r. BUILDING NAME (Commoa/ (HfSfor,c J

I South District School House

T own No I $it .. No 233HISTORIC RESOURCES INVENTORYBUILDING AND STRUCTURESH15T·6 NEW 5 71

FOR OFFICE USE ONL y

STATE OF CONNECTICUTCONNECTICUT HISTORICAL COMMISSION

59 SOUTH PROSPECT STREET. HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT 06106(203) 566-3005

UT~ I I I I 1 I ' IQUAD I

DISTRIC T

Os DNR ltV NR SPECIFYo Actual 0 Potential

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2 TOWN CITY

FarmingtonIVILLAGE I COUN Y

HartfordJ STREET AND NUMBER IOnd ~I {o,·all"n}

220 Main Street4 OWNERl51

Burke, Virginia C. and Morrisey, June C. DPublic ~Priva, ..-, USE (Pre.'PII')

Commercial6. (I EXTERIOR V5tBLE FROM PUBLC ROADACCESSIBILITY r::1 0

. TO PUBLIC: ~ Yes No

INTERIOR ACCESSlaLE IIF YES EXPLAIN

IG Yes DNa during business hoursS rLE OF BUILulNc;

Early nineteenth-century schoolhouse.DATE OF CONSTRULT!<YN

18298 MAT~RIALlSl (Jndie>lp use or/aeallon ",hpn appr"p"aIP/oClapboard o Asbestos Siding ~Brick OOther(Specify) _

o Woad Shingle o Asphalt Siding o Fieldstone

o Board & Batten o Stucco o Cobblestoneo Aluminum 0 ConcreteSiding Type:

9 STRUCTURAL SYS7EMoWood frame 0 Po s' and beam

r::l Cut s'onel2SJ Type: brownstone foundation

o balloon o O'her (Sppeofyl _

.0 Structural iron or steellOR 00 F f T 1'/". ,

~ Gable 0 Flat o Mansard o Monitor o sawtoolh

o Gambrel o Shed oHip o Round OO'hert Spt'e ,Iy) _zo

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IXUIIIWo

r Roll 0L-' Wood Shingle 0 Asphall Tin

~ Asphal' shingl.. 0 Budl up 0 Til ..

o Sial e

O,h e rO'Sp e e"yl

, 1 NUMBER OF STORIE~ I APPROXIMATE DIME N~IONS

l~ I 34 X 2212 CONDITION ISerllf rut.,I, ,1-:.\""1 .. ,1

[29 Excellen' [J Goad 0 Fair OD,,'ertara'''d 10 EKe e IIe n, 0 Goad

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;:] Barn ~ Sh ed 0 Garag.. @ Other loo d s c op e f e alur .. s or buddings' Spt'e.ly'parking lot

o Fall o De' e riora'ed

O Carriagehous ..

l~ SURROUNDING

~ Open lond

o Shop o Ga,d ..n.._ .. - ----- ----------------------_ .._--------E NVIRONMf NT'J Wood· ["..JL land t.. Rp"d ..nt,ol I

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Situated along the west side of Main Street in the southern portiun of F;lrmington ViI Lq~ethe South District SchOll! House is bordered on all sides by modern commen.' lal andresidentL.d development. II number o! eighteenth- and nineteenth-century LlI-m!lI)Uses arestill visible from til(' sill'.

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Built in 1829 this four-bay, well-preserved building is capped by a ridge-to-street gableroof with wide overhanging eaves. The brick is used in the common bond pattern .md the s I,over-six sash are accented by smooth stone sills and lintels made of headers. The entrydoor is modern as are the louvered shutters.

19 HI L OR N E

The South District Schoolhouse was built in 1829 on land owned by Alfred and EdbertCowles. In October of that year, the Cowles brothers sold that school district the16 3/4 rods of land on which the brick schoolhouse stands (FLR 44:196). The schooldistrict received an additional 15 rods of land from Egbert in 1861 (FLR 59:81). Theschool house was used until the turn-of-the-century, when a new, larger school (CenterSchool) was erected in the center of the village. Many of the children who attended thesmall district schools were transfered"to Center School. In 1905 the Center School Districsold the property to Theodate Pope (FLR 76:13). Miss Pope, who is known as one of firstwomen architects, remodeled the school into a dwelling. It became the home of Rueben Lewisand his family. Mr. Lewis was employed at the "The Lodge", a vacation retreat for under-priviledged city girls, who were employed in the garm~nt industry. It is also saidMr. Lewis worked as a porter for the railroad. In 1928 Mrs. Agnes' K. Curtin of 11184 MainStreet purchased the "South school house property" (FLR 82:386). Sometime during the1930's, the Lewis family moved and the building was converted to an antique shop. TheFarmington Valley Forge and a nursery school were located here for several years. Todaythe building houses an attorney's office.The South District House is architecturally notable for its degree of p~eservation andremai~s a good example of an early nineteenth-century, brick school house. The buildingis also historically significant for its association with Farmington's educationaldevelopment.

Farmington Land Records; Farmington Probate Records; Farmington Vital Records; FarmingtonCemetery Inscriptions, W.P.A. 1934; Avon Cemetery Inscriptions, W.P.A., 1934; 1853 E.M.Woodford Map; 1855 E.M. Woodford Map; 1869 Baker and Tilden Map; 1878 a.H. Bailey & Co.,Map.; Brandegee, Arthur L. Farmington, Connecticut, The Village of Beautiful Homes. Farmin-gton, Conn.: Author, 1906; Prentise, Dudley. History of Farmington Houses. 9 vols., N.p.,1974.; Farmington House File Collect ion. camp. Annie Burr Lewis and Mabel S. Hurlburt. N. p. ,

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Middletown, CT

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200 Mai. StreetThe Old South District Schbel House •

• Thi. is pictured on page 36 of the Farmington Book andstands just south of the entrance to Post Office Square on MainStreet.

For early owners of this property, see the account of206 Main Street. These early owners probably were:

Thomas Upson,Andrew Warner, andDr. Daniel Porter.

This school house is said to have been built in 1829to replace an earlier frame building on this same site. Thefollowing excerpt from Julius Gay's discourse of January 5, 1892on "Schools and Schoolmasters" would indicate that the earlierbuilding was probably erected around January of 1756. Mr. Gay'sstatement reads, speaking of an old schoolhouse at Meeting HouseSquare:

"Thi. house was in use until May 1756, when the Societyvoted to sell the schoolhouse in the meeting house yard to thehighest bidder. Five months before this they had voted to buildtwo houses sixteen feet square, or as much larger .s the committeeshould judge needful, one at the aorth end of the town and one atthe south end~

An article in the Hartford Times of August 17, 1938,reads in part .a fo110wa, which would apply to the present schoolhouse:

"Lewis C. Root of Farmington received his early educationin the South School and among his schoolmates were the late ThomasCowles, Jr., and his brother the late Admiral William SheffieldCowl ea. At that time the late Mi.s Emily Cowles was teacher".

Note: One Emily Cowles who could have been this teacher,was Emily Dickinson Cowles of what is now 400 Main Street, born in1847, who later married James Willard Moore. She was the daughterof James Woodruff Cew1es of "The Maples", pictured on page 105 ofthe Farmington Book.

This school house probably continued in use until around1900 er so, when the Center School was built near the site of thepresent Noah Wallace School. Many of the outlying district schoolswere abandoned at this time and children were brought to CenterScheo1 in wagons.

•By 1905 at least, the schoolhouse was no longer used for

its original purpose, ~nd it was purchased by Mis. Theodate Popeto provide a home for Reuben Lewi. and his wife Lucy and theirfamily. He was working at that time at "The Lodge", now known as185 Main Street. The Lodge was operated by a group comprised ofMis. Perter's graduates, to provide a vacation home and a recreationresort for working girls of the big city garment industry are •••

June 28, 1972I_qi~'r

-

...

232-2Reuben Lewis was the son of Richard Lewis, who i. pictured

on page 130 of the Farmington Book in front of his home at 13 Colte.Street, and alone on page 194. He has been said by some to have beena railroad porter. His employment at the Lodge is said by some tohave been aa chef, and by others to have been the groundsman. Hiswife worked also. Lucy Lewis had been married before, to Dixon,by whom she had two 80ns. One of these sons was married and lived onTunxi. Street. HIS son is James Dixon, who has worked all his lifeon the Wad.worth farm, and still does. All Farmington residents knowhim and have seen him many times, making his daily run from the cowbarn behind the Wadsworth houses down to the South Meadows and return.

Reuben and Lucy Lewis were both good people, careful inthe rearing of their children, and Reuben was a deacon in the Epis-copal Church. A non-smoker, he was very distressed when a new min -iater who smoked came to Flumingten as his pastor. The Levi.es hadthirteen children and the late William Wollenberg could name them1n the eXact order of their birth: Lucy, Ralph, Jennie, Mildred,Clarence, William, Fred, Barney, Jerry, John, Doris aad Nargaret.Passers by the little old schoolhouse usually saw heads peeking outof every window .s they went by. They w~re good students at schoolend for several years every cIa •• had a Lewis child in it. Theynever walked to and from school, always ~an. They made many friendsof their classmates in F2rmington, and some of them still pay annualcalls in Farmington, ~lthough they are now quite widely scattered.See photo of "Little Richard", the fifth child, on page 149 of theFarmington Book.

At one time the Lewises allowed a gypsy family to camp intheir yard, complete with a hand organ and a performing bear. Thisdid bother the neighbors, some of whom were quite nervous until thegypsies left.

This house was sold in 1928, by the then Mrs. John WallaceRiddle, to Agnes Keller Curtin, wife of John J. Curtin. The Curtinswer then living just north of here at 184 Main Street, and had beensince 1919. One member of the Curtin family thinks that the Lewiseacontinued in residence here until perhaps 1930.

Just what use was made of the building from the time it wasvacated by the Lewise. until 1938 is not known by this writer, butsome time prior to August 1938 it ,,,asleased to Hr •• Pearl CowlesPond, to be used by her .s an antique shop. It is said that sheoffered Mr. Curtin a generous sum if he would sell it, but he pre-ferred keeping it in the family. She only occupied it a year or 80.

I

Mrs. Pond was a de.cendant of the Cowles and Hart familiesof Farmington, and Samuel Cowles, her third Cowles ancestor inFarmington, probably built the house which became the core of thepresent house standing at 2 Colton Street. Her ancestry in theCowles and Hart and Pond families will be found in the account of2 Colton Street, ~s well as more information on herself and herhusband and their family.

June 28, 1972

/~:::ri7

232-3

Dorothe;l Pond introduces her mother ,:isf eLl cw s e "Ny motherwas Pearl Hart Cowles. Her mother, Louise Hart Cowles, had hadthree other children, two of whom had died in infancy. The thirdwas Ruby Louise, a maiden lady, who operated gift shops in NewHnven "lnd Hadison, Connecticut. My mother owned a heme on theCollege lIighw,1'Iyin Plainville, and there eperat ed a tearoom called"The Old Ni lestone". She had the an t Lque and gift shop in 1"arming-ten for a time, was an importer for several years and had manycustomers in the Farmington and Hartford area., whose homes shevisited and gave showings of her goods".

After her occupancy of this building, which was writtenup in the Hartford Times of August 17, 1938, information on latertenants is quite sketchy, and the following comments are more inthe nsture of notes, and not complete information.

Hugh Feeney rented the building for a time, and operatedwhat he called liThe Farmington Valley Forge".He had previouslybeen employed by the West Hartford Ornamental Iron Works. He lefthere .f er (I \.rhileand it ,,,asoperated by a man named Collins, thenMr. Feeney returned, but rented it to • Charles Murphy, also ofWest Hartford. He was succeeded by a Mr. Margeson, who was thelast to operate the shop.

Mrs. Morrissey and Mrs. Burke then took on its renovationand restoration, worked hard and with good results, and around 1964rented it to Ja.queline Dupuis, and it again became a school, but thistime a nursery school. She operated it six years, principally itseemed as a day care center for children of working mothers.

In March 1971 it was rented to Robert Day, and it is nowknown as "The Learning Place".

Robert Day is vice-principal of Rfu\M High School of Hebron,Connecticut. He had been director of the now defunct E&st Hartford"Df scov ery Cen t er !' , The "Le arndng PLiice" was opened to replace theEast IIartford facility which had closed due to lack of funds, and isfinanced by Mr. Day himself. Mc. Day has transformed the buildingfrom wha t; he called "one big room, ,1.11white". He did much of thework and decorating himself, after carpenters had carried out thestruc t.ursI changes. His teachers in 1971 w ere rUSS G.;th1eFedora audNrs. Rosanne Kapsia. Teaching methods combine elements of severalother programs, but curriculum and teaching style have been developedby Hr. Day and his t.wo t.eacher e, "He use Montessori ma t.erLeLa andsome Piaget philosophy, but not the same approach". Mr. D~y says theLearning Place describes itself as a progressive environment wh eze achild's curiosity is constructively channeled by planned and free play'l.

Articles published on September 26, 1971, and Nay 6, 1972, inthe Hartford Courant, tell more of the story of "The Learning Place".

•According to the writer's notes, this property was inherited

by June Curtin Morrissey from her grandfather, George Keller, in 1946 •Mr. Keller had taken title from his daughter Agnes Keller Curtin, inthe year 1939.June 28, 1972