Schoolhouses in Huron, New York

Introduction

The information on this page was compiled by former Town of Huron Historian, Carol Fowler Flint,  for use in museum 
displays.  The current Town of Huron Historian believes this information is valuable for research and public record, so 
she has included as much as possible on this website.  As always,  additional information on the topics in these pages is 
always appreciated.  If you have something that may add, improve, or correct any of the information given, please 
contact the Huron Historian. 

From the mid-1800's until 1935, the Town of Huron had 11 school districts - each with its own 
school house.  There were no buses. Students walked to school in all weather - some a distance of 
two miles or more. In most cases, each school had one teacher who was responsible for 
teaching students of all ages all subjects. 

The first public school in Huron opened in 1809.  It was located in what was originally a log cabin 
for slaves on the Helm property (now Thomas Farms) on Ridge Road.  Pauline Fuller was the 
teacher.  Miss Fuller taught 13 students from three families in the small hamlet of Resort, at that 
time, soon to be known as Port Glasgow. 

1935 brought to a close the era of the one-room schoolhouse for the Town of Huron. School buses 
began to transport students to the larger public schools in Wolcott and North Rose. Many of the 
teachers followed the students to these newer and larger school houses. 

Country Schoolhouses in the Town of Huron 

Graham School   District # 1. Located on the Northwest corner of Lasher Road and Wilson
Road. Presently a private residence. Teachers: Carrie E. Jones, Genevieve Valentine Shear, Hulda Versprill Cool,  Alice Young Lytle, Josephine Andrus Yotter, Blanche Stone.

 

York Settlement School District #2. Located on York Settlement Road just East of Brick
School House Road and West of York Settlement Cemetery (no longer in existence).
Teachers: Josephine York, Helen Demmon.

Hyde School Distirct # 3. Located on the Southeast corner of Lummisville Road and North
Huron Road (burned in 2001). Teachers: Gertrude Chapin Hatcher, Edith Chapin, Esther Graves, Bess Olmsted, Marjory Henry, Edna Davis, Grace Curtise Boyer, Ora Franscisco, Josephine Yotter,
Bert Richardson, and Bernice Eygnor (last teacher).

Brick School District # 4. Located on the Southwest corner of Ridge and Brick School
House Roads. Presently a private residence. Teachers: Henry Tyndall, Charles Tyndall, George
Emery, Josephine York, Evelyn Gatchell, Gladys Dow, Josephine Andrus Yotter, Charlotte Burns,
Irene Wolf.

Resort School District # 5. Located on the South side of Ridge Road, between Lake Bluff Road and Resort Road on the Thomas Farms. Teachers: Pauline Fuller, Myrtie Rosenberg.

Dayton Mills School District # 6. Located on Northwest corner of North Huron and Slaght
Roads. Property of the Town of Huron and preserved as a museum. Teachers: Frances Watson
Streeter (1862), Lena Gordon Qureau (1897), Jennie Dobbin (1900), Bert Richardson, Ernest
Phillips, Ida Tyndall, Ida Mae Powers, Nettie Palmer, Ethel Correll Blazier, Dorothy Weager, Hulda Versprill Cool, Leslie Palmer, Mrs. Clarence Richards, Bess Olmsted Armstrong, Margaret Kellogg
Munroe, Cecile Fowler, Grace Curtise Boyer (1927-1929), Josephine Andrus Yotter (1932 – closing). The Dayton Mills School was re-dedicated in a ceremony on September 25, 1972. Town and
County officials, along with 100 visitors were present at the service. Congressman Frank Horton
presented the school a flag that had been flown over the White House.

Port Bay School District # 7. Located on the West side of West Port Bay Road, North of
Clapper Road and South of Graves Point Road (No longer in existence). Teachers: Frances WatsonStreeter (1861), Ella Sheldon, Bert Richardson, Blanche Bird, Myrtle Bailey, Mate Kitchen Sillman, Mrs. Ed Farmunn, Mary Clarence Richards, Helen Sharpe, Esther Graves, Louise Wright, Inez DowdTaylor, Selma Sharpe, Laura Vanderpole, Clara Harper.

Dutch Street School District # 8. Located on the West side of Dutch Street, approximately 1
mile North of Slaght Road, between Clapper and Wright Roads (no longer in existence). Teachers: Lucinda Smedley (Demmon) (1859-1861), Malinda Jones (1862-1863), Rachel Dickenson (1863-
1864), M. robinson (1865). Orrin Skutt (1866-1867), Eliza Watson (Sandall) (1868-1869), Gary
Whitbeck (1869), L.C. Jones (1869),Thomas Mitchell (1871, Emma Whitney ( 1871), Addie Sheldon
(Hicks) (1871-1873), Frank Boylan ( 1873), Lucy Merrill (1874), Nicholas Vought (1875), Mary
Stewart ( 1875), Ella Chapin ( 1876), George Robinson ( 1876), Nicholas Vought (1877), George
Robinson (1877), L. Worthy (1878), Carrie Seaman (1881), Ella Sheldon (Reddington) (1881-1882), Thoms Hallett (Doctor in Clyde) (1884-1885), Lena Demmon (Mack) (1885-1886), Elmer Seever
(1886), Lena Demmon (1887), Ella Sheldon (1887), Charles Webb ( 1888), Ella Sheldon (1888),
Lena Dammon ( summer term 1889), Thad Shear (1889), Harvey Roscoe ( 1890), Evelyn Fink
( 1890), Josephine York (1891), Minnie Dean (1891), Nettie Richardson (Sharp) ( 1892), Ella
Sheldon (1893), Sarah DeGrader (1893-1894), Sara Baker (1895), James Sebring ( 1895), Fred
Smedley ( 1896), Ella Sheldon ( 1897), Hugh Jones (1898), Fay Blauvelt ( 1899-1900), Lulu Porter
( 1901-1902), Olive Hedges ( 1902-1903), Fannie Palmer (1903-1904), Ella Sheldon (1905-1906),
Frances Bradshaw (1906-1907). (note: the records for the Dutch Street School teachers has been abbreviated due to the repetitive listings of teachers. Records were taken from a book dating from 1859 loaned to the Huron Town Historian, Carol Fowler Flint, by Laura Waldron Jenkins.)

 

Sloop Landing School District # 9. Located just North of the Northwest corner of Sloop
Landing and Sunset View (Lummisville) Roads. (A private residence, the structure has been
considerably changed). Teachers: Miss Rose, James Gatchell, Blanche Veley, Gertrude Correll.

Rice’s Mills School District # 10. Located on the Northeast (?) corner of Woodruff and Lummisville Roads (moved from site). Teachers: Melvin Lane, Gertrude Wells Kerr, Clarence Richards, Bess Olmsted, Maude Lovejoy.

East Bay School District #11. Located on the West side of East Bay Road, North of Slaght
Road. (no longer in existence). Teachers: George Newberry, Iva Huntley, Blanche Davis, Hazel
Booth Oaks, Nita Bell Powers, Ethel Correll Blazier, Ora Francisco, Dana Waldron, Ethel Baldridge.

 

Duties and Rules for Teachers

Besides instruction, teachers had many other duties in the days of the one room schoolhouse.
Here is a sampling of those other duties/rules. 

• Fill lamps, clean chimneys, and trim wicks every day.
• Bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for each day’s session.
• Make pens carefully. Whittle nibs to the individual taste of the student.
• Spend time each night after supper reading the Bible and other good books.
• Men teachers are allowed one night each week for courting purposes, or two evening a week if they attend church regularly.
• Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be discharged.
• Every teacher shall lay aside from each month’s pay a goodly sum for his/her benefit during his/her declining years so they will not become a burden on society.
• Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool halls, gets shaved in a
  barber shop shall give good reason to suspect his worth, integrity, and honesty.
• The teacher who performs his/her duties regularly and faithfully, and without fault for five years, will be given an increase of 25 cents a week in pay, providing the Board of Education approves.