Middlebury’s Center Schoolhouse – Part I of III

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Center Schoolhouse is shown here in a photo likely taken in the early 1900s. The two-room schoolhouse served grades 1 to 3 in one room and 4 to 8 in the other. (Dr. Robert L. Rafford scan)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

Last year marked the 125th anniversary of the Center School building, located off the Green on Library Road (so named because Center School housed the town’s library from 1935 until 1972), and now occupied by the Middlebury Historical Society. The building was once the two-room Center School, where Middlebury children were taught their lessons. One room held grades 1 through 3 and the other grades 4 through 8. It replaced another building, the Academy School, which stood in the middle of what is now Whittemore Road, just at the eastern edge of the Green.

The building is an historic gem designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White, with grounds designed by the renowned landscape architect Warren Henry Manning (1860-1938). McKim, Mead and White were responsible for the design of the Boston Public Library building, Pennsylvania Station in New York City and the West Wing of the White House. The firm’s Alfred Milton Napier (1870-1956), who was related to the Whittemore family, designed the actual building.

In the summer of 1896, a Mr. John Howard (“J.H.,” as he was affectionately called) Whittemore (1837-1910), submitted a proposition to the town offering to fund 75% of the cost of the new building, including heating and furniture; the town’s liability was not to exceed $1,000. The voters of the town approved the proposition on August 24.

Whittemore had written to the committee that he would offer to build the school providing the town built a new highway (Library Road) from Town Hall to the top of Tucker Hill, then called Kingston Hill, and providing that the Methodist Episcopal Church furnished the land, which it did. He predicted the school would be ready for occupancy in the autumn of 1897, and it was, costing a total of $4,000 (about $143,475 in 2022).

The minutes of the First School District (also called Center District) dated August 19, 1896, state, “The legal voters of School District No. 1 in the Town of Middlebury are hereby warned (i.e., given notice) that a special school meeting is to be held in the school house of said District on Monday Aug. 24th, 1896, at 8 o’clock P. M. for the purpose of taking into consideration a proposition of J. H. Whittemore in regard to a new school house; also to accept said proposition if deemed best.” The notice was signed by John T. Basham (1850-1921) for the district committee on August 19, 1896, and attested to by Robert Miles Fenn (1870-1951), clerk.

The Methodist Episcopal Church donated the property for Center School to the town. The former Methodist Episcopal Church building, which served until 1922, and is now used by Westover School, stands opposite the present Town Hall. Their proposition was to donate the land “on condition that the (land) be fenced in with a tight board fence 8 feet high and forever maintained …” If the school district failed to maintain the fence, the land would revert back to the church. Perhaps the noise of schoolchildren was anticipated to disrupt church services!

You are urged to join the Middlebury Historical Society by going online at MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or visiting them on Facebook. Questions about membership can be sent to Bob at robraff@comcast.net.