Worcester's First Village School

One of the really neat things about history is the adventure of discovery. It's so cool to find something you didn't know existed.

For a number of years I wondered what the first village school looked like. I knew that before 1854,  village students attended classes in what was called the Hunt School, located near the Old Tavern Farm about a mile north of the village. I also knew that School District #1 purchased a quarter acre lot in the village from David Poor in 1854.

Local tradition is that upon the original school's demolition in 1893, portions of the school building erected on that lot were incorporated into the Robert Martin residence, owned at that time by Robert Bruce. What I did not know was what that building looked like.

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from a Charlie Farrell from Milton. He was doing research on old one room school houses and wanted to come to Worcester see our collection. Fortunately, we have a pretty thorough display about those schools. During our visit, Mr. Farrell mentioned that he had a picture of one of our schools, which he had discovered at the Vermont Historical Society. Lo and behold, it turned out to be our original village schoolhouse! On the back of the picture is written, "Later moved across the street where Robert Bruce resides."

If you recognize anyone, please let us know in the comments! Check out the fence.

– J. David Book