Since fall means back to school time, I thought you might be interested to learn a little about the Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse.
The Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse is one of the historic buildings preserved by the Columbia County Historical Society, and run as a museum. Each year, visitors of all ages, including modern school kids, come to learn about life in a one-room school.
The Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse was built around 1850, and served as a school until 1945, as Kinderhook District Number 6. The name "Ichabod Crane" comes from the character in the Washington Irving story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Irving was a frequent visitor to Kinderhook, and the character of Ichabod Crane was inspired by his friend Jesse Merwin, who was a school teacher in Kinderhook. Jessie Merwin didn't actually teach in the Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse... it was built to replace the one-room school that he taught in!
One-room schools, like the Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse, were built all over the county. Before school buses, schools had to be close to where students lived. In larger cities or towns, some larger schools were built, with classes for different grades, like we are used to today. In the country though, schools were small. At the Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse, one room held students in grades one through six!
The class was seated with the youngest students in the front, and older students in the back. Some times the teacher would work with the whole class all at once. Other times, students were asked to do seat work at their desks (independent work) while one grade at a time was called up to the lesson bench in the front of the room for a lesson.
When students got to school, they would drop off their hats, coats, and boots in the cloakroom. The Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse has one cloakroom for boys, and one for girls (You can see the doors to the two cloakrooms in the photo above, located at the center, and right side).
School desks were a little different than the ones we use in schools today. Each seat is attached to the desk behind it. This desk has a little pot that would hold ink. Students would write with a pen dipped in the ink. Here I am, practicing my penmanship! Sometimes, a naughty student would dip the ponytail of the student sitting in front of him into the pot of ink!
There was no running water inside the schoolhouse. If students needed to go to the bathroom, they went outside, to an outhouse. For drinking water, a student was sent outside to fill a bucket at a well or stream. Students might drink out of a dipper (think of all the students drinking out of one dipper... what germs!), or bring their own collapsible cup from home.
There was also no furnace in the schoolhouse. All of the heat came from a wood burning stove. Students' families were asked to supply wood to the school to keep the students warm. Sometimes students today are asked to bring a box of tissues to share with the class... aren't you glad you don't have to bring firewood?!?
What do you think, would you like to go to a one-room school like the Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse, or do you prefer school like it is today?
