Date: Fri 05-Jun-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Middle-Gate-schoolhouse-Hayes

Full Text:

An Open House For A One-Room Schoolhouse

(with cuts)

BY SHANNON HICKS

The Newtown Historical Society held a small party at its schoolhouse last

weekend. The society owns the Middle Gate Schoolhouse, a one-room schoolhouse

located on the front lawn of the property of the Cold Spring Road middle

school. The event was to officially celebrate the re-opening of the small

building following some renovations last summer.

Last summer, the historical society paid to have the schoolhouse's roof

replaced, along with some of the windows redone. The building is all spruced

up today, and when the door of the building is open it is very inviting... and

very easy to step across the door frame and into history. The historical

society has taken great pains to make sure the interior looks as close to what

an 1850 schoolhouse would have looked like as possible.

The Middle Gate Schoolhouse is the only one-room schoolhouse the society owns,

although there are nearly 20 still standing within the town's borders

(including Sandy Hook, Hawleyville, Dodgingtown and Botsford). Some remain in

pristine condition, most are in private hands, and sadly, some have been

abandoned and are nearly in a state of disrepair.

The historical society acquired its circa 1850 building in 1966. It was a

donation to the society from Harry Gould, the owner of Gould Realty Property.

When Mr Gould purchased the property upon which the schoolhouse was standing

(bordering Route 25, near the Newtown-Monroe line), he offered the schoolhouse

to the society with one stipulation: the building had to be moved off the

Gould property. It was at that time the building was relocated to the front

lawn of the current Middle Gate School.

On Sunday, May 31, the public was invited to visit the schoolhouse. The

building is generally used only a few times each year. Second grade classes at

Middle Gate visit the schoolhouse once a year, to get a feeling of what

educational life would have been like for Newtown students over a century ago.

Sunday afternoon, however, was the first time the building had been opened to

the public since last summer.

A few families made the trip to the schoolhouse during the sweltering hours of

mid-afternoon. Dot Wenblad and Sandra Tarbox, docents for the historical

society, were both inside the building, dressed to look like school teachers

of 100 years ago.

Mrs Wenblad is also a teacher at Middle Gate School. She has brought a number

of her students to the building for their "day in the life..." lessons, but

says teachers have less freedom now than they had in the past.

"We used to be able to come out here maybe two or three times with our

classes," she said Sunday afternoon. "But now the schools are so much more

concerned with the tests and the mastery exams, we really have a little less

freedom now, a little less spontaneity."

Nevertheless, she and Ms Tarbox enjoyed the visitors they did see. The two

ladies even pulled out a dunce cap and "bad child" labels to put on a few of

the more animated visitors of the afternoon.

"Imagine, they taught first through eighth grades in here," commented Sandra

Tarbox, looking around the white-washed room with astonishment. "They'd have

to be quite a skilled negotiator in order to lead those groups!"

In addition to the docents, Newtown's Historian, Dan Cruson, was at the

reception Sunday afternoon. Mr Cruson showed up with a trunk of old books for

the building's library. He also had copies of his new book, Images of America:

Newtown , along with past publications of his, available for purchase.

One lady showed up with her own copy of Mr Cruson's new book, telling the

author she had missed seeing him at a few of his recent appearances. This time

around, she was able to have him sign her book, while her children took in a

small part of Newtown's history.

David Merrill was also at the schoolhouse Sunday afternoon. The popular

Newtown artist had copies of his latest lithograph available for purchase. The

new view, entitled "Newtown, Connecticut," shows the top of Church Hill Road,

including the flagpole, Trinity Church, Newtown Meeting House, the house at 3

Church Hill Road and the offices of Bee Publishing Co.

"I would call it a light turnout, but we were very happy that the people who

came out were so interested in the building," Elin Hayes said this week. Mrs

Hayes is the current president of the historical society. "It's nice to see

the people who live in town enjoy this building.

"The people who came out were positive, and very enthusiastic, and that's what

matters," she said.