The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

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November 14, 2008

Students remember 1-room school

By Joe Zentis

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP — “The school is ended, but the memories linger on.”

That variation of Irving Berlin lyrics could have been the theme song at the reunion of 20 Greenville Road School students. The reunion was held in the Tennessee Gas Co.’s social hall, just a few yards from the site of their former one-room school near Mercer-Greenville Road and Fullingmill roads in Jefferson Township.

The school was closed in 1952 and burned to the ground in 1962. It was one of about 300 Mercer County one-room schools that provided education, warmth, friendships, and guidance to young people for many years.

The memories they shared were good ones – games at recess, such as Red Rover and Ante-Over, going sled riding during lunch hour, buying cough drops and other items at the little store on the other side of Fullingmill Road, which is still standing, though very dilapidated. They remembered Christmas programs with songs and little plays, and box socials.

“One of the teachers was Mr. Clifford McDowell,” said Mary Mitchell. “I thought he was old, but found out later that he was only 21. He got there early to get the furnace going. If our mittens and socks got wet, we would dry them by the furnace. There was no running water, just a pail of drinking water in the back of the room. The privies, of course, were outside.”

All the students remembered that good discipline was an essential element of their experience, but Ms. Mitchell also remembered that the students were adventurous enough to play pranks.

“Mr. Johnson, a school official out of Mercer, would visit. He was very proper. One time Sarah Cousins and I hid his hat under his coat. Then somebody else moved it. Everyone searched for it. The teacher asked if he was sure he wore a hat. Finally someone found it. We didn’t get into trouble because nobody knew who had done it.”

The former students organized their first reunion in 2005, with Jim Hogan as president. Chuck Thorpe provided entertainment with familiar old songs that year and every year since.

This year’s attendees ranged in age from 65 to almost 92, with Chester Cousins being honored as the oldest man present. The oldest woman was Lena McCoy. Judy Bartholomew traveled the farthest, from Warren, Ohio. Don Baker won the door prize. Sara Crawford, Alice Goldhart, Judy Bartholomew, Margery Sherman, Michael Fabian, Haven Davis, Ralph McDowell, and Cathy Heatley also participated in the program.



Joe Zentis is a freelance writer from Hermitage.

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