Middlebury’s Center Schoolhouse – Part III of III

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This Center School photo taken in the 1940s shows the building when it served as the town’s only library from 1935 to 1972. It was replaced by the current library on Crest Road. (Middlebury Historical Society photo)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

Following the death of Elise Hamilton (Myers) Bristol (b. 1879) in 1924, her husband, Professor William Henry Bristol (1859-1930), built a highway in his beloved wife’s memory for the town. It was designed to bypass Library Road, from Town Hall to the intersection with Porter Hill Road. The plaque on the boulder across from Shepardson Community Center memorializes the Elise Myers Bristol Highway.

One benefit of the new road was that it offered a place for a new multi-room schoolhouse to be built in 1932, also called Center School until it was renamed Shepardson School in 1944 in honor of William Martin Shepardson (1864-1944). Shepardson, a highly regarded Middleburian, was the superintendent of the Whittemore family’s Tranquillity Farm and all their property and served as a selectman and member of the town’s school board for many years. However, the now-bypassed two-room schoolhouse was not to be cast aside.

The reincarnation of the Old Center School (as it came to be known) began at the time of the disastrous fire of 1935 that claimed the Town Hall, built in 1895, and the Congregational Church, built about 1839. Due to the diligence of Middlebury’s firefighters and those from surrounding towns, no town records were lost (Middlebury’s official fire department would not be established for another six years).

The building was re-purposed as a temporary town hall where the town clerk’s office was relocated, and later became a Town Hall Annex. Since most town activities had customarily been held in the Town Hall, the Middlebury Grange also began utilizing the building for temporary quarters, holding monthly meetings and other affairs there. Town meetings were held there too, along with meetings of the registrar of voters and the Republican town caucus.

Before a new Congregational Church edifice could be built to replace the 100-year-old building, some church services were held in the building, as well as meetings of the Ecclesiastical Society of Middlebury and church school. Church school classes for St. John of the Cross church also were held there.

The town’s public library, which had been housed in the basement of the Town Hall, was destroyed, but all the books were salvaged (some, dating to the early 1800s, are on display at the Middlebury Historical Society) The new library was established in the building and served the town from 1935 to 1972, when the new library on Crest Road was constructed. Children’s books were available in one room, and an adult section was featured in the other room. Delia Bronson (1897-1987) served as librarian there for many years. Library Road takes its name from the Center School library, not the new library on Crest Road.

Between 1972 and 1981, Old Center School continued to serve the town. John Sullivan of Sullivan’s Jewelers remembers the basement of the building being used as a recreational center in the 1970s, complete with pin-ball machines. He said kids would go to catechism class at St. John of the Cross Church and afterward head over to the building for the rest of the afternoon.

The next chapter in this wonderful building began in 1981 when the building became the permanent home of the Middlebury Historical Society, which had been incorporated in 1975 (a future article will tell of the society’s founding).

In 2002, Old Center School was renovated to align it with federal codes; a ramp and restroom were added, and other improvements were made. Today, it continues to serve Middlebury as a meeting place, museum, archive and research center. Volunteers spend hundreds of hours each year collecting and preserving Middlebury’s history. Our town’s leaders and the Department of Public Works carefully maintain the building and its grounds for all to enjoy, hopefully for many years to come.

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.