Red Brick School

Infobox_nrhp | name =Red Brick School
nrhp_type =

---

caption = The school in 1941
location= Franklin, Massachusetts
lat_degrees = 42
lat_minutes = 5
lat_seconds = 34
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 71
long_minutes = 24
long_seconds = 0
long_direction = W
locmapin = Massachusetts
area =
built =1833
architect= Unknown
architecture= No Style Listed
added = January 01, 1976
governing_body = Local
refnum=76000276cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

Red Brick School is a historic school in Franklin, Massachusetts. It is one of the longest running one-room schools in America.

History

The first school building on this site was a wooden one constructed after the Rev. Nathanael Emmons took a 900 year lease on the land. The school was built at the corner of Main Street and Maple Street, although the latter is now called Lincoln street and the school building is number two. The "Meeting House School" building and the 900 year lease were taken over by the town authorities. At this time it was known as the "school at the crossroads", although it was also used on Sundays by the Congregational church for their children's instruction and education. The early basis of the school was strong. In 1792 it was agreed that no school master should be appointed who did not "promise to pray in the school each day. [ [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XNUWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Mortimer+Blake%22+franklin&ei=NDXJSIKCKoyAjwHI84wI&client=firefox-a#PPA53,M1 A Centurial History of the Mendon Association of Congregational Ministers] , Mortimer Blake, 1858, accessed 11 September [2008] ]

The red bricks

The bricks that gave their name to this school building were shipped via oxen from Boston. This school was built on the foundation of the older, wooden schoolhouse in 1833. By 1835 Mortimer Blake was running a high school in the building that was proving so popular that it was overflowing despite the charges of 25 to 35 cents per week. They had to move the lessons to larger premises.

In 1852 the church stopped having Sunday school at the same building.

The administration had attempted to shut down the school during the Great Depression, due to its costs, but the townspeople rallied behind it. The school again almost closed in 1959, when it was declared unsafe, but the town of Franklin's residents paid to have it refurbished. The building was added to the National Historic Register in 1976. [http://www.franklin.ma.us/auto/schools/FPS/brick/ The Red Brick School] , Franklin Massachusetts site, accessed 11 September 2008]

Closing

In 2008, after 175 years of yearly use, the Red Brick School, which was serving as a kindergarten, was deemed to be surplus by the Franklin School Department due to budget cuts. The school department turned the Red Brick Schoolhouse over to the control of the Town Of Franklin. The town has stated that they hope to use the building for after-school activities for other local schools, and that they hope that someday, the Red Brick School will re-open as a school. [ [http://www.wickedlocal.com/franklin/news/x996441828/Town-takes-control-of-Red-Brick-School wickedlocal.com] , accessed 11 September 2008]

Dispute over Record

The town of Franklin claimed that the Red Brick School was the longest continuously-running one-room brick school house in the nation. That record was disputed by the town of Croydon, New Hampshire, whose building is fifty years older than the Red Brick School. The dispute centered over whether the term "one room" meant class space, or a chamber in the Croydon schoolhouse with a table, a counter, cabinets, and a copy machine counted as a room. [ [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/30/1_room_school_has_solid_backers/ 1-room school has solid backers: They want to keep the Red Brick open] , Alexandra Perloe, The Boston Globe, 30 September 2007, accessed 14 September 2008]

References