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Glance .Backward:
Fieldstone Was Cheaper
By BARBARA BELL
Journal Staff Writer
Pioneers in the sparsely
settled wilderness which was
Tompkins County 150 years ago
found themselves with very little
choice of materials for building
homes or schools. Part of the
limitations arose from lack of
cash.
The log cabin first comes to
mind. Logs were chinked
together with a mixture of clay
and mud found close to the
building site.
After sawmills were built. a
few residents (those with a cash
income from crops or
profession I began to erect wood -
siding structures. It was not too
unusual for a family to live in a
one- or two -room log cabin
several years after erection of a
ham of 'clapboard siding. S
sturdy barn was vital to income.
Practically speaking, the house
was not quite as important.
What H one had a taste for
something better to but huts? But this fieldstone schoolhouse, once at Applegate Corners Rd. and Ric. 79, is one.
the wherewilhall a finance it. B
At least twice. in Town of Joseph L. Hulse as can be Window sills are des and around Ca
Enfield, the answer was conveniently obtained." P yoga Lake looking for
fieldstone. One wayto hold down the generous. There were numerous the ideal spot for his new home.
In 1821. a fieldstone school was fireplaces, four of which remain. on walked around that lake not
built for what was then District fr,eholders cost was taxing The upstairsndo roams were made once, but twice, and was lucky
10, and freeholders not only cash but with . The -width lank Dunlap
enough to met the girl Relurah
distancetater District 5, a short north of what s now the stone, loomed it od win or ready ingfor was in a The original kitchen DShe lac cols Corners.
Intersection of Ric. 79 and the the school when it was ready for was in a wing n the back, since She s Hill anied him y
occupation. removed. Beams were awned Enfield's Hills where the
Applegate Corners ne 'If anyr taxable to tans shall y
In I822 a fieldstone house was refuse or' -neglect to assist a together
pegs.nh hand -whittled stone from their own
constructed on what is now drawing stone or furnishing their
known as Stonehouse Rd. on a proportion of any materials The story of Charles
hill not far west of the upper which the trustee=_. may agree toWoodward's quest for a
entrance of Robert Treman furnish for building :he sin". to is one rarely equalled
State Park, formerly Enfield schoolhouse, the amount shall be Once' He was a graduate of
Glen. Oxford University in England,
added N their lax and f attn to the new nation
The school is gone. The house co1leN.ed...." before 1821. It was in 1821 that
still ace b Codas sad true.
how During is first year> 50 the young "foreigner" walked 1
P y y children were in school for the-
large and spacious rl musi Nave four -months tens. In 1842.
seemed to is builders, Charles school officals found it prudent
and Keturah Dunlap Woodward! to establish a school policy
The present owner. Mrs. R. C. holding parents liable whenever
Bald and her late husband spent a pupil will fully break windows
considerable time, effort, love tithe school.
and cash in restoring the place After a fire in the structure in
after they bought it INS there was much debate
approximately 20 years ago. concerning the feasibility of >� -
rebuilding, but this was
The school was standing eventually done. In 19D0, trustees
as late as 1918 and it would — proposed closing the school and
literally— take a little digging to merging with a neighboring
unearth is remnants today. The district.
last of it, a stone heap, was It took them three ears to get a;•-. __��� • '�
hauled to the Applegate highway the public to accept this.,,•_y� a
a few years hack, and used as fill innnvalion. Apparenliv the y� q', .I. 2 `
beneath a new hardtopped road arrangement was on a year -to-
year bass, pending annual voter J `�
The school cost 5200. It was 24 approval. The school records pZ.�:'r
by 30 feet and was located, ended in 1914. 'k.
according to district records in .Y.
the possession of DeWitt The walls of Woodward's stone
Historical Society, "as near the r7a�R�al/ t+
house are two feel Nick,
land — and possibly from
neighbors — to erect the sturdy
house at minimum cash outlay.
The stone was, after all, free.
Writings of Tompkins County
Historian, Lois O'Connor were
the prime source for information
in this article.
spring on the farm owned by tapering upward slightly.- ,i —
Enfield History —Sue Thompson, Enfield Historian, historian@townofenfield.org
Town of Enfield Timeline has been updated, from the Enfield History Book - The Town of Enfield, New York — Christian Hill
to Enfield Falls, 2002. A copy of this document can be located on www.townofenfield:org - Archived Documents. It can also
be found on the Enfield Community Council web page: www.enfieldcommunitycouncil.org.'
District #5 Enfield School — Stone School House (Reference: Ithaca Journal September 25, 1957. Slim Volume Tells His;
tory of 83 Year Old Enfield School District 5. Lois O'Connor
side of Applegate Road south of State Route 79.
In March 13, 1832 Joseph S. and Martha Hulse sold to Enfield School District 5 one half acre of land on Military Lot 54. east
(Deed Enfield T 415 Enf/Uly). Samuel Rolfe, Parvis A. Williams and
Samuel Potter were Trustees of the school. The school house was located "as near the spring on the lot as conveniently y
obtained". The building was 24 x 30 feet built of stone (Stone School House), hauled by the families of the school district.
The School was indicated on the 1853 Town of Enfield Map and shown on various maps: the last one was the 1920 Com- t
pass Map of Enfield. In 1832 there were 50 students registered for the school, increasing to 71 in 1823. In 1840 the
school seemed to start having problems "as all desks on the north side be put on the south side and substantially bolt- f
ed. Windows have to have latches and staples and a window glass was put in." All parents were liable for breaking win-
dows when it was done willfully. In 1848 there was a fire in the schoolhouse and there was no record of the cost of fix-
ing the building. Student attendance from 1905 through 1916 went back and forth from 9 to 4 students. Starting in 1906
and going through 1914, District #5 contracted with Enfield Center District #6 to have their students attend District 6
School. They still kept track of the students in order to pay District'6 the tuition and transportation for the students. Dis-
fficially Annexed to District #6 Enfield Center on July 12, 1916. According to Leroy Whittaker he remembered '
that the school was in in evidence as late as 1918. The remains of this school house were used in road construction of a
trict 5 was o
now improved road that leads from Applegate Comers. Some of the teachers at tha school were:
1890 — 1891 Addle Tucker (1871 —1960; she was a schoolteacher throughout her life, teaching in New York and ,
New Jersey. She retired in 1933.) t
1889 - 1892 Katie Hunt (1864 —1839; she was a school teacher recording in the 1880 census; she taught school in ;
Lansing for 35 years. }
1892 - 1893 Hattie Mallory (Enfield Falls she was teaching in Lansingville in 1894. Both her parents died in 1890.
1893 1894 Alice Nobles (Mrs. Glenn Miller)1875 — 1966
1894 - 1895 Nancy E. Wallenbeck (1845 - 1919) Taught school for 50 years. 1894 Angie Harker (Mrs. Edwiri Stari)1875 — 1960. '
1895 - 1896 Laura P. Peck
1897 -1898 Frances L. Brown; Margaret Hollister; Edna O. Updike (1878
1899 — 1900 Nettie (Lottie) Byrum (husband William Hamblin) (1877 y)
_ 1948 —196964)4)d in 1900 census(Mrs. Edward Kirby)
school
teacher, by 1915 she was married to William Hamblin and was keeping house).
1901 — 1902 Belle Hubbell
1904 1905 Minnie M. Wallenbeck
1905 —1906 Anna Aiken
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Enfie
B),oujCht toldyo.uCommn ;> ty Curre tSyEieldCommunitY Council2021 October—December
,
what reau Free
ever) y matters fs hel (n ' y Meyer, Michael Phillips,.
y slowing down'and than to p 9 others wm even if it
9 g our course means
riends '�` Mr Fred Rogers° r now and then irary in Enfield, and to the
1Slim TTolinne
Tells 83-Year History of Old Enfield School District 5
SCHOOLHOUSE of old Enfield District 5 was built in 1832, but I County Rd. 137 on which the schoolhouse once stood. The site, now
was abandoned and had crumbled into a stoneheap by 1912. The oovered by a cornfield, is about one-fourth mile south of Apple -
stones reportedly were used about three years ago in re -building gate Corners. County Rd,.V37 runs between Applegate lrnd Bost-
wick Corners.
By LOTS O'CONNOB
What school board wouldn't be
nappy if its financial worries en-
-ailed no more than a $200 ap-
aropriation exceeded by
Such sums may seem- insignifi-
_ant by current standards but this
meager budget caused as many
Seadaches for the school hoard of
Enfield District 5 in 1821, as the
,,;omplexities of today' s local-schout
affairs.
An 83-year record of District 5,
. kept in a notebook is now part of
the museum collection of the De-
Witt Historical Society of Tomp-
kins County. The 168 pages of the
notebook are of rag paper, hand.
sewn, bound between cardboard
!covers and finished with a calfskin
back. The pages are ruled. The
last entry, dated May 5, 1914, was
never signed by clerk of the board,
Frank Bagley. It took only 66
pages to record the affairs of Dis-
trict 5 from the first meeting held
February. 1832.
The problems might be today's
—"a burgeoning school population"
that called for action. Enfield had
School was "kept" that year for
four months and 50 children were
taught. By 1834,. the school census
was up to 71 children.
From an entry in 1840, Heidt
said, "it may be assumed that the
new stone schoolhouse was receiv-
ing rough treatment from the
Pupils." The board voted to have
all desks on the north side put oh
the south side and "substantially
bolted." A new writing desk was
to be fastened to the wall, the
'doors to have latches and staples
and a window glass to be put in,
among other items.
Pupils evidently weren't much
different then, for in 1842 the board
voted "that parents shall be liable
for breaking windows when it is
done willfully."
In 1898 there was a fire in the
schoolhouse and much controversy
ensued regarding the rebuilding.
There is no record of the cost of
the building.
By January, 1850, everybody in
the district was apparently angry
ig plains —new roads were at one thing or another. Twenty -
laid out and new school dis- three attended a special'meeting
were formed. District 10 had on Jan. 26. An estimate for two
wn its facilities, "so the free- brooms at three shillings, one
s in the vicinity of Apple- dozen glasses at three shillings
Corners petitioned the com- and putty at nine cents —a total
ners of common schools for of 84 cents— was voted down 16
•1 to 7. Repairs on the schoolhouse
;in back into the historical at 14 shillings went down unani-
i and checking highlights of mously. Insurance on the school
the school record, William Heidt
Jr., DeWitt Museum curator, has
reported some of the situations
that may seem amusing now, but
were deadly serious to that first
District 5 board.
a ,r III
A site was the first hurdle. IL
vas resolved that "the schoolhouse
shall be as near the spring on the
rot owned by Joseph L. Hulse as
it can be conveniently obtained."
Elie building committee settled on
a building 24x30 feet to be built of
stone.
"At the expense of the district,".
It was authorized to purchase a
record book which was done for
'he price of six shillings 175c) at
"black & Andrus, Book -binders,'
printers and Booksellers of Ithaca.
Pa ing taxes was not the end of
a freeholders responsibility. The
board resolved "that if any taxable
.inhabitants shall refuse or neglect
to assist in drawing stone or fur-
nish their proportion of any mate.
rials which the trustees may agree
to furnish for building the school-
house, the amount shall be added
to their tax and collected with the
vas also voted that "each In -I
ual to find a half cold of wood
mch scholar they send and j
the wood must be got by the
of December. If not by that
the trustees are to find wood
:barge the same to those who
of get their part at 75 cents'
td.'
house faded 21 to 2.
Teacher's wages, too, came in
for harsh treatment," Heidt noted.
A motion to set teacher's wages
at $16 a month for four months
was amended. It was then proposed
that the district raise $40, which
along with the public money, would
pay a teacher for eight months.
The business specified in the
It failed 16 to 7.
The business specified in the
notice of the meeting having been
taken care of, adjournment was
moved. The chairman refused to
put the motion and at this point
things began to cool off and some
further action was taken.
Leroy Whittaker, who remembered:
that the school was still in evf-'
deuce as late as 1918.
The families of the school dis.
trict hauled the stone to build the
ischool and in a sense it was the
present generation that paid to
have them hauled out again. A few
Years ago the stone heap was,
drawn out to fill In the now im.
proved mad that leads from Apple-
gate Corners. -
Stories about those early school
days were obtained by Heidt from
two former teachers who are still
living. They are Mrs. Glean H.
Miller of 317 E. Court St. and Miss
Adaline Tucker of White School
Rd. in the Town of Ulysses.
Mrs. Miller recalled that "that
school house was the hottest place
in summer and the coldest in win-
ter of any I was ever in. Thel
spring of 1894 was unusual. It
rained some every day for two,
weeks. The roads were streaks of
mud and the stone schoolhouse un—
forgetably damp. I went to school',
each day but Lena Jones was my'.
only pupil."
Miss Tucker taught during 1890-
91 and Mrs. Miller, 1893-94, when
she was Miss Alice Nobles. Miss
Tucker could not recall her week-
ly salary but Mrs. Miller said that
hers was $5 and that she paid $1.50
a week for board and room with
the Jason Jones family.
There were discipline problems
too, which Mrs. Miller told about.
But in addition to keeping a sharp
eye on mischievous boys, Mrs.
Miller had another problem in the
fact that a resident of the district,
aware that the wood was stored in
he school entrance, was prone to
'borrowing" liberal helpings from.
ime to time.
s
A ,rather peaceful 10-year inter-
val gcburred. Then in 1869 the
trustef5' annual report was re-
Reted .'QAb -4. Later b-proposed
change 'in readers and spellers was
rejected but, eventually a uniform
'series of textbooks was adopted.
A new proposal startled the dis.
trict in 1903. It was voted to close'
the school and contract with an.
other district, instruction and con-
veyance costs not to exceed the
amount of public money. At a spe-
cial meeting called Sept. 8, this
action was rescinded. This ar-
rangement, however: did go into
effect in 1906 and was renewed
beach year until May, 1914, when
the record ends abruptly without.
explanation or signature of the
clerk.
�- .
The site of the tittle stone school
house has been located on the farm
now owned by Gerhaldt Achilles. .
The exact spot is in the middle
of a big corn field. • Directions to
the site were first obtained from I