1947 as a six-year-old in first grade: The walk to and from school was the most difficult part of my day. We walked on a path bordered by magnificently cut stone walls behind Mr. Peckham’s house on South Road. It felt like we were walking miles, but I know now it was only about a quarter mile. With the deep snow it seemed that my legs became increasingly short. I tried to walk in my older brother Rod’s footsteps because the snow would be matted from his “larger” footprints. This was indeed exhausting because his stride was much longer than mine. To tease me and make matters worse, he would run so that I couldn’t use the matted snow method. So much for my big brother being my hero.
By Patricia Cable Thompson
-I continuously tried to change my left-handedness to right, but to no avail. To this day I’m notably a “lefty”. My teacher at Center School must have loved a challenge because she became my second-grade teacher in the new Consolidated School! I always believed that she loved me so much that she wanted me for another year.
-An exciting day at school was a visit from Lewis S. Mills. We all had to clean our desks and be on our best behavior in anticipation of his arrival. I remember Mrs. Parnell always wrote on the blackboard, “Good morning, Mr. Mills.” His presence seemed so huge and definitely someone to respect. He was a robust, very pleasant and happy man. Mr. Mills always took a moment before leaving us to ask questions of the class. I don’t remember what he asked, but we always laughed with him and he would depart on a happy note.
-As a member of the Harwinton Historical Society, we saved the school building from demolition. The day the building was moved to its present sight was a profound experience and personal sense of accomplishment for me. I guess the “One-Room Schoolhouse” will always be deep seated in the bottom of my heart and definitely not a frightening experience any longer.
When our family moved from New York City to Harwinton in 1939, my twin Louise and I attended Center School. We loved our teacher, Miss Wheeler. Every year she taught us and when she left to be married to become Mrs. Alva Reynolds, Mrs. Freda Fredsall taught in our last two years and she gave us a great start especially in algebra, which helped us have a love for the subject in high school.
by Virginia Easton Simpson
-Our school had eight grades and was certainly a challenge to two very shy girls! Now I can understand it was certainly a challenge to our teacher, too. Because some of the older boys had to work on their farms during the fall and spring seasons, some of them graduated when they became 16 and it was from the eighth grade! They helped by keeping the furnace full of wood in the cellar below the vent. Our school had the only running water because our grandmother, Mrs. Roger Dennett, had a pipe installed from a well on her property to a tap for drinking water at the school
– sometimes we would walk to another school for a softball game after school.
The most rewarding years of my teaching career were spent at Center School in Harwinton, Connecticut. I taught there nine years from 1929 to 1938.
by Helen Deegan Healy, Center School Teacher
-When I look back at those years so many of my students remain as vivid in my memory today as they were then. My thoughts bring back happy memories of teaching grades one through eight in a one-room schoolhouse.
-One of the most important contributions my students made to Center School was having electricity put in our school. The students had plays, raffles and projects to earn money to make this possible. How excited we were the day that Andrew Kasznay came and installed our electricity. We thought we were pretty special to have lights in our schoolhouse.
-We also had a project to purchase an overhead projector. All the students enjoyed this and they loved to use it to produce pictures of what they were studying in the classroom and showing it on the screen to classmates.
-We also made a section of our little schoolroom into a library. We had chairs, tables, and many books. Here the pupils could go when assignments were completed. We had library books delivered once a month and the children enjoyed them immensely.
-Since we were in our school from 9 to 4, we wanted to make it as pretty as possible. So, Mrs. Kirchofer, one of our school mothers, helped the girls make nice tieback curtains for all our windows. They really brightened up our classroom.
-In preparation for Memorial Day, the students would bring in flowers from home and we would have a parade. We would march up the hill to Center Cemetery and place the flowers on the graves of all the veterans.
-I must not forget our participation in the County Spelling Bees. We used to hold practices and the Graduating Ceremony at the Center Congregational Church on the top of the hill. To many of my students during these depression years, it would be the only graduation of his/her lives so it had to be really special. It also meant for others leaving Harwinton to attend high school in Torrington.
-As a graduation present, students from Center School, Miss Walsh’s School and Locust Road School were taken for a weekend to Lake Quassapaug in Middlebury, Connecticut. My sister, Lillian Deegan McGrath, also a teacher, helped chaperone them at my summer camp. The students loved it and had a wonderful time.
-I have kept in touch with many of my pupils who attended Center School from 1929 – 1938. Today, many, many years later, they are my best friends.
First District School is open to visitors during spring, summer, and fall dates. See “programs” on this website for times or contact Harwinton Historical Society for an appointment to visit this historical gem.
