

The 1917 Board of Education offered a reward of $25 for the arrest and conviction of individuals who broke into the schools and “carried off the entire supply of coal.”^[41]

Damage was caused by “malicious mischief” with incidents at the Bowmansdale and Mt. Allen schools occurring fall of 1924. After the incident at Mt. Allen, twenty-four individuals were brought in they signed a contract that they would pay for the damages. Their names were listed in the board report.^[42]

One key role of the local Board of Education was the maintenance of the buildings. Early minutes indicate that the members of the board were concerned with one building, Allendale, and held a meeting on site to discuss if the building needed to be repaired or replaced.^[43] Later school board minutes indicated that it would be repaired.^[44] The board members also met at the Garrett Grove School to examine the damage caused by a storm and to name a board member who would repair the building.^[45]

In 1881 the board authorized that two of the buildings, Shepherdstown and Center Square, were in need of repair and authorized new floors, new desks, and the washing of the walls.^[46]

The Mount Allen building in 1892 was in such poor repair that it was deemed to be unsafe. The Board of Education authorized that the structure was to be torn down and replaced.^[47]

In addition to serving as the instructor, the teacher was the school’s janitor.^[48] Routine maintenance chores were left to the teacher and the students including sweeping the floor, stoking the coal stove, washing the chalkboard, and “banging” the erasers. One annual chore was the “honey dipping” of the outhouse. Conducted in the spring, and always by the older boys in the class, the “content” of the outhouses needed to be removed and donated to local farmers.^[49]

Sometimes the outhouse would smell for other reasons like the time that the girls’ outhouse at the Garrett Grove School was sprayed by a skunk.^[50]

Once a year the schoolhouses were professionally cleaned. This was first mentioned in the minutes in 1910 with the pay set at three dollars per schoolhouse.^[51] Later that same year an individual was employed by the board to supply coal, clean the buildings, and provide general supplies and repairs.^[52]

The classrooms were heated by a coal stove. Most students remember that the stove was located in the back of the room. Some teachers would either arrive early or have a local adult come in and start the stove so the room was warm when the students arrived. In one school it was left to a local student to arrive at the building early on winter mornings and start the stove.^[53] Not all teachers did this. One student remembers that the room was cold in the winter and students needed to keep their coats on for the first hour or two of class.^[54]

A few of the students remember that the stove was very warm but that it did not heat the entire room and the seats in front of the room were often chilly. One interviewee remembers that the area behind the stove was extremely warm and that misbehaving students were told to stand behind the stove as a punishment. One young lad fell asleep while behind the stove and remained asleep after the room dismissed at the end of the day and the school was locked up for the night. Later that night the student escaped by going through the trap door to the basement and shimming out the basement window. When the teacher arrived the next morning the student’s mother was there to meet the teacher.^[55]

Students that attended more than one of the one-room schools commented on how similar they were in design and function. Each school had a platform in the front of the room about 12 – 18 inches off the ground with a large blackboard across the front of the room. The teacher’s desk often was located on the platform.

Hooks were provided along the wall so students would have a place to store their coats. Some interviewees remembered a shelf for their lunch buckets. Other former students remembered keeping their lunch at their desks until it was time to eat.

Every morning two students, normally 8^th-grade boys, walked to a neighborhood farm with an empty pale to bring water to the room so students could have a drink of water. The bucket was carried using a long pole through the handle. One student on each side of the handle carried the heavy bucket to the classroom where the water was poured into a ceramic jug with a spigot. Students either used the “community cup” or brought in their own cup that was hung on hooks on the back or side wall.

Before the buildings had electricity, it was difficult to work on overcast days.^[56] One interviewee stated that as late as the 1950’s his schoolhouse in the Silver Springs areas, a district near Upper Allen, was not electrified.^[57] An additional student from the Silver Springs area remembered when his house, located across the street from the school, was electrified in 1938 but that the schoolhouse still did not have electricity.^[58] Upper Allen students all recalled that their buildings were electrified during the 1940s.

Even when the buildings did have electricity they still did not have indoor plumbing, thus students needed to leave the building to use the outhouse.^[59] Most former students interviewed stated that the buildings had two outhouses for separate genders. Because of the bitter cold, during the winter months a trip to the outhouse was to be avoided.^[60]

The school buildings did not have a phone. One student remembered that during an emergency, one of the students was sent to the home of a neighbor who did have a phone and an ambulance was called to the school.^[61]

One of the students called the schools “sparse but functional.”^[62] Another remembered the classroom as always very clean, bright, cheery, and very inviting. It was always decorated for the season.^[63]

Student photos from the period indicate that the classes were about 25 – 40 students and composed of an approximately equal number of boys and girls.^[64]

Most of the students that attended the rural schools were the children of local farmers.^[65] A few of the children’s parents that lived in the country commuted to work in the city or worked at the local college. One student’s father operated a potato chip factory in Grantham.^[66] Many of the students “dressed country,” wearing bib overalls and dresses made from feed sacks.^[67]

Only a few of the students were minorities, often the children of migrants recruited to work at the local farms and orchards during harvest time.^[68]

A Christian family from Japan, the Sacimuras, were sponsored by a local church during World War II. They lived on the campus of the Messiah Bible College in Grantham and attended the Center Square School. Having a Japanese family in the area was not viewed as a positive situation by some members of the community.^[69] This negative view was not shared by the students of the school. One interviewee especially remembered the daughter, Alice, because they were very good friends. She does not remember that there were problems because of the ethnicity of the family.^[70] Another fellow student remembered the family as all being very intelligent and well behaved.^[71]

The majority of students did not take a bus to school and needed to walk or be driven to and from school each day. ^[72] One first grade student walked to school along a major highway and recalls that her mother cautioned her not to stop and talk to the truck drivers.^[73] Another student took the bus every day but he did not understand why since it was faster to walk to the school if he walked through the farmer’s fields.^[74] Another student received a bicycle for Christmas during his third-grade year and could then bike to school each day.^[75]

The road to the school was closed one winter for eleven days until it could be plowed and the only way that some students could get to school was to walk in the middle of the railroad tracks keeping one ear open for an approaching train. When the students heard the train approaching, they quickly climbed up the snow bank until the train passed. Once the railroad engineers realized that the students were on the tracks they sounded their horn more frequently so the children could hear the train approaching.^[76]

The schools rarely closed or delayed for snow or bad weather. If a student could not make it to school because of snow or illness an excuse would be accepted but the building was always open and the class was in session.^[77] One student told of walking to school when she was in first grade when the snow was so deep that she could walk over the fences.^[78]

Another remembers that her mother made her walk through the fields when the roads were snow covered even though the drifts in the fields were above her waist. When she arrived at school she would take off her outer clothing and stand in front of the stove to dry off. One student remembers starting out for school one winter day but turning back because of the cold and wind.^[79] The lack of transportation also impacted teachers. One, in particular, did not have a car and walked approximately two miles from his home to the school. One day he fell and needed to be helped to his feet by some of the students.^[80]

Students were expected to be on time. One student remembered being late for school one day because his home was located on the other side of the quarry and he was held up while the quarrymen were blasting rock.^[81]

By the 1940s the Upper Allen School District owned two buses and would pick up students at designation points and take them to their school. Because there were so many one-room schools and the bus route went to multiple schools, the time spent on the bus was considerable.^[82]

Attendance at other times of the year was never an issue except in the fall when the harvest was coming in and the older boys would stay home to help. Everyone, even the teacher, understood that on a farm the crops came first.^[83] During this time period, schools were closed for the first day of the Pennsylvania Farm Show so the younger children could attend and the older children could exhibit their animals and crafts.^[84]

The curriculum was very elementary with an emphasis on the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic and with a large amount of memorization. Being called to the teacher’s desk for class review often meant having to recite a poem or recall facts.^[85] One teacher required the students to memorize a new poem each month.^[86] Areas of study included math and reading as well as history and geography. Students might also be required to prepare part of a presentation on a specific topic and put the information into their own words to demonstrate that they understood the concept being taught.^[87]

One complaint levied against the rural schools in a 1912 journal article was that the curriculum was “too much like the course that is taught in the city school.” The author felt that the school should “dignify rural life and to save to it and its interests the best blood of the country.” The assertion was that nature studies and agriculture should be stressed.^[88]

On a typical day, the school bell would ring in the morning to call the students into the building.^[89] The day would start with the reciting of the Pledge to the Flag and the Lord’s Prayer or other bible verses. Some of the interviewees remembered that the teacher would lead the students in song in the morning.

One by one, students in the individual grades were called to the platform to review their assignment from the previous day, receive a new lesson, and an assignment due the following day. This was done in small grade-level groups. While most students were called to the front of the room with other members of their grade, the teachers had the option to create additional groups based on ability in math or reading.^[90]

The interviewees remembered being “tested” almost every day but the test was normally oral rather than in writing. Some tests, like spelling bees, were fun for some students.^[91]

While one group was with the teacher, the remaining students were expected to be in their seats working on assignments or reading independently. The advantage was that students rarely needed to take work home to complete. Another advantage often cited by the interviewees was that the student was able to preview future lessons and to review lessons from past years. As one interviewee stated, students in the one-room schools were exposed to eighth-grade material in first grade. While not responsible for the material for a few years, the constant repetition helped to reinforce mastery of the subject matter.^[92] One student, however, remembered that other students in the room were always walking around and talking and that she found it difficult to concentrate.^[93]

One interviewee remembers that there were only two seventh grade students in his class and another two in the 8^th grade. The teacher merged the groups. As a result of this, the two seventh grade students graduated from both the one-room school and, later, the high school, one year early than their original classmates.^[94]

In another instance, the child was the only one in her first-grade class and was upset to have to do lessons one-to-one with the teacher. After discussing this with the parents, the teacher agreed to place the child with the grade two students but only for one year because a new same-age student joined the school for grade three the following year.^[95]

Normally, there was very little science in the curriculum but one interviewee remembers that an outside group brought in two rats for study. The rats were fed different diets and observed over a six-week period.^[96]

A third-grade report card for the period indicated that students received a grade for the following: Deportment (conduct), Health, Reading, Spelling, Penmanship, Arithmetic, and Drawing. Older grades would study Composition, Geography, History, Civics, and Nature Study.^[97]

The teachers and students did have textbooks but one student recalled that these resources were often older and out of date.^[98]

One student remembered that the classroom cupboard contained a small library that students could access when they completed their assignments. She loved to read and complete book reports.^[99]

A few of the students remembered class plays held either inside the classroom using the teaching platform as a stage or on the front porch of the building. A sheet would be hung and used as a curtain.^[100] One interviewee spoke fondly of the annual Christmas program during which the students would sing carols and recite stories. Parents were invited to attend.^[101] Another interviewee remembered talent shows, music programs, and student-run story-times and plays.^[102] One student recalled being invited to Messiah Bible College to present an evening of songs and recitations.^[103]

The same student remembered that the proprietor of the local general store owned a projector and would bring it to the school on special occasions to show the children a movie.^[104]

A highlight for another student was the end of year picnic. Parents would attend and bring sandwiches, potato chips, and pickled eggs. A particular teacher from one school always brought ice cream for his students.^[105]

Music was added to the curriculum for at least two periods per week starting in 1895.^[106] Since individual instruments were in short supply, one student remembered that the lesson often consisted of a sing-along.^[107] Most classrooms did have a piano. Mrs. Smith, whose husband was a professor at Messiah College, would come to the Upper Allen classrooms once or twice a week in the late 1940’s for music lessons. One student recollected being selected to play piano with the teacher for students at other schools and to play the graduation recessional held at the Assembly Hall of Messiah College at the end of 8^th grade.^[108]

One interviewee spent her first-year teaching as an itinerant music teacher in the one-room schools. She remembers that the school rooms had a piano and a record player. Her goal was that the students would develop the skill of reading music, but more importantly, she wanted them to appreciate music. When the weather was nice she would take the students outside for instructions in square dancing.^[109]

Students that graduated from the one-room schools stated that they did not feel academically deficient when they attended the local high school. Socially, some felt at a disadvantage coming from the rural school. One individual felt that he was picked on in high school because he dressed “country.”^[110] Another thought that the town kids looked down on “the country folk” because they were poor.^[111] Others felt that the high school was intimidating because of the size.^[112] Most did not share this feeling and thought they made friends at the high school very quickly.

Not every student found that attending school was a positive experience and some students would misbehave. While rarely used by most teachers, the interviewee noted, the paddle was employed to keep order. Some teachers used the paddle more than others.

One student remembers crying in first grade because he was so afraid of the male teacher but also remembers the same teacher taking the students to the local store for ice cream and showing kindness in other ways.^[113] A female student remembered the same teacher as being a fun teacher. She remembers that he had his paddle and how he would swat the students as they went out the door. He was in a chair leaning back and the paddle did not hurt but was very gentle. He had a smile on his face as he told each student that it was for “good measure.”^[114]

Another student remembers that the teacher would allow the students the freedom to choose their own switch or paddle before he disciplined them. The assumed position involved bending over, with the student’s head under the chalkboard. The swat was hard enough that the reflex action caused the students to quickly stand and bang their heads.^[115]

An additional student remembered watching the paddling of an older student and that the incident left her unnerved.^[116] The teacher stopped using this method of discipline when one of the female students was paddled and severely bruised.^[117]

In a more positive light, one interviewee remembered that if a child was upset about something, the teacher, Miss Claribel Brubaker, would take a seat and hold the child in her arms and calm him or her while continuing to teach.^[118]

Just like the young students today, lunch and recess were the highlights of the school day. If students lived close to the school they were permitted to go home for lunch. Some lived close but chose to stay and have lunch with their friends.^[119] Lunch was brought from home in a tin or a paper sack and either eaten at the desk or, if the weather was nice, outside on the porch.

Former students explained that they had fifteen minutes for recess in the morning and again in the afternoon, as well as time during the lunch period to play ball, jump rope, or run through the woods surrounding the school.

Baseball was very popular in one of the schools. Bases were pieces of burlap held down by rocks except for third base which was a fence post on the other side of the road. The bat that was used by the students was a broken brake club used by a brakeman on the railroad to stop the cars. It was rare that they had a new ball and if they did it was often a gift from the teacher.^[120]

Shooting marbles and playing tag were other favorite lunch and recess activities. One of the school buildings had a stream nearby. During the lunch break, if the weather was nice, the teacher would take interested boys and girls fishing.^[121] If the weather was not as nice, some teachers would gather the students around the teacher’s desk and play card games.^[122]

One interviewee remembered going across the road and playing on the train tracks “as long as the teacher was not looking.”^[123] As one interviewee stated, there was very little traffic on the roads and students were permitted to roam.^[124]

One unusual game was called “Tiedley High Over” which was a team game which required the team members to throw a ball over the schoolhouse. Points were earned by catching the ball and using it to tag opponents.^[125] One school had a toboggan stored in the coal cellar that the students would use during the winter to sled down the hill behind the school when there was snow on the ground.^[126]

Another game was called “Prisoner” which put the entire class, young and old, into two teams. If they were hit by a ball thrown by the opposing team they became “prisoners.”^[127]

The Bowmansdale School was the largest of the Upper Allen one-room schools and had a basement. Students were permitted to play in the basement when it was raining. Since there was only one small light bulb in the basement it was very dark and perfect for playing “hide and seek.”^[128]

Starting in the 1920’s the one-room schoolhouses in Pennsylvania began to close. The Boards of Education of the various rural school districts through the United States found that despite the increased cost of transportation that it was cheaper to consolidate the students into larger multi-grade facilities. The move to a single grade classroom also increased the academic success of the students.^[129]

The earliest discussion to consolidate Upper Allen schools is found in the 1920 minutes but no action was taken. At taxpayers meetings held separately in Upper Allen and Monroe Townships in the 1930s, recommendations were made to apply for funding from the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration to build a consolidated school. As the newspaper stated, “This change could not easily be made in the days of dirt roads, but with all-weather highways and school buses, the unified township school is so far superior to the old order that only the most virulent moss-backs find fault with the change.”^[130]

Despite these early studies, Upper Allen did not close its one-room schools until 1953 with the opening of the Upper Allen Consolidated School. The former one-room school buildings were sold.^[131] Mount Allen and Shepherdstown were torn down and modern homes erected on the sites. Some of the buildings are still standing today and used as private homes including Allendale, Center Square, Garrett Grove, and Glen Allen. Bowmansdale is used as the home of Lodge # 1179 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Grahams School is currently the home of Gardner’s State Farm Insurance Agency, while the Kollertown School is now part of the Little Theater Mechanicsburg.

The Upper Allen Elementary building opened on Groundhog Day, Monday, February 2, 1953, with the seven one-room schoolhouse teachers assigned to the grade level classrooms. Currently called the Shepherdstown Elementary School, it is part of the Mechanicsburg Area School District. The school building is located across the street from the site of the former Shepherdstown One-room Schoolhouse connecting the past to the future of education in Upper Allen.

Interviewed as part of the Mechanicsburg Area School District One-Room Schoolhouse Project:

Larry Beaston

Milane (Bollinger) Beausay

Sophie (Miller) Bickle

Charlotte (Miller) Blackenstoss

Ken Bushey, Jr.

Martha (Kuhns) Eshelman

Ronald Folks

Ruth (Myers) Hare

Harold Hertzler

Robert Hosler

Patricia Mae (Wicht) Jones

Linda Kennedy

Henry Killick

Homer Kraybill

Paul Lebo

Vicky Leister

Jean (Loudon) Lear

David Martin

Ronald Miller

Louise (Kilmore) Mowery

Marian (Kuhns) Musser

Robert Musser

Linda (Brubaker) Myers

Ray Myers

Frederick Nesmith

Archie Noss

Nancy (Nailor) Rarick

Maxine (Pease) Rhoades

Victoria (Bierbower) Shuman

Barbara Sidle

Robert Sidle

Pat Strickler

Nevin Strock

Lorring Thomas

Dorothea (Wert) Wilson

Janice Yorlets

Paul Yorlets

Site Visitations:

Garrett Grove School, June 29, 2016, (Susan Miller)

Grahams School, May 26, 2016 (Seth Gardner, Gardner’s State Farm Insurance)

Bowmansdale School June 20, 2016, (Members of the Odd Fellows Lodge)

Also consulted:

-Thomas H. Burrowes, editor, Pennsylvania School Architecture: A Manual of Directions and Plans for Grading, Locating, Construction, Ventilating, and Furnishing Common School Houses. (Harrisburg: A Boyd Hamilton, 1855).

-Pearl Rhein Kreichbaum, Pine Grove Area Rural Schools and Related Data. (Pine Grove, PA, Pine Grove Historical Society, 1993).

-Paul Richelieu, The One Room School House: A Tribute to a Beloved National Icon. (New York, NY Universe Publishing, 2003).

-Mary Virginia Shelley, Lancaster County’s One-Room Schoolhouses and the History of the Common School Movement. (Lancaster, LancasterHistory.org, 2015).

-Brain M. Small, All for One … And One for All: The Story of the One-Room School in the Townships of the Northern York County School District, (Camp Hill, PA, self-published, 2012).

-John Tautin, A Sandbank School Memoir: Play and Learning in a One-room School. (Meadville, Crawford County Historical Society, 2018).

-James P. Wickersham, A. History of Education in Pennsylvania: Private and Public, Elementary and Higher from the time the Swedes settled on the Delaware to the Present Day. Lancaster, Inquire Publishing Company, 1886). -Wilson, Rodger B. and Kathryn B. Jordan, One Room – One Teacher: From One Room Schools to the Consolidation of the South Eastern School District, (York, PA, Maple Press, 2016).

-Jonathan Zimmerman, Small Wonders: The Little Red School House in History and Memory, (Yale University Press, 2009).