Middlebury’s Center Schoolhouse – Part II of III

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The first Center School once sat to the left of this old Methodist Episcopal Meeting House (now owned by Westover School and used as an archive and office building). Whittemore Road now runs over the land where the school once stood. (Robert Rafford photo)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

John Howard Whittemore’s offer to build a new Center School was part of a larger plan for Middlebury Center. It was he who had the first town hall built on the Green in 1895 (it burned in 1935 and was replaced by the present one). Heretofore, some town meetings had been held in the General Store on the Green owned by Arthur Willis Bissell (the General Store building was moved down West Street from its position on the Green when the Westover School was built and situated where Pies and Pub is today).

In that first old town hall was a new public library supported by the Whittemore family. J. H. Whittemore also had the roads around the Green redesigned, and he built Library Road in 1896, making the climb up Tucker Hill to the Green much easier. The Methodist-Episcopal society granted a portion of their eastern lot for the new road, and, in compensation, the grading about the Methodist church was done under the direction of Mr. Whittemore. At the same time, the Methodist society donated a piece of land for the new schoolhouse, the new Center School.

This Westover staff building down Library Road incorporates the old Center School house as one of its wings. (Dr. Robert L. Rafford photos)

J. L. Rockey’s “History of New Haven County” (1892) describes Middlebury’s Green, where stood “a two-story school building which was erected in 1814 for an academy.” The Academy School in Middlebury stood just north of the Methodist Episcopal Church at a place which today is directly in the path of Whittemore Road as it winds down from the Green (see photograph above). The old Center School building, a two-floor building, was moved down Library Road, and became the private residence of Artisom Clark. Today, it forms one wing of the staff quarters on Library Road (see photograph to the right).

When the new Center School was erected in 1897, the old Center School house (called the Union Academy) was no longer needed. The Union Academy, which was a private school designed to educate students above the elementary level, was sold to the town in 1859. “The lower floor was used for classes by the Center School District. The town leased the upper-level meeting hall to a series of tenants, among them a singing school and several churches, including the Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian church societies. Town meetings, court hearings and exhibitions also took place here” (Rachel Carley, Historical and Architectural Survey of the Town of Middlebury, Connecticut, 2010).

The district system, whereby each town was divided into school districts, lasted until the 1930s. Middlebury had six districts. Those who are familiar with the 1868 map of Middlebury know that each district is represented by a different color on the map. In Middlebury, the districts were Tylertown (northwest), Kissewaug (southwest), Breakneck (north central), Sandy Hill (south central), Hop Swamp (also called Hop Brook and Bradleyville), and Center.

There were many other “center school” houses in Connecticut, including Southbury, Warren Bethlehem, Oxford, Monroe, Roxbury and Naugatuck. In her pictorial history, “Connecticut Schoolhouses Through Time” (2017), Melinda K. Elliott of Southbury beautifully depicts erstwhile school buildings of our state, none more beautiful than our priceless gem in Middlebury.

Next month, the conclusion of this article!

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.