HomeMy WebLinkAboutschool district 9 glance backward 1974 23ackward :
eld Churches Have All Moved
Rollison School on Mecklenburg Road near the Enfield town line had these students in 1909, when Irene Miller
(bouffant hairdo in back row) was teaching. The students are, from left, Merrill Curry with a bicycle, Willard
Georgia, Mary and Ralph Lovelace, Grace Rollison, Henry Ink, Harry Lovelace and Ed Georgia with a bike.
T he girl standing right of the teacher is Elizabeth Hatfield.
acquaintance of a neighbor he didn't know he had, Arnold
Lowell whose family had lived a mile or so away for a year.
Applegate Corners on Rte. 79 was a busy place from 18W
when John Applegate, Peter Banfield and John White ar-
rived. The next year, they were joined by the Jonathan Rolfe
family from South Amboy, N.J. and one year afterwards
came Samuel Rolfe. After donation of a site by the first
Rolfe, an early cemetery association was formed.
What is now Rte. 79 Nva; Dart of a stage route between
Richford i Tioga Ccunly+and Bath in Steuben County. The
Jericho Tu spike, as it was t=alleo; :leas k%artcrcd in !W1. .
Enfield's very first road connected Enfield Center and Ap-
plegate Corners where there was a tavern, burned since
World War II. Its site is commemorated with an historical
marker. One of the tavern's last operators was Joe Tebb, an
emigrant from England, who was postmaster late in the
1800's.
Although Enfield has no post office now, there were once
three, one at Enfield Center, one at Enfield Falls and the one
at Applegate Corners which was called simply the Enfield
Post Office. The tavern was, of course, the receiving and
shipping point for mail and merchandise sent by stage coach
before federal mail delivery became a general service to
ruralareas.
There have been numerous schools in the township. The
one in Enfield Center accommodated so many pupils in its
final years that it had two rooms. The elementary school
which stands today between the Center and Rte. 79 is part of
the Ithaca School system. Before centralization, however,
some of the one -room schools closed for lack of pupils and
the districts contracted to have children transported (in bad
weather) to the nearest school, paying tuition for attendance
there.
At a short distance south of Applegate Corners stood a
stone structure which housed scholars of that district. Its
remains were ultimately used in road construction, accor-
ding to the memory of some long-time residents. There
previously has been mention of the school in publications
saying it was north of the corners. Mrs. Brown is certain it
was south.
hue has 4ecurd `.ac;i' kept by tri stees of District 5 (Ap-
plegate) and District 6 (Enfield Center) from early 1880's to
1915. At District 5, in 1888, school operations cost about $200
and the tax levy provided $88.03 of that. Some purchases
were a 50-cent water pail, wash dish and dipper for 25 cents,
one eraser at 20 cents, a fire shovel for a quarter, and a
broom which cost 30 cents.
The Center School had only one room in 1888 and the
budget for the year came to $321 with a total tax warrant of
$34.30. As always, costs of operating schools went upward
only. By 1912, the two -room Enfield Center School required a
budget of $517.94.
In those 1880 years, teachers' wages ranged from about $5
per week to as much as $7.50.
The Center school underwent some major improvements
in 1885. There was a new ceiling, new lathe, plaster and
paper. The 900 feet of basswood ceiling cost $22.50 and a roll
of plaster board $1.90. The delivery charge for them was
$1.75 and whoever went to Ithaca to buy it was paid 62 cents
for what amounted to a half day's labor. The same amount
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